Flight of the Valkyrie Read online

  Brygida made it out of the facility campus and into the street. The bleeding from the bullet wound was bad, however, and she was losing a lot of blood. She began to feel light-headed and wobbled on her feet. She noticed the headlights of an approaching car heading straight for her. She tried to move out of the way before she was run over, but the world began to spin and she collapsed in the street right in front of the car. She heard screeching brakes as she blacked out.

  Chapter 12

  Virginia

  1965

  Brygida opened her eyes and glanced about the room as light streamed in through the windows causing the pounding in her head to ache worse. The room was sparsely decorated and the only furniture was a dresser and the bed upon which she laid. Brygida did not recognize the room and immediately bolted upright before remembering that she had come to a CSOS safe house on a farm in Virginia. She realized that she must still be there.

  Brygida swung her feet to the floor and winced as her entire body ached like she had just run a hundred mile race through the Alps. She suddenly remembered being electrocuted. She placed her face in her hands and sighed when she remembered it had been her son doing the electrocuting.

  It was excruciating to move and Brygida moaned as she pushed herself to her feet. She slowly walked toward the door wincing with each step. She reached for the door nob and turned it. As the door opened, Brygida could hear voices emanating from down the hall. She followed them until she came to the kitchen.

  When she stepped inside she saw Rolf and Alexi seated at the kitchen table shoving bacon and scrambled eggs into their mouths as if they had not eaten in weeks.

  “Brygida!” she heard Alena’s voice say and turned to see the younger woman smiling with relief. Axel stood beside Alena, leaning against the kitchen counter. He straightened when Brygida entered.

  Brygida scanned the room to see Tom sitting in a chair by the window smoking a cigarette. He had a bruise on his throat where Brygida had choked him. She flashed a friendly smile. “Sorry about the neck,” she said.

  Tom chuckled. “Oh, this is nothing, but the mark you left on Agent Ford’s throat will take a while to heal.”

  Brygida looked down at the floor. “Where is he?” she asked. “I’d like to apologize.”

  “We sent him home to get some rest,” Tom said.

  “Here sit down,” Brygida heard and glanced down to see Dawn standing from the table a cup of warm coffee in her hand.

  “Thank you,” Brygida said as she stepped over to the table and lowered herself into the now vacant chair as she attempted to hide the pain that each movement of her muscles was causing her. She would heal soon. She healed very fast. She just had to keep faking until then.

  She smiled at Alexi as she sat. “The eggs are good Brygida,” he said before scooping another fork full into his mouth.

  “Yes, he and Rolf have eaten about a dozen a piece,” Alena chuckled. “Apparently Agent Williams is a woman of many different talents.”

  “The trick is to add a little milk,” Dawn said with a slight smile.

  Brygida looked at Rolf, but he would not look at her. He stopped eating and just stared down at his plate careful to avoid her eyes, his hands hidden beneath the table in his lap.

  “Are you alright?” Axel asked her in a soft voice and Brygida turned to look at him.

  She nodded. “I’ve been through worse,” she replied as she forced a weak smile.

  Axel swallowed hard. “I am so sorry,” he said. “I had no idea that…” he let his words trail off. He turned away from her, trying desperately to keep his emotions in check.

  “I know,” Brygida said. “How could you have known? How could you know your mother was even still alive?”

  Axel turned back to look her in the eyes. “And you didn’t ambush us two nights ago?” he asked going straight to the point. It was a pleading question. He wanted to hear her say it, then he would believe it. Up until finding out the so-called Valkyrie was his mother, he would not have believed a word that came out of her mouth, but now he would. And he needed to feel confident that his mother had not murdered the man he loved like a father.

  “No, Axel,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I want Kammler dead as bad as anyone, but I did not ambush you.”

  “Then who did?” Dawn asked. “It was a woman, I know that. As far as I could tell she was alone.”

  “And she was strong, like you,” Axel told her. “She knocked me unconscious and tossed Rolf down a hill like a rag doll.”

