C. Palov - Templar's Quest

‘Damned diabolical,’ Cædmon muttered. ‘Part of me actually hopes that you succeed.’

Dolf Reinhardt suddenly stepped forward. Eyes glistening with unshed tears, he shook with a barely restrained emotion.

‘Nein! Nein! Nein!’

85

0628 hours

‘Obviously, someone forgot to send Cue Ball the “Kill Hitler” memo,’ Finn muttered under his breath.

‘What is happening here?’ the chauffeur bellowed. ‘Has everyone lost their mind?’

‘If you cannot control yourself, Dolf, you will have to leave the room,’ Uhlemann threatened in a patronizing tone, speaking to the big goon as though he were a six-year-old child. ‘It’s obvious that you’re confused.’

‘I want you to answer my question, Herr Doktor! What is happening here!? ’ Wide-eyed, Dolf clutched the Ruger P89 to his chest; his very own nine-mil teddy bear.

Finn glanced at the clock. Fuck. Two minutes until sunrise. Aisquith was convinced the design flaw in the Vril Generator would cause an explosion due to an energy build-up. Add to that the six pipe bombs stashed next door in the maintenance engineering room and they’d all be blown to Sirius and back.

Determined to go down fighting, Finn swung his head in Aisquith’s direction, silently signalling to the Brit that he had a plan. He then looked over at the bewildered bald dude.

‘Not only are you confused, but you are definitely out of the loop,’ Finn told the chauffeur, hoping to stoke him into shutting down the show. A lame duck, if he so much as lifted his ass off the chair, Angelika would put a bullet right between his eyes. ‘Here’s the simplified version. The star Sirius is due to appear in the dawn sky in two minutes. When that happens, your boss is gonna use the astral energy from the star to generate the Vril force. That’s a kind of fused energy that emits a blue light. Uhlemann needs that blue light to open a hole in the space–time continuum so he can travel back to the year 1940 and kill Adolf Hitler.’

‘Is this true, Herr Doktor?’ The chauffeur’s expression of disbelief was almost comical.

Clearly outraged by the insurrection, Uhlemann shot his subordinate a glacial stare, refusing to answer.

‘It’s true, Dolf,’ Kate volunteered, her features stamped with abject fear. ‘Doctor Uhlemann showed me the time machine.’

To say that Dolf was crestfallen would be putting it mildly; tears were running down his cheeks and snot was dripping from his nose.

‘My mother was the Führer’s little handmaid,’ the big slobbering bastard rasped in a hoarse voice. ‘My grandfather was his chauffeur.’

‘Hitler’s chauffeur? No shit. I’m impressed,’ Finn lied. ‘I’m guessing he was in the SS, right?’

Wiping a ribbon of snot with the back of his hand, the other man nodded. ‘He was an officer in the Reich Security Service.’

Realizing that was the perfect segue, Finn, winging it all the way, said, ‘So it’s a given that he would have driven the Führer to the Christmas party in 1940. The two of them probably sang a couple of rounds of “Silent Night” on the way to the big shindig. Once they get there, your grandfather will be having a good time, drinking a little eggnog, then Kaboom ! Silent night. Auf wiedersehen. You heard Uhlemann; no one is gonna leave the Löwenbräu Keller alive. Helluva way to go.’

The realization that his own grandfather would be killed in the planned massacre suddenly dawned in Dolf’s watery eyes. In that instant, he went from confused lapdog to snarling Rottweiler. Teeth clenched, he aimed the Ruger P89 at his master’s head. ‘How could you destroy my family like this? I sacrificed everything for you.’

Proving that he was an old-school Prussian, Uhlemann glared at his rabid dog. Unbowed and unafraid.

‘Hah! What did you sacrifice?’ Angelika jeered. ‘A few dinners with your old mutti ?’

‘Leave my mother out of this!’

‘This is sheer idiocy. Give me the gun.’ A leather-clad dominatrix, Angelika stomped her booted foot imperiously on the floor. ‘ Now! ’

‘ Nein! ’ Dolf abruptly changed targets, Ruger now aimed directly at Angelika’s head. ‘Shut up, bitch! You’re always telling me what to do!’

Well, well, well … Sounds like the two winged monkeys have some wicked bad history. Finn just hoped he didn’t get caught in their crossfire.

Changing tactics, Angelika’s sneer instantly morphed into a smile. A come-hither invite that oozed sex like a volcano oozing molten lava. ‘I can make all of your dreams come true, Dolf. You know the kind of dreams I’m talking about … those naughty dreams that you have in the middle of the night.’ Her gaze slowly travelled down Cue Ball’s chest to his crotch.

Teary eyes narrowed furiously. ‘Slut!’

‘If you want me to be.’ Still smiling, and still holding the HK semi to Finn’s head, Angelika held out her left hand and wiggled her fingers. ‘Dolfie, give me the gun. If you don’t, I will tell your mutti that you were a very bad boy.’

‘I told you not to mention my mother!’ Last Rites administered, ‘Dolfie’ pulled the trigger.

Before the blonde bitch even hit the deck, Finn cannonballed out of his chair and hurled himself at the bald-headed gunman … who now had his weapon trained on Ivo Uhlemann.

In a fast wham-bam move, Finn, attacking from behind, cinched his left hand around Dolf’s thick neck. With his right, he knocked the gun loose. Two pounds of stainless steel thudded on to the concrete floor, the impact causing a round to discharge. Galvanized, Finn secured his right hand on the other side of the big man’s neck. And squeezed like hell.

Pumped up on adrenaline, the goon thrashed violently, clawing Finn’s wrists with his huge boxer-size paws. Locked in a ferocious embrace, the two of them slammed against the concrete wall.

‘It’s six thirty!’ Kate screamed. ‘You have to stop the experiment!’

Hearing that, Finn spared a quick glance. Kate was yanking on Ivo Uhlemann’s arm, while Aisquith was frantically trying to open the door that led to the Vril Generator.

‘Yes! Yes! It’s happening!’ Uhlemann shouted jubilantly.

Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw a luminous blue haze surrounding the Grail.

Shit!

Jaw clenched tight, Finn squeezed for all he was worth on the chauffeur’s thick, muscle-roped neck … But it was like squeezing a damned tree trunk.

86

0630 hours

Standing in front of the steel door that led to the Vril Generator, Cædmon turned his head and peered through the plate-glass window.

A blue phosphorescent corona had completely enveloped the Grail.

Christ! The energy fusion has already begun!

Having tried all three of the hacked security codes – with no luck – Cædmon rushed over to Dr Uhlemann.

‘There’s no time to waste! Give me the security code to bypass the lock!’

Ignoring his shouted demand, the German scientist pressed both palms to the glass partition as he gazed through the glass. ‘Soon! Soon! Soon!’ he chanted, his rheumy eyes gleaming with excitement. Obsessed with his creation, he was oblivious to the danger.

Kate, standing on the other side of Dr Uhlemann, urgently tugged on his arm. ‘You have to stop the experiment!’

A loud crackling sound reverberated from the other side of the glass as blue sparks began to fly frenetically off the stone. The crackling was near-deafening, Cædmon afraid that his eardrums were about to burst. A jagged blue streak arced through the air, the stench of ozone filling the chamber, the ambient temperature rapidly escalating.

Cædmon could feel his body vibrate painfully, as though his internal organs were being agitated from within.