Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant (39 page)

The White House

Oval Office

Hauser and his men initially returned to their respective units. Will saw to it that each of them received his choice of assignment and an increase in rank, courtesy of the president. He advised the president that each of his men should receive the Congressional Medal of Honor as well as the Bronze Star. The president agreed.

Will informed the president that Staff Sergeant Jaime Serrano had been killed in action when he was blown up by a hand grenade thrown by one of Hoffman’s men. Will also reported that the Nazis had killed the aliens before Will’s team had arrived because they had tried to escape, and their ship was destroyed, along with their weapons, by the atomic bomb that had exploded. The residual radiation left by the bomb had a half-life of about 300 years. “Maybe they could dig the aliens and their ship out then,” Will said sarcastically. Fortunately, the rest of Will’s team had made it out of the mountain facility before the bomb exploded.

When the president questioned Will as to why the pilots had not reported seeing the bomb explode, Will told him that it would be best if he forgot about the whole incident. Will further expressed his extreme displeasure at the president going behind his back and ordering the dropping of the bomb in the first place.

The president wisely took Will’s advice and shut the fuck up.

***

Will arranged for the Nazi scientists to be turned over to Colonel Donovan and his agents, after erasing all knowledge they had of the Krelians and him from their memories. Donovan was flabbergasted as to how these scientists got to U.S. soil. The president told him not to look a gift horse in the mouth, just accept the fact that they had all defected at once, and had made their way to the U.S. as a group. Eventually, several of them would become involved in working on the Manhattan Project.

Unbeknownst to Donovan, Will had also secretly and quietly brought the scientists families to the United States as well. It seems that most of the scientists had been forced to help the Nazis by threatening to kill their family members if they didn’t cooperate with them.

The president further informed Donovan that he had ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped, which caused an earthquake in the region and destroyed everything inside of the mountain. He mentioned that the region would be radioactively ‘hot’ for about three-hundred years and maybe he could dig up the aliens then. Donovan was not amused. Donovan also wondered what had happened to his source, Erika. He assumed she was killed during the explosion and subsequent earthquake.

***

Upon their return to Earth, Will had erased all knowledge of him, the
Eyrie
, and the aliens from Erika’s memory, and gave her a set of new memories in which she believed that she had emigrated to the U.S. after her parents died to start a new life. After erasing the selected parts of her memory, Will provided her with new identity papers so she could start a new life.

Will returned to Donovan’s office and took all of the material in his safe related to the aliens, including Erika’s file, and destroyed them. Donovan launched an investigation into the matter, but he was never able to learn what happened to the documents or photographs, or how anyone had gotten into his office safe in the first place.

Erika Wagner became Ruth Talbot and settled in Dearborn, Michigan. Will had provided her with enough money to help get her started, and with her knowledge of science she eventually landed a job teaching physics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and later became a tenured professor.

The year following the war, she was shopping on Michigan Avenue and bumped into a man who was coming out of a men’s clothing store. Although she didn’t recognize the man, he recognized her but he didn’t let on that he knew her. The man was none other than Karl Hauser. Hauser was aware that the Colonel had erased the memories she had of all that had happened in the
Eyrie,
so Hauser helped her create some new memories. They began dating and a year or so later, they were married in a small ceremony in a quaint little church on the west side of Dearborn. All of Hauser’s men were present except, of course, Serrano. Schechter served as his best man.

The Oval Office

A few days later, Will appeared in the Oval Office to meet with the president. The president once again apologized for not trusting Will and his team and for sending the bomber crew with the atomic bomb. Will accepted his apology.

“Mr. President, I will be available should you ever need me again.”

“Thank you, Colonel. I can’t begin to express my gratitude for your service to not only this country but to this planet.”

“No thanks are necessary.”

“I really must insist in presenting you with…a reward. A medal. Something.”

“My role in this or any subsequent events of this nature can never be revealed. Ever. Humans, with the exception of a very few, are not ready to have the knowledge that they are not the only intelligent beings in the universe. They have a lot of growing up to do still.”

The president nodded. “You say ‘humans’ like you’re not one of us anymore.”

Will thought about this for a second. “Sometimes it is hard for me to relate to being a human considering I only lived a small portion of my life on this planet. I have lived among aliens for so many centuries that it’s hard to remember where I came from at times.”

