An unnaturally dark evening engulfs the plaza. A silhouette emerges from behind a bend in the road walking softly, almost tiptoeing. The ever so soft walk would give even the stealthiest of cats a tough competition.
A seemingly broken streetlamp bursts to life and throws light all over the dark plaza. Something glints off into the distance and for a moment it seems as if another dark figure is perched atop a building not far away from the silhouette.
The lamp fizzles out and the plaza returns to a dark state. A cold wind blows and threatens to numb even the most protected of men. The silhouette keeps on walking with no specific destination. It has been a tiring week, flying from one corner of the world to another and now back to his hometown. The burden of all the assignments has taken its toll and the silhouette seems to be exhausted even in the pitch-black darkness.
Another gust of wind blows buy and rustles the leaves on the manicured trees that line both sides of the avenue. The silhouette pulls its long overcoat tighter across its body and fastens its pace. There seems to be some direction in its action now.
Above the plaza another dark figure has been tracking the silhouettes’ actions ever since it came into the plaza. It is almost three in the morning and the figure realises that it is imperative that the job be done now lest he misses his chance and fails.
A faint click is heard and it instantly draws the attention of the trained ears of the silhouette. The silhouette turns and faces the direction from where the click was heard. The silhouette spots a dark figure and reaches into his inner coat pocket while moving towards an alley but for the first and last time in the silhouette’s life it moves a fraction of a second too late.
A flash, and the next instant the silhouette hits hard on a metal bench on the sidewalk before it hits the ground with a loud thump. The now lifeless body is a cause of grief for three countries and a reason for celebration for four others.
The job has been done.
Chapter One
Isabella looked at the cup of coffee in her hand and felt calm. It had been a long day for her. The agent by the quay had nearly caught her that afternoon whilst she had stepped into town for lunch. The agents seemed to be swarming Hornbæk and their numbers kept increasing each week. It wouldn’t be long before ‘They’ in Copenhagen got to know that she had been right under their nose all this while.
She walked over to the window and gazed into the misty forest around her. The forest was enveloped in an unnerving air of calm. Her cozy log cabin had never failed to reassure her of her safety but there was something peculiar about today. She couldn’t get herself to sit by the fire and kept pacing by the window and peeking out every now and then.
The fire crackled in the silence as the wind rustled the spruce outside the cabin. The soft thumping of the trees on the cabin’s roof lulled Izzy to sleep each night, but not today. The same thumping kept her continuously on edge.
Christian had sent her a letter a couple of weeks ago telling her of Alexi’s death. Not even an optimist like Izzy could have handled what Christian had in store for her. She broke down the moment she read those words. A sniper hidden amongst the buildings of Copenhagen had shot Alexander ‘Alexi’ Richards Jr., an Axis Corp. ‘Agent’ known solely as α.
What Izzy didn’t know was that the sniper was someone she and Alexi knew very well.
Alexi was none other than Isabella Richards’ twin brother. It had been 13 years since Isabella and Alexi had run away from their home in Cologne.
Alexander Richards, their father, was a timber magnate in Southern Germany and the owner of Skov Industries. Their mother Mary was presumed dead when she went missing when Izzy and Alexi were 9 years old. Izzy and Alexi had barely recovered from the grief of losing their mother when they got the news of their father’s death in Berlin.
The two 9 year olds were all alone in the world with a handful of butlers to take care of them. The butlers seized the opportunity and began to loot the house. Many of them absconded leaving the children to fend for themselves. Their father’s aide Gustave Fritz was hell bent on taking over Skov Industries and would now stop at nothing after Alexander Richards’ death. Fed up with the turn of events, Izzy convinced Alexi to run away with her.
The children had just celebrated their 10th birthday with no one to wish them or celebrate it with. They packed two rucksacks with all they could carry to eat, some wads of cash and a few sets of clothes. They knew their journey would be an arduous one and that no one would volunteer to help them escape.
They set out from their house in Cologne and walked towards the Koeln Hauptbahnhof. It was a chilly morning and they were relieved when they managed to sneak on a train headed for Berlin. Five hours later they were standing by the exit of Berlin Hauptbahnhof planning where to head next.
They decided it would be better to stay in Berlin for a night and plan the next morning. They walked by the canal and by the time the sun had set they were already gazing up at the rusted copper roof of the Berliner Dom. Alexi had read in a magazine that the area around Alexanderplatz had several empty apartment blocks where they could take shelter for the night. They walked around the museum island and found a deserted apartment block not far from Alexanderplatz. They made their way past the barricade and found a small room below the staircase just large enough for the both of them.