  Brygida turned to look at Rolf who still would not look at her. She then turned back toward Axel. “There are no shortage of people who would love to see Hans Kammler dead. He is a monster.” Brygida glanced at Alena and then back to Axel. “But as far as I know there is only one woman in the world—other than me—who fits that description.” Brygida turned to Alena. She wanted her to say it.

  Alena glanced up at her and then her eyes fell to the floor. “Freyja,” Alena said in a cracking whisper.

  “Freyja?” Axel asked in disbelief before glancing at Tom.

  “Well I’ll be damned,” Tom said as he slipped another cigarette between his lips.

  “She survived?” Axel asked. Then another terrifying thought gripped him. “Did her brother?”

  “Hold on a minute,” Dawn said as she held up her hands and feeling suddenly lost and left out of the conversation. “For those of us who are relatively new to fighting Nazis and just learned about these genetic experiments a few months ago…Who is Freyja?”

  Everyone glanced at the other until Axel finally spoke up. “There were three sets of twins that survived the procedures that Arnulf used on…” he paused as he glanced at his mother, trying to decide how to refer to her. “Brygida and other women like Alena and Alexi’s mom.”

  “Chessa,” Brygida said as she glanced at Alena. “Their mother’s name was Chessa.”

  “So obviously, there is me and Rolf and Alena and Alexi,” Axel continued. “The third set—or perhaps I should say the first set, because they were the originals—was a pair of pure blooded Aryans named Freyja and Freyr.”

  “Interesting names,” Dawn remarked.

  “They were named after Norse gods,” Tom explained. “Hitler and his strange cult of Nazis were obsessed with Nordic myth.”

  “Freyja and Freyr were older than the four of us by about five years,” Axel said. “And you should have seen these two. Blond haired blue eyed perfect Aryan specimens…pride of the Führer. Totally your type you’d have liked them.” Dawn chuckled at Axel’s attempt to lighten the situation.

  “They were Arnulf’s pride and joy,” Alena added.

  “Okay, but even assuming Freyja survived the war, why would she be trying to assassinate Kammler?” Dawn asked. “I mean, wouldn’t they be friends or something?”

  “Perhaps,” Tom said. “Then again maybe she was just as pissed at him as everyone else. The bigger questions are how would Freyja know we even had Kammler and where we were going to be?”

  Alena snickered. “Your agencies are so transparent, so open—it’s very easy to infiltrate you. The KGB has agents at every level of your government.”

  “Maybe that’s true and maybe it’s hyperbole,” Tom replied. “But even if true, unless Freyja is working for the KGB…” he said while raising his eyebrows and staring at Alena, who shook her head to assure him she was not. “Then I want to know how she found out about Kammler.”

  “The International,” Brygida said.

  “The what?” Dawn asked.

  “The full name is The International Nazi Cabal,” Brygida said. “That’s what we call it anyway. I seriously doubt they call themselves that. I don’t know if they call themselves anything.”

  “Who is we?” Tom asked.

  “Those of us who know that the cabal exists and are fighting it,” Brygida said.

  “Okay, what is the International Nazi Cabal?” Axel asked.

  Brygida glanced at Alena before drawing in a deep breath.
“The Nazis had postwar plans. They did not intend to go quietly into the dustbins of history. Nazism wasn’t just a German movement. It had adherents throughout the world. Nazism is a philosophy that Hitler wanted exported around the globe. When it became increasingly clear that they were going to fail in their aims militarily, they set other plans in motion. Learning from the past, they decided to take it slow. Hitler’s biggest blunder was rushing to war in the east. So the high brass in the Nazi movement decided that this time they would conquer slowly. Instead of using war, they would use more subtle means such as finance, the media, and religion.”

  “But that still doesn’t answer the question,” Tom said as he stamped out his cigarette.

  Brygida turned to him. “Don’t you see?” she asked. “They put their plans into effect. The International is a worldwide network. They have infiltrated governments, banks, corporations, churches, newspapers, everything. The West has been more compromised than I even realized until recently. Most noticeably in American intelligence and space agencies through Project Paperclip.”

