King Solomon's Diamonds

33 Apocalypse over Salzkammergut

Under the drizzle, Karsten’s vast, green gardens rolled in perfectly kept beauty. In the gray of the rain, the colors of the flowers seemed almost luminescent and the trees towered in majesty in lavish fullness. For some reason, though, all the natural beauty could not deter the heavy sense of being lost, of being doomed, that loomed in the air.

“Christ, what a miserable paradise you live in, Joseph,” Liam Johnson remarked as he parked the car under a shadowy clump of silver birch and lush firs on a hillock above the property. “Just like your father, Satan.”

In his hand he held a pouch containing several cubic zirconias along with one rather large stone Purdue’s had assistant provided, as per her boss’ request. Under Sam’s direction, Liam had visited Wrichtishousis two days before to collect the stones from Purdue’s private collection. The lovely, forty-something lady managing Purdue’s money matters had been kind enough to warn Liam about disappearing with the certified diamonds.

“Steal these, and I will cut off your balls with a blunt nail clipper, alright?” the charming Scottish lady had said to Liam as she handed over the pouch he was to plant in Karsten’s mansion. It was a fond memory, indeed, as she looked the type as well — sort of… Miss Moneypenny meets American Mary.

Once inside the easily accessible country estate, Liam recalled his scrutiny of the house’s blueprints to find his way to the study where Karsten did all of his underhanded business. Outside he could hear the sub-par security men chatting with the housekeeper. Karsten’s wife and daughters had arrived two hours before and all three had retired to their bedrooms for some recuperative sleep.

Liam made his way into the small lobby at the end of the ground floor east wing. He picked the lock of the office with ease and gave his surroundings one more spy before entering.

“Holy shit!” he whispered when he snuck in, almost forgetting to keep track of the cameras. Liam felt his stomach churn as he closed the door behind him. “Nazi Disneyland!” he gasped under his breath. “My God, I knew you were up to something, Carter, but this? This is next level shite!”

The entire office was adorned in Nazi symbolism, paintings of Himmler and Göring, and several busts of other high-ranking SS-High Commanders. Behind his chair, a banner hung on the wall. “No way! The Order of the Black Sun,” Liam affirmed as he crept nearer to the awful sigil embroidered in black silk thread upon red satin cloth. Most disturbing to Liam was the looping video clips of awards ceremonies held by the Nazi Party in 1944, continually playing on the flat screen monitor. Inadvertently he turned into another painting boasting the hideous face of Yvetta Wolff, daughter of Karl Wolff, Obergruppenführer of the Waffen-SS. “This is her,” Liam muttered quietly, “Mother.”

Get your shit together, lad, Liam’s inner voice urged. You don’t want to spend your last moment in this pit, do you?

For a trained Black Ops specialist and technological espionage expert such as Liam Johnson, cracking Karsten’s safe was child’s play. In the safe Liam found another document with the Black Sun symbol on it, an official memorandum to all members that the Order had tracked down the exiled Egyptian Freemason, Abdul Raya. From an asylum in Turkey, Karsten and his associate High Level members had arranged for Raya’s discharge after research introduced them to his work during the Second World War.

His age alone, the fact that he was still alive and well, were all unfathomable traits that evoked the admiration of the Black Sun. In the opposite corner of the room, Liam also fixed a security feed monitor with sound feature, similar to Karsten’s own private cameras. The only difference was that this one sent feeds to the security office of Mr. Joe Carter, where it could easily be intercepted by Interpol and other government agencies.

Liam’s mission was all an elaborate job to incriminate the backstabbing MI6 leader and expose his closely guarded secret via live television stream as soon as Purdue activated it. Along with the information Sam Cleave obtained for his exclusive report, Joe Carter’s reputation was in serious peril.

“Where are they?” Karsten’s shrill voice echoed through the house, startling the sneaking MI6 intruder. Liam quickly put the pouch of diamonds in the safe and closed it as swiftly as he could.

“Who, sir?” a security staff member asked.

“My wife! M-m-my daughters, you goddamn imbecile!” he barked, his voice passing by the study doors and whining all the way up the stairs. Liam could hear the intercom sound next to the looping footage of the monitor in the office.

“Herr Karsten, there is a man here to see you, sir. His name is Abdul Raya?” a voice announced to all the intercoms in the house.

“What?” Karsten’s squeal sounded from upstairs. Liam just had to chuckle at his successful framing job. “I don’t have an appointment with him! He is supposed to be in Bruges, wreaking havoc!”

Liam crept out the doors of the study while listening to Karsten’s objections. That way he could keep track of the traitor’s location. The MI6 agent slipped out from the lavatory window on the second floor to avoid the main areas now frequented by paranoid security staff. Laughing, he jogged away from the evil walls of the horrible paradise that was about to host a ghastly standoff.

“Are you insane, Raya? Since when do I have diamonds to sell?” Karsten barked as he stood in the doorway of his office.

“Mister Karsten, you contacted me, offering to sell the Sudan Eye stone,” Raya replied calmly, his black eyes glimmering.

“The Sudan Eye? What in God’s name are you talking about?” Karsten hissed. “We did not release you for this, Raya! We released you to do our bidding, to bring the world to its knees! Now you come and bother me with this absurd bullshit?”

Raya’s lips curled back, revealing his hideous teeth as he stepped up to the overweight swine talking down to him. “Be very careful who you treat like a dog, Mr. Karsten. I think you and your organization have forgotten who I am!” Raya fumed. “I am the great sage, the magician responsible for the locust plague of North Africa during 1943, a courtesy I extended to the Nazi forces upon the Allied forces stationed in the godforsaken barren earth they shed blood on!”

Karsten fell back in his chair, sweating profusely. “I… I ha-have no diamonds, Mr. Raya, I swear!”

“Prove it!” Raya rasped. “Show me your safes and your coffers. If I find nothing, and you have wasted my precious time, I will turn you inside out while you live.”

“Oh Jesus!” Karsten wailed, staggering to the safe. His eyes caught the painting of Mother, glaring at him. He recalled Purdue’s words about his spineless flight, abandoning the old woman when her home was intruded on to rescue Purdue. After all, when news of her death reached the Order, questions had already arisen about the circumstances, since Karsten was with her that night. How was it that he got away and she did not? The Black Sun was an evil organization, but their members were all men and women of potent intellect and powerful means.

When Karsten opened his safe with relative security, he was confronted by a terrible vision. From the flung pouch, a few diamonds shimmered in the dark of the wall safe. “It’s impossible,” he said. “That is impossible! That is not mine!”

Raya shoved the quivering fool aside and gathered the diamonds up in his palm. Then he turned to face Karsten with a blood-curdling frown. His emaciated face and black hair gave him a distinct appearance of some harbinger of death, perhaps the Reaper himself. Karsten screamed for his security staff, but nobody answered.