by Barry Reese
Max grimaced, realizing that this was the reason why his head felt so fuzzy. “Where am I? Where’s Evelyn?”
“Your lady love is safe and sound. She’s being kept in quarters that are a little bit nicer than yours. The Fuehrer wants to question her about the Gustav affair, so she can’t be harmed. But you… well, your punishments are going to be the stuff that legends are made of, so you get to rest here in the chiller.”
The Peregrine heard the thrumming of engines now and he felt a subtle vibration pass through the floor. “We’re on a steam ship,” he said.
“You’re so bright,” Eva said in response. She intertwined her legs with his, leaning close to smell his neck. Max felt her warm breath on his skin and shivered. He hadn’t realized quite how badly the cold was affecting him until he felt her warmth against him. His bones were aching. “There’s still time for you, Max. Throw your lot in with us and I could be yours…”
“Give it a rest,” he said with the shake of his head. “I’m not interested in bedding a Nazi bitch.”
Eva pulled away, her eyes blazing. “You arrogant prick. All of you Americans are the same: cowboys strutting about, thinking you’re the moral compass for the world.”
“At least we try to do the right thing, Eva, even if it puts us in harm’s way.”
“Really? Your people were more than willing to stand aside and let Europe fall… the only reason you entered the war when you did was because you were attacked. Otherwise, you would have stood back and clucked your tongues as England was buried by the Blitz.”
“I’m not going to argue politics with you,” Max said, straining against his bonds. “When the Reich falls, you and your kind are going to have to pay the piper.”
Heavy footsteps outside the door made Eva hold off on her reply. Max heard the sounds of a lock being undone and the door spun open to reveal a massive figure in a black Nazi uniform and overcoat. The man stood well over six feet tall and had very broad shoulders, but the thing that caught Max’s attention most fully was the fact that there was not one scrap of flesh to be seen. The man wore black leather gloves and a metallic mask that was accentuated by mirrored goggles over his eyes.
The imposing figure crossed the room confidently, stopping at Eva’s side. When he spoke, his voice was muffled by his helmet, giving his deep voice an inhuman quality. His accent was very noticeable but there was nothing comical about it. “Max Davies. At long last we meet. I am Mr. Dee.”
“Pardon me for not shaking your hand,” Max deadpanned. He moved his shackled wrists. “I’m a little tied up at the moment.”
“Ah. The bravado I have heard so much about is still on full display.”
“I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.”
Mr. Dee made a soft chuckle and reached into a pocket. He retrieved Max’s mask, the one he wore when in action as the Peregrine. It was domino style with a small bird-like beak positioned so that it would rest just above the bridge of his nose. A small amount of spirit gum was smeared across the back of the mask, allowing it to adhere to the skin. “I have no fear of you disappointing me, Mr. Davies. But here… let us greet each other as we should, with our true faces on display.” Dee pushed the mask into place on Max’s face, pressing it down firmly.
“So this is your true face? That iron mask?”
Dee gestured to his head with one hand. “Beneath this mask is a ruined mess. A gift to me from a British soldier… if you could see it, you would realize why I keep it hidden. But, as you Americans are fond of saying, ‘you should see the other guy.’” Dee laughed again and he turned towards Eva, who watched him with wide eyes. The look on her face was one of fear intermingled with sexual desire. Obviously, she was one of those women who found danger to be an aphrodisiac. “You did excellently, Eva. I commend you.”
“It was my pleasure… though not as pleasurable as I had hoped.”
“The Peregrine proved resistant to your charms?”
“If his harpy of a wife hadn’t been home, I might have had more of a chance.”
“In your dreams,” the Peregrine whispered. Raising his voice, he asked “What about the other people who were at my house? My kids… Josh? Are they here, too?”
Dee shook his head. “I am a loyal servant of the Fuehrer, Herr Davies, but that does not make me a monster. I gave strict orders for the children to be left at your home. And as for the Negro, we allowed him to live, as well. I cannot tell you how strongly I disagree with your decision to allow your progeny to have close personal interactions with one of his kind, however. They are degenerates!”
