Amber (16 page)

“This is wild.
Look at all this stuff! It’s like a museum down here.” Bones swept his flashlight around the space, a long corridor with evenly spaced alcoves, each one like a room with only three walls. As Maddock passed the first alcove, on his right, he saw that it was indeed filled with all sorts of German World War II relics. There were piles of uniforms, swastika armbands, huge stacks of boots, boxes piled high with medals. The team chattered with all of the new finds they discovered, but it troubled Maddock as a soldier to think that these items had once been worn in the service of a nation’s military, and that they had ended up here, obviously stockpiled in a secret, hidden location. Had they been grave-robbed?

“Oh my God. Look at this. You’ve got to see this!” Professor’s voice was a strange mixture of giddiness and disgust. Maddock was almost afraid to see what he had found but curiosity got the better of him. He left the alcove he was in, passed another to his left that was full of artillery and ammunition, shell cases and the like, and found Professor in the next alcove to the left.

Fittingly, he stood in the midst of what looked like a storehouse for a library, with stacks of dusty books piled high here and there, with other interesting odds and ends scattered about including a large, old-looking globe on an ornate, golden stand. Racks of what Maddock guessed to be old scrolls, written in Latin, lined one wall.

“I don’t believe it.” Professor mumbled, staring at the open page of a book. Maddock approached him and looked on. Wordlessly, Professor flipped to the cover, where Maddock read:
Mein Kampf
. Beneath the title, which Maddock knew to mean,
My Struggle
, was the author’s name: Adolf Hitler.

“Now look.” Professor flipped the cover open to the title page, where a two-word scrawl occupied the space below the title. “He signed it. This is an autographed copy of
Mein Kampf
!”

Maddock had conflicted feelings about such memorabilia, as he supposed many people did. He knew the book must be worth a substantial sum, but he himself would never feel comfortable profiting from such a dark piece of human history.

“Unless it has something to do with finding the Amber Room, we should leave it be.”

Professor looked up at him in a state of bewilderment. “Leave it? Do you know how much this thing is worth?”

Maddock shrugged. “Not enough, my friend. Not nearly enough. C’mon, forget that thing, let’s go.”

“Whoa....Whoa, man!” It was Willis’ turn to pique everyone’s curiosity. Maddock and Professor met up with him in a right-side alcove at the same time as Leopov and Bones filed in. Willis knelt in front of an open wooden crate, in a room filled with stacked crates.

Immediately Leopov read the thoughts of the others. “These crates are too small to contain the main Amber Room panels.” They looked to Willis again, who stared in fascination at a piece of paper in his hand. The crate he had opened was full of similar looking paperwork.

“Whatcha got?”

Maddock stepped up to him and he rose, pointing to a raised was seal. “Not sure, but it looks important, and whatever it is...” He pointed to the open crate and the rest of the boxes in the room. “...There are a lot of them.”

“Let me see.” Leopov took a look. “German...I’m not fluent, but I believe these are land deeds...” Her voice dropped off as she read on.

“What?” Willis looked up at her, but she seemed distraught, unable to continue. Professor took a look at the document.

“These are land deeds. Judging from the number of them, as well as some of the other stuff I saw in here, they were confiscated from Jews.” Everyone had a moment of silence as they contemplated this.

“They still worth anything?” Bones wanted to know.

Professor shrugged. “To the heirs of the people who owned them, sure. I would think that these could prove property ownership and therefore potentially cause major problems for the German government if all of these heirs pressed their claims at once.” Professor put the deeds back in the crate and sealed the lid.

The team moved on, fanning out and searching the different alcoves. Maddock made sure to keep a sharp yet surreptitious eye on Leopov lest she discover something she didn’t want the rest of the group to know about, and to see if she attempted communication somehow, although even if she did have a radio or other device, he doubted it would be able to get a signal into or out of this underground complex.

It wasn’t long before Professor’s voice rang out in the series of chambers. “Wow. Look at this machine!” The team found him in an alcove further along and gathered there. “I think it’s a computer.” Professor ran a hand over a metal chassis festooned with knobs and buttons occupying most of the alcove’s back wall.

Maddock nodded. “So this is one of those early computers that took up a whole room but today the same processing power fits into a desktop PC.”

Professor nodded. “Exactly. And look at this! IBM. Right here!” He wiped away some dust and sure enough, the logo of the well-known computer maker was visible engraved into the metal case.

“Wow.” Even Bones was suitably impressed. “I didn’t think IBM was around that long.”

Professor continued to examine the machine while he answered. “Oh yeah. Even for them, this is an old machine, though. This thing ran on punch cards...”

“And here they are!” Leopov had a crate opened from a stack in the corner. She leafed through a stack of manila cards, a series of neat holes punched in orderly arrays on each one of them.

“What did they use them for?” Willis asked. This was met with silence until Professor spoke in a shaky voice.

“Wow...I...I think they were used to keep track of...”

