“Let’s hurry,” Axel said.
“Where are the others? Where is Lexi?” she asked.
“Don’t worry he and Tom are already long gone with the bomb,” Dawn said causing Alena to smile with relief.
“Brygida is trying to take down a bomber before it destroys D.C.” Axel said. “And we have about ten minutes before this whole place blows.”
“I can make that,” Alena said with a wink, “but you three better hurry.”
Alena led the way as they dashed outside of the room. Once outside, they saw the hundreds of wolfmen fighting with the Nazi troops.
“Jesus,” Axel muttered to himself.
Alena glanced down and noticed Volker on top of the U-boat running for the open hatch, Freyja and the soldiers behind him. She couldn’t let them escape. They might not have another opportunity like this to take the two Nazis out. “You three get to the surface, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said. Before anyone could protest, she was gone in a red blur.
***
The wind made it extremely difficult to hold on as Brygida clung to the tail of the Nazi bomber plane headed north toward Washington, D.C. carrying an atomic payload. She glanced down at the ocean waves far below and felt sick to her stomach. She was terrified. Possibly more terrified for her own safety than she had ever been. Brygida did not have a natural fear of heights, but this was ridiculous.
Brygida took a deep breath and then willed herself to scoot up the tail of the plane, pulling with her arms as she pushed with her legs, all the while keeping her head pressed against the metal of the plane. After what seemed like an eternity she finally positioned herself closer to the center of the plane just above the side gun.
The only conceivable way to enter the plane, unless the Nazis inside would be good enough to open the hatch, was through one of the gun ports. There were two problems with this. The first was that she would have to climb or slide down the side of the plane to reach the ports. The second was that she was not positive the ports were big enough for her to fit through.
Brygida said a silent prayer to God and then began counting down from five. “Four,” she said as her heart tried to beat out of her chest. “Three,” she said as visions of her life began to flash through her mind. “Two,” she said as her whole body felt sick from nerves. “One,” and she swept her right leg over the side of the plane sliding down it on her left side.
As she slid, the wind caught her and she was swept away from the plane. Her fingers found the barrel of the machine gun just in time to catch herself from blowing out over the ocean. She screamed as she clung to the barrel for dear life, her legs flailing behind her as the wind pulled them away. The Nazi manning the machine gun noticed her there and began to shake the gun back and forth trying desperately to loosen her grip and send her flying away to her death.
Brygida released a groan as she pulled herself forward toward the gun. She was able to get her arms over the gun barrel and then swing her leg over to straddle it. The gunner was facing away from her shouting something to his compatriots that Brygida could not hear due to the roar of the wind and propellers. Brygida inched her way closer to the gun port. The gunner slid to the side and Brygida saw another Nazi step forward and raise a pistol, aiming at her head. Brygida was close enough to reach him through the gun port and she grabbed hold of his wrist, yanking him toward her, slamming him into the edges of the gun port. She yanked again and again banging him against the walls of the plane before releasing him to collapse in a clump on the deck of the plane.
Brygida then turned sideways so that her shoulders could squeeze through the port, slipped her arms through and pulled herself inside of the bomber. She slid down the side of the plane, placing the palms of her hands on the deck and then rolled inside in a kind of somersault, ending upright on her feet.
The soldiers inside stared at her dumbfounded for a moment before one pulled a pistol and aimed it at her. She moved quickly, stripping the pistol from his hand and splattering his nose with her elbow and shot him with his own gun. Brygida turned and fired the confiscated pistol three more times killing the remaining Nazi crewmen. She then turned around and headed for the cockpit. The co-pilot was coming out to investigate the gun shots as she reached the cockpit door. She pulled the trigger shooting him in the face.
Brygida grabbed the copilot’s body and flung it out of the way. The pilot turned to see her. “Turn the plane around,” she ordered in German as she placed the barrel of the pistol to his head.
“No,” he said defiantly.
“Do it now or I’ll kill you,” she said.
The German laughed. “No you won’t, because I’m the only one who can land this plane and if I die so will you.”