“Josh is three times the man you’ll ever be,” Max said.
Dee stood staring at the Peregrine for a long moment, saying nothing. Max got the distinct impression that Dee was disappointed in him. “Eva, please leave us alone for a moment.”
The dark-haired temptress hesitated. If anyone other than Dee had asked her to leave them alone with the Peregrine, she would have told them they were insane. Even chained to the wall, he was a dangerous opponent. But Dee had proven himself again and again, so she said nothing as she exited the room. She paused to give Max one last look, wishing that his damned morals hadn’t been so strong. She would have loved to add his name to her list of lovers, but perhaps part of what made him so exciting was his refusal to bend to her charms.
When the two men were alone, Dee began speaking almost immediately. He clasped his gloved hands behind his back and paced back and forth slowly in front of the Peregrine. “We are currently steaming towards Europe, Herr Davies. The Fuehrer wants to see you personally. He considers you one of the most dangerous men in the world and I cannot disagree. Singlehandedly, you have dispatched numerous members of the OFP. Worse yet, you broke into the Fuehrer’s private offices and confronted him. The rumors of your exploits have spread like wildfire throughout Germany. With the tide of war turning against us, mein Fuehrer believes that publicly executing you will not only inspire our forces, but help demoralize yours.”
“I’m no public icon,” the Peregrine replied. “Even if you did kill me, it won’t change the fact that you’re going to lose the war.”
“You underestimate both your own importance and the impact of propaganda. While it is true that you do not dominate the News of the World film reels, your stories are fictionalized in print and there are movies inspired by your exploits. You are… a folk legend? I believe that is what you would call it.”
The Peregrine said nothing, instead trying to examine his cell in greater care. He didn’t hold out much hope of the ship being stopped by Allied naval forces… Dee seemed supremely confident that the steamer was going to successfully reach Germany, and Max found the man’s demeanor to be suggestive of one who covered every detail. If the Peregrine was going to be freed, it had to be either himself or Evelyn who engineered it, unless, the Claws team could somehow figure out what had happened.
The wrist restraints that held the Peregrine against the wall were tight but Max felt certain that given enough time, he could slip free… but then what? The room had only one obvious exit and it was kept locked from the outside. The walls were thick with metal plating, making it impossible to punch or cut through without specialized equipment, and Max was certain that his own weapons had been removed while he was unconscious.
“You can’t get free.”
Max looked up as Dee stood before him. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t take your word for that.”
Dee laughed and stepped back. “I’m surprised you haven’t peppered me with questions about who I really am… what my motivations are…”
“I don’t care. You’re a Nazi who empowers other Nazis. That’s all I need to know.”
“I’m far more than that, Mr. Davies.” Dee reached into a pocket on his coat and pulled forth Max’s signet ring. The image of the peregrine in flight that was etched on the surface of the stone seemed to flicker in response to an inner fire. “I know that this ring was forged from the heart of Nyarlathotep. You’ve used it to
brand the foreheads of your enemies, but I have far grander plans for it. I plan to use it to distill the spiritual essence of that chaotic being… and restore him to physical life!”
The Peregrine couldn’t hide his astonishment. “Why would you do that? He was the messenger for a race of Elder Gods. He was pure evil… if you think you’d be able to control him, you’re an absolute fool!”
“I know more about Nyarlathotep and his ilk than you ever will. What you killed was nothing more than the entity’s physical avatar, but it takes time for him to form a new one on Earth. He requires assistance to come back early. And though I won’t control him, I will be the recipient of his favors.”
“So you’re going to be reviving him while I’m being tortured by Hitler?”
Dee shook his head. “No, no… I plan to have him revived long before we reach Germany. We’ve already begun the early portions of the required ritual, in fact.” Dee turned away and moved to the door, opening it quickly. “I’ll be back for you soon, Mr. Davies. I’m fairly certain that you’ll want to bear witness to the rebirth of a god.”
