CHAPTER 18

The little man was not exactly happy when he got out of his car. He walked over to the only other two people in sight. They were standing at the back of their own vehicle and stowing gear in the trunk of their car. The man demanded of them in English but, with a thick German accent, “what is this all about? None of this was supposed to happen this way.”

“Plan’s change Kohler,” the bigger of the two men said as he unzipped his equipment vest. He stopped dumping gear and looked at the man, “and that’s not why you’re out here.”

Kohler was a little confused. He regrouped quickly though, and then, he told this man, “I need to remind you of who works for who. I know you Americans are in the habit of playing cowboys but, my employer, our employer, is not a fan of such antics.”

This big man, in the military looking gear, was not very impressed by anything that Kohler had just said. He blew it off and asked, “did you do it or not?”

It took a moment before Kohler answered. He was obviously furious but, in the end, he stuck to business, “of course I did! Murtaugh is not finished. It will be some time before…”

“You let me worry about that,” the big man told him.

Now Kohler did blow up, “I know you Americans are such fans of improvising but, how well has that worked out for you this time, tell me? You’ve got the damned Wehrmacht crawling all over the island! We can barely function!”

That caused the man to laugh at Kohler. He still kept his easy manner though, “and that wasn’t my fault Kohler, that was yours. I’m just the guy that got called in to clean up your mess.” The big man gauged the reaction of the German. He was both surprised and confused. When you put those two together, it made Helmut Kohler stupid. The big guy wondered how somebody that smart could really be that clueless. He had to snap at the guy, “go get the damn sample already!”

Kohler was now something else. He was nervous. He protested, he took his time, and he even wanted to argue about it but, he did follow orders. He went to the trunk of his car and removed a small cooler that was, by itself, rather unremarkable. It was one of those small ones you could get dirt cheap at any WMD’s. Kohler carefully sat it at the feet of the big man who was visibly nervous about it, made so by the fact that Kohler was as well. The Big man had to ask, “I thought you said this shit was supposed to be safe like this.”

Kohler backed off from the cooler so, the big man did too. Then Kohler told him, “of course it is. I just don’t like it.”

That was, obviously, not enough to convince the big man. He nodded for his companion to check the contents. His companion protested but, only half heartedly and while he was carefully opening the cooler. The big man taunted his companion by noting, “I don’t get it. You handle the raw stuff like it’s no big deal. I thought this was supposed to be safer.” The big man then looked too Kohler and asked, “isn’t it?”

Kohler was sweating, “of course it is.”

The big man was still not convinced. He peeked inside the open cooler, and was jumpy as he did it. The small, magnetic, shipping container was there like it should be. It was cushioned with an ordinary couch pillow. The glowing substance that was inside the container was barely the size of a pin head and yet, it was throwing off enough light to make the big man shield his eyes. He then asked the German, “I don’t get it, it looks the same.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to get it,” Kohler told him with an air of condescension. When he saw that this did not please the big man he explained, “what you brought us was watered down crap. That is refined to it’s most purest form.”

The big man knew an insult when he heard one and he made it clear, “hey! Your people were the ones who handed over the layout of that place. Don’t blame us because you guys fucked up with little things like the SECURITY!”

Kohler ignored the response and said, “as a consequence that is also much lighter.”

The big man huffed and snorted before asking the obvious, “is that…” He pointed down at the container and asked, “you know? Weaponized?”

Kohler rolled his eyes, “of course it isn’t you moron. We still have a ways to go. No one has ever done anything like this before. It doesn’t help when you have left a trail of bodies behind and some of them are people we were consulting with!”

“We?” The big man squared up with the German and he was visibly not happy. He pointed down at the cooler and told the man, “you act like you’re the brains behind this outfit, Kohler. I hate to tell you this but, you ain’t no scientist. You’re just a paper pushing middle manager with a thick address book.”

Kohler’s eyes locked with the big man’s. He did not back down, “good luck trying to get all of this done without my contacts.” When the big man’s companion closed the cooler and stood shoulder to shoulder with his boss, Kohler became very nervous. He had planned for this though. “I have insurance.”

