Hello everybody. It took me two years to complete it. I couldn't figure out the story properly.
It can be seen as a prequel for Sherry Rathbone series. It takes place in Bakersfield during WWII and features private detective Diana Knight, who is a grandmother of the journalist Diana Knight from the Sherry's mysteries. (Sherry and her stories are featured at Watertown Forum)
I don't know if I am going to develop it into a series but I will be happy if you leave me some small feedback :-)
Bakersfield Noir:
Diana’s Big Case
Part I
“Yes, this is The Knight Detective Agency,
Diana Knight speaking … no, Sam Knight isn’t in … sorry he won’t be back, he’s
dead, I’m his widow. … Oh that’s okay. … No, we don’t do missing cats. Did you
try to look at the tree in the backyard? … Okay, you are welcome. Bye.”
Diana hung out and lit another cigarette. This
detective agency that she had inherited from her late husband was a real white
elephant. Sam Knight died couple of months ago in Europe in the service of his
country and she had been stuck with it ever since. She tried to sell but nobody
wanted to buy. Why would anybody have wanted to buy a detective agency when
there was the war raging all around world?
Diana was being hired mostly by rich women to
follow their cheating husbands and take some pictures as the evidence for the
divorce court. She was getting paid quite well, at least enough to pay the
bills but nothing special.
“Oh my god, why did I marry that man?” she
asked herself after she put out the cigarette and immediately lit another one.
A year ago she met Sam Knight in a bar where she worked as a waitress, had
couple of drinks with him and woke up as Mrs. Knight. In the beginning it
wasn’t that bad. He made her his secretary. On several occasions he even took
her on the case but then America declared the war to the Axis powers and Sam
got drafted and couple of months later he died during the invasion of Sicily
and Diana became the full-time yet unwilling Nancy Drew in hopes of either selling
the agency or solving an exciting case and getting a lot of money at minimum
risk.
She was 26 and she definitely didn’t want to
spend the rest of her life in this office following rich women’s cheating
husbands. The best way for her to get out would be to marry a wealthy man and
become his trophy wife which wouldn’t be a problem since she was always
considered being hot with her long wavy raven hair and slim big-breasted body
that most men wanted to get their hands on and most women wished to have.
However she didn’t want to marry again, she loved the freedom and independence
that marriage couldn’t offer her.
She put out another cigarette, got up and
rolled up the blinds to get some light into her dark office. Before she could
open the window and let some fresh air in, she heard the knock on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and a young beautiful blond woman
entered. She was dressed in a dark blue suit with a small matching hat, a white
blouse and a pair of black stockings. Her leather-gloved hands were carrying a
small purse. Her long wavy hair was falling on her shoulders.
“Are you Diana Knight?” asked the visitor who
could be in her late-thirties, maybe ten years older than Diana.
“Yes, I am and who might you be?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Alexis, Alexis Smith.”
“Nice to meet you, please sit down. What can I
do for you?” asked Diana after both of them were seated.
“Mrs. Knight, this matter is very important and
urgent. You were recommended to me by a friend of mine, Mrs. Vanessa
Montgomery. Do you remember her case?”
“Of course, I do remember Mrs. Montgomery and
especially her husband …” replied Diana. How could she ever forget? Mrs.
Montgomery hired her to follow her husband and his mistress and take some
photos to prove that Steve Montgomery was unfaithful. Unfortunately for Diana
Steve and his mistress were not only secret lovers but also members of the gang
specializing in bank robberies. She wasn’t careful enough and she ended up
bound and gagged in their hideout. However the hoodlums didn’t spend too much
time as boy-scouts and Diana managed to get rid of the loosely knotted-ropes
when the gang was still on their way to rob the bank in New Stockholm. She
overpowered Mongomery’s mistress who was left to guard her, returned the favor
of tying her and gagging her and when the gang came back with their loot the
place had already been crawling with the police.
“Of course, Vanessa told me all about it and
recommended you as a very capable and reliable private eye.”
“I was lucky, that’s all.”
“Are you interested in my problem or not?” said
Mrs. Smith strictly.
