GOLDEN REICH

by Mark Donahue

  As the wind howled at their backs and the floor moved away from them more steeply with every step, Jon made an observation, “Well, you know what they say, when you’ve seen one gaping, howling, scary as hell black pit, you’ve pretty much seen them all.”

  “Yeah, that’s a saying I’ve always tried to live by. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Back outside the men leaned against the van, sipped their bottled water, and were quiet for several minutes as they contemplated lost gold and the Jasper.

  “If I was going to hide gold, that pit might be a pretty good place to put it,” Tom said.

  “If that’s where more gold bars are, I think one is enough.”

  As the men talked, a white pickup truck with tinted windows and thick knobby tires sat near the bottom of the dirt road to the Jasper. Tom saw it first.

  “Don’t look now, but I think someone is watching us.”

  Jon looked.

  “Great move, Mr. Subtle,” Tom said.

  “I saw that truck down at Elsa’s. Think they followed us?” Jon asked.

  “Maybe. Let’s leave and see if they follow us again.”

  After Tom made a U-turn and headed for the exit, the white pickup drove away.

  Chapter 26

  Jasper Mine—1943

  For the next four hours, in the darkness and quiet of Rolle’s sleeping room, the German colonel huddled with the American bum. Despite his appearance and odor, Lester had retained some of the soldier instilled in him twenty-five years earlier. He listened to Rolle’s plan, questioned some parts of it, but did not waver in his commitment to see the plan to its conclusion.

  Rolle had assumed Lester was little more than a feeble-minded, robbing vagrant. And while two of those descriptions were reasonably accurate, Rolle realized Lester was not stupid. He had also assumed that Lester’s sole motivation for helping him was the money he thought he would make. But Rolle also changed his mind on that issue. It appeared the men he claimed “was not exactly friends,” were closer to him than he let on. While it mattered little to Rolle whether it was greed or revenge that motivated Lester, it was obvious Lester had been underestimated.

  The first thing Rolle and Lester tried to determine was how many men were currently in or around the mine. They had counted six guards patrolling the outside, the guard who had opened the door of the Lincoln, and at least five to six other guards moving around the facility. There was also Becker. The total was at least fifteen, but it could be more, given the size of the mine that could hide hundreds of men if need be. That did not include the twenty-four guards who would arrive in the twelve trucks the following evening.

  Rolle explained the first thing they needed was a weapon and suggested that Lester try to sneak up on one of the guards outside, overpower him, and take his rifle. “Does ‘overpower him’ mean split open his skull with a rock? If so, I’d rather use this here.” Lester drew an old military Colt .45 from his boot. Again, he had underestimated Lester.

  “Yes, that would appear to be a better option.” Rolle said.

  Rather than shooting one guard at a time and therefore alerting the others, it was decided that using his knowledge of the mine, Lester would try to get the drop on as many of the six outside guards as he could, disarm them, and lead them down one of the shafts leading to the cavern and the myriad of passageways and rooms throughout the mine.

  “There’s a bunch of old tool bins about fifty yards inside each shaft. They all have locks, and I doubt you could hear anything from them that far into the shaft,” Lester said.

  The inside guards, because they were constantly moving, would be more difficult to surprise and disarm. Rolle knew that the men that Becker had brought with him were the best soldiers and killers Germany had to offer. If a fight did develop, he and Lester would be significantly outnumbered, outmuscled, and outgunned. The key would be to try to get as many of the inside guards in one place at one time as they could.

  After he put down the last of the bread, Lester said, “Well, I’d better get a move on,” as if he were heading home after a late night with the boys.

  It was agreed that if Lester could not make good on his ambushes, he would fire three shots in the air to alert Rolle and make his escape. While Rolle didn’t like the idea of Lester making it back to town alive, he had little choice under the circumstances. As Lester began to crawl out of the makeshift office turned bedroom, he turned to Rolle and said, “That was real good wine. What kind was it?”

  A bit incredulous about the question, Rolle whispered, “I really don’t know.”

  “Just wonderin’. It had a nice oakey taste. See ya later.”

  Chapter 27

  Jasper Mine—1943

  Lester worked his way up from the floor of the Jasper using the escape shaft of Mine 4. When he was within three feet of the opening leading to the top of the mine, he stopped his ascent, sat in the darkness for over an hour, and listened.

  Earlier in the day he had seen from the floor of the valley at least one guard patrolling the top of the mine. He remembered the guard was heavily armed. And big.

  From his current position in the shaft, Lester could not hear voices or the click of a guard’s boots on the rock if there was a German manning his post above him. But seeing the other guards in action earlier, Lester doubted if there was a guard in place on top of the mine that he was asleep or not paying attention. He also knew that if he bolted up the shaft on top of the rocks, he would lose any chance of surprise he might have.

  Taking a loose rock from the shaft, Lester tossed it as far as he could from the entrance and heard it skitter across the top of the mine for what seemed like at least ten yards. Hearing nothing, he tossed another rock in the opposite direction. Again, there was silence, which meant there was no guard, or if there was, he was asleep, or the guard had heard the rock and was very calm and patient. While Lester hoped for one of the first two options, he somehow knew the third was the case.

