Taking a deep breath, I turned on the drill. Then I touched the whirring edge to the bar. It started to churn through the soft gold.
Graham and Beverly knelt behind me. Quietly, they watched me work.
The drill jerked in my hand. The soft whirring noise grew louder, harsher. Holding the tool steady, I drilled for a few more seconds before turning it off.
The bar now featured a small hole. Looking into it, I saw gray metal.
“Gray?” Graham leaned forward. “Why’s the gold colored gray?”
I took a deep breath. “Because it’s not gold.”
Chapter 57
“That’s impossible.” Graham recoiled in surprise. “Look at the exterior. It’s definitely gold.”
Beverly’s eyes widened. “No, it’s just gold-plated.”
Gently, I prodded the gray metal. It was brittle and extremely hard. The gold plating, meanwhile, was soft and malleable.
Standing up, I grabbed one of the bars on top of the wall. It didn’t just look like gold. It felt like gold. The color was perfect. Its texture was spot on.
Gently, I banged the bar against the floor. A dull ringing noise filled the air. It even sounded like gold.
But most curiously, its weight was at least a rough match of what I would’ve expected it to weigh. Gold was a dense material, weighing in at 19.281 grams per cubic centimeter. In contrast, lead was a mere 11.343 grams per cubic centimeter. Only a few materials could match gold’s density and most of them were extremely expensive.
“Tungsten,” I said after a moment. “It’s a tungsten slug, covered with gold plating.”
“You’re sure?” Graham asked.
“Almost positive. Tungsten’s density is 19.254 grams per cubic centimeter, which is almost identical to that of gold. Plus, it’s plentiful and cheap. If you wanted to replace a gold bar, a gold-plated tungsten slug would do the trick.”
“The density difference would still give it away,” Graham said.
“Not necessarily. Measuring density for heavy objects can be tricky and defects in the material can render the measurements useless.” Beverly looked thoughtful. “Plus, gold-plated tungsten would pass chemical tests and as long as the plating was thick enough, say one-sixteenth of an inch, it would pass an x-ray test as well.”
“Okay, so it’s not just a fake. It’s a damn good fake.” Graham glanced at the wall of bars. A look of dark amusement crossed his visage. “And something tells me it isn’t the only one.”
Chapter 58
“I drilled fifty-nine bars in four separate compartments,” Beverly whispered. “Three compartments in Vault A, one in Vault B. They were all the same, tungsten slugs plated with either pure gold or a copper-gold mixture.”
“Let’s see.” I tapped my jaw. “That makes 164 bars from fourteen separate compartments. Eight compartments in Vault A, six in Vault B. And every last bar was a fake.”
We stood in a small circle in 3A, backed by a wall of phony gold on one side and the metal door on the other one.
“Fort Knox might as well be empty.” Graham frowned. “That must be why Milt fought so hard to keep us outside.”
Beverly gave him a curious look. “You think he knew about this?”
“Cruzer said he’d been here since the 1940s. How could he not know?”
“Good point. I wonder what happened to the real stuff.”
Puzzle pieces formed together inside my head. “Project Capitalist Curtain.”
They both looked at me. “What?” Graham asked.
“The idea behind Project Capitalist Curtain was to buy a bunch of colonies from their war-stricken owners. But the purchase never happened.” I glanced at the gold. Everything was coming into focus now. “What if the funds for that purchase were supposed to come from this depository?”
“That would make sense,” Beverly said. “Gold reserves peaked around that time, right?”
“Right.” I could feel the connections flowing faster and faster. Some things remained cloudy, but I was beginning to see how Milt, Justin, and everything else fit into the picture. “What time is it?”
Beverly shrugged. “I’m not sure, but when I came in here, it looked like the press conference was about to begin.”
My gaze tightened. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Why?”
“Because the president is about to announce a gold standard based on fake gold.” I ran to the door, thrust it open, and darted into the corridor. I sprinted all the way to the end before a couple of soldiers stepped in front of me.
“This room is off-limits,” one of them said. “Until the press conference is over.”
“I need to talk to the president,” I said.
“It’ll have to wait.”
I felt a presence behind me. Spinning around, I saw Ben. “What are you doing here?”
“Touring the compartments,” he replied.
Standing on my tiptoes, I saw Donovan a short ways away. “Keith,” I hissed. “Over here.”
He shot me a disapproving look. “Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you for the last hour.”
“Never mind that. Tell the president I need to speak to him.”
Nearby reporters, hearing my frantic whispers, gave me curious looks.
“Forget it,” Donovan replied. “I’m sick of your games.”
“This isn’t a game…” I trailed off as he turned away and hiked to the president’s side. He shook the president’s hand and gave me a sly look.
The president broke off the handshake and stepped to the podium. Striking a strong pose, he opened his mouth…
… and began to speak.
Chapter 59
“For centuries, the United States of America has led the world in terms of innovation and the adoption of bold, new ideas.” President Walters paused to fix a steely eye on the now-quiet media. “But unfortunately, new ideas don’t always work out. And when that happens, it’s imperative that we remain flexible, that we reevaluate our position.”
Situated just inside the vault door, I had an excellent view of things. The president looked tall and powerful atop his elevated platform. His attire, dark blue pants along with a matching sport coat over an unbuttoned white dress shirt, gave off a distinct vibe. Like he wasn’t just the president but rather, a regular guy you might catch a drink with after work.
The media, meanwhile, had undergone a rapid transformation. When the president first walked into the room, many of them had shared knowing looks as if to say, Forget the speech… show us the gold, already. For them, the real star of the press conference was the U.S. Bullion Depository. Only a handful of people had ever entered its doors, making this particular visit an exciting experience for the normally-jaded press corps.
The president’s speech, in contrast, seemed like an afterthought. A desperate publicity stunt designed to drive increased consumer confidence. But that idea ended the second the president opened his mouth.
President Walters had waited for this moment and he took full advantage of it. He spoke with distinct purpose and his voice thundered with authority. It was apparent to everyone in attendance that something important — something historic — was about to happen.
“In 1971, the U.S. government forged new ground when it adopted a series of economic policies that ultimately turned the U.S. dollar into a pure fiat currency,” the president continued. “The result, I’m sad to say, has been decades of economic turmoil, broken budgets, and runaway inflation. That ends now. Tomorrow, several executive orders will go into effect that will put this great land of ours back on track. Tomorrow, we begin America’s transition back to greatness. Tomorrow, we install the system that turned this country into the most powerful nation on Earth.” The president paused. His jaw firmed up and he spoke in perfect enunciation. “Tomorrow, we return to the gold standard.”