Le Docteur said, "Rudolf, Fiona told us about your father and his words on his death-bed. Do you know any more about this alleged nuke he talked about?"
"Frankly, I am not sure if he wasn't delirious when he talked about this nuke. Perhaps, he was just recalling a rumor he had heard before or something he had seen on TV."
"Do you think you could find the place he talked about?"
"It must have changed in the years since he was there with his Uncle Hans. I know the general area he was referring to, but I am confident I can find the buried item. If we go searching for it, we may find ourselves in trouble if the authorities take an interest in us."
"Rudolf, we need your help. We don't want you to do anything that could endanger you. We just need your help in finding the special item you talked about. If you don't want to join us, we'll take it on from here. However, you are welcome to become part of our group." At this point, Fatima hugged him and gently planted a kiss of his mouth.
Rudolf didn't realize that he would become expendable once he led them to the hidden nuke, or, if he did realize that he managed to hide it. "I need to think about this", and he rose from his chair, removing Fatima's hands from his body.
Le Docteur exchanged a glance with the two women. No word was said, but Fatima also rose, "Rudi, I'll come with you. But I suggest that we go to my room and think about the proposal in a clean place, not on a filthy blanket on the street." Rudolf considered the offer, shrugged and followed Fatima to the adjoining room.
Le Docteur smiled at Lara. "What do you think?"
"I am not sure but hope that Fatima casts her magic web and entices him. Let's do the same." She closed the doors of the veranda and pulled him to bed.
Three hours later, Fatima and Rudolf knocked on the door. Lara opened it, and just by looking at Fatima's smile, needed no words to see that Rudolf was on board. Le Docteur welcomed the young man with a hug, "Rudolf, you won't regret joining us. Together we'll show the rotten capitalist governments that the people will not lie down quietly and remain subservient servants."
Le Docteur wasn't sure what the true nature of the item was. He knew it was a nuke but not its exact origin. However, he didn't want Rudolf to recognize that fact, so he prodded, "Do you know if the item is in operating condition or if it needs any maintenance?"
Rudolf answered, "If we are to believe my father, it was buried almost 30 years ago. Your guess is as good as mine. I am not even sure that it was a real nuke and not another type of an artillery shell or even something completely different."
Le Docteur then looked at the two women, "Let's go and see for ourselves. We'll leave tomorrow."
Chapter 5
The small group, consisting of Le Docteur, Lara, Fatima and Rudolf, stretched their limbs which were stiff after the long nine-hour drive from Bologna. They surveyed the land and quickly realized that there were no tell-tale signs to indicate the place where the nuke was buried. This was not surprising, as anything out of the ordinary would have been investigated decades earlier. Le Docteur asked, "Rudolf, is this the area your father told you about?"
The young man shrugged, "He said that it was near a copse of trees, or a small forest, west of the village of Rohrbach. We checked the maps on Google Earth, and this must be the forest he was talking about. Unfortunately, he didn't specify on which side of the forest it was buried, or even how close to the tree line."
Lara intervened, "Not to mention the fact that the land and forest may have changed in the last 25 or 30 years, since the nuke was buried."
Fatima added, "If there even is a nuke."
Le Docteur didn't like this defeatist spirit, "Keep quiet. Let's see if we can limit the search area by studying it. It is getting late and will soon be dark. I suggest we drive back to Coburg and find a hotel. We'd be better off in a large hotel where we can remain anonymous, rather than in a small bed and breakfast place, where the owner may become too curious about us. I'll also see if we can pick-up some gear that will help us locate the precious item. From now on, no one utters anything about a nuke or an artillery shell." He looked at his companions and they all nodded their agreement.
Lara, who was the only member of the small group who had a technical background, explained that buried metallic objects could be located with the help of a metal detector — the type used by beach-combers to search for coins, keys and other items left, or lost, by vacationers. She added, that a radioactivity monitor might also be useful in case the special item (she didn't utter the word — nuke) emitted gamma radiation. When Fatima asked if all nukes were radioactive, Lara explained that the level of radioactivity depended on the type of fissile material in the core, on the age of the object and on the shielding surrounding the core. She said that she didn't have enough technical details on the object they were seeking, so couldn't determine what the radiation level on the surface above the item would be.
They checked into the Best Western hotel near the center of Coburg. They took two double rooms — one for Le Docteur and Lara and the other for Fatima and Rudolf and decided to meet for dinner half an hour later. They checked the internet and managed to locate a couple of hardware stores nearby, but none had the specialized equipment they needed — a metal detector or a radioactivity monitor. However, one of the store owners promised to have both items available in 24 hours. The store demanded credit card details, or a cash down-payment, and Le Docteur preferred the cash option.
Dinner at a local restaurant that served typical regional food was nothing to write home about, but the large beer mugs made up for it. The foursome returned to the hotel and booked their rooms for two more nights. The next day, after a hearty breakfast in the hotel, they returned to the small copse of trees. Rudolf surveyed the area for a long while, trying to recall his father's exact words and search for any hint that could direct them to the site of the buried box. He said, "I believe that if my father's uncle wanted to hide his activities he would avoid the eastern and southern sides of the forest because they are closer to the houses of the village. I think he would stick to the western or northern parts. Let's split into two groups and take a close look at these sectors."
Le Docteur looked at the lay of the land, and nodded, "Rudolf, assuming that the villages had not changed much, I agree with your suggestion. I'll go with Lara to the north while you and Fiona screen the western side. We'll meet at noon and decide how to continue."
After a few hours of futile searching, the group reconvened near the car. Rudolf said, "Fiona and I noticed a strange thing further west. We checked it closely on Google Earth, and it looks like two factories, or industrial plants, that were connected by a dual railway. They look deserted, but they may have been operational when Uncle Hans buried his treasure, so it is reasonable that he avoided being spotted from that side. So, it looks that the most likely area is the northern sector adjoining the forest."
Fatima said, "We also saw that there were two dirt roads that dissect the forest. If this Hans wanted to really be invisible from everyone, he may have decided to go into the middle of the forest to hide the box there."
Rudolf added, "The track that goes toward the north-west passes through an area in which the trees do not grow as densely as in the other parts of the forest. It's not really a clearing in the forest but is not quite like the other parts. The vegetation is not only less dense, but this area is in a small depression, so cannot be seen from anywhere outside the forest. Let's go there and check for any signs of digging."