"Sure am."
A yawn escaped my lips. "By the way, does anyone have the time?"
"It's time for bed," Baxter said. "I'm going to make some calls. Holly, can you show them to their room?"
She nodded.
As Baxter walked away, Holly gave me another glance. "Are you with those other guys who are coming here?"
I gave her a quizzical look.
"Dan Trotter and Ted Ayers."
"No." My bruised eye pulsed. "But we've met."
Footsteps scuffled across the floor. Then Rupert Whitlow strode into the room. He wore a sweat-wicking compression shirt and workout shorts. Sweat glistened from his brow.
Holly's voice lost some of its warmth. "When did you get here?"
"Maybe an hour ago," he replied. "I figured I'd grab a quick workout."
"I thought you were staying late to pick up the newbies."
"Actually, I got lucky. Another person is coming here. His name is Aaron Jenner. There wasn't enough room in the Sno-Cat for all of us plus the crate. So, Jim and I split up. He won't get here for a few hours yet." He glanced at us. "What are you guys doing here? I thought you were leaving."
"Change of plans," I replied.
"Glad to hear it."
"Next time, let me know you're back." A cold smile crept over Holly's face. "Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, babe. Anything."
She swept her dainty hand at us. "Help them with their luggage."
"Don't worry," I said. "We'll be fine."
"It's no problem." Rupert gathered up our bags. "I'll put them in your room."
Holly waited for him to leave. "I love him to death. But sometimes he just drives me crazy."
Graham arched an eyebrow at me.
"How long have you been married?" I asked.
"Six years."
"It must be hard living here. I know I'd get a little stir crazy after awhile."
"I like my privacy." She smiled. "But meeting new people is fun too."
"Have you spent a lot of time with Beverly so far?"
"She's only stopped in a few times. I think she's building some sort of field camp with Jeff Morin."
Baxter jogged into the common room. His face looked somber. "I've got bad news."
We turned to look at him.
"Johnny didn't make it."
I inhaled sharply. "What happened?"
"Dr. Shay doesn't know. In fact, she's a little mystified by it." Baxter scowled. "Apparently, he was doing better before he died."
"Did you know him well?" I asked.
"Not really. But he was a decent guy."
"Any leads on what caused the explosion?"
"Johnny was our only witness to it." Baxter scowled again. "Without him, we'll probably never know the truth."
Chapter 18
I didn't want to wake Graham. He'd snuck off to our room while I'd questioned Baxter about Johnny Richards' death. So, I cracked the door and peeked into the interior. I saw his shadowy figure standing in one corner. He held a tiny flashlight in one hand and a map in the other one.
I flicked a switch, causing a single halogen light to fire up.
Graham glanced in my direction. "I don't think I mentioned this before, but you look like hell."
"Thanks." I dragged myself into the room. It was outfitted with a built-in bunk bed, two tall dressers, and a closet.
The one thing the room lacked was a window. It made sense, what with the unrelenting sunshine during the summer months. But I still wished we had one. There was something about a window that made a place feel homey. Without it, I might as well have been living in a basement.
"We need to talk."
"About what?"
"About Werwolfsschanze."
I groaned. "Can't it wait?"
"What if Pat's right? What if there's no treasure here?"
"It's a little late to worry about that now," I replied.
"I explored large parts of this region in my youth. And I never found a single Nazi artifact."
"Yes, but—”
"I've also read plenty of books about Antarctica. So, I know all about the 1939 expedition. The Nazis came here in the MS Schwabenland to scout out locations for a whaling station. In those days, whale oil was a major ingredient in soap and margarine. But the MS Schwabenland was a small ship. It was far too small to carry building supplies. It only stayed here a couple of weeks and the crew spent very little time on the ice."
"True. But the Nazis planned other expeditions."
"And failed to launch a single one."
I fought to keep my temper in check. "Come on, Dutch. We've been over this a thousand times."
"Yeah, but I had an ulterior motive for coming here. I think it may have colored my good judgment." He paused to collect his thoughts. "Here's what bothers me. Historians have covered all aspects of the Nazi regime for decades. None of them have uncovered the slightest trace of Werwolfsschanze. Hell, none of them have even found evidence of a follow-up expedition to Antarctica."
That wasn't exactly true. We'd researched that same topic while still in New York. And we'd found numerous reports of a Nazi stronghold in Antarctica. Unfortunately, the claims were outlandish. They involved things like Aryan physics, Hollow Earth theories, UFOs, secret battles on the ice, and mind control. "Maybe not," I replied. "But no one knew about the New York treasure trove either."
"Werwolfsschanze isn't even a real word. It could mean anything."
I exhaled. "We covered this too. The first part translates to werewolf. The second part means entrenchment or better yet, lair. So, Werewolf's Lair."
"Maybe. Or maybe it was just some little piece of Werwolf."
Werwolf was the code name for a mysterious Nazi operation launched in 1944. Its stated goal was to create a team of commandos who could operate behind enemy lines, wrecking havoc on the Allied forces. However, rumors had persisted for decades that Werwolf had another purpose — the recruitment and training of guerrilla fighters who could carry on the war after Nazi Germany's surrender.
"Let's get back to basics," I said. "The Nazis hid gold bars in New York shortly after the end of World War II. Beverly and I found those gold bars a few weeks ago."
The full story was a little longer than that. By the mid-1940s, Nazi leaders had realized defeat was inevitable. They'd formed a group known as ODESSA, or the Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen. In the long run, they'd hoped to build a new Nazi empire. But they knew it would take time, personnel, and resources. So, they'd helped to relocate their people to South America and the Middle East. Then they'd sent the bulk of their treasure to New York for safekeeping.
Beverly and I had located the cache while searching for a lost subway car under Manhattan. She'd proceeded to vanish with most of the gold. I'd felt betrayed, even infuriated. And yet, I also felt a ray of hope. After all, she'd left behind a single bar, etched with a message that promised a way to find her again. The second half of that message flashed before my eyes.
I know you have feelings for her. When you sort them out, come find me if you want. All you need is this bar. It and the others are not what they appear to be. Until we meet again … B.G.
"I still think you should've done more tests on that bar," Graham said.
"I did every test known to man. All I found were the older markings."
The markings consisted of two sequences of numbers and letters. The first one was seven, one, five, and the letter S. The second one was zero, six, five, and the letter E.
It wasn't until I'd studied the markings that I'd figured out what she'd meant by her message. When she said the bars were not what they appeared to be, she wasn't talking about their physical properties. She was talking about their status. In other words, the bars appeared to be part of the New York treasure trove. But they were actually supposed to be part of a separate cache stored in Werwolfsschanze.