Chapter 4: Fifteen years gone
Iscariot HQ, Rome, April 20th, 2016
It was silent in the HQ, even more than usual. Probably because it was late evening. Heinkel knocked. "Enrico?"
"Yes?" He didn't sound the least tired. She entered. The business with Hellsing was still unfinished and the Vatican wanted answers. Anderson was in the orphanage with Yumiko. He wouldn't go on any mission soon. Not until this was solved. The representatives of the Pope – and that was interesting; the Pope himself didn't make a statement – doubted Enrico's ability to control Anderson. Bureaucrats that had no idea what fighting was like. All Heinkel had for those people was a sneer.
Enrico typed something in. "Just a second." Then he looked up from his laptop. "So I'm not the only one still up. How can I help you?" He made a vague gesture to one of the chairs, but Heinkel didn't want to sit down. Her hands lay on the hafts of her guns. It just felt more comfortable like that.
She hadn't been sure herself about what she would say. Instead of saying anything, she just laid a newspaper article on his desk. It was from a German newspaper, but she had translated it on a separate sheet.
Enrico read it, then looked at the photo. It showed a small shop, surrounded by the police, and a photo of a slender redheaded man. Eventually, Enrico leaned back and looked at her. For now, his face was unreadable, but she had a good idea what he thought. This might get tough.
"What do you want?"
"I'll need a few days off."
"For making a statement at court?"
"No. They didn't invite me."
He frowned. "I thought this was about you."
Heinkel made a dismissive gesture. "I wouldn't go anyway. I need your help for something else."
"What would that be?", he asked. Heinkel was getting ever more cryptic. He didn't like that. If she didn't want to tell him as her chief, they were still friends, right?
"The counsel for the persecution has one main evidence, the surveillance vid from that day. If they can bring it forward, Wagner will get another five or six years for grievous bodily harm. Their system has had a few security breaches in the last months. It shouldn't be too difficult to hack it."
"You want me to hack a German court?" Heinkel could almost hear him bringing forward another rant about how irresponsible she was, what that could mean for the Vatican and so on. But he only said: "That's a bit far-fetched. Besides, who would want to steal the video just for preventing that guy from going to prison?"
Heinkel looked at him like he had lost his mind, despite being a bit surprised he was so calm. "You've got to be kidding. I know how good you are. And who said I want to help them? You need to remove that video."
Enrico looked at her, completely speechless. She had no idea about politics. She was a paladin, that wasn't her job. But this? "Heinkel, we can't risk a scandal right now. Not after Morocco and Badrick." Still, it would be interesting... He tried to get that thought out of his head immediately, but it was too late. Now he was curious. No matter how stupid this might be.
"There won't be a scandal. I promise. Just a few days. I'll visit my parents and settle this and everything goes on as it did before. Besides, I've got a lot of vacation days left."
We all have. But we've got no time for that. Enrico shrugged. "When is that trial?"
"The day after tomorrow. Are there any reports left over? I could do that, you know. So you can... concentrate on something else."
"We're not negotiating," he stated. What did she think? He wasn't horsetrading.
"So what do you say, then?" She had taken off her sunglasses and looked him dead in the eyes. He couldn't help but look at those white scars for a moment. Had he any choice? Heinkel was so stubborn, she would probably do something stupid. Another scandal could be the death sentence for Iscariot. He sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. But I need a few details. Like where that server is and where the video might be. You know, the case number or something like that."
Somehow he had hoped she wouldn't know. Deeper computer science was an own world after all. But she could give him enough to start. Hacking into a foreign state institution. What am I thinking? Not that this was the first time of course... but before there had only been himself on stake, not a whole organization. His organization. And the reputation of the Roman-Catholic Church. "Give me an hour and we'll see what I can do. But that's all. If not, then this is closed, understand?" Heinkel nodded, smirking. God, that girl could make you nuts with her carelessness. "Check those reports, yes? Oh and when you're already at it, can you get me a hot chocolate?"
When Heinkel returned after about one and a half hour, Enrico had his feet on the desk and the laptop on his legs. Not his working laptop, though. This one was smaller, more of a notebook, but much higher quality. The components were better, had more memory and whatever was part of a good laptop to use for hacking. Heinkel didn't know much about that. She needed a PC for writing and Internet, nothing more. A cable was plucked into the internet socket.
