Hans Grubervelt keeps a communicator in a midtown apartment in New York, and when Zemo calls from the Amazon with orders to use the boy as bait, he gets to work. The next day he tails Captain America and Rick Jones into the city park. Bald, monocled, and buttoned into a maroon trench coat, he steps out to announce he has a message from Zemo. The message is an ambush. His gunmen pour out of the trees, and Grubervelt turns the fight into a hostage standoff, ordering a gun kept on Rick so Cap can’t throw a punch without getting the kid killed. In the chaos, his men spirit Rick away.
When Cap finally gets his hands on him, Grubervelt folds on the spot. He stammers that Zemo has taken the boy to his empire and offers up the route. It’s a performance. The moment Cap is airborne, Grubervelt is back on the communicator, reporting to his master that Captain America swallowed the bait and the kid is headed south. For a man who crumbles the second a shield gets near his face, he sells a lie remarkably well.