What are you talking about? There is no
safety
in Berlin right now. You would find better
safety
roaming around a tiger cage with a ham sandwich tied to your fucking leg. And another thing, when did this war become about honor?”
“The night Dresden got hit.”
Narrator: Black knight eliminates white pawn, bishop and rook. All at once. Checkmate.
Wolf sighed loudly. Dresden was where all discussions about the morality of the war began and ended with Sebastian. After he uttered that word, there was nothing else to discuss. The incineration of his home and family by Allied bombers was a terrible wound that would never heal with the young soldier.
As they contemplated their next move, Eva pointed at the bookcase. A leather-bound book shook briefly and then fell to the floor.
The men stared at the book in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Neither one knew what to make of a flying book, but they had seen many strange and inexplicable things in the war. As long as it wasn’t shooting at them, they felt more or less safe.
Finally, Sebastian picked it up. It was a church songbook, nothing unusual. “Maybe it contains a code,” he said, as he curiously flipped through the pages.
“When you get out of the army, don’t apply to be a detective. You’re extremely dumb,” Wolf replied.
Sebastian looked up and smiled. Eva had her arm fully extended, pointing at the bookcase. Subtle, she was not. He dropped the book, grabbed the top of the bookcase and pulled it towards him. He jumped back as the weight shifted and it slammed to the floor.
As it turned out, there was a wooden door behind the bookcase. When he opened it, the men gasped—stairs disappeared down into the darkness!
Sebastian looked at Eva in wide-eyed amazement. “You’re an angel,” he said. “Our guardian angel.”
16
Devil Inside
Two hundred meters from Berlin Cathedral, the remnants of a squad of SS troopers occupied the Hotel Neptune, a small two-story structure just off the
Unter den Linden
. The bizarre aquatic theme of the second story room that they had called home for two days clashed with their dirty black uniforms and the military music that played incessantly in the background.
Varik peered through binoculars as artillery rumbled in the distance. Next to him sat one of the Nazi’s newest instruments of death, an MG-42 machine gun. The weapon’s incredible 1,200 rounds-per-minute firing rate made it the fastest machine gun of the war; it sounded like a buzz saw when it was fired. Varik had used the weapon to mow down an entire Russian patrol yesterday. Despite that momentary victory, with limited ammunition and no reinforcements, he knew that the next time he fired the weapon would probably be his last.
As Varik kept watch from his perch, Otto the Jackal and Pig Face sat on the couch and drank the night away. The two soldiers had been to hell and back over the course of the war and had become best friends after surviving two days of desperate hand-to-hand fighting in a Lithuanian swamp. They were tired, but not so tired that they couldn’t pass the cognac around. Technically speaking, they were piss drunk and trying to forget that it could be their last night on Earth.
Pig Face stood up and stared at his grotesque pockmarked face in a huge gold-framed mirror. “I’m sick of this weird place. We need to get out of here,” he said. “We can’t hold them off forever.”
“Relax, asshole. Fritz will be back soon,” Otto replied, patting his huge belly. “We still have some time.”
Suddenly, the music stopped. The men grew quiet as the voice of Joseph Goebbels came on the radio.
“
At the moment of the war when all forces of hate and destruction gather to give what they mistakenly believe will be the death blow to the German Reich, I speak to Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Red Army. The Führer demands the immediate withdrawal of Soviet forces from German soil. If you do not comply, a secret weapon more powerful than the
safety
in Berlin right now. You would find better
safety
roaming around a tiger cage with a ham sandwich tied to your fucking leg. And another thing, when did this war become about honor?”
“The night Dresden got hit.”
Narrator: Black knight eliminates white pawn, bishop and rook. All at once. Checkmate.
Wolf sighed loudly. Dresden was where all discussions about the morality of the war began and ended with Sebastian. After he uttered that word, there was nothing else to discuss. The incineration of his home and family by Allied bombers was a terrible wound that would never heal with the young soldier.
As they contemplated their next move, Eva pointed at the bookcase. A leather-bound book shook briefly and then fell to the floor.
The men stared at the book in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Neither one knew what to make of a flying book, but they had seen many strange and inexplicable things in the war. As long as it wasn’t shooting at them, they felt more or less safe.
Finally, Sebastian picked it up. It was a church songbook, nothing unusual. “Maybe it contains a code,” he said, as he curiously flipped through the pages.
“When you get out of the army, don’t apply to be a detective. You’re extremely dumb,” Wolf replied.
Sebastian looked up and smiled. Eva had her arm fully extended, pointing at the bookcase. Subtle, she was not. He dropped the book, grabbed the top of the bookcase and pulled it towards him. He jumped back as the weight shifted and it slammed to the floor.
As it turned out, there was a wooden door behind the bookcase. When he opened it, the men gasped—stairs disappeared down into the darkness!
Sebastian looked at Eva in wide-eyed amazement. “You’re an angel,” he said. “Our guardian angel.”
16
Devil Inside
Two hundred meters from Berlin Cathedral, the remnants of a squad of SS troopers occupied the Hotel Neptune, a small two-story structure just off the
Unter den Linden
. The bizarre aquatic theme of the second story room that they had called home for two days clashed with their dirty black uniforms and the military music that played incessantly in the background.
Varik peered through binoculars as artillery rumbled in the distance. Next to him sat one of the Nazi’s newest instruments of death, an MG-42 machine gun. The weapon’s incredible 1,200 rounds-per-minute firing rate made it the fastest machine gun of the war; it sounded like a buzz saw when it was fired. Varik had used the weapon to mow down an entire Russian patrol yesterday. Despite that momentary victory, with limited ammunition and no reinforcements, he knew that the next time he fired the weapon would probably be his last.
As Varik kept watch from his perch, Otto the Jackal and Pig Face sat on the couch and drank the night away. The two soldiers had been to hell and back over the course of the war and had become best friends after surviving two days of desperate hand-to-hand fighting in a Lithuanian swamp. They were tired, but not so tired that they couldn’t pass the cognac around. Technically speaking, they were piss drunk and trying to forget that it could be their last night on Earth.
Pig Face stood up and stared at his grotesque pockmarked face in a huge gold-framed mirror. “I’m sick of this weird place. We need to get out of here,” he said. “We can’t hold them off forever.”
“Relax, asshole. Fritz will be back soon,” Otto replied, patting his huge belly. “We still have some time.”
Suddenly, the music stopped. The men grew quiet as the voice of Joseph Goebbels came on the radio.
“
At the moment of the war when all forces of hate and destruction gather to give what they mistakenly believe will be the death blow to the German Reich, I speak to Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Red Army. The Führer demands the immediate withdrawal of Soviet forces from German soil. If you do not comply, a secret weapon more powerful than the
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