The chocolate was untouched and Enrico Maxwell looked a little tired now, but triumphant. It was the middle of the night and they were completely alone in the building. He had opened his ponytail and a few strands hung in his eyes. It made him look younger.
"I got it. They really need to fix their security."
Heinkel found herself to be really surprised. She was surprised about her surprise. When had Enrico ever given up when he was challenged? "How the hell did you do this?"
He yawned and managed to look offended at the same time. Though he was offended about something next to always. "A lot of technical stuff. A password generator, which is not exactly legal. Really, that would take too long to explain now." Heinkel sat down.
He sighed. "Okay, in short: First I looked up who's involved with that case and might have a copy of the video. Normally the courts and lawyers are careful with that. I searched all of their work computers that were part of the system. Actually it's still running, but I think I erased all copies from their servers. If somebody has one on a private hard drive that's all for nothing of course."
"And it's possible to do that just over the Internet?"
He smiled. "You have no idea."
"Always expected the German Government to be a bit more careful. Makes you think."
"Actually, I wasn't even near any government server. The list of persons involved is on an official website pleading for this... Wagner?" He looked at her, wondering about the pronunciation. Heinkel nodded. "Anyway, that guy's conviction. And the law firm really needs to update their security. Any amateur could have done this."
"You're no amateur."
"Barely more." He looked at the still filled cup and took a sip from the now cold chocolate.
He was at least trying to be modest, Heinkel thought, internally smiling. As if that worked. She stood up. "It's late. We better go to sleep. Thanks." In her mind, she was already preparing details. If she worked hard, Enrico would have no choice but to grant her the days off.
"Heinkel."
She stopped. "Yeah?"
"I copied the video before I erased it. I thought you might want to see it." Enrico saw her freeze.
"Did you?" Her voice was flat and he shuddered inside. In such moments he remembered all too clearly that he was the weakest person in all of Iscariot. A sheep among wolves. And Heinkel definitely was one of the most dangerous wolves, bad name jokes aside.
Enrico wasn't sure why he had done it anyway. Probably because he was curious. After all the work he put in it he deserved to see the results. Heinkel had never said much about what exactly had happened on that day fifteen years ago. He only knew the basic facts. She and her foster mother had been in a shop robbery. The guys had killed a few people and Heinkel got a bullet through her cheeks, scarring her face for the rest of her life, before she shot two and injured the third one. That third one was on trial once again now, for deciding if he had shot the girl that would once become this dangerous paladin on accident or on purpose. Enrico wasn't sure who had reopened that case and it was obviously unimportant for Heinkel herself.
"Yeah, maybe we should do that," she said softly. "But I want Yumie to see this, too. I already called her."
He frowned. "When? Why?"
"I had a feeling you couldn't resist. I know you too well."
"Obviously," he murmured. Damn it. He hated being predictable. At the same time he wondered if it would be okay to tell Lisa later on.
Yumie arrived after five minutes of waiting. They got two chairs and sat on both sides of their chief. Just like it should be. "You sure about this?", he asked again. Heinkel nodded, looking more gloomy than ever. So Enrico pressed play. The time stamp said seventeenth December of 2001.
Munich, Germany, December 17th, 2001
The mall was packed with people frantically searching for Christmas presents. It wasn't the last-minute-panic yet, but close. Heinkel hated it. Too many people bumping into each other, ignoring the ridiculously high prices. She would rather stay home with her father and go shooting or something like that. But her step-mother, Elena, had insisted, like every year. Normally they went much earlier, though.
Elena dragged her into a jewellery shop. She was searching for a necklace or something like that for her best friend. Heinkel hadn't paid attention. She never been interested in such things. Where was the point of spending so much money just to brag about it?
While outside the people were panicking like Christmas was this evening, Heinkel walked along the showcases on the right and stopped in front of various rings, gold, silver, with or without gemstones.
"You're a bit too young for marrying, huh?" She looked up and saw a young man with unruly dark hair and a nice smile. "Or have you got somebody in mind?"
"Yeah, no, not really" she said. "Just passing the time." She looked outside again and saw security guards whispering among themselves while three men clad in black ploughed through the people. She turned and searched for Elena's obvious red hair. "Mum? Mum!" There had to be something in her voice, because Elena turned and immediately came over. "What? Something wrong?"
