Order of the Black Sun Box Set 4

by Preston William Child

  Purdue frowned. He could not believe what Sam was trying to convince him of. Nina came out of the lavatory, and her face lit up when she saw the two men.

  “Hello handsomes!” she said way too loudly. It was unlike her to be so girly and flamboyant, but they soon learned why she was behaving like that. "Tell me all about the dive!" With that, she pulled them into Sam's cabin and shut the door. Her face sank immediately as soon as they were alone.

  “They were watching us. We have to talk. There is something weird going on here, guys,” she said.

  “See?” Sam told Purdue.

  “The crew members on this boat are not Egyptian,” she told them. “I wasn’t able to place the language, but Mieke and I think that those men are not the salvage crew Crystal hired.”

  Purdue and Sam stared at her, unsettled by her revelation.

  “Is this why you want me to abandon this endeavor, Sam?” Purdue asked.

  "Uh, no, actually," Sam replied. Now he was thoroughly worried. There was more to the trouble already piling up. "My reasons are entirely different, but equally pressing."

  “What are your reasons?” Nina asked.

  “Down there I saw something that shocked me to the core, not just for what I saw, but for what it meant,” he started. “I think the wreck is a failed experiment in unified field theory, one the Nazis attempted after the Philadelphia Experiment.”

  Nina gasped. She briefly recounted what Mieke had brought to her attention. Purdue snapped his fingers. "Of course! How did I not see that? The ship must have been used as a test, Nina. This is why you could account for all the other battleships, but not this one!"

  Sam looked Purdue in the eye. "My fear is that if we tow this ship, and it teleports, it could take us with it. Can you imagine the implications, Purdue?”

  “I can,” Purdue replied, “but if we could tow it before it disappeared…”

  “Christ, Purdue!” Nina seethed. “Did none of what we just said get through to you? I just told you that the crew is not who they say they are. That alone is cause for alarm. Sam worries that the Nazi vessel might kill us all if we tow it, and you still think this is a lucrative venture? This is about our lives, Purdue!”

  He had no retort. Once again, he was willing to wager their lives for one of his attempts to satisfy his craving for adventure. Sam’s big dark eyes implored him. “Purdue, down there I saw the mangled bodies of people embedded in the walls of the ship.”

  Nina put her hand in front of her mouth not to yelp, but her eyes were wide in horror. Sam continued. “Do you know what that must be like, David? That ship is fucking evil; yet another Nazi atrocity! Its very existence is a secret - an evil secret.”

  30

  Insidious

  Mieke and Zain looked over the ocean as the sun was about to set.

  “I don’t think I can eat tonight,” Zain admitted. “Those people drowning really got to me.”

  She looked taken aback by his sentiment. Mieke placed her hand on his and moved closer to his large frame. He looked down at her, noticing how beautiful she was. Like Crystal, she had enthralling blue eyes that pierced through anyone looking directly at them.

  “You? A hardened security advisor should not be put off by something as mundane?” she said.

  “Mundane?” he snapped. “I had lunch with those two men, Mieke! I got to know them. Granted yes, they were scum without morals and terrible manners, but they were brothers…in a sense.” He paused for a moment, recalling what he just said to make sure it was accurate for the likes of her. “I don’t expect a girl like you to understand.”

  "A girl like me?" she asked offendedly.

  “Yes, an academic with a safe little life. Probably a rich mommy and daddy who paid for your education. You know nothing about the brotherhood of crude men,” he explained almost proudly.

  “Really?” she asked. “I have to concede, I do have a rich daddy who paid for my studies, yes. But if you think I know nothing about the brotherhood of crude men, my dear, you are sorely mistaken.” Mieke scoffed, branding a wry little smile that held no amity or joy. It was a smirk of vengeance and hatred. “I was raised in Europe and came to South Africa only three years ago. And you know what my first taste of your miserable country was?”

  “No, what?” he asked.

  “My roommate and I were held for seventeen hours in our fucking flat! We were raped and beaten by three animals just like these brothers of yours. Nobody came to help when they heard us screaming when they heard the breaking glass or the thumps of our bodies hitting the walls and floor!" she sneered at him.

