Preston Child - The Babylonian Mask

However, if he overwhelmed the chief they might all be exposed. It was a difficult decision. In the past, Werner had often found himself indecisive because the options were too few, but this time there were too many, each with equally difficult outcomes. Not knowing which of the pieces was the actual Babylonian Mask posed a genuine problem, too, and time was running out — for the whole world.

Too soon, before Werner could make up his mind between the pros and cons of the situation, the two of them had reached the stairs of the lightly-manned office building. Werner ascended the stairs by Schmidt’s side, with the occasional airman or administration staff member greeting or saluting. It would be stupid to pull a coup now. Bide your time. See what opportunities present themselves first, Werner told himself. But Marlene! How will we find her? His emotions wrestled with his reasoning while he kept a blank face in front of Schmidt.

“Just play along with whatever I say, Werner,” Schmidt said through clenched teeth as they neared the office where Werner saw the reporter woman and Marduk waiting in their disguises. For a split second he felt free again, like there was hope to cry out and subdue his keeper, but Werner knew he had to wait.

Glances between Marduk, Margaret and Werner were brisk, hidden acknowledgements away from the keen senses of Captain Schmidt. Margaret introduced herself and Marduk as two aviation lawyers with extensive experience in political sciences.

“Please sit down,” Schmidt offered, pretending to be pleasant. He tried not to stare at the strange, old man who accompanied the stern, extroverted female.

“Thank you,” Margaret said. “We wished, actually, to speak to the real commander of the Luftwaffe, but your guard said that Lieutenant-General Meier was out of the country.”

She struck that offensive nerve elegantly and with a deliberate intent to rile the captain up just a bit. To the side of the desk Werner stood stoically, trying not to laugh.

Nina’s eyes were frozen on Sam’s as she heard the last of the recording. He was afraid at one point that she had ceased her breathing as she listened, frowned, concentrated, gasped and cocked her head throughout the entire soundtrack. When it had finished, she just kept staring at him. In the background, Nina’s TV was on the news channel, but mute.

“Fucking hell!” she exclaimed suddenly. Her hands were riddled with needles and tubes from the day’s treatment, otherwise she would have buried them in her hair in astonishment. “You mean to tell me, the guy I thought was Jack the Ripper is actually Gandalf the Grey and my pal who slept in the same room as me and traveled miles with me was a coldblooded killer?”

“Aye.”

“Why didn’t he kill me as well, then?” Nina wondered out loud.

“Your blindness saved your life,” Sam told her. “The fact that you were the only person who couldn’t see that his face belonged to someone else must have been your saving grace. You were no threat to him.”

“I never thought I’d be happy to be blind. Jesus! Can you imagine what could have happened to me? So where are they all now?”

Sam cleared his throat, a trait Nina had by now learned meant that he was uncomfortable with something he was struggling to formulate, something that would otherwise sound insane.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” she exclaimed again.

“Look, this is all a long shot. Purdue is busy rounding up a group of hackers in every major city to interfere with satellite broadcasts and radio signals. He wants to prevent the news of Sloane’s death from spreading too fast,” Sam explained, not having much hope in Purdue’s plan of stalling the global media. He was hoping, however, that it would considerably impeded, at least, by the vast network of cyber spies and technicians Purdue had at his fingertips. “Margaret, the woman’s voice you heard, is still in Germany right now. Werner was supposed to notify Marduk when he managed to get the mask back from Schmidt without Schmidt’s knowledge, but they had not heard from him by the deadline.”

“So then he’s dead,” Nina shrugged.

“Not necessarily. It just means he hasn’t been successful in getting the mask,” Sam said. “I don’t know if Kohl can help him get it, but he looks like a bit of a flake to me. But because Marduk had not heard from Werner, he went with Margaret to the Büchel base to see what is happening.”

“Tell Purdue to speed up his work with the broadcast systems,” Nina told Sam.

“I’m sure they are moving as fast as they can.”

“Not fast enough,” she contested, nudging her head at the television. Sam turned to find that the first major broadcaster had obtained the report Purdue’s people had been trying to stop.

“Oh my God!” Sam exclaimed.

“This is not going to work, Sam,” Nina admitted. “No news agent will care if they unleash another world war by spreading the news of Professor Sloane’s death. You know how they are! Careless, greedy humans. Typical. They would rather scramble to get the credit for tattling than to consider the consequences.”

“I wish I could get some of the big newspapers and social media posters to cry hoax,” said Sam, frustrated. “It would be a ‘he said- she said’ for long enough to hold off actual calls to war.

The image on the television disappeared suddenly and some 80s music videos came on. Sam and Nina wondered if it was the work of the hackers, taking what they could get in the meantime to procrastinate more reports.

“Sam,” she said at once in a gentler, sincere tone. “What Marduk told you all about the skin thing that can remove the mask — does he have it?”

He had no answer. He had not thought to ask Marduk more about it at the time.

“I have no idea,” Sam answered. “But I cannot risk calling him on Margaret’s phone at the moment. Who knows where they are behind enemy lines, you know? It would be a daft move that could cost everything.”

“I know. I was just wondering,” she said.

“Why?” he had to ask.

“Well, you said that Margaret had this idea about someone using the mask to take on the guise of Professor Sloane, even just to sign the peace treaty, right?” Nina recounted.

“Aye, she did,” he affirmed.

Nina sighed hard, contemplating what she was about to bring to the table. Ultimately it would serve a greater good than just her welfare.

“Can Margaret get us in touch with Sloane’s office?” Nina asked, as if she was ordering a pizza.

“Purdue can. Why?”

“Let’s set up a meeting. The day after tomorrow is Halloween, Sam. One of the biggest days in recent history and we cannot let it be run into the ground. If Mr. Marduk can get the mask to us,” she explained, but Sam started shaking his head profusely.

“Absolutely not! There is no way I am letting you do that, Nina,” he protested vehemently.

“Let me finish!” she cried as loud as her sore body could handle. “I’ll do it, Sam! It is my decision and my body — my fate!”

“Really?” he shouted. “And what about the people you will leave behind if we don’t manage to get the mask off before it takes you from us?”

“What if I don’t, Sam? The entire globe descends into the fucking World War III? One person’s life…or the whole planet’s children under air raids again? Fathers and brothers on the front lines again and God knows what else they will use technology for this time!” Nina’s lungs were working overtime to get the words out.

Sam just shook his bowed head. He didn’t want to admit that it was the best thing to do. If it were any other woman, but not Nina.

“Come on, Cleave, you know it’s the only way,” she said, as the nurse came rushing in.