by Donald Ha
“Hahahahaha!”
“I’m sorry, but I believe I won again.”
“Damn, you merciless Hitler!”
There was a conversation in Russian coming from nearby.
Jackal wasn’t sure, but there seemed to be about 4 to 5 people. They were probably soldiers.
‘I guess it was wise not to fight them face-to-face.’
Jackal took a detour to avoid the soldiers and climbed the stairs leading to the second floor.
Soon, he saw a faint light coming from the gap of a door.
Jackal approached the door and quietly opened it.
There was a man sitting on a desk.
He was continuously sighing as he drank some liquor.
“Doctor Knyphausen?”
Jackal approached him holding a pistol.
The Doctor’s eyes opened wide in surprise.
“Shh!”
Jackal said as he put his index finger to his mouth and took a step forward.
“I’m not an enemy. I’m here to rescue you.”
“Re… rescue me?”
Knyphausen said in confusion.
“We don’t have much time.”
Jackal unwrapped the scarf covering his mouth and smiled.
“…..”
Knyphausen hesitantly looked at Jackal. With the filth from the sewer, Jackal looked like a beggar. He was Asian, and had a fancy pistol that didn’t suit his looks.
“Would you like to go to America, the land of freedom? Or the Soviet Union, the land of Stalin?”
When he heard the word ‘America,’ Knyphausen had a sudden change of heart. He drank the whole bottle of whisky on his desk and stood up.
“Where should I go?”
“There’s a secret passageway in the underground. Did you know about that?”
“Oh, that stone room? I went there just out of curiosity when I was little, but never since.”
“There is a way out in the room.”
Jackal observed Knyphausen’s room. He noticed the lamp burning on Knyphausen’s desk, put it just under the curtain and opened the window.
The curtain flapped from the wind coming through the open window and the curtain brushed by the fire burning right below it.
“What are you doing?”
Knyphausen asked.
“This will distract the Russian soldiers.”
Jackal checked what the curtain was made of. Then he dipped his hand in the oil of the lamp and let the oil soak through the part of the curtain that was touching the lamp.
“Let’s go.”
Jackal moved swiftly.
Knyphausen hesitated for a moment, but he soon followed Jackal.
There was no one in the corridor.
“Shh.”
Jackal led the way. As they were coming down the stairs, a Soviet soldier holding a bottle of wine passed by as he murmured something that they could not understand.
“That… is my favorite wine…”
Knyphausen frowned.
As the Soviet soldier went back to the kitchen, Jackal and Knyphausen went inside the entrance of the stone room locate at a corner of an empty room.
“Watch your steps. It’s dark.”
Jackal moved the carpet covering the entrance and closed the door carefully so that the Soviet soldiers wouldn’t notice. Jackal turned on the lamp and pointed at the end of the sewer.
“That way.”
In the distance, black smoke rose with a beam of light. Urgent shouts echoed from the distance and there was a dozen headlights heading in that direction.
Jackal and Knyphausen looked at the scene unfolding in the distance as they sat on a low hill.
*
“You pulled this off? You?”
It was the first time he saw Captain Grace so happy.
The man, who was always expressionless and tired-looking, even gave a pat on his shoulder.
Even though he was covered with filth from the sewer.
It was a dramatic change considering that he looked at Jackal like a bug when they first met.
“You’re a strange one. You pull off missions that seem impossible. What are you and what did you do before?”
Grace looked at him in awe as he wiped his hands with his handkerchief.
“…I was just lucky.”
A filthy smell came from Jackal’s body and clothes.
Captain Grace looked at Jackal with fondness and murmured.
“I think I am a lucky man to have acquired a useful man like you.”
He handed an envelope to Jackal.
“I did you a special favor. Check it.”
Jackal took the envelope and looked inside.
Jackal’s eyes beamed.
“That’s… a huge amount. Thank you, Captain!”
Jackal bowed to express his gratitude.
“Call me major from now on.”
Grace smiled in satisfaction and said as he looked at Jackal.
“I would like you to visit again soon. I’ll give you another job. You know what I mean, right?”
“…Yes, sir!”
When he left Grace’s office, dawn was breaking from the east.
The U.S soldiers guarding the gate of the military police battalion noticed him, but nobody picked on him.
The guards at the gate just talked among themselves and made way when Jackal showed up.
Jackal thought as he fingered the bills in his pocket.
‘I think I’ll reach the 10,000 dollars if I keep going like this.’
10,000 dollars.
It was the magical key in getting out of this forsaken land.
The key, which seemed impossible to obtain, started to look possible.
In front of Hans' house.
Jackal knocked a few times, but there was no answer from inside.
"I guess Hans is not here."
Hans's sister Erika was probably in the house.
She will not open the door if it was someone she didn’t recognize. The neighborhood was too dangerous to open the door to strangers.
Jackal said in a loud voice so that Erika could hear him.
