Amber

Chapter 11

The five of them stood at the base of the building and gazed skyward. From this close it became apparent that it was actually constructed of two towers connected some floors up by a bridge between them. Maddock speculated that the whole thing was about twenty stories high.

“Twenty-one,” Leopov corrected. “It was supposed to be more, but construction halted when the ground became unstable, like I said, and then for good with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then it’s been abandoned.”

A posted sign in red Russian lettering warned against trespassing. Maddock appraised the entrance, which was nothing more than an open doorway that used to house double glass doors. Beyond it lay a bare concrete floor littered with construction debris. Graffiti covered part of the outside wall and was also visible inside.

“Willis and Professor: how about you two keep watch outside — keep an eye out for the black Citroen in particular but notify us if anyone approaches.”

He pulled a walkie-talkie from the pocket of his jacket and handed it to Professor. “Bones and I will go inside with Zara and see if we can find anything interesting. I’ll let you know if we need you to join us. In case we lose radio contact if we do make it down to the tunnel system, or if you don’t hear from us at all for more than a half an hour… Maddock checked his dive watch. “…feel free to come in after us.”

Willis grinned. “Come on, man. You three are gonna come waltzing out of this place in about an hour with a bunch of amber panels like looters in a riot. Then our Russian tour guide here can show us some real sites, like maybe some vodka bars, am I right, girl?”

Zara glared at him. “Call me ‘girl’ again and the only site you’ll be seeing is the local hospital.”

Willis raised his eyebrows and reared his head back while Bones and Professor both said “Oh!” at the same time.

“I like her,” Professor said. “I like her a lot.”

Maddock decided to get on with things before morale was irreversibly destroyed amongst his team. “Let’s go. “ He walked through the doorway into the vacant building.

“You’ve been inside here before?” he asked Leopov as she entered and then Bones behind her.

“In a manner of speaking.”

“What’s that mean?” They traversed the floor of what had been intended to be an expansive lobby of some sort, crunching over broken glass as they went.

“This is my first time inside, but I’ve had the opportunity to study the blueprints. I’m quite familiar with the place in my head. Go through that doorway there and then take a right.”

“Did your blueprints include the basement areas or only the modern building?” Maddock pressed.

“Both, although the subterranean levels are not as well documented. Some of the tunnels were destroyed deliberately, while others may have survived but had their layout changed.”

“Whoa, somebody forgot to finish the stairs.” Bones called out from out of sight around the doorway Leopov had indicated. They caught up with him and Maddock looked down a concrete stairwell that had crumbled in the middle, leaving a gaping space of perhaps ten feet, below which was a long drop to a pile of loose concrete.

Maddock turned to Leopov. “This the only way to the basement?” She nodded.

“That I know of.”

Bones removed a small backpack and took from it a coil of rope and a grappling hook. He gripped the metal railing still fixed to the wall and tested its integrity, yanking on it hard. Satisfied it would temporarily hold their weight one at a time, he snagged the hook around the rail where one of the support struts was bolted into the concrete wall.

“I take it you’re going first.” Zara looked at Bones, who grinned at her in return.

“I thought it was ladies first, but in this case I’ll make an exception.” He gripped the rope in his hands and planted his feet against the wall. Then he slowly leaned back while still on the last step before the yawning chasm.

Bones jumped out and let himself swing to the other side, bouncing off the wall once with both feet when he was halfway across. When he landed on the stairs on the other side of the gap he tossed the rope over to Zara. She went next, then Dane. When all three stood on the other side of the gap, they continued down the interrupted stairs.

At the bottom they found only a small, storm cellar-like space featuring only set of metal double doors on the far wall with a surprisingly modern alarm system. A black wire ran from a contraption on the upper portion of the door’s frame to a box with a blinking red light. Besides the electronics there was also an old fashioned chain wrapped several times through and around the two metal door handles, fixed in place with a stout, keyed padlock. A sign on the door featured only Russian lettering.

“What’s it say?” Maddock asked Leopov.

“Danger. Hazardous area off limits. No trespassing.”

Maddock stared at the blinking LED. “Who do you think the alarm notifies?”

Leopov shrugged. “Probably the police.”

“You sure it’s real?”

Bones answered him as he traced the wiring with his gaze. “It’s real.”

Leopov shot him an appraising stare. “How do you know?”

“Chalk it up to youthful exuberance.”

Maddock nodded. “Best to leave it at that.” And then, “Even without the alarm there’s still this chain to get past.”

