by Mark Spaid
“The receptionist,” Julieta said and ran to the front where the woman was on the radio but before she could say anything Julieta shot the radio to pieces. The woman stood with her hands up trembling as Julieta held the gun on her.
“What happened?” Little Wolf said as Tatiana and Sol came upstairs.
“I had to persuade them,” Tatiana said. “Sol’s hurt pretty bad.”
“What’d they do, Sol?” Dave asked as he held Sol up from falling down. There were bruises, and lacerations on his face and he was dragging his right foot.
“Don’t ask, let’s get out of here.”
“Has she called for help?” Tatiana asked as they met Julieta at the front desk.
“No,” Julieta said.
“But you will when we leave,” Tatiana said and pointed her revolver at the woman who cowered in fear.
“Please don’t kill me I won’t do anything. I just want to get away from here.” Tatiana cocked the trigger.
“Tatiana, don’t,” Dave said as he touched her shoulder.
“We can’t leave any witnesses.”
“If you kill her then we’re no better than the Nazis,” Dave said.
“We’re always better than those monsters. Look at what they did to Sol.”
“Tatiana, don’t harm her. Dave’s right; we have to stand for something and killing a helpless woman is not it,” Sol said. She turned and looked at Sol.
“Okay. Get out and don’t look back.” The woman was off in an instant, ran down the street and didn’t stop until she got home ten blocks away. When she arrived, she locked the door then peeked out the front window but saw nothing.
“We need to use the delivery car for Mr. Sol,” Little Wolf said.
“But they’ll find it,” Dave said.
“I’ll let you guys off at the woods then I’ll take the car back downtown.” They got in and took off.
“What happened, Sol?” Dave asked as he looked at the facial cuts and bruises.
“I tried to be Sol Reynolds as you suggested.”
“I take it that didn’t work,” Dave said.
“They traced me back to Penn State and found my real name. Ostweiller was sharp. They couldn’t understand how I was even alive let alone a university professor.”
“Then they took it out on you.”
“Yes, they wanted to know what we were doing in the lab.”
“And, you wouldn’t tell them so they tuned you up” Julieta said.
“I guess you could call it that.”
“Here we are,” Little Wolf said. “Get deep in the woods and I’ll be back as soon as I can. We may have to go cross country for a time. They’re going to be hopping mad when they see what happened at the SS Station.”
“But will you be able to find us?” Dave asked.
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem, Mr. Dave.
“Right. Sorry, I forget for a moment it was you, Little Wolf. Be careful,” Dave said as they got out.
“I’ll hurry.”
“See you back here, Brave,” Julieta said.
“You bet,” he said and drove away quickly.
“Hey, they’re here and they have Sol,” Justin said.
“Where’s Little Wolf,” Jozette said when she noticed he was gone.
“He’s ditching the car,” Julieta answered. Jozette looked at Andy and they both gave sighs of relief.
“How’d you get Sol out?” Lexi asked.
“We’ll explain later,” Dave said as he nodded towards the girls.
“Okay,” Lexi said, picking up the gesture.
“There’s blood on your arm, Julieta,” Belinda said.
“It’s not mine...things got confusing.”
“We’re supposed to go deeper into the woods,” Dave said, recognizing the lull in conversational impetus brought on by Julieta’s remark about the blood and also the need to get moving as Little Wolf told them.
“I agree, let’s take off,” Justin said and they brought what stores they had and left. They pushed deeper into the woods and it became more treacherous. Brambles, thick underbrush and frequent large holes slowed them down but they weren’t moving very fast anyway because of Sol. They came to a stream; a small river to be more exact.
“Wait, I’ll check,” Julieta said and waded up to her waist. Then made it to the other side. “Not bad the current is only slight.
“Justin you and I can go over and Andy and Tatiana can hand everyone over,” Dave said. They came over one at a time, except Melanie who Paulita held onto, then Mallory, Dixie, Jessica, Darcy and the adults. Dave helped Sol, who was not young and was injured from the beating he endured. They rested for ten minutes on the other side. In the distance they could her the faint sounds of sirens...many sirens, so they knew the events at the SS Station had been discovered.
“Hello,” Little Wolf said as he joined them.
“We heard the sirens,” Justin said.
“Yes, they’re on the warpath. I saw a dozen people clubbed over the head and a few were shot because they couldn’t tell them anything.”
“Brave, I’m going to wash off this makeup. I don’t want to be white anymore…no offense,” Julieta said and Justin and Dave chuckled.
“Me too,” Little Wolf said and they both went to the river and cleaned up.
“Do we keep moving?” Dave asked.
“I think so, for now,” Tatiana said. “Little Wolf?”
“I agree but we can move at a slower pace. We’re about four miles from the city and if we keep moving, we’ll be near another town. We want to avoid populations at all costs for now. There’ll be warnings on the radio and there are people who’d gladly turn us in for the reward and the notoriety.”
“What now, Love?” Dave asked. “You’re in charge.”
“You recall, I hope that I never asked for the job.”
“We know that, Miss Tatiana. You were drafted,” Little Wolf replied.
