Linda sat in the chair beside Wayne. “What’s going to happen to us?” she nervously asked.
“I don’t know,” Wayne returned, “but I think I know how a lab rat feels now.”
The scientists, sitting at their throne in front of the viewing glass, prepared for the test. The male researcher took a swig of freshly brewed coffee and said, “Set the concentration for forty percent.”
Gilda turned a knob on the control table.
“Begin the procedure,” he said.
She pushed a green button on the control board, “Here we go.”
Holding the stopwatch in his hand, the male scientist clicked it on.
In the human populated control space, yellow gas crept out from between the cracks of the two ventilation ducts, quickly filling up the diminutive room.
The male scientist peeked at the ticking stopwatch. “Five seconds.”
The subjects in the control room began coughing and gasping for oxygen.
“Ten seconds,” the male researcher announced.
Gilda scribbled in her journal. “The process is moving along more expeditiously at the forty percent concentration,” she noted.
Amused, the guard stood at the rear of the testing area, carefully watching the experiment proceed.
The moans inside of the locked control area grew louder. The gasps for air more strained. Wayne’s eyes burned and blisters developed on his skin.
“What the fuck?” he let out, his New York accent more pronounced than ever.
“Fifteen seconds,” the male scientist informed his partner in scientific research for the Reich War Ministry.
Choking, Wayne realized what was happening. He had enough knowledge to know that he would be dead shortly if he continued breathing in the chemical gas. He had to do something — fast. He had to take the dive.
Wayne scanned the site, his eyes burning. Three people had already lost consciousness. There was only one option for him to take. His adrenalin pumping, he seized a hold of the chair he had been sitting on, screamed, and smashed the chair through the one-way mirror. Glass shattered and flew in all directions. Yellow gas escaped from the confinement of the control site and slithered into the scientists’ testing area, smoking up the room. The researchers and the Nazi guard immediately began coughing; their eyes teared up. Wayne jumped through the destroyed partition.
The male researcher placed a handkerchief over his nostrils and mouth as the gas became denser. “Kill them,” he yelled at the Nazi guard.
Aiming his pistol at Wayne, the Nazi guard, his vision blurred by the poisonous vapor, fired and missed. He cocked his gun again. “You will die,” he said and stepped closer.
Wayne snatched one of the researcher’s snug chairs and held it in front of his body like a shield. He was twice again fired upon. One bullet hit the chair and another the wall behind him. Wayne, the gas causing him to still breathe heavily, threw the weighty chair at the armed Nazi. His opponent fell to the floor, dropping his gun.
The female scientist picked up a phone.
“Stop her,” Wayne screamed to Linda as she crawled out of the gas-filled room.
Linda sprung at the woman in the white lab coat and knocked the phone out of her hand and stomped on it.
The guard tried to reach for his gun, but Wayne was faster. He launched the chair at the guard’s head. There was a loud thunk, but Wayne needed to be sure. He picked up the chair again and brought it down even harder cracking the guard’s skull. Wayne grabbed the gun and aimed it at the scientists. The mustard colored gas was dissipating.
“Are you alright?” Wayne asked Linda.
Breathing hard, Linda answered, “I’ll make it.”
“We are doing important work that will greatly benefit the Reich,” the female scientist said proudly.
The male researcher added, with stoicism, “What happens to your kind does not interest us in the least. The important thing is that the Reich…”
“Your Reich can rot in hell!” Linda angrily cut him off.
“Quick, off with your clothes,” Wayne ordered the two researchers.
The scientists stayed motionless, as if not hearing the command.
Linda said, harshly, “Now. Strip. Maybe we won’t shoot you.”
“No need to worry, Gilda,” the male scientist bravely said, “They won’t kill us.”
“Oh, believe me, you sadistic jerk-off, I am very capable of pulling this trigger and blowing your well-educated brains all over this fuckin’ dump.” Wayne said agitatedly. He put the gun’s cylinder up to the male scientist’s temple. The scientists tugged their clothing off quickly and handed it over.
Wayne kept a lookout as Linda got dressed and she did the same for him.
“C’mon, move it.” Wayne said. He led the nearly naked researchers into the room with the cage. “In the cell. Hurry up.”
The scientists reluctantly obeyed.
Wayne handed the firearm to Linda and said, “Keep an eye on them. Be back in a sec.” He trotted off into the testing area.
“I should kill you two for what you did,” Linda informed the scientists.
Dragging the passed out Nazi guard by his feet, Wayne re-entered the holding cell and deposited the limp body inside of the cell next to the researchers. Wayne bent down and lifted the cell key, which he had previously seen the guard put in his pocket. Wayne locked the cell door.
“Where are the tests with radioactive material done?” Wayne wanted to know.
The scientists kept silent.
Linda aimed the gun at the female scientist’s chest and stated, “I’ll just have to waste them.”
“Ninth floor,” the male scientist mumbled.
“What was that?” Wayne loudly asked.
“Ninth floor,” the male scientist said in a higher volume. “That is where that type of testing is done.”
“Good boy,” Linda said. “Now you’ll live, though you certainly don’t deserve to.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Wayne said. Gilda shook her head and frowned disapprovingly at her counterpart.
They walked down the corridor cautiously. Linda turned to Wayne, the gun clutched tightly in her hand, “How do we get upstairs unnoticed?”
“I’ll let you know when I know,” he said and, eyeing the pistol, he added, “And put that thing away. It looks odd that a research person is carrying a gun.”
Linda nodded toward the corner, “Let’s find the elevator.”
They turned the corner and
a plainclothes German man exited from the elevator down the hall. Wayne looked down as the stranger passed them, careful to not make eye contact. The door hissed closed behind them and, Wayne pushed the button for the ninth floor. He said, “I have to get a hold of the crystals that I came here for. I didn’t intend to drag you into this with me. It would have been safer for you to have stayed back at the plant.”
“My life has never been safe. I was going to escape from Ravensbruck soon, anyway. You saved me the trouble.”
The elevator halted at its destination and the door slid open. Sauntering out onto the ninth floor hallway, with its generous view of the bomber and the feverish activity taking place below, Wayne became focused on the task at hand. He only had one chance to do this. It wouldn’t be long before the two scientists were found and a small army would be searching for them.
“Which way?” Linda asked.
Wayne surveyed the long corridor, devoid of people, which branched in an inviting way in the left direction and also in the right direction. Turning his gaze to the right, he said, “This way is as good as any.”
Passing by an unmarked door, Wayne said, “I might as well take a look in this room. Stay here by the door and keep a watch out for any trouble.”
“Okay,” Linda responded.
Wayne turned the doorknob and slowly walked into the unknown room. Inside, human skulls sat lined up neatly in a big bookcase, as if they were great literary works being displayed in a library. A youthful doctor, busy performing an autopsy on a corpse strapped down to a rolling medical table, had just finished the intricate process of removing the brain from the cadaver. The doctor, his smock bloodied and holding the head organ in his blood soaked arms, turned around at the intrusion. Wayne flinched at the sight he beheld. Nausea swiftly overcame him. He darted out of the room.