“Sinister vibe?” she asked Costa rhetorically and just continued with her presumption. “Kind of like the same sinister vibe one would get from say… Auschwitz? Maybe Płaszów?”
Purdue, who had been sitting serenely thus far, swung around to look at Nina with an intrigued expression. She raised an eyebrow in response to him and said casually, “Aye, we are a stone’s throw away from Auschwitz and its various satellite camps are situated all over the region just past the Polish border.”
Costa shivered visibly at her words as he combed the piles of metal outside, trying to peer beyond for movement.
“Now you know where it is. Can we go?” Heidmann asked Purdue.
“I’m with James, old cock,” Don chimed in with his famous ‘fuck this’-face and a protesting wave of his beer hand. “My fucking hair is standing on end.”
“But we have to return tonight anyway,” Purdue retorted. “What would be the point of leaving now?”
“It is still four hours to the time you planned to come back, Dave,” Costa reminded him. “We cannot sit here for four hours. I am sure I am not the only one who is starving right now.”
“Oh, hell yes,” Nina nodded. “I could eat a horse!”
Don and Heidmann also backed up the idea of a hot meal to still the hunger and the nerves alike before embarking on what could be a very perilous venture. Purdue had to concur that it was ludicrous to remain for such a long wait.
Heidmann substantiated the idea even more. “After all, if we stand here for that amount of hours we are bound to arouse suspicion and lure unwanted attention, whether it is from the maniacs who run their business here or…”
Don helped him finish his scary proposition, “…or from locals who want to give us a quasi-sexual Eastern European welcome while offering us accommodation at their mothers’ houses?”
Heidmann cracked a smile in amusement. “Yes. I suppose.”
Purdue yielded to the logically inclined wishes of his team and slid the stick into reverse, to everyone’s relief. Behind the vehicle, he half expected to see a swarm of third world young crowd to buffer them from leaving the flat gravel wasteland. However, all he saw anywhere was derelict barrenness with not a living soul present. It did pose the thought in his mind, though, if any un-alive souls were perhaps witnessing his party’s transgression.
“Let’s just set the coordinates, Don,” Purdue suggested as he reversed the vehicle. “We’ll get here much quicker tonight just by following the GPS. Here.”
“On it,” his friend answered and reached for Purdue’s ever present and trusty tablet. Don was in awe of the seemingly magical technological device that could change size at the sweep of a thumb, from the scale of a match box to a proper tablet screen.
Not only did it consist of the interchangeable size ability, but it possessed an incredible assortment of technical miracles. Invented by Purdue himself, utilizing his mathematical genius to develop the device into a laser cutter, IR camera, and sonar scanner was just the beginning. There were so many small things the tablet was capable of that Purdue had forgotten about many of them through the years as he kept upgrading the thing with more memory and hardware.
Purdue was a man of logic, of scientific efficacy and plausibility, yet he could not help but get a deep feeling of foreboding from the barren landscape they drove through. He could not allow himself to believe such nonsense as ESP and gut feelings, but he had seen many times before that such perceived fallacies had some merit in his own experiences. He wished that he did not rationalize the presence of such senses, and that was perhaps why he kept it to himself.
From all around, the slowly traveling vehicle he could not help but get the distinct sense that they were being watched, even there was clearly nobody in the abandoned yard. As their minivan bounced and swerved over the dusty gravel road, the bending weeds in the light wind were the only movement.
That, and the blink-less eyes following their course from the vantage of the decrepit furnace chute of the warehouse where dead faces beckoned, forever imprisoned in rock.
Chapter 21
After a good dinner, the group gathered in Purdue’s room to discuss formation and time frame on the coming covert operation to gather intelligence discreetly. They took no chances in risking being overheard here in close proximity of the warehouse, on the off chance of the staff having knowledge of the place. Anyone here could be part of the secret practice of whatever it served and Purdue was intent on keeping things as quiet as possible.
Don looked at his watch, “People, it is time. Is everyone ready?” He kept his voice low as it was late and the rest of the lodge had quietened down.
The others nodded. Nina looked at Costa, who smiled instantly as his eyes found her gaze. “Are you ready, Dr. Gould?” he asked to sever the suspended web of awkward silences between them. Nina nodded with a shrug.
“Can I be the first to admit I am scared to death?” Heidmann uttered carelessly. Nina and Don snickered in agreement.
“I think we are all a bit shaky on this,” Purdue comforted them. “Now you know why I insisted that nobody drink tonight, hey?”
“Much as I love my stout, I have to concur with you on that sentiment, old pal!” Don affirmed. “It would pay to be sober tonight, and vigilant even for those who are attentive. Remember, I will mostly be protecting James while we advance into the storage room. However, I need you all to mind your surroundings nonetheless.”
“That’s right. We have to move as one unit to protect each other,” Purdue agreed as he flicked out his tablet and set his coordinates. “If all goes well, hopefully, we will be alone there.”
“Oh, good. If that is a possibility, I feel more encouraged now,” Nina sighed in relief.
Purdue continued, “Seclusion would be highly desirable, but honestly if I were hiding a treasure trove of ancient statues I would never leave it unguarded. It is almost certainly under guard.”
“And there goes the courage, again. Away it goes!” she filled in instantly, prompting Costa to lean over and wrap her in a tight hug of amicable consolation.
The four men seemed serene and humorous, but Nina could feel the anticipation among them. Knowing that they were as wary as she was made her more adamant to identify as many pieces as she could get to while they were there. She owed them that.
Silence prevailed in the dark van on the way back to the outskirts of Markvartovice. Here and there throat clearing or sniffing split the quiet atmosphere as the irregularly placed lights of street lamps or houses floated outside in the night. From the front of the vehicle where the immediate road was visible, the surrounding homes and street lights slid past along the sides of the van until they finally vanished into the blackness of its wake. The occupants of Purdue’s rented heap of Romanian trash each sat in contemplation of the events to come, listening only to the rattle of the neglected engine, the squeak of the dry shock breakers, and the whistling wind through the defective rubber window frames.
In the short distance, the faint illumination of the moon and the nearby settlements served as backlight for the grotesque landscape unfurling before them. No one uttered a sound, yet they were all of the same mind — this place felt evil. Over the dark silhouette of the dancing tree tops it protruded. Like a leviathan metal skeleton, twisted and bent, the three walls of iron and fuselage came into view.