Rhineland Inheritance (21 page)

Jake unfolded the city map on the colonel's desk. “This is the best we've got?”

Sally nodded. “About a quarter of the streets don't exist anymore. Nothing's there but fields of scrap and waste. Survey has marked most of them.”

“All right, then it will just have to do.”

“Why couldn't it have been somewhere else?” Pierre muttered to himself.

“Because it isn't,” Jake said, his finger tracing possible routes.

“And you're sure this isn't just a ruse?”

“Konrad insists he's giving us the scoop,” Jake replied. “He says he even took a shipment in there himself just before the Allies arrived. One of the officers back on leave used him as a pair of trusted hands.”

“What was it like?”

“Stolen Nazi loot from floor to ceiling, by the sound of it.” Jake covered his own excitement with a scowl. “But you're right. They really picked the spot.”

Morrows knocked on the open door. “The men are all assembled, sir.”

“Right. Grab that map, Pierre. Anybody seen my hat?”

Sally walked over and handed it to him. “Here you are, sir.”

“Thanks. Are you coming?”

“I wouldn't miss it for the world,” Sally replied, her eyes bright, “sir.”

Jake marched into the meeting hall and straight to the podium. The gathered squad and platoon leaders snapped to attention as he entered. “At ease,” he said, taking strength from the fact that his voice remained steady.

He waited until Pierre, Sally, and Morrows were seated. Then he went on. “I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that it appears there is indeed a larger stash of treasure inside the city.”

There was a moment's electric silence, then a raised hand. “Yes?”

“How large is large, sir?”

“I don't have the exact figures,” Jake replied. “But from the sound of it, big enough to set off alarms from here to Madagascar.”

A stir rippled through the group. “Settle down,” Jake said. “You haven't heard the bad news yet. And believe me, it couldn't be worse. Captain Servais?”

With Sergeant Morrows' help, Pierre unfolded the large-scale map and held it up against the back wall. Jake walked
over and pointed to an area, “The treasure is supposed to be located right here. Does anybody recognize the place?”

People half-rose from their seats as they strained and searched and finally started in alarm. “Sir, isn't that—?”

“That's right, gentlemen,” Jake affirmed. “The treasure is right smack-dab underneath the stockade.”

Chapter Twenty

“Nobody moves without an order from me, Sergeant Morrows,” Jake said, climbing into the second jeep beside Pierre.

“But, sir—”

“I'll be back,” Jake assured him.

“I will personally see to that,” Pierre confirmed.

“But just six men, Captain, ain't that—”

“We can't tip them off, Sergeant.” Jake stopped further conversation by rapping his knuckles on the side of the jeep. “Let's go.”

When they arrived at the feeding station they found it in full swing, manned by the ten men Morrows considered most likely to keep a lid on their excitement. Still, despite the warnings, their arrival caused a major stir.

“Back to your positions, gentlemen,” Jake ordered, his voice low. “We are being watched.”

On the other side of the street a squad of MPs loitered around a couple of jeeps. They watched Jake's arrival through narrowed eyes, but made no move. Jake helped Sally down from the jeep and murmured, “Do you see Karl?”

“Not yet.”

“I'll check around,” Pierre said.

“Not alone,” Jake reminded him, and turned with Sally toward the créche.

Inside, all was normal and calm, or as calm as any room could be that held twenty-eight infants under the age of four. Sally was immediately engulfed in a press of little figures, their voices raised, their hands lifted to touch and be recognized and receive attention. Jake stood back and watched the transformation in her face, saw the love shining in her eyes, and felt himself a thousand miles from where he would like to be. When Pierre returned he walked over and asked, “Did you find Karl?”

“Outside. How do you want to handle this?”

“Not here.” Jake pulled out pen and paper, scribbled a note, and handed it to Pierre. “Give him that.”

When Pierre was gone, Jake turned back to the gathering of happy little girls. “Sally?”

“I think I'll stay awhile, Jake,” she replied.