Before Heinkel could answer, the door slammed open, breaking one of the showcases. A shot crunched into the ceiling. "Everybody on the ground, this is a robbery!"
There was some kind of collective gasp mixed with a scream. Outside the people shied away from the shop. Then Heinkel lost track because she was dragged down. She wasn't even scared. Just mildly surprised. If Elena hadn't dragged her to the ground with everybody else she would have just stayed where she was. Her mother was trembling and pressing Heinkel down with her weight.
There were three men, all trained, two rather massive, the third one slender. They wore Jeans and hoodies one could get in every corner shop for less than ten euro. All three were carrying assault rifles. If Heinkel was right, it was the FN FNC from Belgium. They were produced in the late seventies and these three were in a horrible shape. But that didn't mean they were less deadly.
They were wearing ski masks, but all seemed to be Caucasian. The first one had bight blue eyes and a booming voice. "Alright, everybody does what we say and nobody gets hurt. Get out behind that counter, Sir," he told the elderly owner of the shop. The man had trouble getting up. He was almost eighty and seemed to be in pain.
The second man briskly walked up to him and dragged him to his feet while the third pulled down the blends. "You!", the second man barked. "Open the safe!"
The first man had found the keys to the showcases and the cash register and began packing everything into a bag. They were all around twenty or thirty. Judging from their equipment this was an act of desperation and a badly planned one.
"I can't," the owner croaked. "There's a time lock on the safe. If it's not open, I can't do anything about that."
"Bullshit!" The second man slammed him against the counter. "You're the owner. You have a way of opening that thing."
The old man groaned in pain, but stayed upright. "You have to wait until the time lock opens. Then you can have everything. Just don't hurt anyone," he begged.
The man laughed and pressed a gun against the shop owner's temple. It was an old Beretta, Heinkel guessed. Why did she see only those things? "Are you trying to give us orders?", the robber grinned.
"N- No. I'm sorry!", the old man whispered.
"You better be, you old fag."
A young woman in a slightly too tight rose-coloured business costume tried to get into a more comfortable position. Immediately the second man put a gun to her head. She froze, tears in her eyes.
"Don't move until we tell you to! Don't even fucking blink!" He laughed again. It was raspy, a smoker's voice if Heinkel had ever heard one.
"Don't be stupid, Daniel!", the third one next to the entrance said. "Let the people sit up."
Daniel spun. "Are you stupid?! We said no names!"
"Don't call me stupid, idiot! You could have just acted as if it was a fake name!"
"Shut up, both of you!", the first one interrupted. "That doesn't bring us anywhere." He turned to the customers lying on the ground and anxiously observing them. "Alright, everybody sits up against those showcases. You five go over there, and you go over there." The hostages obeyed, always looking at them. As if it would help seeing the bullet coming.
Seen from the entrance, the following structure was established: The first man stood at the counter, his rifle slung over his shoulder. Daniel, Beretta in hand, stood in the middle and the third robber was next to the front windows, acting as a spy and guard.
On the sides were the hostages, leaning against the showcases. On the right were Heinkel, Elena, the young man that had talked to her earlier and the young woman in the too tight business costume. On the left sat a broad-shouldered man in a business suit, a young couple fearfully huddled together, the shop owner and an elderly man and woman, probably a couple, too. Plus three robbers, that were thirteen people in the shop. There were no tables or showcases in the middle of the room, so the robbers could shoot in every direction if they wanted.
The first man leaned against the counter and smiled at them. "Okay, as long as nobody tries anything funny, nobody gets hurt. You can call me..." Another smile while he thought about it. He had to be quite handsome under that mask. He sounded like a man the women liked. "Tobias," he said eventually. "And that guy is Francis." He pointed at the man near the door. Said man turned and glared at him. "Francis? Really?"
"Never heard of Francis Ford Coppola?"
Francis shook his head. Tobias shrugged and turned back, just to see Daniel pointing a gun at the head of the terrified owner. "What's the code for the safe? When does it open?"
The other hostages shrank back from the two men. The poor shop owner was panicking. "It's opening at 7 pm!", he whimpered. "Give me a paper, I'll write-"
"7 PM?!", Daniel roared. "It's fucking 9 o'clock in the morning! Are we supposed to sit around until the cops turn up and get us?"
"Too late," Francis said. "They cleared the mall. We're trapped."
