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Chapter Sixteen

Agent

The partner of a thief in a cheating scheme.

*

Klaus found himself impressed by the professionalism of the Eroica gang. He had learned from Agent M that the time spent waiting for the arrival of the sub had not been idle. They had located the plans of the doctor's home, and more specifically, of the bomb shelter that had been built in the early 1950s at the very beginning of the Cold War. No home should be without one, he thought ironically as he looked over the plans.

With the addition of the visual scans he made of the interior, as well as those of the security system, the thieves verified that the job would be a piece of cake, just as Eroica observed in his journal. No challenge at all. The biggest hurdle would be the time factor. The boxes within seemed relatively standard. But in order for the theft to go undetected, the gang felt they should either remove the contents of the boxes, or just replace the boxes with dummies.

Bonham advised that this was something best decided once they were inside the vault. If the dummies were too obvious, they would just remove the contents of the ones in the vault and put it into the dummies for transport.

Klaus agreed that this two-fold plan was the best, as it would not cause too long of a delay.

"We'll need a diversion, Major," Bonham said once everything was decided. "Something to keep Dr. Andy out of the house longer than his evening constitutional takes."

Klaus nodded, sitting back in his seat, a hand to his mouth. The diversion would have to be time consuming but not enough to have the local authorities involved. By now, the man's bodyguard would have been--

Bodyguard.

Dick "Steamroller" Grant. The bastard who had nearly screwed up his mission in Austria and beaten the Earl. Beaten the Earl unnecessarily at that. He had hit Eroica five times after he had gotten the information from him that he needed. At the time, Klaus had promised to do the payback for him, since he did not believe the thief capable of doing so himself. Even given the present state of affairs, Klaus was still uncertain the man could take on someone the size of Steamroller. Iron Klaus could without any difficulty at all. As could a disguised Iron Klaus. The moment this thought crossed his mind, an evil smile came to Klaus's face.

Time for a little payback.

When Klaus finally looked up, he saw everyone looking expectantly at him. They had obviously seen that look before, and knew what it meant.

"I know what to do as a diversion..."

* * *

The next evening, everything was in place for the Eroica gang to steal the Project: Eroica archive and then transport it to the sub, which was due to be finished with its repairs the next day. The same day that the clearance through the Panama Canal was due to come through. Klaus prayed that the Devil's own luck that Eroica seemed to have worked by proxy. If all went well, they would be well on their way to Panama within twenty-four hours.

"There he goes," Agent M said into a radio as Dr. Andy, with the hulking Dick "Steamroller" Grant in tow, went for his evening walk.

Jerry had been stationed near a tree at a street corner along the road where the doctor usually walked. This time, however, beneath the dark wig he was made up as a woman, the long coat covering the feminine cut of the clothing. As soon as he heard the cue, he turned sideways with the cell phone still to his ear.

The Major had taken up position out of sight. He was dressed more obviously as Eroica, rather than in the conservative suit he had worn when he met with Tomlinson. For what he had in mind, this outfit was far more fitting.

"Show time," John Paul announced as Dr. Andy spotted Jerry and gave an alarmed cry.

Jerry braced himself when he heard the CIA man earn his nickname as he thundered over to him. He drew a deep breath and started chatting into the phone. "I'm here, just as you said. Why haven't you..." The next thing he knew, a paw of a hand was grabbing the collar of his trench coat. He gave a very convincing female shriek, dropped the phone, and threw up his hands. "Take everything! Just don't hurt me!" He shoved his purse at his "assailant" and then dropped to the ground.

Grant was so stunned by this that he stood mutely staring down at the purse that had been thrust into his hands. Then he looked at the apparently cowering woman. What the hell? Suddenly another woman was on the scene to help the first. A hand pushed the thunderstruck CIA agent back out of the way, and then the woman was squatting down, her mass of blond curls covering her face.

"Oh, you poor thing, are you alright?" the newcomer said in an obvious English accent.

"They told me this was a safe neighborhood," the victim of Grant's assault replied shakily.

The person on the other end of the forgotten cell phone was calling out, "For God's sake, Lisa! Answer me!"

Klaus picked up the phone and put it to his ear. "Lisa is fine, whoever you are. She just had a bit of a fright. She'll ring you later." He ended the call and smiled.

At the other end of the line, Bonham was also smiling. He turned to the others and waved a hand. "Go."

The Eroica gang wasted no time. The security system on the house as well as the shelter were deactivated within seconds. Then the team was inside the vault, checking boxes and moving the contents. Everything on the shelves was marked and dated, but the markings were so faded one had to be on top of them to read them. The dummies appeared to be virtually identical, making removal of the originals no problem.

