by K. T. Tomb
She liked it.
A lot.
She checked to see if the bakers were all right. They appeared more shaken than anything else.
She then started to walk toward the rear area of the bakery, when she heard a male voice with a strong German accent. “Speaking of your mother…she sent me. We need to talk.”
Shocked by the addition of someone else, Phoe turned to the source of it. She saw a German man with a buzz cut and a square jaw.
He had made his way over and around the wreckage. He was standing with his hands out in a nonthreatening manner.
She sidestepped his comment about her mother for the moment as she offered her angry rebuttal. “You were there long enough to hear my entire conversation and yet, you felt it was a good time to show yourself after I was spit on?”
“My name is Emmerich Huber. I am a special agent with the C.I.A. My partner and I are here to help you find your brother.”
Phoe eyed him up and down. She was not impressed. She was, however, pissed off that her mother had had the nerve to get involved.
How the hell did she have C.I.A. connections?
Her tough-girl act had worked on the man on the floor.
Why not try it again?
The driver on the floor was slipping in and out of consciousness, so she focused her attention on the big German.
“You can tell my mother that you didn’t find me. I don’t need backup,” she said proudly.
That was a lie.
“You have enough to clean up, Agent Huber. Don’t follow me.”
That was good. Strong. Independent.
“I better not see you again, or you’ll get what he got,” Phoe added.
Okay, that’s enough.
Huber slowly walked up to Phoe and handed her a business card. “This is my cell phone number. Call if you need us.”
Phoe sneered at him. “I’m a lone wolf, cowboy. I don’t need anyone.”
What the hell was that?
Phoe turned and hurriedly walked into the baking area and toward the back door. She rolled her eyes as she thought of the inane mess that she had unloaded on Huber.
She opened the door and saw two Bavarian State Police officers. They immediately drew their weapons. “Freeze!” they yelled in unison. In English.
Shit, shit, shit!
* * *
Selig was surrounded by three state policemen and one policewoman. All of them were talking at once, while he just smiled and nodded to the affirmative.
He had his C.I.A. badge out. He showed it to each one in turn with one hand and put his other hand to his ear, as if he couldn’t hear the officers. “No sprechen sie German. I’m sorry. I’m C.I.A. My name is Andrew Selig. We don’t answer to you.”
Selig felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. He spun around and saw his partner, Huber. Huber stood between the officers and Selig.
The officers stopped talking when Huber showed up. “Wir sind auf einer Mission für Nürnbergs Oberbürgermeister. Wir können keine genauen Angaben machen, aber man kann ihm direkt Kontakt aufnehmen Wenn Sie überprüft werden müssen. Natürlich, sie wissen, wie es ihm gefällt, gestört werden,” Huber explained.
One of the officers went back to his cruiser, while the remaining three of them eyed Huber suspiciously.
Huber and Selig didn’t take their eyes off of the officers.
“Emmy. You should always be courteous to your fellow countrymen. You do realize that they will now check into that bogus story of yours about us being on a mission from the Lord Mayor. I don’t think they’ll be pleased.”
“I told you not to call me Emmy. My name is Emmerich Huber. Do not call me Emmy again. And since when do you understand German?”
Selig chuckled just loud enough so his partner could hear. “I have to keep some secrets, my hulking friend. You do realize that after they find out that your lie is just that, we will be hunted just like the Phoenix girl.”
Huber glared at the officers as he sported a knowing smile. “How do you say it? Birds of a feather staying together?”
“Close enough, Hubey. I get what you’re trying to say. If we’re on the lam and the Phoenix girl is on the lam…”
Huber turned to look at his partner.
“I know that look, Hubey. I hope you’re never planning on coming back here, because if you’re thinking about doing what I think you’re thinking about doing, then you can forget seeing Nuremberg ever again. Maybe even all of Germany.”
“I may be from Nuremberg, but my heart lies elsewhere. Let’s do this!” Huber was now sufficiently motivated.
Chapter Eight
Phoe looked helplessly out the back seat window of the Bavarian State Police cruiser. The handcuffs dug into her wrists.
Never been arrested before.
One of the two officers who had arrested her was talking in German on the car radio.
Jonathan Kessler would have come in handy right about now for translation.
Phoe felt that her mission was over almost as quickly as it had begun. How many mistakes could have been avoided if she’d had help?
Trust is supposed to start at home, right?
Phoe’s father had abandoned her family. Her brother was a thief and a con man. Her mother…well, her mother was another story.
Phoe was trained for just about anything because of her mother, but she was tight-lipped about everything else.
Luckily for Phoe, she wouldn’t have time to ponder on her family for much longer.
A familiar black sedan came seemingly out of nowhere and t-boned the driver’s side of cruiser. Before Phoe could catch her breath, the cruiser slid several feet before it came to rest near a sidewalk.
The driver was knocked unconscious.
The officer in the passenger seat tried to reach the radio.