“I'll tell the kitchen detail to pick you up on their way out.”

“All right.” For a moment, a brief moment that seemed an eternity yet was over as soon as it began, she granted him the same look of love and tenderness she had bestowed upon the little girls. “Take care, Jake.”

“I will,” he replied, and because he could not say the other things tumbling through his mind, and did not want to risk seeing that look vanish from her eyes, he turned and left.

Jake walked across the vacant lot and pretended to inspect the kitchen. He accepted the smart salutes and brisk replies with an assumed calm. From the corner of his eyes he noted the MPs tracking his every step. When he deemed that the charade had continued long enough, he returned with his guard detail to the jeep.

“Where to?” Pierre asked.

“Head back toward HQ,” Jake replied, determinedly keeping his gaze off the MPs. “Take it slow.”

They were perhaps three blocks away from the center and rounding a corner when Karl and two of his companions popped up from behind the waist-high remains of a house. “Slower,” Jake ordered, and then barked in German, “Move!”

The jeep continued rolling as the trio scrambled over the wall, covered the distance, and piled into the back. Jake signaled to the jeep behind them that all was well, checked swiftly for spying eyes, found none, and shouted, “Go!”

The kids sat bright-eyed and excited as they sped back out of town. Jake directed Pierre to turn down a dirt track not far from the HQ. When the second jeep had halted behind them, Jake turned to Karl and said in German, “We got the man.”

“And the treasure, I hope,” Karl said in his accustomed
sharp tone. But the gleam in his eyes was strong. “The man is nothing without his hoard.”

“That too,” Jake agreed. “Or part of it, at least.”

“And where is the rest?”

“That is what I want to speak to you about,” Jake replied, reaching for the map. He folded it out to the appropriate section, pointed to the building with the circle drawn around it, and asked, “Do you know where this is?”

Clearly the boy had never been challenged in this way before. “I don't—”

“The stockade,” Jake said.

“Where the white hats gather. Of course.” Karl bent over the incomprehensible map. “They have taken the treasure there?”

“Not exactly,” Jake replied. “The place used to be a bank. According to Herr Konrad, the bank's vault was in the cellar. What was not so well known was that they had also constructed a second cellar. Directly
underneath
the main vault.”

Karl reacted with a hunter's eager tension. “A secret vault.”

“Very secret,” Jake agreed. “So secret not even the bank employees themselves knew of it.”

“How was it reached?”

“Through a tunnel,” Jake answered. “This much we know for sure. A tunnel at least forty paces long. With stairs leading to it.”

“The man has seen this tunnel?”

“His name is Jurgen Konrad,” Jake said. “And the answer is no, not exactly. Toward the end of the war, he was taken down there by his employer, who wished to get an inventory of some of his treasure and to make sure nothing had been stolen. He trusted Konrad enough to enlist his help, but before they began the journey, a hood was placed over Konrad's head. Though he couldn't see he could still hear, and he knows he was led through a narrow concrete tunnel before entering the vault itself.”

“So how does he know that the vault is located there?”

“He says he heard them boasting,” Jake replied. “Every time the officers would gather and drink too much, their talk would turn at one point or another to the cache beneath the bank.”

The girl with Karl demanded, “And the treasure is still there?”

“Konrad's partners kept careful watch as long as they were free,” Jake replied. “They hoped that someone would appear and lead them to the tunnel entrance. But not one of the senior officers returned from the last battles. Not one. Konrad believes they have all died or been arrested.”

“So you want us to find this tunnel,” Karl said.

“I want you to be extremely careful,” Jake replied. “You will be walking through enemy territory.”

“All life has its dangers, Captain. You should know that.” Karl slipped from the jeep. “Do you have our money?”

Jake shook his head. “But I have some of Konrad's treasure in safekeeping for you. Do you want it now?”

“Later, yes. Not now, but later.” The young man grinned for the first time Jake could remember. “We make a good team, yes, Captain?”

“A great team,” Jake said, and meant it.

