Tomb of Odin

Chapter 22

Eventually Nina was forced to come clean about her impending flight impulse.

“I have bad news,” she told Purdue and Sam after explaining who the man in the picture was. “There has been someone following us, watching us, since we came onto this island, lads. And his presence is the very reason I have been so distant since we came up here.”

“I was wondering what you were so intrigued with outside,” Purdue said.

“I thought you were just admiring the view. For fuck’s sake, Nina, why did you not say something? Your silence has compromised our position here.”

“Oh, get sodded!” she snapped. “I’m sure both of you already thought I was being a hysterical bitch for what happened in the Himalayas. Did you think I would tell you that I saw one of the men I encountered, one of the men I thought were bona fide yeti? You’d have me fucking committed!”

“So you’ve seen this Deiter bloke on the island too?” Purdue asked with a great deal of concern. He was hoping to have a smooth-running operation this time around, but it looked like he had to be on his toes again after thinking he had escaped the clutches of the Black Sun.

“No, this time I saw Thomas. It was Thomas standing down in the field watching us, but I guarantee you, if Deiter was in Finland and Thomas is here, just a few miles away, chances are that all four of them are here for me!” Nina wailed. She was slowly falling back into a hopeless state of panic. Sam put his arms around her.

“I’m sorry, lass,” he said. “But let’s stop fucking about and get out of here, aye?”

“Seconded!” Purdue affirmed, and collected his coat and his sling bag.

They started down the winding stairwell where the ominous wail of the wind made their skins crawl. Cold air circled the confined tubular structure as they descended as quietly and swiftly as they could.

“Guten tag, Olga!” a deep voice possessed the atmosphere inside the lighthouse.

Purdue, Sam, and Nina stopped in their tracks and looked down. In the small circular landing of the stairs stood all four of the men Nina had been captured by in the tunnels under the snow. Her heart stopped and she fell back into Sam’s arms.

“Gentlemen, how are you?” Purdue addressed the oddly massive primates below them. “Fancy a beer to discuss this like civilized people?”

“We want the woman,” Thomas roared. When he scowled his mean, gray eyes almost disappeared under his brow. “She had something that belongs to us.”

“I don’t have it,” she told him.

“Then take us to where you left it,” Thomas suggested forcefully, “or we will snap your boyfriends’ spines right here.”

Sam pointed his camera down and started taking pictures of them.

“What are you doing?” Nina shrieked under her breath.

“I’m pissing them off,” he replied casually.

“Stop that!” one of the giants warned Sam.

“The fact that you are here pisses them off. Why would you exacerbate things?” she frowned, frantically trying to avert Sam from taking any more shots.

“Nina,” Purdue said, “just stay behind me.”

“You are trapped,” Deiter said. “You have nowhere to escape. So give us the woman so that she can tell us where the item is that she stole from us and we might let you live.”

“And we want that camera,” Thomas bellowed.

Their voices were even louder in the hollow structure, giving them a god-like quality.

“Look, lads, she does not have it. The police confiscated it. You would have to speak to them,” Purdue contended.

“Police? You think we would let the world see us? Don’t be stupid. Olga will retrieve the item for us and, until then, you will be in our custody,” Thomas asserted. “Now come down and don’t try anything stupid. You have no idea what you are fucking with.”

To Purdue and Sam, it was instantly clear that Thomas was the Alpha of the bunch. They had no idea who these men were, but by their slightly freakish features and their involvement in the archeological dig, it was a logical presumption that they were serious, let alone — German. Purdue especially saw Germans as an efficient, no-bullshit breed that would not be perturbed by negotiation once they had set their sights on something.

“All right, all right,” Purdue said cordially, his hands open to remove any gestures of threat. He came down the steps slowly, leaving a protective Sam and a terrified Nina behind. “I’ll come down. You can hold me while… Olga… and Sam here get the item back from the police,” he offered. “What do you say?”

“Fair enough, but we’ll keep both of you men until she brings the generator back,” Thomas replied. Sam shook his head. His embrace tightened around Nina, while Purdue and the giants waited.

“I’m not letting go of her,” Sam protested. “No fucking way!”

“Sam, take it easy,” Purdue said, trying to be diplomatic until the status quo could be overturned. But Sam was adamant.

“No. No taking it easy. Don’t you see? If they don’t want to be seen, it means we are all dead the moment they have the flask,” he said. Against his chest he could feel Nina’s tiny frame shaking as she pushed back into him. There was no question that she did not want him to let go.

“So what do you propose otherwise?” Purdue shouted. “You are making things so much more difficult. We have no choice!”

