Pryce ran his hands through his hair, trying to compose himself. He looked back down the hallway and said, "I think you're wrong about Truman shutting us down. We just pulled off the greatest intelligence operation in history. We ended the damn war. They should be pinning medals to our chest right now."
"Don't kid yourself, Sean," Donovan said. "We're now part of a massive National secret. A dirty one at that. These bastards won't hesitate to kill us to keep it quiet."
He had not set foot inside OSS Headquarters in two years, and the change was immediately apparent. The overtly-decorated building that served as the operation's false front was abandoned. The carefully plotted shrubbery had long ago grown wild and was now covered in cobwebs. Someone had left the front door open and Pryce looked in, seeing there were no guards. They'd even given Elma Sink the pink slip, it seemed. Her desk was abandoned and covered with an inch of dust.
Pryce looked ahead at the roof of Headquarters, searching for snipers. He wanted to give them the signal, to let them know he was allowed to advance, but he saw no one there. By the time he reached the front door, two burly servicemen were leaving, carrying a large wooden desk. "Make a hole!" one of them shouted. Pryce stepped aside to let them go down the steps. The servicemen dropped the desk on the sidewalk, when two more men followed behind them, calling out, "Make way! Make way!" Pryce watched them drop a large filing cabinet next to the desk and the entire group headed back inside.
The front desk was unoccupied. There were no guards masquerading as maintenance men. The entire building had fallen silent save for the occasional voice of a serviceman telling someone else to grab something or watch out. Pryce walked to the elevator and keyed in his sequence, turning around at the sound of an Army jeep pulling up to the front door and two men that got out to load the desk and cabinet.
Perhaps they are remodeling?
He arrived at the second floor and nearly collided with a uniformed man carrying a large box of files out of William Donovan's office. He waited for the man to pass and came to the door, cautiously sticking his head in because he half expected to find it empty.
Wild Bill Donovan was sitting at his desk behind a half-empty bottle of Irish whiskey. It was clear he'd been hard at it. "Colonel?" Pryce said.
Donovan smiled stupidly at him and said, "Come in, my boy, come in. Did you hear the good news? We're all fired. They shut us down. Let's drink."
"Shut down?" Pryce said. "How is that possible? We just blew up Japan. America will need the OSS more than ever."
Donovan laughed bitterly and slid an empty shot glass across his desk to Pryce. "President Truman is signing an order in two months that renders us officially obsolete. Got the phone call today." Donovan filled both of their glasses and said, "Cheers. Thanks for playing. I guess I should be happy it wasn't a bullet in the head."
Pryce took the glass from him and swallowed the liquor down. It was warm and strong and warmed him as it flowed through his body. He passed the empty glass back to Donovan and said, "So what happens now?"
Donovan poured two more drinks and said, "No idea, and I don't bloody well care, either. That buffoon Truman and his girlfriend Hoover can have it. I'm done." Donovan's eyes closed briefly and his head drooped but then he popped back up and squinted at Pryce, saying, "What are you doing here, anyway? You quit."
"I always quit. I always come back."
"Where did you go? Someplace nice, I hope," Donovan slurred. He leaned forward on his desk and whispered, "Somewhere with a lot of pretty girls, Sean? Big, buxom, women with coconuts over their ladyparts?"
"No," Pryce said. "Somewhere a little colder, just having a look around."
Their eyes met and Donovan suddenly broke out in a sloppy laugh. He pounded the desk and said, "I knew it, you son of a bitch! I knew it. You sly dog. Africa, my foot!"
Pryce stuck his hand across the desk, "Give me that bottle before you poison yourself."
Donovan leaned back in his chair as Pryce poured both of them another whiskey. "So what will you do now? What does an unemployed superhero secret agent do to pass the rest of all eternity?"
Pryce was about to answer when there was a soft knock on the door behind them. Donovan scowled and said, "Come in, you bloodsuckers! Come in and take the rest of it, I don't care. Go give it to that fat prick Hoover so him and his husband can decorate their house with it."