“I guess so …”
“Okay, this is my sister-in-law Helga.” She
took out a black-and-white picture of a beautiful smiling blonde in her
mid-thirties. “She couldn’t come personally because she was kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped?” repeated Diana the last word,
partly shocked and partly thrilled because maybe this was her break-through case
which would make her some good money.
“Yes, kidnapped. And I want you to find her.
Are you interested?”
“Definitely. Please, go on.”
“Helga is married to my dear brother who at the
time that terrible thing happened was out of town. She was kidnapped straight
from their house. She was in the living room and just had her coffee served by
Mrs. Mason, the housekeeper, when the kidnappers broke in. They tied both of
them up and gagged them and then took poor Helga away. Mrs. Mason was later
discovered by the gardener in the closet and that’s that.”
“Did you contact police?”
“Yes, we did. They are on the case but you know
how slow and inefficient the Bakersfield PD is.”
“Of course,” said Diana and smiled. “What more
can you tell me?”
“Before you ask yourself, Helga is German. You
know how it is to be a German in the USA these days but I must ensure you, she
is a fugitive from her country and I suspect that her disappearance has
something to do with where she came from.”
Diana who was getting more and more interested
offered the lady a cigarette, which she refused and went on with her
sister-in-law’s story:
“Before the war Helga was a lover of a
prominent Nazi party member – a real fanatic and an evil man. He beat her
regularly and treated her like his private property but that wasn’t the worst.
One day she heard him and some SS officers talking about Hitler’s secret plans
for starting the war and that was enough. She wanted to be as far from Germany
and those Nazis as possible and so she left the country secretly with the help
of the underground. Unfortunately for her she took some important documents
from his desk and I am afraid that her ex-boyfriend wants them back.”
“That could be a motive, yes,” nodded Diana.
The war was still raging and Nazis had a lot of
secret supporters in the United States.
“Why did she take those documents?”
“Maybe she wanted to sell them to the US
government. I don’t know. My brother didn’t tell me more about them. I am not
sure whether she still has them or not. I won’t lie to you. It will probably be
a really dangerous job but you’ll get a lot of money if you find my
sister-in-law.
“You can count on me,” said the detective who
was more than thrilled about her new case. Maybe the thrill was all that she
needed in her life and work. She certainly didn’t run this detective agency out
of sentiment. She certainly didn’t do it out of loyalty or love for her late
husband. She never really loved him. She didn’t want to go back to her job as a
waitress but this wasn’t the reason why she did it either. It was the
adventurous life that she wanted. It was the thrill of danger that she felt for
the first time when she got captured by the Montgomery Gang and the
satisfaction that came when she helped to put them behind the bars. And the
same thrill made her accept the job and save the helpless damsel in distress
from the clutches of the Nazi spies.
Mrs. Mason, the housekeeper of the Smith’s
mansion, opened the door and looked at the tall black-haired woman in a
long-grey trench coat with a certain sort of suspicion. Since that horrible day
when she got bound and gagged and her Madame kidnapped she was quite nervous
and shaky. There was no wonder.
“Hello, my name is Diana Knight,” said the
woman at the door.
“Hello Madame, I am afraid that Mr. and Mrs. Smith
aren’t at home.”
“I know. I came to talk to you. I am a private
detective and I was hired by Mr. Smith’s sister, Alexis to find your Madame and
those villains who kidnapped her. May I ask you some questions? I won’t keep
you long, I promise.”
“Okay, come in please,” said the elderly woman
but the suspicious look didn’t disappear completely from her face.
She took Diana to the living-room where the
whole thing happened and after the woman removed her coat she took a good look
at her. She had to admit that Diana was really beautiful and looked really
smart in her white blouse and a black knee-high skirt.
During their conversation Mrs. Mason’s
suspicion faded away and she told Diana everything she knew.
Diana was pleased with herself as she was
leaving the house. The housekeeper was more than talkative and spoke about
everything with great detail.
Diana learned that Mrs. Smith feared for her
life. She was stalked by an unknown man with short blond hair dressed in a long
black coat, a black Dodge was permanently parked in front of their house on the
other side of the road but unfortunately nobody remembered the license plate.
