Soul Intent

by dennis batchelder

  I peeked over the ridge. Our clearing, I could see through gaps in the trees, was only a hundred yards below us.

  We headed down the slope, trying our best to move silently. After a few minutes we were above the mine entrance, right behind the tree where Val and I had placed the heartbeat sensor.

  We now had an unobstructed view into the clearing. A large black truck stood near the entrance, and George’s green van sat parked in the middle. A guard in a soldier’s uniform stood by the van’s open door and pointed a rifle inside. That meant at least one hostage was alive.

  A fire burned in the campfire pit, and next to that stood a boxy but sturdy steel structure. It was two feet tall, and it had a ten foot chimney attached. Another soldier poked a metal rod into a slit on one side of the box. He then worked a set of bellows attached to the opposite side. On top of the box sat a large round pot, its shape reminding me of a dome on an Orthodox church. The twelve barrels were open, scattered around the fire.

  The structure resembled a small furnace. “They must be melting the gold bars into something unidentifiable,” I said.

  Sterling told us there were three bad guys, but we had spotted only two. Then I saw him: a man in a chair on the far side of the fire.

  We crept to the edge of the tree line so we could see him better. He sat in a wheelchair, and a blanket covered his lap and hands. Like the others, he wore a green uniform with a large swastika on its shoulder. His head drooped toward his chest, showing sparse and trimmed white hair rimming a large and freckled bald spot.

  “That must be the Untersturmführer,” Val whispered.

  I nodded. “I wonder if he’s the same one from Madame Flora’s story.”

  “The one with the receipts?”

  “It would explain the wheelchair.”

  Val shook her head. “If it’s him, he must be feeling really good right about now—he’s finally got his gold back.”

  Like Madame Flora felt an hour ago. I turned to face Val. “Let’s grab him and trade him for our guys.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “The way we stink? We’ll have to stay upwind to catch him.”

  We crept toward the old man, stopping each time the furnace man turned our way. The guard had his back to us, his rifle still pointed into the green van.

  When we drew within twenty feet, we pulled out our weapons and dashed to the man in the wheelchair. Val put her pistol to his temple, and I yanked the blanket off his lap.

  The old man jerked awake, but I grabbed the gun from his spotted hands before he could react. I caught his eye and held my finger to my lips. He nodded and threw a glance at his men.

  While Val guarded him, I crept around the fire and snuck up on the furnace man. I jumped up and shoved my pistol into his back.

  He let out a cry and twisted around. When he saw my weapon, he dropped his poker and put up his hands. I reached into his holster and removed his pistol, and then I motioned Val forward.

  Val pushed the wheelchair around the fire and next to me at the furnace.

  I looked at the old SS officer. “Do you understand my English?”

  He nodded.

  “You are the Untersturmführer?”

  He nodded again.

  “You shot two of our team?”

  “And I lost five sturmannen doing that.” His voice was sharp and his accent heavy.

  “You blew up the tunnel to trap us inside?”

  He nodded. “I see it did not work.”

  “Apparently not,” I said. “You took the gold we just recovered?”

  “It is not your gold. It is mine.” The words came out in a hiss.

  “Hold that thought.” I pointed at the van. “Let’s make a trade. You for your hostages.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I will not give up my gold.”

  “We can talk about the gold later. I want my team back.”

  He stared at me for a minute. “You should take the gold instead. Your team is weak and not worth the trade.”

  I tilted my head. “Are they weaker than you?”

  His eyes narrowed, but after a moment he called out to the remaining guard.

  When the man saw us, he swung his rifle around and pointed it at Val. The Untersturmführer shouted instructions at him, and the man lowered the rifle, turned back to the van, and gestured to those inside.

  The old man looked at me. “He brings your team.”

  I nodded, and soon the guard led Archie, Madame Flora, and the twins over to the fire. Their wrists were bound in front of them, their faces were puffy and red, and Archie dragged his right leg behind him. But they smiled when they saw Val’s pistol at the old man’s head and mine on the furnace man.

