Featuring multi-instrumentalist and Studio5 impresario Steve Rashid, keyboard wizard Larry Schanker, and Chicago’s finest jazz vocalist, Paul Marinaro! Plus the Studio5 All-Stars, with bassist Jim Cox and drummer Robert Rasdhid.
For tickets go to: https://buytickets.at/practicaltheatre
See you cats there!
Filed under Art, Comedy, Improvisation, literature, Music, Politics, rock & roll, Truth
Chapter Seventeen
Trying to enter the building Horst had just entered, Mike turned the door handle. It was locked. Of course, it was. Dr. Horst Mueller wasn’t an idiot.
Time was wasting. Mike looked to his right and saw a first story window about fifteen feet away. Beneath it was a large dumpster. It was a chance.
Climbing up onto the dumpster, Mike saw that the window was open a crack. If he could climb through that window without being detected, he could outflank anyone who might be guarding the front door. He needed some luck right now. America needed some luck.
He wedged his fingers into the space at the bottom of the window and pushed upward. The window moved, making a loud squeaking noise. If anyone but a fool was on guard, he’d surely come running toward that sound. But Mike had no choice but to shove the window open, crawl through it, draw his TEC-9 – and blast his way through to that goddamned portal if he must.
But nobody came into the room.
Mike glanced at his phone. The tracker showed Horst was somewhere to Mike’s left. At least that’s where his overcoat was. What floor Horst was on was impossible to know, but Mike knew which direction to go. He checked his TEC-9’s clip, just to be sure. Save for the one slug he put into Horst — Mike was loaded and ready for battle. But, if he got into a gunfight, he’d never be able to sneak up on Horst and Huber. The situation called for getting in close – and quiet.
With his gun in his right hand, Mike reached with his left and drew his Marine commando knife from the sheath strapped to his shin. He’d drawn lots of blood with it in the Pacific. It was his good luck charm. He’d never left home without it.
Mike could see about twenty feet down the hallway to what looked like it might be the door that Horst would have staggered through. But he didn’t see any guards. That was odd. He figured Horst and Huber would have employed some kind of armed security — and surely their paramilitary pals would be more than happy to provide some muscle.
He couldn’t just rush in like some gung-ho Marine and hope things went his way. He had to know what he was up against. Looking down the hallway, a shadow darkened the wall, followed closely by a second shadow. Both shadows looked to be armed with long guns. The bastards had guards after all.
Moving silently and surely down the hallway, Mike knew he had the drop on these guys. But gunshots would alert Horst and Huber. Mike had to keep the element of surprise — observing the rules he learned on night raids in the jungle. Go in quietly. Get it done quietly. Get out quietly.
Mike saw the guards just seconds before he and the two shadows converged at the front door. He was bigger than either of them, but they were wearing body armor and carrying long guns. They didn’t look like grad students. They looked more like the militia nuts he saw at Murphy’s Ranch.
Flying bullets were random and chaotic. This was a time for what hardened commandos like Mike called wet work. Close-up, physical combat.
He took his commando knife from its sheath.
As the two guards walked past him, Mike bolted from his hiding place, swept in low behind them with his knife — and hamstrung both men. Before they could cry out, he slit their throats. Butchering them without an ounce of remorse. This wasn’t a police matter, or some sordid little case for a private dick. This was war.
But where were Horst and Huber? And how close were they to bringing Hitler and his pals into the future?
Mike moved with purpose in the direction from which the two unfortunate guards had come, his hip complaining loudly. Drops of blood on the white tile floor confirmed he was heading in the right direction. Luckily, the hallway led to just one windowless door. Horst and Huber were likely on the other side. As he got closer, he could hear the muffled sound of electrical buzzing and humming.
Mike’s plan was simple: open the door — surprise the two Nazi masterminds — and pump them both full of lead before they could cause any more misery. Then, he’d place an anonymous call to the cops and get back to Gloria.
Mike gripped the handle on the metal door, turning it as quietly as he could. Again, luck was with him. The door wasn’t locked. The wounded Horst must not be operating at one hundred percent. Whatever timetable he and Huber had for bringing Hitler and his regime into the future would’ve been moved up now that someone was hot on their trail. What if there were more guards on the other side of the door? No matter. Mike’s TEC-9 was on a hair trigger. More guards would only increase the body count.
Mike opened the door quietly and stepped inside — ready to blast away — but there were no armed militia boys to greet him. He crept into a small cloakroom outside a much larger room which bore the title “Physics Lab #7”. Mike could hear the agitated voices of Horst and Huber amid the hum of the time portal machinery.
He locked the door behind him, turning the knob and setting the deadbolt. He wasn’t going to let his prey escape. He crept up close to the laboratory door, listening in.
Speaking in their customary mix of German and English, Huber was telling Horst to shut up about the pain in his wounded shoulder and focus on the work at hand. He called Horst’s impulsive shooting of “some damned old woman” inexcusable. Mike didn’t like hearing anyone talk about Gloria like that, but Huber was right. Horst’s bloody trail would soon lead the cops to those two militia stiffs in the hallway – and right to Physics Lab #7. Mike figured they’d be here inside of a half hour at most.
Sure enough, Dr. Huber was rushing their ultimate plan into action right now.
Dr. Huber went over that plan one more time. Horst was to dial the portal back to January 1, 1945. Huber would emerge from the portal in Berlin and gather Hitler and his top henchmen. If the police started breaking into the lab after Huber is transported to the past, Horst was to destroy this Cal Tech portal. Huber and his Nazi cohort will then pass through the Berlin portal, emerge on today’s date in 2008, and implement plan B.
Mike understood most of what they were saying. But plan B? The Berlin portal? This was a lot to take in all at once. Could he be hearing this right?
While the two scientists had their backs turned, Huber manipulating dials and Horst taking notes, Mike slipped through the doorway into the lab, ducking out of sight behind some Frankenstein-looking machinery. Should he just kill these creeps now? Destroy their crazy time machine? But what about this Berlin portal? Did Horst and Huber have associates in Germany ready to carry out their plan if for some reason they couldn’t? Plan C perhaps?
As he crouched down, hidden, TEC-9 at the ready, Mike wondered whether it would be a mistake to bump these guys off without truly wrapping up the case: without making sure there’s no way a time-traveling Hitler could escape the fate that history had already recorded? What effect would his miraculous survival and emergence in 2008 have on everything that’s happened in the world since he was supposed to have killed himself in the Fuhrerbunker?
Mike shook his head. These were big thoughts for a guy with less than two years of college.
Just as he did back at Murphy’s Ranch on December 12, 1951 – somehow only six days ago – Mike made a bold decision. He’d follow Huber into the portal. This time into the past. He’d do his best to make damn sure Hitler and his henchmen stayed dead. He wasn’t going to let Gloria take a bullet for nothing. He wasn’t going to let all those gun-toting, racist militia morons rally around the second coming of Hitler. Hell no.
Huber barked final instructions to Horst, who flipped a couple of switches in response. The portal’s machinery hummed at a higher pitch. Raising their hands in salute, the two conspirators exchanged an emotional “Seig Heil!”
Then, Dr. Huber strode into the portal for his trip back to January 1, 1945.
While Horst focused on his time machine’s control panel, Mike crawled unseen toward the portal. Just then, there was a loud banging and shouting at the door. The cops had already arrived! Horst turned his head toward the commotion, freezing for a moment as urgent voices demanded immediate entrance. With Horst momentarily distracted, Mike slipped into the portal.
Ignoring the clamor at the door, Horst turned his attention back to the portal’s controls. He threw one last switch, sending the portal’s occupants back 63 years in time.
As before, there were no sci-fi pyrotechnics inside the portal. Mike experienced no distinct line between present and past. He couldn’t see anything ahead of him. It was as though he was in a cloud. It was surreal. A waking dream.
Mike tried to push away thoughts of Gloria and whether she was going to be okay. He had to focus on staying alive long enough to stop unspeakable horrors from happening. Dr. Huber was somewhere up ahead of him, passing through the portal, moving toward a hideous rendezvous. An appointment with evil.
Suddenly, Mike could see clearly as he emerged from the portal, his adrenaline pumping. He was in the hallway of what appeared to be an underground bunker. Overhead he heard the high-pitched scream of a falling bomb – followed by a blast that shook the ceiling and nearly knock him off his feet. Concrete dust showered him. The smell of cordite was in the air.
Mike was back in the war.
Through the dusty haze and flickering electric light, he saw Huber just five yards ahead of him, getting up slowly from the floor, shaken by the blast. Huber gripped his knee, then began limping down the long hallway. The old scientist never looked back to see if he was being followed. Why would he? He had every reason to think he was alone. And even if he did look back, he wouldn’t see Mike in pursuit. Mike was good at this game.
Upon reaching the bunker’s large, heavy, cast-iron door, Huber sat down and rubbed his injured knee. Outside, the sounds of the air raid continued: the whistling of the falling bombs, the explosions, and the wailing of sirens. It looked like Huber was going to wait until the “all clear” signal sounded before leaving the bunker. It was a good call. It also gave Mike, hidden in the shadows about twenty feet away, a chance to catch his breath and assess the situation.
He had Huber in sight – and the game was on! But Mike had no tracking device on Huber, so he’d have to keep track of his target the normal way. Stalking Huber through the bombed-out streets of Berlin wasn’t going to be easy. For one thing Mike couldn’t trail anybody while dressed in clothes from 2008. He’d have to find something else to wear, perhaps from someone killed in the bombing. Civilian clothes? A uniform? Civies might give him more freedom of movement. If Mike was spotted on the street in uniform, some officer might give him orders he’d have to obey. Orders he wouldn’t completely understand.
Again, Mike wished he’d learned more German growing up.