They woke up early the next morning. Alexi decided that it was wiser to stay in Berlin than head out into the country with no shelter. That apartment block was just one of the several deserted apartments they would call home over the years.
Chapter Two
Several months had passed and the children were now running out of money. Their father’s vast wealth now seemed a distant memory. The children realised that living on their own with little money in a city they didn’t know was not as easy as they had thought. Several times over the course of their stay they vowed to return back to Cologne, but Izzy was resolute. She wouldn’t go back to a place and people that were as harsh and cold to them as the winters they now faced.
In an effort to maintain their cash reserves they began to pickpocket people who visited Berlin. They were caught several times, but a few weeks in and they were masters of the craft.
It was the kids’ 13th birthday and they were scrounging for money in the bakery section of Galeries Lafayette. A multitude of smells ranging from the citrusy smell of a warm lemon tart fresh out of the oven to the bittersweet smell of a small dark chocolate fountain filled the air.
Izzy scanned the area and spotted a smartly dressed man with an elegant suit and a burgundy tie that gave off an air of Parisian chic. The fashionable attire instantly reminded Izzy of her father.
Alexander Richards adored fashion. Often while buttoning up his bespoke Italian suit he would quote Coco Chanel saying, “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.”
Izzy missed her father. She longed to return but she was too afraid to go back to her home. She remembered Berlin was her home now.
Alexi burst Izzy’s bubble and brought her back to the present. He pointed at the man’s pockets and Izzy could see the faint bulge of a wallet. Alexi decided to relieve the man of his burden. He went ahead and slowly slithered his index and middle finger into the front left pocket of the man’s trousers, and pulled the wallet out with the utmost care. Alexi was pleased with himself until he realised that the man had been looking at him the whole time.
The man gripped Alexi’s hand but Alexi slipped out of the man’s grasp and made a run for it with his wallet. Alexi burst through the main door of the departmental store and caught onto Izzy on his way out.
They ran as fast as they could, followed closely by the man. They slithered through the crowd and reached the fountain near the Marx-Engels Park. They were breathing heavily and paused to catch their breath. Izzy looked back and could see no one following them. She turned around and to her horror she saw a jet-black trouser and the matte grey grip of a gun. Alexi and Izzy turned pale with fear.
The man kneeled down and looked at the two kids. He was impressed by their pick pocketing skills and their speed but he didn’t let this show on his face. He held out his palm and Alexi put the wallet into his outstretched palm with trembling hands. The man asked them their names. Alexi told his name in a squeaky voice and nudged Izzy. Izzy reluctantly complied. She mustered all her confidence and told him her full name. “My name is Isabella Gabrielle Richards.”
The man introduced himself as Viktor Eriksen. Viktor refrained from using an alias while introducing, as it would make him seem more hostile. He decided to use his name instead. After all these two were to be the young recruits of the infamous Axis Corp, an anti-Ally assassin cell set up by the Nazi and Italian forces during the Second World War. The world war had continued between the assassin cells of the Axis and the Allies and was on the verge of another full-scale war.
Viktor took the two to a nearby café and gave them a sandwich and a cup of coffee each. Their eyes lit up the moment they saw the sandwiches and devoured them in a blink. The kids relaxed a little and listened to what Viktor had to offer. Viktor told them all about a vast training facility nestled in the forests of Nordjylland. He told them of a life where everyone respected for who you are and not how old you are. He told them of a home to live in, three square meals a day. He told them of a life of their own.
Alexi and Izzy decided that it was wiser to go with the man rather than trying to survive through hardships in the city on their own.
Viktor told them to meet him at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof in two days time at half past eight in the morning with all their belongings. Viktor got up buttoned up his suit and wore his sunglasses in a single fluidic movement. He walked towards the tram station and got onto the first tram that came his way. He got down near the Humboldt University on Unter den Linden and made his way to a small Volkswagen Beetle parked a few blocks away. He got into the drabbest beetle anyone could ever own. It was painted a pathetic grey and had blacked out windows. No one would have given the car even half a glance. Viktor got into the car and maneuvered it through the tight back alleys of Berlin.
A while later he came to a halt in front of a building as morose as the car he drove. Viktor was the finest agent Axis had and was paid the highest salary they could afford. He preferred to stay at regular lodgings during assignments. He liked to be discreet unlike many of the other agents who lived in nothing below a five star wherever they went on assignments.
This was the first and last mission in Berlin that he had agreed to take up, ever since Aaron his brother was killed on an assignment three years before. He turned the knob on his door when he suddenly remembered that why the kids’ surname had seemed familiar.