CHAPTER XIII
Sharpening the Claws
The creature who had once been Daniel Cummings stared through muddy eyes at the lovely Makeeda, who lay with head flung back in Vincent’s arms. He remembered her quite clearly, but it was as if those memories had occurred to someone else, or at least in another lifetime. He shambled forward through the brackish waters, opening his mouth to utter the words “Makeeda… are… you… hurt?”
Let me handle this, Rachel said, mentally projecting her words to the other members of the Claws team. Revenant nodded quickly, turning her full attention towards Breen. The reaction of their leader led Vincent and Catalyst to do the same, though Nathaniel remained concerned about his wife’s safety.
Esper approached Cummings slowly, stepping off the platform and using her telekinesis to hover a few inches over the water. She had recognized the difficulty that Cummings seemed to have when he asked about his wife, and she had rightly assumed that she might have better luck talking to him mentally. “Mr. Cummings?” she said, projecting her thoughts in as soothing a manner as possible. “My name’s Rachel Caine. I’m here to help you.”
The swamp creature stared at her for a moment and Rachel briefly thought that Cummings was going to try and force his way past her. But then the beast drew up to its full height and responded to her, in a clear mental voice that seemed far more intelligent than the clumsy words he had expressed a moment before. “I need to make sure that Makeeda is safe.”
“She’s fine. I think she just fainted.”
“She… thinks me… a monster.”
“It was just… a shock.” Rachel probed a bit further, fascinated by how alien the man’s mind felt to her. He was still distinctly human, but there was no denying the fact that he had expressed a profound shift in his state of being. “You drank an immortality serum and it turned you into this?”
“Yes.”
“Is there a cure?”
“I never looked into that. I didn’t think it was necessary. Who would have thought you would need a cure for immortality? It never occurred to me that becoming immortal might bring with it so many physical changes.”
Esper pursed her lips and then asked the question that she’d been wondering about for the past several moments. “Do you want us to change you back? My husband’s a magician… he might be able to reverse this condition of yours.”
Cummings looked back at his wife, who was beginning to stir. “I am not sure… I feel so different. I know I love her but it seems so faint…”
While this conversation was taking place, Revenant had moved closer to Breen, Catalyst at her side. Vincent stayed back, protecting Makeeda, but he was ready to set the girl down at a moment’s notice so that he might help Sally.
“Listen, Breen,” Revenant began, holding her pistols at the ready. “None of us appreciate being threatened. If we choose to help you in any way—and that’s one hell of a big ‘if’—it will be because we choose to do it, not because we’re scared you’ll hurt us.”
Breen shrugged as if her views were not important to him. “I was merely speaking facts. All those who were transformed by our genius are bound to our will. I can control him by speaking in our native tongue.”
“Try it and you’ll end up with your arse in a sling,” Catalyst warned.
Revenant fought to keep the smirk off her face. “Nathaniel’s being a bit crude, but he’s on the mark.” Sally made a show of holstering her guns, hoping that the move would defuse the tension. “Look, we came here for two reasons: to stop Mr. Dee and to reunite Makeeda with her lover. We’ve done the former and we’re about to do the latter… though I have to admit, I don’t think this is the way that Makeeda thought the reunion was going to go.”
Breen looked at the Claws team, noting that Makeeda was beginning to stir. Cummings seemed to be engaged in some form of silent communication with the red-haired girl, leaving the rest of those assembled to their own affair. “As I said before, I do not believe the man you just vanquished was actually Mr. Dee. This man had the touch of madness about him, and when Cummings first confronted him, he accused this man of being a false Mr. Dee, an accusation that drove our deceased friend into a state of frenzy.”
Sally nodded at Nathaniel. “See if you can’t reach Max and tell him what’s going on. Let him know that we’re going to do what we can to help Cummings before we leave, and that we may or may not be bringing Breen back with us.”