The kidnappers were two and one of the fitted the description of the guy who
had followed Mrs. Smith. Nobody called the police before the incident. That was
the only thing that Mrs. Mason didn’t explain. Why wouldn’t the Smiths called
the police when Helga was stalked and their house watched? Maybe they thought
that their suspicions weren’t sufficient reason. Maybe they were afraid that police
wouldn’t believe them. Who knows, thought Diana as she was walking to the bus
stop. The November evening was extremely cold, so she put her hands inside her
pockets and sped up a little.
The streets were empty and suddenly she noticed
somebody behind her. She heard the footsteps and they were getting closer and
closer. She turned around and saw a dark figure of a man following her. Was he
really after her or was it only an ordinary guy on his way from work? She
quickened her walk and the footsteps behind her quickened as well. The man was
almost at the reach of a hand when she decided to run. It was too late. He
grabbed her. She didn’t have to time scream. One hand clamped over her mouth
and the other one firmly wrapped around her hands and waist effectively
immobilizing her. Diana struggled hard, tried to kick him or step on his foot
but it was useless. She tried to bite his hand but the palm of his hand was
tightly pressed against her mouth.
“Stop it, Mrs. Knight. We don’t want to hurt
you,” said the voice and she noticed a slight German accent in his otherwise
perfect English. However it wasn’t the voice of the man who was holding her.
Another man appeared from around the corner and Diana recognized him. He was
wearing a long black coat and had blond hair. Just as the person who stalked
Mrs. Smith. He also carried a gun in his right hand. At the sight of it she
calmed down, gave up the struggle and let them drag her into the nearest alley
where they had already parked their car. It was a black Dodge Coupe from the
1942 series.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Knight. We just want to take
you for a little trip to talk to you. Then we will let you go. If you allow us
to tie your hands, gag your mouth and put a blindfold over your eyes then we
will try to make things as quick and comfortable for you as possible.”
Oh no, that bondage business again. She wasn’t
in the mood for being bound and gagged by the strangers with German accent but
what else could she do if they were armed. She surrendered and nodded her head.
The man loosened his grip and she stood there and watched them. They were
different than her idea of evil and cruel Nazis.
The blond guy was still pointing his gun to her
while his companion expertly proceeded to bind her wrists together behind her
back.
Just as she wanted to ask what this whole
business was all about a white handkerchief was stuffed into her mouth and a piece
of cloth tightly tied over it completed the gag. She produced couple of muffled
protests and after that was blindfolded with a black scarf.
Now in the complete darkness and totally scared
she was pushed inside the car. The engine started and the vehicle pulled up.
She tested her bonds, tried to find the knots
but found out she was completely helpless instead.
Will this be my first and last big case? She
asked herself. Will these Nazis kill me?
She felt extreme fear but she felt something
else as well. It was the thrill, the thrill that made her take the job in the
first place. But thrill of what? Thrill of being a big and brave detective? Thrill
of getting into danger? Thrill of being a complete careless fool? Or was it …?
No it couldn’t have been the thrill of being a damsel in distress, it simply
couldn’t. However as she was chewing on the handkerchief in her mouth and
feeling the touch of the tight rope on her hands something deep down inside
told her that it could. It was the feeling of helplessness the fact that she
got kidnapped, bound and gagged by the spies that caused her thrill.
Just as Diana realized that, the car stopped
and the men dragged her out. She was taken to a building, led upstairs and then
seated into a chair and tied to it.
She heard the men leaving the room however
after a short while she recognized she wasn’t alone. She heard some weak
muffled noises. Somebody was whimpering through his or her gag. Someone who was
tied up and gagged was in the room with her. Diana could bet that it was the
missing woman Helga. She replied to her silenced moans in the same way and the
other captive’s groans got louder and more intense.
In the same moment their captors returned to
the room.
“Mrs. Knight, we will be brief as we promised,”
it was the same man who talked to her before, the blond guy with German accent.
“We have no intention to hurt you however we can’t tolerate your meddling and
snooping around.”
Diana produced a sound of disapproval but the
man didn’t care.