"Calm down!" Tobias tried dragging him away, but not before Daniel kicked the owner against the leg. There was a sickening crack and the man screamed in pain. The woman in the business costume slapped her hand in front of her mouth and suppressed a scream.
Tobias pushed Daniel back. "Nobody gets hurt! That was our plan, idiot!"
Daniel wasn't listening. He was too busy panicking. "And what do we do then? Wait for their snipers?"
"They can't harm us for now. We have hostages. The blends are drawn and how the hell do you want to use snipers in a building? That was the whole point. But if we harm any of the hostages, they'll just charge in."
"The cops are standing there. One has a megaphone."
"See?!", Daniel cried. "We should have been out of here long ago!"
"We'll just have to make ourselves comfortable for a while. Mr. Kranz, are there toilets out back?"
The owner was close to being unconscious. The elderly woman holding him gently shook him. "Yes," he groaned.
"Will we die?", the young man with the nice smile whispered. He was crying. Daniel spun and pointed the Beretta at him. "You will if you don't shut up."
The man froze, paler than a ghost.
"Tobias?", Heinkel said. She didn't move. Daniel was the most dangerous of them. He was unstable and easy to anger. He was scared to death and such people did horrible things. But Tobias was the leader and he was reasonable. He looked at her and seemed to frown. "Yes, little girl?"
Heinkel accepted being called little girl just this once. "Mr. Kranz's leg is broken. At his age this is dangerous. It would be better to splint it and give him water or something like that." She tried to look as scared and innocent as possible. They mustn't see her as a threat. She wasn't anyway. Not against three opponents with guns and rifles. But she wasn't afraid. Deep inside, she was excited. Her hard training was paying off.
"You're right," Tobias said. "Do we have a doctor here?"
After a few seconds of silence the dark-haired young man next to Elena raised his hand. "I'm- I'm studying medicine. B-But I'll need h-help."
"I can do that," Heinkel said without hesitation. Her mother's fingers dug into her arm.
"No!", she whispered. "Don't! Please." Her blue eyes were wide with fear.
"I'm okay, Mum," Heinkel said. She waited until Tobias allowed them to stand up.
"What are your names?", he asked.
"Heinkel," she said. No nervousness, no fear. She was calm. Too calm, maybe.
"R-René," the young man stuttered. He knelt down beside the shop owner, Mr. Kranz, and almost fell. "We need to cut open the trousers."
"There are scissors on the counter," the elderly woman said. Tobias got them, and brought them over. He drew his hand back before René could take them. "Everybody back. The girl does it."
"For God's sake, she's just a kid!", the man in the business suit complained. "She'll faint or vomit."
Daniel ran at him and pointed the gun at his head. "Are you telling us what to do?"
The man paled. "N- No! Of course not!", he stuttered, white like a sheet.
"Good!" Daniel turned and strutted back to the middle of the room. Who the hell thought it to be a good idea to bring someone that paranoid to a robbery?, Heinkel thought.
Heinkel took the scissors. "Sorry about your trousers. Your name is Kranz?"
"Wolf Kranz, yes." The old man tried to smile. "I never thought my little shop would ever get robbed."
"Better late than never," Francis said and laughed. Heinkel ignored him. The blades were sharp and slid through the fabric with ease. The old man's skin was fish bone white and ranged by varicose veins. Daniel's boot had left a huge black mark on it. It also had smashed the bone. One part was sticking out front. Blood was pooling on the floor.
There was another of those collective gasps. Heinkel did her best to act as if she was getting sick. Most people seemed to, except René, the elderly woman, the robbers and herself. Mr Kranz was close to passing out again, deathly pale and covered in sweat.
"What do we need?", Tobias asked.
René closed his eyes for a moment. He hadn't even tried off his tears. Then he wiped his face. "A first aid kit. And water. Towels, bandages and disinfectant. And two stable rods or anything to fix it in place after I have relocated the bone." René looked pale, but now he knew what to do. "I'm sorry Mr Kranz, but this will probably hurt very bad. I need others to hold him. Heinkel, and you too, please." He looked at the elderly couple. "The others prepare everything we need."
"Are you giving us orders?", Daniel roared. He pushed Heinkel and René out of the way, waving his gun around. "Don't you die, you old arsehole! We still need you! Maybe later I free you from your pain." he pointed the gun at Kranz's head.
