He barreled toward me.
I crouched down.
He tried to veer away but it was too late. Using all my strength, I stood up. Flexed my back and heaved.
His scream rang in my ears as he toppled off the cliff.
Then there was silence.
Breathing heavily, I looked at the wolves.
They titled their heads in unison and returned my gaze. The wind kicked up, forming a swirling mixture of snow and ice.
I blinked.
They were gone.
Exhaustion swept over my brain and body. I twisted around. Jenner lay flat on a large piece of ice, impaled on three separate panels of the Amber Room. His blood ran in all directions, spilling into the water.
I watched for a minute as the ice floated away from shore. It started to lose mass as bits of ice broke off and crumbled into the ocean. I watched Jenner for a long time.
I watched him until he vanished completely underwater.
EPILOGUE
Family Secrets
"Are you sure about this?" Beverly cast a wary eye at the grotto. "What about the wolves?"
"Gone," I replied. "I don't understand it myself, really. But I've been out here every day for the last week and I haven't seen a trace of them."
She looked around. "So, you guys cleared this out?"
I nodded.
"Where'd you put all the rocks?"
"Wherever we could find room."
"What about Roy? And his team?"
"We dropped their bodies off at the cliff a few days ago. I imagine the U.S. Navy has dealt with them by now."
I followed her into the grotto. The giant rocks that had once blocked our path had been reduced to rubble, thanks to a few carefully controlled detonations.
We walked down the sloping tunnel all the way to the geothermal lake. Then we headed north, circling past the giant cave that had once held the Amerika-Rakete. The roof was now closed. The vast space was quiet and empty.
I couldn't be sure of its exact location, but the rocket had been loaded onto an aircraft carrier the previous day. I had to give Graham credit. He'd fought hard to keep it. Unfortunately, the U.S. Navy — who'd caught sight of the strange explosion at the ice cliff — had rebuffed him at every turn.
Beverly and I walked into the vault and made our way to her grandfather's former laboratory. She stopped short of the threshold. "Let's just forget this," she said. "Who cares if he helped the Nazis? It doesn't matter."
Much had happened since I'd watched Aaron Jenner float to a watery grave. We'd returned to Fitzgerald with Baxter's corpse. We'd met with Liza, told her everything. She took little comfort in her husband's heroics. Fenrir might've meant everything to him. But he'd meant everything to her.
The U.S. Navy had seized temporary control of the region. They'd quietly buried the deceased at sea and searched for survivors. But Graham, Beverly, and I were the only ones still breathing.
International media had flooded the area. They'd toured the ruins of the Nazi gas chamber. They'd pleaded for interviews. Graham had refused, preferring instead to focus on his newest business venture. He didn't mourn the Whitlows. But their vision of immortality, or at least a part of it, had struck a chord deep within him. As such, he'd decided to launch his own cryonics company.
Of course, he was still concerned for his spiritual future. But he was no longer consumed by it. Instead, he'd decided to embrace life to its fullest. And his first step was to figure out how to extend mortality as long as humanly possible.
In contrast, Beverly and I were happy to give interviews. But we kept things vague. For three days, the Amber Room and the battle to control it had dominated the news. The U.S. Navy had molded the story, portraying it as a pitched battle between two rival groups of treasure hunters. All knowledge of the Großen Sterbens bacteria was classified top secret.
Eventually, the media drifted away. The U.S. Navy put up a few guards around the gas chamber. There was talk of asking me to excavate it. But I wasn't interested. I already had an excavation of my own to complete. And frankly, I saw no reason to tell anyone about it.
I looked Beverly in the eye. "Just trust me, okay?"
She nodded. I pulled her into the room. The bones remained exactly as we'd found them. It hadn't felt right to move them, at least not yet.
I pointed at a desk. A single book lay on top of it.
She sighed. "What's that?"
"Your grandfather's journal. Graham translated it for me."
She looked at me.
"You saw his papers, but not his private journal. I found it stuffed inside his cot." I jerked my thumb at the cages in the other room. "They forced him to stay in there you know."
Her finger traced the cover. "What's it say?"
"You should read it for yourself."
"There's no need." She paused to collect her thoughts. "I'm not my grandfather. I know that now."
"Are you going to read the damn diary or do I have to tell you what it says?"
"I told you I don't need to know."
"Your grandfather released Fenrir."
Her face froze. "He what?"
"It's all in the book." I nodded at it. "He was pressed into service by the Nazis. They forced him to create potential inoculations for the Großen Sterbens bacteria. He was forced to test his work on people and animals alike. He did his best to sabotage the Nazis, to escape. But nothing worked."
She listened in rapt attention.
"He finally made a breakthrough. But he knew he couldn't let the Nazis have the inoculation."
Her voice was so quiet I barely heard her. "So, he let the wolves go."
"It wasn't easy. He had a lot of self-doubt. He knew the wolves wouldn't just kill him and the Nazis. They'd kill the other prisoners too. But he saw no way to save them." I shrugged. "Your grandfather stopped the second Great Dying."
She took my hand and led me to the geothermal lake. Snow drifted in from the aperture, showering the area with small flakes.
She pushed me to the ground and climbed on top of me. Her violet eyes shone brightly as she stared down at me. "Thanks."
I pulled her toward me. The snow whirled around us until I could barely see her. I felt her lips on mine, her hands roving inside my parka. I ripped open her parka and kissed her back.
The snow fell gently on us as we made love by the lake. I'd be forgotten someday. Hell, all of us would. But for now, all was right with the world.
All was right with life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Meyer is an adventurer and author of the Cy Reed series. His books take readers across the globe, from New York's lost subway tunnels to forgotten laboratories buried deep beneath Antarctica's frozen tundra. To find out more about David, his adventures, and his books, visit www.GuerrillaExplorer.com.