“Things are hot for now but they’ll calm down in a few days. They’ll re-staff the SS station and things will return to normal. We still need to communicate with Warren and see where he is on the weapon and for the trip back in time,” Tatiana explained.
“I’ll go tonight and check in with Warren.”
“Won’t that be risky with the heightened security,” Justin posed.
“Yes, but it’s necessary. We have to know what’s going on if we’re to correct the Time Frame,” Little Wolf said.
“Wait…wait a minute, let’s look at this thing carefully,” Justin said.
“What is it, Justin?” Andy asked.
“Okay, they’re looking for Dave, Tatiana, Sol and a young white man and young white woman.”
“So,” Andy said.
“But are they looking for us?” Justin wondered.
“What about escaping from the tractor-trailer?” Jozette asked.
“That was in the other Time Frame,” Dave said. “Justin, I think you might be onto something.”
“But we don’t know they’re not looking for all of us,” Jozette posed.
“When I was in the café spying on the SS station the news was on…constantly. A 24-hour news station and they never mentioned that there were characters like us on the run. There were several fugitive reports and they had pictures but nothing about us escaping from the tractor-trailer,” Ariel explained.
“Maybe were not on their radar,” Dave said.
“I don’t know, we’d be taking a chance, especially with so many of us together,” Jozette said.
“I’ll go check on the houses and see if they’re being watched,” Little Wolf said.
“No, I will. I’ll check mine. If Theresa and Robert are still there then I’ll know it’s alright,” Ariel said.
“You’ll be seen walking down the street, Ariel, with the extra patrols,” Lexi said.
“But I won’t be on the street.”
“Are you going to fly through the trees?” Andy asked.
“Would that I could. No,
I remember as a child that behind my house there are the woods and there’s a trail that leads to the river. I used to sneak out and go down there to watch the river.”
“You liked to watch the river?” Andy asked.
“I could tell you about my childhood sometime, Andy and you’d see that watching the water go by was exciting for me.” Jozette gave Andy a look.
“Sorry, Ariel”
“Forget it, I’ll get going and be back as soon as possible.”
“I’ll go with you and help you cross the river,” Little Wolf said.
“Thanks, and I’d suggest that Belinda white you and Julieta up so when I get back, we can take off for my house.” She left and went through the woods gingerly as she was hardly an outdoors girl. She’d gone about three miles when two SS officers ordered her to stop and she put up her hands. They’d come into the woods looking for anyone who might be suspicious. At first glance Ariel looked as harmless as a bunny and in a way she was but in a way she wasn’t.
“What’re you doing out here?” An officer asked.
“Taking a walk.”
“Why?”
“Doctor’s orders.”
“Explain.”
“You can probably stop pointing your guns at me, unless you think I’m a threat.” They put their guns away.
“Okay, tell us why you’re out here walking.”
“I’ll be blunt. I’m in very bad health. Rheumatic Fever as a child left me with a weak heart. I need mild exercise according to my doctor and he suggested walking every day.”
“I see, well, you need to come with us. We’re rounding up anyone not in their homes for questioning.”
“Very well, I’ll…” Ariel started then fell to ground and propped herself on one hand sitting. “I think I’m having an attack.”
“Can I help you up?” The officer said.
“Yes, please. He knelt down and took Ariel by the arm. In an instant she stabbed him in the neck with a hairpin that she had kept back. Without hesitation she grabbed his pistol, jumped to her feet and stuck the gun on the other guy’s chest and fired. There was very little noise since the barrel was touching the victim. They were both dead; Ariel kept the pistol and the hairpin then had to decide what to do with the bodies. An hour later she arrived at the back of her house. She let herself in the back door and was met by Theresa.
“Miss Ariel, are you okay; you look flushed.
“I’m fine, is Robert here?”
“Of course.”
“Miss Ariel, I heard a noise in the back,” Robert said.
“Robert, have the SS Patrols been by here?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“What’d they want?”
“They asked where you were. I told them you were out for the evening.”
“Were they satisfied?”
“I think so. They didn’t ask any more questions and left.”
“Where’ve you been, Miss Ariel?” Theresa asked. “And, what have you been doing. Is that blood on your arm and shirt?”
“It belongs to someone else..”
“I guess we should leave it at that,” Robert said.
“Yes, we should. Now, I’m going back to get my friends…all of them. About twenty, I think…I’ve lost count since we were abducted.”
“We were so scared, Miss Ariel,” Theresa said.
“So was I but we’re okay now. What I need you to do is to make up all the guest rooms.”
“All twelve of them?” Robert asked. They had never done that before.
“Yes, all of them. Clean the bathrooms. When we get here, they’ll be hungry and thirsty. We’ll be here for a few days and the important thing is that no one can suspect anyone else is living here but the three of us.”
“We’ll take care of everything, Miss Ariel,” Theresa said. Robert had already left to start making up the rooms.
“I’m leaving now.”
“Be careful, Miss Ariel.”
“I will…see you in a few hours.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“The last funeral was today,” Captain Sherloff said to a party member who’d come to the North SS Patrol Station. Richard Berg was a party administrator from Indianapolis. After the massacre and break out of the prisoners the Fuehrer was notified and was understandably furious. The perpetrators had to be caught and punished for the whole world to see.
