Flight of the Valkyrie Read online

  “Yes?” Brygida asked.

  “The location of a building in Berlin where a Colonel Arnulf does experiments,” Utkin said.

  ***

  It took a couple of days for Brygida to sneak through the German lines and enter Berlin. She no longer dressed as a soldier, but as a woman who might work in a secretarial position, swapping her pants out for a conservative navy blue dress.

  Berlin had been heavily bombed and those that remained in the city were clearly terrified of the imminent threat they felt. Brygida stepped out of the taxi at the address Utkin had given her. The building was nondescript, three stories with dull gray walls.

  Brygida casually strolled up to the building carrying a stack of papers in her arms. Everyone was in a flurry of activity as people were moving in and out of the building removing everything and loading it up onto trucks. With all the excitement, no one even noticed Brygida slip inside through the front doors of the building.

  She made her way down a long corridor peeking into offices as she walked past. How was she going to find Arnulf? She noticed an older gentleman in a white lab coat, clearly a scientist of some sort. He certainly seemed like he would know where to go. She followed him to a stairwell and watched as he descended to the basement. Brygida descended after him. It was like another world down there. Where the upper levels were offices, the basement seemed more like a hospital.

  Brygida laid the papers she was carrying on the floor and rushed after the man in the white lab coat. She caught up with him, grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face her. She pulled her pistol from the holster hidden against her thigh and placed the silenced barrel against his head. The man went white with terror.

  “Who are you?” she asked in German.

  “H-Herbert Holger,” he stammered as he raised his hands in the air and stared at the pistol. “I’m just a scientist.”

  “What do they do here?” Brygida asked.

  “Genetic experiments,” he said.

  “Do you work for Colonel Arnulf?” she asked.

  “Y-yes,” he said.

  “Where is he?” Brygida asked.

  “I-I have no idea,” Holger replied.

  Brygida stepped back a few feet from him and she watched as he breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Then what good are you?” she asked and pulled the trigger, shooting Dr. Holger right between the eyes. His body collapsed dead to the floor and she stepped over it and continued down the corridor.

  As Brygida continued to move down the hall she kept her pistol raised. As she was passing a door she heard a girl’s voice scream out. “Axel help me!”

  Brygida froze. Axel? Her memories flashed back to the night Arnulf took her babies from her. “Yes, Axel and Rolf. Very nice names, don’t you think?” Arnulf had asked her.

  Brygida turned and opened the door quickly. It opened into some sort of lecture hall or other large room used for demonstrations. The floor of the room which was surrounded by stadium style seating, descended further into the ground than the basement level she was already on. She heard a girl scream and she quickly bounded down the stairs, crossed over the floor to another corridor leading off to the side, in the direction from which the scream had come.

  The pistol was held at eye level as Brygida hurried to the sounds of the screams. She stopped just before she came to another room and peeked around the corner. There she saw what appeared to be a blond teenage boy and teenage girl tormenting two younger children. The blond girl had a darker haired girl on her knees gripping her by the hair. The teenage boy had a large boy on the floor lying on his side and the teenage boy kicked him in the ribs.

  “Please don’t! You are hurting him!” the little girl cried.

  “Shut-up!” the older girl answered. “You’ll get yours soon enough.”

  The little girl turned her head and Brygida saw her face. She gasped as the girl looked exactly like her friend Chessa, the young Slavic woman who had given birth to twins the same night as Brygida.

  Suddenly another man in a white lab coat appeared. “Let’s get going,” he said to the teenagers. “Bring them.” Before they could move Brygida rushed into the room holding the pistol high.

  “Let them go!” she shouted causing everyone to turn toward her. The man in the lab coat stared at her as the color drained from his face. Then she noticed his crotch and pants leg darken as he peed himself.

  “Valkyrie,” the man whispered.

  The teenagers did not seem impressed or frightened at all. “I said let them go!” Brygida shouted and they did so. “Come here children!” she commanded and the two young children rushed toward her, happy to be away from the older children who tortured them. Brygida pushed them behind her and as she did so, the man in the white lab coat darted away. “Guards!” he shouted.

