Vampire Korps of the Gestapo Ch. 04

"Can't we just turn around and drive the other way?"

"They'd follow, of course."

"We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. If you ran through them would be the same as turning around, either way they'd be after us."

"My thoughts exactly," Hex said with a glance at his watch. "We left the cabin thirty three minutes ago, von Schitt hasn't had time to warm up the war machine yet."

"What's that mean?"

"It took von Schitt time to get to a telephone to order forces into play. The men at the roadblock probably parked those cars across the road five minutes ago, the Nazis need more time to establish mobility. I think we're home free if we can slip past this barrier. Then get out of the area in a hurry before being snared in some kind of dragnet."

"What are you going to tell them?"

"We play it by ear, see how they treat us first. Can you handle a speaking part if I have to improvise?"

"I chose to refuse Leni Riefensthal but I have no choice with you," Monika commented.

She tucked her hair neatly under the peaked cap, angled the bill down enough to keep her eyes in shadow. Hex made no mention he was impressed by how much so little changed her looks.

He asked, "If I have to shoot one, can you handle shooting the other?"

"I don't even want to think about that."

"Now might be a good time to start!" he growled. "Prepare yourself to pull a trigger and shoot to kill if you have to. They won't hesitate with you."

"I know, I know! It's us or them," she snapped back at him.

They had no more time for talk. From his trenchcoat pocket Hex removed the Sicherheitspolizei badge to have available to present. He let the Mercedes roll to a stop slowly, weighing the odds. A big staff car and a privately owned vehicle were parked one facing the other across the two lanes of the road. Already a sentry had exited one of the cars, heading in their direction, shining his torch in their faces.

"Only one guard?" muttered Hex. "They're not organized yet."

"There's another headed up my side of the street although he doesn't seem to be in any hurry," Monika reported. "Just came from one of those buildings on the left."

Hex spotted him, noticing both men wore officer candidate SS uniforms. "Shit, I thought the Junkerschule was more south of here. The recruits are prone to be overzealous."

The soldier on his side of the car approached with eyes alive with suspicion. He set his light on the bonnet of the Mercedes and raised his machine pistol.

Hex squinted but waved a friendly hand at the man, smiling, "I am amazed with your vigilance and speed. Did you just now receive orders to block the road?"

The sentry visibly relaxed his grip on the weapon: "Sir?"

Hex spoke quickly and flashed his badge. "The colonel and I rushed here from a party in the Fuhrer's honor as soon as we learned about the manhunt. I scarcely believe the efficiency of you men, sir. I am Inspekteur Muir. This is my colleague, the colonel."

"Step out of the car please."

Hex pretended he hadn't heard: "Oberfahnrich is your rank, am I correct? Last summer I graduated from the facility in Bad Tolz."

"Will you and the officer step from the car!"

Monika did a spot-on impersonation of the vampire colonel's voice. "Young man, have you ever made the acquaintance of Ingrid von Schmitt?"

"You're Colonel von Schitt, Schmitt?"

"I'm going to forget I heard that," she snarled.

The guard recovered quickly, "Colonel, Inspekteur, get out of the car now."

"What is your name, young man?" Monika demanded.

He tightened his grip back on the machine pistol.

"I asked your name!" Monika asked, undaunted.

Hex looked to the left, the other sentry a mere two hundred meters away, not much time. "This is inconvenient, Junker," he complained. "Let me back out of the way first."

When he ground the Mercedes into reverse, the sentry unleashed a panicked burst of bullets across the top of the windscreen. Glass shards flew into the front seat. Hex didn't have to warn Monika to get down, she already had. The Junker fired from right to left. Before he could sweep the pistol the opposite way, Hex slammed the car into first gear. With tires squealing it lurched forward with a jerk, the fender smacked the sentry's right leg with a sickening crunch as he tried to twist out of the way. A second torrent of lead chattered wild into the sky.

Hex spun the wheel and stamped the foot feed to the floor. He sent the Mercedes around the car blocking the way on the left, on a collision course with the shocked officer candidate walking up the road. The startled Junker flung himself out of the path of certain doom as the car bear down on him, diving onto hard concrete and rolling. He'd be a minute getting back on his feet. Hex knew he'd broken the other sentry's leg.

Wind whipped through the shattered windscreen as Hex left the Junkerschule behind, roared around a curve and kept driving top speed. He only slowed after staring at the rearview mirror for a while, assured no one gave pursuit.

"I'm of two minds," Hex said, "We can go to ground until morning knowing von Schitt will be asleep; but the danger in waiting might be the area is even more heavily populated with Nazis by sunrise, beating the bushes for people who look just like you and me."

Monika shrugged, "Drive all night?"

"If they're better organized than I guessed we run the risk of encountering more roadblocks. And they'll sure as hell be ready for us now."

"We're on a roundabout . . ."

" . . . that won't stop let us off."

"Let's keep running, surely they haven't had time to set up many checkpoints."

"The decision's been made for us."