  The guard stood back and pointed his rifle at Archie.

  “You guys okay?” I asked.

  Rose nodded. “Did George and Sue…” She swallowed.

  “They’re hurt, but if we hurry, they’ll survive.” I looked at the SS officer. “How do you want to do this?”

  “All three must lower their weapons at the same time,” he said.

  “You give your word that you will not harm us?” I asked.

  “I do,” he said. He looked at me with a steady gaze. “My men follow every order without question.”

  “Show me,” I said.

  He spoke to them in German. When they nodded back, he turned to me. “They are ready,” he said.

  Val and I glanced at each other, then lowered our pistols at the same time the guard lowered his rifle.

  Archie let out a groan. “I must sit down, Scott,” he said, “before I collapse.”

  I shoved my pistol into my pocket, then I walked over to him. I put my arm around his shoulder and let him rest against me.

  I motioned to the twins. “Can you get some chairs?”

  Val untied their arms, and the girls ran to the van. After a minute they returned with two folding chairs. I helped Archie sink into one, and they assisted their grandmother into the other.

  As the twins untied Archie and Madame Flora’s arms, I watched the old lady shoot glares at the SS officer.

  “This is the same man you told us about?” I asked her.

  She hissed, “He was supposed to die sixty-four years ago.”

  The old man smiled. “I almost did, fraulein,” he said. “But in your haste to escape the barn, you did not finish me off.”

  “I got the gold,” she said. “Even without your papers.”

  “Now that gold is mine.”

  “Let’s talk about that,” I said to him. “Tonight you took it from us.” I pointed at Madame Flora. “But she stole it from Soul Identity. Goering stole it from you, and before that, you stole it from your prisoners.” I scratched my head. “Now how does that make it yours?”

  He stiffened when I mentioned Goering. “The Reichsmarschall, that fat pig—his greed ruined our plans.”

  “Plans?” I asked. “The war was all but over when he swiped it from you.”

  “Martin Bormann himself delivered my final assignment,” he said. “I was to melt down this gold into unidentifiable bars and deliver them to Spain. And now I intend to complete that mission.”

  I had read how after the war, a trail of Nazi gold blazed through Spain and Argentina and into the US. “That path’s been exposed since the seventies,” I said.

  He smiled. “My path still awaits my delivery.”

  It was hard to think of a bunch of octogenarian Nazis patiently waiting to receive this shipment of gold. On the other hand, it wasn’t that different from Madame Flora’s wait.

  I pointed to the furnace. “Why melt the gold?”

  “My orders still stand—I must immediately eliminate the swastikas and the Reichsbank serial numbers.”

  Five iron forms lay halfway between the furnace and the black truck. “You’re re-casting it?” I asked.

  He nodded. “We shall make twenty-five golden Buddhas, each weighing thirty-six kilograms.”

  “And you’ll smuggle the Buddhas to Spain?” I asked.<
br />
  “No smuggling is necessary.” He smiled. “I have a license to deliver gold-painted religious artifacts anywhere in the E.U.”

  They had certainly thought things through.

  George and Sue were jammed for time. I turned to Archie and said, “We have to get George to a hospital—he won’t last much longer.” I pointed at the guards. “These two could help us get them out.”

  The old man looked at me. “Your teammates survived?”

  I nodded.

  “They told me they killed them.” He spat on the ground. “These young sturmannen make me miss the efficiency of the old days.”

  I suppressed a shudder.

  He shot a frown at his guards. “My men can help you.”

  In exchange for what? I looked at him and raised my eyebrows.

  He pointed at the furnace. “I help you, and you leave me the gold.”

  I looked over and saw Archie biting his lip. “Are you fine with this?” I asked.

  Archie stared at me for a minute. Then he nodded. “George and Sue are worth more than any gold,” he said.

  I turned to Madame Flora. She sat with her head bowed, and she clenched and unclenched her hands. She grimaced, but then she nodded.

