by Dora Benley
Dora had to admit it. These von Wessels were very inventive. But then Hitler's henchmen usually were. That was why the Dictator hired them, and they proved their worth to him and the Nazi cause again and again.
"Dora, after incidents like this I do not doubt that you are the only woman in the world for me. I could never marry another." He smoothed her hair down with his free hand. He grabbed her, pulled her against him, and kissed her head.
She nodded. "Nobody else would put up with this bear incident for you, is that what you mean?" She snuggled close. Certainly she must be unique among heiresses in that regard. She must be the only one in the whole world who would put up with half of what went on defending the maps.
"You have endured near death experiences because of the Lawrence maps before, and you never falter." He kissed her lips. He drove back towards the Madison Junction.
"It is past the time for the rendezvous with Churchill's agent, you know," Edward observed.
She nodded, wondering what had gone wrong now.
"I think we should go back to the Old Faithful area as much as I hate the thought and get a room there," he suggested.
She looked at him in shock and surprise. "You go back to the geyser basin!" she exclaimed. Geysers and Edward seemed mutually incompatible.
"What else are we going to do?" He threw up his hands. "The whole journey here was to meet the rendezvous. I have got to contact Churchill and ask him what to do next now that the man has not shown up."
"How are you going to do that in the Old Faithful area?" she was amazed.
"Again the map I was looking at earlier said that all the hotels here send and receive telegraphs. That's the closest place. And I have to send one right away."
Dora certainly did not want to remain here along the Madison River after this sort of incident where a maddened grizzly had nearly killed her. Maybe if they returned to all those smelly hot pots and mud pots there would be fewer bears. She did not know for sure.
They did not get any farther than the Madison Campground at the Madison Junction, the turn off for the geyser basin, when Edward slammed on his brakes.
"I thought you were in a hurry to get to the Old Faithful area so you could send an important telegram to Churchill," Dora wondered what was going on now.
"Look over there sitting in front of the blue tent slumped on the ground." He pointed as he backed up on the road, did a three point turn, and entered the campground.
Dora indeed noticed a middle aged man who looked vaguely familiar from somewhere leaning against one of the lodgepole pines that surrounded the tent in a clump. Edward leaped out of the car and raced over to him. He stooped down in front of him and shook him by the shoulders. He slapped him on the cheek, calling, "Lieutenant Moore!" But he did not get any response.
Dora stood a few feet away clutching her sweater and gazing down at them with more than a little wonder.
Edward started to explore the man's pockets and frisk his belongings. But he could see someone else had been there before him. Churchill's agent had been robbed of whatever notes he had been carrying, money, and anything else, too. He looked "cleaned out".
"He is dead," Edward exclaimed.
Chapter 28: Old Faithful Lodge
"Don't tell me the von Wessels found Churchill's operative and killed him again!" Dora was appalled.
This was not just one but two agents sent by Churchill in a row! Both were dead before Dora and Edward even got a chance to talk to them let alone hand over the Lawrence maps.
"I am afraid so," Edward sighed. "Though I do not see any wounds. I think Frau von Wessel must have used poison. She is reputed to be an expert there. She has a sister in Cairo who is considered by the natives there to be a sorceress due to her knowledge of rare and exotic herbs and poisons. Frau von Wessel probably picked it up from her."
Indeed Dora did notice that Churchill's operative had built a campfire before he had been murdered. Some of the embers were still glowing orange so all of this must have occurred fairly recently. It looked as if he had dropped his tin plate. Stew was spilled on the ground when she examined the area closely. His spoon was resting on the ground beside him.
Edward used a bucket that he found at the campsite to fetch water. He poured it on the campfire, extinguishing it. A wind might pick up, blowing through here and starting a fire, though no doubt that would delight the von Wessels, too. Anything that threatened Dora, Edward, or their associates served their cause.
