The Romanov Ransom Page 24

  Lazlo answered, “That would have the order of the wiring, the plugs. But with the third tin still missing, we have no way of knowing what’s stamped on the bottom. And, I’m afraid, the key to the other two—or, rather, what we’d need to decipher the letters—would be on that third tin.”

  “Which is why I’m calling,” Sam said. “We found an Enigma machine—possibly the one they used—in the tunnels in Poland.”

  “But it was destroyed,” Remi added.

  “Mystery solved,” Lazlo said. “That’s got to be why Lambrecht was on his way to Häussler. Trying to figure out how to decipher the code without it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help us much now.”

  “Can’t we use a different machine?” Remi asked Lazlo. “There has to be a number of them in private collections and museums. If we can get one, you can decipher the letters.”

  “Not that easy,” Sam said.

  “Quite right,” Lazlo replied. “Assuming your theory is correct, even though we know which variant of the machine—three rotors versus four—and in which order—the start positions, et cetera, et cetera—we’re still missing one important variable—the order of the plugs wired into the machine, no doubt stamped on the bottom of that third tin.”

  “The wiring?” Remi looked over at Sam. “The machine was smashed, but I distinctly remember seeing the wiring still plugged in.”

  “You’re sure?” Lazlo asked.

  “Positive. But I didn’t pay attention to the order. Did you, Sam?”

  “I was paying more attention to the smashed rotors, but I definitely noticed exposed wires. The good news is, we know someone who can get some photos. If we’re lucky, it’ll narrow down the options.”

  “Brilliant,” Lazlo said. “Any chance I can speak to him first? Might make things a lot easier.”

  “Not a problem,” Sam replied, slipping his phone from his pocket. “I’ll give him a call while we still have you on video.”

  A moment later, he had Gustaw on the line, and introduced Selma and Lazlo. Lazlo explained what they needed, finishing with, “Pay particular attention to the front of the machine, where the plugs and wiring are. If you can get photos before it’s moved, and from multiple angles, that should help. In case any of the plugs were dislodged when they tried to destroy it, it’s possible we can re-create the position.”

  “Anything else?” Gustaw asked.

  “I think that should do it,” Lazlo said.

  “What about the Guard?” Sam added. “Any chance you can get in there without being followed?”

  “I saw a few in town yesterday, so they’re still here,” Gustaw replied. “But no alerts on the cameras.”

  “I’d rather be safe than sorry,” Sam said as Remi nodded her agreement. “We’re just outside Münster. We can fly into Wrocław.”

  “What about the Russians?” Selma asked. “Wouldn’t that be quicker?”

  Remi added. “Good idea. They’re still in Wrocław, waiting for Viktor to get out of the hospital.”

  “Russians?” Gustaw said. “Did I miss something?”

  Sam gave a quick explanation, ending with, “I’ll call Tatiana now and have her get in touch with you. I’m sure she’ll be happy to help.”

  62

  Tatiana knocked on the doorframe of Viktor’s hospital room. “You’re awake.”

  “Come in,” he said.

  “How are you?”

  “About this close to making a break for it. They say one more day.”

  She glanced at the IV drip hanging above him and the bandage on his chest, where the tube keeping his lung inflated had only recently been removed. “Listen, for once.”

  “I might if they serve decent food today. What brings you to my lonely hospital room?”

  “I just got off the phone with the Fargos. They’re asking help for Gustaw Czarnecki. They want to make sure he’s not in any danger.”

  “Help for what?”

  “To go back into the tunnels. There’s a broken Enigma machine in the chamber they found that they think might be related to these tins.”

  “Enigma machine?” He was quiet a moment. “A code, of course. That sounds easy enough. The man seemed capable to me.”

  “I’m sure he is. But they’re worried about this Wolf Guard. I’ve checked with a few of our intelligence agencies. Not one realized they were operating in Russia. They assumed it was strictly a loosely based group within the borders of Germany.”

  He gave her a slight smile. “I see a medal in your future for exposing them.”

  “I’m serious.” She glanced out to the hallway and even though it was still empty, she closed the door, then moved to his bedside. “They had someone at Königsberg castle, right under your nose. And don’t forget about what happened in Poland. They stole that map before we’d even realized where they were. And the night I was kidnapped . . .”

  As much as she wanted to forget what happened, she couldn’t. The steady beep of the heart monitor had a calming effect as she tried not to think about the terror of that night, not knowing if Viktor was alive and certain she was going to be killed.

  “Tatiana . . . ?”

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  “No, you’re not.”

  He was right, of course. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the Guard. Rolfe might believe he’s running the show, but I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Leopold is far more dangerous. This organization of his is . . .”

  “Is what?”

  “Far more widespread than any of us realized. It has to be.”

  “I agree. But what does this have to do with the miner?”

  “What if the Guard gets wind of what he’s doing? If the Fargos are correct, that this Enigma machine they found in the tunnel relates to the code they’re looking for, it’s imperative that they get this information. As long as the Guard is out there, we need to ensure that Gustaw is protected while he’s trying to get it.”

  “True.”

  “We’re close enough that Felix and I can drive up, meet him, and make sure he safely gets in and out.”