"Are you there? It's me, Jackal."
At that moment, the door opened and a drowsy-looking girl with brown hair tied sideways showed up.
"Hello, Jackal."
Erika looked nothing like the bulky and fierce-looking Hans. If it wasn't for the blue eyes and brown hair, it would have been impossible to guess that they were related.
"Where’s Hans?"
"At work."
"Really?"
"What’s that?"
Erika stared at the full bag that Jackal was holding with curiosity.
A part of a Vienna sausage was sticking out of the envelope full of things.
"Something delicious."
Jackal headed straight to the kitchen and pulled out the contents of the bag on the table.
"This is sausage, but I don't know what it's made of."
"I love sausage."
"Next is a can of eels that Hans likes. It's a fresh one made in 1944."
"I don't like that."
Erika made comments as Jackal pulled out the contents and explained what each of them were.
"Next is a can of beans which Hans likes too. It's from Cornwall, you know where it is?"
"I don't know. English food is not tasty."
"Hans likes it."
"He likes just about everything."
"That’s true."
Jackal pulled out the rest on the table.
Among the items, there were sweet crackers that Erika liked.
Whenever Jackal pulled out butter cookies or Hershey's chocolate from the U.S bases, Erika cheered up with a big smile.
"Wow! Jackal, you’re the best!"
Jackal looked at Erika with a faint smile on his face.
'I could not have imagined her smiling like this.'
It must have been about a half year ago that Jackal met the Grahams.
At that time, Erika was
suffering from aphasia because of the war. Jackal clearly remembered Erika staring at him quietly with her big, drowsy-looking eyes full of fear.
Hans Graham was an armed runaway who fled from the army. When they first met, he was nothing but an injured beast.
Jackal had a change of heart as he saw Hans resisting as he was being beaten by the Soviet soldiers who were trying to take his sister.
It was probably the first time that Jackal, who had always fought for himself, pulled the trigger to save someone else.
"Jackal, try this. It's delicious."
Erika held out a piece of chocolate to Jackal, who was submerged in his own thoughts.
Jackal looked in surprise, but then tasted the piece of chocolate that Erika gave.
The sweet taste hung on his tongue.
"Is it good?"
Jackal smiled gently and nodded as Erika looked at him with her round eyes.
"Yes."
It was a flavor that he longed for.
It was strange, but Jackal felt that way even though he had never tasted chocolate in his hometown.
"Erika."
A familiar voice came from outside.
It was Hans.
"Hey, it's my brother."
Erika ran cheerfully to the porch with chocolate in her mouth.
"Hans, try this. Jackal brought it."
"Jackal?"
Jackal could not see Hans's face because of the wall between them, but he could feel the unusual unpleasantness in his voice.
'Huh, is he still angry?'
Jackal thought he had to apologize more formally as he stood up.
Soon, Hans came into the kitchen.
"...What are you doing here?"
Hans's face was expressionless as expected.
"I just got some things to eat."
Hans rolled his eyes and saw the food on the table.
"What’s all this?"
"Obviously, it's all for you guys to eat."
"Did I ever ask you for all this?"
"... What?"
Something was strange. Normally, Hans would get over the anger soon and laugh merrily.
Jackal had an ominous feeling. He looked at Hans with a serious face.
"I am sorry about yesterday. Please forgive me"
"Erika, go to your room"
As Hans said threateningly, Erika just stood there blinking and went back to her room.
There was an awkward silence when the two were left in the room.
"Hey .. Jackal"
Hans opened his mouth first,
"I joined another gang."
Upon hearing this, Jackal's eyes shook wildly for an instant.
But Jackal didn't show his feelings and asked boldly,
"..Really? Which one? Huiziga? Freiherr?"
"Huiziga’s"
"Ah, Huiziga... Not bad. The guy knows a lot of places where he can get money. He's probably better than me at earning money."
Jackal smiled bitterly and slowly left the kitchen.
As Jackal passed by, Hans said as he turned around to see Jackal.
"Don't feel bad. Recently you've been.. somewhat dangerous. You’ve been doing only the most dangerous jobs."
"It’s all calculated danger."
"You can say that because you're alone. But I've got a family to protect."
"...."
Jackal kept on walking as if he didn't hear those words.
As Jackal was passing the porch, Hans's voice followed.
"Thank you for the food. But I hope you wouldn't do this again. We are no longer..."
Slam.
Hans's last words were drowned out as Jackal shut the door with force.
Jackal expressionlessly stepped down the stairs.
Jackal's house was just 2 floors below.
As always, he could hear the next-door alcoholic's cries and the sob of the woman trying to stop him.
Normally, he would have just ignored it, but this time, he knocked strongly on the neighbor's door.
After some banging noise, the door opened.
"What's this? An Asian?"
It was the first time that Jackal actually saw the alcoholic, although he had heard his voice every day.