“Yes, we kidnapped Helga Smith as you might
have noticed. However everything else that you had been probably told was a
lie. All of this is beyond your capacity of a professional sleuth. You don’t
know what you are dealing with and if you keep on sticking your nose into the
things that aren’t your business you are going to get hurt. Stop it now. Did I
make myself clear Mrs. Knight?”
Diana felt that the only right thing to do is
to agree and so she nodded yes.
“Good, I am happy to see that. You’ll be taken
back home.”
Part II
After the car stopped in the alley next to the
apartment building where she lived, her hands were untied, the door opened and
she was instructed to step out of the car.
“Now you may take off your blindfold and gag,”
said the blond man and she heard the engine starting and the car slowly
leaving.
She removed the scarf which was blinding her
eyes but it was too dark to see the license plate of the leaving car. Then she untied
her gag and pulled out the handkerchief. Her mouth was sore and thirsty. She
hurried upstairs to her apartment where she had a big glass of water. Then she
sat (or almost fell) down on the couch and started to think. So far it was the
weirdest case she had ever been on.
After overcoming her exhaustion Diana got up,
put on a jazz record, lit a cigarette and immersed deeply in thoughts watched
the little clouds of smoke which together with the music helped her
concentrate. She tried to remember every detail of her awkward kidnapping. She
saw nothing thanks to the blindfold. They could have taken her anywhere. What
did she hear apart from their kidnappers and the other victim? There was
something she heard. It was the warning sound of the railroad crossing when the
train was coming through and the gates were being pulled down to stop the cars.
It was something but there were too many of these places in Bakersfield and its
suburbs. Didn’t she hear anything else? Of course she did. Shortly after the train
passed she heard two loud and clear chimes of the church bells. It meant half
past something … but half past what? She didn’t know the exact time of her
abduction but she remembered a quick look at the wristwatch when she was
leaving Mrs. Mason. It was 7:40. Now her watch said 9:37. The whole business
didn’t last even for two hours which meant that at 8:30 she must have been tied
to the chair in the kidnappers’ hideout.
An hour later she figured a couple of possible
locations where the place might have been. She went to the drug-store and got a
map of Bakersfield with all the railroad crossings marked. Then she phoned the
railroad station and found out about all the trains leaving from the station at
approximately 8:20. There were only two trains. The first one left at 8:18 for
New Stockholm and the other one at 8:21 for New Prague. She drew the lines of
these two trains on the map. The 8:18 train went east while the other one
headed south-west. Then Diana estimated where the trains could have been shortly
before 8:30 and circled five crossings which were near the locations. It was a
progress but the chances of finding the place of her former imprisonment were
still very low. But then she remembered the bells. Their sound was quite
intense. The church must have been somewhere in the area. She searched the map
again and found it. St. Katherine’s church on Wayne Street was not even two
minutes of walk from one of the crossings.
“That must be the place,” she said aloud. The
chances that Helga was still there were quite high and she had to act quickly.
She phoned for a taxi, put on her coat and left the apartment.
She got out of the taxi in front of the church.
It was a beautiful majestic building but unfortunately she wasn’t here to
admire the architecture. She dismissed the taxi driver and walked quickly
towards the railroad crossing. She found it. Now she had to find the
kidnappers’ place as well. The quickest way would be to look for their car. It
wasn’t a perfect plan. She knew that the car might have been in the garage, the
kidnappers might have been gone or there could be more cars of the same type
and color. The darkness wouldn’t add to her search either but she didn’t want
to waste time by waiting until the morning. However it was the only plan she had
and she wouldn’t give up now.
Wayne Street was long and consisted mostly of
office buildings and warehouses which were now empty. This was good because
there weren’t so many cars parked. She was walking up and down the street
carefully overlooking all cars and searching all the side alleys and backyards
where she could get. After half an hour when she wanted to give up she finally
found the car she was looking for. There was no doubt. It was the same Dodge.
They parked it in the alley next to an empty two-floor warehouse. The car was
standing right next to the side-entrance in case the thugs had to make a quick
getaway.
