He waited.
"I couldn't get out of those bonds in Greenwood's room. I can't stop a bullet with a side kick. I can't use my skills to deflect it. It scares the hell out of me."
"Bullets scare the hell out of me, too."
"I guess it goes with the territory."
"You could quit."
"No. I don't want to. It would let everyone down. The team means a lot to me. It's the first time in my life I've felt like I was part of something important. I've got a real purpose in life, now. Bullets or not."
Selena pulled up the collar of her jacket. The night was coming on and it was getting cold.
"Are you going to take Rice up on his offer?"
"I don't know."
"Do you trust him?"
"As much as any politician. But he's the President. He's always got to think of protecting the office of the Presidency. He could disown us if something goes wrong."
"I've known him since I was fifteen. He and my uncle were good friends. I don't think he'd hang us out to dry. But you're right, he has to do what the office demands. Why do you think he set up the Project in the first place?"
"He knows people like Lodge don't tell him the truth. He needs someone outside the agencies. We're a counterweight so he can find out what's what. It puts us at odds with everyone. CIA and DIA and the others are always jockeying for position. There's a lot of stonewalling and competition. They protect their turf and argue about the meaning of intelligence and what should be done about it. They hide things from him."
"You make it sound like they're the enemy."
"I don't mean it that way. But things get lost in the bureaucracy and there are a lot of personal agendas. Rice created the Project to cut through all the bullshit."
"See, that's why Elizabeth and Rice want you to run things with Steph. You understand the dynamics, how things work behind the scenes."
"There's a lot I don't know."
"Nobody knows it all, not Elizabeth either. What's really bothering you?"
"You want the truth? What if I make the wrong call and someone gets killed?"
"Do you really need me to tell you there aren't any guarantees?"
He looked at his empty glass. "What if you get killed? Because of one of my decisions?"
It was out in the open.
"Oh, Nick. You can't make me the reason to take this on or not. Elizabeth said something to me a while back, about feelings. About how we have to put them aside. Does it really make any difference, in the end? Did it make any difference in Argentina, or in Tibet?"
"No. But I think about it."
"You wouldn't be who you are if you didn't think about it. You're not like Lodge, or one of those Pentagon types. That's why you're the right person for the job. I trust you. We all do. Besides, it's my choice to stay. I know what I'm up against. I'll deal with it. And so will you."
"So, you think we should take this on?"
"We?"
"You're on the team. You're part of the decision."
"Would it make a difference, you think? What we'd be doing?" Her voice was light, but Nick heard a deeper question in her words.
We.
"It could," he said.
"Then let's do it."
AUTHOR'S NOTES
I always research my books carefully and this one is no exception. The internet is an amazing tool, though you have to separate the wheat from the chaff. There are millions of pages about Nazis like Himmler. Here's what is true and what isn't, to the best of my knowledge.
Himmler was indeed in Alsace-Lorraine on his private train in December of 1944, where he had been sent to oversee "Operation North Wind", his first and only command in the field. He failed miserably.
The Grand Council of Knights is real. It consisted of Himmler as Grand Master and twelve senior SS Generals. Some reports say more were involved. It was modeled on King Arthur's Round Table. He would meet with his Generals in the "Generals' Hall" of his castle in Westphalia. That room has been restored, including the Black Sun inlaid on the floor, along with the "Hall of Heroes" below. After the war had been won by Germany, it was supposed to become a shrine. There is a central circle with provision for an "eternal flame" in the center, with twelve plinths arranged around it that were to hold the ashes of his so-called Knights. It was never finished.
I've often wondered why anyone bothered to restore it. Today it is a tourist attraction. You can see these places for yourself, if you really want to. You might find the atmosphere a bit…oppressing. Evil lingers for a long time.
Himmler had big plans for his castle grounds, including a war college for SS officers, formal gardens, etc., etc. The plans still exist. Everything was shaped like a spear, with the castle (which is three-sided) at the point.
Himmler created the Ahnerabe, a special SS branch devoted to "racial research" and searching worldwide for important relics, particularly the Holy Grail. He sent teams abroad as far as Tibet seeking secrets of magical power. This is true.
One of the first things Hitler did when he entered Austria in 1938 was to send a special SS detachment to secure the Vienna Lance. It was taken to Nuremberg and recovered by Patton's army in 1945. It was returned to Vienna, where it can be seen today as part of the Hapsburg Imperial Regalia.
The legend of the Lance is as stated in the book. The technology did not exist in 1938 to accurately date the relic. More recently, the Vienna Lance has been proven to be no older than the sixth or seventh century CE.
Rumors have persisted since the end of the war that the Lance recovered by Patton is a forgery and that the Nazis hid the real one. There is no doubt at all that Hitler viewed it as a divine and magical object offering power to the one who held it. Himmler had a copy that he used for his rituals. That is also documented, although no one knows what those rituals were. What if Himmler had the real thing and Hitler had the copy?
It is said that Reinhardt Heydrich was the one person who fully understood the power of the Lance. He was the true architect of the "Final Solution". A genuine sociopathic narcissist who believed himself beloved by the Czech people he brutally oppressed, Heydrich was number two in the SS hierarchy after Himmler. The tide turned against the Nazis in 1942, about the same time Heydrich was killed by Czech partisans. If he was able to invoke some occult power from the Lance and no one else knew how, that would explain a lot, wouldn't it? If so, it's a damn good thing they killed him. It's a good thing anyway.
The secret Antarctica base has never been found, but it's another of those rumors that just won't go away. The internet is full of things like drawings purporting to be plans of Nazi flying saucers and secret weapons, supposedly built there. Admiral Doenitz did actually refer to an invincible fortress in the Antarctic.
After WWII a large military expedition code named Operation Highjump was launched by the United States, Britain and Australia, under command of Admiral Byrd, partly to try and find this base. They searched on the western side of Antarctica, which has much better weather than the eastern side where I put it. Nobody really knows what else the military was doing there, but the operation did take place.
There is a German Antarctic research station near the Fenris Mountains named Neumayer III. I modeled my station after that one. You can find a picture of it on the internet.
Type IXD U-boats existed as described, likewise the D2s. The last known D2 was number 884. Early in the war the numbers were removed from the U-Boats and badges like the one I have described were used to identify boat and crew.
For more about runes, Elder Futhark and translation, visit this great website about runes; http://www.vikingrune.com/rune-converter/. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make this happen. Thank you!