Franz soon came back into the room, a fancy phone with a gold case held in his hand. Handing it over to Klaus, he refused the return of his weapon. “Keep it for now. I’d feel better if you had something to defend yourself, should I miss a threat again.”

Not wanting to argue, Klaus thrust the phone into the face of the Blood Eagle. “Open it.”

“No,” said Hans. He thrust his hands back into his pockets. “I know as soon as I do, that will be it for me. I want to make a deal.”

Klaus made eye contact with Franz, who gave a nod. “We’re listening,” Klaus responded.

“I’ll give you access to my email if you let me leave here unharmed,” seeing the unchanging looks on his captors’ faces, he hurriedly offered to sweeten the deal. “In addition, you can have the merchandise and money in the other room. I’ll tell the Blood Eagles that we were attacked by a rival gang, the Storm Wolves. Do we have a deal?” He held out his hand to Klaus, but his eyes stayed locked on the more dangerous Franz.

Reaching out, Klaus took advantage of Hans’ distraction to press the screen his phone against his forefinger. The phone unlocked with a click. Hans’ eyes snapped to Klaus in horror.

“I’m sorry,” Klaus said, his voice quiet but full of anger, “but as soon as you said ‘merchandise’ I knew there was no way we could let you out of here. Franz?”

At Klaus’ rejection of the deal, Hans surged upright, hands extended out in front of himself to ward off Franz’s descending blade. He had begun his attack as soon as Klaus had said Hans couldn’t be allowed to leave. Hans’ upthrust arms slowed the sword but a moment before it carved deep into his chest. The Blood Eagle collapsed to the floor, and after several gurgling breaths was dead.

“By merchandise, he meant women, didn’t he?” asked Franz while he wiped his blade clean.

“Yes,” Klaus agreed, feeling sick looking down at the latest death he had witnessed. He put up with the feeling, however. “I’ve heard of rumors that the Blood Eagles have been engaging in sex trafficking, and a massage parlor would be an ideal front for activities like that. As soon as he said ‘merchandise’ the way he did, I knew exactly what kind of man he was.”

Putting Hans from his thoughts, Klaus swiped through the dead man’s phone. Coming to his email app, he opened it up and scrolled through the messages until he got to the one coming from Dr. Halter’s office email. It took a minute to get down to it. Hans’ email account was a cesspit of spam and pornography subscriptions.

Selecting the email, he deleted it, and then emptied the trash right afterward. “Done.”

“Good, then we have just one more thing to do.” Franz began moving in the direction of the only other door off the room. He sheathed his blade, but kept his hand near it on the chance he had to draw it again. “The women must be terrified right now.”

When Franz opened the last door, Klaus was standing right behind him. As soon as the light from behind them penetrated the room, Franz let out a loud curse in a language Klaus did not know. Rushing into the room, he darted over to the first of two ragged mats on the floor. On each lay a semi-conscious young woman covered in bruises and garbed in little more than rags. Tilting her head back, he pulled a vial from an inner pocket and held it to her lips to drink.

As soon as the vial was empty, he handed another to Klaus. “Here. Give this one to the other girl.”

Klaus took the vial with a nod, and quickly gave it to the other injured woman. His suspicions were confirmed, for barely had he gotten the woman to drink when her eyes began to stir and the bruises across her arms and legs began to fade. Blue eyes slowly opened to meet his own.

Upon seeing a man so close, she jerked back. “Kto vy? Who are you?” A sound of crying came from the other mat, and not waiting for a response, the woman pushed herself up and moved over to the other captive. “Kira!”

Seeing the woman Klaus had help rushing over, Franz shifted aside to make room.

“Eva!” Kira cried, reaching out her arms. The other woman dived right into her, tears already dripping down her face. Klaus could not tell if they were the result of fear or joy that the other woman was still here. Klaus felt a boiling pit of rage open within him at the now-dead Hans.

“What happened to you?” asked Klaus of the women, both of whom were now crying in each others arms.

“Now or earlier?” the one named Eva responded. “If you meant earlier…well you can imagine.” She shuddered at memories only she could see. “As to the state you found us in, Hans came in to beat us into silence earlier. Said something about expecting guests.”

Kira froze in fear at those words. “Guests?”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Don’t worry,” Franz said softly, hands in clear view and sitting back from both women. ”Hans has hosted the last guests he will ever have.”

Rather than be reassured, both women tensed at Franz’s words. Thinking he might understand what was going on, Klaus hurried to add, “To be clear, Franz killed Hans and his men for what the Blood Eagles threatened to do to my family and others. We have no interest in his line of work or… you in that way. You won’t ever have to suffer anything like this again. We are getting you out of here.”

Finally understanding, both women began a new round of sobbing, but this time more clearly in relief. Klaus could not even begin to imagine what they had gone through. Not sure how to help in this situation, Klaus and Franz simply gave them their space while looking over the rest of the room. Though the liquid in the vials had helped the women, they were still clearly in some pain from their time here. Looking down at the vial still in his hand, Klaus knew without a doubt in his mind that, as crazy as it seemed, it had recently held what could only be a healing potion of some sort. Once again he banished the thoughts that threatened to run through his mind to instead focus on the here and now. There would be time for everything else later.

