Jenny Plague-Bringer

Chapter Thirty-Seven



Ward found himself in the small morgue near the underground facility’s clinic. It was three in the morning, but he hadn’t been able to sleep, so he’d gotten up and paced through the silent, dim hallways, letting his feet take him where they would.

He thought most of the project was moving ahead fairly well. He was lucky to have Mariella so cheerfully on his side, though he remained cautious about trusting her. He still believed she would gain Seth’s affection in time. Not only was she attractive, and European enough to seem exotic to Seth, but she was wealthy, her family worth even more than the Barretts. Rich people could smell it on each other, he thought. Jenny Morton had grown up in a shack in the woods. Ward believed that breaking the bond between Seth and Jenny was key to breaking their resistance. If Jenny felt isolated and alone, it would be easier to reprogram her mind as he needed. Already, Seth was starting to give in and cooperate with them in the lab.

Esmeralda was cooperating, but making no secret of her unhappiness at being here. She’d stay in the cellblock for now, until Ward sorted out a better means of controlling her. He was sure that would involve Tommy, who still seemed sincere in his loyalty, but Ward wanted to stage things just right.

Trying to focus on work couldn’t distract his mind from the real reason he was awake and wandering—Kranzler. He’d become convinced that the dead Nazi officer was haunting him. Everywhere, but especially when he was alone, he could feel the ghost of Kranzler hovering close to him. He’d even had flashes of Kranzler’s memories. Maybe that meant Kranzler was trying to possess him, take control of his former base, but Ward wasn’t quite ready to call in the priests for an exorcism. Esmeralda could speak with the dead. Maybe he could present the situation to her, in a very limited fashion, and she could find out some things for him. He didn’t have Kranzler’s corpse handy, but she might sense the presence of the ghost, Ward thought.

He shivered, wondering why the hell he was down in the morgue. Most of the bodies here were for testing Esmeralda, people who’d been killed in war zones. Interrogating people after they were dead could prove useful, Ward thought, if only he could convince the intelligence bastards to send him the bodies of higher-level operators.

He heard Kranzler’s voice, speaking in English, which was unusual. Kranzler usually spoke in German, but somehow Ward had no trouble understanding German when he was caught up in one of Ward’s memories.

“Get out of here,” Ward ordered the ghost. “Go away! In God’s name!”

The voice of Kranzler only grew louder, and Ward found himself in another of the dead man’s memories. He was accompanied by the gray-eyed girl called Alise, who’d been quite prominent in the other memories, and another man, tall and dark-eyed, dressed in a finely tailored suit that probably cost a year of Kranzler’s pay.

The other man’s name was Barrett, and he’d come with the visiting group of high Party officials from Berlin, an event for which Kranzler had been nervously preparing for weeks. The officials had brought a handful of foreign dignitaries, mostly wealthy and aristocratic types from Austria, France, or England, all of them bound by a common interest in eugenics. Barrett seemed extremely comfortable among such people—he wasn’t the loutish self-made American that Kranzler might have expected.

Kranzler, Barrett, and Alise had broken away from the main event in the wooden-paneled officers’ dining room, where Alise had given a talk about the National Socialist vision for improving humanity and breeding desirable traits, with a lofty vision for breeding supernormal Aryans, the most evolved humans of all, as the future leaders and warriors of the Reich. Kranzler had followed this up with a shorter talk about the base’s need for additional funding, and now their guests enjoyed wine and cigars. The sound of a Wagner record echoed through the underground corridors.

When Barrett had made his request, Kranzler had asked him to step outside the room, worried about how best to refuse this clearly well-connected guest without arousing conflict. He’d motioned for Alise to follow. Barrett had asked whether there was a morgue, and then insisted they go there.

“What I am about to show you is confidential,” Barrett said. “It is for you only, Herr Kranzler.”

“Alise is our human breeding specialist,” Kranzler told him.

Barrett looked over the pretty German girl. “I can see why.”

“I would like very much to stay, if you don’t mind, sir.” Alise touched Barrett’s hand, and a powerful smile filled his face. His eyes seemed to grow even darker as he regarded her.

“Nothing could please me more,” Barrett told her, and she laughed and leaned against him, as if utterly charmed by his presence. Kranzler knew the opposite was true, that she was the one casting her magic over him. An extremely useful girl, Alise.

“What does the morgue have to do with our breeding project?” Alise asked. “If you don’t mind a simple country girl asking a simple question, Herr Barrett.”

“Mr. Barrett has made a very specific request,” Kranzler told her. “He wishes that we breed him with Juliana.”