Phoe was thrown around in the back seat, but suffered only the frustration of being in two car accidents in the same day. As soon as the cruiser stopped moving, her phone started ringing. She rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”
Emmerich Huber approached the passenger side and opened the door. He then hit the officer with the butt of his gun. As he slumped over, Huber grabbed the handcuff keys that were latched to the officer’s belt.
He then ran to the door closest to Phoe and opened it. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the cruiser.
Phoe wouldn’t go quietly. “Hey! You better be gentle or I’m telling my mom!”
“I am sorry, Ms. Phoenix, but right now, I do not have time for gentleness. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re rescuing you,” answered Huber, in the calmest tone he could muster.
Huber carried Phoe over his shoulder as he hurried back to the black sedan, which had suffered little damage.
He opened the back door to the sedan and practically threw Phoe into the back seat. He then closed the door, ran to the passenger side, got in, and closed that door as Selig gunned the engine, which caused the tires to squeal. The sedan burned rubber as it raced away from the scene of the accident.
* * *
Phoe struggled to sit upright as the sedan sped through intersection after intersection. She gave up and remained lying on the back seat. Her frustration was apparent to Huber, who glared at her.
Her phone was still ringing.
Phoe tried to keep her composure as she attempted to understand what had just happened. “I’m sure at some point you both plan on explaining why you kidnapped me.”
Selig was agitated as he kept looking in his rearview mirror. “That phone is really stressing me out! Can you shut it off, please?”
The ringing coincidentally stopped.
“Thank you,” Selig said.
Huber glanced at Selig and then focused his attention, once again, toward Phoe. “You will receive your answers in due time, Ms. Phoenix. Right now, we must get you out of Nuremberg.”
“What? Are you insane? The reason I came here was…” she trailed off as she realized that she didn’t know these two men.
&
nbsp; Huber looked puzzled. “Do you have any reason why we should stay?”
She thought long and hard about the postcard in her fanny pack.
She responded the only way she could think of.
She lied.
“No. There’s no reason for us to be here.”
Chapter Nine
Jeremy Riddick was adamant about finishing the upgrades to his invention, Thor’s Thunder. When Simon Kessler saw that Riddick had made the ultimate Taser exclusively attuned to all electronics, he was hired on the spot.
Twenty million dollars wasn’t a bad paycheck.
Riddick was preoccupied with his project when Simon Kessler entered the private lab.
“Jeremy.” Simon always smiled, which comforted the jittery man.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Kessler. You startled me. I get easily startled when I’m working.”
“All geniuses have their idiosyncrasies. Please call me Simon.”
“Mr. Kess…Simon. The lab you supplied me with is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I can do more here than I ever could before.”
“That’s what I’m counting on, Jeremy. I expect great things from you while you are under my employ. Unfortunately, I am not here on a social call. I need your expertise with something else that has recently come to my attention.”
Riddick’s left eye twitched.
Simon was unnerved each time it happened.
“Whatever you want, boss. I’m your guy.” Jeremy hoped that would reassure Simon.
“I’m so glad to hear that, Jeremy. It appears I have an employee who fell off the grid. You remember Phoe, don’t you?”
Riddick’s eyes lit up. “Yeah. She was okay, but a little crazy. Needs to learn some serious fighting skills. What do you need me to do?”
Simon’s smile faded for the first time since Riddick had known him. “She is somewhere in Nuremberg, Germany. She cannot, or will not, answer her phone. I need to track the cell phone that she hopefully still has in her possession to pinpoint her movements. Just in case she needs my help, Jeremy.”
“That’s a fairly easy job. I’m sure you have trained monkeys for stuff like that, Mr….uh…Simon.”
Simon placed a hand on Riddick’s shoulder.
The smile came back.
“My dear Jeremy. I didn’t ask my trained monkeys. I asked you.”
* * *
The black sedan was in hot pursuit by six Bavarian State Police cruisers. Road blocks were being set up at the city limits.
The situation appeared hopeless for Phoe, Huber, and Selig.
Appearances could be deceiving.
In this case, they weren’t.
Selig panicked as Huber tried to think of someone to contact for help.
Phoe sighed. She wondered if she would be in her third car accident of the day. “I guess I won’t need your business card anymore, Agent Huber.”
In spite of his fear, Selig mustered up a smile. He had to constantly wipe the sweat from his brow as he kept the sedan two car lengths ahead of the police cruisers.
Huber looked frustrated. “To be honest…”
“Does that mean that you’ve lied to me up to this point?” Phoe interrupted. She was comforted that she wasn’t the only one who wasn’t in control.
Huber took a deep breath and continued, “As I was saying, I can honestly say that I do not have a plan.”
“We don’t have an unlimited supply of gas either, Hubey,” Selig responded.
Phoe rolled her eyes and attempted to sit up again. The sound of gunfire made her decide that lying on the back seat wasn’t so bad.
Selig hit the gas pedal harder as Huber ducked.
Huber pulled out his gun, which irritated Selig.
“Are you crazy, Hubey? We can’t shoot at cops! We’re the lawbreakers here!”
“What? What laws are we breaking, Selig? Which ones? Tell me!” Huber lost all control as the tension rose between him and his partner.
