"One moment," the man said. Ignoring Hunter, the man quietly finished
what he was reading, slipped a leather placemark into the book, and
put it on top of a stack beside the desk. The pile promptly collapsed
in a cloud of dust at Hunter's feet.
Max saw some of the title pages. The books were extraordinarily old,
some of them with a printing date a thousand years in the past. The
man pinched a pair of eye-glasses on his nose and studied Hunter
carefully.
"You're from the police, I presume?" he asked.
"If you are Werner von Rausch--"
"I'm Heinrich. I sent in the report. Though, I must say, you couldn't
have come at a more inconvenient time. I'm collating the spells
tonight. I have them all, right here at my fingertips. And when I'm
finished--" He seized the captain's jacket and his voice was suddenly
shrill. "--I'll have the power to summon up any demon from hell. Think
what that means! I'll be greater than Faust. I'll have more power
than--"
"Where can I find Werner von Rausch?"
"Yes, Werner. Poor boy." Heinrich was calm again. "You'll have to do
your duty, officer. He's been annoying me all afternoon. So much
noise--a man can't think. He's in his shop at the end of the hall. But
don't be too severe with him. Perhaps this time just a warning will
make him see reason."
Hunter went back to the corridor, feeling again the shadow of horror
at this sick distortion of reality. In the distance, beyond the metal
fence, he heard the scream of sirens, and realized he had at best
another three minutes before the police would be there. Three minutes
to make a deal with Werner and save Ann.
Hunter pushed back the nightmare that welled up from the depths of his
mind. It wasn't true; it couldn't be true. If it were, nothing in the
jungle made sense.