Identification was another problem. His California driver’s license, issued in 1948, was worse than useless. It was an absurdity. He’d need to steal an identity. Perhaps from the same corpse who provided his clothes?
Mike’s thoughts were interrupted when another bomb came whistling down, exploding somewhere above the bunker and showering him with another layer of concrete dust. The lights flickered. He was in wartime Berlin alright.
The Allies had been bombing Berlin since ‘43. Mike had read all about those daring daylight raids in The Stars & Stripes when he was at Pearl Harbor, ready to ship out to the South Pacific. It was good news at the time. By ‘45, the tempo of the raids picked up, and large parts of Berlin were reduced to rubble. That’s what was going on up above.
Mike also knew that four hundred miles away in Belgium’s Ardennes Forest, the Nazis’ last big offensive of the war was about to fail. By January 25th – a little more than three weeks away — the Germans will lose the Battle of the Bulge, and retreat to fortifications along Germany’s western border. By April, the Allies will break through the Siegfried Line and close in on Berlin. Russian troops will be marching on the city from the east.
Time was running out for Hitler and his godawful regime. Dr. Huber hoped to throw them a lifeline that stretched into the future. But how did Huber and Horst manage to build a time portal in a Berlin bunker? And does that question even matter now?
Mike thought back to when he was eavesdropping on Horst and Huber at Murphy’s Ranch less than a week ago — back in ’51. Huber had given his protégé fifty-seven years to refine their time portal and build another one in Berlin. As nuts as that sounded to Mike at the time, it now made sense. Horst must have eventually advanced their Cal Tech portal to the point that he could travel back in time months or maybe even years before January of ‘45, ferrying the equipment he needed to build this secret portal in Berlin.
The “all clear” signal had yet to sound. Clearly, old Dr. Huber wasn’t going anywhere for a while, so Mike had a bit more time to think.
It’s possible Huber might’ve gotten permission to build his time portal from the Fuhrer himself. Why not? Hitler always tried to be ahead of the technological curve. He had a secret program to develop Wunderwaffe – high-tech wonder weapons like the supersonic V2 rocket, radio-controlled missiles, and an atomic bomb. If a certified scientific genius like Dr. Otto Huber presented an ambitious plan to build a time machine that would allow the Fuhrer and his top lieutenants to escape the fall of Germany, why not give him a shot?
At this point, Mike was ready to believe anything was possible.
But what would Mike do when the bunker door opened? This wasn’t like storming the beach with a platoon of Marines. Young as they were, Mike and his Leatherneck pals knew what they were going up against on those islands. They’d drilled and trained for it as a unit. They were supported by the navy’s big guns, blasting away at the enemy hidden in the tree line. They didn’t need any ID other than their dog tags — and they didn’t need to find new clothes…
The “all clear” siren began to wail.
For Mike, that siren was not an entirely welcome sound. He would soon be outside, facing lots of unknowns as he tried to stay close to Huber. He wondered if he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he should have stayed with Gloria and made certain she was okay. But how could he and Gloria live happily ever after knowing that he’d allowed the worst person in history to travel through time and lead an army of gun-crazy, racist nuts in a new American civil war? The mass killings were already underway. The Bund Boys, Oath Takers, Aryan Patriots and the rest had started slaughtering those who weren’t like them: innocent folk who didn’t think, worship, or vote like them.
Adding actual Third Reich Nazis to that madhouse mix was unthinkable.
Mike watched from the shadows as Dr. Huber got up slowly, still favoring his gimpy knee. He punched a few buttons on a console next to the door, which was held closed by a series of bars, bolts, and locks. He heard metal grinding against concrete as the massive door slowly opened. A widening shaft of sunlight came through the doorway, revealing a flight of stairs — and chilling blast of wintry air reminded Mike that he wasn’t in southern California anymore.
Suddenly, he had an epiphany. Dr. Huber didn’t know he was being followed. Had no idea who Mike was or what he looked like. That was Mike’s edge. He had to think and move fast. Race to the door, brush past Huber, sprint up the stairs, hide somewhere on the street — and wait for Huber to emerge from the bunker. Then again, wouldn’t that spook Huber? He didn’t even know whether Huber was armed. Mike had scant seconds to act.
Then, a thought flashed in his weary mind — and he caught himself. What the hell was he thinking? The time portal is in this bunker! Why would Mike ever leave it? That would be the dumbest thing he could possibly do. There was no need to track Huber back and forth on his rendezvous with Hitler and company. They’d all have to come back to this bunker – or there’d be no trip to the future. All Mike had to do was stay here and wait for Horst to return with them.
Mike stayed put as Huber stepped through the doorway into the sunlight — and the door closed behind him with a slam that echoed down the long halls of the bunker. The door’s closing turned out all the lights and triggered a mechanism by which the locks, bolts, and bars all slid back into place, sealing the door again.
Now, Mike had no choice. He was stuck in the bunker for the duration. He’d use the time to plan his reception party for the Nazi honchos. He felt for his good-luck knife strapped to his leg. Still there if he needed it. He checked the ammo in his TEC-9 and Horst’s Luger. There were forty-eight rounds left in the TEC-9 and seven in Horst’s Luger. The only bullet missing from the Luger was now in Gloria’s arm. His thoughts returned to Gloria. Was she okay? Was she alive?
Of course, she was alive. He couldn’t entertain any other thought.
Dog tired, Mike sat in the now-quiet darkness. He thought about the bombing raid: a moving blanket of destruction and death. It sounded like the bombers had made two runs over the area. Those flyboys, he figured, must not be all that threatened by what was left of Jerry’s air defenses. Goering’s vaunted Luftwaffe was short on fuel and losing planes and pilots it couldn’t replace. It was no longer capable of shielding the Fatherland. So, the U.S. Eighth Air Force was piling it on.
One month from now, fifteen-hundred American bombers would hit the center of Berlin in one of the largest bombing raids of the war. Mike didn’t want to be in town on that deadly day.
His stomach grumbled. It was way past lunch time.
An awful question chilled Mike’s blood. What if there wasn’t any food in here? If Huber didn’t come back for days – or weeks — how would he survive? Mike took a deep breath. Panic wasn’t going to help. He had to keep positive. Rather than stalking desperate Nazis through the smoldering ruins of Berlin, he’d hunt for food in the bunker.
He had reason to be optimistic. Bunkers like these were built for survival, right? What bomb shelter wouldn’t be stocked with lots of stuff to eat? But it was nearly pitch-black inside. There was now no light in the bunker aside from a thin line of sunlight above its closed iron door. That thin shaft of light didn’t travel very far into the interior. Mike had hundreds of feet of blackness to explore.
He reached into his pocket and found a matchbook. Knowing he had to use this limited resource wisely, he struck a match — which flared, shedding a faint light down a long hallway. The time portal was somewhere back there in the deepest, darkest shadows. But right now, time travel wasn’t top of mind. Mike needed light and warmth. He had to build a fire, then search for food. Starvation wouldn’t help him complete his mission.
With no idea when Herr Huber might return with the Nazi hierarchy in tow, Mike had to stay alive long enough to prevent the insanity of a Third Reich restoration in America. And hopefully, somehow, he could return to Gloria. All he needed was some light in the darkness — and as much good luck as he could possibly get.
Mike walked slowly down the hallway, lighting a new match every twenty-five feet until it burned his fingertips. Once he got a good look inside the bunker — he’d have a better grip on his situation.
Filed under Adventure, Art, Classic Film, History, literature, Novel, Politics, Truth
Okay, readers. Things are getting complicated. Are you with me? Let me know. Are you following Mike Delaney’s descent into the unknown? Likes and comments are appreciated. (Criticisms, too.) This is my first novel, after all…
Chapter Sixteen
As Gloria drove Mike to Cal Tech, it was decided that she would be the one to place the tracker on one of the old Nazis. She’d be the bait to draw either Horst or Huber into a trap. Mike wasn’t comfortable with Gloria taking on such a dangerous role, but it made a lot of sense. A very sexy senior citizen, Gloria’s charms were manifest. If she could somehow nuzzle up to one of the bad guys and plant the tracking device on him, Mike could gain an edge.
The tracker was connected to Mike’s iPhone. Wherever Gloria went, whoever she planted the device on, could be tracked on his phone. He hated to put his lover in such a tight spot – but Gloria was more than game. “Get me next to one of those old Nazi rats and I’ll charm the pants off him,” she said with the assurance of a woman who knows how attractive she is. “That is, if he’s truly a man.”
Mike winced. He knew how far Gloria was willing to go to trap these assholes. The fate of western democracy was at stake – and his girlfriend was ready to take the point with him.
Mike didn’t like being chauffeured by a woman, even Gloria, as fabulous as she was. It just didn’t feel right. He felt humiliated by the loss of control. But it had to be. If they were stopped by the cops for any reason and Mike was at the steering wheel — they’d lose valuable time while the cops tried to sort out the unsortable. The fact was they’d never sort it out.
Mike gazed at Gloria as she drove to Pasadena. She was cool. Magnificent. He could only imagine what she’d gone through in the years after he went missing. What had made her so capable, so fearless? If Gloria had been a Navy officer, barking out orders as her landing craft pounded through surging waves and hellish incoming fire toward a bloody island beachhead, he would’ve followed her without question. Straight into hell.
He’d abandoned Gloria for over half a century, yet she’d forgiven his inexplicable disappearance and still loved him. It was a fucking miracle. But he’d need many more miracles to defeat this time-traveling Nazi plot and save his country. And maybe the whole goddamned world.
The next miracle would be finding those mad scientists. Another would be if Andy’s tracking device actually worked as advertised.
