17-02-2020, 02:22 AM
"We're clear now." In Charge told him from the driver's seat. "The warehouse has been abandoned for over a year and we can park the van inside. We'll hide here for a couple of hours; the boat isn't far."
Dietz nodded. They rounded a corner.
"Then what?" He asked.
"Then I don't tell you the rest, so my usefulness doesn't end, and you don't shoot me right here, Herr Dietz." In Charge told him. "Yeah, I'm not SUCH a fucking 'dummkopf' that I haven't figured out what happens once I 'outlive my usefulness.' I don't intend to do that. The escape plan was for a lot more than the four of us and there's no reason we all shouldn't get out of the shit that following YOU has put us in TOGETHER!"
The looks in the eyes of the other two who'd been in the back of the van with him told of thoughts of how they didn't need Dietz anymore at all and maybe La Contessa would go easy on them if they left him dead or hogtied for her.
"We..." Dietz searched for words. "We cannot let paranoia divide us now! That is how they get you! Tearing each other apart at the critical moment would be playing into HER hands! You are, as I said, In Charge. We will follow your plan."
The others were caught off guard by the first thing they'd heard from him that sounded like it might come from the mouth of a real leader and the moment passed.
In Charge got out and opened the door to the abandoned warehouse. One of the others drove it in and he closed it behind, the vehicle now off the streets.
* * *
The old gate guard watched the white van drive past his checkpoint onto the docks, then turn into the line of warehouses along the waterfront. He had a good idea which warehouse they were heading toward.
He remembered it from a little over a year ago. When he accepted another envelope of cash from the driver of a vehicle like always, then found himself staring down the barrel of a gun carried by the new guy who'd started that day.
The new guy turned out not to be a new guy at all, but a member of La Squadra de Ultimados. He'd found himself arrested, tossed into the back of a Policia car, and sitting alone in an interrogation room for what felt like hours before the woman from the Ministry of Intelligence came to him.
He recalled the deal she offered him. That she could leave him here to be imprisoned and spend his retirement behind bars or he could keep the money and have an opportunity to make a lot more. She gave him a telephone number and told him that all he had to do was call them whenever he got another "tip" from someone wanting to go through his checkpoint without inconvenience.
Despite the red toupee the driver wore, he'd also recognized him from Contessa Maria's broadcast that morning. Only decades of this side job of not asking questions for money allowed him to keep a poker face when he recognized one of the Nazis before him.
He took out his phone. The number for the woman with the Ministry was already programmed in and he knew the number to call to alert La Policia that he'd spotted the Nazis. He didn't know if calling them first would violate the deal. It would certainly mean admitting to them that he'd accepted their bribe, if not others.
After another moment's thought, he decided that his Contessa had called upon The Sword and his duties to it mattered more. He took the chance and called the second number.
Dietz nodded. They rounded a corner.
"Then what?" He asked.
"Then I don't tell you the rest, so my usefulness doesn't end, and you don't shoot me right here, Herr Dietz." In Charge told him. "Yeah, I'm not SUCH a fucking 'dummkopf' that I haven't figured out what happens once I 'outlive my usefulness.' I don't intend to do that. The escape plan was for a lot more than the four of us and there's no reason we all shouldn't get out of the shit that following YOU has put us in TOGETHER!"
The looks in the eyes of the other two who'd been in the back of the van with him told of thoughts of how they didn't need Dietz anymore at all and maybe La Contessa would go easy on them if they left him dead or hogtied for her.
"We..." Dietz searched for words. "We cannot let paranoia divide us now! That is how they get you! Tearing each other apart at the critical moment would be playing into HER hands! You are, as I said, In Charge. We will follow your plan."
The others were caught off guard by the first thing they'd heard from him that sounded like it might come from the mouth of a real leader and the moment passed.
In Charge got out and opened the door to the abandoned warehouse. One of the others drove it in and he closed it behind, the vehicle now off the streets.
* * *
The old gate guard watched the white van drive past his checkpoint onto the docks, then turn into the line of warehouses along the waterfront. He had a good idea which warehouse they were heading toward.
He remembered it from a little over a year ago. When he accepted another envelope of cash from the driver of a vehicle like always, then found himself staring down the barrel of a gun carried by the new guy who'd started that day.
The new guy turned out not to be a new guy at all, but a member of La Squadra de Ultimados. He'd found himself arrested, tossed into the back of a Policia car, and sitting alone in an interrogation room for what felt like hours before the woman from the Ministry of Intelligence came to him.
He recalled the deal she offered him. That she could leave him here to be imprisoned and spend his retirement behind bars or he could keep the money and have an opportunity to make a lot more. She gave him a telephone number and told him that all he had to do was call them whenever he got another "tip" from someone wanting to go through his checkpoint without inconvenience.
Despite the red toupee the driver wore, he'd also recognized him from Contessa Maria's broadcast that morning. Only decades of this side job of not asking questions for money allowed him to keep a poker face when he recognized one of the Nazis before him.
He took out his phone. The number for the woman with the Ministry was already programmed in and he knew the number to call to alert La Policia that he'd spotted the Nazis. He didn't know if calling them first would violate the deal. It would certainly mean admitting to them that he'd accepted their bribe, if not others.
After another moment's thought, he decided that his Contessa had called upon The Sword and his duties to it mattered more. He took the chance and called the second number.
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