"Daniel, stop! You're not accomplishing anything!" Tobias tried to get him away. From the other people.
"Stop ordering me around!", Daniel howled. He tried to punch Tobias and missed. The gun went off. The bullet hit Kranz in the temple. Blood splashed on the young couple. They shrieked. It was a sound no one could easily forget. Heinkel got a few drops in the face. She could just stare at Kranz' lifeless body in the arms of the elderly woman. She had blood and brain in her face as well, her face frozen in a mixture of confused curiosity and shock.
Heinkel touched her face. The droplets were so hot it felt like they were burning in her cheeks. She wiped them off and looked at her now red fingertips.
Daniel jumped to his feet, his eyes wide. "Shit!", he shouted. "Shit!" And he was still waving the gun around. Tobias got him in a sleeper hold and dragged him back, but let go before he passed out. "Idiot! And what now?"
Francis looked through the blends and raised one hand. "Guys! The cops are moving."
Rome, present day
"The police started to negotiate," Heinkel explained. She was completely calm and that worried Enrico a bit. Okay, she had been there and from what he could see on the video, even the twelve-year-old Heinkel had had ice water in her veins. It was almost scary. Today she was an experienced paladin. Killing people was nothing new to any one of them. But Enrico had winced anyway when Daniel shot the old man. He normally wasn't prone to doing that himself.
Tobias took all weapons from Daniel. That was probably for the best. Then he seemed to order Daniel to get the corpse of Wolf Kranz out of the showroom. Daniel raged and argued, but obeyed in the end. The hostages went back to where they had sat before. Elena hugged Heinkel so tight she seemed to squeeze all life out of her. Most just stared blankly into space or were crying.
"You can fast forward. We sat there for hours while Tobias was negotiating. They wanted to keep all the stuff they stole and walk free. The usual." Yumie looked as worried as Enrico felt.
She was too calm, even for a paladin. Something he would never be able to do. Enrico had never been a fighter. Most of the time, he was very glad about that.
They fast forwarded. As Heinkel had said, almost nothing happened except for Daniel and Francis exchanging positions. Until the man in the suit was shot.
Munich, December 20th, 2016
The hostages were listening intently, but nothing much happened. They were lucky, Heinkel thought. Tobias was an intelligent and patient man. He had said any attempt on gaining entry by force would result in a death, but that was not surprising. He wasn't fast to pull the trigger. He didn't fit in the group at all. That was no amateur.
Now that Daniel was disarmed, the people started to relax. The young woman of the couple on the left side of the room fell unconscious after the death of Mr Kranz. With Tobias' permission they had introduced themselves to the others. The young woman in the too tight business costume was called Jana. She had been on the way to a job interview.
The young couple consisted of Oliver and Sarah. They had been shopping for wedding rings. The wedding was scheduled for the first of January. "Easy to remember," Oliver had joked nervously.
The man in the business suit was Matthias Riebertz. He didn't say much, not where he was from, or what he had done before or planned after shopping.
The elderly couple were Heinz and Marlene Passau. Marlene's wedding ring was too tight and she had wanted to insert a gemstone so she could still wear it. "Forty-eight years," she had said with a faint smile. "And just as long we have been Wolf's customers." After that there hadn't been much to talk about and the minutes passed in silence.
"Can I go to the toilet?", Riebertz suddenly asked.
Daniel stared at him, as if he was hiding a gun somewhere, but didn't move. Tobias looked at the scared, tired faces and nodded. "Fine. One at a time. Daniel, keep looking for squads." Daniel grumbled and turned back to the window. The police wouldn't dare to charge in. It was too dangerous for the hostages. They would continue the negotiations soon.
Riebertz swayed and stumbled while he tried to get up. Tobias stepped forward to help him. "Sorry. My legs fell asleep," Riebertz said. Then he punched Tobias in the throat and ran for the door.
The bullet hit him in the back of his head. Blood and brain splattered on Daniel and the blends. Suddenly, everything was silent while their ears still rang. There was hectic activity outside. Nobody paid attention to it. Everybody was staring at the bloodbath. Francis lowered his gun. "That was a stupid move," he said and smiled. It was a horrible smile. He had laid low up till now. Disappeared in the background. Heinkel shivered.
Tobias stared at him. "You said you never had a gun in hand before."
"I lied." Francis walked over to the windows and wiped away the blood with a handkerchief.
