by K. T. Tomb
Three Bavarian State Police cruisers entered the chase behind the black sedan. The limo driver saw his new playmates and smiled.
***
Instead of pulling over, the limo sped up, in spite of the addition of the state police. The tension rose for the two men in the black sedan.
Thirty-five-year-old CIA Special Agent Andrew Selig had extensive training with car chase scenarios. He used to street-race as a teenager in his hometown of Brookline, Massachusetts.
His round, clean-shaven face tensed as he focused, while trying to keep the sedan from smashing into anything or anyone. He was sweating profusely as he breathed through his mouth, mainly due to his portly frame.
CIA Special Agent Emmerich Huber was a Nuremberg native and was fluent in six languages. He was over six feet tall and muscular. He had a buzz cut and for some reason, was proud of his square jaw. He leaned out of the passenger side window with his gun drawn. He tried to get a bead on the limo. “Steady the car, Andrew! I can’t get him in my sights!”
Selig took a deep breath. “That’s just great, Emmy! I’m doing everything in my power to keep this hunk of crap not only behind the limo, but I’m also trying to prevent an accident!”
Selig saw the three state police cruisers in his rear-view mirror. “Shit! The damned locals are involved in this mess now!”
Huber pulled himself back from the window. “First of all, I am a damned local. Second, I told you not to call me Emmy. My name is Emmerich. Say it with me now… Emmerich.”
“We don’t have time for this, Emmerich! We need to get the B.S.P. out of our hair!”
Huber picked up the car radio mic. “This is Special Agent Emmerich Huber. We are in pursuit of a limousine registered to Simon Kessler. We need you to alert the Bavarian State Police and let them know that this is our jurisdiction.”
The male voice on the other end of the radio was not pleased. “Do you know how many toes you’re stepping on? The German government doesn’t even know we’re here! Well, they didn’t before this shit! Guess who has to play clean-up? It’s me, asshole! Dammit, Huber! Back off of this one!”
Huber glared at the radio. “We will not abandon this mission! It is our intel that got us this far!”
Selig smiled as Huber slammed the microphone down. “Now you’ve done it, Emmy. Well, since we’ll probably be fired or locked up anyway, we might as well finish our job.”
“That’s why I’m on this case, Selig. I am German. I’m one of them. I get to explain away any discrepancies with our procedures.”
“Discrepancies? You better get ready to explain the whole damn thing to our boss,” Selig complained.
As if on cue, the limo turned too hard around a corner and started to roll. At the speed it was traveling, it rolled several times before it crashed through the front window of a bakery.
It came to rest upside down.
Chapter Seven
The black sedan pulled up in front of the bakery. One of the state police cruisers pulled around to the back of the store, while the remaining two parked next to the sedan.
Huber was the first to exit his vehicle. He went to the limo. It was wedged into the storefront, which made it nearly impossible to get inside to see if anyone was injured.
Selig exited the sedan and intercepted the Bavarian State Police to give his partner time to investigate.
***
The limo driver crawled out from the wreckage. He had fresh wounds on his face and hands.
He saw two older men in aprons slowly picking themselves up. There was debris and broken glass all over the floor.
The driver managed to stand. He pulled out his gun and aimed for the bakers. “I’m sorry, gentlemen, but I can’t have any witnesses.”
He heard the cracking of glass, as if someone were behind him.
Someone was.
A woman’s voice came from behind the driver. “You forgot about me, asshole.”
Phoe stood, battered and bruised for the most part. Her fists clenched.
She did not look pleased.
By the time the driver turned around, Phoe had kicked the gun from his hand. She punched him square in the jaw and then again in the gut. He struggled to keep his balance as she grabbed his head and kneed him in the groin.
He fell to the floor.
Phoe towered over him.
Luckily, the car accident had done enough damage to him first.
“I thank my mother for getting me trained for just these circumstances. She taught me one more thing: restraint,” Phoe proclaimed.
The driver groaned in pain as he managed to raise his head just enough to see her smirk.
Phoe gloated over her conquest. “I’ve kicked your ass just enough for you to remain immobile while the authorities wrap you up. I’m also going to find whoever hired you and show them the same respect.”
She bent down and grabbed his shirt with both hands. “Who hired you?”
“You’re so smart. You figure it out.” The driver spit on her.
Unfortunately for Phoe, he had blood in his mouth.
Phoe jumped up and felt as if she would vomit. She wiped herself off and could only muster a sickened, “Ewww.”
That punch to his jaw came back to bite me.
Even without the spitting, Phoe was proud of her tough girl talk. She hadn’t really pushed it to that level before, but she had the opportunity and she took it.
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 CIA. 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 CIA 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’s a lie.
“You have enough to clean up, Agent Huber. Don’t follow me.”
That’s 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 in the affirmative.
He had his CIA badge out. He showed it to each one in turn with one hand and put his other hand t
o his ear, as if he couldn’t hear the officers. “No sprechen sie German. I’m sorry. I’m CIA. 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 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 the 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.
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. Roadblocks were being set up at the city limits.
The situation appeared hopeless for Phoe, Huber, and Selig.
Appearances can be deceivin
g.
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.”