  I waited for her to speak.

  “Get George and Sue,” she muttered. “My quest is over, and I did my best. Now save our friends.” She smiled and wiped her eyes.

  She had grown. At that moment I was insanely proud of Madame Flora. I fought a lump forming in my throat as I faced the Untersturmführer. “You have a deal. Help us rescue our team, and you can take the gold.”

  He seemed to struggle to hide his smile. He barked another order to his men, listened to their reply, and turned to us.

  “My sturmannen are ready to help,” he said.

  Now for the delicate part.

  I knelt down between Archie and Madame Flora. “The four of you are going to have to remain his hostages for a little longer,” I said.

  “Why is that?” Madame Flora asked sharply.

  “So he knows his own men are safe,” Archie said. He reached out and grabbed her hand. “He will not shoot us.”

  Archie was partially right. The old man would need both of his men to get the gold out. But the real reason I was giving him the gun was to prevent Madame Flora from killing him. “You’ll be safe until his men are back on the surface,” I said.

  Madame Flora sighed.

  I glanced at the SS officer and dropped my voice so only Archie and Madame Flora could hear me. “We got through to Ann and Berry,” I said. “Whether or not we make it back, the Budapest team will be here in less than three hours.”

  Archie let a thin smile cross his lips.

  I turned to the twins. “Girls, can you keep your grandparents out of trouble?”

  “Of course,” Marie said.

  I looked for Val, and saw her sitting on the ground. Her knees were drawn to her chest, and she rocked back and forth with her eyes closed. I went over and put my arm around her. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She shivered. “I keep thinking about how I shot that soldier in his forehead.”

  “He would have killed me if you didn’t,” I said. I pulled her into an embrace and held her as she buried her face in my chest. “You want to stay here on top?”

  She shook her head. “And think about what I did? I’d rather keep myself busy. And you need my protection from the Nazis.”

  The Untersturmführer would hold our four teammates hostage, and Val and I would hold his two soldiers hostage. A truce balanced with threats.

  I returned the pistol to the Untersturmführer. “If anybody up here is harmed, your men die,” I said loud enough for everybody to hear.

  The old man took the gun from me and pointed it at Archie. “Hurry back and your team will live.”

  Rose handed me a small knapsack. “Take this with you,” she said. “That’s water, chocolate, granola bars, four flashlights, and some serious painkillers. Good luck down there.”

  I hoisted the knapsack onto my back, then led Val and the two Nazis up the ridge.

  sixty

  Present Day

  Dubnik Mine, Slovakia

  We spent a half hour climbing back over the ridge and to the bat entrance. We stopped for water and granola bars outside the entrance, and I explained the tunnel’s layout to the Nazis.

  The guard spoke a little English. “Why do you go back for your team?” he asked. “Isn’t it a sign of weakness to save the fallen?”

  “Not all of us come from your good, strong Aryan stock,” I said.

  The thought seemed to cheer him up, which was good, as he was about to see his four buddies, all prime examples of Aryan stock, lying dead in the Viliam gallery.

  Val led the way down the chute and into the bat room. The soldiers came next, and I pulled up the rear. We walked down the sloping tunnel, then we squeezed through the hole Val and I had smashed through the brick wall.

  The stairs were dark, and our flashlights didn’t carry far. I turned to the rifle guard. “Your men’s bodies lie in that corner,” I said.

  He nodded. “We were here when the bitch shot them.” He spoke in German to his companion. Neither of them even looked in that direction.

  Val and I hurried over to where we had left George and Sue. We shook them awake and helped them drink some water and eat some chocolate. I gave them each two hydrocodone tablets.

  “We traded away the gold to get the Nazis to help us carry you out,” I said.

  “Flora let you give away her gold?” George’s skin was gray again, and his voice was faint.

  “She was almost happy to do it,” Val said.

  He smiled. “You hear that, Sue? They think we’re worth at least twenty-five million bucks.”