"You- You bastard!", Mr Passau growled. He got to his feet. Standing, he was taller than even Tobias. Despite his age he looked like a fighting champion. "That was unnecessary!"
"Please sit down again," Tobias said, grabbing his gun but not drawing it. Yet. Passau remained where he was.
"Tobias, get the megaphone. If they come any closer, somebody will die. If they charge in, everybody will die," Francis said. His voice was flat. Is he high?, Heinkel suddenly asked herself. They had talked in school about that and she had seen enough films. Maybe that was why he was so calm. But his hands were steady. "Daniel, get that guy out of here. Put him in the back to the other."
"You monster!"
"Sit. Down!", Tobias ordered and laid a hand on Passau's shoulder. He doesn't want to kill anyone. He's the leader but this has all gotten way out of hand. Passau did as he was told. Tobias visibly relaxed. He gave Francis the megaphone while Daniel dragged Riebertz' corpse to the room behind the counter.
"Don't come any closer," Francis announced through the megaphone. "Every time you do that, we will kill one of the hostages. We have explosives. If you try to charge in, everybody will die."
"That's not true!", Mr. Passau yelled as loud as he could. Tobias smacked him across the head with the butt of his gun. The elderly man fell in the lap of his wife, bleeding. He groaned. Marlene glared at Tobias, her face unmoving and icy. "At least give me the first aid kit, young man." He did so, obviously shocked about his own strength. A sinner who wants redemption, Heinkel thought. How funny. As if there was a chance of saving him now, after all that. Suddenly she heard the voice of Father Anderson. Taking the life of ae man is the worst sin in the world. Tobias hadn't killed anyone yet.
Francis completely ignored everything going on. "Also, we will bring great pain to one of the hostages every hour our demands are not fulfilled."
Tobias stared at him. "You don't have to ask me twice," Daniel said, grinning. "Every full hour," he reminded them.
"For God's sake, Sir, you don't need to do this!" The policeman outside was panicking. It was almost noon. Ten minutes left to the full hour.
"God has nothing to do with this."
"This is madness!", Tobias proclaimed. He walked to the door. "I'm turning myself in."
He froze when he heard Francis pulling back the hammer of his gun. The muzzle of the gun touched his temple. "Do that and I'll shoot you. I'm sorry for it, but we can't afford to let any information leak. You're free to denounce us if they capture you." Tobias slowly turned around. Francis showed him a little remote. It looked like a normal pad for typing in security codes. "Also, I do have explosives. I just want to finish this like we planned."
"How do you want to?", Daniel wailed. "Everything went wrong from the start!" Francis just smiled.
The cuckoo clock on the wall struck noon. Everybody froze. The hostages looked at each other uneasily. Who would they pick? In times of need, everybody thought of himself first. That was a basic rule of human nature. Elena huddled closer to her daughter. So did Oliver and Sarah. Marlene Passau was still busy treating her husband and didn't bother to look up. René tried to comfort Jana a bit. She was crying.
Francis looked at every hostage carefully. Heinkel tried to follow his thoughts. He probably wouldn't want to kill anyone if it wasn't necessary. He needed someone physically and mentally stable. He smiled at her and Heinkel froze, looking him dead in the eye. "You, little girl. How about you?"
"No!", Elena cried. She jumped to her feet. "Take me instead." Tobias grabbed her arms and somehow wrestled her to the ground. Heinkel could hear what he whispered to her.
"Don't make him kill you. She will need you later on." Heinkel got to her feet and walked over to Francis. What would he do? Hit her? She could take that. If she could get that gun from his hand... Tobias wouldn't shoot her, she figured. And Daniel wasn't armed. If she was fast enough, she could take them all out at once. But she only had one chance.
"Don't think about trying anything funny or you won't think ever again, little girl." He smiled. "Your name was Heinkel, right? And you last name?"
"Wolfe," she said.
"Heinkel Wolfe. A little rebel, aren't you? But not so tough now." He grabbed her with one arm pressing hers against her sides. Something stirred inside of her. Her whole body was trembling. All of a sudden she was terrified. Heinkel gritted her teeth and blinked the tears away. She couldn't give up now! She saw her family, both her foster parents and her friends from the orphanage. How much she missed them! When this was over, she should search for them. Ask Father Anderson.
"Say 'Aaah', little girl," Francis commanded.