“Turn on the radio, babe,” Mike said, as they drove into Pasadena and were nearing Cal Tech. “Let’s see if this shit’s gotten any worse.” Gloria tuned in the news. It wasn’t good.
A mass shooting was now being reported in northeast California. One of the shooters was wounded and captured by police. He proclaimed himself to be a citizen of the independent State of Jefferson. The killers used automatic rifles, and the victims were all Hispanic farmworkers gathered at a Catholic church. The reporter said the killings might be a hate crime.
“That’s an understatement,” Mike muttered. Horst and Huber had ignited a race war. And if he didn’t track those guys down before they made their next move, things were going to get a whole hell of a lot worse.
Time was wasting. The portal had to be somewhere on or near the Cal Tech campus. The school would have placed every resource at the disposal of their Nobel Prize winning physicist so Horst could continue his groundbreaking research in astrophysics. They wouldn’t question what he was doing. They’d eagerly await the results of his latest Nobel-worthy breakthrough.
Mike and Gloria drove onto the campus and parked on the street near Horst’s campus office. Mike had been on hundreds of stakeouts, but none with such high stakes. They watched for any movement that Horst and Huber might make — running over what they’d do if, and when, they saw the old Nazis. Gloria would engage with one or both of them, plant the tracking device, and Mike would follow their trail.
Andy had run a list of Horst’s graduate students over the last few years and settled on a student named Bill Martens. Martens had graduated from Cal Tech with a Masters in Nuclear Physics and was now in a doctoral program at the University of Chicago. Gloria would play the role of Marten’s grandmother, a sweet old woman with a favor to ask of Dr. Mueller. Mike would listen in at a distance — and move in fast if there was trouble.
If they saw Dr. Huber first, Gloria would simply ask him if he knew where Dr. Mueller’s office was, using the same story about being the grandmother of a gifted ex-student with a favor to ask of the esteemed physicist.
It wasn’t much of a plan, and there was plenty that could go wrong in a hurry, but it was all they had. Mike wasn’t thrilled about Gloria being in harm’s way, but Andy’s tracking device was far better than the old wiretap crap they’d used back in Mike’s day. But Gloria to had to get close to her target. And stay close.
Gloria’s charms would be crucial. Nazi rat bastards as they were, Horst and Huber were just a couple of old men after all. Gloria had a far better chance than Mike did of engaging one of them and planting the tracking device on him before Mike could make his next move. Maybe, once he knew where the portal was located, he could call the cops. But what would he tell the police? “Hey, come arrest a couple of old Nazis who are about to fire up their time machine at Cal Tech and bring back Adolph Hitler? And please hurry up!”
By the time the cops were done asking him questions that would be damned hard to answer – including who the hell he was – it would probably be too late. It was all a goddamn crap shoot. Mike was betting on his beloved Gloria — and letting it all ride.
Before long, they saw Horst Mueller walking with purpose toward his office. This was a first bit of luck. Dr. Huber never had a student named Bill Martens.
Gloria jumped out of the car and ran up to Horst as though she was a young co-ed bumping into him between classes. In English, she gushed, “Forgive me, Dr. Mueller, but I have a question if you have a moment. I know you’re busy, and I hate to disturb a brilliant man like yourself, but I’m desperate. It’s about my grandson, Bill Martens. He’s the only reason I’d dare to contact you in this way.”
Taken aback, yet charmed by Gloria, Horst asked what her question was.
Gloria poured on the charm. “My Billy was a graduate student of yours, Dr. Mueller. He told me that you’re the sole reason he was able to get his Masters. Now, he’s a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, pursuing his doctorate in Nuclear Physics.”
“That’s admirable, my dear,” said Horst. “Bill is a bright and promising young man. You should be very proud.”
“Of course, Dr. Mueller,” said Gloria, “We both have good reason to be proud of Bill. You far more than me. But I wonder if you might answer his question.”
“And what question is that my dear lady?”
“You must know, Herr Mueller, that my grandson has made quite a study of your brilliant career. He hopes to write his doctoral thesis on your phenomenal life’s work. Surely you agree that it’s a worthy subject.”
“You flatter me, ma’am…”
“Please, call me Gloria.”
“Of course. Gloria.”
Mueller blushed, but he was an agitated man in a hurry — torn between attraction, ego, and an appointment for which he was clearly late. He gave Gloria a warm but nervous smile. “Your grandson honors me – but he should make such a request himself. Directly. This is highly unusual. Forgive me, madam, but your grandson must contact me through proper channels.”
“Please, Dr. Mueller, surely you can answer just one question. It would mean so much to my grandson, Bill. He needs to know if he’s headed in the right direction.”
Listening in, Mike’s blood grew cold. Gloria was pushing hard. Maybe too hard. Horst Mueller was an old man, but he was also a devoted Nazi. Mike fingered the trigger of the TEC-9 in his hand, ready to open fire at a moment’s notice
Gloria stepped up close to Horst, enough for her perfume and pheromones to come into play. Watching from forty feet away, Mike saw Gloria lean into Horst, her chest to his chest.
In a sultry whisper, Gloria asked, “Whatever happened to your mentor, Dr. Otto Huber?” As she said this, she attached Andy’s tracking device to Horst’s jacket.
Unaware he’d been tagged, Horst turned pale, caught between attraction and a growing suspicion. Gloria pressed her case as though she’d said nothing remarkable.
“My grandson has questions about Dr. Huber for his dissertation. You and Herr Huber made history in the study of Physics. Your concepts are so advanced that nobody appreciates them to this day. I’d be grateful if you’d talk to my grandson.”
Intoxicated by Gloria, Horst kept his cool. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know anyone by the name of Dr. Huber. Good day to you, Mrs. Martens…”
“Please, call me Gloria.”
“Please, Mrs. Martens. Excuse me. I must be on my way.”
Gloria stepped in front of Huber, facing him down. “I’m no longer a married woman, Dr. Mueller. You needn’t be so formal. Is my grandson correct that you and Dr. Huber were associates in some very important work?”
Listening in, Mike worried that Gloria was pushing Huber too far, too fast.
“I’m sorry, madam,” Horst said, as if to end the conversation.
“But my grandson,” she replied, looking Horst straight in the eye.…
“I really must go…”
“Please, Herr Mueller. Is there nothing you can tell my grandson about your work with Dr. Huber? It would mean so much to his dissertation on time travel.”
At that moment, Horst’s voice turned ice cold — and Mike’s heart nearly stopped.
“Our conversation is at an end, Madam.”
Horst drew a Luger pistol from his coat pocket and pointed it at Gloria’s heart. “You will ask no more questions.”
From Mike’s vantage point, it looked as though Horst’s Luger had a suppressor attached to its barrel. He could gun Gloria down in the street and nobody would hear a thing.
Horst leaned in close and pushed his Luger into Gloria’s breast. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Martens. But I’ve no information about this Dr. Huber you speak of. Our conversation is over,” he said, as he shifted his gun to Gloria’s back. “Follow me, please, and ask no more questions.”
Mike wanted to draw his gun and drop that fascist prick right where he stood — but he couldn’t. He might save the woman he loved, but he’d lose track of this Nazi mastermind and his whole evil plot. The fate of the free world was at stake.
Still, if he lost Gloria again, was the goddamned free world worth it?
Mike got out of the car. He followed at a distance as Horst directed Gloria into an alley between two nondescript university buildings. The love of his life was in mortal danger, keeping her cool, against an evil she couldn’t truly comprehend. He followed with all the skill he’d gained on a hundred deadly patrols in the Pacific. He paused just outside the alley and poked his head around the corner of a building to get a bead on Gloria and Horst. They were close enough for Mike to hear what they were saying.
“I don’t know who you are, madam,” Horst said. “But I cannot allow you to live.”
Mike took aim at Horst as Gloria pleaded in a loud voice.
“Please, Dr. Mueller!”
Mike squeezed off a shot just as Horst fired point-blank at Gloria. Their silent shots were simultaneous. Gloria fell to the ground, clutching her arm as Horst spun around, gripping his shoulder, and dropping his Luger on the ground.
As Horst staggered away from the scene, Mike was momentarily stunned. He gasped for air, his legs buckling. But, as much as he loved Gloria – as much as he ached for her — he had to keep his mind on the mission. He’d lost so many Marine buddies, slaughtered on the beaches, torn to pieces, and bleeding out. Like the platoon leader he’d been, he had to focus on the job at hand. He knew what the mission was. Stop the Nazis.
But Gloria!
Mike raced to her side as Horst’s footsteps trailed away. He knew gunshot wounds all too well. Gloria was badly wounded, but she was breathing, and alert. The bullet had gone clear through her arm and she was bleeding bad. Mike ripped off his tie and improvised a tourniquet. Gloria fixed her eyes on Mike. She grabbed his wrist with her good arm.
“Get him, Mike,” she gasped. “Don’t let the bastard get away!”
“But Gloria…”
“Damn it, Mike. Track down that Nazi prick,” she whispered in pain. “Follow him to hell if you have to.”
Mike kissed Gloria’s still warm lips as though his love alone might save her life. She looked him in the eye and told him to go – now! “Follow that bastard, Mike. Follow him straight to hell!”
Mike pulled himself away from Gloria – then paused. “I’ll call Andy. He’ll send help. Tighten the tourniquet if you have to…”
“Go, Mike!
Mike stuffed Horst’s Luger into his pocket and ran off to run down his wounded prey. The signal from the tracking device was strong – and Horst was trailing blood, so he wasn’t hard to follow.
At that point, the hour changed, and the class bell rang. Cal Tech students would soon emerge from their classrooms and the sidewalks would fill up. Hopefully, a student would find Gloria and alert campus security. An investigation would soon be underway. But the campus cops weren’t going to help Mike. They’d only get in the way.
This was Mike’s war. And only he could bring it to an end.
