by Gary Jonas
“That,” I said, “was Theodor Morell, Hitler’s personal physician.”
Kelly shrugged. “The operative word there is was.”
“Thank you for that,” I said. Maybe I should have felt bad. He did warn me. But he wanted to die anyway, and if he’d told me the truth, he helped to keep Hitler alive for decades. It was hard to have much sympathy.
I stepped over the skeleton.
Maria and her bodyguards approached.
“You don’t see that every day,” Cole said.
“You don’t see that every day either,” Curtis said, gesturing down the street.
Men and women stood in the middle of the road, staring at us. They didn’t move. They just watched us.
“That’s creepy,” Esther said.
A group of soldiers in black uniforms and jackboots turned a corner and goose-stepped down the road. The people moved out of the way to let them pass. The soldiers held rifles at port arms as they marched in unison. From this distance, I couldn’t tell what kind of rifles they carried. The marching troop wore red armbands with swastikas.
“We might want to leave now,” Maria said, backing toward the trees.
“We don’t have a ride,” Carl said following her. “Bus isn’t due back for another hour.”
The Nazi soldiers kept coming. There were at least twenty men marching our way. Theodor told the truth about the alarms.
“Back to the hotel,” I said.
The front row of Nazi Stormtroopers whipped their guns around and aimed at us. One of them yelled something in German.
“Run!” I said.
We took off, darting behind a row of trees to give us some concealment.
Shots rang out, and bullets chewed up the trees off to the left.
I darted around the side of the house. Maria was right behind me. Cole had her covered.
“I’ll get Maria to safety,” he said. “Those men have G36 assault rifles.”
I stopped, drew my Glock, and peered around the side of the house while Cole kept Maria racing toward the hotel, using trees and the house and himself as cover for his client.
Esther popped into view beside me. “Those torpedoes are on the move.”
The sound of boots slapping the ground in unison echoed through the neighborhood.
Kelly, Carl, and Curtis came around the side of the house.
“There’s no good cover here,” Kelly said, “and there are too many of them. Jonathan, you follow Maria and Cole to the hotel. Carl, Curtis, and I will try to hold these guys back.”
“With what?” I asked. “They have guns.”
Carl and Curtis drew pistols from their concealed holsters. Each of them had Glocks, too.
“No sidearm, Kelly?” Carl asked.
“I’m not a fan. I left my pencils at the Airbnb.” She whipped out some shuriken. “But I do have these.”
“Those won’t be any help.”
Kelly grinned. “Depends on how you use them.”
“Against assault rifles?”
I glanced toward the hotel. Cole and Maria ran around the side toward the front. They should be safe enough there for a time.
Kelly tried to push me toward the hotel. “You need to go, Jonathan. There are twenty men, and you have, what, fifteen bullets?”
“I have an extra magazine in my jacket pocket.”
“No. Get to the hotel.”
I put a hand on Kelly’s shoulder. “I know you heal quickly, but those rounds can pulverize organs. I don’t know if even you can take that kind of damage.”
“We’re about to find out.”
“I’ll make you a deal. Put the throwing stars away, and let’s all get the fuck out of here.”
Curtis leaned out, aimed, and fired twice, before jerking back to cover. The soldiers opened fire on semi-automatic and splintered the side of the house where Curtis had been only a moment before.
Kelly shoved me toward the hotel. “Go, Jonathan!”
I didn’t want to leave her.
“Scram, Jonathan!” Esther shouted. “I don’t want to watch you die!”
Carl took a deep breath. “If we can lay down some cover fire, we can hold them back long enough for you to make it to the hotel.”
He leaned out to take another shot, but a single round slammed into his head. He dropped like a bag of potatoes.
“Damn,” Kelly said. She grabbed his gun, stepped out and fired.
A bullet hit her in the shoulder, but the injury healed quickly as she kept firing.
“Four down,” she said. “Get the hell out of here, Jonathan!”
Another bullet hit her in the stomach. She ducked back and let the wound heal.
“I’m not leaving without you,” I said. “There are too many of them, and they’ve got us outgunned.”
“Go,” Curtis said. “I’ll buy you as much time as I can. Tell Maria we did our best.”
“I’ll stay, too,” Kelly said.
“No,” Curtis said. “You have to help Cole protect Maria.”
“You’re willing to die for her?” I asked.
“Many of us have died for her over the last hundred years,” he said. “Now, go!” He laid down cover fire.
“I hate retreating,” Kelly said.
I understood how she felt, but we’d already lost Carl, and there was no way Curtis would leave here. He was loyal to Maria. I knew there wouldn’t be any police showing up because life is never that simple. I grabbed Kelly, and pulled her toward the hotel. She reluctantly followed.
“I’ll try to help here,” Esther said.
She stood in the open to watch the soldiers approach. She made herself visible so they fired at her.
“Now,” she said.
Curtis leaned out and fired several rounds.
“Back!” Esther said.
Kelly and I ran down the slight incline, putting trees between us and the stormtroopers.