Brygida pulled the trigger and the pilot’s brains splattered across the canopy. His body slumped against the controls sending the bomber into a dive toward the ocean below.
***
Alena saw Volker and Freyja climbing onto the U-boat followed by four Nazi troops. She dashed after them, eager to finish this. She did not want either of those two monsters getting away. Freyja was already descending through the open hatch and into the U-boat by the time Alena reached the submarine. She zipped past the four soldiers, knocking two of them into the freezing water as she passed.
Alena jumped down into the submarine as the two remaining soldiers climbed in behind her closing the hatch. Alena heard Volker shouting orders for the submarine to make haste. “You aren’t going anywhere!” she shouted in German.
Alena heard the men behind her and turned quickly making short work of them with her swords. She then spun back around to see Freyja smiling wickedly.
“I remember you,” Freyja smirked. “Kristel, isn’t it? Did you really travel all this way for me to give you another beating?”
Alena turned red with anger and then bolted toward the Aryan. She tried to swing her sword, but it hit the side of the narrow gangway. Freyja punched her in the face knocking her down. Alena scrambled to her feet and ran backward to the end of the submarine. Then she had a moment of panic as she realized the U-boat was too small and compact for her speed to be effective against Freyja. She felt movement as the U-boat began sailing out to sea and realized that she was trapped.
Freyja rushed toward her. Alena stabbed at her with one of her swords but Freyja slapped it to the side and then punched her again and again. Alena fell to her knees and Freyja brought her knee up and into Alena’s jaw, knocking the Soviet agent unconscious.
Chapter 26
As Axel, Dawn, and Rolf emerged from their defensive positions behind Alena, they found the base in pandemonium. Nazi soldiers had turned their attention from the three CSOS agents to the attacking wolfmen. The wolfmen were certainly a more terrifying and immediate threat to the men.
Then Alena flashed away leaving them there in an attempt to stop Volker and Freyja. Axel watched her as she dashed onto the submarine and dropped inside. Panic struck him as the U-boat began to sail away from the dock. “Alena’s on that thing!” he shouted as he started to run along the walkway.
“Axel wait!” Dawn shouted, but he did not pay her any attention. He was too focused on saving Alena.
Dawn and Rolf chased after Axel. He was deadly accurate in his energy bursts as he ran. Anyone in his way was quickly shot down. He cleared a path for Dawn and Rolf, but Dawn was there to watch his back. As Nazis turned to fire at Axel as he passed, Dawn quickly used her telekinetics to rip rifles from their hands or toss them from balconies.
Axel hurried around Nazi soldiers and werewolves alike. He ran towards a wolf that had a soldier on the ground, ripping into the man’s throat. Axel didn’t even slow down, but simply hurdled over the beast. Dawn used her mental abilities to jerk the wolf from the floor and throw it, howling, into the cold water below.
Several wolves spotted them, and their running made them appear as prey to the beasts. The wolves dropped down to all fours and gave chase. The wolfmen were fast, much faster than the humans th
ey pursued. Rolf heard the gallop of paws behind him and glanced over his shoulder to see a wolfman lunging for him. Rolf batted the beast away with his mighty arm and kept running. Axel turned at the stairwell and began bounding down the steps. Dawn followed, Rolf behind her and the wolves behind him.
They reached the dock at the bottom of the stairs and Axel sprinted out of the stairwell as he saw the U-boat was now too far away to reach. He slid to a stop and began searching for a boat. He noticed a speed boat attached to the dock when he heard Dawn cry out.
“Axel!” she shouted. Axel turned to see his brother fighting with three wolves while two more chased Dawn. She had a look of panic etched on her face as she ran toward him. A wolf leapt up and knocked her down to the dock, but before it could sink its teeth into her flesh Axel blasted it with a blue energy bolt from his finger tips. The other wolfman jumped over Dawn and leapt onto Axel knocking him onto his back.