The big man almost laughed, “oh Jesus H Christ. Is that what you think you got? Let me hip you to something Kohler, that insurance almost got this entire operation blown. How do you think that makes our employer feel?”

Kohler went for his gun. The big man managed to draw his sidearm, put a single round right between Kohler’s eyes, and then have it back in his holster before the man’s body hit the ground. Without even giving it a second thought, the big man asked his companion, “will it still work?”

The companion had to be asked twice before he snapped at his boss, “I don’t know! You didn’t have to kill him!”

The big man snorted a laugh as he reached down and carefully put the cooler in the trunk of his car. He told his cohort, “didn’t have a choice, you know, he went for his gun. Besides, it was fun. I hated that sniveling little kraut. Anyway, wasn’t killing him the plan?”

The companion just grunted and realized that stating the obvious was not worth the effort. He remained flustered has he removed a bag from the back seat, and then, removed a needle and syringe from the bag. The companion looked at the tip of the needle as he told the big man, “well try it and see. What if it doesn’t?”

The big man slapped his arm across his flunkies chest and told him, “not here dumb ass.” He then nodded to the hotel behind him.

The companion nodded back and put the cap back on the needle. They both picked up the body and took it back to the hotel room. Just before opening the door, the big man put his end of the body down and said, “shit! Go get our masks.”

His companion protested, “why? It’s not like they’re going tell anybody. Hell they can’t even see right now.” The look that he got told him not to argue. He put down Kohler’s legs and then ran back to their car.

While he waited, the big man’s phone rang. He answered and kept the conversation very short. When his companion returned with the masks, the big man told him as he put on his mask and said, “they’re on the move. We got maybe twenty minutes, tops.”

His companion was suitably alarmed, “the Krauts?”

“No,” said the big man as he opened the door and then picked up Kohler’s torso and started dragging the man in the room.

The companion was not so quick. He actually thought about it and said, “let me go get some grenades. I think we should booby trap the…”

“Damn it Falconi!” The big man dropped the body just inside the door and ignored the two women that were tied to the hotel room chairs. They were both awake now and trying to scream through there gags. It was of little concern to the big man who squared up with his flunky. The big man poked him in the chest and said, “what did I tell you about thinking?”

“Boss, I just…”

The big man poked with each word, “don’t… do… it.” Then the big man pointed to the body, “take care of that.” As Falconi knelt beside the body, and took the cap off of his syringe, the big man walked over to his captives and stood behind them. He checked the ropes and zip ties one last time and then he ripped the tape off of their eyes. He got down between then and grabbed their chins with an iron grip. He twisted their heads so they could see the body and what was being done too it. Then he told them, “I just wanted you ladies to see. Our friend over there, he’s going to go boom. He’s going to blow up like a sun. I’ve seen it before and it’s pretty rad. You two get to have a front row seat.”

The blond headed lawyer gave the loudest of the muffled screams. The little dark headed girl just seemed to cry mostly. The big man left them to it as Falconi put away his needle and stood back up. The big man pushed him out the door and, before closing it behind him, the big man told the little crying girl, “if it makes you feel any better kid. That guys name is Kohler.” That definitely got her attention. The big man smiled, winked, and then closed the door behind him.

Cindy began violently thrashing against the her bonds no sooner than the door was shut. She tried screaming and then pushing the cloth out of her mouth. The tape was rapped around her head so tightly that it felt almost like a steel band. She wondered if yelling would have been of much value anyway. This hotel was practically deserted. A few moments of struggling told her she was never going to escape on her own. The worst part of all was the fact that nobody knew where they were! Cindy had thought herself so clever by not even telling Chuck where they were going. Now it almost felt as if the only person she had outsmarted was herself!

Henna went into a blind panic and began a renewed round of thrashing with a fury that Cindy did not think she could hope to match. Then, Cindy noticed why the little girl had lost control. Cindy looked down on the floor and saw the body of the man that had been left by the door. His skin was changing color? Little boils were starting to appear in places. Cindy’s eyes got wider as she saw puffs of smoke, or maybe it was steam, that began to hiss from his mouth, ears, and nostrils. Then the body began to give of a faint glow. It really was going to explode! Cindy tried to scream once more. She barely heard it herself.