Miss Fury #6 — Nick Peron

Aug 8

Aug 8 Miss Fury #6

Continued from last issue…

Marla Drake has been knocked out by two men, Heinrich and Gruen. Gruen orders Heinrich to take her away and tie her up in the car. He then pays close attention to the fight between Dan Carey and Bruno Beitz. Pulling a gun out of his jacket, Gruen is determined to ensure that Bruno does not survive the bout. As Dan gets a rope around Bruno’s throat his minions are ready to jump in and help when they are ordered to stand down by Doctor Diman Saraf. However, despite the advantage, Dan is still weak from his previous wounds and soon Beitz breaks free and overpowers him. While his loyal soldiers celebrate Bruno’s victory, he slips away to the anteroom with Dan so they can check on Miss Fury.

There they find no trace of Marla, that’s when Gruen gets the drop on Bruno. He is convinced that since the Nazis are destined to fall that Bruno will betray his troops to the Americans so he can get a lucrative position of authority when a new German government is formed. Dan is coming around as they are talking about where Marla was taken. After Gruen explains that she is being turned over to the Gestapo, Carey kicks the gun out of his hand and Bruno knocks the man out. When Gruen reaches for another gun, Bruno stops him by breaking his legs. He then forces answers out of Gruen, who tells him that Heinrich is taking Marla to Germany.

After some interrogation, Doctor Saraf tells the rest of the troops that Bruno has managed to determine the location that the Drake woman. He also warns them that Gruen learned of their plans of defecting from the Nazis and forming a new German Confederation and how they secretly communicate with one another. He warns the men that the Gestapo will be hunting for them as they are seen as a political threat to the Nazis. He concludes his report that their next course of action is locating the missing Drake woman and assuring his men that Gruen’s spying days are over. He then tells them that Gruen will be replacing the American Dan Gale as the recipient of his new surgical technique. Meanwhile, Dan and Bruno have a meeting together, where both men admit that they have mutual goals and that they will have to work together.

Meanwhile, Fingers Martin continues walking to the city despite the fact that his feet are getting sore. Although he feels bad for abandoning Albino Jo, he refuses to go looking all over the Brazilian jungle looking for Marla and Dan. To his surprise, a car comes the opposite way and pulls over. Grateful for a ride from a beautiful woman — Erica Von Kampf — that he doesn’t care that she is going the opposite direction that he was walking. His questions about what Erica is up to are avoided by the woman. When they get to talking about the war, Fingers starts bragging about how the Nazis are all but lost and are too stubborn to realize it yet. A Nazi herself, Erica Von Kampf is angered by his comments. Coming from the opposite direction Heinrich speeds down the road with Marla Drake as his prisoner. When he refuses to answer her questions, she slams her heeled feet onto Heinrich’s foot, pushing down the gas pedal. They narrowly avoid crashing into Erica’s car, but they eventually crash into a nearby rock. Fingers convince Erica to turn around and he recovers Marla from inside the vehicle. Checking on the driver, Erica instantly recognizes Heinrich who is seriously hurt from the crash. Instead of calling Fingers over to help, Erica releases the parking brake sending the car rolling over the edge of a nearby cliff causing it to explode once it hits the bottom. When Fingers asks what happened to the driver, Erica explains he was unable to get out in time. When Fingers asks Erica to drive Marla to a hospital she refuses and when he tries to argue with her, she pulls out a gun and shoots Fingers before driving off. As he collapses to the ground, Fingers can’t believe that after everything he’s been through he would die in the street.

Soon, Erica arrives at the mansion owned by Doctor Saraf and begins looking for him. She soon discovers the entire estate is deserted. In the downstairs medical office, she discovers Gruen and asks him what happened. He tells her of Bruno’s schemes and he was forced to give a list of high ranking Gestapo agents before they left. After hearing everything, Erica realizes that she can’t be seen with a known Nazi with everyone on high alert. When Gruen asks her for help she will as she reaches for a bottle of poison. The next day, the word is getting around at Gestapo headquarters that General Bruno Beitz was coming to dictate peace terms with the Nazis. In the next room, Beitz is discussing his plan for their surrender, telling the other high ranking officials that the Nazi cause is lost and that unless they surrender they will be among those destroyed in the party’s downfall. His speech is interrupted by one of the grunts who tells Bruno that there is a woman here to see him and refuses to talk to anyone but Bruno. Excusing himself, Bruno is surprised that the woman who is waiting for him is Erica Von Kampf and tells her to step inside his office. Bruno cuts to the chase and asks what the woman wants. She tells him that she has come to offer him her help. He is surprised to discover that she know much of his plans and wonders how she could have found everything out before deciding she must have gained the confidence with a diplomatic agent.

What follows is a game of wits as Erica tries to undermind Bruno’s command, while Bruno struggles to keep control. He soon deduces that Erica must have gotten her information from Doctor Saraf, after recognizing her perfume and a dress that Marla Drake wore at the mansion. He eventually has Erica sequestered in his office. When all else fails, Erica tries to romance Bruno in order to steal his keys, but he catches her in the act. Having had enough of her attempts to undermine his command, Bruno is about to shoot her. Unfortunately, one of his men — Colonel Prussia — has fallen for Erica and knocks out Bruno before he can shoot her. With Prussia’s help Erica ties up Bruno and robs his safe. While sneaking out to a car that will take her off the base, Erica discovers a room where ammunition is being dumped and sets a fire before rushing to hide in the back of the car. Erica and Prussia manage to escape due to the fact that once Bruno gets free the fire is starting to grow. Unfortunately, their efforts to put out the blaze are too late and it eventually reaches the ammunition dump causing an explosion that kills everyone on base.

Meanwhile, Fingers wakes up in the hospital and discovers he is still alive. He is soon joined by Marla who shows him a recent newspaper article about some Nazis that were recently arrested by the Brazillian authorities, however, none of them will talk. They both notice that Bruno is not among those who were captured. When Marla mentions she is waiting for Sam to meet with her, Fingers starts asking if the pair are going to get married. She skirts all his questions about her romantic life and has to leave because visiting hours are over. As she walks out of Finger’s room, she runs into Gary Hale.