As Catalyst stepped away, trying to raise the team’s mentor on the long-range radio, Breen moved closer to Revenant. His eyes were narrowed and it was obvious to one and all that he was beginning to lose patience with the entire exchange.
“I have given you my ultimatum. Either work with me… or I will find another who will give me what I desire.”
Revenant’s eyes narrowed behind her mask and she wondered how her father would have handled this. He’d been a good man, with a clearly defined sense of right and wrong. Sometimes Sally felt the world was increasingly seen in shades of gray and this made her job all the more difficult. But at her core, there was still a moral compass at work, and Sally found herself giving into it more and more often. “No. We won’t work with you. Even if you’re not genuinely evil, you’re certainly misguided. You’re willing to give away your knowledge to anyone, regardless of their intentions, in exchange for personal gratification and fame.”
Breen bared his teeth, which were far sharper than a normal man’s. “Very well… I see where this is going. Daniel Cummings! Kill these people! I command you!”
Revenant didn’t need to hear any more than that. She raised a well-muscled leg and drove it hard into Breen’s chest. The ancient staggered back. Breen lost his footing and fell facedown to the deck. Sally leaped upon him, slamming a knee into the back of the man’s neck. His forehead slammed against the wood and a pool of purple-blue blood began to ooze from the resulting wound.
Vincent tore himself away from the scene involving Sally and Breen. He hoped she could take care of herself and so he made sure that Makeeda was comfortable before jumping into the swampy water. Cummings had reacted instantly to his master’s command, raising both arms and slamming them into Rachel’s body. The blow knocked the red-haired girl sideways and she cried out as she hit the water, her right arm broken in at least three places.
Catalyst turned off his communicator, having failed to reach the Peregrine. He flew to his wife’s side, pulling her into his arms and immediately working to heal her wounds. “You okay, luv?” he asked tenderly.
Rachel responded with a mental caress and pushed free. She used her telekinesis to hold herself above the water. “He can’t help himself, Vincent! Be gentle with him!”
Frankenstein’s creation nodded his understanding but he wasn’t sure that he would be able to restrain the swamp beast without injuring him. Cummings lunged for Vincent and the sound of the impact echoed throughout the sw
amp and sent birds flying from their roosts. Vincent staggered under the powerful assault, returning punches that sank into the murky surface of Daniel’s body.
When Vincent struggled to pull his hands free, Cummings reached up and wrapped his arms around the creature’s head. The mud-like texture of Cummings’s skin began to spread around Vincent’s mouth and nose, sealing them shut. Though Vincent was in a perpetual state of un-life to his origins, he felt fear rush through him as he wasn’t sure how long he could continue without oxygen.
Thankfully, his teammates were there to help him. Esper projected a mental “spear” straight into Daniel’s mind while Catalyst wrapped mystical bonds around Vincent, pulling him slowly free from the mud monster’s grip.
Sally watched all of this with a bad taste in her mouth. She saw that Makeeda was crying, unable to wrap her mind around the horrors that were surrounding her. Revenant knew that what happened in the next few seconds could mean a lifetime of regret for the African girl… or it could save her sanity. Sally drew her pistol and placed the barrel of the gun against Breen’s head. “I’ll kill you unless you tell Cummings to back off.”
“I do not fear death,” Breen hissed. “Unlike you short-lived creatures, we have knowledge of the world beyond!”
“Really? So you’re willing to die with your secrets lost forever? No one will ever know who you were or what wonders your people created…”
That seemed to hit home and Sally knew she’d found Breen’s weakness. The man was an egotist and that was driving all his current actions. With an exaggerated sigh, Breen shouted to Cummings, telling him to cease his attack.
Daniel Cummings stepped back, his brain aching from Rachel’s psychic assault. He turned his gaze upon Makeeda, who was sliding towards him across the platform.
“Daniel? Is that really you?”
“It… is… me.”
Makeeda climbed down the ladder into the water and swam towards her lover, her lips broadening into a grin. She embraced him, not caring that he smelled of wet earth nor that he felt like moss-covered flesh.