“There will be more rewards from this work?”

“Whether or not you succeed,” Jake replied, “I will see that you are rewarded.”

“We know where to find you,” Karl said. He and his gang turned and raced off through the trees.

Chapter Twenty-one

Dusk was gathering when a muffled shout at the HQ's main gate brought Jake running.

Jake found Karl and three friends squatting in the guardhouse, far enough down to be invisible from the outside. Jake stood in the entrance and said to the nearby soldier, “Back up a pace, Corporal, so everybody can see you, and stand at attention. I want any unfriendly eyes to think I'm tearing off a piece of your hide.”

“Yessir.” The corporal gave a fair imitation of a soldier retreating before a storm of abuse.

“Did anybody else see them?”

“I didn't see them myself, sir. One minute I was looking down a lonesome road, and the next these four come piling in around me. Don't ask me how they got so close, 'cause I sure don't know.”

Jake switched into German and said, “The soldier is impressed with your stealth.”

“The shadows of this town are my friends,” Karl replied. “You are being watched.”

“Where?” Jake asked.

“Around the first corner going toward town there is a trail leading off into the woods.”

“I know of it.”

“They sit in their jeep and talk so anyone can hear,” Karl said. “They do not sound happy. They care little for their work.”

Jake said to the corporal, “We've got a surveillance team set up around the first bend.”

“Doesn't surprise me in the least, sir.”

“When we're finished here, go find Captain Servais. Tell him that one of our night patrols ought to take the first
dirt track leading off the road into town. Anybody they find should be arrested on sight.”

“Yessir. Consider it done.”

To Karl he said, “You have found us an entry?”

“I have found many dark holes,” Karl said wearily. “We are searching them all back as far as we can.”

“With great care, I hope.”

“The need to be quiet slows us down,” Karl replied.

“Better at a slow pace than no pace at all,” Jake said. “You have found no tunnel?”

“It is hard to say. Very hard. Every opening may be the correct one, especially if what you say is true—that there would be a door or barrier before the entrance.”

“There must have been,” Jake confirmed. “It was a closely guarded secret, so the tunnel would have been carefully sealed.”

“Then I suppose that in front of each possible entry, we have to clean away the rubble as far back as we can,” Karl said. Dust caked his clothes, his hands, his face, and frosted his hair. His trio of friends appeared more than content to sit and rest and let Karl make the effort to speak. “So many bombs fell in that area that shell holes are dug into shell holes. Sometimes we cannot see where the house stood, much less where there might have been a cellar. Or tunnel. All around the bank, there are piles of rubble higher than the remains of the bank itself.”

“An impossible task,” Jake said, momentarily defeated.

“A difficult one,” Karl contradicted. “We have three possibilities. Good ones. Narrow stairs leading down to blocked passages. We are searching for ways through.”

Jake decided it was time for a visit to the front-line troops. “Corporal, can you get some rations and water up here without anyone seeing?”

“No problem, sir.”

“After that, find Sergeant Morrows. Have him fill five knapsacks with provisions.”

“Five, sir?”

“Five. And three canteens per man.” Jake turned to Karl and continued in German, “This man will bring you something to eat. Please wait here while I see someone.”

“Any reason for a rest is welcome,” Karl replied, and stretched out his legs.

When Jake told Pierre his plan, Servais was not enthusiastic. “You're not going up there to boost their morale,” Pierre argued. “You're going because you think maybe you can find something they can't. Which is ludicrous.”

Jake finished putting on his battle dress and pulled on well-worn boots. “The kids think they might have found the entrance. I need to check it out.”

“You mean you want to be there for the kill.”

“I need to see it for myself before calling out the troops.”

“But to go out there alone is absurd,” Servais continued anxiously.

“One man can probably slip through unseen,” Jake replied. “Any more would just increase our chances of being detected.”

“So what do I tell Sally?”

“Nothing,” Jake said, with genuine alarm. “I should be in and out within a couple of hours.”