Chapter Six
May 1, 1945 3:54 P.M.
Serenita, Italy
Two men walked slowly down through the busy harbor of the city of Serenita, careful not to bump into the throngs of people coming and going from ships, shops, and many other places. The first man was unusually tall, had his light blond hair cut short, and wore glasses; the second man was of an average height and much older then the first. Both of them were men of the cloth and had been assigned by Vatican Section XIII to complete a very special assignment.
"Ay don't like de sound o' dis mission." the tall young priest complained,
"Neither do I Anderson, but we have been ordered to help all who request our assistance." the older Priest looked up at Alexander Anderson who continued to scowl.
"Dees men don't deserve our help. Dere nuthin' more den murderous non-believers." he continued.
The older Priest sighed, "It was these murderous non-believers that gave us-" His statement was cut short by a round man in a white suit who bumped into him.
"Die Hölle?" the man exclaimed. As it turned it was the Major with his entourage, "Mein Gott! Do you know how long vee have been looking for you two?" he exploded when he realized who he bumped into.
The Priest shrugged, "I apologize for the inconvenience but this is a very busy harbor-"
"Still! You should have given us better instructions! Valking up and down thzese docks like a bunch of fools!" the Major began to turn red as he continued to rant.
Finally Dok grabbed his shoulder,"Mein Mazhor please, people are beginning to stare." he whispered in German, the Major stopped yelling and looked around, he then turned to the two priest and smiled.
"My apologies," he said "I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's just vee have been on thze move for so long..."
The Priest nodded. "I understand," he said "Now lets get this business over with and go our separate ways eh." he added.
A grin slowly spread across the Major's face,"I get thze feeling thzat our background ist make you uncomfortable." he said with a chuckle, "Especially you." he added pointed to Anderson.
Anderson looked down at Major as he slowly took hold of his bayonet, "Ay would rather slit yer throat then help ye escape." he growled.
The Captain grabbed his Luger pistol and took a step toward Alexander Anderson, "Es ist fein." the Major said holding him back.
Then straightening his glasses the Major glanced at Anderson, "I recommend you vatch your tongue..." he said pushed his glasses back on to the ridge of his nose for the second time "...because it might not be thzere thze next time you open your mouth." he finished the threat and smiled.
"Now now," The Priest spoke up, stepping between Alexander Anderson and the Major, "Please I hate violence around witnesses. Here." He took out four tickets from his robe.
"These are your boarding passes, two for the Anna Marina and two for the Brillo Marinaio as you asked." he handed the tickets to the Major who looked them over with great satisfaction.
"Now," The Priest continued pulling out a black and white photograph of a man in a gray suit and fedora."Your contact in South America is a man who goes under that name of "Tubalcain Alhambra". He is..uh some what sympathetic to your...cause, and has volunteered to help."
The Major grinned taking the picture from the Priest's hand, "I like him already." he said with a chuckle. "Is thzat all?" he then asked, glancing up at The Priest, who nodded.
"Very Vell. Danke gentlemen vee shall be on our vay." with that he walked off fallowed by his entourage, a few moments later the two Vatican agents went off in the other direction.
-xxxx-
Alucard slipped out of the ally where he had been attentively watching the transaction between the Vatican and Millennium, for the past week or so he had been carefully fallowing the four Nazis across Europe and now that they had arrived to their final European stop Alucard was going to close the final chapter on Millennium. Keeping the Germans in his sight he weaved through the congested harbor making sure to stay far enough so as not to tip them off, "In a few minutes," he thought "In a few minutes it will be all over."
Suddenly a man with a black eye patch and a brown tweed suit bumped into Alucard and knocked off his fedora, "Oh, Pordono mia!" the man exclaimed in bad Italian. "Mi no visto." he picked up Alucard's hat and handed it to him. "Scusi mi. Accidente."
Alucard nodded and tried to walk away but the man began to brush him off, "Th-th-thank you." Alucard stuttered pushing the man aside with no avail. Finally he lost his temper: "THANK YOU!" Alucard roared and threw the man into a cart of flowers.
Turning he began to walk away in the direction that Millennium had taken and froze.