Semi-automatic rifle fire sounded behind us, followed by the quick pops from Curtis’s gun.
“I hate leaving him,” Kelly said.
“You can’t take on a bunch of machine guns,” I said.
As we raced to the hotel, the gunfire sounded behind us. Then it stopped.
We ran around the side of the hotel, and hurried toward the entrance.
Cole stepped outside, and motioned us in.
“Carl and Curtis?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“They died with honor,” Kelly said, sounding almost jealous.
“Damn.” He took a deep breath.
Cole held the door open and pointed across the long path to the wrought iron gate. “If we could get there, I know there’s another neighborhood off to the right. We could steal a car and head back to Córdoba.”
“Where’s Maria?” I asked.
“Inside,” he said. “Safe.”
Esther popped into view. “The Nazis are coming,” she said.
“Okay,” I said. “Our best bet is to take them here in the hotel. We can get them stacked up in stairwells, maybe take some of them out, get a few machine guns.”
“Follow me,” Cole said. “There’s a wine cellar and some steep stairwells with hidden rooms and secret passages.”
Kelly grinned. “We may get out of this yet,” she said.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The sound of boots on stairs echoed through the wine cellar.
“Here they come,” Esther said.
Having a ghost to keep tabs on the Nazi stormtroopers made me think we might have a chance here. Twelve men entered the hotel, and they split up to search the rooms. In the confines of the hallways, they made use of the collapsible stocks on their machine guns to shorten them up.
Red dots appeared on the walls, moving side to side as the men adjusted their aim.
I hunkered down in the shadows as two men descended the stairs into the wine cellar. Their laser sights drew lines through the darkness and splashed dancing red dots on the wall as they moved.
Kelly bu
rst from the shadows, and her left leg scissored up in a roundhouse kick, tripping both men. They face-planted, and tumbled down the concrete steps.
I grabbed their machine guns, while Kelly snapped their necks.
“We should keep them alive,” I said. “They can’t answer questions if they’re dead.”
Kelly pursed her lips for a moment then stared at me. She looked almost amused.
“Do you speak German?” she asked.
“No, but maybe some of them speak English. And Maria speaks German, so…”
Kelly shook her head. “They’re here to kill us. I say we kill them first. If you think you can safely keep one of them alive without him yelling to give away your position, knock yourself out, but any of them I run into are going to die. End of discussion.”
“Understood,” I said. “Take this.” I offered one of the guns to her.
She shook her head and whispered, “Give it to Cole.”
“Just take it,” I said.
She sighed and accepted the G36.
I searched the corpses and came up with a couple of extra thirty-round magazines. I checked the selector on my machine gun to make sure it was on semi-automatic.
“You keep the extra magazines,” she said.
“Okay.”
Footsteps sounded above us.
Kelly pointed to her eyes, then up the stairs to let me know she was going to check upstairs.
“Ten to go,” I said.
She nodded and silently ascended the staircase.
Esther popped in front of me. “Cole has Maria in a secret passage. They’re all berries for now.”
“Cool.”
“How can I help?” Esther asked.
Machine gun fire sounded above us.
“Check on Kelly and come back to me.”
“On it,” she said and popped away.
I checked the magazine in my machine gun to make sure it had some rounds, then reinserted it. I took a few deep breaths to steady myself, then crept up the stairs.
Esther popped back and said, “Kelly is the bee’s knees. She bumped off two more Nazi bimbos.”
I grinned and shook my head. “You know bimbo means something different these days, right?”
She tilted her head to the side. “I must have forgotten that.”
What else had she forgotten?
“Okay, let’s see if we can clear the hotel of Nazi assholes. You can scout ahead for me and warn me when any of them are nearby.”
Esther poked her head through the door at the top of the stairs, then pulled back and said, “All clear.”
I opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Esther soared to the left, then returned to me.
“Dead Nazis there,” she said. “Kelly went that way.”
I pointed to the right, and Esther took the lead. She went around the corner, popped back and nodded. “Clear.”
The walls were adorned with old paintings, and some of them were portraits of Hitler.
I moved as quietly as I could to the corner, and crept down another hallway until I heard footsteps in the distance. I ducked into a small meeting room.
Esther popped over to me. “Three Nazi bastards coming.”
“Stick your head through the wall, and move to where they are,” I whispered.
“Why?”
“So you can keep pace with them, and I can shoot the sons of bitches through the wall.”
“You’d shoot me?” she asked with a mischievous grin.
“Of course.”
“Well, all righty then, let’s get this tango started.”
She pushed her head through the wall, then moved out of the room.
I readied my machine gun and aimed at the wall.
Esther appeared on my left, head through the wall, holding her arms apart to show me where the first and last guys were. Well, unless one of them hung back, but since she didn’t specify, I assumed I was correct. My plan was to aim low so I could keep them alive for questioning.
I waited until her right hand was in front of me, and I opened fire through the wall, sweeping low from right to left.
The men cried out in pain while I ejected the empty magazine.
Esther yelled, “Get down!”
