The Peregrine Omnibus, Volume Two (93 page)

The driver cleared his throat and glanced at Sun Koh’s reflection in the rear view mirror. “From what I understand, the brains back in Germany know what happened to you, so they don’t need to question you about it.”

“Then they know more than I do. My memories are mostly a haze after I left this time and place. My friends came with me and I remember a terrible battle. I liberated an offshoot of Atlantis that was located within the Hollow Earth… but after that, all I remembered was fire and heat. It was like my flesh was being scorched right off my body! And then I was back, four years after I left.”

The driver navigated through the streets of London, obviously knowing the city as well as any native could. “The Occult Forces Project has been partnering with a company called Bane Industries on something they call The Un-Earth Project. They’re basically creating a miniature copy of the Earth, using telepaths to fashion the place. They’re linking it the real world, making copies of people and places. Eventually, people who have psychic ‘twins’ in both worlds will be easy targets because those who are killed on Un-Earth are killed in this world, as well
2
.”

Sun Koh found the man’s words almost impossible to believe but he could recognize when someone was lying to him and he knew that there were untruths being said. “What does this have to do with me?” he asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.

“In 1938 when you and your friends raised Atlantis and you discovered that things weren’t as you remembered, you performed a ritual, intending to transport your friends and yourself to the Hollow Earth. Correct?”

“Yes.”

“But in doing so, you actually transported yourself to Un-Earth. The exploits you had in the Hollow Earth, the cleansing of Thule/Greenland… those took place in that other world.”

“A false world.”

“Not false… just one that was created by men on this Earth. It’s going to be an Aryan paradise.”

Something seemed to click in Sun Koh’s mind, then, and it was not a pleasant thought at all. A false world created by Nazis would need for Aryan myths to become Aryan truths. A lost civilization of Aryan supremacy… Check. A time-lost hero, whose every mannerism and physical characteristic would imply Aryan superiority? Check.

Only one thing didn’t fit: Sun Koh had arrived in London in 1932 and Hitler did not rise to power until 1933. So unless the Un-Earth Project predated Hitler and the Nazis, it would be impossible for Sun Koh to be a product of this other world.

Still, such a thing could explain the differences in Atlantis. If the lost continent on Un-Earth were the utopia that Sun Koh remembered, it would be confirmation that the Un-Earth was the planet of his birth and not this one. This one had possessed hieroglyphs and his father’s throne… but even upon discovering them, Sun Koh had suspected they were forgeries. He had sensed that they were modern creations, designed to look far older.

These dark thoughts about his own origins kept Sun Koh from questioning his driver any further. In fact, he was so lost in his musings that he failed to notice the car coming to a stop in front of a hotel that catered to foreigners.

“We’ve arrived, Herr Koh. You will find her on the top floor, room 515.”

“Thank you.” Sun Koh began to exit the vehicle but paused with his hand on the door. “Tell me… was I born on Un-Earth?”

The driver turned to face him. “I honestly don’t know. I suppose it is possible that you were born there and that somehow, when you were thrown into the future, you accidentally breached the barrier and arrived in our world.”

Sun Koh stared at the man, realizing that the fellow might be giving him the affirmation he needed… Ultimately, it did not matter. Whether he was born here or if his history had been sculpted on Un-Earth, all that he had accomplished since 1932 was real… and so was his desire to see the Aryan peoples protected. “Thank you,” he said, exiting the vehicle.

He stood outside the hotel for several minutes before entering. The Daughter of Kali lay within.

CHAPTER IV

Truths and Half-Truths

The Peregrine slammed his elbow into the crook’s face, shattering the man’s nose. He then grabbed hold of his opponent’s arm and swung him about, sending him tumbling into the arms of the other three thugs. All four men hit the ground and The Peregrine rushed forward, kicking two in their faces before they could defend themselves. He then raised the butt of his pistol and brought it crashing down onto the skull of another. That left only the one with the broken nose. The Peregrine regarded him for a moment before walking past him, leaving the man to whine in pain.

The door leading to the home of Phineas Glumm swung open and a cadaverous-looking man stood there, with hands on hips. “The Peregrine,” the man said with a most unfriendly smile. “You could have just knocked, you know.”