  Brygida spun around to flee with the children when she was suddenly slammed into from behind and knocked to the ground. Chessa’s children backed away from her as the blond girl stood over her and kicked the pistol from Brygida’s hand.

  “So, you are the legendary Valkyrie?” the girl sneered. “I am Freyja and this is my brother, Freyr. I will brag to the entire world how we killed the Valkyrie.”

  Brygida began to push herself to her feet and Freyja kicked at her, aiming for her ribs, but Brygida caught her boot. She lifted Freyja’s leg up off the ground, flipping the girl onto her back. Brygida then leapt to her feet and kicked Freyja across the jaw knocking her unconcious.

  Freyr moved in, a knife in his hand. He swung it at Brygida and she leapt back out of the way. He swung again and this time Brygida caught his wrist and stripped the knife from it. Freyr leapt at Brygida, but Brygida struck, slicing a long deep gash in his cheek. Freyr cried out in pain as he scrambled backward. Brygida held the knife up menacingly. “Run boy, before I carve you up,” she sneered at him. Freyr’s eyes went wide with fright and he turned and ran away.

  Brygida dropped the knife scooped up the pistol and dashed to the children dropping to her knees in front of them. She flashed a friendly smile as she looked them in the eye. “My name is Brygida, I was a friend of your mother’s and I am here to rescue you,” she said and the two children threw their arms around her neck. Their overwhelming relief and happiness caused them to lose all control of their emotions and the children wept on Brygida’s shoulder.

  Brygida comforted them as best she could, but needed them to answer a question. “Do you know a couple of boys about your age named Axel and Rolf?” she asked hopefully. Both children nodded.

  Brygida’s heart leapt. “Do you know where they are?” she asked as her breathing intensified with excitement.

  The little girl shook her head. “They left us,” she said accusingly.

  “To go where?” Brygida asked.

  “Home,” the little girl said.

  “You don’t live here?” Brygida asked, the disappointment clear in her voice.

  “No,” the little girl replied.

  “Where do you live?” Brygida asked.

  “At home,” the little girl said. “It’s far from here.”

  Brygida heard the heavy stomp of boots running toward them. She was certain it was the guards that the scientist had sent for. She did not know how many soldiers there were and did not want to find out.

  “We need to get out of here!” she exclaimed and scooped up both children in her arms and sprinted back the way she had come.

  Chapter 19

  Antarctica

  1965

  The light was blinding as Brygida opened her eyes, blinking and squinting as she stared up into the lights glaring down. She turned her head to check out her surroundings and recognized it as a medical examination room. A chill jolted through her and she realized she no longer wore her leather jacket, only the tank top. Brygida attempted to move, but found she was bound tightly to the medical table by leather straps.

  “Don’t bother trying to get up,” a voice said in German and she turned to see Freyja leaning against th
e counter with her arms crossed over her chest. “I tightened the straps myself.”

  Freyja stood straight and stepped over to Brygida leaning over her with a sneer. “Do you remember me, Valkyrie?” Brygida said nothing. Freyja reared back her arm and brought her hand down slapping Brygida hard across the face. “Answer me!” she shouted.

  Brygida turned and looked at her. “I’m sorry,” Brygida said. “All you people look alike to me.”

  Freyja laughed at this. “Yes, joke now. You will not be joking for long—I promise you.” Freyja leaned in very close, placing her nose just inches from Brygida’s face. “What did you do with my brother?” she asked.

  “What?” Brygida asked her, clearly confused.

  Freyja reared back and slapped Brygida again. “I want to know what you did with my brother!”

  Before Brygida could respond, the door swung open and a man in a white lab coat entered the room. Freyja backed away from Brygida. She was nervous and Brygida realized that she was not supposed to be interrogating her. The man smiled broadly at Brygida. It had been twenty years and he had certainly aged, but there was no mistaking that it was the same man Brygida had seen when she rescued Alena and Alexi.