Heinkel couldn't turn around to look at him. "What?"
He squeezed her painfully. "Open your mouth as wide as you can. Or do you want to lose the complete jaw?"
This trembling, the terror again. What did he want to do? I swore I'd never be helpless again! She had to put her head back to look at him. The muzzle of the gun was icy on her skin. You bastard. I'll never let people like you run my life.
She heard a shot and wondered who was the victim this time. The others screamed in unison. Hot liquid ran over her chin. Huh? It was the only thought she was still capable of. Huh? She tasted something hot and metallic. It tasted horrible, but so familiar. Francis pushed her to the ground, in the little corridor where the counter was cut in half. Suddenly, the pain started. Heinkel was too stunned to scream. Red flooded her mind. It hurt. So much more than any injury she had ever suffered. The pain was so complete, it swallowed the world around her.
Until something fell to the ground right beside her face. Heinkel forced herself to open her eyes. Metal glistened in a sea of red. "Try to fight back now, you little rebel. That is if you still can." Francis laughed and turned away.
Heinkel could hear various noises, a lot of hubbub, a slap and quiet sobbing. The loudest of it all was her own heartbeat. She felt it in her torn cheeks. She felt the fabric of the floor sliding over torn flesh. What did you do to me? The more rational part of her mind answered her: He shot through your cheeks. The bullet entered on the right and exited on the left. The flesh between the mouth and the holes tore open when you fell.
She blinked slowly. The gun was still lying where Francis had dropped it. Fight back, if you can. And fight back she would. She wanted to scream out when she moved. Agony burned in her face, but she just endured it. Apostles, yet not apostles. Traitors, yet not traitors. That had Father Anderson told them when Enrico asked. The legion of Judas Iscariot. She was born to be a fighter. Heretics and heathens would never rule over her.
Her hand closed around the cold metal. It was a semi-automatic gun with a small calibre. You could kill somebody with it, as long as you were close enough.
Heinkel had no idea how long she had been lying there. It didn't matter as long as they had forgotten about her. She was half concealed by the counter. That was good. Heinkel started to get up. She didn't make a sound, despite the red pain blurring her sight. First to her knees. Her hand was trembling, but she could pull back the sledge of the gun. It was a loud sound, but was drowned out by somebody violently coughing. Heinkel got hold of the counter and pulled herself to her feet. Once she was standing, her balance returned. She could feel flaps of skin loosely sticking to her face. It hurt. But she couldn't give in now. What would Father Anderson think of her?
The three robbers had their backs turned to her. So had most of the hostages, except for Oliver, Heinz Passau and Jana. They were unconscious. The others were listening intently on what Francis was negotiating.
Heinkel couldn't make out the words and didn't care. She needed to act quick before her strength left her. Clutching the pistol with both hands, she aimed at Tobias' head. At the last moment, she decided differently. The bullet hit Daniel in the temple. Spraying blood – though not an awful lot – he collapsed. Everybody spun, screaming like a bunch of monkeys.
"Shit!" Francis tried to get his gun. Heinkel wavered and the bullet hit him in the chest. He collapsed, coughing blood.
"Girl, that's not-" Tobias made the mistake of aiming a gun at her instead of just raising his hands. He was too confused to do that. Heinkel stumbled forward, found her balance again; the next moment, Tobias collapsed with a hole in his forehead.
Francis was still alive. She could hear him breath. It sounded wet, so he would probably die anyway. But leaving things unfinished only produced problems. That was what Elena had taught her. She wanted to go to him, but her legs gave way.
"Heinkel! Oh God, honey!" Elena was there, cradling her. Everybody who was not dead or unconscious was up, running around. Somebody shouted for the police and the paramedics. Heinkel just lay there, Elena crying over her, her face burning. She had lost the gun somehow.
There was somebody else. A little sting on her arm. The pain went away and she couldn't feel much anymore at all. Somebody else picked her up and carried her outside, away from the smell of blood and gunpowder.
Present day
The video stopped. Heinkel had leaned onto the table. She could feel the scars brushing against the skin of her hands. "Happy now?"
"I really don't know what to say to that," Enrico said quietly. Yumie remained silent, unsure of what to say as well. Heinkel yawned and stretched. "That's fine with me. Then I can go home now, I guess? It's the middle of the night." She stood up, her hand automatically checking her holsters. "Get rid of that, okay? Once and for all." She didn't stay to watch him erase it. Enrico would do it, she knew that. He was her friend. So with a quick "Goodnight" she slipped out on the dark corridor.
