The Eve of Abounding Wickedness

by Mark Spaid

  The Particle Beam Weapon Sight

  2020

  “Dr. Peabody, we’re ready for the attack on the rebel camp in Romania,” Kleinschmidt relayed through his radio.

  “Very well, here goes,” Warren said and prepared to fire across the world to Eastern Europe. “Okay, Warren, this is your chance to prove you’re…what? What am I trying to be here today?” He said to himself as he readied the weapon. “Whatever it is, I need to do it now and there’ll be no turning back once I start.” The weapon began to hum and as Warren engaged the laser shot out a bright red and the Nazis watched. Across the globe in Romania, Felix Lascar and Daria Galca were planning a raid on a supply depot the next day. It wasn’t ammunition; they were short of food, very short and children were hungry. As they checked the map there was a flash and a truck about a half mile away blew up…no not blew up but simply disappeared. It’d been parked on a small hill at the edge of their camp and now it was gone but where? All the people rushed out of their barracks and tents to check the noise. It was an old truck that didn’t work anymore and they’d moved it away from camp just to get rid of it. Felix looked at Daria not having a clue as to what happened.

  “Was it a bomb?” Daria asked.

  “I don’t know” Felix replied. After a few minutes Felix, Daria and a few others ventured out and walked up to where the truck used to be.

  “It simply disappeared,” Daria said.

  “This is weird,” a man said and they looked at each other.

  “Let’s get back to the others,” Felix said and they returned to camp.

  “We have a drone checking the site,” Kleinschmidt said as they stood around waiting for the result; to see if they could fire half-way around the world and hit something. Of course, they knew they could after the attack on the Filipino rebels but could they keep doing it? “We’ll know in a moment.” Kleinschmidt was on his phone to Romanian Nazi headquarters in Bucharest. “Yes, what happened? Oh, okay.” He put his cell away and turned to the others including the Fuehrer. “It missed by a half mile.”

  “So, the boy wonder isn’t so great after all,” Rutherford said as they all looked towards the control room where Warren was strapped into his seat.

  “Wright, tell the guards to take Dr. Peabody into custody,” Rutherford said as he stood with hands on hips. Warren knew that Kleinschmidt would be on the phone to Romania and would find out what happened very soon. The guards received the message and moved towards Warren with their rifles leveled in case he resisted. The control chair was a tall one and Warren was very short so as the guards approached they could only see the back of the chair as it moved from side to side slightly.

  “Dr. Peabody, you need to stand up and put your hands in the air,” one of the guards commanded but Warren didn’t stand up. The guards looked at each other as they kept walking towards the chair. “Dr. Peabody, I tell you again, stand up and put your hands in the air,” the guard said more forcefully but no response from Warren. They reached the chair and swung it around. It was empty. Warren had been moving the chair with a piece of twine tied to the arm. Of the chair. The wily physicist was under the control panel and didn’t wait. He fired a shot at each guard; he hit the first one in the head and the second in the chest. The first one was dead but the second was still moaning. Warren finished him with one between the eyes. The shots were heard on the outside and he knew he didn’t have long. Jumping in the control chair he manned the controls and selected the next set of coordinates.

  “Okay, Warren, don’t chicken out. God, if you’re up there and you really did create everybody then help me save them…the good ones.” He energized the laser and fired at his target. In one second the beam wiped out every single Nazi who was outside from Rutherford on down to the last guard. Warren got up and looked out the window, saw the results and smiled. “I’m glad you’re dead, Kleinschmidt. I never liked you or the rest of those goons.” Returning to the control chair he took a deep breath and prepared for a high-tech skeet shoot. The difference being, you feel sorry for the clay pigeons. He had over two-hundred targets from all over the world selected and he hit them all. Every Nazi headquarters and main office; Berlin, Paris, London, Moscow, Tokyo, Sydney, Chicago, New York, Indianapolis and a hundred others. He thought about hitting the SS patrol stations in Bloomington but they always had prisoners so he scratched that idea. When it was over the entire Nazi world-wide communication and control network was demolished but there were still millions of Nazis on the planet, including the SS officers and men in Bloomington alone. Now, Tatiana and her team had to be successful. “Well, I finally did some killing that won’t bother my conscience.” He went to the control panel and made some entries. Punching in numbers he set the weapon up for self-destruction. By reversing the polarity, he was essentially aiming the weapon at itself and it was set it to blow in five minutes. After he hit the execute button he took off running, which for him was a kind of truncated race-walking. He wasn’t sure how far the damage might spread and he wasn’t suicidal. “Okay, I’ve done my part, now Tatiana and her gang have to do theirs.”