The group did not stop to read what was what on the faded labels, taking everything and replacing them with empties. Since there was a locked metal gate at the entrance to the vault area, which did not appear to have been opened in years, it was a good bet that no one did anything more than just check to see the boxes were in place rather than actually look at the contents. All the better for the thieves. They would toss a layer of dust on everything for good measure when they were through.

Bonham watched the operation in some pride. If the Major's diversion caused only a five minute delay, it would be all that the team needed. Then he wondered just how the diversion was going.

*

"I'm...ssssorry, ma'am," Grant stammered out when he'd finally found his voice, "I thought you were someone else."

The accosted "woman" had been helped to her feet by this time. She gave him a dirty look, snatched her purse back, thanked her rescuer, and hurried off.

"It was a mistake," Grant said helplessly to the blond whose back was still to him. When the blond turned around, Grant's mouth dropped open. "Hey, you're..." He got no further. The next thing he knew, a fist was connecting with his face, and he was lying sprawled on the sidewalk.

"That wasn't a bloody mistake," Klaus snarled, having to struggle to maintain his impersonation of the Earl. "You hit me five times, you thug!" He held out his hand, fingers spread wide. "Five! You didn't have to hit me once!"

"I didn't know you were CIA!" Grant replied lamely as he struggled to his feet.

"What difference does that make?" the fake Earl retorted sharply.

"You could've told me!" Grant said before he took a swing at the other man. He found himself swinging at thin air. Then a fist was connecting with his stomach, doubling him over.

"Two!" the "Earl" snapped. Then he brought a fist up to the man's jaw, knocking him backward. "Three!" He watched the man stagger back and could not help smiling inwardly. "I couldn't blow my cover, you moron! Anyway, I gave you the microfilm. You didn't have to hit me at all!"

"Marshall! What the hell are you doing?" This was Schreckengost, who had finally found his voice.

"Therapy in the form of payback." He turned to glare at the big man, the contact lenses masking only the color of his eyes not the intensity that was all Iron Klaus. "It's been a long time coming."

Across the street in the enclosed van, the men who had accompanied Klaus were watching the altercation in an awed silence. For all intents and purposes, it appeared as though the Earl was beating the crap out of Steamroller Dick. John Paul was watching with delight from behind a viewfinder. He wanted to tape the Major's diversion so the Earl could see that Steamroller had finally gotten what was coming to him after so many years. Instead, he got something much better. It was pure gold.

Klaus had delivered punch number four by this time, and was now backing up, causing Steamroller to smirk and come charging at him. At the last second, Klaus sidestepped, caught the man by the arm, and spun on his heel, using his other hand to push the man's shoulder and use his own momentum to propel him into the tree that Jerry had been leaning against. Everyone watching the altercation cringed as the big man crashed face first into the solid surface before falling back onto the pavement, looking like a felled tree himself.

Klaus stood over Grant, holding out his hand with fingers spread again. "Five," he announced. "You should be glad it wasn't Iron Klaus you hit," he said to the dazed man on the ground. "He gives back twice what he gets."

The disguised officer looked up at Schreckengost, who was standing in an awed silence. "Sorry you had to witness that undignified display, Doctor," he said calmly in the most aristocratic voice he could manage. He made a show of straightening his clothing. "But the dick here had it coming."

All the doctor could do was nod dumbly at him. Then he looked down at the battered form at his feet and remembered that he was supposed to be a medical professional. He did not even notice when the "Earl" vanished.

*

Klaus swiftly crossed the street, jumping into the back of the waiting van that immediately sped off, heading back to the hotel. "Did the others have enough time?" he asked as he pulled off the blond wig.

Before anyone could reply, Jerry's cell phone rang with the answer. It was Bonham calling to say that the Major's diversion had given them more than enough time to pull off the job.

"We're on our way to the sub to drop everything off," Bonham told him.

"Good," Klaus acknowledged. "Call the hotel and have everyone there ready to check out when we arrive. Once the clearance through Panama comes down, we're out of here." He did not say it, but his meaning was clear. The less time they spent in the U.S. the better.

"As you say, Ma--er, M'lord," Bonham chuckled before ending the call.

Klaus gave a snort as he closed the cell phone. Then he looked up to see everyone looking admiringly at him. "What are you lot looking at?"

To his astonishment, the members of the Eroica gang burst into a round of applause. He rolled his eyes, running his fingers through his hair. "Idiots," he muttered. "You think I enjoyed that?"

"Damn straight," John Paul called over his shoulder. "And I got it all on tape."

Klaus did not reply. He also did not stop the satisfied smile from appearing on his face.

Damn, that felt good.

* * *

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