While she walked back to her flat – she was one of the around 800 actual residents of Vatican City, which was pretty awesome if you thought about it – she thought about what the video didn't show. "Francis" - actually Klaus Wagner – had really survived. The others didn't. All in all, that made five dead. Heinz Passau had died from the head injuries he sustained. So Tobias had killed someone after all. He was probably burning in hell now, where she would join him once she died. They always said 'confess and you'll go to heaven', but she could only laugh about that. Like fuck that worked. Some sins you could never atone for in this life.
She had been awake the whole ride to the hospital, thinking about nothing specific as far as she knew. Afterwards she couldn't remember anything but a vague feeling of contempt. Elena was crying all the time. She accompanied her daughter in the ambulance. Once in the hospital her step-father, Damian, joined them. Heinkel remembered a nice-looking young man telling her she would sleep now, before everything went black.
Some two weeks later she met Brenda for the first time. Her second lifesaver. Maybe third, counting Father Anderson. Unlike paladin Francesca and him, Brenda was not a fighter. She was a pretty, slender woman with skin the colour of milk coffee, with a bright smile, quick wits and talented hands. The hospital had closed the wounds in Heinkel's face, but she would forever wear horrible, jagged scars. That was how the doctor put it. Heinkel never let anyone know she had heard those words. She just buried in books as soon as she was home and started writing again herself.
The same doctor had directed them to Brenda. Brenda was a beauty surgeon working for a charity project. She did not get any money. Brenda did this just because she was nice.
Heinkel had sat in the waiting room of the beauty clinic – alone the word made her shudder -, her face bandaged, reading a book. Heinkel was the only patient today. She figured that had been on purpose. She didn't want to be there, she didn't want to meet anyone, no matter how often her parents said it was for her best. Looking like Frankenstein for her entire life was horrible enough. And the blackness of anaesthesia scared her. She didn't want to lose control over her body. That had never done her any good.
She was reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke when the door opened. She ignored it.
The light from the hallway fell on her bed, mingling with the darkness of the night that seeped in through the window, and Meggie lay there waiting for the dark to disappear and take her fear of some evil menace away with it.
Long legs in tight black trousers entered her vision. "Hello Heinkel, darling." The voice was jolly and energetic. She looked up, but unwillingly. Brenda smiled at her. The first thing Heinkel noticed was how beautiful she was. Brenda had a wonderfully symmetric face and skin so soft you wanted to touch it. She had bright blue eyes, completely illogical for a person of her dark skin colour. Maybe contact lenses. But the smile was genuine. "Aren't you a pretty girl? Just like your mother said. My name is Brenda. You sure as hell know I'm a surgeon, sweetie. But as far as I see, there's not much to do for me this time." After that, Heinkel somehow liked her instantly.
But not even Brenda's magical hands could get rid of the scars completely.
Still, the surgeon had become one of Heinkel's best friends. She listened and took her for who she was – an adult, not a child. She was a bigger help than any psychologist. They were even in the same kickboxing club.
Even after all those years, they still talked sometimes. They met for coffee when Heinkel was in Germany. Maybe she should call her tomorrow, Heinkel thought.
How much she hated those scars. Even after fifteen years. She wasn't uncomfortable talking about it. What happened, happened. But she hated them anyway. Somewhere in her head something jumped in expectation whenever Brenda called. She had promised Heinkel to give her a ring the moment she found a possibility to help her. So far, there had been nothing. But she didn't give up. That wasn't like her. Both of them never gave up.
Heinkel opened her door and went inside. It was just past two o'clock. She really needed sleep. And then she would have to wait. If Enrico had done his job properly – she didn't really expect anything else - Wagner would walk free. And then it was her move.
Heinkel changed into pyjamas and went into the bathroom. She looked at the face she knew so well. An androgynous face, no doubt about it, despite the long lashes and full lips. Turquoise eyes, straw blond hair and pale skin. Two broad, jagged white lines running from the corners of her mouth over her cheeks. Flat scars, like they were painted on the skin. If you touched it you could only feel a slight unevenness. But obvious, so obvious.
Revenge didn't turn back the time. But hell, it would feel good.