  He stepped over to her and looked down at her. “Aw, here she is,” he said. “It is truly an honor to have the great Valkyrie as our guest.” He ran his fingers along her bare arm. “You are beautiful. I see why Colonel Arnulf was so obsessed with you.”

  Her eyes cut to his at the mention of Arnulf.

  “But I am being rude. We have not been properly introduced. I am Dr. Ernst Volker,” he said with a welcoming smile. “And you are Brygida.”

  “I wish I could say it was a pleasure,” Brygida said.

  “Oh,” Volker said as he began to laugh. “Yes, well, I suppose the circumstances are not favorable to you are they? But it is a pleasure for us, Brygida. A great pleasure. We have searched for you for decades and then you simply drop into our lap.” He stopped and stared at her. “By the way, how did you find us?”

  Brygida smiled.

  “Come now, we can do this the easy way,” he said. “Though Freyja would prefer to do it the hard way, wouldn’t you my dear?”

  Brygida turned her head to see Freyja pick up a scalpel from the counter and hold it up for Brygida to see. She then turned back to Volker.

  “Hans Kammler told me,” Brygida said.

  Volker glanced up at Freyja who looked away. “You see why you were supposed to kill him?”

  “Yes, Herr Doctor,” Freyja said timidly as a scolded child.

  Volker turned back to Brygida. “What else did Kammler tell you?” he asked.

  “He just said that you had a base here and that you were going to use it to finish what Hitler started,” Brygida replied.

  “Hmm,” Volker said as he narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure that is all?”

  Brygida nodded. “How did you know about Kammler?” she asked.

  Dr. Volker smiled as he leaned over Brygida. “I’ll ask the questions, my dear. You need not worry about it, because you are never leaving here.”

  “I’ve told you everything I know,” she said. “So if you plan on killing me go ahead.”

  “Kill you?” Volker asked shocked. “Oh no, I would never dream of killing you, Brygida.” Volker stuck his nose into her curls and breathed deeply as he cupped her breast in his palm. “Oh yes, I can see why Arnulf liked you so much.” He grinned devilishly. “No, you are much too important to kill. We have to find out what makes you so special, Brygida. You were the only mother to survive. Not only did you survive, but you developed incredible abilities of your own, like Freyja here. We’re going to figure out how.”

  Freyja smiled at that.

  “Maybe we can revive our super race project,” he said to Freyja.

  “No more wolves?” Freyja asked.

  Volker chuckled. Then he looked at Brygida. “Would you like to see what we’ve been doing?” he asked.

  Brygida swallowed hard. “Sure,” she said.

  ***

  Alena peeked around the corner and noticed two Nazi soldiers marching down the corridor toward her. Unfortunately, they saw her as well. “You there!” one shouted in German. “Halt!” Suddenly, Alena flashed around the corner and both Nazis lay dead on the floor, throats slashed, in a matter of seconds, as their blood began to pool around them.

  She moved further down the corridor then hung a left, moving away from the dead Nazis. Soon Alena heard footsteps and ducked quickly inside of a room, quietly closing the door behind her. She kept her ear to the door, listening as the footsteps marched past. She breathed a sigh of relief then turned around to face the room in which she hid. Alena gasped. She was inside of a lab, but it wasn’t the lab itself that made her gasp. It was the experiments.

  There were several large test tubes and inside of the tubes were fetuses. Alena walked over to one of test tubes to get a closer look. It appeared to be a human baby but there was something very strange about it. As she moved closer she noticed the hands. They were not hands at all, but crab claws. Alena covered her mouth as she stared at the creature inside of the tube. In several places its skin had a reddish hard material like a crab’s shell. The baby lifted its head and Alena saw its face. It had no nose, a small slit for a mouth and two little black beady eyes. She forced down a scream as she backed away from the test tube.