  “That’s crazy,” Dawn said dismissively. “Nazi’s still exist and they have infiltrated American spy agencies?”

  “Is it crazy?” Brygida asked. “You work for the Clandestine Scientific Operations Service, correct?” Dawn nodded. “And who does CSOS work for? I mean who does it really work for?”

  Dawn glanced at Axel to see he was looking at Tom.

  “You don’t know, do you?” Brygida asked.

  “Okay, so assuming this Nazi cabal thing is all true, what do we do about it?” Axel asked.

  “We destroy it by stopping their plans,” Brygida replied.

  “How?” Tom asked. “Do you know their plans?”

  “Unfortunately, no. However, if anyone knew the plan it’s Kammler,” Alena said.

  Tom nodded and then drew a deep breath, as he rose to his feet. “Alright,” he said. “Let’s go talk to him. See what he knows.”

  “Okay,” Axel said ready to accompany Tom.

  Tom turned to Axel with a shake of his head. “Why don’t you and Rolf stay here,” Tom told him. “Catch up.” As he said it he nodded toward Brygida. “Besides, I’d rather take Dawn,” he smirked with a playful wink.

  Dawn followed Tom out of the kitchen. There was an uncomfortable silence after they left. Everyone more-or-less avoided eye contact with each another. Rolf continued to stare at the plate in front of him. Only Alexi seemed unfazed as he finished eating all of the eggs.

  “Come on, Lexi,” Alena finally said breaking the silence. “Let’s go for a walk outside.”

  Alexi stood, wiping his hands and mouth on a napkin before following his sister out through the kitchen door.

  Axel glanced at his mother and then cut his eyes to Rolf who still refused to look at her.

  Chapter 13

  Hans Kammler sat in the small room that had been set up for him in the basement of the CSOS office building. It was way back in the back, an old work room with janitor’s closet that included not only a sink, but a toilet. The day before, Ian, Tom, and the rest of Team Blitzkrieg had made a big show about taking Kammler to the safe house in Virginia. They had walked him out of the front door and sat him in a car. They then drove him around to the rear of the building and snuck him back in through an unused (and normally heavily locked) service entrance. He was left alone in this room with a small table, a stack of books, and a cot. Martha brought him dinner and breakfast in cardboard boxes. There was a single guard, who was instructed that no one other than Ian, Martha, and members of Team Blitzkrieg were allowed inside and he had no idea what was in the room. To quiet suspicions, the entire office was warned that there was a captured Soviet pathogen locked inside. Since the room was adjacent to the science lab, everyone seemed to buy the story and it dissuaded anyone from wanting to get too close.

  Tom and Dawn sat across the table from Kammler. Tom pulled out his pack of cigarettes and offered one to Kammler who accepted with a smile. Tom pulled out his lighter and flicked it open holding the flame forward. Kammler bent over the table lighting the cigarette. Tom then lit his own cigarette and sat back puffing.

  “How are the accommodations?” Tom asked in German as he glanced about the room.

  Kammler laughed. “I’ve had better,” he replied as he blew out a stream of smoke. “But it certainly could be worse.”

  “Indeed,” Tom said. “You could have been captured by the Russians.”

  Kammler nodded. “That was what I was most afraid of. I was near the eastern front when it was collapsing,” he said. “Our most secret base was in eastern Germany near Breslau.”

  “You know Breslau is owned by the Poles now,” Tom said before taking another drag off of his cigarette. This caused Kammler to chuckle a bit. Dawn watched the exchange, not understanding a word that was being said in German, but amazed at how relaxed both men were. It was as if they were discussing baseball.

  “Adolf would be livid to know that,” Kammler said.

  “I’m sorry…I interrupted you,” Tom said. “You were telling me about this base.”

  “Yes, well, I was transporting the Bell away from the collapsing lines. Suddenly a Soviet special forces team attacked us. They were completely outnumbered and outgunned, yet they killed so many Germans. Not just regular army either. These were highly trained SS men. What’s more, it was not the Soviet special forces team that was doing this really. It was primarily the work of a single woman.” He stopped and stared at Tom as he drew a puff off of his cigarette.

