“With all due respect to your illustrious career in Archeology, Dr. Malgas, your historical knowledge in this context is perhaps more of a superficial nature. This is why there are people like me who specialize in particular eras,” Nina clarified. The feisty historian proposed to put the faltering archeologist in his place for his half-assed approach to a field, which she held in such high esteem.
“Indeed,” he attempted to joust with an insuperable opponent. “Which makes my expertise invaluable and indisputable.”
Sam cringed. Purdue held his breath. Mieke and Cheryl wagered silently. Nina leaned forward with her elbows resting firmly on her thighs. “The only thing undisputable here, my dear colleague, is your lack of interest in determining if your find is indeed of historical significance, perhaps born from a lack of knowledge on the subject of modern German history, specifically World War II and the armament of that period.”
Dr. Malgas was insulted. He looked to Sam for support, but Sam knew better than to come between Nina and her quarry. He simply shrugged and played dumb to Billy Malgas’ plea, implying that he would be of no use in such an argument, which in part was true. Sam certainly did not know which navy let alone which class the vessel belonged to.
“Now, if you are so convinced that this is the Graf Spee, I assume you won’t have to join me in reviewing the footage?” Nina asked evenly.
“I respectfully decline, yes,” he muttered. “Sam, I cannot believe you brought someone with you, who second-guesses my findings and on top of that tries to disprove everything I assert.”
Sam was taken aback. “How can you blame this on me? Purdue always employs Dr. Gould to…”
“Yes, I can guess why,” Malgas remarked suggestively as his eyes examined Nina’s body. She went ashen. Nina was livid, and knowing that she was no stranger to taking things to a physical level, Sam took a stance between her and Dr. Malgas to finish his sentence.
“No, because she is the best, when it comes to German WWII history, Billy,” Sam asserted forcefully. “And if you feel threatened by the idea of your find being investigated by internationally revered professionals, it makes me feel that there might be something you’re keeping from us.” Nina had no desire to confront the archeologist anymore, who was highly unprofessional in her eyes. For once she felt completely vindicated. Mieke shifted uncomfortably. Dr. Malgas was stunned to silence from the words that had hit way too close to home. His eyes stared past Sam's impressive body at his assistant, but she only looked on in suspended shock.
“Apparently you think I am out of my depth here,” Dr. Malgas finally said and rose to his feet. “Such a pity you had to come all the way down here, Sam. Had I known where your loyalty lies, I would have asked another journalist to get the exclusive on my find. Unfortunately, as things stand now, we would have to work together to conclude this salvage.”
“Precisely. So we should try to all get along, right?” Crystal suggested light-heartedly, clasping her hands together in nervous anticipation.
“I agree with that,” Mieke nodded. “We might be on the brink of something amazing that would benefit us all, so let’s not screw it all up, hey?”
Billy Malgas cleared his throat, waiting for Sam to step aside. The archeologist disappeared into his room and closed the door. Sam relaxed and sank down next to Nina, exhaling hard in relief.
“What a prick,” he said softly. “If we hadn’t gone through all this trouble already, I’d say let’s pack up and leave him to find his own sponsor and team; see how far he gets on his contacts and bankruptcy.”
Purdue looked up. “Bankruptcy?”
Sam regretted his comment the moment he uttered it. Mieke bit her lip anxiously, praying that their plan would not fall apart. Hoping that their secret would not be discovered, she thought of a way to keep things even and calm for the rest of the excursion. A lot of things needed to be patched. Otherwise, the plan would sink too. Too many things were threatening the success of the project and in her opinion, there were too many people involved.
Sam Cleave knew too much about Dr. Malgas’ situation and she feared that he could very well steal the project’s glory from her boss. Still, she dared not say anything and retired for the evening although she knew very well that she would not get any sleep while the meticulous Nina Gould’s eyes were studying their hoax.
Chapter 21 — The First Secret
In the morning, Nina called a secret meeting with Dave Purdue and Crystal Meyer regarding the wreck's salvage. Just after 3 am she had finished checking the shape, the deck arms and other features of the design of the alleged World War II Panzerschiff. Sam had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room where she had worked because he had been worried about Dr. Malgas possible retaliation after Nina had made an utter fool of him. Even more so, if Sam’s completely random thought that Billy could possibly have been harboring a secret happened to be true, he had figured the man may have well been desperate enough to do something reckless and target the very person who had called his bluff — Nina.
She had had no idea why Sam camped out there, but she had assumed that he had fallen asleep watching endless episodes of X-Files on cable TV. After she had completed compiling her report, she had quietly withdrawn to her bedroom upstairs with her laptop under her arm. Only when she had woken up at 6 am she had decided to request the opinions of financiers of the operation.
In her bedroom, Purdue and Crystal joined her with morning coffee behind a locked door.
“After studying every nook and cranny of this ship, I have to concede that it is a pocket battleship from the thirties,” she declared.
“Excellent,” Purdue raved.
“But…”
“Oh my God,” he said. “I should have known.”
Nina pursed her lips, waiting for him to finish his lamenting. “But I have no conclusive proof that it is the Admiral Graf Spee. The reason for my doubt is that I have checked virtually every account on record about this damn ship. They all say the same thing,” she sighed. “And this is what has me repudiate the possibility that the vessel we’ve been looking at is the Graf Spee.”
“And what is that?” Purdue asked.
"I'll make it as short as I can, considering we don’t have much time,” Nina said. “The records say that the Admiral Graf Spee had been operating in the Southern Atlantic, not in the Indian Ocean, for one.”
“Alright, but you mentioned before that it had sailed along the eastern coast here toward the Cape of Good Hope,” Crystal interrupted respectfully, to make sure she remembered correctly.
“That is correct, Crystal,” Nina affirmed, “but it wasn’t scuttled here. You see, its last operation was the Battle of the River Plate, on December 13, 1939. In a nutshell, during this skirmish the Graf Spee encountered the HMS Exeter and two Leander-class cruisers — British ships.”
“Okay, got it so far,” Purdue nodded.
“But the Graf Spee did not flee. The British commander of the Exeter had the other ships spread out, obviously to increase the targets the German ship would have to deal with. The Graf Spee shot at the Exeter with her main battery, using her secondary armament for the others, and then the British ships fired back,” she recounted. “However… apparently the Exeter was hit by seven 11 inch shells and several near misses caused significant splinter damage. Sixty-one of her crew were killed and another twenty-three wounded. All three 8-inch turrets were put out of action, and her speed was reduced significantly, so it was forced to withdraw; therefore the other ships moved in to divert the brunt of the attack from the Exeter,” Nina explained briefly