“You’re clever Mrs. Knight,” she heard the
familiar German-accented voice behind her. “I must admit that you discovered
the place quicker than we expected. You are good however your skills of being
inconspicuous need some improvement. We saw you from the window some ten
minutes ago. Put your hands up, please and let’s go. You wanted to go inside,
didn’t you?”
This wasn’t exactly how Diana had planned to
get in however it worked.
She was led to the second floor where the
offices of the now closed warehouse must have been. The corridors were dark and
empty. The only small light was coming from the room in the middle of the
corridor with the windows facing Wayne Street.
“What have you done to Helga Smith?” asked
Diana.
“She is where she was before, tied to a chair.
I thought we can scare you off. We didn’t and now we will have to keep you here
to protect you.”
“From what?”
“I am not allowed to give you any information
Mrs. Knight. However be sure that it is for your own good.”
“Is that some crooked German sense of humor?”
asked Diana sarcastically.
The guy with German accent didn’t reply, just
smiled.
Diana was taken to the room where Helga was
sitting guarded by the other spy. She was dressed in a black evening dress with
black satin gloves. She was tightly bound hands and feet with ropes. Her chest
was tied to the chair. Her mouth was obviously stuffed with a large piece of
cloth. A handkerchief was holding it in place. A black blindfold was tied over
her eyes. She sat calmly and didn’t try to resist. Next to her there was a lie
detector. She must have been interrogated about those documents that she had
stolen, occurred to Diana immediately.
“It’s okay Mts. Smith. I am here to get you
out. Don’t worry.”
Both guys started to laugh.
“Okay Mrs. Knight. No matter how entertaining
your lovely company is, it’s time to tie you up again. We can’t have you in the
way. Things can get a little messy and this situation doesn’t concern you.
Don’t worry we will let you go after this is over,” said the guy with the
German accent.
His partner brought the ropes and started to
tie Diana’s wrists behind her back while the blond spy was tying her ankles and
knees.
“Wait. Can you at least tell me what this is
about?”
“You’re the detective. Figure it out yourself.”
“But … mmmmphhh.” She was gagged with a
handkerchief again. Another one was tightly tied in her mouth to prevent her
from spitting the gag out.
“Take Mrs. Knight to the back room and lock her
there.”
The back room was a small closet connected with
the former office by a door. Diana was seated on the floor and her ankles were
connected to her wrists with a rope.
“Don’t worry. We will untie you in a couple of days,
lady,” said the other spy.
“Couple of days?” thought Diana. “Oh no. What
did I get myself into this time?”
The guy closed the door. Through the blurred
glass she saw only shadows of the people in the other room but couldn’t hear
what they were talking about.
Suddenly more shadows appeared. She heard some
shouting in German followed by shooting. “What was it?” asked horrified Diana
herself. “Police? Feds? Or the execution squad for Mrs. Smith? Should I stay
calm or should I get their attention?”
She decided to wait. It didn’t look like a
police action. Policemen wouldn’t have used German. And they certainly wouldn’t
have set the place on fire, thought she immediately after she smelt the smoke
from the other room.
“So this is the end of the great Diana Knight,
the world’s stupidest detective,” went through her head. This time her feet started
to kick the door as much as the ropes allowed them and she was trying to shout
through her gag.
A minute or two later somebody opened the door.
It was the blond spy. He was bleeding heavily and coughing. He cut the ropes on
Diana’s feet and helped her to stand up. The office was on fire. They ran away
to the corridor. Diana was still gagged and had her hands tied behind her. He
untied her after they got out of the building.
“I want the answers and I want them quickly,”
she said when her mouth was free again.
“Sure, I’ll tell you everything. But we must
get out of here. Step inside the Dodge. You’ll drive.”
She looked at him and nodded. His right hand
was still bleeding.
“Drive me to the hospital,” said the blonde spy
once he got inside the car.
Diana started up the engine and drove to Wayne
Street. The closest hospital was at Hunter’s Point, some twenty minutes from
here. She only hoped the blonde spy wouldn’t die of the blood loss during on
the way to it.
“I hope you know that I am calling the police
once we are in the hospital.”