The tiny man standing at the doorway did not move. He was holding his hat in his hands and when he spoke, his thick German accent was both soft and pleasant. "I do not suck blood, and I would prefer to avoid Mr. Hoover if at all possible. I am looking for a Mr. William Donovan here, but the building seems to be unoccupied."
Donovan looked up and suddenly snorted in laughter. He snapped his fingers several times. "You know what? You look and sound like that guy. The science guy. What's his name? With the bushy hair."
"Ja, I get that one a lot," the man said.
Pryce swallowed the last of the whiskey in his glass and set it down on the table. He turned around to get a better look at the person speaking and his eyes widened. "Bill, he doesn't look like that guy. He is that guy."
Albert Einstein's eyes glittered with interest as he regarded Pryce. "You must be the one they call Omega."
Pryce shut out the light in Donovan's office and closed the door, leaving the Director asleep on his desk. He'd covered Donovan's shoulders with a jacket and hoped the servicemen in the building would let him sleep. He waved for Professor Einstein to follow him down the hall and said, "We can talk in private downstairs."
Einstein shook his head in amazement as he walked beside Pryce, "I have wanted to meet you for so very long. The stories I have heard. You cannot imagine."
"If you're still willing to get on an elevator with me, I am guessing you didn't hear the worst ones."
"No, no, my boy," the Professor said, patting Pryce gently on the arm. "I know that you only did what needed to be done. It is the same for me. I create the Atomic Bomb so that we have it before the Nazis. But then the Nazis are defeated and we use it against Japan."
Pryce pressed the basement floor button and looked at the old man. Einstein's eyes were baggy and red, but he hadn't been drinking. "Your research won us the war though," Pryce said.
"A heavy, heavy price to pay for such a thing," Einstein said. "All those innocent people. Roosevelt would not have done that. He'd have let the soldiers fight. That is how it should be, ja?"
"Probably," Pryce said. The elevator doors opened and Pryce led the Professor down the hallway toward the conference room. The large projection screen was still in the center of the room, although the projector and film canisters had already been removed. "So what brings you here today, Professor?"
"There were almost three hundred thousand Japanese killed by my Atomic Bombs. Six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Many, many millions more killed from all of the fighting in the wars."
"Yes. It was a terrible time," Pryce said.
"Time!" Einstein said with a sharp snap of his fingers. "Time is exactly what I want to talk to you about today. You, the one they call Omega, who vanishes in and out of the air and passes through walls. It is you who is going to help me save the whole world!"
"Come again?"
"You are going to save the world by killing Adolph Hitler."
Pryce paused, not sure what to say. Had the old man's mind snapped? "Professor, Hitler is already dead."
"Ja, but I would like you to kill him again. Just, earlier this time. Think of how many lives it will save."
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand."
"You can move through space. You blink out here, you blink back in over there, right?"
"Right."
"So now, I teach you to blink out here and blink back in over there, just it is not blinking into a where so much as a when. Understand?"
"No," Pryce said.
"You will, my boy. It's very simple. Just look at this equation."
Pryce watched the old man pick up a
piece of chalk and head for one of the nearby chalk boards and being to sketch out dozens of equations. Numbers and letters and various signs that Pryce could no easier identify than he could ancient Sanskrit. He watched the professor work and said, "Oh, sure. Simple."
Albert Einstein stood alone in the empty conference room, waiting, holding his breath. He had been squeezing his right hand shut for so long he could no longer feel his fingers.
Suddenly, the air around him crackled with electricity and a naked Sean Pryce popped into existence in front of him. Blood was running freely down Pryce's face and he was out of breath, but as he lifted his head to speak, Einstein stopped him. "Don't tell me. I want to see it for myself."
The professor slowly uncurled his fingers and looked into his empty palm. He sighed with disappointment and said, "It is all right, my boy. We just need to make a few more adjustments."