Leopov fanned out a group of punch cards in a hand and held them up. “It started out as a census tool for the German government. But as the war progressed, it evolved into a way to identify where people of certain races were in various regions, and some say, to keep track of where Hitler’s regime was sending all the Jewish prisoners--how many open spaces they had remaining at each camp...basically a human inventory tracking system for the Nazi war machine. Technologically speaking it was highly advanced for its time.”

Maddock appeared incredulous. “And IBM—the same company that gave us the personal computer in the early 1980s—did this?”

Leopov nodded. “They did. They don’t explicitly deny it, either, but of course they keep the details under tight wraps.”

Bones had lost interest in the computer equipment and wandered off, but now called the group to the next alcove over. “We’re getting warmer.”

The team left the punch cards behind and joined Bones, who had pried the lid off a crate and was holding a thick gold bar in each hand. “Jackpot!”

Maddock looked around the space, the floor of which was covered in crates and trunks, some stacked two or three high. “You think...?”

They moved quickly to open a few more crates. Every one they opened contained some kind of precious metal; not all were gold bars, but some held coins, medallions, jewelry. Besides gold there was platinum and precious stones as well. The accumulation of wealth was dizzying. Maddock opened yet another crate brimming with gold bullion and then dropped the lid back on it. “There’s fabulous treasure in here, probably the lost Nazi gold thought to be in the lake all these years, but it’s not the Amber Room. We need to move on.”

Just as Bones started to protest, they heard the trammel of footsteps echoing farther down the passage, toward the church.

Maddock spun and made for the main passage, well aware that the alcove was a dead end, probably literally, were they to be cornered in here. “Move!”

They poured into the passageway and continued away from the church. They entered a long stretch where there were no more alcoves on either side, only a straightaway. As they followed it at a run, the first gunshots shattered the underground quiet.

“The Russians from
the lake must have heard us in the church and followed us down here.” Bones didn’t stop running as he panted the words.

“Not Russian.” Leopov was a step or two behind Bones. “They’re speaking German!”

They kept on until they saw muzzle flashes ahead of them. Realizing they were trapped, with gunfire on either side of them, they ducked into the first alcove to appear since they left the one with the gold.

Chips of stone peppered their upper bodies as they made the turn. Even once inside the alcove, the barrage of arms fire continued from both ends of the corridor.

Maddock, from his position low against the wall, said, “They must be shooting at each other.” They heard a howl of pain emanating from their left, then a string of what all of them except Leopov could only assume was foul language.

“”That’s Russian, coming from that side,” Leopov said, pointing to the left end of the corridor.

“Russians and Germans battling each other?” Willis looked confused.

Leopov made a noncommittal gesture. “That’s what it seems like.”

Maddock backed up from the edge of the alcove a little. “The Russians must have come from the dive site on the lake, but what about the Germans? What are they doing here?”

Before anyone could answer a hail of bullets strafed the entrance to the alcove, sending the team skittering deeper inside for cover. “Get back!” Bones led the way toward the rear. Unlike the others, this one was empty, containing no items whatsoever. Also unlike the others, however, it had a door set into its rear wall. Bones tried the handle, an ornate brass affair, while the others trooped up behind him, the sounds of the gunfight still raging out in the corridor.

Locked.

“Out of the way, Bones.” Willis backed up and turned sideways toward the door. Bones rapped on the wood. “This thing’s pretty heavy duty, Willis, I don’t—“

But the hefty African-American was already charging. When he was a few feet from the door he launched his right leg out in a flying kick, while keeping his back foot on the ground. The heel of his booted foot impacted with the door to the side of the keyhole, splintering the wood. Still, the door held.

Willis landed on his feet, staring at his handiwork. “One more time.”

“Hurry, Willis!” Professor eyed the corridor anxiously, where the fighting drew nearer. Willis backed up again and repeated the maneuver. This time the door caved next to the lock, and Bones reached in and opened it. The team rushed through without waiting to see what was on the other side, since bullets now ricocheted around the alcove. Bones went through last, closing the door behind him. He locked it and then took some of the larger wood shards and did his best to stick them in place to camouflage the fact that the door had been breached.

They were inside a small room, no more than twenty feet square, but with a high ceiling, featuring an intricately designed floor consisting of mosaic tiles laid out in a grid. Most of the team was glad just to be out of the way of immediate arms fire, but Maddock couldn’t help but stare at the floor. “Some of this looks familiar...from our briefing materials...these images, they were in the Amber Room. Look.”

He walked out onto the floor and pointed to a tile, featuring a depiction of the amber clock, and another with the Prussian Eagle; still another displayed a cherub. But it was Bones who commanded everyone’s attention when he pointed across the room and said, “Check out that door.”

A gilded, arched doorway beckoned on the opposite side of the room. Behind it, their flashlights set off flashes of orange and gold. Leopov’s mouth dropped open. Even Willis appeared slack jawed. Professor’s eyebrows scrunched up, as if he were deep in thought. Maddock’s gaze was more lingering, tracing the tiled floor into the golden room.

Could it be?

“You think...” Professor began.

“It has to be.” Leopov sounded as sure as could be. “The amber chamber. Or at least part of it, from what I can see.”

