The Peregrine Omnibus, Volume Two (8 page)

Sally took a deep breath and seemed to settle herself. She looked at Max somewhat apologetically, as if realizing that she had been acting in an embarrassing fashion. “There’s something I never told you about, Mr. Davies. The real reason I came to America.”

“Call me Max. We’ve known each other for a few years now.”

“All right… Max. You know that my father was the last in the long line of Revenants. He died while investigating a Nazi scheme. The man in that photo—Hermann Krupp—led an expedition into Bordia in search of the Golden Goblin. They found it… and took it away. My father knew of a prophecy surrounding the creature:
The end of days shall be marked by the arrival of evil men. They shall awaken the sleeping beast and the world will soon die by fire.
My father was going to try and stop Krupp from getting out of the country with the monster, but he was betrayed by a local shaman.”

“What
is
the Golden Goblin?” Max asked.

“According to the legends, a god fell from the sky in a fiery cloud. When he landed, he went on a rampage and finally kidnapped a beautiful princess. He raped her and then sent her back to her village. The god died, then, wounded from his fall from the heavens. The woman grew large with the monster’s child and, at the moment she was about to give birth, she burst into flames. The monster crawled from the burned wreckage of her corpse, a tiny little infant. The natives killed it, since it was still young enough to be wounded by their weapons. The woman’s corpse was put up in a shrine, an object of both reverence and terror. Every twenty years, the corpse flames again and another infant crawls forth. The last time this happened was in 1938, when the Nazis came and stole the infant away. It’s grown up, Max, far faster than any human child ever could!”

Max flipped through the papers, looking thoughtful. “Okay… you said that a monster attacked you last night. This Golden Goblin thing?”

“Yes. Once I started recognizing some of the descriptions that were making it into the papers—survivors who’d claimed to see him—I started calling in contacts, asking them to find out more information for me. One of them must have gotten too close and Krupp found out that someone was on to them. There were two men outside my house last night, and after I left there to try and make it to you, the Golden Goblin came to me. He killed a policeman!”

As if on cue, the phone rang. Max heard Evelyn shout to him a moment later. “Max! McKenzie’s on the phone. Something about a monster loose in the city. Should I tell him you’ll call him back?”

“Please.” Max turned back to Sally and stroked his chin. “I’m confused about a few things. One: even if Krupp figured out that someone knew he had a monster, why would he care enough to send the Golden Goblin out to kill you? And two: Why would Krupp even be in the United States? I’ve personally wiped out almost all of Hitler’s super-agents… you’d think he’d keep this Goblin in the major war zones now that the tide of things is turning against the Axis.”

Sally ran a hand through her hair and yawned. “Honestly? I don’t know. But I do know that my dad believed in this prophecy, and he wasn’t someone who was normally given to hysterics. All the men who were killed were enemies of the Germans, though. Politicians, scientists, military men… all murdered by the Goblin.”

Max stood up, closing the folder. “I’m going to go and talk to McKenzie about this. Why don’t you stay here and get some rest?”

“I don’t want to be an inconvenience…”

“You won’t be,” Evelyn said, stepping into the room. She smiled at Sally. “You do look like you could use a few hours’ sleep in a bed.”

Sally relented and offered a wan grin. “Thanks.” She looked once more at Max. “I want to help stop this thing. My father died for this.”

“I understand.” Max watched as Evelyn led the girl from the room. Something about all of this still made little sense to him, and he was going to have to put the truth together quickly if that prophecy was to be believed…

CHAPTER IV

Krupp’s Scheme

“I do not think that I like this… Atlanta.” Hermann Krupp stood near the window of his rented hotel room, dabbing at his forehead with a washcloth. “It is too humid for me.”

His assistant, a slight young man named Johann, took that as his cue to make his master a fresh glass of iced tea. Despite Krupp’s self-professed hatred of the American South, the S.S. officer had become obsessed with the iced beverage that was so common here. “The Goblin is awake,” Johann said. “I can hear him moving about in his room.”

Krupp turned from his view of downtown Atlanta and moved towards the bedroom they’d set aside for the beast. The creature’s heavy tread caused the floor to creak and his scent—a mixture of brimstone and sweat—made the entire apartment smell like him. “Creature! Come out here!” the German officer demanded.

