Duke Elric - Michael Moorcock [114]
Begg had narrowly escaped terrible death at the hands of this near-immortal before, and now there seemed there was no hope of escape at all.
Klosterheim's sunken sockets hid eyes which burned within like the unquenched flames of hell. He pocketed his revolver as the triumphant Nazis trained their own weapons on the detectives. Then the masked man bent and placed his thin lips upon those of Mrs. Persson. Begg was astonished. Klosterheim had never shown warmth, let alone passion, for any creature, least of all a woman. And Mrs. Persson smiled admiringly back at the cadaverous devil with whom she had cast her lot. Colonel Hitler meanwhile glowered jealously, clearly furious that the woman had collaborated with him because Klosterheim had instructed her to do so. Noting all these connections, Begg now believed himself thoroughly outwitted. Was it possible that Zenith was also part of this unholy alliance?
“I cannot believe this of you, Mrs. Persson!” exclaimed Taffy, still shocked and clearly unable to accept this turn of events. Like his colleagues, save the wounded LeBec, his hands were now firmly tied behind his back by Herr Hess. It was just possible that a tear gleamed in his eye. “How can any decent Englishwoman possibly ally herself with such riff-raff?”
“Oh, I think you'll find it's quite commonly done, Dr. Sinclair.” Mrs. Persson seemed partially drunk as she leaned against the gaunt skeleton who was not only her ally but apparently also her master, perhaps even her paramour. “We women are silly creatures, eh, thoroughly addicted to powerful men? There's à larger interest here which I'm sure you'll appreciate. Very few of us are privileged to know one of Satan's very own angels …”
Sinclair, his mouth set in a hard, disapproving line, was frozen in horror, completely incapable of a response.
The Nazis began to herd their captives back towards the moonbeam roads.
“We await only Count Zenith,” chuckled Captain Goering, “and our plan will be complete. On Saturday, the Hindenburg brings the Jewish Palestinian deputation from America to Munich. They intend to discuss an obscenity with Comrade von Hugenberg, chairman of the Munich Supreme Soviet—the establishment of a new Jewish state in the Bavarian lake district! Can you imagine a worse insult to our Christian community? But it will never take place. Our man Zenith will introduce a bomb on board while the Hindenburg refuels overnight at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. He will take the Star of Judea as his payment. The Jews intend to use that priceless emerald as down-payment for the land they buy from the treacherous Bavarian soviet. The Hindenburg will blow up, and the French will be blamed for their sabotage. A wedge is thereby driven between the various allies. Jews, Frenchmen and Bavarian communists will all be implicated by the British and Americans. Chaos will ensue. Meanwhile, we will be prepared, as soon as news of the Hindenburg's destruction comes through, to announce a new National Socialist Bavarian state. The Freikorps will already have passed through the Eagle Gate and be crossing the moonbeam roads into the Arcades of the Opera, a stone's throw from the Arc de Triomphe. We shall announce our victory there. Our guns will by that time command the whole of Paris. Germans will rise to our victorious standard, and this time the British and French will find it impossible to subdue us. Paris will already be hostage to our cannon!”
“But this is madness!” gasped Lapointe. “All you will succeed in doing is harming hundreds of innocent people. You will be defeated again. Your logic is entirely flawed, Captain Goering.”
“Nonsense. You are addressing the cream of the Nazi elite!” barked Herr Goebbels. “Our plan is flawless!”
“Has Herr Klosterheim talked you