“You don’t have to. I am from the FBI,” sighed
the guy and reached to his pocket for the badge.
Diana looked at him and felt completely mixed
up.
“I bet you thought I was a Nazi spy, didn’t
you?”
“Can you blame me? Kidnapping people,
threatening them, keeping them prisoners in empty buildings, using lie
detectors on them, that’s not the American way of doing things.”
“You are right. Me and my partner work for the
FBI however this is not the official operation.”
“So you tie up women in your free time? That’s
swell, mister.” said Diana sarcastically.
“I’m agent Wolf, at your service, Mrs. Knight. These
are really bad times. The war is raging in Europe and in the Pacific. Although
the States are not under the attack by the German armies, the enemies are
present in our country. And they are not just some crooks hiding in the
underground and spreading fascist pamphlets. Couple of weeks ago, we discovered
that an agent of our Bureau was working as a spy sending secret information
directly to Berlin. During the interrogation he gave us the names of the other
inside the FBI. We can’t trust anybody. That’s why my partner, Jack, and I were
assigned to uncover the Nazi cell in California. However we had to manage on
our own because we didn’t know who is to be trusted. All the evidence we
gathered led us to this woman … “
“Helga Smith.”
“Correct. She is not a fugitive from her
country but a spy sent here to operate as the head of the Nazi spy-ring in
California.”
Diana looked as if she didn’t believe him.
“You look like you don’t believe me. I admit it
sounds a little far-fetched but everything is true.”
Diana decided to postpone her doubts for a
while.
“Okay, what about her husband and
sister-in-law? How do they figure in?”
“The husband was Helga’s accomplice. We were
trying to arrest him but he shot two of our men and disappeared. That’s why we
kidnapped Helga to find out from her what he couldn’t have told us. However she
didn’t tell us anything. As far as his sister is concerned she is probably not
the part of this. She only hired you in good faith that you would help find
Helga. Helga’s conspirators followed her and then you and you led them directly
to us. Now my partner is dead. They shot him when they attacked the office to
free Mrs. Smith.”
“Oh, I am really sorry for that. If you had
told me earlier anything of that wouldn’t have had to happen.”
“Really? Would you have believed me? Would you
have stopped meddling into our business? Of course not. …”
Then he lost his consciousness, exhausted with
his speech and the heavy loss of blood. Diana sped up the car. The hospital
wasn’t very far.
Alexis Smith was sitting on the terrace of her
apartment with the great view of the Bakersfield’s skyline. However the view
that she normally enjoyed didn’t mean anything to her now. She looked pale and
sick, holding a cigarette with a shaking hand and nervously sipping whisky with
ice. It doesn’t happen every day to find out that your brother is missing and
your sister-in-law is a Nazi spy. Diana Knight was silently sitting opposite
her giving her time to absorb the terrible news.
“Do you think she had him killed?” Alexis asked
with tears in her eyes.
“We don’t know anything for sure. I am more
interested in where your sister-in-law might be right now.”
Alexis was thinking for a while watching her
cigarette’s butt falling from the fifteenth floor down on the pavement.
“When he married her, he bought her a small summer
house near the lake. I can’t think of any other place where she might be.”
Diana got up. “Thank you, Alexis. I will keep
you informed.”
Two men were standing in the building’s lobby
reading newspapers and trying to keep a low profile. They watched Diana leave
the elevator and before its door closed they got in and went up the fifteenth
floor.
On the street, just as she was getting into the
red Packard that she had rented earlier that day, she realized her rookie’s
mistake. She was in such a hurry that she didn’t ask Alexis for the address of
the place. The hills around the lake weren’t heavily built-up however the
distances between the houses were quite considerable and she didn’t mean to
spend the rest of the day walking from place to place peeking inside looking
for a Nazi conspirators’ leader. She turned around and went back to ask Mrs.
Smith for the address.
Something was wrong. It was apparent at the
first sight. The door of her apartment was open and she heard some voices and
muffled noises inside.
“Where is your brother, lady?” shouted
somebody. The response was only a muffled moaning.
“What did you tell that detective?” asked
another voice. Neither did he get the answer.
