And packed with treasure.
Gold and silver glinted in the stark light of an overhead bulb. She saw coins, statues, even pieces of armour — all stored in open wooden crates stencilled with the eagle and swastika of the Third Reich. But it was clear what the former SS men considered the greatest treasure of all. In pride of place was a very large pottery jar inscribed with Greek text. A set of wooden steps was positioned by the pithos to give easier access to its silver-rimmed neck.
Kroll stepped into the vault. ‘Bring them,’ he ordered. The guards gestured with their guns. Nina and her companions hesitantly followed the overweight man into the confined space.
‘A family of Greek farmers had been protecting a shrine to Andreas beneath their house for centuries,’ explained Kroll. ‘They had kept his secret for all that time — until we discovered it.’
‘And stole it,’ Nina said, unable to contain her caustic disgust.
‘It was the property of the Reich.’
‘And after the Reich was destroyed, it just happened to stay in your hands, right?’
The Nazi’s eyes blazed with fury. ‘We are the Reich! As long as we persist, it will never be destroyed.’ With a visible effort, he calmed himself. ‘And it is because of this that we have persisted. It has kept us young for seventy years.’
‘I’m guessing that it’s not full of Metamucil.’
Kroll had apparently never heard of the dietary supplement; he ignored her and continued. ‘It contains water from the Spring of Immortality. I knew of the legend — Alexander had always been a hero of mine,’ he said in brief reverie, ‘but it was hard to believe that it could be true. The moment I drank it, however, I knew. It had a strange glow, an almost electric charge — it was more than ordinary water. It would bring everlasting life to those who drank it — and when I read the text on the jar, I realised that the spring was still out there, waiting to be found.’
‘So you took it for yourself. And everything else in the shrine as well.’
‘It was needed.’ He gestured at the riches. ‘There was more to begin with — much more. But we had to use it. First to buy our freedom from the Allies after the war, then to pay for our escape to South America — and even more to buy the Enklave, to ensure our privacy as we worked to build the New Reich. Survival is an expensive business.’
Nina glanced back at Walther, remembering what he had said in Alexander’s tomb. ‘And I guess after all this time, you’re running out of gold.’
‘We will soon no longer need gold,’ Kroll replied. ‘All the money we could ever require will be ours — after we locate the spring. When the Egyptians announced the discovery of the tomb of Alexander the Great, I knew that was our chance to find it. But first we had to obtain the statue of Bucephalus. So we made plans to take it.’
‘How did you know about the statue?’ asked Banna. ‘It was not mentioned in any of the existing sources describing the tomb.’
The Nazi indicated the text upon the pithos. ‘From this.’ He turned to an old wood and metal box. ‘And this — the original text of the Alexander Romance, written by Andreas himself.’
Despite the situation, Nina couldn’t help but feel excitement. ‘You have the original?’
Kroll nodded. ‘There is far more to it than any of the later versions. But the text on the pithos told us the true meaning of what Andreas wrote. He hid the truth inside the fantasy… and also told us which parts were the truth. The spring is real. And Andreas returned to it, after Alexander’s death in 323 BC.’
‘Where is it?’ Macy asked.
‘If we knew that, you would not be here,’ the Nazi told her.
‘If they knew that, we’d be dead,’ Nina added. Macy blanched.
‘According to these, the spring lies somewhere along Alexander’s route to India,’ said Kroll, turning back to the inscriptions upon the pithos. ‘They also say that the statue of Bucephalus that Andreas placed inside Alexander’s tomb will reveal its location, but only to those who prove themselves as wise as Alexander by completing his tests. I believe you solved the first of these.’
‘Yeah, the riddle of the Gordian Knot,’ said Nina. ‘Use brute force to cut through the problem. I’m sure you would have come up with that answer quickly enough. It seems to be your solution to everything.’
‘That is because it works,’ Rasche said from outside the vault.
‘But now that you have found the relic, the next part of the text makes sense,’ Kroll continued. ‘It says that once the riddle of the statue is solved, it will lead you from Alexander’s tomb to the Kingdom of Darkness, and the spring itself.’ He looked back at the ancient artefact in its case. ‘The fish confirms a theory I have long held, but have never been able to share with the world. Do you recognise this?’
Nina examined the device he picked up, a collection of interlocking bronze cogs sandwiched between rectangular metal plates. It was a complex machine — even more so than the fish. ‘It looks like…’ Surprise as her memory produced a match. ‘The Antikythera Mechanism? A working copy?’ Banna was equally astonished.
Kroll nodded. ‘It is an astrolabe, made by Andreas himself — as was the duplicate found in the shipwreck. When I first saw this one in Greece, I thought it was a much later addition to the shrine. It was not until I learned about the work in the 1970s to date the Antikythera Mechanism that I realised its true age.’
‘Andreas built it?’ asked the Egyptian.
‘Yes. He lived for a very long time, and he learned a great deal during his life. He became an extremely clever man. Clever enough to hide his greatest discovery in a way that only those of equal brilliance could find.’
‘You mean the Spring of Immortality,’ said Nina.
‘I do. Now,’ said Kroll, returning the device to its place, ‘I am learned in ancient Greek, and also in the history of Alexander himself. Given time, I will find the spring. But with three archaeologists to assist me, I am sure I will do so much sooner.’ He smiled, the expression conveying only menace.
‘What’s the rush?’ said Macy. ‘I mean, you’ve kept hidden for seventy years. Why do you need it right now?’
‘Because they’re running out of water,’ Nina said, understanding. She looked at Kroll. ‘That’s why you’ve taken such a huge risk by coming out into the open, isn’t it? A place this big, you must have a lot of thirsty guys running around.’
‘The water of life is reserved for the Oberkommando!’ barked one of the guards.
Nina gave him a disbelieving glance, then addressed Kroll again. ‘Oh, I get it. The water’s only for the elite. The Hitler Youth turn into the Hitler Oldth, but you live for ever, right?’
‘When our time comes, all members of the New Reich will share the water of life,’ replied Kroll. The line sounded as if it had been spouted often enough to become a platitude. The guards seemed to believe it, however. ‘But yes, even rationing our supply, there is little left.’
‘You’ll be able to stretch it out longer without your buddy who died in Los Angeles, I guess.’ The Nazi gave her a sharp look; Jaekel’s death was clearly still a touchy subject. That realisation triggered another, Nina’s mind going back to the FBI briefing in New York. ‘There were eight of you originally. What happened to the other two?’
‘Oster was killed before we escaped Europe. After we reached Argentina and built the Enklave, we realised that Henkel did not share our views. He was purged.’
‘For the good of the New Reich, right?’ she said sarcastically.
‘I… I do not understand,’ said Banna. ‘You say the water has kept you young for seventy years? How is that possible?’