Read Return From the Inferno for Free Online Page A

..."
    Fitz took a closer look at the man. He was probably close to ninety years old or more. He was rail thin, with long gray hair pulled back into a ponytail. By contrast, the girl was no more than twenty-five or so. She was small, thin, with red hair, boasting a streak of blonde.
    "Yeah, well, strange things have been happening all over," Fitz replied.
    At that moment, his prayers were answered. He reached between his bunk mattress and spring and found a half filled field flask of wine.
    He quickly retrieved some small cups and poured out three meager helpings. The old man sipped his cup while the young girl downed hers in one shot.
    "More will be coming," the old man said. "You might save more souls than ours in the days ahead."
    The water boiled and Fitz prepared three strong cups of tea. But just as he turned to serve them to the soaking pair, he heard an engine backfire. He looked oat the window and saw an NS scout car appear on the far side of the bridge.
    "Damn," he whispered under his breath, spilling some boiling water on his hand.
    He turned to the old man and girl.
    "If they catch you, they might shoot you," he told them. "I'm going outside to try to stop them. Stay here. Don't move."
    He ran out the door and down to the control house. He'd returned the bridge to its up position after the incident in the river. Now he pushed the bridge release valve to lower it again. But as was the usual case, nothing happened.
    He slapped it again. But still, nothing.
    The driver of the patrol car blared his siren. Fitz could heat angry screaming coming toward him from the opposite side of the river. He hit the release valve again and was immensely relieved to hear the resultant clank of the bridge mechanism finally clutching into place. Slowly, the span began to lower.
    Fitz tried to shake the excess water out of his hair as the patrol car rumbled across the creaky span. He was hoping the vehicle would drive right on past.
    It didn't.
    "Been baptizing again, priest?" the officer yelled down at him from the gun turret as the vehicle screeched to a halt.
    "No, just bathing, sir," Fitz yelled back over the unmuffled engine noise.
    "Clean body. Clean soul."
    "Raise that bridge," the officer ordered him. It was obvious that he was in some kind of hurry. "And until further notice do not let anyone across who isn't a member of our armed forces. Do you understand?"
    "No one?"
    "No one!" the officer screamed down at him. "Or I'll shoot you myself."
    With that the patrol car roared off.
    "No one?" Fitz was left to ask.
    He returned to the shack, scratching his head, yet thankful the NS had not decided to search his place, just to harass him.
    But when he got inside, he found that it didn't matter.
    The old man and the young girl were gone.
    The Reich Palast
    The First Governor opened his eyes and saw the empty canteen of myx on the pillow next to him.
    He felt a tear roll down his sleepy face; he loved the myx so. To see it gone was truly heartbreaking.
    He looked at his feet and found one of the young girls curled up there. She was either asleep or unconscious. Her X-rated black lace bra and garter belt outfit at least a size too big for her teenage body.
    A turn to the left found the second girl-a brunette, possibly a year older than the blonde girl at his feet, but certainly no more than that. She was naked, and a slight stain of myx was evident on her breasts. The First Governor immediately reached over and sucked it off her skin.
    The room was dark and it smelled of liquor, smoked cocaine, 40
    and body sweat. He had no idea what time it was, nor did he care. He remembered drinking the myx, watching the incredible orgy in the main dining hall, and then dragging the two young -girls back to his luxurious bedchamber.
    There they drank some more of the hallucinogenic mixture and he had his way with them.
    Now he supposed it was midmorning, but again he couldn't really tell. As usual, the curtains were pulled tight across the massive