Pryce groaned as the old man shuffled over to the board and he said, "It's not working because it's not possible, professor. It's over. We're done."
Einstein ignored him and went back over the thousands of equations littering the board. He erased one, rewrote it, erased it again, and moved on to a different on. "You can move through space, ja?" Einstein said. He drew a wide circle around one set of equations and said, "Well, this is space." He walked down to the opposite end of the board and slapped it with the palm of his hand, "This is time! You move through space, you can move through time. They are the same thing. We'll try again."
"I can't do it, professor," Pryce said, wiping his hand across his nose. It was flowing freely and he was cold. They'd shut the heat off in the building days ago. "It's not possible."
Einstein smiled calmly at him and said, "What is impossible for a man who can teleport? You only think it is impossible because it hasn't been done yet."
Pryce rolled his eyes and walked over to where his clothes were folded on one of the chairs and started to pull on his pants. "I'm done. Find another lab monkey to work out your guilt."
Einstein folded his hands behind his back and said, "I believe you know a thing or two about guilt, Mr. Pryce."
Pryce buttoned his fly and said, "You think so, huh?"
"Ja, I do. Do you not see it, my boy? I am not just offering you a chance to save the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Or the countless others slaughtered in the war and concentration camps."
Pryce stopped moving and looked up at the old man. He stood up and started unbuttoning his pants.
"Now, ve are talking!" Einstein said.
Sean Pryce jogged to the other end of the room, taking his place at the starting line of the makeshift runway they'd designed. "Try not to flinch this time, it distracts me," Pryce said.
"I will stand solid as an oak tree," Einstein said. He held out his right hand and said, "Remember, Sean. Time and space are the same thing. Pick your place the same as you would any other time."
Pryce took off at a full sprint down the runway, charging toward the old professor so fast his long white hair blew back. Einstein squirmed, but did not move, bracing himself for impact. Just before the younger, naked man collided into him, he clenched his eyes and gasped, but felt nothing. Several seconds later, he opened his eyes again and saw that he was alone.
"Okay, here we go," he whispered, holding his hand out firm and starting to squeeze.
Pryce passed through Einstein like a ghost and found himself travelling through a small tunnel with a tiny speck of light at the end. He resisted the urge to reconfigure, trying to hold his particles together as they whirled around the vortex of space and time, threatening to scatter him to nothingness.
He thought of Eva.
He thought of her face and hair and warmth and sent himself spiraling toward the light knowing it would lead to her. The portal was closing before he could reach it and he bore down, forcing himself to move faster. It was nearly shut, about to trap him in darkness forever, when he zipped through and reformed into a human once more. He was running so fast that he stumbled and rolled onto the ground, bouncing off of jagged rock and stone and tearing his skin on harsh, thorny bushes before he came to a stop.
Pryce got up and looked around. Wherever he was, it was hot and muggy. Must be summertime, he thought.
He turned and saw a massive row of mountains looming over him, their peaks covered lush green foliage. He turned at the sound of rushing water nearby, slowly realizing exactly where he was.
Eva Braun was sunning her naked body at the bottom of the cliff, laying on a flat rock overlooking a large pond. Her skin was rich and tan and in the sun, her short hair had turned the color of white gold. He ran down the slope to call out to her when it suddenly occurred to him that he did not know what year it was.
She might have no idea who I am.
Just as he was about to duck into the bushes, Eva sensed she was being watched and sat up, startled at the sight of a naked man coming down toward her. Her eyes widened and she called out, "Sean!"
Pryce froze in place. "Eva? You know who I am?"
She leapt up from the beach and dove into the water to cross the pond toward him. Pryce dove in as well and swam to meet her in the middle. She came into his arms and wrapped her legs around him, kissing him wildly on the mouth. "I can't believe you came, you crazy bastard. I thought I wouldn't see you until next summer. How did you find me?"