“Tell us, lady or we’ll hurt you.”
“Mmmmmph, mmmmph.”
Diana looked into the room. Alexis was tied to
a chair and gagged with her silk scarf tied in her mouth.
“Didn’t your mother tell you never to
interrogate a person who is gagged?” asked Diana.
“Hey that’s her. That’s the detective,” shouted
the younger one of the pair.
“Quickly, grab her and tie her up.”
“Oh no, boys,” said Diana and pulled out a
small revolver from the pocket of her overcoat. “Nobody is tying me up today.”
The thugs didn’t wait for anything and fled.
Diana didn’t shoot at them nor did she chase them. She hurried towards Mrs.
Smith and removed her gag.
“Oh thank you, thank you, Diana. I was scared
to death.”
“Don’t worry, they apparently didn’t have much
intelligence.”
Alexis chuckled. “Why did you come back?”
“I was stupid enough not to have asked you the
address of your sister-in-law’s house by the lake.”
An hour later, Diana stopped her Packard on the
parking lot behind the Blue Ribbon Roadhouse. From there it was only a mile
walk up the hills to the summer house of Helga Smith.
What Alexis called ‘a small summer house’ was
in fact a huge mansion with three floors and a small private forest inside its
large garden.
It was getting dark when Diana got close. She
was crouching on the ground and through the fence watching the movement on the
grounds. There were several cars on the driveway in front of the house. All the
lights were on and several armed men were on guard. They were all dressed in
green uniforms with swastikas on their left sleeves.
Diana knew that she couldn’t handle this alone.
She had to get back to the hospital and tell everything to agent Wolf.
However when she got up and turned around she
saw two men with guns standing in front of her, the same two guys who had paid
the visit to Alexis Smith earlier.
“Hands up, lady,” said the older one.
“What are you doing here?”
“You learn fast. You didn’t gag me before you
asked me a question.”
“Wise girl, aren’t you?”
“Somebody has to be the wise one here.”
“Shut up and let’s go to the leader. She’ll
decide what to do with you.”
Helga Smith was standing in a large living room
watching the night surface of the lake from the large French window. Even she
was dressed in the uniform – a green skirt and jacket white shirt and a black
tie.
“Frau Knight. So you finally found me,” greeted
the Nazi leader with strong German accent.
“The pleasure is all yours,” replied Diana
sarcastically.
“You Americans can be really amusing. What a
pity your nation will have to be obliterated.”
“We are quite a big nation.”
“As I said, you are very amusing. And you are
lucky because you are going to witness the test of a weapon that will end the
war here in America,” she said and laughed.
“What kind of weapon?”
“Curiosity killed the bat,” laughed Helga
again.
“The cat.”
“What?”
“You got it wrong. ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’”
“Silence, you fool. You have a really big
mouth, Frau Knight. Put a knebel in her mouth.”
The two thugs who brought Diana looked at each
other and neither of them knew what to do.
“She wants you to gag me, boys. You know stuff
something in my mouth.”
Even though Diana wanted to appear calm her
heart was pounding and she was scared to death. She was alone in this mess and
she maybe wouldn’t be able to get out of it.
The younger henchman took a handkerchief from
his pocket and stuffed it in Diana’s mouth. The other one tied another
handkerchief over it.
Diana said something but nobody understood
what.
“Now tie her hands and feet. We can’t let her
run away.”
Several minutes later Diana was tightly tied to
a chair.
“Now Mrs. Knight without your smart
interruptions I can tell you the rest of our plan because you won’t live to
warn anyone.”
Diana started to mumble in protest. Helga Smith
only smiled and went on: “Our spies managed to copy secret government plans for
the atom bomb. Our engineers built have built three of them. Now the first one
is right here under this house. It is set to go off in two hours. It will
destroy Bakersfield and all the little towns surrounding it. You may ask why
not Washington or New York or Los Angeles. This is only a sample of what we are
capable of. After Bakersfield disappears from the map we will send demands to
your government to surrender its armies in Europe and Japan and to resign. Then
we plan to make our new Nazi government in America. If they don’t cooperate we will
destroy another city.”