Aaron had taken up the name Alexander Richards, an alias as his name lest their enemies track him and his children through his brother. Even Moses had decided that changing names would safeguard their actual identities. A few strings were pulled here and there and Aaron Eriksen and Moses Eriksen became Alexander Richards and Viktor Eriksen.
Was it possible that the Isabella and Alexander Richards were indeed Isabella and Alexander Eriksen?
Viktor fell into deep thought. He pondered over the odds that his brother’s children would bump into him on his return to Germany. He had a responsibility now. The kids were his responsibility and it was one, which he never could and never would shrug off.
Viktor gathered his thoughts and remembered the task at hand. All he had to do was pull the trigger once and he would be on the next train back to Copenhagen.
Two days later Izzy and Alexi stood in front of the Berlin Hauptbahnhof and waited for Viktor. Viktor arrived at precisely half past eight and took the children by hand and led them onto the train for Copenhagen.
It was on the train that Viktor told them the truth about their father and himself. Izzy and Alexi were shocked and it wasn’t until they were on the platform in Copenhagen that they regained their composure.
Their aim in life was now to search for their father’s murderer and avenge his death. For the next ten years Izzy and Alexi worked and trained hard under the mentorship of Viktor and rose up the ranks in Axis Corp faster than a monkey could climb up a tree.
Axis Corp now for the first time in over 13 years had an Agent α and an Agent χ. The previous α and χ were none other than Alexander and Viktor.
Chapter Three
Isabella looked at her reflection in the window. She was the most ravishing twenty three year old anyone could ever set eyes on. She had beautiful auburn hair in a bob and equally alluring hazel eyes. Izzy had an impeccably tone physique thanks to her rigorous training at Axis. She was quite short standing at five feet and two inches but she never let her height be a hurdle to her success.
Izzy was waiting for Christian Fritz, a twenty one year old agent she and Alexi had met at the Axis training facility. Izzy didn’t like to admit it but she was hopelessly in love with Christian. She could never get him out of her head.
Christian was the epitome of masculinity with a physique to die for. He had short-cropped blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. He had a smile that would always make Izzy weak in her knees. She had yearned to tell him how much she loved him but decided to keep her feelings to herself.
Izzy looked into the darkness and could see the silhouette of Christian making his way through the woods. A few minutes later Izzy heard the knock on the door she had been waiting for. She rushed to the door and opened it excitedly. The moonlight through the trees made Christian look even more handsome than she remembered. Christian smiled at Izzy. He had known for a long time that she had feelings for him. Christian liked Izzy a lot too but would have never told her. He had a dark secret that would render him dead at the hands of Izzy aka Agent χ.
It was a quarter past two and Izzy would have gone on talking with Christian if he hadn’t got up to leave. He headed towards the door and Izzy followed to bid goodbye.
Christian stepped into the cold early morning air and took a deep breath. His hands went to his holster and he pulled out his gun. He turned around to face Izzy and held the gun between her eyes. A single tear rolled down Christian’s cheeks. Izzy was dumbfounded. A flurry of emotions and memories raced through her mind. She was certainly going to meet her demise today.
She held up her hand and asked Christian “Why?”
Christian said in a trembling voice, “Because out mother said so.” With the gun in a firm grip he explained that he was her half brother. He was the son of Mary Richards and Alexander’s aide Gustave Fritz. Her mother had simply run away from home to the Fritz household when Izzy was nine.
Christian said that he had been a double agent working for the Allied forces’ assassin cell. He had always known that the day was not far away when he would have to kill the most ruthless and successful agents in the history of Axis Corp.
Christian said that Gustave, his father was a member of the Allies and was the one who had killed Alexander Richards. He said that he himself was the sniper who had killed Alexi.
Izzy was astounded at what she heard. Christian said that killing her would end the war right there and then for she was the last surviving agent of Axis.
Christian held Izzy’s hand and with a bowed head shot her between her brows.
The war was over.
Epilogue
Christian shut the log cabin’s door and wrapped his coat around himself. He started walking in the direction of Hornbæk where the other Ally agents waited.
A faint crack of a twig was heard. Christian turned around and the last thing he saw was the blinding flash of a gun. He crumbled to the ground.
A figure emerged from behind the trees. The moonlight shone on his salt and pepper hair.
Viktor Eriksen bent over the lifeless body of Christian Fritz and spoke in a soft whisper. “ I am the Axis. I am ‘The Messenger’ and I have avenged my family. The war is never over until my family and I live, pass on the message, my dear boy. Rest. In. Peace.”