Rolf tossed one of the wolves into the water, but another sank its fangs into his calf as the third stood on its hind legs snapping at Rolf’s face. Dawn spun over onto her back and sent a telekinetic shockwave, blasting the wolves attacking Rolf back into the stairwell.
Axel screamed as he held the wolfman’s jaws just inches from his throat. He sent a surge of electricity through the beast, frying it and it collapsed dead on top of him. “Help!” he shouted and Rolf rushed to him to lift the wolf off of his brother and toss it to the side.
Dawn was there beside him helping Axel to his feet. She had tears in her eyes. “What are we going to do? There isn’t enough time to get out of here!” she said as she suddenly realized they were all about to die when the explosives went off.
“Yes there is!” he said and pointed to the speed boat. Dawn brightened immediately as hope flooded through her. “Let’s hurry!” he shouted and they turned and sprinted toward the boat.
Unfortunately, some Nazi soldiers had the same idea, wanting desperately to escape the wolfmen. The two groups both stopped and stared at each other, each just a few feet from the speed boat. Axel and Dawn moved first, zapping and tossing each of the soldiers. Rolf was already in the boat before they were finished.
“Hurry guys!” he shouted up to them. Dawn leapt into the boat first and untied the aft from the dock while Axel knelt on the bow untying it as well. He then climbed down and into the coxswain’s chair and breathed a sigh of relief that the key was in the ignition. He turned it and the engined roared to life.
“Hang on!” he shouted over the engine as he throttled the boat away from the dock. Two Nazi soldiers ran along the dock toward them. They raised their rifles to fire, but before they could they were attacked from behind by wolfmen.
Axel could see the U-boat up ahead and it was beginning to submerge. “No!” he shouted. He had already opened the boat’s engine as far as it would go. “Come on!” he shouted to the boat, but the small vessel did not respond. They were soon jumping over the U-boat’s wake and the submarine had completely disappeared beneath the waves.
“No!” Axel shouted. “No! No! No!” He began to beat the wheel of the boat in frustration. Suddenly, the boat was rocked by a large explosion. The three of them turned to watch the U-boat base as it began to sink into the ocean just as Tom had predicted.
Axel slumped down into his chair. Dawn put a comforting arm around him. “It’ll be okay,” she said.
“Okay?” he asked as he turned his head to face her. “Alena has been captured or killed and my mother is probably dead, too. Hell, all of the residents of D.C. might be about to die a fiery death!” he screamed toward the sky.
He heard sobbing behind him and turned to see Rolf crying. Axel stood up. “It’s okay, Rolf, I’m sure everyone will be fine,” he said.
“Everybody is going to die?” Rolf asked.
“No,” Dawn said as she shot Axel a sharp glare. “Your mom will stop them Rolf.”
Rolf nodded and wiped tears from his eyes before wrapping his giant arms around them both and pulling them tight.
“Okay, Rolf you’re crushing us,” Axel said and the big man released them.
“Sorry, Axel,” he said.
“It’s okay big guy,” Axel responded. “Come on, let’s go see if we can get picked up by the Brits before we get stranded out here.”
Axel turned the wheel of the boat and throttled it up the coast. They sailed on for several minutes before Dawn first noticed the helicopter in the distance. She smiled. “Look!” she shouted over the roar of the engine.
Axel nodded excitedly. He decelerated the boat and then began to release bolts of electricity into the air to get the helicopter pilot’s attention. It worked.
***
The explosion shook the ground and Tom used Alexi to push himself to his feet. Alexi stood as well, but they couldn’t see much more than a cloud of white snow and dust erupting into the sky.
Tom glanced up at Alexi. “I’m sure they got out of there in time,” he said. Alexi smiled and nodded. The two men sat back down on the sled that held the bomb crate. It did not take much longer before they heard the whir of the helicopter blades in the distance.
“Look!” Lexi shouted as he once again pushed himself to his feet. He helped Tom up and the two men watched as the British chopper landed several yards away. The ramp on the rear of the chopper lowered to the ground and both were excited to see Axel scurry out to join them and assist Tom back aboard while Alexi carried the bomb crate.
