Peking & The Tulip Affair (8 page)

As soon as he was out of the building he was surrounded by the others, who demanded to know what was going on. The guard told them that the scientists were going to use the drug on the foreign devil. He refused to answer any more questions and made his way to the dining room. He didn't see one of the guards following him. The mess hall was empty. He went to an urn and picked up a heavy metal cup from a pile nearby and started to pour tea into his cup when a sudden noise made him turn. He saw the rifle butt rushing toward his head. His cry died in his throat.

Lotus swung her rifle again and heard the man's skull crack.

She put the rifle aside and dragged the man off toward a closet that held brooms, mops, and pails. She dumped him inside and tossed in his rifle. She closed the door and went to get her own rifle.

She walked across the yard and entered the white building. She wandered down a corridor till she came to an open doorway and saw a huge room with a white man and a Chinese girl working over a table that contained bottles and test tubes. The man was drawing a liquid from a tube into a hypodermic needle. He laid the hypo down. "Shall we go collect our friend?" the white man asked.

The girl nodded and followed the man out of the room through a door to their right.

Lotus walked in. Her eyes were on the hypodermic needle.

A living mushroom. That was what Nick was thinking when the door opened and Kerner and the guard walked in. Sim Chan waited outside in the hall. The guard motioned with his rifle and Nick walked out, Kerner behind him. Sim Chan led the way. They entered the laboratory.

Lotus was there. She made her voice harsh and spoke to the guard.

"What is he saying?" Kerner demanded to know.

"Fong was taken ill," Sim Chan explained. "He asked this guard to take over for him."

"No matter." Kerner faced Nick and folded his arms over his chest. "Now you will get a taste of German genius." His voice and attitude were smug. "I take it for granted you know about Agent Z. That is why you came. To find out more about the drug or to destroy it. Perhaps both."

"Sure," Nick said scornfully. "German genius. That's why you lost the war. It was easy taking over the small countries. But when it came to…"

"Be still," Kerner shouted His face was blood-red. His humor was completely gone.

Nick kept on goading the German scientist. It was an old trick but sometimes it still worked. He knew that Sim Chan was there to keep an eye on Kerner. He wanted to turn them against each other.

"How the mighty have fallen," Nick said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Your country
is
no longer your own. Now you have to hide in the shadows, do your work in secret because you are afraid…"

"Fool!" Kerner thundered, smarting under Nick's words. "You don't know what you're saying. There will be a new Germany, and soon. With Agent Z in our possession we can do anything. Do you hear? Anything. We will finish what Hitler started. The world will be ours and…" He caught his breath. He was talking too much. He turned slightly and saw Sim Chan staring at him. Those deep black Oriental eyes. He could never know what was going on in her mind. He managed a grin. He had to placate her somehow. "Yes," he said, more softly. "We will do all this with the help of our Chinese friends. We will have Germany and we will help our Chinese allies in their domination of the world."

Nick grinned at Sim Chan. "It looks like the old doublecross to me, baby. Your people will never get that drug. It's going…"

Kerner drove his fist into Nick's jaw with as much force as he could muster. He watched the man go down, his face hard and grim. He reached for the hypodermic needle, knelt by the stricken man and drove the needle into a vein in Nick's arm. His thumb plunged the liquid from the tube and into the vein. He stood up, some of the fury leaving his body. "Soon well know if Agent Z has been perfected." He clutched Sim Chan s arm, his fingers tightening in excitement.

"You're hurting me," Sim Chan gasped.

Kerner's eyes bulged as he saw Nick stiffen. He knelt down, felt for a pulse beat "The man's dead," he gasped.

"But it can't be."

Sim Chan remained calm. "Too much dosage."

"No. I gave him very little. You saw."

Then the mixture isn't right." Sim Chan turned to the guards. "Get rid of him. Bury him outside the compound. Then remain outside this building. I don't want anyone to enter."

The two guards quickly obeyed Sim Chan's orders.

Kerner waited till they had gone before turning to Sim Chan. "The guards obey you as if you were a field marshal."