“Sir, a car is out front, a lieutenant said as he pointed out the window. It was a VIP limousine. A man got out of the front and opened the back door. Out stepped a fully decorated colonel. His manner and swagger suggested that he was sent here to get things under control.
“Sir,” Sherloff said as the colonel stepped inside and looked around.
“Who’s in charge here?” The colonel asked.
“I am sir,” Sherloff said.
“Have the people responsible been found?”
“No, sir, we’ve instituted a full…” Sherloff said and was met with a hard slap across his face.
“I don’t want excuses. I want the people who killed the SS officers and Major Ostweiller.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m Colonel von Laden from Midwest SS headquarters in Chicago. I’m here to straighten out this mess, find the killers and teach this town a lesson about resisting The Greater Reich.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m Richard Berg from the midwestern party branch.”
“I know who you are, Berg. Another pencil pusher from the party. You’ll do no good here. Might as well go back and sit at your desk,” von Laden snapped.
“I’m merely here to offer my assistance.”
“And what assistance could you possibly offer that would help?”
“I don’t know, Colonel. I was sent here just like you. The party has a role in this as well and you shouldn’t forget that.”
“I won’t but stay out of our way. Now, Captain, have you any leads?”
“We know who they are. They escaped from party members during the incident.”
“I see but you haven’t apprehended them?”
“No sir.”
“Is it true that two of them are scientists who helped Peabody solve the UFT?”
“Yes, sir.”
“We need to start taking hostages. Take twenty-five high profile people. If they don’t talk, we’ll start shooting them.”
“What if they don’t know anything?”
“When we start shooting them one at a time, someone will come forward. They always do.”
“Yes, sir. Karr!” Sherloff called out
“Yes, sir, Lieutenant Karr said as he stood at attention.
“Lieutenant, gather a squad of ten in five cars and begin taking hostages.”
“Who sir?”
“People of significance. The mayor, a judge, priests, doctors, school teachers, etc.”
“How many, sir?”
“Twenty-five. Bring them here…we have room downstairs.”
“Yes, sir,” Karr said and took off.
“I’ll make my office in Major Ostweiller’s office,” Colonel von Laden said. Have it cleared out and prepared for me when I get back.”
“Yes, sir.” Von Laden left and his car drove away. Sherloff let out a deep sigh and shook his head. Then he gave the order to clear the office and supervised Karr in preparing for the hostage run.
“We’re ready, Captain,” Karr said.
“Very well, take who you need and get back here.”
“Can I help you?” A woman asked as she answered the door to the mayor’s house.
“Where’s the mayor?” Karr asked.
“The mayor and his wife are eating supper. I can’t disturb their meal,” the woman said.
“Then we will,” Karr said as he and another guy pushed past the maid and into the dining room.
“What’re you doing?” Mayor Louis Miles asked.
“You’re under arrest, Mr. Mayor,” Karr said and the other guy cuffed the mayor.
“You can’t
arrest him, he’s the mayor. I won’t let you take him,” his wife said and stood nose to nose with Karr.
“Take her too.” The Mayor and his wife were escorted to a car and driven away.
“Alright, let’s take the judge and anyone who gets in our way,” A lieutenant said to his partner.
“Yes,” an elderly man said as he opened the front door to two, armed SS men.
“Come with us, your honor. If you go peacefully, then there’ll be no trouble,” The lieutenant said.
“Get off my porch,” the judge said and shoved the lieutenant backwards and he stumbled and fell. The other man slammed the butt of his gun into the side of the judge’s head and he fell down bleeding.
“I told you to go peaceful, Judge,” the lieutenant said as he cuffed the judge and they left for another house. It took three hours but they had twenty-five people all incarcerated in the basement of the North SS Patrol Station.
“Who do you have?” Colonel von Laden asked as he stood at the front counter.
“Judge Landon, the mayor, Father Brandon, a school principal, four teachers, two ministers, three doctors and various other leaders of the community,” Captain Sherloff answered
“Well done, Captain. Now, let’s go talk to them.” They went downstairs and the twenty-five were handcuffed and in chairs lining the room.
“This is Colonel von Laden…give him your attention,” Captain Sherloff said.
“We have a situation here and you people can help me with it. A few days ago, prisoners murdered all of the officers in this facility and fled. You people are hostages to their crime. We need to know where they are, how to find them and very quickly. If you do not know personally then you must know someone who would know. If you can’t help me then you’ll be shot. We’ll execute one person every day until the murderers are under arrest again.
“But we did nothing,” the mayor said.
“I know but you can help us capture these people and that you will do or die.” There was stunned silence but no one said anything.
“Speak up…who knows where we can find these people!” Sherloff snapped and more silence,
“Very well, I’ll give you until morning then we’ll ask you again,” von Laden said and left along with Sherloff to go upstairs.
“This is like World War II. An act of sabotage would bring arrests then they’d start shooting the hostages until they got what they wanted,” a young teacher said.
