by Barry Reese
“Who is it?” Hochmuller demanded, trying to add steel to his voice. He didn’t quite succeed.
The reply came in German. “Open the door, Gottlieb. I don’t want to damage another of these.”
“Hjörþrimul,” Hochmuller said. He shook himself. “Why are you here? What do you want? Haven’t you gotten what you wanted?”
Eva leaned her cheek against the door and lowered her voice. It took on a husky quality that even someone like Hochmuller could not ignore. “Please let me in. I turned in that machine of yours to my employer and now I’m done with him. But I really need to be in the presence of another German right now. I am so lonely in this country. I brought some pastries. Can you smell them?”
Hochmuller’s nostrils flared. The scent was heavenly and reminded him instantly of home. He lowered his gun, considering. If she wanted to, she could easily break in, just as she had before. And talking to another Nazi, even one who had brutalized him only hours before, was quite enticing to Hochmuller.
The scientist opened the door and stepped back, bracing himself in case she attacked him. Eva gave him a cool smile and moved inside, looking around quickly. “Where’s your benefactor? Out walking the dog?”
Hochmuller shrugged. “No business of yours. What did you want to talk about?”
Eva handed him a small plate filled with pastries. “It occurred to me after I left my employer’s that you might have more goodies besides just that machine I was hired to get. I was thinking you and I could talk about how to best utilize them. We could sell them to the highest bidder or we could use them ourselves.”
“I already work for Garibaldi.” Hochmuller picked up a pastry and took a bite, savoring its sweetness.
“Yes. But he’s a disgusting American. And I am a German, like you. Doesn’t that account for something?”
“You betrayed the Fuehrer,” Hochmuller said between bites. “You were in contact with the Allies long before you finally fled Germany.”
“You’re right that I really don’t give a damn about politics. I want what’s best for me. It played into my interests to play both sides.”
“So why should I trust you?”
“Because we both want to survive, Gottlieb. Survive and prosper.”
Hochmuller shoved the rest of the pastry in his mouth, ignoring the crumbs that clung to his lips and chin. He sucked his fingers clean before moving on to another sweet treasure. “Did your boss not pay? Is that it? You need money?”
“Actually, I got more money than I’d bargained for. When I left his place, I was already thinking about how to spend it.”
Hochmuller studied her for a moment. “Then why are you here?”
Eva paused and for a moment Hochmuller wondered if the woman might actually break down and cry. But then he realized that he was mistaking the depth of her vulnerability: this was no ordinary fraulein. She was just as steadfast in her resolve as any man. When she spoke, her words were brittle and full of barely contained wrath. “I used to be on the top of my game. With the OFP, and immediately afterwards… but a few years back I lost my way. It was during that whole business with the Peregrine and Mr. Dee. Ever since then, I’ve drifted from job to job, but nothing fills the emptiness inside me.”
“I understand.”
Eva looked over at Hochmuller, who looked ridiculous holding his plate of pastries, his face shiny with spit and frosting. “Do you?”
“Yes. For me, it began with the fall of the Reich. I fled the country like a terrified Jew, when only months before I felt like an übermensch. Now I live like a slave, offering my services to a man who is not nearly my equal.”
Eva nodded. “Then tell me, Gottlieb… do you have any more of those devices?”
Hochmuller set aside the pastry dish and began nodding, leading her down to his laboratory. “I have several things I’ve been working on, some that not even Mr. Garibaldi knows about. New kinds of nerve gas weapons, a death ray, many things! It’s all very exciting!”
“And that’s all of it?”
Hochmuller nodded, pulling several boxes out of the closet. They were filled with tubes, beakers, and odd metal machines. “Yes. I’m ready to travel immediately. Between the two of us, we can carry all of it.”
“Or one of us could make multiple trips to the car.”
Hochmuller blinked. “Well, yes, but why would…”
The sound of a gun being cocked made him pause. He turned to see Eva pointing a revolver at his face.
“I’m sorry, Gottlieb, but it occurred to me after leaving my last employer that you can never have too much money… and if I can get all that for just one of your machines, imagine how much more I could get for several boxes of them.”
