The Adventures of Lazarus Gray by Barry Reese Read Free Book Online

wouldn’t be any
permanent damage. "I may have an idea where he’s gone," Gray
murmured and instantly his three aides grew quiet, giving him their
full attention. Gray reached out and picked up a small writing
tablet from a nearby table. The top sheet had been ripped away but
his keen eyes detected the imprint of pencil marks on the next
page. He used the pencil that had been sitting next to the tablet
to gently reveal what those imprints had been, rubbing the side of
the graphite over the writing. An address came into view and Gray’s
keen memory told him that 1935 Monk Avenue was an old warehouse,
abandoned when the owning company went belly-up a few years before
he’d arrived in Sovereign. There was also a time listed next to it,
one that was less than an hour away. "Eun, please take Morgan back
to base. He needs time to recover. Samantha, you’re to come with
me."
    "Chief!" both Eun and
Morgan exclaimed in unison. The two men looked at one another and
it was Morgan who continued on. "Chief, I’ll be fine. And you can’t
go into a showdown with Pemberley with just Samantha! You need Eun
and I!"
    Samantha crossed her arms
over her chest and glared at Morgan, obviously not liking his
implications. "Are you saying I’m dead weight?"
    "No!" Morgan answered. "I
just mean… C’mon, Chief. You know we want to be in on this
one."
    Gray looked at them with
steady eyes, the mismatched pair narrowing. His emerald eye seemed
to shine just as brightly as the brown one darkened. "I appreciate
your desire to help but you’re in no condition for a fight, nor can
you drive at the present. Eun will take you back and he’ll make
sure you stay there."
    Eun nodded, his respect for
Gray overriding his own desire to argue. Morgan, too, slumped in
defeat.
    "Don’t worry, boys,"
Samantha said with a triumphant grin. "I’ll give Pemberley a swift
kick in your honor."

Chapter V
    The Man From Berlin
     
    The German was dressed like
an undertaker and he leaned heavily on a walking stick that was
topped by a roaring lion’s head. His eyes were narrow slits that
radiated such anger that Pemberley was surprised they weren’t
smoking. Walther Lunt had once been a handsome man but a beaker of
acid thrown in his face had ruined his good looks. Now one half of
his face was twisted into a horrific visage that frightened even
the prostitutes who were paid to spend their nights in his
bed.
    "I expected better
accommodations than this, Herr Pemberley," Lunt said with obvious
disdain. His eyes raked across the rat-infested warehouse. There
were boxes stacked here and there but for the most part the
cavernous facility was empty. The squeaks of its current
inhabitants sometimes filled the air, as if the rodents were
protesting the intrusion of the humans into their
domicile.
    "We make do with what we
have," Pemberley said. His iron grip on Wilma’s arm never wavered.
"I brought her here so you could see first hand what I’ve done. And
you can tell your leader that I can do this for his army, if he
funds my research."
    "I work with Hitler,
not for him."
    Pemberley inclined his
head. They’d been over this before. "I apologize. But soon enough,
everyone will answer to him, won’t they?" Pemberley laughed. "I do
admire the man, not only for his ability to resurrect the
slumbering giant that is Germany but also for his private views on
race and science. I’ve heard much about his desires
to--"
    "Enough." Lunt stepped
forward and removed Pemberley’s hand from Wilma’s arm. "I would
like to look at her myself."
    "Be careful. The aquaas
recognizes me as its master but it may strike you."
    "I do not think it will,"
Lunt responded. He was looking at Wilma’s eyes intently, ignoring
the revulsion that was marring her beauty. The girl was unable to
tear her gaze away from his ruined face.
    Pemberley stood nearby, his
heart hammering in his chest as Wilma’s eyes began to glow. The
blue light seemed to shimmer before becoming an almost blinding
glare.