  “I’d think you’d want to keep yourself free to run the investigation. What if you get word of where Rolfe is hiding? Wouldn’t it be better to have Nika with Felix?”

  “In this case, I don’t know . . . I was thinking about giving her some time off.”

  “Why?”

  “If you saw how emotional she’s been, jumping at every little thing, you’d agree with me.”

  “I haven’t seen her since I landed in here. But she seemed fine while we were waiting for the ambulance. Her usual stubborn self.”

  “She was a mess last night. And no better this morning. Felix said it started here at the hospital. The only thing I can think is that both my kidnapping and your shooting have affected her even more than any of us realized.”

  “Maybe putting her to work is exactly what she needs.”

  “Maybe . . .”

  “Send her. It’s an easy assignment. Standing guard over a tunnel. What can go wrong?”

  63

  What could go wrong? Viktor’s question echoed through Tatiana’s mind long after she assigned Felix and Nika to accompany Gustaw out to the tunnels to recover the Enigma machine. The Guard could go wrong, she thought, recalling how easily they’d followed the Fargos, breaking into their hotel and putting the couple in danger.

  They were everywhere.

  This last thought worried her the most, and she called Felix. “Just checking to see how you’re both doing,” she said when he answered.

  “We’re fine. The map to his cabin is straightforward. Gustaw said he’d meet us where the pavement ends.”

  “Do me a favor. Wait for me. I want to go with you.”

  “Are you sure? It’s nothing we can’t handle.”

  “We shouldn�
�t underestimate the Guard. You know what happened in Kaliningrad. They’re even more prevalent where you are. Why take chances?”

  “No argument there,” Felix said. “We’ll see you in a while.”

  —

  TATIANA QUIETLY OBSERVED Nika on the ride up to Gustaw’s property. Other than the dark circles under her blue eyes, she seemed fine, and Tatiana hoped that the young woman had merely been suffering from a mild case of post-traumatic stress brought on by Viktor’s shooting.

  At Gustaw’s cabin, the three got out of the car. As Felix walked up to greet the miner, Tatiana turned to Nika. “How are you?”

  “Fine,” Nika said. “Why?”

  “A lot has happened. You’ve seemed . . . upset.”

  Nika glanced toward Felix, then back. “I’d think you’d be more upset. You were the one kidnapped, after all.”

  Tatiana studied her a moment. Same brusqueness Nika usually showed. Still . . .

  “Thought there were only two of you,” Gustaw remarked.

  “My apologies,” Tatiana said. “I decided to come at the last minute.”

  “And you are . . . ?”

  “Tatiana Petrov. We spoke on the phone.”

  Gustaw nodded.

  “With the threat of the Guard, I thought it a good idea to bring more help.”

  “Lucky for us, I haven’t seen any signs they’re back in any large numbers. Let’s hope it stays that way.” He had two packs on the porch, handing one to Felix, then shouldering the other himself. “The sooner we get started, the sooner we can get the photos to the Fargos.”

  The four hiked through the woods until they reached the entrance to the tunnel. A half hour later, he was leading them into the hidden cavern where they had found the Enigma machine. “There it is,” he said, pointing.

  Tatiana drew her gaze from the mummified Nazi on her right to the smashed box on the floor near the desk. Just as Sam Fargo had described, someone had tried to destroy the machine. “I’ll get the photos,” she said, pulling the camera from her pocket. She took pictures from every angle, some with the flash, some without, paying particular attention to the plugs and wiring.

  Felix picked up the rotors on the floor beside the machine, placing them on the desk. As she took photos of the rotors, Nika crouched beside the Enigma, her back to them. Tatiana glanced over, noticing Nika holding her phone over the machine. “What are you doing?” Tatiana asked.

  “Good idea to have backup, don’t you think?”

  “Definitely.” Tatiana took one last look around. “This should do it. Unless there’s something else we need here?”

  Gustaw suggested they take the machine and rotors with them just in case, and once they gathered the pieces and placed it into his pack, they headed back to the entrance, where Gustaw climbed out first in order to pull them up with the harness system he’d rigged. As he assisted Tatiana, she’d convinced herself that her worry for Nika was more in her mind than anything else—until she glanced down into the tunnel and saw Nika holding her phone, the screen lighting up.

  Waiting until everyone was out, she turned to Nika, saying, “What were you doing on your phone?”

  “I thought I received a text. It was nothing.”

  “Let me see it.”

  Nika’s face paled. “I swear, I wasn’t doing anything.”

  Tatiana held out her hand. “Your phone. Now.” Nika unlocked the screen, then handed it over. Tatiana looked over the text and attached photo, hoping to come up with a logical explanation for what she was seeing. There was none, and the look of guilt on Nika’s face confirmed her worst fears.

  64

  Sam and Remi were landing in Berlin, on their way to see Karl and Brand, when Tatiana emailed the photos of the Enigma machine to them. Sam immediately forwarded the photos to Selma. A moment later, Tatiana called. “I have bad news,” she said when Sam answered.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The photos . . .”

  “They came through fine. We sent them to Lazlo the moment we got them.”

