And she was alone.
Somebody tapped on the window and she flinched, scurrying to the other side of the car as a uniformed man peered inside, asking something in Arabic. She opened the opposite door and climbed out.
“Where am I?”
He gave her a look, surprised at the ridiculousness of the question. “Tunis. Are you okay?”
She nodded, debating whether she should confide in the man. She surveyed the area quickly, then gasped at the most beautiful sight she could imagine.
A Union Jack, fluttering in the wind.
She smiled at what she assumed was a police officer. “I’m fine, thank you.” She pointed at the flag. “I’m just going over there.”
She quickly headed toward what she prayed was the embassy, and as she rounded the corner, she nearly cried in relief, breaking out into a run as she neared the gates. She grabbed the bars, and a soldier approached. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Please, I’m a British citizen. I was kidnapped and don’t have my passport. My name is Laura Palmer, please let me in!”
His eyes widened. “Did you say your name is Laura Palmer? Professor Laura Palmer?”
She nodded, then paused.
How does he know I’m a professor?
The man stepped back, waving to someone. “Open the gates!”
The gates parted and she stepped inside, relief washing over her as she was now on British soil, safe from whatever might harm her only paces away. The guard disappeared into a gatehouse, and she could see him on the phone.
Somebody shouted from the entrance of the embassy, and she turned toward the sound, shielding her eyes from the blinding sun, then her shoulders heaved as she recognized her beloved James.
“Laura!”
She couldn’t move, her legs frozen in place, her shoulders slumping as the tears rolled, her body finally giving in to all the tension and pressure of the past day, finally knowing it was all over, that James was safe, and they would soon be home.
He grabbed her and lifted her into the air, hugging her hard as they both cried. “Thank God you’re okay!”
She held his face in her hands as she stared into his eyes, still not believing it was him. “What are you doing here?”
“We received a call. We were told that you would be showing up here at some point today, and that you were okay.”
She sighed, then hugged him again.
“Glad to see you’re okay.”
She smiled at the sound of her friend, and let go of James, grabbing Reading, giving him a kiss on both cheeks, and she knew he was relieved to see her by his lack of protests. He returned the hug then gently pushed her away. “Let’s get inside. They’ll want to debrief you, then fly us back to Europe.”
Acton put his arm around her shoulders, leading her to the embassy. “We lost the Amber Room. We thought we had tracked it to a ship, but it was a decoy. We eventually figured—”
“I saw it.”
“What?”
“They made me authenticate it to the buyer.”
Reading stopped, turning toward her. “Who was it?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea. Looked like a Saudi sheik, but could have been anyone from that part of the world.”
“The transport you were on had Saudi diplomatic status,” said Reading, resuming walking.
Laura sighed. “I’m afraid we’re never going to see it again.”
“Why did he take it?”
She laid her head on her husband’s shoulder. “For his private collection.”
He cursed. “We need to find it.”
“I don’t see how, unless you can track the airplane.”
Reading shook his head. “It won’t matter. Not with diplomatic status. We can’t touch it.”
She frowned. “Which means we can’t touch him.”
James growled. “We should at least be able to catch the thieves. We got a good look at them, and they were on enough cameras.”
Laura shook her head. “No. They apparently change their faces all the time. I got the impression they do this for a living.”
Reading grunted. “I think you’re right. Unfortunately, the only lead we had on them, their contact with the Dark Web troll, turned up nothing. Everything was handled through encrypted messengers, and paid with Bitcoins. It’s a dead end.”
Acton sighed. “I can’t believe that the Amber Room is once again lost to the world.”
74
Outside Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Sheikh Khalid bin Al Jabar sat in his chair, one that sat on a pedestal with a hand control allowing him to spin gently so he could take in the entire breathtaking display. To say he was once again excited with life, would be an understatement.
He was ecstatic.
And it was all because of the man who now stood beside him.
“What do you think?”
Tankov shrugged. “Not my style. Too garish.”
Khalid chuckled. “I think you are missing the point. Whether or not you think it is aesthetically pleasing, you are looking at something that is priceless, and one of a kind. Never before, and never again, shall there be a room such as this. This is worth half a billion dollars by some estimates. Nobody today would ever build such a thing. You are in the presence of something that most can’t even conceive of, and you shrug your shoulders.”
Tankov smiled. “I’m not in it for the art, I’m in it for the money and the thrill.”
Khalid sighed. “It’s really too bad. Some of the pieces you have retrieved for me and my fellow collectors, are truly quite remarkable, yet you cannot appreciate what they mean.”
Tankov stared at the walls surrounding them. “I appreciate the money they represent.”
Khalid shook his head, giving up. “Now that you have one hundred million Euros, what will you do?”
Tankov turned toward him. “I think I’ll relax on a beach for a while until the next job comes along.”
Khalid nodded. “How much more do you need?”
Tankov wagged a finger at him. “Now it’s you who don’t understand. “It’s not all about the money, it’s all about the mission. We get to do what we want, when we want, with no consequences except success or death. There’s no in between.”
Khalid’s head bobbed slowly as he thought about what was just said. “I understand completely.” He extended a hand, Tankov shaking it. “Call me the next time you have something of interest come across your radar.”
Tankov bowed slightly. “Rest assured, sir, you will hear from us again.” He pointed at his face. “Though you might not recognize me.”
75
Mai Trinh Residence
St. Paul, Maryland
Tommy grabbed Mai, pulling her in tight for yet another kiss, giggles erupting from both of them as Acton stood with a heavy box in his arms, waiting for them to get out of the way.