  Zain did not know what to say. For the first time in his adult life, a tale of violence upset him. Usually, he was the attacker in stories like hers, the kidnapper and perpetrator of physical abuse against women – women like the one he had been chasing before finding out about Dr. Malgas and his historical find. He dared not to let Mieke know what fabric he was cut from.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “For what it is worth, anyway.”

  “Don’t ever make assumptions about women like me, Zain,” she said, sounding dejected.

  They stood quietly overlooking the waves of the Indian Ocean, the constant rush of the frothy water from under the huge tugboat. He held her hand, hoping that Sibu would not come out and see his tender side. “I will make sure these animals don’t come near you, Mieke. I promise.”

  She smiled a welcome response. "Ooh, so you are my personal bodyguard now?"

  “Yes,” he smiled. It was strange to see Zain smile, but Mieke was elated that he was in such a good mood. “Say, don’t you have to check in with Dr. Malgas?” he asked. “I have noticed that there is no reception on this boat, not even satellite.”

  “That’s weird,” Mieke frowned. “I hadn’t noticed yet. You see, I don't have to contact him until I start cataloging the finds. Besides, he has enough on his plate with this Cheryl girl he is so close to.”

  “Oh yes,” Zain recalled the junky he and Sibu were going to deal a fate to… one similar to Mieke’s story, which he could never reveal. “Wonder if she will recover.”

  “Don’t really care,” Mieke remarked indifferently. She looked at her watch.

  “Will you excuse me?” she asked. “I have to go over some footage with Crystal before the next dive tomorrow.”

  Zain was surprised, but he reckoned she was put off by talking about Cheryl. “Alright. I’ll see you later.”

  Mieke disappeared into the mess hall, passing through the empty galley and made her way up the steps to the quarters of the expedition members. Nina and Purdue’s cabins were empty, but Sam’s door was closed.

  “Need some company?” Sibu asked, peeking from his cabin.

  “No,” she barked rudely. But then she realized that over her eagerness to get to Crystal’s cabin she had abandoned her manners. “I’m sorry, Sibu,” she smiled. “I’m just in a hurry, okay? I’ll hang out with you later, maybe?”

  “Sure, no problem,” he said, but his eyes were dark with rage and lust. She noticed that he had been drinking the same stuff Ali was so fond of. As far as she knew, the moonshine was anything but Egyptian too, but she kept that to herself for now. It was something she needed to share with Crystal, though, to make sure there were no unforeseen complications on such an important excursion. She knocked at Crystal’s door.

  “Come in!”

  Mieke closed the door behind her. Crystal was sitting on the bed with a small laptop on her briefcase, heavily invested on what she saw on the screen. Mieke joined Crystal on the bed and kissed her on her neck.

  “Was ist?” she asked Crystal, lazily playing with her dark hair. Crystal looked at her young lover, but her face remained stern. She sighed, “I have found the last of the coordinates, but it would be difficult to get Purdue to fund another expedition. I don’t know what to do.”

  “I can just pull the same con on a professor there. Where is it?” she asked.

  Crystal looked displeased. “Japan. Can you believe
it?”

  “Actually, it’s not so surprising, considering they belonged to the Axis powers during World War II,” Mieke reminded Crystal. “So now we have all the locations?”

  "Yes," Crystal smiled happily. "All seven sites are logged, but…” she pointed her finger at Mieke, “…we should bring her in this time – once and for all.”

  “There is too little time. Seven hours to get her to the nearest port to dismantle her – forgive me for playing the Debbie Downer here – impossible,” Mieke remarked, shaking her head. “Let alone to Germany! How are we ever going to get her there?”

  “We don’t. I have calculated it. According to the GPS’s you planted on the two divers the ship is now on the ocean floor of the Sea of Japan, just 400km off the coast of South Korea. In two hours it will teleport and appear off the coast of Puerto Rico, then another hour later it will be in the Russian Kara Sea,” Crystal explained.