“I can’t imagine, Colonel. I can’t imagine. But please, don’t ever forget that you are one of us. And personally, I’m damn glad you are.”

The president then extended his hand and Will stood up and shook it. Will nodded, and then vanished into thin air.

Damn, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that
, he thought with a smile.

Washington, D.C.

Present Day

Hauser and his men had left their wives and families and had headed off to Harry’s Restaurant near 11
th
and E Street NW, which was one of their favorite watering holes near the National Mall. They had just sat down at an outdoor table with their first pitcher of Budweiser, which had been brought by a very attractive twenty-something waitress, and ordered some burgers and fries. All of their eyes were locked on her extremely shapely rear end which was swaying gently as she walked away from them to put in their food order.

“Damn, they sure didn’t look that good when we were her age,” said Hess.

“Henry, I don’t think we ever were her age,” said Schechter laughing.

“You should be ashamed, she’s young enough to be your bloody granddaughter,” said Robbins with feigned incredulity.

“Yep, you’re right. But she ain’t
my
granddaughter,” said Hess laughing, which elicited a laugh from the rest of the crew.

“Well, boys, here’s to Gerry, Pete, and Tommy,” said Hauser.

“Here, here,” said the rest of his team.

“May they rest in peace,” said Wakefield.

“Amen,” said Becker.

Brunner, Hammond, and Schultz had been the three members of Hauser’s team who had died. Brunner had been killed in action invading Normandy on D-Day. Hammond died valiantly while saving the lives of his squad by throwing himself on a hand grenade during the Korean War. Schultz had died of old age three years earlier.

They all then clinked their glasses together and started drinking their beers.

“Here’s to Sergeant Serrano as well,” said another voice.

Most of them spilled their beers in mid-gulp when they realized that the person who had spoken those words was Will.

“Mind if I join you, gentlemen?” he said.

“Not at all, Colonel,” said Hauser, wiping beer off of his shirt with a cocktail napkin. Will sat in an empty chair next to Hauser.

“You can drop the ‘Colonel,’ Captain. My name is Will. The next round is on me.”

“Only if you call me Karl.”

Will nodded his affirmation. Hauser and the rest of the crew shook Will’s hand and began asking him all kinds of questions, wanting to know how he still looked as young as he did in 1943, and where he had been all of this time. Will explained to them that as a result of the enhancements he had received he was immortal, that he had been born in England in 1462, and he had lived on a different planet most of the time. They were more than a little shocked by this. Wakefield was happy that Will was a fellow Brit.

They also asked about Serrano. Will then raised his glass, took a sip of his beer, and told them Serrano had eventually married the Krelian translator and had three children with her. He also explained that Krelian technology had prolonged his life to equal theirs. They were a little pissed that he had only aged four or five years since they last saw him.

“Out of curiosity, why were you at Arlington earlier today?” asked Hauser.

Will was quiet for a few seconds as he pondered his answer. “Having the powers that I possess, I have no risk of dying from an injury, disease, gunshot or from old age. It was simply my way of paying my respects to the brave souls who are buried at Arlington. Also, I had heard about Serrano’s ‘burial’ ceremony and wanted to attend so I could tell him about it the next time I saw him. I know he will appreciate all of the efforts you made to make that happen.”

“Well, even though he didn’t actually die on that mission, he sacrificed a lot by leaving Earth to live on another planet. I felt he deserved…something. Next time you see him, please send him our regards,” said Hauser. “And can you also give him a couple of thing for me?”

Hauser pulled the coffin flag that had been given to him at the funeral and handed it to Will, as well as Serrano’s dog tags. Will accepted them and nodded. The group sat in silence for a few minutes and drank their beers. Their food arrived a few minutes later. Hauser asked Will to order something, and he did. They enjoyed each other’s company. Will listened to the group of men while they talked about their lives and their families.

They asked Will if he had a family. Will told them that his parents and brother had died many, many years ago, and that as a result of receiving his powers, he was unable to have children of his own. He did not mention that his descendants still lived in England and other parts of Europe.

After dinner and a couple more beers, they asked Will if he had ever returned to Earth to deal with a situation similar to what they had dealt with together. Will said that he had on a few occasions, but he couldn’t divulge all of the details. He then gave them the Reader’s Digest version of one of them.

But that’s another story.