Hans Fürchtner
Hans Fürchtner is a character that appears in the Rainbow Six novel. An old terrorist that was prominent in the 1970s and 1980s, he and Petra Dortmund reappeared in 1999 as a part of John Brightling's plan to unleash the Shiva virus.
Biography
Fürchtner is a German terrorist who was active during the 1970s and 1980s with his girlfriend, Petra Dortmund. Both had been devoted communists who acted as agents of the Soviet Union. They accomplished several operations together, the most notable being the kidnapping and interrogation of an American sergeant who serviced nuclear artillery shells. This mission had been assigned by the Soviet GRU and resulted in information about the American permissible action link safety systems which the Sergeant had been an expert on. Fürchtner and Dortmund then killed the sergeant and dumped his body in the mountains of southern Bavaria under the cover of a traffic accident. Despite this, national intelligence agencies had suspected their involvement in his death.
The pair later retired to a home in the mountains south of Munich. Both of them painted as a hobby and occasionally sold their work in small galleries though it was not enough to maintain their lifestyle.
Rainbow Six
Dortmund and Fürchtner eventually grew tired of their life. In 1999, they were contacted by one of Fürchtner's old contacts, Dimitriy Popov, under his alias as Iosef Andreyevich. Popov offered to pay them to obtain electronic access codes to the international trading system from Austrian financer Erwin Ostermann. Popov claimed these "codes" would be used to reestablish a socialist, progressive alternative to capitalism in Russia. Dortmund and Fürchtner agreed and met with Popov a week later after assembling a crew. After Dortmund and Fürchtner confirmed Popov's payment, they traveled to Ostermann's home near Vienna, Austria.
Fürchtner introduced himself to Ostermann's butler as "Hans Bauer" and claimed that they were there for a "flower delivery". Dortmund then pulled her gun on the butler and demanded to be led upstairs to Ostermann. The butler complied, taking them to Ostermann's executive assistant, Gerhardt Dengler. Holding Dengler at gunpoint, they confronted Ostermann. Fürchtner and Dortmund told Ostermann that he would be joining them on a trip as their prisoner. Fürchtner claimed they were commanders of the fictional Red Workers Faction and told Ostermann he was going to join them on a flight out of the country so that he could give them his "international trading codes". To motivate Ostermann, Dortmund and Fürchtner threatened to kill all of Ostermann's staff if he chose not to comply.
The police became aware of the situation after Dengler had pressed the alarm under his desk. Captain Wilhelm Altmark of the Vienna Police made first contact with Fürchtner through a phone in Ostermann's office. Fürchtner demanded that they be given a safe escort in Ostermann's helicopter to the Schwechat International Airport by midnight or they would start killing hostages. He also demanded the release of several of their "friends" from various prisons, supplying Altmark a list of names. These names were from various newspapers and only served as a way to distract the police.
While Altmark worked on obtaining a crew to pilot Ostermann's helicopter for the them, Fürchtner and Dortmund funneled all of the hostages into Ostermann's office. Altmark later called back, requesting they release two hostages as a sign of good faith. Fürchtner denied this request as he knew the hostages would help the police identify them and give more insight on the current situation. Dortmund then reminded Altmark that they would start killing hostages at regular intervals as a show of force if their demands were not met.
A few minutes before midnight, Rainbow Operator Eddie Price arrived at the home disguised as the getaway helicopter pilot. Fürchtner and Dortmund then made their way to the helicopter with Ostermann, Denglerm and another hostage. Rainbow Team 2 commander Domingo Chavez waited until the remaining terrorists had left the building to join Fürchtner and Dortmund and then ordered Team 2 to engage them. Homer Johnston shot and killed Dortmund with his sniper rifle. Before Fürchtner could react, Price shot and killed him with a concealed weapon.
It is later revealed that there was never an "special access codes". The true purpose of the hostage incident at Ostermann's home was to increase awareness on terrorism so that Global Security would receive the contact for the Sydney Summer Games.
Appearance
By 1999, Fürchtner had been thirty kilos overweight as a result of drinking. His once thick dark hair had either fallen out or had been shaved and his beard was gone. Popov compared Fürchtner's appearance to that of a "fat and happy" banker who no longer resembled the driven, serious, committed communist he had once known.
Trivia
- Fürchtner and Dortmund's appearance in the novel is hinted at several times.
- Early in the novel, Team 2 was reviewing several profiles of old terrorists that included the pair.
- Sam Bennett later used a computer program to a age old photos of Fürchtner and Dortmund to see what they currently looked like. Chavez was intrigued by this and asked Paul Bellow what he had thought of the pair to gain a better understanding of them..