As Mike followed Horst’s bloody trail, he called Andy Pafko, who answered on the first ring. “Hey, Mike. The mass shootings are spreading. Reporters still don’t know what’s going on. A black church just got shot up in Vegas…”
“Shut up and listen, Andy. I just traded shots with Horst. Gloria’s wounded at Cal Tech. Campus security will find her soon – but stay on it, will you?”
“Of course, Mike. But what about Horst and Huber?”
“I winged Horst. He’s wounded. I’m on his trail now. No time to talk. Just take care of Gloria, okay?”
“I will, buddy…”
“Make sure she’s okay, Andy. I can’t lose that girl. She’s all I’ve got. I’ll take care of these fucking Nazi bastards.”
Mike stuffed the phone into his pocket next to Horst’s Luger. He knew if that if these right-wing nuts joined with Hitler and his Nazi henchmen, the American experiment could be over in a spasm of uncontrollable violence not seen since the Civil War. Bullets were already flying. Gloria was already a casualty.
Mike had no time to lose. He followed Horst’s blood-dripping trail for two hundred yards to the back door of a three-story brick building, then paused. Would the door be guarded by fanatic Nazi dead-enders — or Cal Tech grad students with no clue that their illustrious old professor was ushering in a new Third Reich?
Either way, Mike was going in with lethal intent, ready to kill the asshole who’d gunned down his one true love: the guy who was about to lead Hitler and his Nazi cadre through some crazy time machine — and turn America into a fascist hellscape.
Mike paused before following Horst through that door. He texted Andy.
“I’m going in. And I may never come back!”
Chapter Fifteen
Early the next morning, Mike woke up next to Gloria, delighted to be in her bed – but worried sick about everything else. The “Rustic Canyon Shootout” had been on the news all night — and Mike had no idea what his next move should be. Gloria rolled over, stunning in the morning light, and kissed him in a way that crossed all his weary wires. “Let’s talk over breakfast, baby,” she said, soothing him amid the madness.
The television was off as Gloria cooked up French toast, eggs, and bacon while Mike scanned the Los Angeles Times. The headlines screamed that Rustic Canyon had been the scene of deadly mayhem the night before. Two cops and a dozen militiamen had been killed — but nobody was certain what the shooting was all about. Nobody but Mike and Gloria and Andy.
Mike shoveled scrambled eggs into his mouth as Gloria filled his cup with coffee. Mike wished it could just stay this way: he and Gloria waking up together, having breakfast and enjoying each other’s company. It was a pipe dream, of course. Their destiny was anything but clear – and none of this would ever be normal. Normal disappeared back in ‘51. Now, the best they could do was take things one day at a time. Love each other one day at a time.
After breakfast, at 9:00 AM, Gloria drove Mike to Andy’s place.
“You really stirred up a hornets’ nest last night, pal. ‘The Rustic Canyon Shootout!’ Nice, stealthy work, my friend.”
Andy Pafko looked around to see it any of his neighbors were paying attention, then he ushered Mike and Gloria into his house. “Did you get the goods on video?”
“I got the whole meeting,” said Mike, somewhat defensively. “At least I got what they were saying. It was hard as hell to see anything without giving myself away.”
“Looks like you absolutely gave yourself away, partner,” said Andy with a pained smile. “Who shot first? You or the bad guys?”
“The bad guys. I tripped over a bush. They heard the sound and started shooting at me. Luckily, they couldn’t see me.”
“Hope you dropped ‘em all, buddy.”
“I’m not sure I hit anybody, Andy. I was firing blind. I got out of there before the bullets really started flying.”
“Gotta tell ya, pal — the shit truly hit the fan last night. In spades. Have some coffee and I’ll fill you in on what my pals on the force are telling me.”
Mike and Gloria took a seat at Andy’s small Formica kitchen table as Andy poured three cups of steaming hot coffee and launched into a description of the violent events of the night before – just as his police contacts relayed it to him.
“They found a bunch of dead bodies, Mike. Some by the side of Sullivan Ridge Road, some on and around the stairs leading down into that crazy old Nazi compound. And at least four near some cinder block building with a lot of crazy graffiti.”
“Graffiti?” Mike didn’t know the word.
“That wild spray painting the kids do nowadays.”
“That stuff that looks like Picasso?”
“If you say so, Mike. It’s just vandalism.”
Mike knew he was probably the guy responsible for the bodies near the blockhouse. They were lucky shots. He couldn’t see who he was shooting at. All he did was return fire in the direction of the muzzle flashes. Combat instinct took over.
Gloria kept silent until now. She looked at Mike, her eyes narrowing with concern. “How many guys do you think you killed, Mike? And how many were killed by the cops?” She sounded more like his lawyer than his lover.
Mike knew he likely dropped the guys near the blockhouse, and maybe he shot two or three on the concrete stairs – but nobody on Sullivan Ridge Road. The bad guys hadn’t gotten that far before Mike made his escape. The assholes gunned down on the road must’ve been courtesy of the cops.
“Relax, Gloria,” said Andy. “Your time-traveling fiancé isn’t a suspect.”
Andy turned to Mike, hard as stone.
“You’ve got nothing to worry about, Mike. You, my friend, don’t exist. And even if they could trace some bullets back to my TEC-9 – and odds are they can’t — how could an old guy in a wheelchair get into a gun battle, late at night, hundreds of steps down into a canyon? In that case, my gun must’ve been stolen, right? You’re home free, pal. You’re a freaking impossibility.”
Andy was right. Mike didn’t really exist. He was here — but his presence was impossible. That was his one great advantage. Horst and Huber were the only other people on Earth who could possibly understand the insanity of Mike’s situation. And they had no clue that he was on their trail.
Andy tuned in the TV to catch up on the latest updates. The “Rustic Canyon Shootout” was still big news. Reports revealed that at least ten members of various right-wing paramilitary militia groups had been killed — and that several cases of high-powered assault rifles were seized in a concrete building on the site of a ruined compound that once belonged to Nazi sympathizers in the years before Pearl Harbor.
“They’re doing their research,” grinned Andy. “Accent on ‘Nazi.’ Let that sink in.”
When Mike heard the reference to “several cases” of assault rifles, he had two thoughts. He had seen at least a dozen cases stacked in the blockhouse. One thought was that the authorities were covering up the scope of the situation. The other was that the militia boys had made off with the rest before the cops shot their way down into the canyon. Mike’s second thought was far worse than his first.
Reporters and experts were speculating that a fight between militia groups may have broken out over possession of all those assault weapons. Mike knew that was bullshit — but he kept the thought to himself. There were lots of questions about where the weapons came from. Mike knew all the answers. But who would believe him?
Andy looked Mike in the eye — serious as a heart attack. “Mike,” he said. “We’re on the verge of civil war.”
Mike was way ahead of him. He gave Gloria a look that was grim, determined, and honestly scared: the kind of look he gave to his Marine pals just before they jumped off the landing craft and waded ashore under fire. She tightened her grip on his arm.
“I hate to tell you, Mike” said Andy, “but this country is seriously FUBAR. And you know what that means. You’ve got millions of self-professed American patriots in rural pockets of this country who get hard thinking about an armed insurrection against the U.S. government. That’s coming from the FBI, the CIA, and the military. All these nuts own guns and, what’s worse, a lot of these douche bags have served in the U.S. military. They took a sacred oath to defend our country – and now they’re all jacked up about overthrowing the government.”
“I know, Andy. I’ve seen them. I’ve heard them. I watched them listening to those old Nazi bastards. They ate up every crazy, racist, fascist thing that Horst and Huber told them. It was all I could do not to open fire and mow them all down on the spot!”
Gloria squeezed Mike’s arm harder than before, grateful her man had kept his cool.
Andy went on. “These nut jobs believe in what they call ‘The Great Replacement’. They say that billionaire Jews are flooding the country with black and Hispanic immigrants who will take their jobs for less pay. They’re scared shitless that colored folk will wind up with the same rights they’ve got. They’ll burn the whole country down before they let white folks become the minority. And they’re dead serious. It’s not a game, Mike. They’re pumped up to where it’s existential for them. A lot of them are ready to go out in a blaze of glory.”
“No shit, Andy. I saw that for myself.”
“So, what did you get on video that’ll help us take these bastards down?”
Mike handed his iPhone to Gloria. She played the recorded video for Andy.
The old cop was stunned by what he saw and heard. It was insane, of course. For a start, the inexplicable presence of Dr. Otto Huber: ageless after fifty-seven years. Even if the authorities could somehow identify Huber, what would they make of his apparent visit to the fountain of youth? And how would they react to seeing a highly regarded Nobel Prize-winning Cal Tech physics professor on the scene?
But, strange as the appearance of the two German scientists was, the incendiary things that they said, the militia yahoos that were gathered, the open threats of violence — and all those automatic rifles waved around — might give Andy just what he needed to get one of his friends at the FBI to dip a cautious toe or two into all this craziness. Especially now that shots had been fired and it was now a big news story. Andy said he’d get the video to a friend in the FBI that very day. He warned Mike to be careful. Mike didn’t need to be warned.
On their way back to Gloria’s, Mike turned on the radio. Suddenly, the madness was horribly worse. The news was reporting that three mass shootings had occurred that morning in towns between Los Angeles and San Diego — Long Beach, Carlsbad, and La Jolla. High-powered automatic rifles were used in each case. The victims were in Hispanic, black, and Asian neighborhoods. The cops who responded were outgunned. Casualty counts were high among victims, responding cops, and assailants. The gunmen appeared to be targeting law enforcement as much as minority communities.
