Kerner glanced at Nick. "You want him tortured?"
"Better than that," Sim Chan said. "Let us use Agent Z on him."
Nick stiffened. A cold shiver shot up his spine.
The idea seemed to delight Walther Kerner. The scientist beamed. "Yes, why not? I'm sure the drug is perfected. And we need a human being to experiment on."
Nick jumped to his feet "You'll never use that drug on me." He rushed Kerner. One of the guards slammed his rifle against Nick's chest.
Sim Chan watched the American fold and fall heavily to the floor.
"Let us get everything ready," Kerner said, and they left the room, leaving Nick alone. One of the guards locked the door and stood with his back to it as Kerner and Sim Chan walked down the corridor to the laboratory. The second guard said he was going to get some tea and took off.
As soon as he was out of the building he was surrounded by the others, who demanded to know what was going on. The guard told them that the scientists were going to use the drug on the foreign devil. He refused to answer any more questions and made his way to the dining room. He didn't see one of the guards following him. The mess hall was empty. He went to an urn and picked up a heavy metal cup from a pile nearby and started to pour tea into his cup when a sudden noise made him turn. He saw the rifle butt rushing toward his head. His cry died in his throat.
Lotus swung her rifle again and heard the man's skull crack.
She put the rifle aside and dragged the man off toward a closet that held brooms, mops, and pails. She dumped him inside and tossed in his rifle. She closed the door and went to get her own rifle.
She walked across the yard and entered the white building. She wandered down a corridor till she came to an open doorway and saw a huge room with a white man and a Chinese girl working over a table that contained bottles and test tubes. The man was drawing a liquid from a tube into a hypodermic needle. He laid the hypo down. "Shall we go collect our friend?" the white man asked.
The girl nodded and followed the man out of the room through a door to their right.
Lotus walked in. Her eyes were on the hypodermic needle.
Chapter 11
A living mushroom. That was what Nick was thinking when the door opened and Kerner and the guard walked in. Sim Chan waited outside in the hall. The guard motioned with his rifle and Nick walked out, Kerner behind him. Sim Chan led the way. They entered the laboratory.
Lotus was there. She made her voice harsh and spoke to the guard.
"What is he saying?" Kerner demanded to know.
"Fong was taken ill," Sim Chan explained. "He asked this guard to take over for him."
"No matter." Kerner faced Nick and folded his arms over his chest. "Now you will get a taste of German genius." His voice and attitude were smug. "I take it for granted you know about Agent Z. That is why you came. To find out more about the drug or to destroy it. Perhaps both."
"Sure," Nick said scornfully. "German genius. That's why you lost the war. It was easy taking over the small countries. But when it came to…"
"Be still," Kerner shouted His face was blood-red. His humor was completely gone.
Nick kept on goading the German scientist. It was an old trick but sometimes it still worked. He knew that Sim Chan was there to keep an eye on Kerner. He wanted to turn them against each other.
"How the mighty have fallen," Nick said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Your country is no longer your own. Now you have to hide in the shadows, do your work in secret because you are afraid…"
"Fool!" Kerner thundered, smarting under Nick's words. "You don't know what you're saying. There will be a new Germany, and soon. With Agent Z in our possession we can do anything. Do you hear? Anything. We will finish what Hitler started. The world will be ours and…" He caught his breath. He was talking too much. He turned slightly and saw Sim Chan staring at him. Those deep black Oriental eyes. He could never know what was going on in her mind. He managed a grin. He had to placate her somehow. "Yes," he said, more softly. "We will do all this with the help of our Chinese friends. We will have Germany and we will help our Chinese allies in their domination of the world."
Nick grinned at Sim Chan. "It looks like the old doublecross to me, baby. Your people will never get that drug. It's going…"
Kerner drove his fist into Nick's jaw with as much force as he could muster. He watched the man go down, his face hard and grim. He reached for the hypodermic needle, knelt by the stricken man and drove the needle into a vein in Nick's arm. His thumb plunged the liquid from the tube and into the vein. He stood up, some of the fury leaving his body. "Soon well know if Agent Z has been perfected." He clutched Sim Chan s arm, his fingers tightening in excitement.
"You're hurting me," Sim Chan gasped.
Kerner's eyes bulged as he saw Nick stiffen. He knelt down, felt for a pulse beat "The man's dead," he gasped.
"But it can't be."
Sim Chan remained calm. "Too much dosage."
"No. I gave him very little. You saw."
Then the mixture isn't right." Sim Chan turned to the guards. "Get rid of him. Bury him outside the compound. Then remain outside this building. I don't want anyone to enter."
The two guards quickly obeyed Sim Chan's orders.
Kerner waited till they had gone before turning to Sim Chan. "The guards obey you as if you were a field marshal."
"Does that surprise you?" Her hands were hidden in the deep, wide pockets of her quilted robe.
"I've suspected for some time that you were here to spy on me," Kerner said, his voice composed. "You even went so far as to become my mistress. I must confess I've enjoyed every moment of it. But as you can see, the suspicions of your comrades are without foundation."
"I don't see it that way."
Walther Kerner raised his eyebrows. "So? You believe what that man said? Isn't it obvious he was trying to turn you against me?"
"I heard you with my own ears. That drug isn't meant for us, is it? You and your friends are only interested in taking over Germany. Perhaps the rest of the world, too. I wont let you use us as pawns."
Kerner licked his lower lip. Sim Chan knew too much. She was too dangerous to live. She could wreck all their plans. His hands were suddenly around her throat. First he felt the push of the knife against his belly. Then the air rushed in and he felt the pain. His hands came away and he looked down and saw the knife in her hand. She had hidden it in the pocket of her robe. He saw the blood oozing from the wound in his belly. His lips moved, and she struck again. And again. He felt himself falling. There was a red haze in front of his eyes. He knew he was dying. The pain was terrific but he couldn't cry out. Then he died.
Sim Chan walked to the sink and washed the blood from the blade and wiped it on a cloth. The knife went back into her robe pocket. She knew what had to be done next. Confront Bormann. She wanted to kill him, but he was too important to her chief. There was always the chance that Kerner was acting on his own, but she doubted that.
She left the laboratory and went to her room, where she dressed. She used the phone on her writing table to order a car.
Chapter 12
"This white devil is heavy," Lotus complained, one arm wrapped around Nick's legs. "Let us stop for some tea and rice cakes."
"A very good idea. Then we'll borrow a car and drive him off to the village and have some of those peasants bury him for us. It isn't right for a soldier to do manual labor."
Lotus agreed with him, and they carried Nick's body into the mess hall, where they parked him on a bench. "You sit down here and I'll get the tea and cakes," Lotus told her companion.