  The Berghoff

  “You need to come with us; Reichsfuehrer Himmler has heightened security since an SS officer was killed on the property two days ago,” Captain Shellhause said.

  “What does that have to do with us?” One of the men asked. They still hadn’t noticed that one of them was missing.

  “Everything; it turns out the killer was a man admitted without proper credentials,” Captain Shellhause said.

  “Very well, here are our papers,” Matthews said. Captain Shellhause and Tom looked things over.

  “What’s your mission here?”

  “To speak to Minister Goering.”

  “Why?”

  “We have information that’ll help the Reich in its future plans for conquest in Europe.”

  “What plans? What do you know?” Captain Shellhause asked.

  “Nothing but we have some advice?”

  “What makes you qualified to give advice to the Minister?” Captain Shellhause was stalling. They needed to have the three in a more secluded area.

  “We’re not qualified necessarily, it’s just that we think the Fuehrer may be acting recklessly.”

  “You dare to say that about our Fuehrer,” Captain Shellhause said and pulled his revolver and pointed it at the neck of the leader of the three men. “Come with us and he and Tom led them away from the front to the back of the property in a grove of trees. Tatiana was following and so was Little Wolf. Belinda was hiding behind a tree, which was just as well.

  “Where’re we going?” One of the men asked.

  “To see Reichsfuehrer Himmler,” Captain Shellhause explained.

  “Well, where is he?” Matthews asked.

  “Hey, where’s Bobby?” One of the men asked finally realizing they were one short.

  “He was with us through the gate,” another said.

  “You did this,” Matthews said glaring at Captain Shellhause.

  “No, it was me,” Little Wolf said as he approached from the rear.

  “Who are you?”

  “Not your friend.” Little Wolf stabbed Matthews in the neck and Captain Shellhause and Tatiana slit another guys throat. Tom and the third guy were wrestling and just as Tom stabbed him the guy stabbed Tom with a knife he had. The guy rolled over dead and Tom held his right leg.

  “My leg, it’s bad,” Tom said as Captain Shellhause helped him to his feet. “I’m shot in the leg and now stabbed. I need to get a metal leg like Warren; it might hurt less.”

  “What happened?” Belinda asked as she came running up to them.

  “They’re all dead,” Tatiana said.

  “What’s going on here?” An SS officer asked as he came walking with his revolver drawn.

  “These three were here to attack the Fuehrer. Tom here, figured it out and we stopped them,” Captain Shellhause said.

  “Okay, let’s tell Reichsfuehrer Himmler.” Tom and Little Wolf look
ed at Tatiana who shook her head no.

  “We have to leave,” Little Wolf said and broke the officer’s neck from behind and when he fell to the ground they took off. Tom was limping as they made it to the gate.

  “What happened?” A guard asked.

  “The clumsy fool tripped over a fallen limb in the back yard and cut his leg. We’ll take care of him,” Captain Shellhause said.

  “Hey! Stop those people!” An SS officer screamed as he came running down the lane to the gate. Tatiana slugged one guard over the head with her gun, Captain Shellhause stabbed the other in the throat then they took off. They ran down the street with Tom limping and moaning in pain.