Mike’s heart sank. His clumsy stumble outside the blockhouse had prematurely set all this violence in motion. He saw right away that the militia boys weren’t waiting for Huber and Horst to call the next move. The old Nazi brain trust’s big plans were now out the window. The militia yahoos were getting their Helter-Skelter on without direction from anybody. A lot of pent-up white resentment and fury was exploding with no grand coordination.
But, Mike feared, if those two old Nazis scientists could put their time-travel plans into effect and add Hitler and his cohort to the mix, it might inspire these militia nuts to rally around the Fuhrer — and make things infinitely worse. Mike couldn’t believe he had to think about loony crap like this. Even crazier, he knew he might be the only guy in the world who could keep a lid on all this madness. That old shrapnel pain flared in his hip.
Old wounds meet new wounds.
By the time Mike and Gloria got home cable news was reporting that a black nightclub in Long Beach was attacked, killing fifty people. A security guard gunned down one of the three assailants: a thirty-something white man, dressed in full body armor and armed with an AR-15 and several clips of ammunition. “The motive for the attack is unknown,” said the reporter. But Mike knew the motive all too well.
In Carlsbad, a popular Mexican restaurant was shot up by as many as three masked men armed with semi-automatic rifles. Twenty Hispanic diners were dead. The gunmen were on the loose. Mike’s stomach was in knots.
But there was more.
In La Jolla, two heavily armed men shot up a marketplace in an Asian neighborhood. Twelve people were dead. Dozens wounded. Witnesses said the gunmen sprayed the crowd with automatic rifle fire. The shooters could not be identified — but Mike knew who they were — and it ate at him. Was this the world that he and his Marine brothers fought their bloody way through the Pacific to save?
As a cop, Mike dealt with lots of murders — nasty and brutal as they were. But those killings were mostly drunken rage, domestic violence, and gangsters fighting their deadly wars over territory. Now, he had to wrap his head around something far worse. Violence on a vast scale. Racist mass murder by white nationalists. He’d fought this kind of crap back when it was called “fascism” and “Nazism.”
His stomach churned. How could he stop the madness?
Mike knew he had to get back on Huber and Horst’s trail as soon as he could. He trusted that Andy would give his contact at the FBI the video from Murphy’s Ranch, but Mike also knew the Feds were usually slow to move, especially where politics were involved. Besides, what he recorded at Murphy’s Ranch was totally nuts. If the Feds ran down the details on Dr. Otto Huber, how could that old Nazi’s presence possibly be explained? They’d want to ask the guy behind the camera a lot of questions. And that guy was not available for questioning.
Mike’s head was spinning. He couldn’t control what the Feds would do or wouldn’t do. But he had to do something – and quick. He couldn’t wait for any official blessing to make his next move. And why should he?
After all, he didn’t exist, did he?
What stung Mike most was that LA cops had died at Murphy’s Ranch because of his stumble. And too many people had already been killed by those murderous militia nutcases. He couldn’t just sit on his hands. But where to start? He couldn’t go back to Murphy’s Ranch. It was crawling with crime scene investigators.
Where would Horst and Huber go?
Gloria sat at her kitchen table, glued to the TV. A reporter confirmed that three crates of automatic rifles had been seized at the scene of the Rustic Canyon Shootout. Mike’s ears perked up. Just three cases? Where the hell did the rest of those guns go? A lot of deadly firepower was missing.
Mike knew the shooting – and the dying – had only just begun.
Four hours after they left Andy’s house, Gloria’s phone rang. It was Andy. She handed it to Mike. Andy was blunt.
“Mike. Your Murphy’s Ranch video is already stirring up a shitstorm in official circles. They want to know who was behind the camera, but I told them the guy’s operating in deep cover to infiltrate the militias. I don’t know what the FBI’s next move is gonna be — but everybody’s hair is on fire! We’ve got dead cops, right-wing nut jobs, mass shootings across Southern California, and a cache of high-powered rifles. The Feds know there’s a lot more guns out there, and they’re trying to track them down. They’re jumping on it, Mike, but they don’t know what you know.”
Andy made it clear. “They have no clue about this whole time-travel insanity. They’ll never figure it out. How the hell could they? That’s why you’ve got to take the point.”
“Take the point.”
Mike knew what that meant. Take the lead. Walk down a deadly trail into the unknown. Walking point is how that damned shrapnel got lodged in his hip.
“Stick with Huber and Mueller,” Andy implored. “Dog their every step. I can’t believe I’m fucking saying this, but after the gunfight at Murphy’s Ranch, they’ll be stepping up their time-travel plans, right? They’ll be trying to bring their Nazi pals into the future as soon as possible: Hitler, Himmler, Goehring — the whole unholy bunch! We can’t have those Nazi shit-bags coming back. We kicked their asses back in ‘45. No way we want to fight them again on our home turf.”
Andy went on. “You’re gonna get a delivery in the next hour or so. It’s a tracking device. You don’t know shit about this kind of thing, Mike, ‘cuz you’re just a 50’s private dick – but if you can pin a tracker on one of those Nazi bastards, it’ll lead you to their time machine or whatever the fuck it is. It’s down to you now, pal. The Feds are putting out fires everywhere – but they can’t comprehend how the fires started. The video you shot is a clue, but they’ll never wrap their heads around it in time.”
Andy’s words rang in Mike’s ears. The time-travel madness was all too real. Mike was the only guy who had a chance to do something about it. He had to stay on Huber and Horst’s trail. The old Nazi scientists might be momentarily stunned by the undisciplined, random violence of the last twenty-four hours –and that might give him a slim advantage.
It was nearing 2:30 PM when Andy’s tracking gizmo arrived. There was just enough time for Gloria to drive Mike to Pasadena, where he could tag Horst or Huber with the tracker, and follow one of those Nazi bastards to their time machine. He would need more than a little luck.
But that was always the case when a guy took the point.
And now, once again, we present the further adventures of private eye Mike Delaney. Let me know who’s reading!
Chapter Fourteen
By the time Mike reached Zack’s it was almost 11:00 pm. Exhausted, he sat on the rocks below the bar’s back deck, as the swells crashed against the shore. He was nearly frozen, but he paused before going inside to see Gloria. The waves had calmed down. But Mike was anything but calm.
He’d made his escape from Murphy’s Ranch, but he’d made a hash of what was supposed to be a surveillance mission. Because of his clumsiness, it turned into a gun battle. Luckily, he wasn’t wounded. But he wondered if he’d hit anyone. If he’d killed anyone. And what happened when the cops finally arrived? Did Horst and Huber get away? And, if they did — what would be their next move?
One thing was sure. Mike had just thrown a wrench into their plans.
His uneasy thoughts somewhat eased, Mike went inside. Gina was behind the bar, serving a half dozen guys. She looked up, saw Mike, and gestured to where Gloria was waiting for him in her booth. Mike nodded and smiled at Gina. He was still struggling with the fact that she was Gloria’s granddaughter. Had Gloria told her anything about him yet? About Gloria and him? That would be some crazy conversation.
“Took you a while, Mike,” said Gloria, as Mike slid into the booth across from her. “Take your coat off and relax. You look like you need a drink or two.”
In an instant, Gina appeared with a bourbon on the rocks, set it down in front of Mike, and went back to the bar. Maybe Gloria had told her something about him. He took a long sip of his drink. He’d need several more after all he’d been through.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened? Or do we play twenty questions again?”
Mike took another sip and leaned back with a wince. He ached in more places than his hip. “Tonight, baby…” He paused to collect himself, “…was wild. Totally nuts. I’ll try to explain it when we get back to your place.”
“Back to my place? You’re pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
Mike blushed. She was teasing him. Or was she?
“I’m sorry, baby. I just don’t think this is the best place to talk.”
Gloria smiled. Her face betrayed concern, but she knew Mike needed a break.
“Fine. So, let’s just enjoy our drinks and talk about the weather. And how cute you are in your brand-new clothes.” Mike blushed again. “Which you seem to have gotten awful dirty tonight.”
They exchanged a knowing look, then sipped their drinks in silence for a time, until that silence was broken by a loud voice at the bar.
“Holy shit! That’s just down the road! Turn up the TV, Gina!”
Mike and Gloria looked toward the bar. All the guys had put their drinks down and were staring at the three televisions over the bar. All three TV stations appeared to be covering the same story. Gina turned up the volume on one set so loud that Mike and Gloria could hear the news anchor clearly from their booth.
“Around 9:00 pm this evening, police responded to reports of gunshots heard in Rustic Canyon below Sullivan Ridge Road in the Pacific Palisades…”
Gloria reached for Mike’s hand and squeezed it. Mike gave her a quick glance, rolled his eyes, and turned back to the TV.
“We go now to our reporter on the scene, Jeff Calderone, for more details. Jeff? We know that neighbors heard gunshots and called the police. What more can you tell us?”
“LAPD is being tight-lipped at this point, but we can report that several police units responded to the scene – an area known to locals as Murphy’s Ranch. The first units to arrive were met with gunfire coming from the woods on the canyon side of the road, and at least one officer was seriously wounded…”
Mike winced. It was his worst nightmare. That some poor cop might pay for his mistake. The reporter went on.
“Police on the scene returned fire but report being seriously outgunned. SWAT teams were called in, and helicopters trained their searchlights on Rustic Canyon. The copters were fired upon, too. Once the SWAT teams arrived, the police used loudspeakers to call upon the shooters to surrender. Eventually the gunfire stopped, and an armored SWAT vehicle knocked down the fence so a SWAT team in full combat gear could move down into the canyon. Cops I’ve talked to compare it to a war zone.”
Mike wondered what kind of arrests had been made. And how many.