“If you’re going to play grab ass, then move it before this old man gets a hernia.”
Tommy’s eyes widened and Mai blushed. “Sorry, sir!” cried Tommy as the two of them pressed against the wall, letting him get by.
Acton stepped inside Mai’s apartment, placing the box of what must be lead bricks, on the kitchen counter. “What the hell is in that?”
Tommy shrugged. “Weights, I think.”
Acton growled at him, baring his teeth in mock anger as Laura passed him carrying a pillow in each hand. She grinned at him.
It was a pleasant end to what had been a frustrating couple of weeks. The plane with the Amber Room had left Tunisia, flying directly for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and as Reading had predicted, they weren’t cooperating. From that point on, nobody knew what had happened to the cargo, and the world was poorer for it, though he took some small comfort in knowing that at least it was out there, somewhere, not destroyed during the war.
Reading had stayed behind to tie up some loose ends with the authorities in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia, and they had asked him to visit when he was done, but
he hadn’t been able to, apparently his boss ready to fire him if he didn’t return.
Professor Lisowski was expected to fully recover, and the rest of the find, still an incredible one, would keep her and her team busy for years to come. Though the Amber Room might have been recovered only briefly, thousands of pieces of artwork would hopefully be reunited with their rightful owners over the coming months and years.
It would be a slow but worthwhile effort.
He watched Tommy and Mai, giddy with excitement at this new stage of their relationship and lives, and was very proud of the two of them. He almost thought of Mai as a daughter, and Tommy was rapidly becoming like a son. If it weren’t for them, they might never have been found, though that wasn’t the real reason he was proud.
They had finished their job after Laura’s release, visiting the second family of the murdered engineer, bringing them a copy of his great-grandfather’s records, and telling them of what had happened.
The body of Hermann Lang had been confirmed to be among the bodies found in the mine, and his remains had already been reunited with his family. It had been a moving, solemn occasion, one that he and Laura had decided was necessary to attend along with Tommy and Mai.
For this man was no one’s enemy. He was simply an engineer, doing his job, and murdered for it. And one day, Acton hoped that the cargo he had transported on that fateful night would be found and shared with the world, and his important role could be celebrated.
And his soul could finally rest in peace.
As he was sure Tommy’s great-grandfather’s now did.
76
Outside Karlsruhe, Allied Occupied Germany
May 10, 1945
Wolfgang Vogel stood at the end of the long driveway leading to the family farm, his arm around his wife, his two children in front of them, waving at the column of American troops passing by. Some waved back, others tossed supplies to them, and as he had suspected he would all along, he felt liberated, as opposed to conquered.
The war was over.
Germany had lost.
And he didn’t care.
These were the Americans he was expecting, not the evil army that would slaughter children and rape women, as the propaganda machines had warned. No, these were men who held no animosity toward the civilian population, and he was thankful he had been able to get his family out of Berlin where the Russians now held control.
He didn’t trust them at all, and the rumors were horrifying if true.
A GI walked up to his son, handing him a chocolate bar. “Share that with your sister, okay.”
Vogel smiled. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, buddy.”
The kids were thrilled, and so was he. If these men represented their enemy, then they truly did have no reason to fear them. He stared down the road at the city, heavy damage evident from the bombing, much of Germany destroyed. It would take years to rebuild, and the struggle would be hard. He could never return to Berlin, not with the Russians in control.
He had nothing but the clothes on his back.
He closed his eyes and wondered about Frau Lang and Frau Maier. Had they survived the war? Were they now under Soviet control? Was Frau Maier holding out hope that it wasn’t her husband beaten to death like he had told her in his note to her? Was Frau Lang still waiting for her Hermann to come home?
He wished he had something more to tell them, to give them a reason as to why their husbands had paid such a high price, but unfortunately, he was as much in the dark as they were.
And with the mine now in Russian territory, he doubted the world would ever know what the SS had hidden there one cold night in January.
Though perhaps with time, and a little luck, the secret too many had died to protect would be revealed.
He turned to his wife and smiled at her, then the children, so thankful they had all made it through the war.
And a thought occurred to him.
“How would you feel about going to America?”
THE END
Acknowledgements
First, a quick note on the title. Some might be thinking that the proper title would be The Nazis’ Engineer (and still some The Nazis’s Engineer), but both would be incorrect. The title refers to a singular Nazi, not the Nazis as a group, making the title grammatically correct. And that singular Nazi, of course, was Konrad, the museum administrator’s go-to guy for whenever he needed someone.
This book was a lot of fun to write, especially the historical elements. I’ve always been a history buff, particularly when it comes to World War II and the European campaign. Having lived in Germany in my youth for seven years, and my father a history major, we traveled throughout the continent, visiting places such as Normandy, the Maginot Line, and other famous battle sites.
The history was unavoidable, and I loved it.
As usual, there are people to thank. My dad for all the research, Michael Heintz and those who participated on Facebook in choosing a video game for our bad guys to be playing (follow me on Facebook to participate in these things), William Viktora for some Czech help, Brent Richards for some weapons info, “Captain” Fred Newton for some nautical terms, and Greg “Chief” Michael for some metal detector info. And, as usual, my wife, daughter, and mother, as well as the proofreading and launch teams.
To those who have not already done so, please visit my website at www.jrobertkennedy.com then sign up for the Insider’s Club to be notified of new book releases. Your email address will never be shared or sold, and you’ll only receive the occasional email from me, as I don’t have time to spam you!
Thank you once again for reading.
James Acton will return!
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