  “It’s not that. It’s Nika. The Guard got to her.”

  “Hold on,” he said, “I’m placing you on speaker so Remi can hear.” He pressed the button. “What happened?”

  “They got to her the night of Viktor’s shooting. They threatened to kill her family if she didn’t turn over anything she found out.”

  Remi looked up at Sam, saying, “Her family? Did anyone check on them?”

  “We sent agents out. I haven’t heard back. Unfortunately, I didn’t find out until after Nika sent a photo of the Enigma machine’s wiring to Leopold. She’s been in touch with them from the moment you left the hospital at Wrocław.”

  “So every time I updated you,” Sam said, “she forwarded that information to Leopold. The Guard knew our every move.”

  “Exactly. From the furniture maker in Münster to the trip to the castle with the key.”

  “Clever,” Sam said. “Letting us do the legwork. Forewarned, forearmed. Since they have the information from both tins and the Enigma machine wiring, we have to assume they’re on the same trail.”

  “What are you going to do?” Tatiana asked.

  “Not much we can do until Lazlo finishes working on the Enigma code. In the meantime, we’re meeting up with Brand and Karl to see what they’ve found. Something to do with the logbook.”

  “That’s good,” Tatiana said. “Neither Rolfe nor Leopold know about the logbook.”

  “Let’s hope it stays that way. We’ll keep in touch.”

  —

  BRAND AND KARL seemed amped up on coffee when Sam and Remi arrived. “You have to see this,” Karl said, drawing the two to the dining room table, where butcher paper covered the entire surface, charts and notes written across most of it. “We’ve gone over every page of the logbook. Most of it’s standard, but in the margin toward the end someone wrote ‘Strassmair has it’ next to the letters RR, which are circled.” He picked up the book, opening it to show Sam. “We’re guessing that RR stands for Romanov Ransom.”

  “No doubt,” Sam said. “Strassmair, though . . . that’s one of the names we heard recently.”

  “Königsberg castle,” Remi replied. “The table, with his signature on the orders for the trucks to remove the treasure.”

  “That’s what it was.” Sam glanced at the chart drawn on the butcher paper. “What’s all this?”

  “The ratline trail,” Karl said.

  Brand dug through a small stack of papers, pulling one out. “Strassmair is on one of the lists of Nazi officers suspected of escaping through the ratline. It’s possible he ended up in Spain. We’re going through our research papers now, trying to trace his route from there, but we’ve hit a dead end.”

  “At least it’s a start,” Sam said, reading the notations on their chart. “What else do you have?”

  “This,” Karl said, showing Sam the logbook again. “Right after the notation RR. What if it’s the key to those two letters?”

  Sam eyed the book. “What do you mean?”

  Karl pointed to a notation underlined. “First.”

  “First what?” Sam asked.

  “Brand thinks it refers to how the code should be read.”

  Remi looked over Sam’s shoulder, taking everything in. “Does Lazlo know?”

  “We just spoke with him. Now that he has the photos of the Enigma machine, he’s going to take another look.”

  And, sure enough, Lazlo called fifteen minutes later. “The boys were right,” Lazlo said. “The notations in the logbook are the key on how to read the coded letters. Now that we have everything set in the Enigma machine, it didn’t take long at all. It was the first letter of each sentence.”

  “What did you translate?” Sam asked.

  “That we know where the Romanov Ransom was taken.”

&
nbsp; “Where?” Sam and Remi asked at the same time.

  “South America.”

  Sam exchanged glances with Remi, asking, “Any chance you can narrow it down? That’s a big continent.”

  “Argentina.”

  “That fits,” Brand said. “A lot of Nazi war criminals ended up there.”

  Sam quickly looked over the pages of the logbook, wondering if there was anything they’d missed. “Lazlo, what are the chances that Rolfe and Leopold know this information without the logbook in their possession?”

  “Assuming they aren’t somehow already in possession of this knowledge? After all, they certainly seem to know what the tins are for.”

  “Good point.”

  “It’s really only a matter of time,” Lazlo said. “Anyone with the least idea on how cryptology works has probably already tried deciphering the first letters of each sentence. I certainly tried it. Of course, it didn’t work until you recovered the Enigma machine settings. And now that they have those—”

  “How?” Karl said. “I thought—”

  “A long story,” Sam said, turning to the last page of the logbook, where Strassmair’s name was circled. “I’ll let Selma tell you. Right now, I’d like you and your brother to concentrate on finding out whatever you can on this Strassmair person.”

  “Anything in particular?”

  “Where he was from, any family he had. In other words, anything that will help us pinpoint where in South America he might have gone.” He closed the book, placing it on the table. “In the meantime, it looks like our next stop is Argentina.”

  “What about Rolfe and the Wolf Guard?” Remi asked.

  “Let’s hope they’re not as astute as Lazlo is at deciphering codes.”

  65

  Rolfe paced the room, looking over at Leopold, who was sitting at the computer. “What’s taking so long?”

  “Nika’s photo is not the best,” Leopold said.

  “She only took one picture?”

  “More than likely, she only managed to send the one before she was caught. A shame they discovered her. She was a valuable asset for a while.”