  After waiting three more minutes, Lester was about to begin his final ascent up the shaft when he thought he caught a glimpse of a beam of light above him at the opening of the shaft. Afraid to move, Lester held his breath as a faint sound of movement caught his ear and the light appeared stronger. Allowing himself to silently slide down the shaft a few feet, Lester could not see the entrance eight feet above him but was also out of sight when the beam of light was pointed down the shaft. Easing further down the shaft, to a nearly thirty degree angle bend, Lester could not make out the garbled words coming from the top of the shaft.

  Suddenly, the dirt and stone exploded around Lester as the guard pumped eight to ten rounds of automatic machine gun fire into the shaft. While the shells missed Lester because of the angle where he had positioned himself, broken pieces of rock and dirt stung his face and chest as they enveloped him in a shroud of dust and debris. After a few seconds, Lester heard a voice clearly in German, and once again the beam cast a dim light into the shaft. Burying his face awaiting a second volley of shots, Lester instead heard a grunt and felt loose stones trickle down to his position. The guard had entered the shaft.

  Since he did not know the construction of the shaft, the guard quickly lost his balance and began to slide uncontrollably downward. His feet stopped at the sharp angle bend only six feet from Lester’s face.

  In the daylight the guard would have been able to see the numerous handholds in the shaft that were gouged into the rock and soil that could be used for someone going up or down the shaft. But at night, even with a flashlight, he could not see the handholds but had nevertheless aggressively descended down what could have been a bottomless pit.

  Lester could not help but think of the guts it took for the German to jump into a black hole in the middle of a black night to check out a sound. The thought of such dedication concerned Lester as much as the weapons the guard carried.

  Lester, bec
ause of his six foot four and 170-pound frame, was able to snake up and down the shaft with relative ease. But the guard at six feet and 220 pounds was having trouble squeezing down the thirty-six-inch wide opening. With his foot feeling for a path his eyes could not see, the guard poked his boot down the shaft, and found the angle that would lead to Lester’s position. Knowing the shaft opened considerably wider behind him, Lester knew he had no choice.

  Reaching for the Colt in his boot, he brought the small cannon up toward his face and waited for the guard to continue his downward path. But the guard stopped, and Lester could see the flashlight facing first downward, then up toward the opening at the surface. Apparently, the guard was either convinced the shaft was empty, or claustrophobia was finally taking its toll. Now seeing the handholds above him, the guard began his climb back to the top.

  As the guard shoved his rifle out of the shaft and braced himself on a rock three feet below the surface to extricate himself from the hole, his spine was shattered two inches above his tail bone by the .45 caliber bullet that exploded from Lester’s Colt. After splintering the spine, the shell tore through the guard’s heart and exited an inch below his neck. With blood convulsing from his jugular vein, the guard slowly slid downward. Grabbing his feet as he neared the angled turn in the shaft, Lester pulled him further down several yards to the enlarged area twenty feet below the surface.

  Lester moved quickly up the shaft and grabbed the guard’s machine gun from near the surface. He quickly slithered down the shaft again reclaiming his original position three feet below the opening of the shaft.

  Breathing heavily from exertion he was not used to, Lester sat motionless for several minutes waiting for something, but he wasn’t sure for what. From below him, he was jolted by the dead guard’s walkie-talkie squawking in the darkness. Moving toward the German, he found his flashlight and began going through his pockets. He found two clips for the machine gun, a compass, a Luger, and the radio. Shining the flashlight in the guard’s face, he recognized him as the one who had calmly shot each of his friends in the head and later laughed about it.

  The walkie-talkie sputtered and crackled, unable to operate below the surface. He knew it would be only a matter of time before more guards came looking for their comrade. Lester decided it was time to move. He quickly ascended the shaft, exited the blackness, and sat on top of the Jasper. Within seconds the static of the radio cleared, and he heard a voice calling for “Geoff” to answer.

  Lester tried to remember his rusty German. He thought he heard the voice ask if the now dead guard had seen anything. Pushing the button, Lester said, “Nein”. After waiting several seconds for a reply and hearing none, Lester grabbed the rifle, threw the walkie-talkie down the shaft, ran toward the east side of the rock, and hid in a stone crevice sixty feet from the mine shaft in which the dead guard lay.

  Lester was certain the sound made from the now dead guard firing into the shaft and that of his Colt had carried from the top of the mine to the valley below. What he did not know was if the other guards had assumed the single shot was made by the guard or someone else. He also wondered if his “nein” had fooled the person on the other end of the radio. He doubted it.

  Within seconds his questions were answered. Three guards, their boots slapping against the rock, came up behind Lester, his position hidden by the alcove four large boulders created. As the guards sprinted past, fifteen feet to his left, Lester tried to remember if Rolle had told him there had been five or six guards on the outside.