  “We need a vehicle,’ Captain Shellhause said and Little Wolf began checking cars for keys and finally found one.

  “Here,” he shouted and they all got in and Little Wolf drove away rapidly as two SS men on motorcycles followed close on their bumper.

  “We need to get out of here and into the hills,” Captain Shellhause said.

  “They’re coming,” Belinda said as the two motorcycles were running up to each side of the car.

  “Their guns are drawn” Tom said as he looked back still holding his leg.

  “So is mine,” Tatiana said as she waited for the guy to get closer. In a moment they were even with the car and motioned for Little Wolf to stop. He kept going and they both had their guns pointed at the car. Tatiana was hiding below the window and waiting.

  “Now,” Captain Shellhause said and she raised and fired two shots hitting the driver in the shoulder and left hand. It didn’t matter, as he ran off the road and turned over his motorcycle. As the second SS man approached on the passenger side Little Wolf jerked the wheel and the car knocked the motorcycle off the road and down an incline,

  “I don’t see anyone else coming after us,” Belinda said.

  “They’ll be searching once they count the bodies,” Tatiana said.

  “She’s right, we need to get rid of this car,” Captain Shellhause said.

  “How will we get back to America?” Tatiana asked.

  “One step at a time.”

  “Shall we hitchhike across Germany?” Tatiana asked.

  “No, I’d say train or bus,” Tom said.

  “But they’ll be watching those closely,” Captain Shellhause added.

  “Bicycles?” Tom wondered.

  “Possibly but we need to be quicker,” Tatiana said. “We need to get back as soon as possible if we want to get back to 2020.”

  “I say let’s hitch a boxcar and head west to France,” Captain Shellhause posed. There was no objection.

  “We’ll abandon the car and walk to the railyard,” Tatiana said.

  “What about Tom?” Captain Shellhause said.

  “We’ll help him,” Little Wolf said. They made it to the nearest town, left the car in an abandoned lot, snuck to the back of the railyard and found an open boxcar on a train headed for the border of France.

  “It looks like they’re about ready to leave,” Tatiana said as she crawled under the car to look forward towards the engine.

  “Let’s get inside,” Captain Shellhause said. They helped Tom make the jump then the rest got inside. It was filled with large crates, which gave them places to hide. As they waited they heard cars pull up along the train.

  “It’s the SS,” Little Wolf said as he peeked through a hole in the car.

  “We’re sitting ducks in here,” Tom said.

  “Over here,” Little Wolf said as he took the lid off a crate. “Some of these are empty.” They climbed inside and remained quiet. Soon the boxcar was checked by the SS but they only looked behind the crates and not inside. They left and pronounced the train okay to go. After they were moving, Little Wolf looked out of his crate and saw there was no one inside the car. He got out and removed the lids. They got out and found places to sit against the wall.

  “We’ll need to hide at every stop,” Tatiana said.

  “I agree,” Captain Shellhause said.

  “When can we eat?” Belinda asked then she realized what she said and put her hand to her mouth. “Why did I say that again. It’s exactly what I want to avoid. I want to stop whining about everything but I can’t help myself

  “You’re not whining, Lind. We’re all hungry,” Tatiana said. “Maybe we can find something along the way.” They stopped at a dozen stations along the way to France and they hid each time. The SS was looking for the fugitives but the farther away they got from the Berghoff, the less vigilant the authorities were. Finally, they arrived at the French border. Slipping out of the railyard they snuck across the border and took a train to Cherbourg.

  “A ship leaves in the morning,” Tatiana said as she returned from the ticket office. “Here, I brought some food.” She passed out bread, cheese and wine. They ate then walked the city and found a place to stay for the night…a barn. Not a five-star abode but safe and they slept. The ship sailed at ten am.

  “We have steerage places,” Tatiana said and they boarded. It took three days and they landed in New York. A train to Indianapolis then another to Bloomington.

  “We know our place,” Little Wolf said.