"Does that surprise you?" Her hands were hidden in the deep, wide pockets of her quilted robe.

"I've suspected for some time that you were here to spy on me," Kerner said, his voice composed. "You even went so far as to become my mistress. I must confess I've enjoyed every moment of it. But as you can see, the suspicions of your comrades are without foundation."

"I don't see it that way."

Walther Kerner raised his eyebrows. "So? You believe what that man said? Isn't it obvious he was trying to turn you against me?"

"I heard you with my own ears. That drug isn't meant for us, is it? You and your friends are only interested in taking over Germany. Perhaps the rest of the world, too. I wont let you use us as pawns."

Kerner licked his lower lip. Sim Chan knew too much. She was too dangerous to live. She could wreck all their plans. His hands were suddenly around her throat. First he felt the push of the knife against his belly. Then the air rushed in and he felt the pain. His hands came away and he looked down and saw the knife in her hand. She had hidden it in the pocket of her robe. He saw the blood oozing from the wound in his belly. His lips moved, and she struck again. And again. He felt himself falling. There was a red haze in front of his eyes. He knew he was dying. The pain was terrific but he couldn't cry out. Then he died.

Sim Chan walked to the sink and washed the blood from the blade and wiped it on a cloth. The knife went back into her robe pocket. She knew what had to be done next. Confront Bormann. She wanted to kill him, but he was too important to her chief. There was always the chance that Kerner was acting on his own, but she doubted that.

She left the laboratory and went to her room, where she dressed. She used the phone on her writing table to order a car.

"This white devil is heavy," Lotus complained, one arm wrapped around Nick's legs. "Let us stop for some tea and rice cakes."

"A very good idea. Then we'll borrow a car and drive him off to the village and have some of those peasants bury him for us. It isn't right for a soldier to do manual labor."

Lotus agreed with him, and they carried Nick's body into the mess hall, where they parked him on a bench. "You sit down here and I'll get the tea and cakes," Lotus told her companion.

She went off, filled two mugs with tea, but didn't find any rice cakes. She did find a sharp knife, which she hid in her uniform. She wasn't going to risk a rifle shot and it would be just as great a risk to try to kill him with her rifle butt.

The first man she had killed had thought he was alone. She had been able to catch him off guard. It would be more difficult with this man, who knew he wasn't alone. It took precious seconds to raise a rifle and bring the butt forward. But a short jab with the knife was quick and took half the time. That was the way she had thought it out.

She brought the cups of tea to the long wooden table and put them down. Her companion grumbled and asked for the rice cakes.

"I forgot," she said. "Have your tea. I'll get the cakes."

He lifted the cup of tea and sipped.

She was behind him now. Out came the knife. She didn't bother raising it She shoved it forward, the blade entering the middle of his back.

The cup fell from his hand. Tea ran down the table, soaking into the wood. Savage sounds came from his twisted mouth. He fell forward, the knife still in him. Blood poured from his mouth and mixed with the tea.

She put her arms under his armpits and dragged him to the closet, where he joined his dead comrade.

Lotus went to where Nick was stretched out, took out the pen, and used the antidote.

Nick opened his eyes and Lotus helped him sit up. She gave him her cup of tea and he drank it down gratefully.

"We can't stay here," she said urgently. "Someone may come in."

Nick looked about. "How did I get here?"

"Let us go to the back, where we can talk."

They went to the kitchen, and amid huge pans and pots and cold stoves she told him what had happened.

"So you substituted Store for Agent Z," Nick said admiringly. "Good thinking." Nick looked down at himself. "I need some clothes." He was still in his shorts.

"I have two dead soldiers hidden away. But their uniforms are too small for you."

"Wait a minute." Nick examined some closets and found what was the equivalent of GI fatigues. He put them on, and though they were tight he could move about freely without ripping the seams. Lotus showed him the closet where she had stored the two dead guards. He took their rifles and sidearms.

"We don't have much time," he told Lotus. "It'll be dawn soon. We have to act now."

