The Babylonian Mask (Order of the Black Sun Book 14)

by P. W. Child

  “Wise man,” Marduk chipped in.

  “I have to do my last rounds,” Marlene sighed. “If I don’t show, Sister Barken will know something is up. Will you fill me in tomorrow, darling?”

  “I will,” Werner fibbed. He then kissed her goodbye before she opened the door. She looked back at the admittedly fascinating anomaly that was Peter Marduk and blessed the old man with a kind smile.

  When the door closed, a thick atmosphere of testosterone and distrust overwhelmed the occupants of Dr. Fritz’s office. There was not only one Alpha here, but each man knew something the other lacked knowledge of. Sam started eventually.

  “Let us make this snappy, shall we? I have a very urgent concern to attend to after this. Dr. Fritz, I need you to send Dr. Nina Gould’s test results to Mannheim before we sort out whatever you have sinned,” Sam ordered the doctor.

  “Nina? Dr. Nina Gould is alive?” he asked in awe, letting out a sigh of relief and crossing himself like the good Catholic he was. “That is wonderful news!”

  “Small woman? Dark hair and eyes like hellfire?” Marduk asked Sam.

  “Aye, that would be her, no doubt!” Sam smiled.

  “I’m afraid she took my presence here wrongly too,” Marduk said, looking sorry about it. He decided not to share that he had slapped the poor girl when she had made trouble. But when he told her she would die, he’d only meant that Löwenhagen was at large and dangerous, something he did not have time to explain all over now.

  “That’s alright. She is like a bite of hot pepper to just about everyone,” Sam replied while Dr. Fritz drew Nina’s hard copy folder and scanned the test results into his computer. Once the document with the awful material was scanned in, he asked Sam for the e-mail of Nina’s doctor at Mannheim. Sam furnished him with a card containing all of the details and carried on clumsily putting a fabric plaster on his brow. As he winced, he cast a glance toward Marduk, the man responsible for the cut, but the old man pretended not to see.

  “There,” Dr. Fritz exhaled long and hard, relieved that his patient was still alive. “I’m just elated that she is alive. How she got out of here with that poor eyesight, I’ll never know.”

  “Your pal led her all the way out, doctor,” Marduk enlightened him. “You know, the young bastard you gave the mask to so that he could wear the faces of the people he killed in the name of greed?”

  “I did – not – know!” Dr. Fritz seethed, still sour at the old man for the throbbing headache he was suffering.

  “Hey, hey!” Werner stopped the ensuing argument. “We’re here to resolve this, not fuck it up even more! Now, first I want to know what your,” he pointed straight at Marduk, “involvement with Löwenhagen is. We were sent to apprehend him and that is all we know. Then, when I interviewed you, all this mask business came out.”

  “As I told you before, I do not know who Löwenhagen is,” Marduk insisted.

  “The pilot who crashed the plane is Olaf Löwenhagen,” Himmelfarb replied. “He burned in the crash, but somehow survived and made it to the hospital.”

  There was a long pause. Everyone waited for Marduk to explain why he was chasing after Löwenhagen in the first place. The old man knew that, if he told them why he was pursuing the young man, he would have to reveal why he had set him alight too. Marduk took a deep breath and started shedding some light on the crow’s nest of misunderstanding.

  “I was under the impression that the man I pursued from the blazing fuselage of the Tornado fighter plane was a pilot named Neumand,” he said.

  “Neumand? That can’t be. Neumand is on leave, probably gambling away the last of his family’s coins in some back alley,” Himmelfarb scoffed. Kohl and Werner nodded approvingly.

  “Well, I chased him from the scene of the crash. I pursued him because he had the mask. When I saw the mask I had to exterminate him. He was a thief, a common thief, I tell you! And what he stole was too powerful for any foolish imbecile like that to handle! So I had to stop him the only way a Masker can be stopped,” Marduk said anxiously.

  “A Masker?” Kohl asked. “Man, that sounds like a horror movie villain.” He smiled, patting Himmelfarb on the shoulder.

  “Grow up,” Himmelfarb grunted.

  “A Masker is one who assumes the face of another by using the Babylonian Mask. It’s the mask your evil friend made away with along with Dr. Gould,” Marduk explained, but they could all see that he was reluctant to clarify more.

