Read Online Deck Z - The Titanic by Chris Pauls - Free Book Online

liking last night and would return to her cabin at any moment. As endearing as Lou was, Weiss didn’t have time to get entangled in her family troubles.
If everyone just kept to themselves,
thought Weiss,
the world would be a much better place.
Yet he couldn’t just ignore Lou’s request. His conscience dictated that he go and help her, if she still needed it. Then he could put an end to their acquaintance.
    The scientist grabbed his valise and cane and made his way down three sets of orange-lit staircases to Deck F. Down in steerage, he could feel the rumble of the ship’s massive turbines in his feet. The grumbling sound grew louder as the room numbers on the lacquered white doors became progressively smaller: F40, F32, F16.
    He turned the corner and rapped loudly on the door to F2. Weiss knocked again, but still no one answered. Had Lou now run off?There were no sounds of footsteps inside, though it was hard to hear over the turbine engines. Weiss reached inside his jacket to confirm the room number in Lou’s note when something heavy struck him in the back of the head. His legs went out beneath him, and as he was dragged down the corridor, he lost consciousness.

    When Weiss came to, he was tied securely to a chair, unable to move. His hands and feet were bound, and more cords wrapped around his chest. A pillowcase covered his head, making it hard to breathe and impossible to see.
    How long had he been out? Like an electric shock, Weiss remembered his valise and shouted through the linen: “Where am I? What do you want? Where’s the girl? If it’s money you want, take what I have, but you chose the wrong fellow!”
    A man chuckled. A bulky shadow passed in front of the ceiling light. Weiss’s labored breathing was hot and moist against the cloth.
    “Perhaps you should have accepted the girl’s dinner invitation,” the stranger said.
    Weiss silently cursed himself. Had he fallen for a con? Had Lou played him for a fool, and for what? A few coins?
    “Did you enlist her in this?” Weiss asked, hoping the answer was “no.”
    The man laughed. “Hardly, but I
should
pay her. On a vessel this size, I might have spent half the journey looking for you, but the idea of her in trouble led you right to me.”
    “Damn it, what do you want?” Weiss shouted.
    The man’s voice dropped to a whisper, close by Weiss’s ear. “I think you know, Herr Theodor Weiss. Tell me, how is your research progressing? It’s a shame about your facility in the Harz Mountains. Burnt to ashes. Such a terrible
accident.
”
    Weiss froze. The man moved away, retrieving something from behind him.
    The scientist heard his bag being opened. A muted Russian accent crept into the man’s voice. “It’s like a nesting doll, yes? Inside the bag, there is a steel container.” Weiss heard the sound of the container twisting open. “And inside the container, a vial. And inside the vial …”
    “Who are you?” demanded Weiss. “The Kaiser’s agent?”
    “If you like. Let’s say I’m the man who will take what you’ve stolen. The man who will kill you.”
    “That vial is a fake!” Weiss shouted in desperation. “I have hidden the real one. You’ll never find it!”
    “You did try to fool us once with a counterfeit, Herr Weiss,” the Agent growled, “and it’s plausible that you would do so again. I suppose there’s only way to know for certain.”
    Weiss flinched as the Agent lifted the pillowcase just enough to expose Weiss’s mouth. A hand pressed against the scientist’s forehead, pushing it back.
    “What do you say, Herr Weiss? Shall we make a monster?”
    “The vial contains cyanide,” said Weiss quickly.
    “Come, you can do better than that.”
    “I’d rather die than see the Toxic used as a weapon. I knew I would be pursued, and that I might have to kill myself to protect my secrets. Feed me the fluid, but know that when I’m dead, the true location of the Toxic perishes with me.”
    For a long moment, the