  “Maybe you can ask for a pay raise,” Sue said, and they both chuckled.

  I motioned the two soldiers over. “We need your help carrying our teammates,” I said.

  The rifle guard nodded. “We make a sling with the diving suit, ja?”

  “Good idea,” I said. We tied each of my suit’s arms to its corresponding leg. This made two loops. Then we slid one loop over George’s shoulders and slipped his arms through it.

  We lifted George to a sitting position. The rifle guard squatted behind him, back to back, and positioned the other loop under his arms. He stood up with a grunt and lifted George onto his back. The other guard grabbed George’s legs and set them on his shoulders. Then they turned and carried George up the stairs.

  “Do you think you can ride piggy-back?” I asked Sue.

  She nodded.

  I handed the knapsack to Val, and I backed over to Val’s rebreather. Val helped Sue climb on top of it, and then Sue got onto my back. She gasped as I grabbed her legs and wrapped them around me.

  We stumbled our way out of the cave for the last time. Val lit the path and guided us when we couldn’t see, and we all helped pass George and Sue through the small hole in the brick wall. The final guano-filled chute was tough, but with one person pushing and another pulling, we got everybody out of the bat hole and onto the ridge in less than an hour.

  We took a break and ate the rest of the chocolate and granola bars. Then we carried George and Sue over the ridge and down into the clearing.

  Rose and Marie met us at the bottom of the hill, right next to the now-blocked mine entrance. “We called for an ambulance, but they said it would be two more hours,” Rose said.

  “The hospital suggested we drive ourselves—it’s only twenty minutes away.” Marie pointed to the green van. “We’ve already got the directions, so if you can help us load George and Sue into the back, we’ll take them down straightaway.”

  “Is everybody going?” Val asked.

  They shook their heads. “Grandma’s not leaving the gold,” Rose said, “and Mr. Morgan’s not leaving Grandma.”

  “Damn right I’m not leaving,” Madame Flora said. She and Archie had walked over to see George and Sue.

&nbs
p; “Then we’ll stay with you,” I said to her. I took the pistol back from the Untersturmführer and carried Sue over to the green van. I grabbed my mobile phone from the luggage, and I put the pistol in the glove compartment. Then we helped buckle in George and Sue. The twins sped out of the clearing, leaving Val and me with Archie, Madame Flora, and the three Nazis.

  I powered up my mobile phone and called Berry and Ann.

  “When your radio conked out, we thought the worst had happened,” Berry said. “But the twins called us an hour ago, and now we see the van is on the way to the hospital.”

  “You’re still watching us on satellite?” I asked, looking up.

  Ann laughed. “We had front row seats when you and Val climbed the ridge and surprised the men around the fire.”

  “Of course, we didn’t know it was you and Val,” Berry said. “Not until the girls called and we spoke to Mr. Morgan.”

  “How far away is the Budapest team?” I asked.

  “Another hour or so. They can help you liberate Flora’s gold.”

  “It’s not hers anymore,” I said. “I traded that gold for the Nazi’s help carrying George and Sue out of the mine.”

  Silence for a moment. Then Ann said, “Scott, it’s worth a lot of money. You traded all of it?”

  “All of it.” I said firmly. “George and Sue saved our lives, killed five of the bad guys, and helped us build a radio so we could contact you. We all would have died without their sacrifice.”

  Silence again. Then I heard Berry clearing his throat. “We weren’t arguing about George and Sue’s value, Scott. We’re just wondering if we could renegotiate once our Budapest team arrives.”

  “I gave them my word, dammit.”

  “Scott, they’re Nazis,” Ann said. “They’ll use that gold to promote hate, even kill people with it.”

  I thought about that. I sure didn’t want to help spread racism and hatred, but I had needed to save George and Sue, and giving up the gold for their lives made sense.

  In hindsight, my decision looked like yet another example of making the wrong decision for the right reasons. Was I entitled to trade the gold for others’ lives? And even if I was entitled, was I obligated to keep my word to a bunch of killers?