you all just go to hell instead?”
“ Nein. Nein, nein, nein ,” Kramer said. “You are the one who will be going to hell, Herr Omega. Of that much I can assure you. First we do a complete physical on you, and then, I think, we begin with the blowtorches.”
Amelie folded her arms and huffed in disgust, “I do not think the American dog believes you, Herr Kramer. A test of our fortitude is required.”
Kramer turned to look at her, “What did you have in mind?”
Amelie grabbed the back of Louis Brevot’s chair and dragged it to the edge of the platform, rocking him back and forth over the precipice.
“What are you doing?” Louis said, peering over the ledge. “Amelie, stop!”
“I have given myself over completely to der Fuhrer, Agent Omega. I would sacrifice anything and everything for him. So tell me, what hope is there for you?” Amelie looked at her brother and said, “Au revoir, Louis.” She lifted her foot and kicked him in the center of the chest, sending him and the chair hurtling over the edge.
Louis Brevot’s howls of terror echoed throughout the building, then stopped suddenly right before the chair smashed to pieces on the floor.
Kramer’s eyebrows raised in surprise at Amelie and said, “ Mein gott , you are enthusiastic.” He pinched her on the cheek, “I hope you save some of that enthusiasm for me, ja ? So where were we, Herr Omega?” Kramer turned to look at his prisoner and felt the breath escape his lungs like someone had slammed a baseball bat into his gut. Price’s chair was empty.
Kramer ran to the edge of the platform, seeing nothing but pieces of broken chair and a white laboratory jacket laying in a puddle of clothing. He looked in anger to see Agent Omega running across the floor with a naked Louis Brevot over his shoulder. “Grab them!” Kramer bellowed.
A flock of researchers swarmed in on the men, diving just as Price and Brevot vanished.
“Where are they? Find them!” Kramer shouted.
The sonderkommandos poured down from the platform to get out of the building, running into the crowd of researchers and jamming their rifle butts into them to clear the way.
Amelie came to the Obersturmbannfuhrer’s side and said, “I do not understand. How could he have recovered his powers so quickly?”
Kramer turned and snatched her by the throat, squeezing viciously and snarling, “Better yet, how is it that you, who can supposedly see the future, did not know he would escape?”
“I did not know, I swear to you,” Amelie wheezed, trying to wrench his hands from her neck.
Aleister Crowley wrapped his hands around Kramer’s arm and said, “Obersturmbannfuhrer, please! Her powers are new and not always predictable. She can help us catch the American if we go now. The roads must be blocked off! The woods must be searched!”
***
The parking lot was full of sonderkommandos piling into vehicles. Amelie hurried out of the building, waving her arms for the Obersturmbannfuhrer’s car to stop. She ran past two uniformed SS men waiting on a Zundapp motorcycle for the cars in front of them to clear out. She did not look at either of them as she passed.
The Obersturmbannfuhrer’s driver stopped the car and Amelie pulled open the rear door and plopped down on the leather backseat beside Kramer. She grabbed his knee and said, “Do not look so sad, my love. You will find the American dog and my useless brother. Der Fuhrer will be most gratified when you deliver his most hated enemy.” She ran her hand up the inside of his thigh and said, “But not as much as I will.”
Kramer kissed her on the lips and said, “You are right. There is no place in Germany that I cannot find them.”
The Zundapp motorcycle pulled up beside the Obersturmbannfuhrer’s car. Both