  “That would have been perfect! From the Kara Sea it would be a short tow to Germany, but no, we had to catch her way off in the godforsaken south!” Mieke complained.

  “Look, Malgas was the only gullible academic we could find to fall for this con, Mieke. There was nothing else we could do. There was no other way to get Cleave involved, and without Cleave, there is no Purdue. Do you understand?” Crystal reminded her.

  “I get it, Crystal,” Mieke nodded, “but how far can we get in seven hours?”

  “Not far, for now, but we just need to get to Yemen to dismantle her. Now we have to make do with towing her as high up north as we can before she disappears again. The next time she’ll reappear at the new coordinates we had reached before she teleported away. A few days and a lot of patience,” Crystal smiled, stroking Mieke’ cheek.

  “And once she is dismantled?” the young blonde asked.

  “We’ll have the technology they failed to harness in World War II, my darling,” Crystal smiled. “The Order will bow to our will because we will have the power of Vril to drive the unified fields and we will be the only ones who know how to contain and control it.”

  “And all that’s on the ship?” Mieke asked.

  “Correct.”

  “Then why did they fail? If the ship has everything the Eldridge failed at, why is she teleporting every few hours? Why did she sink?” Mieke asked.

  “Does that matter?” Crystal asked. She was getting annoyed with her girlfriend’s incessant questioning.

  "Of course, it matters. Listen, Crystal, I love you. I want you to rule the underworld and be at your right hand to do your bidding, my love. But I am not some dumb little girl who follows orders blindly. I might look like a bimbo, but I have a brain, and I want to know what I am involved in," Mieke insisted. She did not expect Crystal’s response at all. The dark haired beauty grabbed her by the hair and slapped her across the face. With cool and calm command she licked Mieke’s face and whispered, “You are involved with me. And that is all you need to concern your pretty little head with. Are we clear?”

  Mieke nodded, her face burning and her nose bleeding. It was not the first time she had provoked Crystal’s abusive side, but her love and her loyalty kept her in the pit.

  "Let's get some supper, love," Crystal suggested as if nothing had happened. She released the young academic and put away her laptop. "Clean yourself up and meet me in the mess hall."

  “Yes, Crystal.”

  31

  The Secret is Out

  Three Days Later – Between the Comoros and Tanzania

  At just after 2 pm the group waited outside, ready to lift the ship.

  Purdue had his tablet on hand to see when the ship would appear on the sonar readings so that they could dive immediately. During the previous dive, they had completed significant repairs and all that was left now was to lift the heavy cruiser and tow her towards Yemen. Ali kept to himself, only meeting with his men when the expedition members were asleep. The plan was to wait until they approached Somalia before taking the group of unsuspecting passengers captive and loot the ship they were towing. It was worth the wait and the annoying charade.

  “Where is Sam?” Crystal asked. “He has to get this on film. It is the next big step of the salvage.”

  “He’ll be here,” Purdue smiled. “Relax; it’s a good twenty minutes before she’ll appear again.”

  Nina and Sam were in Nina’s cabin. He had been very secretive since the last dive when he had dared to go back to where he had lost his nerve.

  “I must admit, I never thought you would go down there again,” Nina said as he hooked up his equipment to her laptop.

  "I had to. My original footage was destroyed because of the magnetic waves. God, I hate digital," he moaned. "But yesterday I went with old school battery and film, and I found some details that should interest you.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, completely captivated.

  “You know how you accounted for the battle cruisers of the German Kriegsmarine, right? You said all the ships manufactured by the Germans had either been scuttled or dismantled,” Sam clarified.

  “Aye, so tell me what you have, for fuck’s sake. You are driving me crazy,” she said. Her tone was a mix of exhilaration and annoyance.

  Sam spoke in a low voice, “What I’m about to tell you is the biggest secret in maritime history.”

  Nina was about to burst. Her dark eyes shimmered with intrigue, and she almost forgot to breathe. Sam showed her the footage he had recaptured on film negatives. Skeletal remains of humans were embedded in the metal walls of the interior of the ship. He showed her the panels and instruments, the generators and the living quarters.

