Nina gave them thumbs up after checking her walkie-talkie for the frequency Misha had given her to communicate with any of them, should she have questions while beneath the dreaded Chernobyl Power Plant.
“Right! Let’s get this done, Nina,” Purdue impelled.
They ventured into the dank blackness with flash lights mounted to their helmets. A black mass in the dark proved to be the mine car Misha had spoken of, and they lifted Marko's sheets onto it with the tools, pushing the car as they walked.
“A bit uncooperative,” Purdue remarked. “But I would be too had I been rusting in the dark for over twenty years.”
Their light beams weakened only a few meters ahead of them, overcome by the thick darkness. A myriad of minute particles floated through the air and danced in front of the rays in the silent oblivion of the underground channel.
“What if we come back, and they have closed the well?” Nina said suddenly.
“We’ll find a way out. We have been through worse than this before,” he reassured.
“It is so eerily quiet,” she persisted with her gloomy mood. “Once there was water down here. I wonder how many people have drowned in this well or perished from radiation while seeking refuge down here.”
“Nina,” was all he said to shake her from her folly.
“Sorry,” Nina whispered. “I am fucking scared.”
“That is unlike you,” Purdue said in the dense atmosphere that denied his voice any echo. “You only fear contamination or the after-effects of radiation poisoning that lead to a slow death. This is why you find this place terrifying.”
Nina stared at him in the misty illumination of her light. “Thank you, David.”
A few steps onward his face changed. He was looking at something to the right of her, but Nina was adamant not to know what it was. When Purdue stopped all kinds of scary scenarios gripped Nina.
“Look,” he smiled, taking her arm to face her toward the magnificent treasure that was hidden under years of dust and debris. “It is every bit as glorious as when the King of Prussia owned it.”
As soon as Nina shone her light on the yellow slabs, the gold and amber married to become exquisite mirrors of lost beauty from centuries past. Intricate carvings adorned the frames and slivers of mirror detailed the clarity of the amber.
“To think that an evil god slumbers right in here,” she whispered.
“A speck of what appears to be inclusions, Nina, look,” Purdue pointed out. “A specimen so small that it was almost invisible came under the scrutiny of Purdue's glasses, magnifying it.
“Good God, aren’t you a positively grotesque little bastard,” he said. “It looks like a crab or a tick, but its head has a humanoid face.”
“Oh, Jesus, that sound hideous,’ Nina shivered at the thought.
“Come see,” Purdue invited, bracing himself for her reaction. He placed the left magnifying glass of his spectacles over another dirty spot in the otherwise pristine gilded amber. Nina bent to bring her eye to it.
“What in the name of Jupiter's Gonads is that thing?” she gasped in horror with puzzlement on her face. “I swear I will shoot myself if that creepy thing nestles into my brain. Oh my God, can you imagine if Sam knew what his Kalihasa looked like?”
“Speaking of Sam, I think we should get a move on hotwiring this treasure for the Nazis to enjoy. What say you?” Purdue pressed.
“Aye.”
When they had finished painstakingly reinforcing the giant slabs with the metal and carefully sealed it in behind the sheeting as directed, Purdue and Nina wheeled the panels to the bottom of the well mouth, one by one.
“Look, see? They are all gone. Nobody up there,” she lamented.
“At least they did not cover the entrance,” he smiled. “We cannot very well expect them to be up there all day, can we?”
“I suppose not,” she sighed. “I’m just glad we got it up to the well. Believe me, I have had enough of that bloody catacomb.”
From a distance, they could hear a loud engine noise. Vehicles slowly crawling along a nearby road approached the area of the well. Yuri and his cousin started pulling the slabs up. Even with convenient ship cargo netting, it was still a time-consuming endeavor. With the two Russians and four locals helping Purdue get the netting over each of the slabs he hoped it was made for securing a lift of over 400kg a pop.
“Unbelievable,” Nina murmured. She was standing at a safe distance, deeper into the tunnel. Her claustrophobia was crawling in on her, but she did not want to get in the way. While the men were shouting suggestions and count-outs, her two-way radio received a transmission.
“Nina, come in. Over,” Elena said through the low crackle Nina had come to grow used to.
“This is Nina receiving. Over,” she responded.
“Nina, we will be gone when the Amber Room has been lifted out, okay?” Elena warned. “I need you not to worry or think we just ran away, but we have to leave before they get to Duga-3.”
“No!” Nina shouted. “Why?”
“It will be a bloodbath if we meet on the same soil. You know that.” Misha responded to her. “Now don’t worry. We will be in touch. Be careful and Godspeed.”
Nina felt her heart sink. “Please don’t leave.” Never had she heard a lonelier phrase in her life.
“Over and out.”
She heard the clapping sound of Purdue dusting off his clothing and swinging his palms along his pants to wipe the dirt off. He looked around for Nina and when his eyes found her he gave her a warm, satisfied smile.
“Accomplished, Dr. Gould!” he cheered.
Suddenly the sound of gunshots thundered above them, sending Purdue diving into the dark. Nina screamed for his safety, but he crawled further into the opposite side of the tunnel, leaving her relieved that he was okay.
“Yuri and his helpers have been executed!” they heard Kemper say outside the well.
“Where is Sam?” Nina screamed up at the light falling like supernal hell onto the floor of the tunnel.
“Mr. Cleave had a bit too much to drink… but… thank you kindly for your cooperation, David! Oh, and Dr. Gould, please accept my sincerest condolences on what will be your last agonizing moments on this earth. Cheerio!”
“Fuck you very much!” Nina screamed. “I’ll see you soon, yeh bastard! Soon!”
As she unleashed her verbal fury on the smiling German, his men began to slide the thick concrete slab over the mouth of the well, gradually darkening the tunnel. Nina could hear Klaus Kemper calmly recite a sequence of numbers in a low tone of voice, much as he had sounded during radio broadcasts.
As the shadow gradually eclipsed, she looked over to Purdue and to her horror his frozen eyes looked up at Kemper in apparent thrall. With the last of the dying light, Nina saw Purdue's face contort in a lustful and evil sneer, staring right at her.
Chapter 33
Once Kemper had his bedeviled treasure, he ordered his men to head for Kazakhstan. They were returning to the Black Sun compound with the first true prospect of world domination, their plan almost fully completed.
“Are all six in the water?” he asked his workmen.
“Yes, sir.”
“That is ancient amber resin. It is brittle enough, so if it crumbles the specimens trapped inside will get out and then we will be in a lot of trouble. They must be contained under water until we reach the compound, gentlemen!” Kemper shouted before he retired to his luxury vehicle.