"It's a long story," he said. He didn't want to talk. He only wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to feel her with every fiber of his being.
Eva kissed him again and said, "He is supposed to be coming down here to check on me. He is worried the guards come and spy on me while I sunbathe."
Pryce grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him. "Listen to me, this is the most important thing I will ever tell you."
She heard something in the distance and pressed her finger to his lips. "No, you listen to me. Berchtesgaden is not safe for us. Meet me in my room tonight and we can talk about anything you want. I will be all yours!" Eva looked at the path again and gasped at the sight of der Fuhrer's German shepherd coming down the path. Hitler himself would not be far behind. She grabbed him by the top of the head and pushed him underwater, "Go down, you must vanish right now!"
Pryce forced himself back up, swallowing water, "No. Do not take the pills! No matter who gives them to you. Promise me!"
"Whatever you say, my love. Now go! Go!" she whispered, pushing him down into the lake, out of sight, holding him down until her hands were empty.
Albert Einstein stood alone in the empty conference room, waiting, holding his breath. He had been squeezing his right hand shut for so long he could no longer feel his fingers.
Suddenly, the air around him crackled with electricity and a naked Sean Pryce popped into existence in front of him. Blood was running freely down Pryce's face and he was out of breath, but as he lifted his head to speak, Einstein stopped him. "Don't tell me. I want to see it for myself."
The Professor slowly uncurled his fingers and looked down at the small silver coin in his palm. "You did it, my boy," he whispered. "You did it! Tell me everything, this instant!"
"Ten seconds ago, I gave you that coin and asked you to hold it for me until I came back. You told me to say hello to your future self."
Einstein stared at the coin in wonder and laughed, "Well, hello then."
The street was dark and quiet and nothing moved, except for the two men as they pulled up in Pryce's car and parked in front of a large two-story house. Professor Einstein looked through the passenger side window at the house and said, "What time is it?"
"Three in the morning," Pryce said.
"And your friend won't be angry at us for visiting him at such an unusual hour?"
Pryce closed his car door and headed up to Wild Bill Donovan's front door. "Nah. Anyway, I owe him for several decades of bothering me at all sorts of unusual hours." He pressed his finger on the doorbell and it chimed loud enough that someone in a house two doors down turned on their bedroom light and came to the window.
Footfalls tumbled down the staircase, followed by the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being racked. Donovan kicked the door open with one foot and emerged with a shotgun leveled at them. He dropped it when he saw Pryce and the professor and said, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Do you think bad guys ring door bells, Colonel?" Pryce said.
"What if it were a gambit to get me to come downstairs?" Donovan shot back.
"Then they probably wouldn't bring Albert Einstein. Unless he's been a deep-cover assassin this whole time he'd been over here inventing the future and what not."
"Ja," Einstein said. "Mine hands are lethal weapons."
Donovan swiped his hand through his hair and said, "Come on in. This better be important for you to show up like this. You woke up my wife." They followed Donovan into the study and he offered them a drink, which they both declined. Donovan walked over to his drink cart and began to pour himself one, looking over his shoulder to say, "So what is it?"
"In short, I have taught Agent Omega to travel through time," Einstein said.
Donovan stopped pouring.
He turned around and looked at them and said, "I think that qualifies as pretty damn important."
The professor proceeded to explain his theory and how he and Pryce had been training in the basement of the OSS building. He presented his findings like a scientist, listing the failures with as much detail and the successes. Pryce cut him short and said, "I found her, Colonel. I saw her and spoke to her."
"Eva?" Donovan said.
Pryce nodded. "I tried to warn her but ran out of time. It obviously didn't work because she's still dead and nothing changed. But it proved one thing. I can go back. The professor's idea is that I break into Lansberg Prison while Hitler is being held there. I can make it look like a suicide. No Hitler, no Third Reich, no Atomic Bomb. What do you think?"
Agent Omega: You Only Live Forever Page 9