  “You see that? Those men were not crew members, Nina; not like the USS Eldridge. Those were Jewish Germans who thought they were cruising to freedom,” he revealed.

  “Sam, there was a German ship during the war that took Jewish refugees to Cuba, but when they got there, the passengers were not allowed to disembark, and Cuba revoked all but a handful of visas. The captain then steered the ship towards the Florida coast, but the US authorities also refused to let it dock, despite direct appeals to President Franklin Roosevelt. Soon the captain had no choice but to turn around and head back to Europe…” Nina relayed the story of the MS St Louis, a German ocean liner that was supposed to bring 908 Jews to freedom in 1939. Sam interrupted her.

  “I know about the St. Louis. I saw the movie,” he said casually. “But this is not that. It is far, far worse. Listen to this.” He opened an old log book, with yellowed pages where paragraphs in cursive were written in pencil. Nina’s eyes widened when she saw the antique book as Sam scanned the accounts in it to explain to her.

  “Is it the captain’s log?” she asked.

  “Aye,” he replied. “I think so. Most of the cover is gone, though. The ship was a Nazi death ship, a floating torture chamber. The captain of the ship was Admiral Dieter Bargeist, formerly an Obersturmbannführer stationed in Kassel. He and a few Waffen-SS officers and volunteers offered to complete the experiment that Einstein had theorized and the Americans failed at."

  “Based on the Philadelphia Experiment?” she asked.

  "Aye, but the Nazi's actually managed to teleport the ship. The problem was that the propulsion to electromagnetic gravity ratio was unstable, so the secret ship was never put on record and aptly named the DKM Geheimnis.”

  “The Deutsche Kriegsmarine…Geheimnis,” Nina translated. “It means secret. That is very aptly named,” she agreed. “So what happened?”

  "Under the pretense of liberation, the torture ship was employed to carry a settlement of Jews to greener pastures, or so they were told. While on the Geheimnis, they were subjected to the sickest, most depraved experiments…all in the name of science, eugenics, and ethnic cleansing," Sam said. "Apart from that, at regular intervals they would calibrate the instruments to produce the Vril-powered unified fields, or whatever they thought it was, but because of variances in the calibration, the ship would teleport to the wrong destinations."

&nb
sp; "Like Southern Africa," Nina added. "But why? How did it lock onto its particular destinations?"

  “One for each of the seven seas,” Sam smiled enigmatically. “How cool is that?”

  “How do you know that?” she asked in amusement.

  “It says so in the journal,” he admitted. “According to Bargeist, the old tales of the seven seas hold more truth than just some sailor’s yarn. The DKM Geheimnis was set to teleport around the globe in seven steps, repeating its course of teleportation until it was destroyed or moved.” Sam showed her the points on the map the captain had marked. "According to this, it settled in the Baffin Bay in the Arctic Ocean, Virginia Beach in the North Atlantic... just like the Eldridge was supposed to, coincidentally.”

  "Sam, this is unbelievable! Did you get this on camera?" Nina asked. "Because with this dodgy crew, I don't trust anything precious like this lying around.”

  "Aye, it is all on film and back-ups. As you may have noticed, we cannot transmit anything, which just adds to my distrust of this little journey," he said. "Check this; it teleported to Uruguay in the South Atlantic Ocean, where the real Graf Spee had been scuttled. Then it teleported to the Gulf of Alaska..."

  “Northern Pacific Ocean,” she smiled. “Wow!”

  He continued, “Then the Southern Pacific Ocean, where it appeared off Easter Island, the Antarctic Ocean... wait for it... right where we landed on our way to Ice Station Wolfenstein - and finally off Port Elizabeth, in the Indian Ocean.”

  Nina was dumbstruck. The Nazis used to choose so many myth-enshrouded places and somehow the laws of physics, no matter how warped, had taken the ship to those precise locations. She sat up. "You are so right, Sam. It truly is the biggest secret in maritime history. But how did it sink?"