“Two pickup trucks were pulled over about a mile or so from here on Pacific Coast Highway, and several men were taken into custody. It appears that more shots were exchanged before the arrests were made. No word on casualties…”
Gloria was squeezing Mike’s hand so hard it hurt. He turned back to look at her. She looked scared. If she only knew how scared he was. Not for his own safety, but for the cops who came up against those gun-crazy militia nuts. And he feared for his country. It began by accident when he tripped over that stupid bush — but the first shots of a possible civil war had been fired.
The first blood had been shed.
Back at Gloria’s beach house, a half-empty bottle of bourbon sat on the coffee table – and the Rustic Canyon shootout was still all over the TV news. Mike and Gloria sat side by side on the couch, stunned by the breathless reporting of what was fast becoming a national news story. Mike was amazed that every channel soon had its own custom-made “Rustic Canyon Shootout” graphics.
Mike couldn’t believe it. He expected a story in the morning papers. That is, if the writer could get it to his editor fast enough and the type could be set before the presses ran. Back in Mike’s day, which was, incredibly, only several days ago for him — there were only fifteen minutes of TV news a day. And the four TV channels went off the air at 11:00 pm. Now, television never went to sleep. And some channels appeared to be covering the news twenty-four hours a day.
All night long, more details of the mass shooting at Murphy’s Ranch emerged.
At 2:00 in the morning a reporter gave the latest update. At least three police officers were shot in the crossfire. One in critical condition. Sources said that more than a half-dozen armed gunmen were shot in the exchange of fire with SWAT team members along Sullivan Ridge Road and down in Rustic Canyon. Unofficial reports from those on the scene suggest that some of the gunmen were wearing body armor, and that at least four or five were found dead…”
Mike put his arm around Gloria and held her tight. Too tight.
“Relax, honey,” she said, “Let’s turn it off and go to bed. You’ll need your rest for whatever the hell is coming next.”
“I had to defend myself, baby. Those crazy bastards. You should’ve heard ‘em — eating up everything those sick old Nazis were saying. I wanted to kill them all right then and there. Maybe I should’ve…”
Gloria dialed Mike down. “There’s nothing more you can do about any of this tonight,” she said. “We’ll go see Andy first thing tomorrow. He might know more than the TV people do.”
After a few more drinks, Mike and Gloria went to bed. She gave her exhausted lover a kiss — and Mike responded with unexpected enthusiasm. Escaping a deadly gun battle hadn’t cooled his ardor.
“Get some sleep, baby,” Gloria advised, in a voice that made it hard for Mike to do what he was told. “You’ve got a long day ahead of you.”
She turned out the light.
After a few more drinks, Mike and Gloria went to bed. She gave her exhausted lover a kiss — and Mike responded with unexpected enthusiasm. Escaping a deadly gun battle hadn’t cooled his ardor.
“Get some sleep, baby,” Gloria advised, in a voice that made it hard for Mike to do what he was told. “You’ve got a long day ahead of you.”
She turned out the light.
Gloria was right. Mike needed a rest. He hugged her close. Despite the violent insanity he was dealing with, Mike was thrilled to be spending another blessed night with Gloria. The difference in years meant nothing. Being with her was wholly, soulfully satisfying — if only this time-traveling Nazi crap wasn’t part of the bargain. He ached for the years they’d lost.
Aided by the bourbon, he allowed his troubled mind to surrender to momentary oblivion.
Please enjoy the further adventures of private detective Mike Delaney. And let me know you’re reading!
Chapter Thirteen
Gloria drove Mike south down Pacific Coast Highway and turned left on Sullivan Ridge toward the rendezvous at Murphy’s Ranch. All Gloria knew is that she wanted her Mike to nail these sickos and come back safe. After that, they’d figure out the future. When the smoke cleared, and Mike was still standing, they’d sort the crazy age thing out.
Or not. It was way too early to know for sure.
Gloria dropped Mike off near the overgrown gate to Murphy’s Ranch. He was early and there was still some waning sunlight.
“I’ll phone you after the meeting, baby.” Mike took Gloria by her shoulders. Maybe his grip was too strong. “Pick me up on PCH. I’ll let you know.”
“Be careful, Mike. I couldn’t bear losing you again.”
To lighten the mood a little, Mike gave her his best Bogie.
“Here’s looking at you kid.”
Her smile betrayed her concern. “You’re a real jerk. You know that?”
Mike leaned in and kissed Gloria goodbye for the second, and perhaps, the last time. He watched as she drove off. He knew he was nuts to risk losing her again. But, just like Bogie said, this thing was bigger than the problems of two little people.
Mike made his quiet way over the gate and down the crazy concrete steps to the site where Horst and Huber’s rendezvous was set to occur. Andy’s TEC-9 felt heavy in Mike’s overcoat pocket. It wasn’t his weapon of choice. In fact, he’d never even fired it. If he had to pull the trigger, he hoped the damned thing would work. He had his trusty .45 in his jacket, which eased his mind. And his old combat knife was strapped to his shin. Still, he’d rather avoid trading bullets or a blade with these militia guys.
Mike re-traced his way toward the cinder block building where he first encountered Horst and Huber and their time portal. He wasn’t entirely sure how far he was from it, but he knew it had to be close. He wished he was as certain about his mission. Get the goods tonight on Huber and Horst and their militia pals. Sure. And then what?
He reminded himself to focus on the task at hand.
Mike’s job was to get what folks in law enforcement and the military call actionable intelligence: something that would convince the authorities to act. If he could film Horst and Huber handing out weapons to a bunch of militia crazies, it might convince Andy’s friends at the Bureau to move on these creeps.
It was another frigid night, but this time he was wearing a nice warm winter coat and a black ski mask. Gloria had dressed him perfectly. Gloria. It was too easy to let his mind wander to Gloria — and a wandering mind could get him killed tonight.
Mike was surprised to see that there was just a single armed militia guy guarding the building. He was even more shocked when, after a few minutes, that lone guard took a last look around and went inside. Now there was nobody standing guard.
These guys seemed pretty sure that their meeting was a secret. Of course, Mike was early, so maybe the security boys had yet to arrive. For the next thirty minutes, Mike watched from his hiding place as Huber and Horst waited for their conspirators to gather.
The rising moon shed just enough light on the groups as they arrived: young and middle-aged men, all but a few of them lily white. There were lots of beards and camouflage. Some wore more tactical gear and body armor than Mike had been issued in the Pacific. It was like Halloween for grown boys who never stopped playing army. He wondered how many of these dopes had actually served their country in uniform. He knew he’d be disappointed in the answer.
Mike tried to film the arrivals, but the moonlight wasn’t bright enough to see anything but silhouettes on camera. He kept his iPhone camera rolling anyway. Maybe the FBI lab could blow the footage up or something? They probably had some newfangled process he knew nothing about. There was so much that he knew nothing about.
Finally, the meeting got underway.
Mike could hear Horst and Huber greeting the men as they gathered inside. Careful not to be seen, he worked his way to the back of the building, on the opposite side from the door, and crept up close to a window. He could hear most of what was being said, though he couldn’t see who was speaking. The leaders of various militia groups introduced themselves to their Nazi hosts: Bund Boys, Oath Takers, Aryan Patriots, Boogaloo Boyz, and more.
The assembled expressed their allegiance to the sacred task of purging the country of leftists, Godless socialism, Jews, non-whites, and homosexuals. Their goal was to make the United States a white Christian nation – and to do it by force, if necessary. And now, evidently, they thought it was necessary.
While the militia guys were spouting their claptrap, Mike stole a peek through the window and saw that Horst and Huber’s time portal was no longer in the room. Horst must have rebuilt it somewhere else. Maybe at Cal Tech? Not likely. He’d need a more private, remote spot to secretly modify a large machine like that. But that was a problem for another time. Right now, Mike had to learn how the Nazis planned to advance their plot – and use these gun-loving yahoos as pawns in their game.
Horst brought up “Helter-Skelter” again. That got the guys all hot and bothered. “It’s true that Manson failed to ignite a race war in ‘69. But his followers were willing to shed blood to carry out his vision. They were just kids, drug addicts and perverts. If true, clean-living patriots like you men gathered here tonight dedicate yourselves to purging America of the communists, elite intellectuals, and ethnic scum who debase the white Christian foundations of this nation – how can we not achieve a glorious victory!”
It was a speech designed for a Munich beer hall, and more than one man, aroused with a violent passion, began to cheer. But Dr. Huber, his eyes flaring with anger, raised his arms to quiet them.
“Gentlemen!” Huber hissed, in a steely tone that silenced the room, “We must be disciplined. We must work silently. We must move in the shadows. In the great war, the Allies had a slogan, ‘Loose lips sink ships.’ They were correct. Our U-boats feasted on their shipping because of fools who talked too much.”
Dr. Huber eyeballed each man, stalking through the room like a Gestapo officer sniffing out a traitor in his midst. “We are here to help you, gentlemen. But you must maintain strict order. This is not a cowboy movie. It’s not a sporting event. This is war. We are defending our people against the destruction of all we hold dear — and the righteous anger of almighty God.”
From Mike’s point of view below the window, he could barely see as Huber, with dramatic flair, parted the crowd, revealing dozens of long wooden boxes stacked in the back of the building.
Dr. Huber opened one of the boxes, revealing a cache of weapons unlike any Mike had ever seen before. Horst piped in to say, with pride, that they were “AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles.” The crowd murmured with excitement. Many of the militia men said they’d seen AR-15s before. Some even owned one. But nobody had seen this many in once place. Again, Huber silenced them.
“Some of you may already know of such a weapon. But I assure you, you’ll soon be armed with many more than you see here. And through the genius of my colleague, Dr. Mueller, all these guns have been rendered fully automatic.”
That brought the crowd to rapt attention. Fully automatic. A gun fetishist’s dream.