  Spreading out on the huge rock, the guards searched for a sign of Geoff. They passed within ten feet of the shaft but couldn’t see the opening because of the darkness and the position of rocks surrounding the hole. Even in daylight the shaft could be passed over unless someone knew it was there. But the guards were soon drawn to the shaft as the walkie-talkie squawked with static some twenty feet below the surface. Moving quickly to the hole, the guards directed their flashlights into the shaft but could not see Geoff. Calling his name and getting no response, one of the larger guards suggested that the smallest of the three enter the shaft and try to find their partner. The smaller guard wanted some time to think about going into a black hole on a black night, and a discussion among the guards ensued regarding their search for Geoff.

  Because of his position and darkness, Lester could see the guards and their animated discussion but remained unseen. As the men decided what to do next, Geoff’s walkie-talkie again barked, and the sound seemed to motivate the guards into action. The smallest of the three handed his rifle to the tallest guard and started to carefully descend into the shaft. He stopped briefly when his hands discovered Geoff’s blood which formed a trail leading into the hole. The third guard stood with his back to the other two and directed his attention to Lester’s general direction.

  Lester did not think he could be seen by the third guard, but he could not be sure. Aiming the machine gun carefully, he attempted to fire a burst. The gun jammed. But the sound of his movements caught the attention of the third guard. The bullish German moved closer to Lester. Still unsure of what he heard, the guard unleashed a volley of bullets causing ricochets that echoed for miles. The dancing bullets created sparks that flew off the rocks like sparklers on the Fourth of July. The two other guards, one now in the shaft, and one crouched next to it, shouted in German, asking if the first guard had seen anything.

  Saying nothing, the third guard moved toward a clump of shrub grass and four cacti that had survived in a patch of dirt on the stone and were to the right of Lester’s location. Moving in a crouched position, the guard stopped briefly and appeared to be looking directly at Lester through the darkness. It was at that second that Lester shot him through the left cheek blowing out the back of his head. The second kneeling guard, seeing the flash from the Colt, began scattering bullets in the direction of where Lester had been. Unfortunately for the guard, his profile was visible in the darkness against the sky and did not provide him the protection Lester enjoyed in his position among the rocks.

  Balancing the pistol on a six-inch opening between boulders, Lester squeezed off two rounds and both found their marks, hitting the guard in the side and slamming him to the ground. Recoiling into his lair, Lester avoided the barrage of bullets coming from the machine gun held in the now dead guard’s hand.

  After the last shell was spent, Lester did not wait. He ran at full speed toward the shaft. He wanted to get the guard who had entered the shaft before he had a chance to return to the surface. Lester could have taken his time. The guard who had emptied his machine gun in death had also taken the head off the guard in the shaft as he came up too late to help, but just in time to take two shells in the neck.

  Working methodically, Lester collected the weapons and ammunition of the three Germans, dragged the bodies to the edge of the rock face, and threw them off. He had thought of putting them down the shaft but to do so would have clogged the entrance and make it unusable. He also wanted the remaining guards to know where he was and hoped they would come after him in an environment where he was comfortable and their access to him limited to only two directions.

  Later, Lester sat on the edge of the shaft and pulled a plug of Redman from his shirt pocket. After chewing for a few minutes, he began spitting the juice over the side of the rock face where he had thrown the dead guards. Lester was not sure if more guards were on the way or not. And if so, would they be coming up through the shaft or from the direction where the three had come only minutes before? So, Lester waited with a German machine gun in his lap. He also continued to spit.

  Several hundred feet below Lester, Rolle had heard the volley of gun shots that reverberated over the desert rocks and filtered throughout the mine in rumbling tides of sound. He assumed Lester had been killed. This left Rolle with limited options. Without Lester to neutralize the guards patrolling the outside of the mine, Rolle would have little chance to singlehandedly take on the guards he had
seen wandering around the inside of the mine. Further, in several hours the first trucks would arrive, carrying more heavily armed guards and tons of gold.

  Reaching under his bed and finding his bag in his still darkened room, Rolle pulled out his Lugar and two clips and stuffed them in his belt. Peering out into the cavern, his question of whether or not the guards working inside the mine had also heard the gunshots was answered when he saw several guards come from all directions from within the cavern and assemble in a tight group around Becker. Wearing only pants and socks, Becker looked like a small, frail football coach surrounded by his massive players getting last minute instructions before the big game.

  Rolle could not hear what was being said, but by the pointing of his arms and animated actions, it was clear Becker was giving orders on securing the cavern. As he spoke, another four guards came running into the shaft and approached the group. Rolle could now see more clearly what he was up against. Not including Becker, there were a total of sixteen men left in the mine who were huddled around Becker. Rolle had originally estimated the total number of guards in and around the mine at fifteen to twenty.

  Whatever the true number, he realized he alone would be no match for Becker’s remaining troops. He also realized more of Becker’s men could still be posted outside the mine but felt the group around the general was the majority of the men he and Lester would have to overcome, if Lester was even still alive.

  Rolle knew he needed more details about what was going on. Moving the Lugar to his belt at the small of his back, he opened the door of the office and began running toward Becker and his men. Thinking that because of the chaos, he could be shot at any moment, Rolle was surprised that he was virtually ignored by the guards as they listened intently to Becker’s orders. Stopping a few feet from the group, Rolle could hear Becker assigning the men into pairs and telling them under no circumstances to leave their posts.