“But you said that we could…”
“I lied.”
“You don’t have to kill me. You can just take them.”
Eva seemed to consider her options. Then she shrugged in as cute a manner as possible. “No. I think I’ll kill you and then take them.”
She pulled the trigger and Hochmuller’s skull exploded in a cloud of crimson and gray.
* * *
Revenant couldn’t help but smile as she and her teammates emerged from the elevator onto Garibaldi’s apartment floor. Along with Catalyst, Esper, and Vincent, she’d just strolled through the heart of Century Tower before stepping onto the elevator. No one—not even the elevator attendant—paid them the least bit of attention. As the doors closed behind them, Sally turned to Nathaniel and Rachel. “Okay, which of you did it? Were we invisible?”
Esper grinned. “It was me. And no, we weren’t invisible. I just affected the minds of anyone who looked at us—made them think we were building inspectors or something. Someone too important for anyone to stop and ask what we were doing.”
“Amazing,” Sally said. She was about to lead the way towards Garibaldi’s door when Vincent put a hand on her arm, stopping her. “What’s wrong?”
The gentle giant shook his head. “I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right.”
Esper cast out with her mind, letting her telepathic powers run free. She immediately found Hochmuller’s mind, filled with confusion and then mounting fear. And there was another mind, there, one filled with darkness. “Oh no,” she whispered.
A gunshot rang out and Esper cried out in shock and pain. Her husband caught her as she swayed on her feet but she quickly pushed him away. “I was in his mind… when she killed him,” she whispered.
Revenant pulled out one of her revolvers. “Who? Garibaldi?”
“No… a German scientist. She shot him in the head. He’s dead.”
Catalyst moved forward, taking the lead. “Let me go first. I’ve prepped a few defensive spells.”
Revenant let the team’s mage move in front of her. She followed closely at his heels, followed by Vincent and Esper, who brought up the rear. “Any clue as to who we’re facing here?” Sally asked, casting a glance back at Esper.
“Yes. It’s Eva. The German girl who popped up during our very first mission.”
Vincent raised an eyebrow. “The one whose shirt kept falling open?”
“Stop it,” Rachel said, a tinge of jealousy in her tone. Sally found this curious until she realized that Rachel was probably reacting to her husband’s thoughts, not Vincent’s words.
The door to the apartment opened, allowing Eva to step out into the hall. She held a box full of electronic equipment in her hands but she dropped it quickly to the floor, using her enhanced reactions to move almost faster than the human eye could follow. In the space of a second, she’d drawn two weapons: her whip, which she cracked with her right hand, and three small metallic balls that she squeezed with the fingers of her left hand.
The whip snapped through the air, cutting so closely to both Catalyst and Revenant that they instinctively ducked aside. Eva’s true target was Esper, and the telepath screamed as the whip wrapped around her neck. Eva yanked on it hard, pulling Rachel forward and causing her to tumble into Reve
nant. The two women hit the ground even as Eva threw the metal spheres with all her might at Catalyst. The strange weapons struck the magician in the chest and shattered upon impact, releasing a mind-numbing gas that quickly left him staggering about, his thoughts lost in a haze.
Vincent watched in shock, still unable to break himself free of the awe that had washed over him. Eva was running forward now, driving her boot down onto the back of Sally’s head, slamming the girl’s skull into the floor. With Rachel still struggling to breathe and Nathaniel on his knees, coughing, there was only one member of the Claws team left standing between Eva and freedom.
Vincent took a deep breath and set his frightening visage into an expression of pure rage. He didn’t like seeing any of his friends hurt, but especially not Sally. “Give up,” he said between clenched teeth. “Give up or I swear you’ll regret it.”
Eva was momentarily bereft of weapons, though the pistol she’d used to kill Hochmuller with lay holstered on her hip. She leaned forward slightly, allowing her shirt to gap open a bit more. Vincent’s eyes caught the intended sight: her full cleavage straining against the garment, giving the impression that one or both of her breasts were about to spring into view. “I heard you were dead,” she said.
