Eun looked back at Lazarus and the others but didn’t want to bother them, particularly if it turned out to be a train worker. Instead, he opened the door and hurried out, springing like an acrobat across the moving car. The wind whipped his hair and wreaked havoc with his balance but he was able to compensate. He threw himself over the crates where he’d seen the man before but found himself staring at thin air. He was about to discard the entire affair as the work of an overactive imagination when he felt the prick of a knife blade against the back of his neck.
“Your employer should have boarded the plane with the museum curator’s daughter,” a voice said in Mandarin.
“You work for Walther Lunt?”
“No,” the voice said, switching to English. “Sai Wing. He’s not happy about the way your employer broke the terms of their contract. In fact, he told me to kill all of you if you didn’t reveal where his virility has been hidden.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to kill me no matter what I say.”
The point of the blade dug in a little deeper, making Eun wince. “Don’t tempt me. Where did Lazarus hide it?”
Eun took a deep breath, wondering if any of his friends noticed him stepping out of the passenger car. If so, they might even now be sneaking up behind his would-be murderer. But if they hadn’t seen anything, then he was on his own.
Before the knife-wielding man could react, Eun had thrust his elbow back, striking hard. A cry of pain came from the man and his grip on the knife loosened enough that Eun was able to spin around and knock it free. The blade flew through the air and was lost in the countryside.
The man wore dark clothing and had a thick moustache. His eyes were cold and hard, indicating that he was a hardened killer. Eun ducked under a clumsy swing of the man’s fist and delivered a powerful chopping blow to the man’s midsection. He then added a series of quick punches that left the man groaning in pain.
Eun allowed the man to slip to his knees and he backed off when the man held up his hands for relief.
“Stop!” the man said. “I’m not being paid enough for this.”
With a chuckle, Eun backhanded his enemy across the top of his skull. The man fell over in a heap, his breathing alerting Eun that he was out cold.
Eun bent down and rifled through the man’s pockets, finding some cigarettes and several matches, but nothing else. Eun dragged the man over to the side of the car and, when it looked like the grasses were thick enough to prevent an accidental death, Eun shoved him off. The man landed hard on his side, rolling away from the tracks and down the embankment.
Eun stood up, brushed himself off, and returned to the passenger car. He wasn’t surprised to see that none of his friends had missed him. He was somewhat taken aback to see that they had been joined by a thin but handsome man who wore the uniform of an S.S. officer.
The young Korean approached slowly, his distaste for the Nazis making it hard for him to hide his true feelings. Apparently, however, Lazarus was engaged in an earnest discussion with the German.
Samantha stood up when she spotted Eun. She moved to take him by the hand, pulling him towards the rest of the group. Eun found himself marveling at Samantha’s power of perception. She was constantly able to sense the mood of others and react accordingly. “Eun, this nice young man is named Jakob Sporrenberg.”
Sporrenberg glanced up at Eun and nodded quickly, his haunted eyes giving Eun pause. Though this man was dressed in the uniform of the enemy, there was something in his manner that made Eun regret his natural inclination towards distrust. “Hello, Herr Jiwon,” Sporrenberg said. His English was heavily accented but not as bad as some that Eun had heard.
Lazarus’s keen eyes swept over Eun from head to toe. “Did you run into any trouble?”
“Nothing worth going into,” Eun answered, keeping his attention on the German. “I didn’t notice you earlier,” he said.
“I was seated in the far corner, with a blanket over my uniform. I’ve found that while my attire can sometimes help me get my way, it shuts as many doors as it opens.”
Eun allowed himself to be led to a seat next to Samantha. He looked up at Morgan, wanting to gauge the older man’s impression of Sporrenberg. He found Morgan adopting a thoughtful expression and Eun wondered how much he’d missed.
“If you don’t mind,” Lazarus said, “Please summarize what you’ve told us for Eun’s benefit.”
“Certainly. In 1934, I was assigned to a project known as Die Glocke. We were based out of a research facility dubbed Der Riese. While there I had the misfortune of becoming acquainted with an advisor to the project, a man named Walther Lunt.”
“Why is it that we can’t go five minutes without hearing his name?” Eun muttered.
Sporrenberg continued as if Eun hadn’t spoken. “Lunt was instrumental in the creation of a bell-shaped device capable of rending time and space. The Fuehrer was told that this would allow us to tap into ancient powers, fundamental forces of the universe. It very quickly became apparent that we were not simply dealing with the forces of science, however. In the end, we had to commit a blood sacrifice to fully open the gate… and I am ashamed to say that I was the one who performed the deed. I killed a man of God and unleashed a terrible evil upon the world.”
“Satan’s Circus,” Lazarus said. “The entire affair was an Illuminati scheme to unleash those demons. They capitalized on Hitler’s interest in super weapons and the occult to convince the Nazis to fund the project. I’m sure he expected to somehow be able to control the Circus but it got away from him.”
“Yes,” Sporrenberg confirmed. “The Circus slaughtered almost everyone at Der Riese and took Die Glocke with them. I was assigned to retrieve the device and along the way, I’ve discovered that my chief rival is Lunt. The man wants the device for his own purposes.”
“While you want it for Uncle Adolph,” Eun said. “If you ask me, neither of you need to have it.”
Sporrenberg frowned, his piercing blue eyes narrowing. “Walther Lunt is a monster. While you may disagree with Hitler’s methods, he has raised our people up from the terrors of Versailles. He has given us new strength and faith.”
“And heaven help you if you’re a Communist, a Jew or a Homosexual,” Eun retorted.
“That’s enough,” Lazarus ordered. Eun settled down and even Sporrenberg seemed to bow before Gray’s strength of personality. “Jakob, I appreciate the fact that you want to help us stop Lunt from getting Die Glocke but Eun is right in that we wouldn’t turn it over to Hitler, either.”
The young German nodded as if he already knew as much. “I am not looking to retrieve Die Glocke. I want to destroy it.”
Morgan looked up sharply. “But you said your job was to—”
“Yes. My superiors have given me explicit instructions. I am to find the device and ensure that it is unharmed. But I do plan to follow those orders. I intend to make sure that no one will ever make use of it again. You see, the men who helped design it are all dead. Not even Lunt could rebuild it — if he could, he would have done so.”
“Not like an S.S. officer to disobey orders,” Eun said, drawing a nod of agreement from Morgan.
“It could mean the end of my career… and possibly of my life,” Sporrenberg said. “But if you weren’t there when the doorway finally opened, you can’t truly understand what it was like. It was like someone had poured out a tiny bit of Hell and forced it down your throat.” The train moved through a tunnel and the car was thrown into a mix of shadows and light. Sporrenberg’s eyes somehow managed to shine brightly even through the darkness, giving emphasis to the haunted expression on his face. “I can’t live with myself for what I have done. If I get the chance, I’ll gladly destroy myself along with Die Glocke.”