The bearded traveler took off his cap. “My name is Vasili…” he introduced himself apprehensively. “I think we have a mutual… acquaintance.”
Professor Carter narrowed his eyes as he silently scrutinized his disheveled visitor. His face slackened as the truth dawned on him. “Nyarlathotep.”
Vasili nodded silently.
“A name I hoped to never hear again,” Professor Carter said mournfully. “But then again… Zkauba did warn me.” He placed an arm around Vasili’s shoulders. “Come inside, my friend. We have much to discuss.”
• • •
The beer hall in Berlin smelt of tobacco and liquor. A dank mist seemed to hover in the air as the uniformed patrons enjoyed their thunderous celebration. They fell suddenly silent when the stranger burst in, the twin pistols at his waist reminding most of the cowboys of American serials. The stranger silently walked over to the bar, mindful of the hundreds of eyes following. Sitting down, he waved the bartender over.
“Was darf es sein?” the bartender asked.
The stranger leaned forward. “I’m looking for a family,” he said in English. “A Jewish family, name of Hahn.”
The bartender let out an angry laugh before spitting a wad of phlegm on the stranger’s shirt. “We do not like Jüden here,” he said in English, loud enough so that the other patrons could hear.
The stranger grinned with menace. “I was hoping you’d say something like that,” he said, swiftly grabbing the bartender by the hair and slamming his head against the bar. As the drunken Nazi storm troopers closed in, Caraway drew his pistols and began to open fire.
• • •
They spotted the bodies halfway between New Zealand and Chile, scattered across the ocean like toys after Christmas. Smoking his Lucky Strikes as they brought the first of them aboard the U. S. S. North Carolina, Dr. Franklin Murdoch watched as they laid them across the deck, three hundred and sixty five pieces of dead Nazis, as many days in a year.
“That’s a lotta dead Nazis,” Crewman Elisha Pond said, wiping his brow with the bottom of his shirt.
Murdoch nodded as he took a drag. “Tell me about it,” he said in a cloud of smoke. “Lot of dead Nazis and a long way away from the Fatherland.”
“Whaddya think brought ’em out here, Doc?” Pond asked as Murdoch handed him a cigarette.
Murdoch closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the sun, soaking in the warmth. “My guess, Pond? They weren’t out for a swim.”
“Hey, Doc!“ Crewman Reynolds shouted up to him, a robed torso at his feet. “Hey, Doc! You gotta take a look at this one!”
“Jeez-us!” Pond exclaimed as he and Murdoch ran up to the mutilated remains. “Look at his head! Looks like half ’is skull was blown off!”
Murdoch began to kneel down beside the torso, tentatively placing a hand on the chest when he quickly jumped back.
“What is it?” Pond asked.
Murdoch’s eyebrows pinched together but he didn’t reply. Looking over the torso, he noticed an oil-like ooze dripping out from the shattered skull. Rummaging through his pockets, he brought out a small pencil and dipped it into the goo.
“What the hell is that stuff?” Reynolds asked as Murdoch watched the black ooze move across his pencil.
Pond leaned in closer, his brow furrowed in thought. “Have you ever seen anything like this, Doc?” his voice momentarily taking on a slightly more educated accent.
Murdoch shook his head. “No, Pond, I can’t say I have.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his knees popping as he stood. “Wrap him up and take him down below. Try and make sure you put him in something waterproof, if you can. Don’t want this stuff dripping all over the place. When we get back to New York I’ll do an autopsy, see what’s going on here.”
“Will do, Doc,” the crewmen said in tandem.
As Murdoch watched them slide the carcass into the body bag, he silently wondered if he had really felt a heartbeat.
The End
THE GREEN LAMA CHRONOLOGY
Bold indicates Moonstone Publication
1923–1933
“The Case of the Final Column” by Adam Lance Garcia (Flashbacks)
The Green Lama: Unbound by Adam Lance Garcia
(Flashbacks) 1935
The Green Lama / Black Bat: “Homecoming” by Adam LanceGarcia
TheGreenLama/SecretAgentX11:“EyeoftheBeholder” byAdamLanceGarcia
“Case of the Crimson Hand” by Kendell Foster Crossen
“Croesus of Murder” by Kendell Foster Crossen
1936
“Babies for Sale” by Kendell Foster Crossen
“Wave of Death” by Kendell Foster Crossen
1937
“The Man Who Wasn’t There” by Kendell Foster Crossen
“Death’s Head Face” by Kendell Foster Crossen
1938
The Green Lama: Horror in Clay by Adam Lance Garcia
“The Case of the Invisible Enemy” by Kendell Foster Crossen
“The Case of the Mad Magi” by Kendell Foster Crossen
“The Case of the Vanishing Ships” by Kendell Foster Crossen
“The Case of the Fugitive Fingerprints” by Kendell Foster Crossen
The Green Lama: Scions by Adam Lance Garcia
“The Case of the Crooked Cane” by Kendell Foster Crossen
“The Case of the Hollywood Ghost” by Kendell Foster Crossen
1939
“The Case of the Beardless Corpse” by Kendell Foster Crossen
“The Case of the Final Column” by Adam Lance Garcia (Altus Press)
The Green Lama: Unbound by Adam Lance Garcia
TheGreenLama: “Dæmon’sKiss” by Adam Lance Garcia
The Green Lama: Crimson Circle by Adam Lance Garcia
Table of Contents
Title Page
PART 1: THE MADNESS FROM THE SEA
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
PART 2: THE UNKNOWN KADATH
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
PART 3: CALL OF CTHULHU
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
THE GREEN LAMA CHRONOLOGY