"What are you going to do?" she asked breathlessly. Hadn't they been through enough? Wasn't it time for some rest? She would think so. And yet this man was arming himself as if he were going to attack a fort or castle. Where did he get his energy? She had never seen anything like it before.

"I'm going to level that laboratory " Nick said. "If I can't blow it up I'll burn it to the ground."

"But how?"

"There's enough inflammable material in that lab to start a holocaust"

"You may be able to do it," she reasoned. "We were supposed to guard the building after we buried you. It was the girl's orders." Her eyes widened. "But they'll be there. Sim Chan and the German. What if you run into them?"

"That's why I'm taking all the hardware. But first I have to knock out the electric-beam system. It's probably centered in the building with the searchlights on its roof."

Lotus shook her head. He was taking too many chances.

They walked to the front door and peered out. Most of the soldiers had gone to their barracks to catch up on their interrupted sleep. A few were milling about, exchanging gossip.

"Wait here till I come for you," Nick whispered to Lotus. He gave her one of the pistols. "If you see anyone coming, just duck. Stay in the back somewhere. Plenty of dark corners back there."

"Don't worry about me."

He walked out, keeping his head down, trying to make himself as small as possible. He had the pistol hidden in his fatigues and carried both rifles in one hand. He made it to the white building without being stopped. Then he was inside, and able to breathe easier. He made his way to the lab, where he found the dead body of Walther Kerner.

"So the thieves are falling out," he muttered.

He looted the medicine cabinets for the chemicals he needed and within five minutes had a fire going. It was the type of fire that could never be put out. It would die out only when there was nothing left to burn. By that time the building would be a smoldering ash.

He was sweating now from the blazing flames.

He started out when he heard footsteps. Coming down the corridor was a thick-set man in a white jacket. He wore eyeglasses that were as thick as the bottoms of milk bottles. He was muttering in German. In his hand was a Luger.

Nick backed off, raising one of the rifles. The other was on the floor. The man stepped into the lab, saw the flames and Nick, and cried out something and aimed his Luger in Nick's direction.

Nick fired, and the bullet caught the man in the left shoulder. The man stood his ground. He fired again.

Nick felt a sharp stab of pain in his left side. He fired twice, and the German dropped the Luger, clutched his belly, and fell forward. The flames were at Nick's back. He didn't bother picking up the second rifle but ran for the corridor. He jumped over the dead German's prone body and raced down the corridor. At the other end, coming toward him, were Chinese guards. He fired his rifle till it was empty. Then he retreated. Back to the lab.

It was a raging inferno.

He picked up the dead German's Luger. He couldn't get the other rifle. The flames had engulfed it.

He had started the fire. He knew what it could do.

To his left was a doorway. That was the doorway Lotus had used when she had first found the lab. He made for it, stopped, turned, and got down on one knee, the Luger steady in his hand.

The guards poured into the lab, halted as the heat of the flames reached them. Then they saw Nick.

Nick made the Luger jump in his hand. The flames were now between him and the guards. He fired the last two bullets through the flames. Then, in an act of defiance, he threw the Luger at the remaining guards. He knew he had killed at least four of them.

He got up quickly and ran, his hand reaching inside his fatigues for the pistol he had taken from one of the guards Lotus had killed.

By some miracle the corridor was empty.

He was in the compound, amid chaos, confusion and screaming Chinese soldiers. Nobody seemed to notice him. One sergeant was trying to bring order out of chaos. He was telling the men to form bucket brigades.

Nick ran to the mess hall and found Lotus, watching the fire with excited eyes. "The roof is caving in," she said, pointing.

Nick watched the roof of the building collapse. He gripped the girl's shoulder. This is the time to make a break. Even if we break the circuit of the electric eye beams we may still get away with it. The guards have too much on their minds to worry about any alarms."

They walked slowly at first, skirting the mob of soldiers, then made a quick dash between two plaster poles. Nobody tried to stop them. They kept running till they were exhausted and then they dropped to the ground. Nick looked back and saw the fire still raging. It was orange and yellow against the hazy sky.