These creepy von Wessels sounded like worse and worse news all the time. She remembered encountering them years ago in the early 1920's. They had been lethal in those days, too. For instance, the horrible couple had kidnapped her and tied her up in Santa Fe before Edward had rescued her and they took the train back across the country to Pittsburgh. But these spies seemed to have grown much more deadly since those days. Hitler meant business this time. It was all too perfectly clear.
"I will have to tell Winston about this," Edward moaned. "All the more reason why we must hurry to Old Faithful."
He took the man's identification and his wallet. The money was gone. Yes, the von Wessels must have lifted that, too. But his business cards were there along with family photos. Edward also took the liberty of slipping the man's wedding ring off his finger and pocketing it.
"No sense leaving it for thieves or the von Wessels. When Frau von Wessel realizes that she forgot it, she will probably be back. It is obviously a family memento. If I had been killed in the line of duty, I am sure he would have done as much for me." Edward spoke like a true soldier. "I will get it to Churchill, and he can find the man's family."
As they leaped back into the car Dora wondered if the whole grizzly bear incident did not have to do with creating a distraction. That gave the von Wessels time to find and kill Churchill's operative.
They were off to Old Faithful. At least they were lucky enough to be able to park before the geyser started to erupt once more. But Dora felt conscience bound to mention to a park ranger that they had tried to ask a man at the Madison Campground a question and he had looked dead. She started off towards the first one she could find.
"No way!" Edward pulled her back. "We don't want the rangers and the park itself to connect us to what they will soon discover to be a murder. Why do you think I was wearing gloves when I was rifling through his belongings? I do not want them to find my fingerprints on the man either. It is bad enough that we took a chance stopping there. Any tourist could have observed us, and I do not mean the von Wessels. I hope someone did not take down our license number or something like that. I must avoid being questioned and so must you, darling!" He cast her a warning look.
Edward disappeared inside the lodge to find the front desk to check in. He had picked the Old Faithful Lodge instead of the Old Faithful Inn. The Inn looked far bigger, more elaborate, and more conspicuous. It seemed more like the kind of place where agents like the von Wessels might be discovered hanging out. The Lodge was smaller and more intimate despite the fact that it was also a wood and stone structure. It also offered cabins built just a decade ago in the 1920s instead of hotel rooms which were of course more private, something else that Edward and Dora required. Edward paid eighteen dollars in cash per day for two people with a bath for a fully equipped room with all meals included.
They were assigned to cabin 100. It was built entirely of wood and had a front door step. Edward was glad that the couple of windows installed there could be locked. That would prevent Hitler's agents from climbing into their room and surprising them at night time. Edward put the two bags they still possessed down on top of the bed along with the empty picnic basket that Viola had given them days before. While Dora started to unpack (that was dangerous in and of itself since they never knew how long they were going to be in any one place!) Edward plopped down at the desk provided and started to compose a telegram for Winston. She peered over his shoulder t
o keep up with the latest plots:
Winston
Your agent did not make it STOP We found him dead at Madison campground STOP It looks like the work of Hitler's agents STOP What now STOP Stranded at Yellowstone STOP Who will take maps and return them to you STOP Edward STOP
"Darling," he said, "you finish unpacking. I have to run up to the front desk to send the telegram. They say that they send them worldwide from every desk in the park." He examined his wallet to be sure he had the right amount of cash.
No sooner did Edward leave than Dora thought she heard footsteps outside. He had left the cabin door open unintentionally. She immediately slammed it shut it and locked it. She peered outside through the window, recalling the bear that she had just been fighting about an hour or so ago. Other tourists were checking into the next cabin. That might have been what she heard. But she could not be sure. The von Wessels obviously had their number and were prowling about somewhere out there. Dora just did not know exactly where.
Chapter 29: Old Faithful Lodge Dining Room
Edward returned about fifteen minutes later. She heard a knock at the door. He identified himself, and she opened it and shut it once again.
"I heard footsteps. I do not know if it meant anything," she reported.