Selig responded in kind. “Son of a bitch! What the hell are you talking about? You honestly don’t know? How about aiding and abetting a fugitive? Way overstepping the boundaries of our jurisdiction? And…”
Phoe interrupted, “If I may, gentlemen? Why exactly am I a fugitive? What have I done wrong? I mean seriously, if you work with my mother, then you know exactly why I’m here. You said it yourself, Agent Huber. You said you could help me find my brother. What law did I break?”
The realization hit both men, but Huber was the first to vocalize it. “Thalia was set up.”
Yep, they work with Mom.
Selig gripped the steering wheel tightly as he gritted his teeth. He focused only on his driving. There would be nothing to distract him. Only two words were needed to convey his next action: “Hang on.”
The sedan accelerated as it came to a busy intersection. Their light turned red and Selig never slowed down.
As the sedan barely missed oncoming traffic, several of the lead cruisers plowed into a truck, a van, and two passenger cars. The multi-car pileup made Selig smile.
As Selig continued to put the pedal to the metal, Phoe thought about her being wanted by the police. “Guys? How do you know for sure that I’m wanted by the police?”
Huber looked at Selig for answers, but he was too focused to notice anything but the four police cruisers that had just joined the chase.
After she realized she had them on the ropes, Phoe continued, “Agent Huber? Did you ever think that the local police chased the limo because the driver was moving like a bat out of hell and not because I supposedly did anything wrong? Maybe they are chasing us now because they really want to catch you two, and because of something that happened at the first accident. As well as the fact that you broke me out of custody.”
Huber perked up. “Aha! See? That proves that they thought that you had done something!”
“Maybe they thought I was with you.” As Phoe spoke the words, a horrible thought crossed her mind. “Agent Huber? Are you two actually C.I.A. agents?”
There was a long pause before Huber answered almost in a whisper: “No.”
Chapter Ten
Simon’s jet had just finished refueling. Captain Sampras was in the cockpit double-checking his instruments and any weather problems they might have during take-off.
Pam prepared a cold food tray with sandwiches at her station. She always made sure that the outer doors were locked as they waited for Phoe.
The flight crew had never had a problem before, but it was a good habit to get into…just in case.
A little paranoia appeared to have paid off this time.
Pam heard a faint thumping sound that repeated every few seconds. She tilted her head as she listened carefully to track its origin.
It was coming from the outside door.
The intensity of the pounding increased as Pam rushed to the cockpit. “Alan, this may sound strange, but someone’s at the door.”
Sampras loaded a full clip into his Glock 19 handgun. “Pam, stay out of sight of any windows. I just got off the phone with Simon and he warned me that this might happen.”
Pam raised one brow. “I’ve stopped asking how he does that a long time ago. Go get them, Alan!”
Sampras paused long enough to kiss her gently on the lips. He then made his way to the door as Pam crouched down in the flight attendant area.
He stood on one side of the door with his gun raised.
The thumping became louder.
He looked over to make sure Pam was out of sight and then he unlocked the door, which made a loud clicking sound.
He crouched down, took aim, and waited.
The thumping stopped.
Sampras could hear several muffled voices coming from outside.
After a moment, the door latch started to turn slowly. As soon as it clicked, the door started to open outward.
Sampras took a breath. As soon as the door was halfway down, he jumped up and started firing mercilessly at anyone outside of the door.
&
nbsp; After he fired ten shots, he glanced quickly at the two fallen figures dressed in black suits. There were three more that ran and hid behind a black Cadillac.
Sampras stepped to the side and out of the way of the door while gunfire rang out. Several semi-automatic rounds riddled the inside and the outside of the jet. He mentally counted that he had nine rounds left, but also had two extra clips with him.
“Surrender the plane!” was yelled from outside. The voice was male, with a distinguishable German accent.
Sampras waited for more threats.
“Surrender the plane, or…” The voice was cut off due to an abnormal amount of gunfire. Nothing hit the jet, so that could have only meant one thing.
Another, more familiar voice came from outside. “Captain Sampras!”
Sampras knew that voice.
Simon Kessler had arrived.
* * *
“I think I learned all I need to know,” Phoe said calmly. She managed to move so that she was on her back, even though her hands—handcuffed behind her—were a considerable annoyance.
Huber ignored her as he started to play with the GPS.
She pulled up her knees to her chest as she moved her arms down and over her legs. She then had her hands in front of her.
Phoe braced her feet against the roof of the sedan. She then kicked the roof a couple of times.
Not even a dent.
Huber laughed as her antics caught his attention. “Hah! Nice try, Ms. Phoenix! The roof of this car is reinforced with a roll bar!”
It was Phoe’s turn to laugh. “Good. Then your vehicle is fully equipped to withstand this!”
She let her legs drop to the floor as she dove forward and grabbed the steering wheel. Before anyone could react, she pulled to the left with all of her strength.
The sedan cut a sharp left. Since they were traveling at a high rate of speed, the car rolled several times before it came to a complete stop on someone’s lawn in a residential area.