  “Let’s hope Dave and Sol are there,” Tatiana said.

  Bloomington

  2020

  Warren ran as fast as his legs could propel him and he was a mile away when the weapon exploded. Flames erupted two hundred feet in the air and the noise was deafening for a few moments. The building and the weapon were destroyed. “This is good; I have a natural cover now,” He said to himself. He started towards the lab in case the travelers were back..

  “We need to get there,” Dave said.

  “What was that?” Sol asked. He and Dave were moving towards the lab as well.

  “I don’t know. Maybe Warren concocted something to divert attention.”

  “No one is here, the explosion probably caught their attention.” It was unlocked so they went inside.

  Bloomington

  1939

  “This is it,” Little Wolf said as they were in the alley where they went through the portal.

  “Can you hear me?” Tatiana said but no response.

  “What now?” Belinda said.

  “Can you hear me?” Tatiana said louder…still nothing

  “What if they were killed or the lab was destroyed?” Tom asked.

  “Then we might have to get used to 1939,” Captain Shellhause remarked.

  “No!” Belinda snapped.

  “Take it easy, Lind, we’ll try to remedy things,” Tatiana said.

  “Is anyone there?” Tom said loudly.

  “Hey, Sol did you hear that,” Dave said as they were working at the control console.

  “No.”

  “Listen.”

  “Can anyone hear us?” A voice yelled out.

  “I think that’s Detective Westfield,” Dave said.

  “Yeah, I heard that one.”

  “So, did I,” Warren said as he came in the door and walked up to Dave and Sol.

  “Warren,” Dave said and rushed to shake his hand.

  “How’d you get away from your captors?” Sol asked.

  “Long story but they won’t bother anyone again.”

  “Good, let’s fire up the transformer,” Dave suggested and Warren went to the console and started on the computer.

  “Hey, can you hear us?” Sol said.

  “They’re talking,” Belinda said. “Yes, we hear you. Get us out of here!”

  “Someone’s anxious to get home,” Tatiana said grinning.

  “Were almost there,” Warren said as sparks flew and the voltage was ramped up to one million. In five minutes, it was ready and the glow started around the ceiling and the portal appeared.

  “There it is,” Little Wolf said and they all five stood together and jumped through.

  “Ow!” Tom yelled as he grabbed his leg.

  “They’re through,” Warren said and shut the portal down.

  “T
om, what happened?” Captain Shellhause asked as Tom was in great pain clutching his leg where he’d been stabbed.

  “I wonder if a small piece of the knife broke off when he was stabbed,” Little Wolf guessed.

  “And, since metal can’t go thought the portal it was ripped from his leg,” Captain Shellhause said.

  “Let’s get him to the hospital,” Tatiana said as she saw Dave and walked up and hugged him.

  “I missed you, Love.”

  “Me too, just glad we got back.”

  “Did you?” Sol asked.

  “Yes, we stopped them,” Tatiana said.

  “I did my part here; I don’t think we’ll be bothered by Nazis…for a while anyway,” Warren said

  “Let’s get Tom to the hospital.” Jozette said.

  “Wait, I have to do something first. Everybody outside,” Warren said and they left the lab He poured liquid all over the floor then went to the console where he began punching in numbers. “Okay, everyone get ready to move fast,” he called out and they moved back. Warren hit the execute button on the console and left the lab quickly. “Let’s go,” he said and they walked rapidly away from the building and after a block they stopped. The hum could be heard and sparks flew as Warren had set the device to overload. “Hang onto your hats,” he said and at that there was a loud explosion and sparks flew out of the lab like a bolt of electricity moving upward. Then the building was on fire and went up in an inferno. Warren had gathered several cans of paint thinner from a local hardware store to have ready for this and had them secreted away in a corner of the lab. They stood and watched the building destroyed and everything in it destroyed.

  “You really did this up right, Dr. Peabody,” Captain Shellhause said.