“Mmmm mmmph.” Diana mumbled something which was
supposed to tell that woman that she was crazy however Helga didn’t get the
message.
“So Mrs. Knight, I am glad that you don’t have
any complaints against our brilliant plan. We are leaving immediately to be out
of the bomb’s reach when it explodes. Enjoy the last two hours of your life.
Auf viedersehen.”
Everybody left the room and Diana started to
struggle like mad to get out of the ropes. The Nazi thugs tied her really
tight. She couldn’t reach the knots. She couldn’t move the chair and there was
no sharp object at sight anyway.
She was completely helpless and desperate. Even
if she managed to spit her gag out nobody would hear her in this place.
According to the clock on the wall an hour and
half passed since the Nazis left. Diana hadn’t made any progress with untying
her bonds. In the face to the coming tragedy the thrill she had previously
experienced during being bound and gagged was gone. She accepted her fate. She
will be the first victim of the first nuclear explosion in the world. This
primacy wasn’t really comforting.
Suddenly she heard the footsteps. Somebody was
coming, certainly not the Nazis. By this time they must have been at least a
hundred miles away.
To her surprise she saw agent Wolf and Alexis
Smith. When they spotted her they rushed to her chair. Agent Wolf started to
cut the ropes while Alexis removed the gag from her mouth.
Luckily Diana, before she left Alexis’s
apartment, told her to contact agent Wolf in the hospital. They got here just
in time.
“What happened Diana?” asked the agent when she
was free.
“There is no time to explain. There is an atom
bomb under this house set to explode in half an hour.”
The bomb was in the basement. Alexis knew her
way around the house so it didn’t take much time to get there. The countdown
showed 20 minutes to go.
“It’s too late to call the experts to
deactivate it,” said the agent.
“There is no phone anyway,” remarked Alexis.
“It means we are on our own. We have to stay calm
and try to disconnect the bomb ourselves.”
“Wait, do you hear that noise?” asked Diana?
“No, I don’t hear anything,” said the agent.
“Listen, I can hear it too,” nodded Alexis. “It
sounds as if …”
“… somebody was bound and gagged somewhere
near.”
Alexis ran towards the closet in the corner of
the room. She opened it and inside she found her sister-in-law who was tied up
with some cords and cleave-gagged with a white handkerchief.
She removed her gag and Helga spat out another
piece of cloth.
“Quickly we must untie her,” shouted the agent.
“What happened, Helga?” asked Alexis while they
were taking her out of the closet and cutting her bonds?
“That bastard, my husband, came back and left
me here tied up to die. He blamed me for endangering the whole operation by getting
myself kidnapped by you.”
“I’m really sorry to hear that,” remarked Diana
sarcastically.
“Mrs. Smith, you’ve got only one chance. Either
you help us disconnect the bomb and catch your husband and his henchmen or you
are going to die here with us. If you help us I will see that you are not shot
as a spy and traitor.”
She didn’t think for a very long time.
“Ja, I know how to stop the bomb. I will help
you get him.”
Aftermath
Two weeks later, Diana was sitting in her
office. She was just about to get out and go home, when she received a phone
call.
“Hi, this is agent Wolf, do you remember me?”
“Sure. How could I forget you?”
“I just wanted to let you know that we caught
Mr. Smith and his accomplices. They were trying to set up another bomb in New
York but thanks to his wife’s information we were able to arrest them and
deactivate the bomb. We also retrieved other the last remaining one. So I guess
America is all safe now, mostly thanks to you.”
“Oh no, don’t exaggerate,” blushed Diana and
was grateful the he couldn’t see it.
“So, Mrs. Knight, I guess that’s all and we won’t
see each other again but if you need anything in return for your brave actions,
don’t be afraid and ask.”
“There is something I have been wanting to ask
you, agent Wolf, but not on the phone, can you meet me tonight in my place?” She
felt the strange sensation again. It’s been two weeks since she was bound and
gagged and no matter how horrible her last experience was she started to feel
the urge to get tied up again, by someone who she could trust if possible. Why
not this agent Wolf? After all getting tied up and gagged was only a small
reward for saving America.
The End