Phineas Glumm was Savannah’s most disturbing resident. A transplanted Briton, Glumm had made his fortune in the ivory field before retiring to Georgia. At one time, he’d had nearly a hundred poachers in his employ, all of them given a single task: hunt down and kill as many elephants as possible, depriving the dead and dying animals of their tusks in the process. It was nasty work but Glumm himself had never been witness to it: he’d remained in England the whole time, enjoying his three vices: wine, women and witchcraft.

“Your guards didn’t seem to want to let me pass,” The Peregrine said, stepping past Glumm. The interior of the house smelled strongly of incense. A massive oil panting of a reclining nude woman dominated the foyer and Max wondered at what sort of man would make sure that such artwork was the first thing his guests saw upon entering.

“They probably remembered you from your last visit,” Glumm said, shutting the door behind him. He didn’t seem overly concerned about his injured men. “I’m sure you remember… you burst in unannounced and demanded information from me. Much like now, I’d imagine.”

The Peregrine kept walking until he’d reached Glumm’s study. The room was wood-paneled, with a tiger skin rug on the floor. The smell of incense was strongest here and The Peregrine winced a bit at the strength of the odor. His eyes drifted across the spines of numerous old books, some of which bore titles in Latin. “I had a vision and I want you to help me understand it.”

Glumm smiled softly and sat down in a large-backed chair. He gestured for The Peregrine to take a seat on a nearby couch but the vigilante answered with a shake of his head. “Why me?” Glumm asked. “I thought you usually consulted with Ascott Keane on things of a mystical nature.”

“I really missed visiting Savannah.”

Glumm laughed softly. “Very well, my mysterious friend. Tell me of this vision and I shall do my best to illuminate you about its meaning.”

The Peregrine gave a detailed description of what he had seen, focusing particularly on the blue-eyed man and the destructive beam of light that was attacking Washington, D.C.

When the narrative was complete, Glumm sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers together. “Most interesting. I believe that you may be in luck… I do know some of the answers that you are seeking.” Glumm stood up abruptly, crossing the room to a small shelf in the corner. It had escaped The Peregrine’s notice earlier because, unlike every other bookshelf, it was not filled with arcane tomes. This one was stuffed to overflowing with popular materials, particularly those tattered-edged magazines known as the pulps. Glumm picked through of a few of these until he found what he was looking for. He held out one for The Peregrine, who took it gingerly. The front cover depicted a blond man falling from the sky with the words
Ein Mann fallt vom Himmel
plastered beside his body. Max knew enough German to translate: “A Man Falls From Heaven.”

“What does this German magazine have to do with what I saw?”

“Heldromans. That’s what those sorts of books are called in Germany.” Glumm tapped his chin and began pacing, eagerly embracing the discussion. “A day or two there was a disturbance in the ether. Magicians all across the globe sensed it. A being of mystic importance had arrived from another plane of reality. I immediately began trying to trace it down to a specific place and I succeeded just last evening: an island that rose from the depths of the ocean in 1938 but almost impossible to locate unless you knew its precise coordinates. There are many, myself amongst them, who believe that this place is the newly risen Atlantis.”

The Peregrine looked back down at the cover, staring at the crudely drawn images. “That’s him, isn’t it? The man I saw in the parka? It’s this…” he squinted at the magazine’s banner. “Sun Koh.”

“Yes,” Glumm confirmed.

The Peregrine set the magazine down and pursed his lips. “I’ve heard stories of him. A few years back when I was doing some business in Europe, I heard of a Nazi superman. They said he was the embodiment of the Aryan ideal and that he led a whole team of adventurers. But then it was like he vanished…”

“That’s exactly what happened! Stories in mystic circles claimed that Sun Koh was a lost prince of Atlantis, sent 11,000 years into the future to ensure that his people would survive. He arrived in 1932, just as shown in that heldromans. Then, six years after he arrived, he was gone. According to the one witness, he and his friends disappeared in a magic spell designed to send them into a world within the Earth itself.”

“But now he’s back? On this island that was supposedly Atlantis?”

“So it would seem.”

“I need those coordinates.”