  “The Valkyrie,” Tom said causing Kammler to nod.

  “Yes. She was the same exact woman who tried to kill me when I first arrived. She has not aged a day. The Valkyrie was a legend, a myth in Nazi circles. This angel of death that would descend from Valhalla, snatch the life from a man, and then fly right back up, disappearing into heaven once more. But she is no myth. The Valkyrie is real.”

  “And you believe this Valkyrie was responsible for Professor Hayes’ death? You believe it was the same woman who attempted to kill you in 1945?” Tom asked.

  Kammler nodded. “Of course,” the Nazi replied. “Who else could have done it? Your people say it was a woman. A woman strong enough to take down Donar?”

  Tom stopped and stared at Kammler. “You know who they are?”

  Kammler laughed. “Of course I know who they are,” he replied. “You Americans are so arrogant, you didn’t even bother to change their names.”

  Tom stamped out his cigarette. “Then you know who the Valkyrie really is?” he said coolly.

  This caused Kammler to cease laughing. He fixed Tom with a serious eye. “There were rumors of course. Colonel Arnulf certainly thought he knew who she was.”

  “What are the chances that this attack two nights ago did not come from the Valkyrie at all. What if it came from someone else?”

  “Who?” Kammler asked.

  “Freyja,” Tom said.

  Kammler stared at Tom, his blood beginning to run cold at the thought that Freyja was gunning for him. Then he forced it out of his mind. “That’s impossible,” he said as he looked away.

  “Is it?” Tom asked. Kammler did not respond, but simply stamped out his cigarette butt nervously. Tom then realized that Kammler was afraid, but he would never be convinced, at least not enough to give up these Nazi secrets, here in this room. He turned to Dawn. “Why don’t you go tell the guard he is relieved,” Tom said in English. “Then bring the car round back.”

  “Okay,” Dawn said as she stood.

  Tom turned back to Kammler. “We’re going to take you to the safe house in Virgina,” he said as he pulled another cigarette from its case and placed it to his lips. “We think you’ll be more secure there.”

  ***

  Axel handed Brygida a cup of coffee. “Thank you,” she said and took a sip. She turned to Rolf who still stared down at his plate. She frowned before turning back to her coffee. Axel noticed his brother.

  “Rolf are you okay?” h
e asked. Rolf nodded but would not look up at him.

  Axel lowered himself into a chair next to Brygida. “You’ll have to forgive us, this is all quite shocking,” he said.

  Brygida nodded. “I know, Axel. I don’t know if it would have been better if I had approached you on the street as I had planned to do so many times. I guess any way is better than this way though,” she said with a nervous chuckle before sipping her coffee. “I had rehearsed what I would say to you when we finally met over and over in my mind, but now, I don’t know what to say.”

  Axel nodded. “Well, start at the beginning,” he said.

  “The beginning?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Axel replied. “Who are you?”

  Brygida looked up and he saw tears building in her eyes. “Alright,” she said. “My name is Brygida Dubenski. I was born in small town in Poland in 1916. My mother’s name was Sara and my father’s name was Micah. In fact, I was going to name one of you after my father and the other one after…” Brygida stopped as the memories of the night her husband Noah was killed came flooding back to her. She set her coffee cup on the table and covered her mouth in a failed attempt to force back a sob.

  Axel reached out and placed a hand gently on her arm. “It is alright,” he said. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

  Brygida shook her head, wiped her eyes with her fingers and composed herself. “No, Axel,” she said. “We need to talk about it.” She glanced over at Rolf who had peeked at her briefly, but now returned to staring at his plate when she turned to look at him.

  “It was late in 1939. The Germans had taken over Poland, of course, and were ordering that all Jews be relocated to a ghetto in Warsaw.” She stopped and looked up into Axel’s eyes. “My husband, Noah, knew what was happening. So many others just went along with them, piling into trains to go to Warsaw as instructed. But Noah, he said they were just getting us together to kill us more easily. I’m sure you know how Warsaw turned out.” Axel nodded.