Horst beamed at Dr. Huber’s praise. Despite his arrogance, his scientific achievements, and his Nobel Prize, Horst was — on a fundamental level — still Huber’s fawning protégé.
Now, Horst took the floor.
“These fully automatic rifles will be difference makers in our battles to come. A semi-automatic AR-15, like those many of you patriots already have, can fire four hundred rounds a minute. But a fully automatic AR-15 can fire eight to nine hundred rounds per minute: more than double the firepower of the guns you currently possess.”
“These lethal weapons will help us trigger a great civil war between the white man and the racial and ethnic trash — a battle in which the thin layer of weak, feminized, liberal society in America must confront the holy power of a stout, patriotic, white Christian manhood.”
Horst held an AR-15 aloft and declared, “If only the Wehrmacht and the SS had such a killing machine, we’d have won the war!”
Mike was just a kid when machine guns were outlawed in America. But what Horst held was nothing like the old Tommy guns. A fully automatic AR-15 had firepower Mike couldn’t even imagine. He wondered how it was possible that the bad guys could get their hands on a rifle with more firepower than anything he and his platoon carried on Iwo Jima?
As Mike listened to the back and forth, he was sickened to hear this mob eat up so much Nazi insanity. They’d be happy to storm the White House, guns blazing, and overthrow the nation’s democratic government in order to install a white nationalist regime.
How could such men call themselves patriots?
Mike resisted the urge to whip out his TEC-9 – mow down dozens of these creeps — and make the rest of them hit the deck. He had the drop on all of them. But he held his fire. He was outnumbered. And there was a whole lot more that he needed to know.
Mike kept recording as Dr. Huber announced that, “very soon, the time will come when you’ll be joined by a cadre of great Nazi leaders who will summon you to rise like the brave, resolute Minutemen at Lexington and Concord – to strike a mighty blow against the forces of decadence and moral rot in your beloved nation.”
Mike couldn’t believe that anyone bought this pseudo-patriotic bullshit.
But what was the timeline for touching off this impending race war? How many militias across the country were involved? At what point did Horst and Huber intend to bring back Hitler and his inner circle? And where the hell was the time portal now? Was it ready to go?
It all felt way beyond the scope of a solitary private eye.
Mike listened in as Horst told the militiamen that their AR-15s would soon be delivered to them with lots of ammunition. They were to stand by for the call to action. At that point, Mike decided that he’d recorded enough. It was time for him to get up those hundreds of steps before the goon squad started leaving. But, as he turned to walk away, he tripped over a knee-high bush and collapsed in a heap.
The sound of snapping branches was clearly audible in the still night air – and Mike hugged the ground, laying still, hoping nobody had heard it. He reached into his pocket. Andy’s TEC-9 was ready and waiting.
Mike’s heart raced. Then, voices!
The first guys out of the door had clearly heard something and were headed in Mike’s direction. He couldn’t stay on the ground much longer or he’d soon be surrounded by paranoid gun nuts with itchy trigger fingers. Crawling into the underbrush wouldn’t help. He’d be too slow and too loud. His only option was to get up and move as fast as he could before the approaching voices reached him where he fell.
As soon as Mike got to his feet, three shots rang out. He saw the muzzle flashes. Combat instincts kicked in as Mike drew his Tec-9 and sprayed a silent burst of bullets toward those flashes, then sprinted toward the steps. More gunshots followed him, and Mike returned fire as he ran.
He could hear Horst yelling to cease firing, furious that these idiots were making such a racket. The gunfire stopped after that.
As Mike reached the base of the steps, he could hear agitated voices, perhaps twenty to thirty yards away. Going up the steps would leave him visible in the rising moonlight, so he went up the hill, parallel to the steps, moving fast through the overgrowth. It was slower, but it was safer. Plus, he had the high ground on his pursuers. And lots of ammo in his clip. “Light ‘em up if you have to,” Gloria had said, “I want you back in one piece.” Mike did not intend to let her down.
When he reached the top of the steps, Mike fired one last, sustained volley down the hill. A burst of return fire from his pursuers told him that Huber and Horst were no longer in control. It also told Mike that the enemy wasn’t even halfway up the steps. He still had a chance.
Mike got over the fence and onto Sullivan Ridge Road — and then it hit him: he didn’t have a car! He’d told Gloria to pick him up on Pacific Coast Highway. There was no way he could run down to PCH without being overtaken by the militia boys, frothing at the mouth, eager to run him down with their pickup trucks.
He had to do the opposite of what was expected. After running twenty yards or so down the road, he climbed over the chain link fence and back onto Murphy’s Ranch. He rolled a short distance down the hill and hugged the ground, eyes toward the road on the other side of the fence — his blood pounding in his ears. He watched as a series of pickup trucks raced toward PCH with flashlights scanning the sides of the road. Mike kept his head down. He was 20 feet beneath the shoulder of the road. Headlights played in the bare trees, well above where he lay hidden.
Then, Mike heard sirens in the distance coming up from the coast. Lots of them. The gunshots had aroused the neighbors and the cops had been summoned. Mike felt like he’d blown it. One little stumble over a bush — and the shit had hit the fan.
Mike slithered downhill and began walking in the direction of PCH. The police sirens were approaching — and the militia trucks making U-turns and hauling ass in the opposite direction were no longer on his trail. Nobody had even gotten a look at him. He was just a sudden noise in night. A snapping of twigs. A snapping of twigs that could fire eighteen rounds in two and a half seconds. There were advantages to being a ghost.
Mike had hiked about a mile down the canyon when he heard distant gunshots coming from the direction of the concrete steps. Was that the cops trading fire with the wackos?
Safe now from the chaos on Sullivan Ridge Road, he stopped to call Gloria.
“Are you okay, Mike. I’ve been waiting for your call. Did something go wrong?”
“Don’t worry, baby, you’ll read all about in the papers.”
“Are those police sirens? Are you in trouble?’
“No, honey, I’m perfectly safe. I just wanted to tell you not to pick me up.”
“Just tell me what happened, Mike. I’m worried about you…”
There was a tremble in her voice, as though she might cry. Mike ached. He wished he could hold her in his arms and assure her that everything was alright.
“Meet me at Zack’s, baby. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“I swear, Mike. If you’re hurt, I’ll kill you.”
“Just have a scotch on the rocks waiting for me. It’s been a busy night.”
Mike told Gloria he loved her, kissed the phone, and hung up. It was a long hike to Zack’s, and that old Jap shrapnel was shooting pain through his hip again. But he’d made tougher marches after a firefight — and under far worse conditions. The temperature was falling, but he was warm enough to make the long walk to Malibu. Gloria had dressed him better than Uncle Sam ever did.
Filed under Adventure, Classic Film, History, literature, Novel, Politics, Truth
Nothing goes better with Thanksgiving dinner than a heaping helping of Practical Theatre comedy at Studio5. Bring the entire extended family! https://buytickets.at/practicaltheatre
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Thanks, folks! Glad to know you’re following Mike’s story. It’s always nice to hear from readers! As pharmacist David says in the Prevagen commercials, “That makes my day.”
Chapter Ten
Mike walked along the road out of Griffith Park toward Los Feliz Boulevard looking for his next mount. He felt guilty about stealing another car, but what choice did he have? He couldn’t hitchhike all the way to Malibu. Odds were slim to none that anyone would pick up a ratty-looking guy like him and give him a thirty-five-mile ride to the coast.
The intersection with Los Feliz Boulevard was in sight when Mike spotted his prey: a beat-up Cadillac Coupe DeVille with a license plate reading “CADDY63.” He’d hotwired a few Cadillacs back in the day. Skillfully using his tools, it was a cinch to pinch. He switched plates with the car parked next to the Caddy and was soon on the road.
Moments later, Mike was cruising west on the Ventura Freeway, a road that didn’t exist back in his day. After twenty miles, he took the Las Virgenes exit and drove south for ten miles until he hit Pacific Coast Highway. From there, he was home free. Mike had concerns about driving around in another automotive museum piece, but from the looks of the modern cars that whizzed by, he’d never be able to boost one of them. Once he got this car close to Zack’s, he’d leave it somewhere as a gift to the cops, who would soon be looking for a missing ‘63 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.
A few minutes later, Mike pulled onto the shoulder of PCH a quarter of a mile from Zack’s and left the Caddy for the police. He walked the rest of the way, dog tired, and reached Zack’s more in need of a drink than he’d ever been in his life. Problem was, he had no cash. As he staggered through the door, he wasn’t firing on all cylinders — but he was glad to see Gina behind the bar. Maybe she’d pour him a beer on credit. He was more than willing to swallow his pride for a swig tonight. He looked like hell. And he smelled bad, too. He’d have to rely on what was left of his minimal charms.
Mike had only a puncher’s chance of guessing what would happen next. It was all way too much. He told himself to focus on the here and now. Walk up to the bar, take a seat, and hope for the best. Flag down the lovely Gina and hope she’s in a giving mood. He felt three sheets to the wind – and he hadn’t even had a drink yet.
Mike settled onto a barstool and waved to Gina. How could be possibly tell her what he’d seen and heard and done this evening? He couldn’t. He couldn’t tell the cops, either. The whole thing was insane. All he could do was get hammered and steel his nerves for tomorrow night’s meeting at Murphy’s Ranch.
It was a busy Saturday night at Zack’s. Gina caught his eye and signaled she’d be right with him. Exhausted as he was, her attention thrilled him. And made him feel guilty, too. His thoughts turned to Gloria.
After serving another customer, Gina greeted Mike and asked what she could get him. Mike blushed and stammered, knowing full well how bad he looked. He needed a beer, he confessed, but he was out of cash. Tapping the dregs of his pride, he asked if he could possibly get a beer or two on credit. Gina smiled sweetly, without an ounce of pity. “Let me talk to my grandma, Mike. She’s the boss. If it was up to me, I’d give you a six-pack on the house.”