  “Go on,” Sam sniffed, hoping that his guess as to the rest of the description would be incorrect. “How does one kill a Masker?”

  “By fire,” Marduk replied, almost too quickly. Sam could see that he just wanted to get it off his chest. “Look, to the modern world this is all old wives’ tales. I don’t expect any of you to understand.”

  “Never mind that,” Werner dismissed the angst. “I want to know how this is possible, to put on a mask and have your face change into someone else’s. What part of that is even rational?”

  “Believe me, Lieutenant. I have seen things people only read in mythology, so I would not be so quick as to deem this irrational,” Sam declared. “Most of the absurdities I once scoffed at I’ve since found to be in some way scientifically plausible, once you dust off the embellishments of ages added to make something practical sound ridiculously fabricated.”

  Marduk nodded, grateful that someone there had the capacity to at least hear him out. His sharp look jumped between the men who listened to him as he studied their expressions, wondering if he should even bother.

  But he had to bother because his prey had escaped him for the most nefarious undertaking of recent years – to ignite World War III.

  Chapter 20 – The Incredible Truth

  Dr. Fritz had kept quiet all this time, but at this point he felt he had to add something to the conversation. With his eyes cast down to the hand in his lap, he testified as to the strangeness of the mask. “When that patient came in, burning, he asked that I keep the mask for him. At first I thought nothing of it, you know? I thought it was precious to him and that it was probably the one thing he had saved from a house fire or something.”

  He looked up at them, perplexed and horrified. Then he locked onto Marduk, as if he felt the need to make the old man understand why he’d pretended not see what he saw.

  “At one point, after I put the thing down, uh, on its face, so to speak, so that I could attend to my patient. Some of the dead flesh that had peeled off his shoulder clung to my glove; I had to shake it off to continue working.” He was now taking shivering breaths. “But some of it landed inside the mask and I swear to God…”

  Dr. Fritz shook his head, too embarrassed to recount the nightmarish and ludicrous claim.

  “Tell them! Tell them, in the name of the holy! They have to know that I am not insane!” the old man cried. His words were troubled and slow, for the shape of his mouth made speech difficult, but his voice penetrated the ears of everyone present like a crack of thunder.

  “I have to finish my work. I’m still on the clock, I’ll have you know,” Dr. Fritz tried to change the subject, but nobody moved a muscle to support him. Dr. Fritz’s brow quivered as he reconsidered.

  “When…when the flesh fell into the mask,” he continued, “the surface of the mask…took shape?” Dr. Fritz found that he could not believe his own words, yet he remembered what had happened just so! The faces of the three pilots remained frozen in disbelief. Sam Cleave and Marduk, however, had not an inkling of judgment or surprise on their faces. “The inside of the mask became…a face, just,” he inhaled deeply, “just concavely. I told myself that it was the long hours and the shape of the mask playing tricks on me, but once the bloody tissue was wiped from it the face disappeared.”

  Nobody said anything. Some of the men had a hard time believing it, while the others tried to formulate possible ways in which this could have occurred. Marduk thought this would be a good time to append the doctor’s stunner with more of the incredible, but this time to
present it more from scientific standpoint. “That is how it happens. A rather macabre method is employed by the Babylonian Mask, utilizing dead human tissue to absorb the genetic material contained therein and then forming that individual’s face as the mask’s.”

  “Jesus!” Werner said. He watched Himmelfarb run past him, headed for the en suite toilet. “Yes, I don’t blame you, Corporal.”

  “Gentlemen, may I remind you I have a ward to run.” Dr. Fritz reiterated his previous statement.

  “There is…more,” Marduk jumped in with a slow, boney hand aloft to accentuate his point.

  “Oh great,” Sam smiled sarcastically, clearing his throat.

  Marduk paid him no attention and laid out more unwritten rules. “Once the Masker takes on the facial features of the donor, the mask can only be removed by fire. Only fire can dislodge it from the Masker’s own face.” He then added solemnly, “and that is why I had to do what I did.”

  Himmelfarb could take no more. “I am a pilot, for God’s sake. This mumbo-jumbo shit is definitely not for me. This is all too Hannibal Lecter for me. I’m out, friends.”

