The Atlantis Scrolls

Chapter 20

By the late hours past midnight, Purdue and Agatha were dressed for the occasion. It was a miserable night of gales and moody skies, but fortunately for them there was no rain — yet. Rain would thoroughly sink their capacity for scaling the massive structure, especially where the turret was situated, slapped neatly and perilously atop the summit of the four roofs that joined to form a cross. After careful planning and consideration for security risks and time-restrained efficacy they elected to scale the building from the outside, directly up to the turret. They would climb via the alcove where the southern and eastern walls met and use the protrusive buttresses and arches to aid their footwork in their ascent.

Nina was a nervous wreck.

“What if the wind picked up even more?” she asked Agatha, pacing around the blonde librarian while she fitted her harness under her overcoat.

“Darling, we have belaying ropes for that,” she muttered as she tied the seam of her overalls to her boots to keep it from getting caught on anything. Sam was on the other side of the living room with Purdue, checking their communication devices.

“Are you sure you know how to monitor the coms?” Agatha asked Nina, who was burdened with the task of base control while Sam would take the position of lookout from the street opposite the main façade of the cathedral.

“Yes, Agatha. I’m not exactly inept with technology,” Nina sighed. She knew by now not to even try to defend against Agatha’s unintentional insults.

“Right,” Agatha laughed in her superior manner.

True, the Purdue twins were world-class hackers and developers who could manipulate electronics and science like other people tied their shoes, but Nina herself did not lack in intellect. For one thing, she had learned to curb that furious temper of hers slightly; just slightly to accommodate Agatha’s weirdness. At 2:30 a.m. the team hoped that security would either be idle or that they would not patrol altogether, it being a Tuesday night with horrid gusts.

Just before 3 a.m. Sam, Purdue, and Agatha headed for the door, Nina in tail to lock up behind them.

“Please be careful, guys,” Nina urged again.

“Hey, not to worry,” Purdue winked, “we’re professional troublemakers. We’ll be fine.”

“Sam,” she said softly and took his gloved hand in hers furtively, “come back soon.”

“Keep your eye on us, eh?” he whispered, placing his forehead against hers and smiling.

The streets surrounding the cathedral were dead quiet. Only the moan of the wind whistled around the corners of buildings and rattled the road signs while some newspaper and leaves danced by its guidance. Three figures in black approached from the cover of the trees at the east end of the grand church. In silent synchronization they set their communication devices and trackers before the two climbers broke away from the vigil and started ascending the southeastern side of the monument.

All went as planned while Purdue and Agatha carefully made their way up toward the ridge turret. Sam watched them gradually move up through the pointed arches while the wind nibbled at their ropes. He stood under the shade of the trees where the streetlight could not expose him. To his left he heard a commotion. A young girl of approximately twelve years old was running down the street toward the railway station, sobbing in terror. Closely following her were four underage thugs in neo-Nazi gear, shouting all kinds of profanities at her. Sam did not know much German, but he knew enough to realize they had no good intentions.

“What the hell is such a young girl doing here at this time of night?” he said to himself.

His curiosity got the better of him, but he had to stay put to monitor security.

What is more important? The welfare of a child in real danger or your two colleagues who, so far, are doing swimmingly? he wrestled with his conscience. Fuck it, I’ll check it out and I’ll be back before Purdue even looks down.

Sam stealthily tailed the hooligans, keeping himself obscured from the light. He could hardly hear them anymore above the din of the weather’s maddening hiss, but he could see their shadows entering the railway yard behind the cathedral. He moved eastward, thus losing sight of Purdue and Agatha’s shadow-like movements between the buttresses and Gothic stone needles.

Now he could not hear them at all, but being sheltered by the station house it was dead silent inside nonetheless. Sam walked as softly as he could, but he could not hear the young girl anymore. A sickening feeling settled in the pit of his stomach when he imagined that they had caught up to her and were keeping her quiet. Or perhaps they might have killed her already. Sam shook the absurd oversensitivity out of his mind and continued on along the platform.

Behind him scuffling footsteps came too fast for him to defend and he felt several hands pull him down to the floor, groping and searching for his wallet.

Like skinhead demons they clawed at him with ghastly grins and more German shouts of violence. Among them stood the girl, against the white light of the station house that beamed from behind her. Sam frowned. She was not a little girl after all. The young woman was one of them, used to lure unsuspecting Samaritans to secluded areas for her pack to rob them. Now that he could see her face, Sam noticed that she was at least eighteen years old. Her small, juvenile body betrayed him. A few kicks to his ribs rendered him defenseless and Sam felt a familiar flashback of Baudaux pry its way back from his memory.

“Sam! Sam? Are you all right? Talk to me!” Nina shouted in his earpiece, but he was spitting out a mouthful of blood.

He felt them pulling at his watch.

