Sean frowned at the emblem, more out of confusion than disdain. "Dr. Ott is a Nazi?" he mumbled the words.
The bird at the window flapped its wings again, startling Sean once more. He returned his attention to the leather book but was slow to open it, like a medieval monk peering into an ancient tome of holy scripture. Inside were more of the strange calculations he'd seen on some of the other papers he'd examined, but these had pictures accompanying them.
"I really should have taken calculus," he whispered as he poured over the strange drawings and detailed formulas.
The initial drawings in the book featured something that looked like a metal cube. The detail was fairly strong, right down to the rivets holding the box together; an open door on the side revealed a chair and what looked like a control panel. The date at the top of the page read, 17/04/1942.
With wide eyes, Sean flipped the pages, finding more drawings, math, and notations written in German. While he struggled with the high-level math, he could read the German almost fluently. The notes, however, were talking about tests they'd run with powerful magnets. Through the first several pages, the experiments had been unsuccessful.
As Sean turned each page, he noticed that the designs of the box changed. Initially, it had been a cube, but as the journal entry dates progressed, it became more rounded.
He continued to pour over the pages, absorbing the information as fast as he could.
"What were you up to?" he asked aloud.
One of the last drawings in the book featured an image that was nothing like the one at the beginning. The object had mutated from a metal cube to something that looked more like a bell. There were people standing around, staring at it from below. It had been anchored, Sean assumed with chains, to several pillars that stood in a circle. What he couldn't figure out was the thing that hovered over the bell. It looked like a swirling hole, but the artist had left a little too much to the imagination, and the author's description was vague at best.
The next to last entry was dated 08/04/1945 and proclaimed the experiment to be a success, and that only a little more testing would be necessary before they attempted to use the device with a human subject.
On the final page, no date was given, and the writing had changed somewhat. It appeared to be sloppier, as if written in a hurry. The context of the words gave a clue as to why.
The Nazis were so close to achieving their goal. I managed to steer their scientists with incorrect assumptions and calculations for the last three years, which I pray was long enough to keep them from success. The Allies are closing in around them, and it will not be long before they are defeated. Die Glocke has been removed from its housings and was put on a train bound for Hamburg. I overheard some of the soldiers saying the device would be taken to South America, where several of the high command were rumored to go if the war was lost.
I pray the help of Saint Sebastian in this endeavor.
"Die Glocke?" he said aloud. That would require a little digging, but for now, he wanted to get out of Dr. Ott's apartment to somewhere a little more neutral. One of the many coffee shops he'd seen on the way in came to mind. He'd be able to access the Internet faster and have some privacy by blending in with the crowds of patrons. Sean grabbed the little book and stuffed it in his rucksack.
He stood up and started for the door when he heard the clicking again. He turned his head to the window, but the bird was gone. Sean froze in place near the bedroom door and leaned back against the wall. The sound came from the living room. The second time around, he recognized the noise. It was the sound of someone manipulating the lock.
6
Sean pressed his back against the wall and waited. Someone was trying to get into the apartment. It could have been the local authorities, but he doubted it. They would have got a key from the apartment manager. Even if it was the police, Sean knew that wasn't much better. If they found him in here, his mission would be compromised before it even began. At best, it would put him several hours behind the clock, and he was already fighting the time issue.
Whoever was at the door was attempting to pick it, which meant they were potentially hostile. He pulled the weapon out of its holster, holding it near his face and keeping his shoulder dug into the doorframe. In an instant, he remembered the balcony. Part of it stretched around behind part of the wall, which would give him a temporary hiding place. Of course, if whoever was at the door happened to walk over to the balcony doors, he'd be exposed.
It was his only option.
Sean padded hurriedly across the floor like a 180-pound mouse. He turned the latch on the balcony door, but it wouldn't budge. His heart pounded, but he forced himself to remain calm. He looked down and realized it was locked. Why would someone lock a door five stories up? He twisted the lock and tugged on the latch, slipping outside as he heard the lock on the front door give way.
He pulled the balcony door closed as quietly as possible and slipped around the edge of the wall just as he saw the front open. All he'd seen was a gloved hand coming around the corner at the front, reaffirming what he'd believed about the intruder. The realization of his current situation struck him after a few seconds of standing on the balcony. Since he could remember, Sean had been afraid of heights, a phobia that had plagued him throughout his entire life. People had suggested he see a therapist about it, but he was always too busy for anything like that. The oddity behind his fear was that, as a boy, he'd climbed trees all the time, never fearing falling or getting hurt. But buildings and high mountains were a different animal altogether. Even at the less-extreme height of five stories, his heart dropped into his stomach.
He pressed his back against the wall, still clutching his weapon with one hand but pushing hard against the smooth, brushed steel siding with the other. He could hear the intruder rummaging through some things inside. From the sound of it, the person was probably in the living room, knocking over the desk, shelving, and some of the other things in the area. These guys are a little late to the party, Sean thought, distracting himself for a moment from the dizzying heights.
His mind returned to it, though, as he realized he needed to get out of there.
To his right, the next-door balcony presented his only option. He shuffled his feet, inch by inch, until he reached the railing. The distance between the two porches was temptingly close. Maybe five feet. To him, it looked more like twenty. For two seconds, he briefly considered the possibility that whoever was inside the apartment might actually not check the balcony. Why would they? Surely, whatever they were looking for wouldn't be out there? Would it?
He shrugged off the thoughts. The intruder didn't need a reason to check the balcony. Sheer curiosity would be enough to catch Sean, at which point he would have to shoot his way out, something he'd rather not do in the current environment. Then again, he'd rather not try to jump five feet from one railing to another.
A horrible sequence of visions flashed through his head. One of them involved losing his footing and completely missing the jump, followed by his body plummeting to the pavement below next to a stream of pedestrians. He took a deep breath and swallowed hard. There was no other option. He had to get away clean, and this was the only way.