"What?"

"We're severely low on petrol, just noticed. We can't have the car sputter and die on us, they'll see it on the side of the road and have soldiers combing the vicinity for a woman and man hiking along."

"What do you suggest?"

"We need to hide this thing in someone's garage or barn, heavy brush, whatever we can use for cover. Ideally we could find another car."

"What about the one at the roadblock?"

Hex asked, "Don't you think the Junkerschule will have men everywhere now?"

"Where were all of them before? There was one sentry and another sauntering up the lane. The first sentry probably drove both the cars across the road one at a time."

Hex had gotten that impression too. "The keys are probably still in them."

"It's either a good idea or a waste of time. By now that one fellow should be helping his friend with the broken leg."

"If I turn around I'm parking the Mercedes out of sight with you in it, then I'm striking out on my own," stated Hex. "Drive off if I'm not back by the time you count to six hundred and that sort of rubbish."

"I'm not sure I like the idea."

"Why? It was yours."

"Not the part about being left alone."

Hex saw something out of the corner of his eye. "I might not have to leave you after all."

"I hope so, or you've got a terribly long walk ahead of you if you don't park closer to the Junkerschule."

Hex braked the car to a halt then started backing down the empty road. Fifty meters later he verified he'd seen a passage leading into a thick stand of pines, not a dirt trail or ruts in the soil, but more of a natural space between the trees. He turned right and proceeded off the road into the foliage, cutting the lights once he had all four wheels negotiating the terrain.

"What do you see that I don't?" asked Monika. "I swear there's a building out in those trees."

"What kind of building?"

"We're about to find out."

"Maybe we can hide in it."

"Or at least hide the Mercedes."

She said, "That was a dodgy idea of mine anyway, stealing a car from a checkpoint."

"Solving the problem of hiding doesn't solve the problem of no petrol. For the time being hiding is our best recourse," said Hex. "Without fuel we shan't get beyond the Nazis' reach."

"And we can't be seen walking," sighed Monika.

Hex parked the car in a position to drive straight out of the wooded area. He shut off the engine and said, "Let's make sure we have something solid and not a shadow down there."

He locked up after Monika got out, opened the boot of the car, closed it shut when he didn't find an extra five-liter can of petrol squirreled away. They picked their way through timber overrun with brush. After the first few meters of greenery Hex knew he was not wrong.

A dilapidated brick building sprawled amidst the trees.

**********

Brandt rose from the unforgiving concrete, nursing his right shoulder. He hobbled over to where Vogt writhed in the middle of the road grasping at his injured leg and groaning in pain. Vogt had not lost consciousness, wide-eyed in the apogee of shock.

"Take it easy, Emil," Brandt gasped at the sight. It looked like a soccer ball had been stuffed into his friend's pantsleg. "You'll do fine once I get you off this street."

Vogt moaned, "Don't move me."

"You're in shock, can't very well leave you here," Brandt said quietly. "You forget you could get run over."

"I've already been run over. What do you intend to do?"

"Stick you in the backseat of the one of the cars. Drive you back to the school."

He walked over to the staff car, ducked inside and scanned the dashboard. The keys dangled from the ignition. He steered the long car alongside Junker Vogt, got the rear passenger door open. They debated the merits of carrying Vogt or letting him balance on his good leg against Brandt. Finally Brandt picked Vogt up in a flurry of motion and settled him into the seat. No other vehicles appeared while he worked to get his comrade in the car without further extent of damage. He zoomed toward the school's entrance leaving the other car partially blocking the road.

Brandt parked in front of the duty office.

"Medical attention is on the way, Junker," he promised.

When he walked inside he'd forgotten all about Petra. Her head moved up and down over Dekker's lap while he reclined in the desk chair with his eyes closed. Brandt had time to take in the scene, neither of them saw him enter. Catching Dekker with Petra as he himself had been evened the score, both men tarred with the same brush, so to speak. Junker Vogt's broken limb took precedence. Esprit de corps. Brandt coughed discreetly, Petra's head flew up, Dekker's eyes flew open.

"Goddammit, Oskar, why aren't you at your post?" said the red-faced and disgruntled Dekker.

"Konrad! Vogt's been hit by a car."

"Good God, why didn't you say so? The man's a classmate. Does he need the doctor?"

"Got a broken leg, in shock. I've got him outside in the duty car. Shall I run him to the hospital?"

"You'll have to, there's no one here to look after him. What the fuck happened?"

Brandt told Dekker about the maniac behind the wheel of the Mercedes. In conclusion Brandt said, "After I get Vogt to the doctors may I scout around for the sons of bitches responsible? Since I saw their car and the roadblock's been abandoned and everything?"

Dekker said, "Good initiative, Junker. I'd be out there with you, but Colonel von Schmitt wants me by the phone. Keep me informed."

"Once our friend Emil is in good hands I'll explore the back roads and by-ways I know so well, the least I can do. If they're holed up, I'll find them."

And kill them.