“No, no! That’s not a watch! You can’t have that!” he shouted, uncaring if his protests convinced them that his watch was worth much to him.

“Shut up, scheisskopf!” the girl smirked and landed a boot to Sam’s scrotum that ripped every bit of breath from him.

He could hear the pack laughing as they took off, complaining about the tourist with no wallet. Sam was so furious that he just screamed in frustration. Not that anyone could hear above the wailing gale outside anyway.

“Jesus! How stupid are you, Cleave?” he sneered though clenched jaws. With his fist he hammered the concrete beneath him, but he could not get up yet. The stinging spear of pain that lodged itself in his lower abdomen had immobilized him and he only hoped that the gang would not return before he could get to his feet. They would surely return once they found out that the watch they stole could not tell the time.

Meanwhile, Purdue and Agatha had made their way halfway up the structure. They could not afford to have a conversation over the noise of the wind, for fear of detection, but Purdue could see his sister’s pants had gotten caught on a downward facing outcrop. She could not continue, and she had no way of giving rope to correct her position and loosen her leg from the unassuming trap. She looked up at Purdue and gestured that he cut the cord while she held fast to the protuberances, standing on a small ledge. He shook his head fervently in disagreement and motioned with a fist for her to wait.

Slowly, very wary of the whipping force of the wind that threatened to sweep them off the side of the stone walls, he set his feet carefully in the crevices of the building. One by one, he descended, navigating toward the larger ledge below so that his new location could afford Agatha the rope leeway she needed to undo her pants from the brick corner where it had hitched.

As she pulled free, her weight overcompensated and she was flung from her spot. A yelp escaped her terrified body, but the gale ate it up quickly.

“What’s going on?” Nina’s panic came over the earpieces. “Agatha?”

Purdue held tightly to the scallop where his fingers were about to fail his weight, but he mustered the strength to keep his sister from plummeting to her death. He looked down at her. Her complexion was ashen and her eyes wide as she stared back up and nodded in thanks. But Purdue looked past her. Frozen in his spot, his eyes moved cautiously along with something underneath her. Quizzical, her frown asked for information, but he shook his head slowly and mouthed for her to keep quiet. Over the communication device Nina could hear Purdue whispering, “Don’t move, Agatha. Don’t make a sound.”

“Oh, my God!” Nina exclaimed from the home base. “What’s going on there?”

“Nina, quiet. Please,” was all she heard Purdue say in the interference of the speaker.

Agatha’s nerves were tormenting her, not for the distance at which she was dangling from the south face of the Cologne Cathedral, but for not knowing what her brother was gaping at behind her back.

Where did Sam go? Did they get him too? Purdue wondered, scanning the area below for Sam’s shadow, but he found no trace of the journalist.

Below Agatha, on the street, Purdue watched three police officers patrolling. In the strong wind he could not hear what they were saying. They might as well have discussed pizza toppings for all he knew, but he imagined that their presence was provoked by Sam, otherwise they would have looked up by now. He had to leave his sister swaying dangerously in the gust while he waited for them to turn the corner, but they remained in sight.

Purdue observed their discussion keenly.

Suddenly Sam came stumbling from the direction of the station, looking decidedly drunk. The officers went straight for him, but before they could seize him two black shadows moved rapidly from the dark shelter of the trees. Purdue gasped as he watched two Rottweilers come at the police, scattering the men from their huddle.

“What the…?” he whispered to himself. Both Nina and Agatha, one shouting and the other mouthing, responded, “WHAT?”

Sam vanished into the shadows on the curvature of the street and waited there. He had been chased by dogs before and it was not one of his fondest memories at all. Both Purdue and Sam watched from their respective vigils how the police pulled their firearms and shot up in the air to scare off the vicious black animals.

Both Purdue and Agatha winced, pinching their eyes shut for the tear of those stray bullets aimed right up toward them. Fortunately neither shot found the stone or their tender flesh. Both dogs barked, but did not advance. It was as if they were being controlled, thought Purdue. Slowly the police officers withdrew toward their vehicle to put the wire out to Animal Control.

Quickly, Purdue pulled his sister toward the wall so that she could find a steady ledge and he motioned to her to maintain silence with his index finger on his lips. Once she had found her footing she dared to look down. Her heart raced at the height and the view of the cops walking across the street.

“Let’s move!” Purdue whispered.

Nina was frantic.

“I heard gunshots! Can anyone just tell me what the fuck is happening over there?” she shrieked.

“Nina, we’re okay. Just a small obstacle. Now please, let us do this,” Purdue explained.

Sam realized at once that the animals had disappeared without a trace.

He could not let them know not to speak over the coms, should the gang of juvenile criminals hear them, neither could he converse with Nina. None of the three had their cell phones on them to prevent signal interference, so he could not notify Nina that he was all right.

“Oh, now I’m in deep shit,” he sighed, and watched the two climbers reach the ridge of the adjoining roofs.