Mike watched as Gina disappeared behind the bar. Soon after, her grandmother came out, stared at Mike in a meaningful, penetrating way, and walked over to the jukebox. She punched in some numbers, and after a beat, some guy was singing…
Won’t you wear my ring — up around your neck?
To tell the world I’m yours, by heck
Let them know I love you so…
Gina’s grandma strode from the jukebox over to Mike. She had to be in her seventies, but she’d clearly been a real looker in her day. In fact, take away the years and she looked an awful lot like his Gloria. She fingered a chain around her neck as she sidled up to him. Like she’d known him all her life.
“Gina says your name is Mike,” she said.
“That’s right…” Mike stammered.
“Call me crazy, Mike,” she said, leaning in close. “Haven’t we met before?”
Mike realized he was staring at her open-mouthed like the village idiot. He lowered his gaze – and saw his ring on the chain around her neck! There was no mistaking it: a little diamond between two blue sapphires. Then he caught the scent of her perfume. Jasmine. Of course! His head and heart were about to explode.
“You know who’s singing this song?”
Mike had no idea.
“Of course, you don’t, Mike. You have no idea who Elvis Presley is, do you?”
He had to admit he didn’t.
“Who won the World Series this year? And don’t look it up on your smart phone.”
It was a standard spy-catching trick during the war. Many a Kraut in a G.I. uniform had been stumped by that question while trying to infiltrate the American lines. Mike didn’t even venture a guess.
“The drinks are on the house, Mike. I don’t know what in this crazy world is going on,” she said, fondling his ring, “but you’re not leaving my bar until you tell me all about it.”
How could he tell her? What could he tell her?
Then again, who else could he tell?
“Gina! Get this young man a beer – and keep ‘em coming. I’ll have the top shelf bourbon myself.” She turned back to Mike. “Join me at my private table.”
Mike followed her to the last booth along the wall that faced the sea. Through the windows, the moonlight caught the whitecaps as choppy waves rose and fell. Mike’s heart was churning like the surf. He was in a drunken stupor and had yet to touch a drop. As she slid into the booth, he knew who this woman was. Who she had to be.
“My name’s Gloria, she said, looking straight through him. “Ring a bell?”
Mike searched his tumbling thoughts for something to say at this impossible moment – but he couldn’t take his eyes off Gloria’s face. As he looked at her, the years melted away. He beheld the girl she’d been all those years ago — though, for him, it had only been a couple of days. How could be possibly make sense of that?
Luckily, Gina arrived with their drinks, granting him a brief reprieve.
Gloria told Mike to take off his jacket, and he did as he was told. “Roll up your sleeves and get comfortable. We’re gonna be here awhile.” Mike obeyed, revealing the Marine Corps tattoo on his right forearm. It was just what Gloria was looking for. She raised her glass.
“Here’s looking at you, Mike. I believe we both could use a stiff drink right now.”
Mike took a long chug of his beer, hoping to steel his nerves. He still hadn’t said anything, but Gloria took control. Hadn’t she always taken control? “We can play twenty questions, Mike. But just a couple will do. Let’s start with this ring. When do you think I got it?”
There was nothing he could do but tell the truth – and hope for the best. “Well, for me, it was — just a few days ago. But for you, it’s been fifty-seven years.”
He searched her face for a response. “Fifty-seven years — and three days.”
Her eyes flickered for a moment, but she went on, calmly and directly. “Four days, Mike. And where was I when you gave it to me?”
“You were behind the bar. But you didn’t wear it until the next day — when you wore it on that chain around your neck.”
She smiled. “You told me not to dip it in somebody’s chili.” She remembered it all.
At that point, there was no holding back. This 76-year-old woman was the girl he’d asked to marry him — and then he vanished. As incredible as the story was, she had a right to know what the hell was going on. She had to know that he didn’t just run out on her.
“I had to break our movie date that night because I was on a new case.”
“You said you had to go to a meeting at 7:00.”
“I did. It’s the truth. But before I left, you went out to the parking lot with me and gave me a great big kiss. It was the greatest feeling I ever had in my life.”
“And after I kissed you — what did I say?”
“You said you’d marry me.”
“And what did you say?”
“I promised we’d get married as soon as I closed the case”
“So, Mike Delaney,” she said with the same warmth she’d bathed him in when she accepted his proposal all those years ago, “Have you closed the case?” She finished her bourbon with a longing, pained smile. “A girl can’t wait forever.”
Gina interrupted with another round of drinks and left as fast as she came. She’d never seen that look on her grandmother’s face.
The look of a young girl in love.
Mike’s weary mind wandered for a moment. If he hadn’t followed Huber through that time portal, he would be eighty-five years old right now, enjoying his golden years with Gloria. Probably sitting in this very same booth…
Gloria patted his hand, snapping him out of his reverie. “Drink up, Mike.” She sipped her second bourbon. “What the hell happened after you drove off that day?”
Mike took a long slug from his beer mug, heaved an exhausted sigh, looked deep into Gloria’s eyes — and summoned the strength to tell her the whole unbelievable story.
He must have talked for an hour straight, leaving out no detail, however small: how he found the strange black brick, traced it to Murphy’s Ranch, and discovered the mad Nazi time-travel plot. How he tracked down Dr. Huber and followed him through the time portal and into the future.
He told her about the meeting with the Bund Boys in Griffith Park and the dangerous plans they had for igniting a race war. He paused; worried that Gloria might think him insane — but she wasn’t judgmental. It was almost as though he was convincing himself that it all actually happened.
He paused only when Gina came by with another round.
Gloria said nothing. Her eyes flared when he recounted moments of danger and teared up when he said how desperate he was to return to her. When he was finished, when he had taken her up to the point where he parked the stolen Caddy and walked into Zack’s that night, Gloria finally asked him a question.
“Why did you do it, Mike? Why did you go through the time portal?”
She was near tears now, struggling under the weight of all the lost years. “Why did you take that risk?”
“Because I had to, baby. I’m a detective.”
He continued in his defense, “I’m not a great one, I’ll admit, but I’m a detective. Maybe I could’ve gotten the drop on Horst and bagged Huber that night. But would that have stopped their plan? I didn’t know, Gloria. I still don’t know.”
“But if you gave Huber to the FBI, you would’ve collected the reward money, Horst would go to prison for harboring a wanted fugitive, and you and I would have spent all these years together.” It sounded like a rebuke, but there was no bitterness in it. Gloria gazed right through him.
“I know why you did it, Mike. You wanted to solve the mystery. Busting Huber before he went through that portal would’ve closed the case – but it wouldn’t have solved the mystery.”
Gloria was right, of course. Mike’s eyes grew wet. It had been a selfish thing to do. He’d gambled their happiness on the unknown: on an inconceivable adventure. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said as the tears came, “I should’ve been thinking about you. About us.” Mike was nearly overcome.
Gina approached the table with another round, but Gloria waved her granddaughter off.
She leaned into Mike, close enough to kiss him. “So, what are we gonna do about it, lover? Cry in your beer? Or work our way through this crazy maze?” She sniffed. Then smiled. “First thing we’ve gotta do is get you a bath — and tomorrow, a new suit. You need a jacket, too. It’s winter, for godsakes.”
“I can’t have my man looking like a homeless bum, no matter what century he came from.”
Mike was amazed. Gloria’s love for him had endured for decades. She told him about the guy she married ten years after Mike went missing: a poor, unhappy fella who soon learned that she’d always be carrying a torch for the detective that disappeared. They gave birth to Gina’s mother, but he couldn’t play second fiddle to a phantom. So, he took a powder and Gloria never saw him again.
Mike had ruined Gloria’s second chance for happiness all those years ago. What could he offer her now?
The situation was impossible, but Gloria didn’t see it that way. She wasn’t shocked by the notion of time travel. She’d seen a lot in her long life. Anything seemed possible. Technology was out of this world. She told Mike that the iPhone he was carrying had more computing power than NASA had when they put men on the moon.
Mike had no idea what NASA was. He wasn’t even sure what “computing” was. “They put a man on the moon?” His bloodshot eyes were wide in amazement.
“When in the hell did that happen?”
Gloria saw that Mike had way too much to learn. She’d have to take the lead.
“I’ll fill you in on the space race later,” she said. “Right now, you’re coming home with me.”
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Paul's Voyage of Discovery & Etc. 
Coming Soon! “Quick! Before We’re Cancelled!”
The Practical Theatre Company returns to Studio5 — Opening on December 26th!
Thomas Jefferson and Abigail & John Adams welcome you to an evening of sophisticated frolic, music, and more as The Practical Theatre Company presents their annual holiday revue — “Quick! Before We’re Cancelled!”
For tickets: https://buytickets.at/practicaltheatre
Among the subjects comedically explored is Chicago’s embrace of the first American Pope and his relationship to the Windy City’s baseball teams.
Studio5 is Evanston’s shining gem of a cabaret theatre performance space — with adult drinks available at the bar — and acres of free parking. Laughs, music & adult beverages! Holiday fun in classic Practical Theatre style. Featuring Paul Barrosse, Victoria Zielinski and Dana Olsen. With Steve Rashid & the Studio5 All-Stars, keyboard whiz Larry Schanker, Chicago’s finest jazz vocalist Paul Marinaro, Jim Cox on bass, and Robert Rashid on drums. Let’s all enjoy a laugh at the close of 2025. We could all use a good laugh, right?
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Tagged as cabaret, comedy, Dana Olsen, Evanston, improvisational comedy, Jim Cox, Paul Barrosse, Paul Marinaro, Robert Rashid, Steve Rashid, The Practical Theatre, Victoria Zielinski