All three climbed into the helicopter with the bomb as the ramp began to rise back up. Once it was closed the helicopter lifted off the ground. Tom looked at Axel and swallowed. “Brygida and Alena?” he asked, shouting above the roar of the blades.
Axel glanced at Alexi and then back at Tom. “Alena has been captured. The top Nazis escaped via U-boat and they have her with them.” Alexi began to get visibly upset, shaking and breathing heavy. “We’ll get her back, Lexi, I promise,” Axel said. Alexi nodded.
“What about Brygida?” Tom asked.
“I don’t know,” Axel admitted. “She hopped a plane bound for Washington with an atomic bomb. Hopefully she brought it down or we’re not going to have much to go home to.”
Chapter 27
Washington, D.C.
The fact that Washington was still there and not buried under rubble and radiation was a tremendous relief to everyone. It meant that Brygida had been successful in stopping the Nazi bomber, but it did not mean that Brygida had survived. In fact, Axel thought it very unlikely that she had.
According to Tom’s friend, Sir Arthur, the British had originally tracked the bomber on their radar, but they lost it somewhere off the coast of Argentina. An expedition would be searching for it, an atomic bomb somewhere out in the ocean was not a pleasant thought to anyone, but Arthur did not feel optimistic that they would find it. After all, it was a big ocean and the plane and bomb were likely already on the bottom of it by now.
Team Blitzkrieg had received a warning from the agents that picked them up from the Dulles International Airport, that Ian was most displeased that they had gone off on their own. Now Tom, Axel, Dawn, and Rolf sat in the conference room at CSOS headquarters awaiting the ass-chewing they expected.
Tom puffed a cigarette casually, while Axel fidgeted, annoyed that they were wasting their time waiting for Ian instead of searching for the escaped Nazi U-boat. Rolf, not fully grasping the gravity of any of this was bored and let everyone know it with his long sighs.
Only Dawn seemed to be nervous. She did not like being reprimanded by a superior. She always did her best to follow the rules, stay out of trouble, and do the right thing. This time, of course, doing the right thing—as she saw it—was at odds with staying out of trouble and following the rules. She kept having to tell herself over and over that she had done the right thing.
They had been waiting several minutes before the doors finally opened and Ian entered. Martha did not accompany him as usual and that made Dawn even more nervous than she already was. The CSOS director sto
od with his hands on his hips as his eyes cut to each one of them in turn. He was silent for a long time before finally speaking.
“It isn’t that you took it upon yourselves to go on a reckless mission that, by your own admission, nearly caused the complete destruction of this city that bothers me so much,” Ian said in a calm tone. “It isn’t that you did so while working with Soviet agents. It isn’t even that you left a valuable asset like Hans Kammler all alone in a safe house that bothers me.”
“Hey, we called that in,” Axel said, but was silenced by a dirty glare from Ian.
“Yes, and fortunately our men were able to get to him before the two Soviet agents—who your new friends no doubt summoned—were able to take him back to Moscow.”
Axel glanced down at the table.
“What really bothers me, lady and gentlemen, is the apparent lack of trust and confidence the four of you have in me,” Ian said. “How could you do that? How could you leave without even letting me know what you were doing and where you were going?”
Tom stamped out his cigarette in the ashtray as he glanced up at Ian. “Don’t take it personally old man, you know as well as we do that there is a mole at CSOS,” he said.
Ian’s eyes widened and he threw up his hands. “And you think I’m that mole?” he asked.
“Jesus, Ian, it’s not you we’re worried about,” Axel said. “It’s the people you work for.”
Ian stared at him quizzically. “The President?”
“No, Mr. X and whoever the hell he represents,” Axel said.
“We all work for the same people, Axel,” Ian reminded him.
“Yeah and that’s the problem,” Axel shot back.
“Well, I think you need to change your tone about that,” Ian said. “He’ll be here shortly.”
“Great,” Axel said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
Flight of the Valkyrie Page 18