It was a middle-aged man with a fat stomach and a mustache like that of Hitler's.
"I live next door. I cannot stand the noise."
"What? You inferior Asian!"
Even before the man's face showed anger, Jackal grabbed him by the collar and held him up.
"I said be quiet!"
"G.. Gasp!"
The man's feet squirmed in the air and his face turned red.
"I will give you a final warning. Be quiet, if you don't want to disappear without anyone being aware of it."
Jackal threw him to the floor and stared at him with threatening eyes.
The alcoholic could not look at Jackal straight in the face.
"....."
As he returned to his home, the familiar darkness and silence greeted him.
Like always, Jackal opened the safe and checked the contents again and again.
After the tedious job was done, he took out a bottle of alcohol and poured it into his mouth.
The strong liquor of over 40% alcohol went into his throat relentlessly.
Jackal felt a strong thirst, but he did not move as he sat leaning on the safe.
"....."
A burning feeling came from his stomach.
It was a wild feeling that seemed to tear his stomach apart.
"... Oh right, I had this."
There was a faint smile on Jackal's expressionless face.
"I'm not feeling so cheerful today. Shall I go to that woman's place?"
He pulled out a pocket watch from his chest pocket.
The room was dark, but Jackal's eyes could easily read the time.
"Midnight. A very awkward time."
He no longer had fear of night in Berlin, but he felt that it was disrespectful to take a sudden visit without any particular reason.
She was, after all, a very young woman although she was actually a fierce monster inside.
An idea just came across him.
"Should I train alone?"
But Marie-Louise's warning sounded in his head.
"Whatever you do, never practice Wugong when I am not present. Wugong is like the sea. It can make you float, but it can drown you too."
Marie-Louise always says good things.
She never hurts Jackal's feelings with her words, which are as soft as silk and sweet as honey.
It was unprecedented for her to give such a firm warning.
There must be a clear reason.
Jackal was aware of it too.
However, without knowing why, Jackal had a desire to break Marie-Louise's taboo.
It was a daring act unlike Jackal, who was always calm and meticulous.
It was hard to tell whether this sudden change was due to the loss of friends he considered family, or due to the effect of the strong alcohol.
"I know what I am doing."
Maybe it was just confidence.
If one has survived years of brutal war, he has the right to believe in somebody.
Whether it was god, or himself.
Jackal believes only in himself.
"Whoo..."
Jackal inhaled deeply and standing on his hands, he started Inner force circulation as Marie-Louise taught him.
His engine room was already full of heat.
The expanding energy circulated from bottom up then top down.
"... Umm."
His legs shook. Perhaps he was too used to Marie helping him with his position.
It was different from what he had been doing.
The energy felt like it was going into another vein instead of the route it normally passed.
The strange feeling was enough to alert Jackal.
'I should have listened to the woman!'
With a short regret, he started taking back the energy that st
arted flowing in his body.
But the energy, once spread, was like ink smeared on paper.
It was impossible to absorb the energy back to the engine room.
Drip, drip, drip.
Sweat trickled off his forehead and dropped on the floor.
"Pant... pant..."
His breath roughened.
"Damn. If I don't do something..!"
His body refused to listen to him.
The energy that started circulating throughout his body sped up and blew wildly like a storm. The heat in his engine room increased.
It was becoming dangerous.
Jackal felt the danger and broke his upside-down position.
Thud.
Did his volition work?
As his position broke, he fell on the floor.
"Gasp! Gasp!"
As his relaxed his position, the energy circulating in his body disappeared.
Jackal tried moving his arms.
'All OK."
Fortunately, his body followed his command once again.
Jackal stood up as he wiped the sweat on his forehead.
"It could have been dangerous. Huh..?"
Suddenly, nausea from underneath hit Jackal's stomach like a storm.
He shriveled and rolled up like a shrimp and soon threw something up.
"Ugh.."
Midst the horrible pain and helplessness, Jackal took the lamp to see what he threw up.
Blood. A black clot of blood.
As soon as he saw it, he started to feel dizzy and his sight became blurry.
He immediately went to a mirror and looked at his face.
His face was pale-white like a corpse.
His body shook from the wind blowing from the window.
'Damn.. How can this be..."
There was no way to find the answer even if he thought about it.
There was just one way.
Jackal took his equipment as he staggered.
Pistol, submachine gun, grenade, knife.
With the old friends that will keep him alive, Jackal got out of the house.
"Hey, who's this? It’s Jackal!"
There were strangers outside the house.
Jackal found a familiar face amongst the strangers.
"...Hans?"
Hans looked away as Jackal stared at him.
Instead, a man walked toward Jackal in an arrogant fashion.
Jackal knew the man.
'Huiziga?..'
Huiziga. He was the leader of the biggest gang of hyenas in Berlin. He had connection with the Soviets, and rumors claimed that he was doing all sorts of dirty work for the Soviets.