“I got better.”
“Good to know… Look. We don’t have to be enemies. I could use a big man like you… in lots of ways. Come with me and forget the Peregrine and his little games. I’ll certainly pay you better than he ever could.”
“You’re a criminal. And you hurt the people I care about.”
Eva held her hands up, as if in surrender. “But I’ve studied all of you. I decided after my last encounter with the Peregrine that I wouldn’t come back to Atlanta unless I knew exactly how to deal with him and each of his friends. That’s why I was able to take the others out so quickly. I’ve rehearsed this moment hundreds of times.”
“You haven’t taken me out.”
“Not yet. I wanted to make my offer first.”
Vincent snarled and lunged for her, massive hands outstretched. Eva dropped to knees and threw her hands up, allowing Vincent’s momentum to carry him over her head and onto his back. She then whirled about, drawing her pistol. She’d planned to shoot Vincent in the head at point-blank range, knowing that even his prodigious strength wouldn’t save him from that.
Unfortunately for her, Vincent moved remarkably quickly for such a big man. He grabbed her ankle from his prone position and gave it a yank, causing her to fall and join him on her back. Eva kicked out with her free boot, repeatedly cracking her heel against Vincent’s head. She tried to take aim while sitting up but found she was unable to continue her attacks and steady her shot.
Deciding on a different tack, Eva drew her foot back, arching her toes so that her foot passed out of the boot. She then hurriedly made it back to her feet while Vincent tried to do the same. She saw that he was a bit unsteady and knew that her kicks had slowed him somewhat. She hurried back to the elevator and pressed the button, summoning it back to her floor. Vincent reached up and held the sides of his head, shaking it as if to clear it from the cobwebs. He caught sight of Rachel and noticed that her face was turning blue—the whip was so tightly coiled around her throat that she couldn’t breathe.
Vincent knelt and grabbed hold of the whip, his muscles straining as he ripped the cord apart. His teammate gasped in huge lungfuls of air and Vincent looked up, ready to renew his fight with Eva. What he saw was the elevator door closing while Eva stood within, waving to him. The attendant lay on the floor of the elevator, a bruise on his forehead.
Vincent uttered a curse under his breath. Eva van der Vaart had escaped and made the Claws team look like fools in the process.
* * *
Miss Masque stepped out from the backseat of the Peregrine’s modified roadster and let out a low whistle. “Max, you must be a genius. Even sitting inside this thing, you could barely hear the engine. It’s no louder than a cat’s purr!”
The Peregrine smiled at his new teammate, already taking a liking to her. The hunger that was flaming up in his belly made him seem a little tense, but he tried to project an aura of welcoming to the others. “Thanks. I’m pretty proud of her. She gets incredible gas mileage, too.”
“How fast can she go?” Tim asked, running a hand along the hood of the ebony vehicle.
The Peregrine was about to answer when the Flame pointed to the top floor of the Peachtree Hotel. “Look at that,” Gary Preston said. Smoke was billowing out from the upper rooms and several red-and-orange flames were poking through the open windows.
“Fire’s your specialty, isn’t it?” the Black Terror asked.
The Flame nodded. “It sure is. You guys get inside and make sure the buildings evacuated. I’ll handle the blaze.”
“By yourself? That’s suicide,” the Black Terror warned.
Tim touched his mentor’s arm, a broad grin on his youthful face. “Let the man work, Bob. He’s been doing this awhile now.”
The Flame stared at the rapidly spreading fire above and then he was gone, vanished in the blink of an eye.
“That’s amazing!” Bob whispered.
The Peregrine was already bounding up the stairs into the hotel, Miss Masque quick on his heels. The two Terrors brought up the rear and the foursome attracted quite a bit of attention from the men and women in the lobby. The Peregrine took charge, barking out orders like he’d been born to lead: “Everyone needs to get outside! There’s a fire on the top floor! Evacuate everyone! Now!”