  Alena heard a splash and then a noise that sounded like a cross between a baby cry and gurgling growl coming from the back of the lab. Her curiosity got the better of her and Alena walked toward the sound past rows of test tubes filled with all types of hybrid babies—part cat, part dog, part monkey. She reached the back of the lab and saw a large aquarium tank. Inside was what appeared to be a small alligator except it had human hands and a shortened snout. Then when she looked closer she noticed it also had human eyes. Those tiny child-like eyes stared at her. Alena could not take anymore and turned and bolted from the room.

  ***

  Tom stared at the giant vault in front of him as he scratched his chin trying to figure out how they were going to open it so that they could remove the z-bomb that Dawn believed to be inside. Suddenly he had a thought. He turned and smiled at Dawn. “Hey do you think your psychic abilities could help you guess the numbers of the combination?” he asked.

  Dawn frowned and shook her head. “No, it doesn’t work that way. Sorry.” She stood silent for a brief moment staring at the vault and suddenly her face lit up. “Although…” she began but did not continue.

  “What?” Axel asked his curiosity piqued.

  Dawn stepped up to the vault. “I cannot psychically see the numbers, but I might be able to see inside the lock itself to unlock it.”

  “What?” Axel asked confused.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Tom admonished Axel. “Just do it,” he said to Dawn.

  Dawn nodded as she placed her hands against the vault door and then closed her eyes. After a few seconds, Axel and Tom saw the combination begin to spin without her touching it. They looked at each other and smiled before turning their attention back to the vault. The combination slowed down until there was a click. Dawn opened her eyes, removed her hands from the vault door, turned and smiled at Tom and Axel.

  “It’s done?” Tom asked hopefully.

  Dawn reached up and grabbed the handle to open the vault and pulled. The door was extremely heavy and barely budged. She turned to the men. “Um, do I have to do everything?”

  “Oh, sorry,” Axel and Tom said sheepishly and both men stepped over to help pull the gigantic door open.

  It swung open slowly with a loud squeak of metal on metal. Once the door was open they stepped inside and saw a single olive drab metal crate. “See?” Dawn said. “It’s about the size of a refrigerator.” They nodded.

  “Hey Rolf and Alexi, come give me a hand,” Tom called.

  “Brygida said to use code names,” Alexi reminded him.

  “You mean Valkyrie,” Rolf corrected Alexi.r />
  Alexi laughed. “Oh yeah,” he said with a big toothy grin.

  “Alright,” Tom replied. “Hammer and Krieg, would you please come give me a hand with this thing?”

  “Sure Tom,” Rolf said as the two big men walked toward him causing Tom to glance at Axel and Dawn who were both suppressing a laugh. Axel and Dawn stepped out of the vault to clear the way for Alexi and Rolf.

  As they stood outside of the vault, watching, Axel leaned over to Dawn. “You were just teasing about sleeping with Tom right?” he whispered.

  Dawn turned to him. “Why?” she asked with an amused smile. “Are you jealous?”

  Axel shook his head. “No, of course not, but I mean, if you broke up with me because we’re on the same team…”

  “Look,” Dawn said cutting him off. “First, it was mutual, right?”

  “Yeah, of course,” Axel said.

  “Are you sure?” Dawn asked.

  “Totally,” Axel said.

  “Okay well, no I am not sleeping with Tom. I am not the team whore.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Axel said defensively.

  “I know,” Dawn said with a grin as she slapped his arm. “Besides, I don’t think it would work even if I wanted to.”

  “What do you mean?” Axel asked.

  “I don’t think Tom is really into girls,” she said.

  “Well, I mean, you’re not a girl, Dawn, you are all woman,” Axel said.

  Dawn stared at him unblinking. “No, Axel, I mean, I think Tom is a little light in the loafers,” she said.

  “Light in the…” Axel began then his eyes bugged out of his head. “You mean he’s batting for the other team?”

  “I’m not sure if you are using that phrase correctly. Wouldn’t it be batting for the same team?” Dawn asked.

  Axel stopped and considered it a moment. “Yeah, I guess so,” he said. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”

  “Guys!” Tom’s voice called snapping Axel’s and Dawn’s attention back.

  “Yes, Tom?” they both said in unison like two children whose mom just caught them with their hands in the cookie jar.