“Let’s go.” Willis made a move to start across the floor when Maddock’s arm lashed out and barred his way.

“Hold on, cowboy.”

Willis’ eyes widened, and for a moment Maddock swore he could see golden light reflected in his irises. “If you were a Nazi, wouldn’t you put in one last booby trap to catch the uninitiated?”

Willis froze in place. “I’ll bet your right.”

Bones looked up from his place, the farthest out toward the golden entranceway. “Wouldn’t surprise me if, at one wrong step, that whole ceiling comes down on us.”

They heard muffled shouts and Leopov turned to look at the door they’d broken through to get here. “What do we do?”

Maddock examined the tile flooring. The others saw him staring at them and did the same. Soon discussion broke out about the meaning of the various imagery on the different tiles, but Maddock waved them down and extended a finger to a tile a few steps away from them.

“If you look closely, you can see that some of the tiles have the main image superimposed over a Roman numeral. Take this one here, with the crown, for example. It has a five.” All sets of eyes in the room focused on the ‘V’ that was almost invisible against the more elaborately inscribed crown image. They agreed they could see it.

“And then look.” Maddock pointed to another tile, straight across the room from the first toward the golden entrance. “Looks like a pair of crossed bugles or horns of some kind, superimposed over the Roman numeral six.” The figure ‘VI’ was visible in the tile.

Then Professor, looking ahead on the floor toward the opposite side, pointed to a third tile. “There! That one’s got a five, the one with the Roman god or whoever that is.” A ‘V’ lurked beneath the figure with a flowing beard and wavy mane of hair.

Maddock stepped up to the edge of the tiled floor, the one with the first ‘V’ about a four-foot jump away. “Five-six-five has been the key so far. Let me go first. If the place starts to fall apart at least you’ll have a chance to leave the way we came. But no sooner had he said it than they heard the rumble of multiple pairs of feet walking into the alcove outside.

“Go Dane, hurry!” Leopov pleaded. If she was acting, Maddock, thought, she was doing a convincing job.

He steadied himself and jumped onto the first tile, both feet landing firmly on the cherub and its ‘V’. His arms flailed a bit but he caught his balance and stood stock still, eyes shifting in their sockets, searching for signs that he had triggered something.

Nothing happened.

He heard clapping from someone in the team behind him but didn’t turn to look. “Keep going,” Bones urged.

Maddock lined up his next tile, the one with the trumpets. He took a deep breath, released it, and leaped. Again, he landed smoothly on his target, staring down at the “VI’ while he planted himself in place, careful not to let his feet touch any of the eight surrounding tiles.

“Last one!” Leopov called.

Maddock eyeballed his next mark, the god and his numeral ‘V’. He made the leap to it, this time teetering a bit as an intense amber glow from the next room distracted him, eliciting a gasp from someone, but he recovered quickly. “I’m okay.”

“That’s one giant leap for mankind, Maddock!” Professor congratulated.

“I’ve still got one more jump to make. Maddock eyed the series of tiles leading to the room in front of him, and as he looked up into the space he was attempting to enter he caught his already short breath. “It definitely looks like that could be the Amber Room.”

The glow from the place was nothing short of electrifying, rays of light shifting and sparkling, even if he looked down at the floor. It had a dizzying effect on him and he decided it would be wise to make his last move before he succumbed to vertigo. His right foot slipped on the takeoff but he still cleared the threshold into the golden room...into the Amber Room. He tumbled into it, tucking into a roll and coming up with arms braced over his head in case he had unleashed a booby-trap that was about to strike him.

“Yes!” Bones’ triumphant yell was heard over the sound of a gunshot striking the outer door.

Maddock got to his feet, willing himself to ignore the opulence around him. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted across the room. “The rest of you, one at a time—make the crossing. Now!”

Willis jumped first to the first tile and landed with a grace that belied his size. As soon as he made the leap to the second tile, Professor bounded onto the first. In this manner they crossed the room, with Leopov going next after Professor. By the time Bones brought up the rear and landed on the first tile, they heard a muffled argument outside the door, but as they listened it moved away, still audible but no longer right outside the door.

“They’re almost here, people, move it, but don’t fall!” Maddock encouraged.

Willis and Professor made it across. Bones made it to the second tile. Then Leopov made the leap into the Amber Room, where despite the grandiose surroundings, all four of the team faced into the small room where Bones still had one important jump left to make, and for now, the door to the outside corridor remained closed.

A noise sounded just outside it, though, something loud enough to spook Bones, who whipped his head back to look at the door, then turned around quickly to make the jump without pausing. His hastiness was a mistake, because although he cleared the tiles on his initial bound, he landed off balance just barely inside the boundary of the Amber Room, rocking back wildly. He was about to fall flat back onto the tiled floor when Willis and Professor wrapped their arms around him and scooped him into the Amber Room before he could hit the tiles.

“Crazy Indian,” Willis muttered, depositing Bones into the spectacular setting.

Bones breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks. Never thought I’d—“

They heard someone try the door.