The Golden Goblin emerged, his hulking back rubbing against the top of the doorway as he ducked to enter the room. As he breathed, his nostrils flared and gold-tinged smoke flew from his nose. “What do you want?” he rumbled.

Krupp’s mechanical eye whirred as it looked at the Goblin. “I am disappointed in you. One helpless female manages to escape from you. Perhaps you’re not the powerhouse the Fuehrer believes you to be.”

“I don’t give a damn about your Fuehrer,” the Goblin stated with a gruff laugh. “And you know it. So why don’t you stop your hero worship of Hitler—he’s not here to see it and we all know that the only one you really love is yourself.”

Krupp stared at the monster for a long moment before finally laughing and shaking his head. “I would have anyone else flayed for such insolence.”

The Goblin shrugged. “My skin’s too tough.”

“I am still disappointed in you,” Krupp reminded him. “We need to kill her before she can interfere in our work.”

“What makes you think one skirt can stop us?”

Krupp accepted his glass of iced tea from Johann and sipped it slowly. “Ordinarily I would not be concerned about someone uncovering evidence of our activities… but from what my sources tell me, she is asking questions that make me think she knows about your origins. And given that we are in Atlanta—the home of the damned Peregrine—gives me pause. If she reaches him with whatever information she has, then we will no doubt cross paths with him.”

“He doesn’t frighten me,” the Golden Goblin muttered.

“He should.” Krupp gestured to Johann to bring him a map that was carefully folded on a nearby table. When he’d been handed the map, Krupp began unfolding it, showing a series of red-drawn X’s in various places in the city. “These four places are areas where the fabric between realities is weak. By placing our Ectotheric Generators in these spots, we should able to pierce the barriers and summon more of your kind to this city. You’re positive that they’ll listen to you when they arrive?”

“Absolutely. They’ll be very thankful for their new freedom. If those tribesmen back in Africa hadn’t killed all my forebears, the Goblins would have been summoned long ago and this entire planet would be fodder for us.” The Goblin suddenly chuckled. “But now we’ll be willing to work with your people, of course.”

“Of course.” Krupp tossed the map aside. He knew the story now, of how the first Golden Goblin had escaped from some sort of celestial prison through a fluke. He’d been dying when he’d arrived and knew he lacked the power to free the rest of his people. He’d sired a child in hopes that the infant could finish the job, but it had taken a lot longer than expected. Without the aid of Nazi scientists, Krupp wasn’t even sure that it would have been possible—the Golden Goblin himself had no idea how to summon his brethren and was merely aiding the Germans in their own attempt. If they were all as powerful as this one, the other Goblins would make the Axis powers an unbeatable force.

Krupp brought out several boxes from a closet and began opening them, inspecting the Ectotheric Generators that were housed therein. Each was about knee-high and composed of a shiny silver metal covering, with numerous wires running along the sides. At the top of each Generator was a square unit containing several flakes of skin taken from the Goblin. They had come here to Atlanta because the various occultists employed by the Reich all confirmed that this area was a site of great mystic turmoil, the result of a number of attempts to summon various elder gods and monsters in recent years.

“We can begin placing them immediately. Let the girl run to the Peregrine if she wants—he won’t be able to stop us when the heavens are filled with the fiery arrival of the Goblins.”

The Golden Goblin said nothing but he felt a stirring in his heart. To finally the one of his people to succeed, where so many before him had failed…!

Krupp suddenly put a hand to the side of his head and clenched his teeth. A spurt of blood flew from his right nostril, dripping down his face and over his lips. He batted Johann away as the man tried to help him. “Get away from me,” he wheezed. Krupp saw the Golden Goblin staring at him and he wiped away the blood with the back of his hand, leaving a smear across his cheek. “The tumor is going to kill me soon.”

The Golden Goblin said nothing, but he did feel pity for the man. Though it was not in his nature to feel love, Krupp had raised him and trained him in the ways of the world. When he died, the Goblin would have no one he could trust, though perhaps the other Goblins would fill the void. “We should move quickly,” he said at last. “Before you are dead.”