  “You were given a mission, Himmelfarb,” said Werner sternly, but the Corporal of the Schleswig Air Base was out no matter what the cost.

  “I am aware of that, Lieutenant!” he shouted. “And I will be sure to convey my grievance to our esteemed commander myself, so that you will not be reprimanded for my behavior.” He sighed, wiping his moist, pale brow. “I’m sorry, guys, but I cannot handle this. Good luck, really. Call me when you need an airman. That is all I am.” He left and closed the door behind him.

  “Cheers, lad,” Sam bade goodbye. He then addressed Marduk with the one vexatious question that had been hounding him since the phenomenon was first explained. “Marduk, I’m having trouble with something here. Tell me what happens if a person just puts on the mask without any dead flesh action?”

  “Nothing.”

  One cohesive chorus of disappointment ensued among the others. They had expected more far-fetched rules of the game, Marduk realized, but he was not about to make things up for entertainment. He just shrugged.

  “Nothing happens?” Kohl marveled. “You don’t die an excruciating death or asphyxiate to death? You put on the mask and nothing happens.”

  “Nothing happens, son. It is just a mask. Which is why very few people know about its sinister power,” Marduk replied.

  “What a boner killer,” Kohl complained.

  “Alright, so if you wear the mask and your face becomes someone else’s – and you don’t get set on fire by a crazy old bastard like you – do you have the other person’s face forever?” Werner asked.

  “Ah, good one!” Sam exclaimed, immersed in fascination for it all. If he were an amateur he would be chewing the end of his Biro and taking notes like mad by now, but Sam was a veteran journalist able to memorize countless facts as he listened. That, and he was secretly recording the whole conversation from the tape recorder in his pocket.

  “You go blind,” Marduk answered nonchalantly. “Then you become like a mad animal and die.”

  Again, a hiss of amazement coursed through them. Then a chuckle or two ensued. One was from Dr. Fritz. By now he had realized that trying to throw the bunch out was futile and besides, he was becoming interested now.

  “Wow, Mr. Marduk, you just seem to have a ready answer for everything, don’t you?” Dr. Fritz shook his head with an amused smirk.

  “Yes, I do, my dear doctor,” Marduk agreed. “I am almost eighty years old and have been responsible for this and other relics since I was a fifteen-year-old boy. By now I have not only familiarized myself with the rules, but regrettably seen them in action too many times.”

  Dr. Fritz suddenly felt foolish for his arrogance and his face showed it. “My apologies.”

  “I understand, Dr. Fritz. Men are always quick to dismiss what they cannot control as lunacy. But when it comes to their own absurd practices and idiotic courses of action they can throw almost any explanation at you to justify it,” the old man said with difficulty.

  The doctor could see that the restricted muscle tissue around his mouth was making it really uncomfortable for the man to continue speaking.

  “Um, is there any reason why people who keep the mask on go blind and lose their minds?” Kohl asked his first sincere question.

  “That part has remained mainly lore and myth, son,” Marduk shrugged. “I’ve seen it happen only a few times over the years. Most people who’ve used the mask for insidious purposes had no idea what would happen to them after they got their vengeance. Like every evil drive or desire attained, there is a price. But mankind never learns. Power is for gods. Humility is for men.”

  Werner had been calculating it all in his head. “Let me recap,” he said. “If you wear the mask as just a mask, it is harmless and useless.”

  “Yes,” replied Marduk, sinking his chin and blinking slowly.

  “And if you peel some skin off some dead target and put it on the inside of the mask and then put it on your face…God, I gag just saying that…your face becomes that person’s face, right?”

  “Another Brownie for Team Werner.” Sam smiled, and pointed when Marduk nodded.

  “But then you have to burn it off with fire or wear it and go blind before going crazy eventually,” Werner frowned, concentrating to get his ducks in a row.

  “Correct,” Marduk affirmed.

  Dr. Fritz had one more query. “Has anyone ever figured out how to escape any of these fates, Mr. Marduk? Has anyone ever liberated the mask without blindness or a fiery demise?”

  “Like Löwenhagen did? He actually put it back on again to take Dr. Hilt’s face and leave the hospital! How did he do that?” asked Sam.

