Berlin 2039: The Reign Of Anarchy Karsten Krepinsky (essential reading .txt) 📖

2

Natasha sounded rather worried on the phone. Have I told you about her yet? She’s my supervisor at the LKA. She coordinates my jobs with me, procures the drugs, and informs me of the latest developments. The LKA has just moved into new headquarters in X’berg across the river. To the spot where the Watergate used to be, if you happen to remember this club. Electronic music on two floors, adjacent to Oberbaumbrücke. This was a lifetime ago. Now, the investigators have a perfect view of the Ghetto from their brand new glass-enclosed high-rise. Maybe they use their roof antennas to listen in on the junkies’ chattering. They might also be watching the traffic of losers on the streets. Or they’re eavesdropping on the constant squabbling among the ultra-orthodox Muslims, while barely able to stifle a yawn.

Natasha. She’s different. A special person, a trait I noticed at once. Not one of these beauties who’re only good as clothes-horses. She also has a good head on her shoulders. And personality. A first-class lady. Well bred. From a good family, I think. Even though I never ask. Certain things are better left to imagination. She’s not married, I believe. But she also might just not be wearing a ring around the Ghetto. There’s a boyfriend now and then, I guess. No one on a permanent basis.

I’m driving down Frankfurter Allee in my Lincoln Continental. A real classic car that guzzles up more than ten gallons per one hundred miles. That’s a lousy gas-mileage, I can hear you say. But who the fuck cares? In F’hain nobody goes long distances anyway. The Ghetto isn’t all that large. It’s all a matter of being seen.

Natasha wants to meet at RAW, the ancient train depot bearing the name “Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk” that was transformed into a cultural center a long time ago.Its compound is located on Warschauer Strasse, a boulevard lined with dead plane trees that everyone started to call “The Warsaw” last year. This name-change is related to an incident in the fall, when a Chechen decided to chop a biker into two halves with a chain saw. A dramatic event, even in the Ghetto. The bloodstains on the tarmac were only covered up with sawdust. Thus, the traces of this gruesome act of violence remained in plain view until a week later, when it finally rained again. Usually, the Chechens don’t tend to do things in halves—pardon my pun. Their signature is to skin their victims, a habit they picked up during the Afghan war in the eighties, when Grandpa Chechen fought against the Mujaheddin side by side with the Red Army. This was when there still was a Soviet Union. Damn. Does this odd construction of states still ring anyone’s bell? Probably for the Communists among you. However, I find it vital to know one’s history, as you must have realized by now. Looking into the past to put the future into perspective. It shows me what we are and what will become of us. Anyway, two years ago the Chechens had the brilliant idea to skin the boss of the Arab clan and to display his body right next to the Märchenbrunnen, the fairy-tale fountain, in Volkspark. The Grimm Brothers’ bedtime stories taken to the extreme. Had they only known who was going to follow the impaled ruler to the throne, as in this case they might have preferred to instead share a pipe of peace. Because Ali Bansuri, the new Imam, retaliated by beheading six Chechens with his own hand. There are rumors around that he still keeps their heads somewhere in his mosque. The result was some back-and-forth traffic that went on for a while. Friendly visits on one, declarations of love on the other side. In the end, a good four hundred people were dead and power structures had been restored to normal. A field day for pushers, I can tell you. I just had to comfortably lean back with a cold beer and watch the activities unfold. But no more reminiscing. You don’t get a new Imam every day. Now, the conflict has to be carefully rekindled. The flickering flame needs to be fanned.

In the Warsaw the new Imam’s word is law, just like that of his predecessor. All the way from RAW up to the former stockyard, today the site of his humongous mosque. The area north of the old Ostbahnhof, the eastern train station, is controlled by Selim, called the Babo. And around Strausberger Platz the Tsar, this wily Chechen bandit, is pulling the strings. The bikers of Aryan Motorcircle with their president Thor, dubbed the Emperor by the Lemons, are at the bottom of the food chain. The Emperor’s realm is limited to a narrow strip of land in the east around Jessnerstrasse. He also is the only one of the bosses who resides outside the Ghetto in the former Stasi headquarters in Ruschestrasse. Stasi? Does it ring a bell? For those of you who were too zoned out during history class in school: it’s short for “Staatssicherheitsdienst,” the former Eastern Germany’s secret service. The Emperor carries a lot of clout in Lichtenberg, which isn’t part of the Ghetto. Thor’s time in F’hain, however, seems to be up. Therefore, regular deliveries to him by yours truly wouldn’t make much sense. He doesn’t have many minions left anyhow, as the number of native Germans around here is dwindling, most of them having moved to the borough of Wedding. The only ones remaining are the seniors, the indigents, a few Christian missionaries, the junkies, and the hookers. You might think that a Christian missionary’s life expectancy must be pretty short in an out and out Muslim ’hood. But owing to one of the many enigmatic ways of life, these religious zealots usually are left alone. Chances to die a martyr: absolutely zilch. No idea why. Maybe the bosses don’t see them as a threat. Sometimes, the logic of the street is a mystery even to