Glumm hesitated, looking uncertain. “If Sun Koh is half the man I have heard he is, you will be in great danger when you face him.”

“I didn’t know you worried about me so much.”

“My grandmother was Jewish,” Glumm said, his face seemingly set in stone. “I despise everything this Reich stands for… and this Sun Koh is their champion. If he’s trying to get his hands on that weapon you described from your vision… I don’t want that to happen.”

The Peregrine stared in Glumm’s eyes for a moment, thinking how strange it was that a man who was as full of sin as Glumm could still have a glimmer of decency within him. “Can you tell me anything else that might help me defeat him?”

Glumm shrugged. “He is a big man, though he does not appear so at first because his body is so perfectly symmetrical. His brain is lightning-quick and he harbors no troublesome morals such as the ones you possess. I have no doubt that he will be the most dangerous man you have ever faced.”

“The coordinates,” The Peregrine said, setting his jaw. “No point in putting this off.”

Glumm turned away from him, exiting the room. From over his shoulder he said, “Wait here. It will take me a moment to locate them.”

The Peregrine watched him go, chewing on his bottom lip and wondering what he should do. Glumm was right—from what little he knew of Sun Koh, the man was not to be underestimated. Luckily, The Peregrine had flown to Savannah in his private aircraft, one of the two or three fastest such machines on the planet. He could reach Atlantis within a few hours… but the question was, should he got alone? He immediately thought of Leonid Kaslov, remembering what Evelyn had said about calling upon his friends for help. The last he heard from Leonid, the man was traveling in the Himalayas, seeking contact with a tribe of Yeti.

“This is your fight, son. Don’t turn from it.”

The Peregrine paused, recognizing his father’s voice. The man was speaking to him from the hazy middle ground that lay between the worlds of life and death. Max glanced around but did not see his father’s spectral shade. “I don’t suppose you’re going to clarify any of the things I saw?”

“You know I can only tell you so much. There are rules that I have to obey.”

The Peregrine sighed, closing his eyes. “But you are telling me that I should go alone?”

“In many ways, you’ve been training for this moment for years, Max. Sun Koh is actually the kind of man you were designed to fight!”

“Designed?” The Peregrine said bitterly. “Is that what you call it? Coercing your only son into becoming a weapon… an instrument for your vengeance against the criminals of the world. Fine, father. I’ll do this on my own. But I want you to go away and stay away.”

The Peregrine felt a brief sensation, like someone’s fingertips were grazing his own, pulling away from his grasp. He momentarily regretted his words. Warren Davies had been a genuine bastard in terms of how he’d manipulated his son but the fact remained that he was Max’s father. And Max had adored his father. The memory of Warren Davies being gunned down was seared into Max’s consciousness and always would be.

The Peregrine opened his eyes to find Glumm standing nearby, watching him closely. Max wondered how long Glumm had been there and how much he had herd.

“The coordinates,” Glumm said, offering a sheet of paper with a set of numbers scrawled across it. After clearing his throat, Glumm asked, “Are you unwell?”

“I’m being haunted by my dead father.”

Glumm nodded, as if this were a common occurrence. Perhaps, Max mused, it was in Glumm’s circles.

The Peregrine brushed past Glumm, offering muttered thanks. He knew that Glumm wouldn’t be angry over his abrupt departure. Glumm was probably more than happy to be rid of him, after all.

Once outside, The Peregrine noticed that the injured band of men were on their feet now. They watched him with angry but cautious expressions. The one whose nose he’d shattered was cupping his injured area with a blood-soaked rag. The Peregrine spared them all only a brief glance before he stalked through the front gate and began heading towards the field where he’d landed his plane. He activated the long-range mini-radio he carried with him, dialing his home phone. When his housekeeper, Nettie, answered the call, he asked to be connected to his wife.

Evelyn came on a few seconds later. “Max? Did you find out anything?”

“I did. I’m going to be late getting back home. I’ll be flying towards New Zealand.”

“What on earth for?”

“I need to stop an Atlantean prince from making the world an Aryan paradise.”

“Again?”

Max grinned, glad that he had someone in his life that could keep him grounded. “Very funny. Give the baby a kiss for me, okay?”