The rest of the basement was grim to say the least. Neglect and decay had taken over everything. The walls, once painted in a now unrecognizable hue, were marred by cracks and patches of the now faded paint that showed crumbling concrete underneath. Against one wall sat a rickety wooden table, surface warped and legs no longer settled evenly, even though several bags sat on it. A sealed trunk, battered and in rough shape but solid for all that, was set against the far wall. There must have been a leak somewhere too, as a musty odor assaulted his senses, being some disgusting amalgamation of mold, mildew, and dampness.

Trying to ignore the smell and dampness as much as he could, Klaus watched as Franz moved over to the bags. Pulling them open, it was immediately clear that the dead Blood Eagle hadn’t been lying. There was quite a bit of money on the table.

“What are we going to do with this?” asked Klaus.

“I think you should decide,” Franz said as he tied the bags back shut. “After all, we wouldn’t even be here if it were not for you.”

Klaus glanced over at Kira and Eva, who were now quietly paying attention to the strangers in their midst, still holding each other tightly. “I think they deserve half of whatever is there. They have been through a lot.”

“Agreed,” responded Franz with a smile, apparently pleased at how Klaus was giving some of the money to the young women. “But what about the rest? Will you spend it yourself somewhere?”

“No,” Klaus shook his head immediately. He couldn’t take the rest of the money for himself, not when his first thoughts were of how much his parents still had to pay off from his time in the hospital. “If you are fine with it, the rest goes to my parents. This money would go a long way against the debts they have.”

“Wonderful!” said Franz, smile turning into a full grin. “You are a good son. I am sure they will appreciate it.” He grabbed the bags, tucking them under one arm, easily carrying them despite what should be a considerable weight. “Now come, I think you have had enough excitement for one night.”

“What about us?” Eva said. “Where are we supposed to go?”

“Do either of you have any family in the city?” Klaus asked, already half-expecting the likely answer.

“No,” Eva said while Kira shook her head, staring at the floor. “We were transported here from the east coast. Not sure how to get back either.”

Like he had expected, the young women didn’t have any real options. Even with the money Klaus wanted to give them, all that would do without knowing anyone in the city was make them targets for any one of the other gangs in the area. No, their best bet was to come with Klaus or Franz. But where to take them?

“There is some extra room at the place I have been staying,” Franz said. “They should be safe to stay there until they can sort out their situation.”

Eva looked at Kira. At the slight shrug the shy woman gave, Eva nodded and turned to address Franz. “We’ll take you up on your offer.”

Franz gestured towards the main room of the basement. “Alright, that is settled.” Then to Klaus he said, “Let’s get you home. We can save our conversation until tomorrow, what with the long night you have had.”

Nodding, Klaus agreed with the man. He could honestly say that tonight had been the worst night of his life in more ways than one. Taken hostage, tortured, and then saved from being killed by a complete stranger who apparently knew him very well. Leading a man who preferred swords and knives to attack a hideout of one of the most notorious gangs in Volksturm. Saving two young women and taking possession of more money than he had seen in his life to this point, all why being party to a number of violent deaths. A long night undersold it a bit.

They walked back into the other room, Franz leading, Klaus following, and the two young women bringing up the rear. As the bodies of the Blood Eagles came back into view, Klaus turned to block their view from Eva and Kira, only to see each was staring hard at the dead faces of their captors. Taking only a few moments to make sure they were truly dead, they both then followed Franz as the swordsman made his way up the stairs.

In short order, they made their way through the carnage of the massage parlor and emerged outside where Klaus came to a stop in shock.

The car was gone.

Someone, either brave or foolish, had stolen the car.

“Don’t worry, Klaus,” Franz said, his stride not faltering. He walked down the sidewalk in the general direction of Klaus’ apartment. “I’ll walk you home.”

The walk itself was… not bad actually. Sure, the city still had the same gritty, rough buildings looming around him. And yes, the risk of other gangs being out and about this hour was higher. But for some reason, Klaus actually felt the tiniest bit of the tension in his shoulders start to loosen.

Eventually, who knew how many minutes later, the group was standing in front of Klaus’ apartment building. Not exactly sure what to say after everything that happened, Klaus awkwardly thanked Franz, and said goodnight to Eva and Kira. Waving an acknowledgment, Franz said he would be by in the morning then led the two young women off, thankfully not down the alley where he apparently spent most of his time.

Klaus did not remember climbing the stairs or, for that matter opening his door. Pausing only close and lock the door again, Klaus kicked off his shoes, and set the previously forgotten dagger that Franz had let him borrow on his kitchen table. It looked remarkably out of place amongst his player character notes.

Without taking his dirty, bloody clothes off, Klaus fell into his bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.