Red Rainbow by G Johanson (top books of all time TXT) 📗

Paris yet, Doctor. You are under César’s spell. That is what could spare you...”

Dr Karlis noticed Gehring’s hand fumbling under his clothing and shot him quickly. He searched his body and found a gun as expected. The premeditated murder that he had thought he was committing turned out to be self-defence. This would be more palatable to César.

The fool Nazi had come to the worst person in the land to help him build a case against César. Gehring had not mentioned César’s name before the visit, nor did he need to. It was common knowledge that César Vadeboncoeur had been arrested by the Germans, his home and workplace ransacked. There was a collective sadness amongst those who knew him at this, not shared by Dr Gaye who had been forewarned by César that this was coming. It had been Dr Gaye who gathered the members of what would become the Foundation together. He had called them into the surgery to tell them why Dr Karlson would no longer be treating them, that he had been forced to kill him to prevent him trading them in as disposable human experiments for the Reich. He had the notes to back all of this up. He took over their treatment as their doctor, nothing more, the days of experiments being performed on them with an agenda over.

Chapter 18

Poirier and Pascoe Investigations

Florence wanted to find a place to hide in the working bottling factory that now served as the HQ for the Paris Head Office of the Escolico company. It was too impractical for Hilaire to consider, the pair bickering about it as they examined the streets thereabouts in the early hours of the morning. A nightwatchman was patrolling the ground with dogs who had already caught their scent on the street and kept barking, the two women having to walk further away to not be seen by him as he flashed his torch onto the street to investigate their source of agitation. The dogs stopped barking so loudly and reduced their noise down to a whimper, enabling the women to hear each other at a whisper in Hilaire’s case, at her usual speaking volume in Florence’s.

“We’re protecting his building. We should get an executive suite for that.”

“He’s not here to authorise that,” Hilaire said, stating the obvious, which had to be said, apparently, as Florence was being dense.

“He would be if anyone listened to me. I’m the only one who’s looked out for him throughout this.”

She seemed to sincerely believe this. Florence struggled with being powerless to do anything and also found it hard to cope with the idea of their cruelties. This could have been genuine concern or just sadist envy. Her own cruelty was something she could gauge and keep in control of, in theory. Theirs was harder to measure, and worse, unknown at this time.

Florence huffed, “I don’t have an alternative place. Most of the buildings are either occupied or will be tomorrow.”

How could she know that? She could sense if people were inside, of course, but how could she judge which other factories and workplaces in this industrial part of town would have people inside tomorrow? Today, actually, only a few hours left until the sun came up. “An aerie with a window will do. Anywhere at all you can find, please.”

“Do you see one?”

“We can get on a roof opposite as a last resort. An unoccupied building would be better, is all.”

Hilaire believed that she did try after this polite behest. The best Florence could suggest were two empty buildings that were close enough to offer views of the factory gates. It was a gamble as to whether any workers would show up later in the morning. Hilaire picked the building that was closest to their target, unlocking the door with her power to fiddle with the lock. She locked it back up again too.

“Show off,” Florence said with a smile as she tried the door behind her which was firmly locked. The feat was not as impressive as Florence thought. Hilaire twisted the lock around so much she was unsure if the key or any skeleton key would unlock it now, but that could serve their purposes better. She was right as it turned out, the lock was fucked. She was also right that it worked to their advantage, giving them time to escape out of a back door while the staff fumbled at the front door. Their second choice of building was now occupied too, meaning they had to ascend to a rooftop with the sun up and the early shift piling into their various workplaces.

“Maybe you were right about us just entering the bottling factory,” Hilaire conceded as they stood around the back of a building diagonally opposite, the flat roof higher than the surrounding buildings. “Just put your hands against the wall as if you’re scaling it. I’ll be lifting you the whole way. We just have to hope nobody comes round and sees us.”

“Fly us up quick. Nobody will come round,” Florence promised.

“You can’t drain them for coming to work.”

“We need to get up top. We need to stop this massacre. Do it quick, and I won’t need to take anything from them.”

Hilaire considered it yet stuck with her original plan, though she had them ‘scale’ the wall in remarkable time for their age and considering some parts had no possible handholds. The top of the roof it was, Hilaire ordering Florence to crawl to the edge like she was, not just walk across in plain view to anyone who did look up. Hilaire used her power to bring her down flat alongside her when she wouldn’t listen.

“That was demeaning,” Florence commented. It was hard to tell if she was offended or acting the part.

“Knees, front, which is worse?” Hilaire replied, a reminder that she was one to talk about such things.

“You’re lucky this is a terrible dress. And belly is worse. You can have fun on