"You cannot be too careful," he reminded her as he often had until it had become second nature to her.
He sighed as he washed his hands in the sink provided next to the beds. "Why don't you come with me this time? We will have dinner at the Lodge. We might as well. It is time." He glanced down at this watch. "I have to wait for a reply from Winston. The front desk is right next to the restaurant. I found out that all replies to telegrams, especially international ones, are delivered to park headquarters."
"Isn't that here?" she asked.
He shook his head. "That is at Mammoth Hot Springs north of here near the town of Gardiner, Montana. About fifty-two miles to be exact."
"Always somewhere else to go!" She wanted to sigh, too, with the weight of all the troubles they faced.
He shook his head. "We do not have time to drive there right now. We have to eat. Besides, it would be less conspicuous if someone else did it for me. I hired a boy hanging about at the front desk, the son of the man behind the counter waiting on me. Everybody needs a few extra dollars these days. He was more than happy to help. He is headed to Mammoth right now. Besides this sort of thing between Winston and me might go on for hours. I told him where we will be sitting in the restaurant. If you will just follow me."
Edward offered her his arm, and they were off on foot for a change instead of in the car. The Lodge was only a few steps away.
She noticed — who could ignore it? — that they were only yards away from the cone of the Old Faithful Geyser. It was steaming once more. She wondered if it ever stopped night or day and decided that it did not. It seemed ominous especially considering everything else that was going on right now. It certainly added to the eerie atmosphere.
Western explorers first discovered this geyser less than one hundred years before 1933. She wondered if during the history of the park the geyser had ever presided over anything as strange as the von Wessels and Hitler.
She and Edward took a table near the back of the room to be more hidden and unobtrusive, yet they were still not far from the front desk. Edward pulled out the straw-backed chair for her.
The infamous geyser belched up steam practically right outside the dining room window. Right now it was producing so much steam that it was enveloping the Old Faithful Lodge building and steaming up the windows. Not that there was much light in here anyway. It was getting late. Clouds had blown in. The walls were made of dark knotty pine. The reddish brown carpet matched. The wood of the tables was dark. The chandeliers overhead were dim. Did she want to call the atmosphere gloomy? That was certainly the word on the tip of Dora's tongue.
The boy that Edward had hired showed up right after they had ordered. Dora imagined he must have been speeding the whole way. He quickly handed Edward a telegram which Edward hurriedly read:
Edward:
Winston anticipated trouble from the start STOP He sent a third agent just in case STOP He should be there at the park by tomorrow at the latest STOP There will be no trouble with this one. STOP He will meet you at Old Faithful STOP
Clementine
Edward and Dora looked at each other in befuddlement. Where was Winston? Why was Clementine sending the telegrams for him? That was not typical even though Clementine was his wife. Winston usually handled his own spy business. He had his own agents such as Edward all over the British Empire.
"I hope nothing happened," Edward whispered as he stuffed the message into his shirt pocket and the boy disappeared behind the desk with his father.
"You always have to be prepared for anything. That is what you always tell me," Dora reminded her fiance.
"And how does Clementine know there will be no more trouble with this one? Two Churchill agents have already been killed. Why not the third?" Edward asked.
Dora sighed and shook her head.
The waiter asked them if they wanted more rolls and butter. That was the last little detail Dora remembered before she heard that ghastly low alto voice. "We would like a table for two," said Frau von Wessel with that distinctive German accent.
"Over by the windows," added Herr von Wessel with an even deeper German accent.
Herr von Wessel appeared just behind his wife. He was wearing another one of his expensive designer suits. His white slacks and white shoes matched a tannish, pinkish suit jacket with a red tie. He removed his tan hat with the white band around it and handed it off to a waiter in a quite formal fashion.
How had Dora and Edward been found so easily? These wily agents seemed to follow everywhere that Dora and Edward went in the park or out.
"You see the geyser going off?" the lady asked in that deep alto tone.