“I see...” Alise thought it over in a flash—Kranzler could see her mind working, looking at all the angles. They didn’t want to displease, but there were obvious complications. Juliana was already pregnant with Sebastian’s baby, for one. For another, Kranzler didn’t like the idea of anyone interfering with their research, and he was sure Dr. Wichtmann would agree. “Sir, I hope you understand, but we are only crossing those with extreme supernormal traits, signs of evolutionary advance. We have scoured the world and found only a few. This is the main purpose of our entire project.”

“I understand completely,” Barrett said. “That’s why we’re here.” He walked along the refrigerated cabinet, opening one steel door after another and sliding out the cadavers. He touched each body for a long moment before moving on to the next. “Have you heard of vodou, General Kranzler? It’s a form of sorcery brought from Africa by slaves. It flourishes in the West Indies and in parts of the American South.”

Kranzler shook his head, wondering what Barrett was rambling about.

“A sorcerer, or bokor, can have the power to trap a dead man’s soul in his body, and thereby reanimate the flesh. The bokor is the master of those he brings back to life.” Barrett turned at the end of the morgue and walked back toward them, past the dozen bodies he’d left out on their rolling trays. “The dead that he commands are called zonbi.” Barrett raised his hand, and every cadaver he’d touched sat up on their trays as if alive.

Kranzler jumped, and Alise took his hand, looking pale.

“The zonbi are slaves to the bokor,” Barrett continued. The undead bodies twisted and rolled off their trays, some of them falling to the floor before gaining their feet. They shambled and lurched in a loose mob behind Barrett as he continued approaching Kranzler and Alise, letting out an occasional moan or a noise like a quiet sob. “I even traveled to Haiti to learn more, but the priests and sorcerers refused to speak to a white man about such things.”

Barrett stopped in front of them, while the gang of zonbi trailed behind him, their dead eyes blank, mouths gaping, cold limbs moving stiffly.

“I was born with the power of bokor, the power to make zonbi,” Barrett said. “Like Juliana and Sebastian, it transfers through touch. You understand now my long interest in human genetics and evolution, trying to understand my own power scientifically. My long support of the Human Evolution Congress.”

Ward nodded. He was doing the same thing with this project, testing other humans with supernormal abilities as a way to understand his own. He watched the approaching zonbi mob warily, but they finally fell into a ragged line behind Barrett.

“Herr Barrett,” Alise said, “You are clearly gifted with a large, impressive power. I’m sure we would love to test and experiment, to find out more...”

“I am not here as a lab rat,” Barrett said. “I only want Juliana.”

“There are more complications with that girl specifically,” Kranzler told him. “No one can touch her without dying, except for Sebastian...as the man who recruited them for us, you must know this.”

“She can touch me,” Barrett said. “We’ve already discovered that.”

“Truly?” Alise seemed particularly interested now. “A second person resistant to her plague? She never told us.”

“You must let me see her,” Barrett insisted.

Alise looked to Kranzler, curiosity in her gray eyes.

“Perhaps we could arrange a meeting, but there must be security precautions,” Kranzler said. “And we guarantee nothing. Don’t you agree, Alise?”

“Of course we can guarantee nothing,” Alise said. “We cannot force people to feel attraction for each other. For best results, both should be at least somewhat willing. None of us can control the desires we feel.” She looked Barrett in the eyes for a long moment. “Can we?”

“She’s willing,” Barrett said. “Even more than she knows. Just leave me alone with her.”

Kranzler looked at Alise for her opinion.

“I don’t see why not,” Alise said.

“We’ll keep guards outside the room,” Kranzler said. “The girl is dangerous.”

“She’s no danger to me.” Barrett smiled. “Thank you, Herr Kranzler.”

“I’m very glad we could accommodate,” Kranzler told him. “We only ask that you not give the girl any serious physical harm—she is a valuable test subject.”

“I do not intend to give her pain,” Barrett said.

“Do you intend to give her pleasure instead, sir?” Alise touched his hand, and he laughed.

“We should rejoin the party,” Kranzler said. “Eugen Fischer from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute is here, and I’m eager to hear his opinion on our approach to racial progress. Even the Fuehrer listens to him on matters of eugenics.”


Ward stood alone in the morgue again, the strains of Die Walküre still fading in his ears. The ghost of Kranzler was gone again, for now, but he couldn’t help imagining the steel doors around him opening, the trays quietly sliding out, the dead rising from their slumber...

He hurried out, leaving the lights on behind him.