There was no sign of them. Alucard's eyes darted from one crowd to the other, looking for any sign of the Nazis: a glint from a pair of glasses, a hat, a musket, anything. Then in the distance about a hundred meters away he got a glimpse of Rip Van Winkle boarding the Anna Marina,
"Ah-ha!" Alucard exclaimed happily and ran towards the ship.
-xxxx-
The beat up green taxi inched down the crowded street heading toward the harbor. Inside the lone passenger sat in the back seat staring out the window deep in thought, until the blaring of the car's horn snapped him out of his revery. He glanced at the driver and sighed. "Is there a way you can go faster?" he asked in accented Italian, frustration tinted his voice.
"Does it look like I can go faster!" the driver exploded in anger, he turned and stared at the man, eyes bulging.
Sir Arthur Hellsing sighed, "I was just asking." he muttered.
"AH! You ask too much! Unless you can fly, no more asking!" the driver then turned and began to curse at the car in front of them.
Sir. Arthur fell back into his seat and wiped his brow. He had left England four hours after receiving Kane's message that morning, in three hours he landed in the US/UK air base in the Italian country side after which took a car to the army base just outside Serenita. To his surprise a message from Kane was waiting for him upon his arrival.
"Meet me next to the clock tower at the Harbor. Kane" and so here he was: stuck in traffic with a driver who's blood pressure was extremely high.
"Say," Sir. Arthur spoke up, "How far is the harbor?" the driver turned.
"What?" he asked wearily,
"The harbor. How far is it?"
"A few blocks."
"Which way?" Sir Arthur asked. The driver pointed in the direction they were driving,
"That way." he said simply.
"I see, well thank you." Sir Arthur handed the driver his fare and opened the door. "Ciao." he said and slipped out the door.
Ten minutes later, after using his well tuned sense of direction and fair knowledge of the Italian language Sir Arthur found himself in front of the clock tower. Alone.
"Where is he?" Sir Arthur asked himself looking around for Mr. Kane who was no were in sight, Sir Arthur glanced at his watch. "4:05" he frowned.
Just then a voiced called out to him: "Arthur! Over here!"
Sir. Arthur turned and saw Mr Kane sitting on a bench in front of a cafe. He was dressed in a brown tweed suit and was enjoying an ice cream cone.
"Well, hello there Mike." Sir Arthur said as he approached the mysterious gent. "I was worried I missed you." he slipped his hands into his jacket pockets.
Mr Kane licked his ice cream and grinned, "Even if you did. I would know where you are and find you myself."
Sir Arthur chuckled and sat down next to Kane, "Of course. Anyway, what have you got for me." he asked.
Mr Kane licked his ice cream and pointed out to sea, "See that ship?" he asked, Arthur looked across the harbor and saw two identical ships sailing towards the horizon.
"Which one?" he asked squinting.
"The one to the right." Kane answered.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Alucard is on it."
Sir Arthur glanced at Mr. Kane, "You sure?" Kane nodded and licked his ice cream.
"I checked myself, it was him alright."
Arthur frowned, "and where is that ship headed?"
Kane licked his ice cream, "South America." he said simply.
Sir. Arthur Hellsing's heart skipped a beat, "Good God!" he exclaimed. "We'll never find him there! That ship needs to be stopped!"
Mr. Kane gave him a sideways glance. "Easier said then done." he stated licking his ice cream, Sir Arthur began to fumble through his pockets looking for his handkerchief, until he realized that he left it in the taxi.
"Damn." he thought, "Now then, there must be some one in charge of the ships, all we have to do is find that person and order them to turn the ship around."
Mr. Kane grinned and licked his ice cream, "Again, easier said then done."
"Now look here, damn it!" Arthur yelled, "You said you have connection! Use them!"
Kane stared at Sir, Arthur and nodded, "Quite right." he slapped his knee and stood up. "Come on. We're going to see the harbor master."
Sir Arthur smiled and wiped his brow with is sleeve, "That's more like it!" he said standing up from the benched. He gave Kane a friendly slap on the back causing the ice cream to fall from Kane's hand, the two of them stared at it.
"Sorry," Arthur mumbled, "I'll buy you a new one." he promised, and with that the two of them started towards the Harbor Master's office hoping that it wasn't too late to stop the ship before the Angel of Death could escape for good.