“Listen to your friend… Sam,” Deiter suggested. One of the other giants took hold of Purdue’s upper arm and pulled him aside. “Your friend is going to get killed because of your insolence.”

“Conceited, aren’t you?” Sam snapped back.

“Stop antagonizing them, Sam!” Purdue bellowed. “Just let her get the thing for them and we can get the hell out of their way, idiot!”

“Listen to your friend!” roared the man holding Purdue. “He is the only smart one here.”

“Hell no, you can keep him!” Sam persisted. “If you want us, you fuckers can come up and get us!” And with that Sam dragged Nina backward with him, back up the steps. He hoped that they would not kill Purdue, but rather chase after him and Nina, which is why he deliberately employed defiance to provoke them.

“What in God’s name are you doing, Sam?” Nina shrieked under her breath as he lugged her back toward the opposite side of the light chamber, making for some distance between them and the landing.

“Get them!” they heard Thomas bellow downstairs, and the subsequent rumble of their heavy boots came thundering closer, shaking the railing of the staircase.

“I hope this works, otherwise we have to say our goodbyes right now,” Sam told Nina as he held her tightly against him.

“What? Tell me what you are trying to do!” she grunted nervously, at the end of her tether with Sam’s evasive manner.

Deiter and one of his brothers appeared on the stairs, horrifying Nina with their familiar rage. She clawed at Sam, but he did not flinch. Just before they reached the top the corroded steps gave way under their weight with a crack. Screaming, the two giants plummeted all the way down and met the concrete floor with a deadly crash, meeting the falling steel fragments in a messy heap of muscle and blood.

Purdue winced as he turned his head. The impact had torn both men open and the smell of hot meat filled Purdue’s nostrils. He could not stop the convulsion as his body repelled its stomach contents at the sensation of splatter against his face and arms. Thomas dove to the side with his other brother to get out of the way, fearing they would be crushed, but they could not avert harm. While they cowered, Purdue, still hunched over in nausea, made for the door and escaped. Thomas was knocked cold and his brother impaled by a piece of railing that came down on him like a spear.

Nina looked at Sam. Slowly she started smiling. Her lips fell softly on his, reminding him of a familiar heaven he had almost forgotten. Nina cradled Sam’s jaw with her slender hands, pulling his face closer, his lips deeper into hers. Below them the cacophony died down into complete silence and all Sam could hear was Nina’s almost inaudible groan as she kissed him.

“You are a daft, reckless, son of a bitch, you know?” she smiled, placing her forehead against his.

“Aye. It has been said,” he agreed.

“I hope Purdue is all right,” Nina gasped.

“Let’s go see,” Sam agreed and pulled her up.

“How are we going to get down again?” she asked.

Sam looked a bit flustered, “Um, I haven’t thought of that yet.”

They leaned carefully over what was left of the rail.

“Ooh,” she cringed, “God, that’s gross. I don’t see Purdue. Shit, I hope they didn’t fall on him, Sam!”

Sam grimaced, “Let’s hope he knew what I was playing at. The door is ajar. Maybe he got out. Now we have to find a way to get down without ending up like them.”

Nina surveyed the broken frame. “I think we’d be able to climb down on the side. Look, it is still affixed to the wall.”

“Shite,” Sam sighed. “I’m not keen on heights. And I’m no even-footed cat person like you. I’ll break my fucking neck going down there!”

“You won’t,” Purdue said from the bottom, holding a rope. “I’ll toss this up to you and you can climb down before the authorities realize we have practically destroyed their landmark.

“Not to mention accounting for this mess,” Nina added, pointing to the enormous corpses. “I bet you there will be some daft speculation surrounding this lot. If they don’t cover it up, they will be crying ‘Nephilim.’”

“That’s true,” Purdue scowled, fighting the urge to regurgitate again at the sight of them. “And I don’t mean to rush the two of you, but one of these brutes is still alive. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to be here when he comes to.”

When they exited the lighthouse, they carefully checked for the presence of tourists or authorities, but there was no discernible movement in the immediate vicinity. Without a word they traversed the limestone formations and rocky edges against the tide line to get to their boat.

“Stop,” Purdue said. “Stop. We can’t go back.”

He reached out his arm to barricade them. Ahead of them the vessel they had hired was teeming with Estonian police officers and coast guard. Three or four fishing trawlers hovered nearby with their crew staring from the decks.

Nina, Sam, and Purdue were stranded on Osmussaar.

There was no way they would return to the vessel to explain to the police that the skipper was torn apart by a hybrid breed of super men engineered by Nazi scientists, because they were chasing three intruders who left a trail of blood and destruction wherever they went.

“Hope you hired that bloke off the record,” Sam said evenly.

“Cash only, Sam. As always, cash only.”