The desk clerk paused for only a second but as the Terrors began running up the stairs, he looked into the Peregrine’s eyes and nodded. He activated the building’s PA system and quickly alerted everyone to the danger.
Miss Masque propped open the front doors, helping maintain some sense of order as the hotel guests began streaming out in large numbers. The Peregrine followed the Terrors upstairs, grateful that he was in peak physical condition. The stairs were long and winding, being more than enough to leave most men gasping for breath. But the Peregrine and the Terrors made it just fine, bursting onto the top floor, where they saw something truly amazing: the Flame was standing in the midst of the fires, which were dancing about as if under his complete control. One by one, he pointed at them with his scarlet gloves and the flames died out.
The Black Terror stared openmouthed for a moment before his own research came back to him. Before Tim had disappeared, he’d been compiling lists of mystery men and women, cataloging their powers and origins. Gary Preston was not only able to teleport into open flame, but he could control it as well, bending it to his will.
When the situation was contained, the Flame turned to his friends and gave them a sheepish grin. He seemed to be almost embarrassed by his abilities. “I think I’ve contained the fire itself, but we still have a problem.”
The Peregrine moved through the still-smoking room, fanning the air in front of his face. He thought about retrieving the ultra-thin air filtration mask he kept in his jacket but elected not to. It stank to high heaven but Max didn’t think he was at any risk from the smoke inhalation, not with all the windows thrown open already by Gary. “What’s the other problem?” he asked.
The Flame gestured into one of the rooms. This one had been mostly untouched by the fire, which was the only reason the hotel was still standing. Four stacks of explosives were lying against the walls, wired together. The Peregrine took one quick examination of them and realized the cruel and calculating nature of the design: the only way to disarm the explosives was to disconnect the wires on each one in turn. A mistake on one would detonate all. A small timer attached to the explosives showed slightly less than three minutes remaining.
“Why set a fire if he just planned to blow up the building?” Tim asked.
“The flames were supposed to destroy evidence that had been left behind,” Gary replied. “And it did its job very well. The explosives… I don’t know.”
“He’s playing with us,” M
ax whispered, still staring at the wiring. “That’s the only explanation. He left this here so that we could try to figure it out.”
The Black Terror knelt at the Peregrine’s side. “And can we?”
Max sighed. He thought over the skill sets of each of his teammates. If Esper or Catalyst were here, he might have them physically transport the explosives to another site… but of the people who were here, he was probably best equipped to deal with this. “I think so. But I want everyone besides me out of the building. That includes the rest of you.”
“No.”
It was Tim who spoke, and Max craned his head to look at the youth, who stood with arms folded over his chest. “There’s no need to risk more than one person,” Max said.
“If we’re teammates, that means we’re in this together. Besides, if there is an explosion, both Bob and I are tough enough to be able to withstand it. And Gary can contain any fireballs that spring up.”
The Black Terror smiled, enjoying the fact that his ward was speaking up for solidarity. “Don’t waste any more time, Max. Get to work.”
The Peregrine nodded, seeing no point in prolonging things. His eyes took in the multi-colored wires, noting that there were three wires on each charge: one green, one red, and one yellow. These had to be removed in the correct order and Max forced himself to go slow, not wanting to make a mistake. He ignored the timer, which continued steadily counting down to their mutual destruction.
Max figured out the pattern on the first charge, plucking out first the yellow, then the green, and finally the red. The second unit was identical to the first and was thus quick work. But the third had a different arrangement and precious time was lost while the Peregrine figured it out. By the time he’d moved on to the final charge, there were less than fifteen seconds remaining.
“We’re in trouble,” Max said, standing up.
“Let me take care of it,” the Black Terror shouted, knocking the Peregrine aside in his haste. He grabbed hold of the explosive and held it tight against his body, sprinting from the room. He made it down the corridor and nearly into the stairwell before the counter hit zero. The explosive force slammed into his superhumanly dense body, knocking the air from his lungs and reducing his uniform to tatters. His flesh sizzled and he cried out in pain but he held on tight, muffling the bomb’s effects with his own body.