  “The fire dislodged it the first time, Sam. He was only fortunate enough to survive. The skin is the only way to evade the fate of the Babylonian Mask,” Marduk said, sounding utterly indifferent. It had become so much a part of his existence that he had grown tired of reciting the same old facts.

  “The…the skin?” Sam cringed.

  “That is exactly what it is. It is essentially the skin of the Babylonian Mask. It must be applied to the face of the Masker in time, to dissemble the fusion of the Masker’s face and the mask. But our poor, disillusioned quarry has no idea of this. He will soon realize his mistake, if he has not already,” Marduk answered. “The blindness usually takes no more than three or four days, so wherever he is, I hope he isn’t driving.”

  “Would serve him right. Fucker!” Kohl grimaced.

  “Couldn’t agree more,” Dr. Fritz said. “But gentlemen, I really do have to implore you to leave before the administrative staff catches wind of our overdrawn pleasantries here.”

  To Dr. Fritz’s relief they all agreed this time. They retrieved their coats and slowly prepared to leave the office. With nods of acknowledgement and final words of parting the Air Force pilots left, keeping Marduk in their custody for show. They elected to meet up with Sam a bit later. With this new turn of events and the much needed sorting out of confusing facts, they wanted to rethink their roles in the big scheme of things.

  Sam and Margaret met up in her hotel restaurant while Marduk and the two pilots were on their way to the Air Base to report to Schmidt. Now Werner knew that Marduk was familiar with his commander as per their earlier interview, yet he did not yet know why Schmidt would keep knowledge of the sinister mask to himself. Granted, it was a priceless artifact, but with his position in a pivotal body such as the German Luftwaffe, Werner figured there must be a more politically motivated reason behind Schmidt’s hunt for the Babylonian Mask.

  “What will you tell your commander about me?” Marduk asked the two young men he accompanied as they walked toward Werner’s Jeep.

  “I’m not sure we should tell him about you at all. From what I’m deducing here, it would be better if you help us find Löwenhagen and keep your presence a secret, Mr. Marduk. The less Captain Schmidt knows about you and your invol
vement, the better,” Werner said.

  “I’ll see you at the base!” Kohl hollered from four cars away, unlocking his own car.

  Werner nodded. “Remember, Marduk doesn’t exist and we could not yet find Löwenhagen, right?”

  “Got it!” Kohl approved the plan with a small salute and a boyish grin. He got in his car and drove off as the late afternoon light set the skyline of the town ablaze ahead of him. It was almost sundown and they had reached the second day of their search, still ending the day without success.

  “I suppose we’re going to have to start looking for blind airmen?” Werner asked quite sincerely, regardless of how ridiculous his request sounded. “It’s the third day since Löwenhagen used the mask to escape the hospital, so he should be having trouble with his eyes by now.”

  “That is correct,” Marduk replied. “If his system is strong, which it is not thanks to the fire bath I gave him, he could take longer to lose his sight. This is why the West did not understand the old ways of Mesopotamia and Babylonia and deemed us all heretics and murderous brutes. When ancient kings and chieftains burned the blind in witch-like executions, it was not out of cruelty of false accusation. Most of those instances were the direct cause of employing the Babylonian Mask for their own subterfuge.”

  “Most of those instances?” Werner asked with a raised eyebrow as he turned the Jeep’s ignition, looking suspicious of the aforementioned methods.

  Marduk shrugged, “Well, everyone makes mistakes, son. Better safe than sorry.”

  Chapter 21 – The Mystery of Neumand and Löwenhagen

  Exhausted and filling with a steadily growing sense of regret, Olaf Löwenhagen sat down in a pub near Darmstadt. It had been two days since he’d deserted Nina at Frau Bauer’s house, but he could not afford to lug a partner along on such a covert assignment; especially one that had to be led around like a mule. He was hoping to use Dr. Hilt’s money to buy a meal. He also contemplated getting rid of his cell phone, just in case it was being traced. By now the authorities had to have realized that he was the one responsible for the murders at the hospital, which is why he did not commandeer Hilt’s vehicle to make his way to Captain Schmidt, who was at Schleswig Air Base at the time.