I dropped to the ground as bullets tore through the wall above me. The men moaned in pain for a moment. I dug in my coat pocket for another magazine, and fumbled it into the gun.
“Oops,” Esther said.
“What?”
“They’re done shooting.”
I got to my feet, moved to the doorway, and peered into the hallway. The men twitched and trembled on the floor. They foamed at their mouths as they went through their fits.
“Shit,” I said.
The bastards had cyanide capsules. Standard issue for Nazi losers. I should have known.
Two Nazis raced around the corner, drawn by the gunfire. They opened fire at me, but I ducked back into the room.
“Esther!”
She leaned through the wall. “They’re coming, but they’re not as anxious as the other torpedoes.”
I looked for cover, but the room held simple furniture. A desk, table, and chairs. Nothing that would stop a hail of bullets.
There was nowhere to hide, so I stood my ground, gun ready. Esther would tell me when to open fire.
Sweat broke out on my forehead. I swallowed hard as my heart beat so loud it sounded like a machine gun on its own. A few deep breaths got my heart rate under control.
I crouched low and the seconds dragged on for an eternity. Esther wasn’t moving.
“They’re waiting,” Esther said.
What for?
“Uh oh,” Esther said.
“What oh?”
“They have reinforcements. Hit the floor, Jonathan.”
I flattened myself as I heard running footsteps from two directions. They opened up with their machine guns. Bullets tore through the walls and table. A ceramic lamp shattered and dropped to the floor beside me.
The gunfire stopped as they reloaded, then started up again.
They kept shooting above me, so while I doubt if they cared if I lived or died, their main goal was to keep me pinned down.
“Oh,” Esther said when the next break in gunfire arrived.
“What?” I asked.
If she answered, her voice was shot away by the sound of G36 assault rifles blasting away on semi-automatic.
The gunfire slowed.
Then shifted away from my room and down the hall.
More gunfire from the left followed by the thump thump and clackety-clack of bodies and polymer guns hitting the tiled floor.
“You can come out now,” Kelly called. “The coast is clear.”
I pushed myself to my feet and brushed plaster from my coat sleeves and shoulders. I picked up the machine gun, just in case.
Kelly leaned against the doorjamb and laughed. “You’re a mess,” she said.
“Thanks.” I changed the selector on the side to safety.
“Hotel is clear. Let’s go get Cole and Maria. We can wait for the bus out front.”
The hallway was littered with dead Nazi stormtroopers.
“You sure that’s all of them?” I asked. “What about the two men we saw when we first arrived?”
“They’re among the dead here somewhere. I should be so lucky as to have more to kill,” Kelly said.
“And how,” Esther said.
Kelly winked at me. “I think I got a higher score than you.”
“You also took more shots than I did.”
“Goes with the territory,” she said, looking at the holes in her shirt at the shoulder and gut. A tear in her pants at thigh level caught my attention.
“A few inches to the right, your leg might still be healing.”
“Might is a meaningless word, Jonathan. Are you injured?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Turn around.”
I did a slow turn, holding my arms out.
“All
good?” I asked.
“No blood.”
We stepped over bodies and moved toward the entry to the wine cellar. As we walked, I said, “That was close.”
“Were you scared?”
“Hell yeah,” I said.
“Did you shit or piss yourself?”
“No,” I said indignant.
“Then I’ll just have to make fun of you for only taking out three Nazis. And from what I could see, they killed themselves.”
“I wanted to keep them alive for questioning.”
“Even after I told you they’d scream in pain and draw the other stormtroopers?”
“I think the gunfire is what drew them.”
“Same difference.”
“I’m just glad you’re both jake,” Esther said.
And we let her have the last word on the subject.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
We found Maria and Cole in a secret chamber behind a rack of wine in the cellar. I say we, but I should give credit where it’s due and just say Esther located them.
A few employees were getting out of their cars when we left the hotel.
“We might want to put some distance between us and the hotel,” I said.
“Why?” Cole asked.
I raised fingers as I counted off, “Damage, corpses, blood, the usual.”
“They’re not going to do anything to us,” Kelly said.
“Better to avoid any unnecessary confrontations,” I said.
“You’re carrying a machine gun,” Kelly said. “Somehow, I don’t think anyone working for an hourly wage will want to mess with you.”
“She has a point,” Maria said.
And sure enough, as we walked past them, two women in gray dresses backed away. “Dios mio,” one of them said and crossed herself.
I figured she’d be saying that again once she went inside.
We wandered out to the main road to wait for the bus. Esther, Kelly, and Cole took up positions to watch for any police or Nazi stormtroopers. I took off my jacket and spread it out on the grass so Maria and I could sit down.
“I’m sorry about Curtis and Carl,” I said.
Maria nodded. “They were good men.”
“Yeah,” I said, thinking about what Curtis had said about Maria being served for a hundred years. She didn’t look a day over thirty-five, and as I looked at her, I knew she didn’t just bear an uncanny resemblance to Maria Orsic. She was Maria Orsic, the medium from the Vril Society.