Dora felt those words like sharp ice knifing into her back. Somehow Frau von Wessel had sneaked up behind her. Dora tried to get up. Hitler's agent put her white-gloved hand on top of Dora's shoulder and shoved her down into her seat once more.
Dora exchanged desperate glances with Edward. He had instantly covered his face with his own kind of practiced mask —— expressionless — and without any kind of emotion at all. They would not be able to read anything that he had been thinking there. Nor would they be able to detect what he had been doing.
"Bring us some after dinner coffee." Frau von Wessel ordered the waiter to proceed. "Four cups with cream and sugar." She certainly acted as if she were accustomed to being in charge. She was also used to being obeyed.
Dora remembered the ghastly creature coming up the aisle of the movie theater in Chicago. That was the last time Dora had seen the woman's face. The black and white image of King Kong had been plastered up on the screen behind her. Dora had felt as if the monster was chasing her. Now the monster had caught her red-handed. Edward, too.
At a table near the window sat the two spies from Nazi Germany that they had first encountered in Gettysburg all those hundreds of miles ago. The suspicious duo cast surreptitious glances at their table and smirked. They acted as if they had known where Dora and Edward were hiding all along.
Suddenly at the neighboring table she recognized the two photographers who had leaped out, surprised them, and filmed them in various locales. One of them waved at her. His camera was sitting on the edge of the table. His hand was resting on it. His companion laughed. He waved, too. He flashed the camera in Dora's face so Michael would know they had taken off to Yellowstone National Park together.
All the time since New York they had done nothing except flee the von Wessels and Hitler's other agents. It had been one big chase scene all the way to the park.
Evidently right now things had changed in some immeasurable way. Maybe it was that Edward had nowhere else to flee.
Maybe it was that he was about to meet Winston's third and last agent. Maybe it was the life and death risk that he and Dora suffered because of the maps. But Edward seemed determined to face his enemies down right now and right here. She would just have to keep her legs firmly crossed under the table and be ready for anything — anything at all.
Chapter 30: The Giant Caldera
Herr von Wessel glanced at his gold pocket watch. "Dr. Geisling should be here any moment," he announced to Dora and Edward in his distinctive, authoritative German accent. "He is somebody that you must meet."
"Yes," Frau von Wessel purred, "he is a top German geologist. He is so knowledgable about a place like Yellowstone that is nothing but geology through and through." She laughed as if she were implying a lot more than she was saying.
"If Dr. Geisling is sponsored by you two, I am sure he is on the take and will do anything for money. He must be very underhanded," Edward blurted out. "I doubt if he has any respectable university affiliations." He glowered at them.
"On the contrary," Herr von Wessel poured cream into his coffee and stirred it with a silver spoon. "Dr. Geisling is part of the faculty at the University of Reagansburg in Germany. He is much esteemed by his colleagues."
"What you mean is that the Nazis have that much leverage that they can make professors jump and do their will, too!" Edward snapped as he looked from one to the other
Dora dared not take her eyes off them.
"Either that or Dr. Geisling is a Nazi party member himself!" Edward asserted.
Herr von Wessel smiled. "And since he joined the party a couple of years ago he has risen through the ranks and become head of the department of geology. Very smart man, as I promised."
Dora had learned a long time ago that most people would do anything for money. She had always been amazed by this as a little girl. But then she had been born with all the money she would ever need in life. Apparently that made all the difference. Some people used to caution her that Edward wanted to marry her for her money. His family had been rich, too, but had ended up hard up after the Great War that had practically bankrupted Sir Adolphus Ware's auto company and had caused him to commit suicide, leaving Edward with little money, an estate and a mother to support, and a demanding army career. But so dedicated was Edward to his role as a spy for Churchill and his vision of European politics, that she knew this could not be true. Otherwise they would be in the south of France on the Riviera spending all her father's money at a casino instead of holed up in Yellowstone National Park at the Old Faithful Lodge involved in still another map intrigue.