“Yes,” Krupp agreed. “Johann, take two of these things and get to work setting them up. As soon as you have them in place, go ahead and activate them. The Goblin and I will take care of the other two. With any luck, we can be finished with this by the evening.”

“And if the Peregrine tries to stop us?” the Goblin asked, knowing what the answer would be.

“Then,” Krupp said, “you kill him.”

CHAPTER V

Revelations & Rebirths

“If you have the chance to kill Krupp, do it.” Kirsten Bauer McKenzie stood with arms folded in her husband’s office, the Peregrine facing them both. Will McKenzie, the city’s police chief, sat behind his desk, the rays of the sun shining in through the blinds at his back, casting him in silhouette.

“Obviously,” he said with a smile, “that’s unofficial advice.”

The Peregrine nodded. Kirsten was a former Nazi agent, who operated under the guise of the Iron Maiden. Her love for Will had led her to switch sides and her information on other German agents had proved invaluable to Max ever since. Though Max had at first found it hard to trust her, she’d proven herself again and again. Besides, Max couldn’t argue that she’d made Will a much happier man—and they were certainly a beautiful couple. Kirsten was the very epitome of Aryan loveliness, while Will’s dark hair and eyes routinely made women swoon.

“You really think he’s that dangerous?” the Peregrine asked, keeping his eyes on Kirsten.

“I can’t begin to describe to you how dangerous he really is. A few years ago, when the super-agent program was starting up in Berlin, Krupp volunteered for several of the surgeries that were required. He ended up with several bionic body parts: one eye is now capable of zeroing in on targets nearly a mile away, both of his arms are now capable of lifting four times as much weight as normal, and his torso is resistant to small arms fire.”

“Why didn’t he adopt a new identity?” the Peregrine asked, remembering the Nazi penchant for costumed theatrics. That tendency had led not only to the Iron Maiden but the Black Zeppelin and the Grim Reaper, amongst others.

“Because he’s too arrogant for that. He wants everyone to know who he is.” Kirsten’s tone was full of a bit too much vitriol for normal, and her husband glanced her way. Kirsten shrugged in response. “He tried to seduce me. He doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“And what about the Golden Goblin? Are you familiar with the creature?” Max asked, not wanting the conversation sidetracked by Krupp’s sexual advances.

“I heard rumors but I never saw it. Some sort of monster that they were raising.”

“Whatever it is, it’s grown now and it killed one of my men.” McKenzie stood up and hitched his thumbs in the holster that was slung across his hips. “You know if you need any help, you’ve got it from us.”

“I wouldn’t be averse to any excuse to put back on the armor,” Kirsten admitted.

“Thanks, both of you. I’ll call you if I think I’ll end up needing your help.” The Peregrine started to leave when the small transmitting device in his pocket began to chime. Based on experimental technology that essentially turned a small radio device into a mobile phone, Max had shared it with some of his closest aides for emergencies. “Yes?” he asked, holding it up to his ear.

The voice of Richard Nova came through loud and clear, as if he were standing in the same room. Nova was a master of information, a sleuth who specialized in crime that went beyond the norm. “I hope that I haven’t called at an inconvenient time.”

“Not at all. What do you have for me?” The Peregrine left the police station through a rear entrance, one set aside by McKenzie for just such purposes. Though the Peregrine’s problems with law enforcement had been cleared up years ago, he still didn’t want to attract too much attention.

Outside, the Peregrine’s modified roadster was waiting for him. The vehicle was painted black so that it could blend into the long shadows of the night and its motor had been modified so that it was now a completely silent ride.

Nova continued speaking as the Peregrine slid behind the wheel and started up the car. “You asked me to keep an eye out for Krupp and his allies. I think I might have a lead for you.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“A hotel room was rented in the name of Johann Schultz. I traced his background and found that he’s a German soldier. According to his files, he left the army just a few months ago, but I think that’s just a cover to smooth his entry into our country. Witnesses at the hotel say that he was accompanied at check-in by a handsome man with an unusual eye… and a hulking brute who hid his face from those who saw him. They did mention that the big fellow had a peculiar odor, as well.”

“Give me the hotel address,” the Peregrine said, cruising through the side streets of Atlanta.