“The labs and factory are going up in flames,” Watson protested, “Everything and everyone, scientists and technicians monitoring the test have been obliterated. Nothing exists of the building housing the devise is left. The rest of the munitions facilities are on fire and exploding themselves!” “But the explosion was not caused by our charges, Watson! We had nowhere near the amount of dynamite to cause the massive explosion of the first blast. AND, and it blew a whole TWO minutes before our charges were set to go! I think the test was begun ahead of schedule. And I fear the Professor has unleashed something unknown to current science. That infernal blast may have been a precursor to the entire plant igniting. But, my God! The enormity of the blast was ten times larger than anything I have heard of! “But, the twin prototype Watson, the twin prototype and other key scientists have already left,” I complained. “Even Moriarty was not on site. They can reconstruct everything with new personnel and factories when the extent of this blast is reported.” “Luckily Jack is still with them, but he is in grave danger if he makes the slightest slip in his cover.”
Revolver Resolution I momentarily turned to watch the conflagration, I saw Watson pat down his jacket to slap out burning embers that had covered his clothes. I looked down at my own clothes and started brushing off bits of burning debris. I turned Watson around and slapped at his back with my workman’s hat, then he returned the favor and cleared mine. “Holmes, this may hurt,” Watson warned. He grabbed a small jagged fragment of window glass and pulled it from my left shoulder. “Ah,” I cried out. Watson pulled down my jacket and shirt off my left shoulder. He pulled out his handkerchief and wiped some blood off the wound. “Not significant,” he yelled, “We will have to dress it later…” Being an experienced combat doctor, I accepted his prognosis, however damn it hurt. “Wait here,” he yelled again above the din as he ran back to where we had just escaped. He returned in a few minutes with our blackened valise. “The wagon was blown over and burning, the horse killed,” he reported. “But, I knew we would need cash, so I rummaged through the spilled contents and rescued this.” “Good work, Watson,” I congratulated him. “The realization of the horror of such a ghastly weapon just gripped my spirit. I was shocked by the immensity of the explosion. I am over that now. Let’s leave before the response gets organized.” We made our way to the next town without being stopped. We cleaned ourselves best we could, so that in the dark we could pass as lower class workers whose standard of cleanliness was just below par. Thanks to Watson’s keen wit and courage when he had recovered our valise, we were able to secure a room where we could rest. He put two stitches in shoulder wound and applied dressing. We went into town and bought a complete wardrobe the next day and planned our next move. Watson and I agreed we had to go to Essen and get hold of Jack. Essen has one of Germany's most important coal and steel centers. At the end of the 16th century, many coalmines had opened in Essen and the city earned a name as a center of the weapon industry. The city became more and more strategically important. The factories of the Krupp family gained particular importance. Essen and the Krupp dynasty, resident in Essen since the 16th century, were of particular influence for each other. In 1811, Friedrich Krupp founded Germany's first cast steel factory in Essen and laid the cornerstone for what was to be the largest enterprise in Europe for decades. When Jack had left, he had given us the name of a place to stay and a drop where we could leave a message where he would check periodically. A drop is a non-conspicuous hole or hiding place where small messages could be hidden, to be picked up at any time of the day or night without the recipient having to go through anyone else. We would give him our room number and if possible he would come to us. When he left, he did not know what the measure of success or failure our half of the mission would be. He also did not know if he would be watched too closely to make contact with us whether or not we had been successful. We had a sticky wicket either way. We checked into the Hotel Ruhr, named after the Ruhr River, a medium-size tributary of the Rhine. Although Essen is a fairly large town, due to the heavy industry, we kept our forays to a minimum. We left a message at the drop, a smaller statue in a small park near the hotel. It was a statue of Saint Altfrid the Bishop who founded a monastery for women in the center of Essen. He held an alms cup that served for our drop, we used a small black cardboard cutout to create a false bottom to place the note under to hide from any casual eyes. Then we waited.