Herr Doktor Kirchtum

Kirchtum
Character information
Alias(es)	"das Nebelhorn"
Title/rank	Doktor
Died	c.1986, The Gulf of Mexico, Florida, United States
Height	"Small"
Nationality	Austrian
Occupation	Clinic director
Affiliation	Klinik Mozart, KGB; Department Eight of Directorate S
Status	Deceased; shot by Nannette Norrich
Behind the scenes
Role	Henchman
First seen	Nobody Lives for Ever
Last seen	Nobody Lives for Ever

"'"

― Nobody Lives For Ever.

Herr Doktor Kirchtum was a Austrian doctor and director of the Klinik Mozart, in the mountains south of Salzburg. He was also an associate of Soviet counterintelligence agency, Department Eight of Directorate S. The character appeared as a minor antagonist in John Gardner's 1986 James Bond continuation novel, Nobody Lives for Ever.

Biography

Nobody Lives for Ever

Following the deaths of two passengers on the Osten ferry, his rescue of Sukie Tempesta, and a deadly roadside explosion on his way to retrieve his housekeeper May from Klinik Mozart in Salzburg, Austria, James Bond dials for Kirchtum on a French telephone line. Kirchtum immediately picks up, and notifies Bond that May is showing a good sign of recovery. Before Bond is about to end the phone call, Kirchtum interrupts him, and suddenly Miss Moneypenny is on the line telling him that she would like to visit May with him. Bond thanks her for the thoughtful consideration, and ends the phone call.

After being informed about the Head Hunt, Bond receives a telephone call from Herr Doktor Kirchtum that May and Moneypenny had been kidnapped. After an encounter with Heinrich Osten and his associates, Bond learns from Kommissar Becker that Kirchtum was informed of May and Moneypenny's kidnapping four days later. Suddenly, a phone rings from a frightened Kirchtum telling Bond that a gun is being pointed to his left ear, and he reads a message ordering Bond to transport Sukie and Nannie to the Hotel Goldener Hirsch where a room is booked for them and to wait there for further instructions, as well as not to inform the police or his intelligence contacts of his movements. Suddenly, a tape recording of May and Moneypenny in panic is played over the phone.

After surviving another attempt on his life from a giant vampire room in their hotel room, Bond receives another urgent phone call from Kirchtum telling him to go to Paris tomorrow until an anonymous, distorted voice tells Bond that there May and Moneypenny will be saved. Disobeying the orders of Kirchtum, Bond insteads drives to the nearby Klinik Mozart where he finds the doctor strapped to a chair held against his will by Steve Quinn and his two men (who survived the car explosion). Bond reveals himself onto Quinn much to Kirchtum’s surprise, where Quinn informs his former colleague that he is a defector to SMERSH.

Bond frees Kirchtum from the chair, where the doctor apologizes for the kidnapping of May and Moneypenny taken by Quinn's men who were impersonating a television repair crew. When Bond receives the vital information from Quinn about SPECTRE's headquarters, Kirchtum subsequently inserts a hypodermic needle into Quinn's arm rendering him unconscious for four to five hours.

Accompanied with Sukie and Nannie, Bond poses as "James Boldman", and before he is about to board the flight to Miami to confront SPECTRE, Bond is himself confronted by Quinn and Kirchtum who take him on a different flight. Quinn reveals that Kirchtum's captivity was staged, and the doctor reveals that the Klinik Mozart had recently faced financial difficulties, and then became an accomplice to Quinn when he was told about the reward granted by the Head Hunt.

After the flight lands in Miami, Quinn and Kirchtum escort Bond to a sleek dark automobile that drives them to a forty-foot powered fishing boat with its route headed for the Gulf of Mexico. Suddenly, Quinn, Kirchtum, and the boat captain are killed by Sukie and Norrich. Their bodies are incinerated along with the ships via emergency fuel and explosive bullets.