Bones knelt on the floor and rummaged through his pack. He produced a Swiss Army knife, unfolded one of its tools, and went to work on the plastic box on top of the door. He disconnected one wire, stripped it and spliced it to another. The blinking red light changed to a steady green. “Alarm’s deactivated. Now for the chain… ”

Bones dug back into his bag of tricks and produced a lock pick. He made short work of the old padlock and the chain came off. Maddock spoke into his radio while Bones pushed the doors open.

“We’re heading down under.”

Professor’s reply was immediate. “On your way down, copy that. No action up top so far, over.”

The room behind the doors was dark. All three of the explorers flicked on flashlights and saw that they were in a utility room of sorts, a few workbenches here and there stacked with familiar tools, routine cleaning items like brooms and mops lying on the floor, folding chairs and tables leaning against one wall.

“I don’t see any amber in here.” Bones shone his light on the ceiling, an ordinary plaster affair without so much as a working light fixture.

Maddock frowned as he looked around. “It seems odd they’d have security measures for a room like this, but we don’t know what was in here before this stuff.”

Bones picked up some kind of power saw. “I don’t know. Some of this stuff has got to be worth something. Like this rug, here.” He shone his light on a dusty oriental rug. “My mom used to collect these, and this one looks like it could… ” He slid the rug aside with a foot while he was talking but then broke off mid-sentence as he caught an outline of something beneath.

“What’s wrong?” Leopov moved toward Bones and the object of interest that had been covered by the rug.

“Check it out.” Bones illuminated a square, approximately two feet on a side, set into the floor.

Maddock knelt down next to it for a closer look. “Trapdoor?”

Bones pointed to a handle that lay flat into the wood. He flipped it up with some effort, as though this hadn’t been done in some time, and then pulled. With a puff of dust, the wooden square was raised from the floor. Maddock and Leopov shined their beams down into the opening while Bones carried the door out of the way and set it on the floor.

“Nice work, Bones.” Maddock waved a hand to blow some of the dust out of the way.

“What’s down there?” Bones walked back over to the trapdoor.

“Looks like a dirt floor tunnel, short drop.” Maddock knelt and placed his hands on the edge of the open trapdoor. Then he lowered himself into the space below until his arms were fully extended and let himself drop the rest of the way to the dirt. He landed on his feet with a thud, then quickly produced his flashlight and turned it on. He aimed its beam first one direction, then the other.

“It’s a tunnel, dead ends right behind me here, goes back some distance the other way. Come on down.” Leopov descended next, and then Bones. Maddock played his light on the walls and noted that they were built from the same smooth cement of the modern building above. Leopov confirmed that they were still in part of the House of Soviets.

“The castle ruins are not directly beneath the Dom Sovietov, but lie some distance away. This tunnel seems to be leading in the right direction, if my orientation serves me.”

“What’s your orientation, Zara?” Bones shot her an infectious grin that she ignored.

They walked along, ducking in places where the ceiling dipped, but the walls remained a fixed width apart.

“This doesn’t go to the mailroom, does it?” Bones looked up at the ceiling and around at the walls before fixing his gaze once again in front of him.

“We have to go down one more flight of stairs to find out.” The tunnel sloped downward as Dane reached the end of the passageway. Rickety wooden stairs led below at a steep angle.

Bones walked over to the end of the tunnel and peered down. “Looks intact, at least.”

The drop was surprisingly high. “Gotta be three stories at least, maybe four,” Maddock observed.

“Leopov tapped Bones on the shoulder. “You first.”

“I went first down the last one. Your turn. Plus, you weigh a whole heckuva lot less than me, so if those stairs will hold up for any of us it’ll be you.”

Illuminating the stairs, they could see another dirt floor below into a narrow chamber of some sort. The walls surrounding the staircase were comprised of natural rock, not cement. Leopov pointed this out and said they were leaving the modern building behind and entering what was left of the castle ruins.

“Here goes… ” Leopov tested the first stair by placing one of her feet on it and pressing hard. It creaked, but held her weight. She descended quickly, never hesitating on a single step long enough for it to bear her full weight. Maddock followed, tip-toeing his way down rapidly, and then Bones went.

When he was about halfway down, the right-side rail separated from the wall and several steps broke away. Bones stumbled and dropped, managing to grasp the next remaining step about ten feet below him. He dangled in mid-air, glancing down.

“Bones!” He heard Maddock and Leopov calling up to him as they shielded themselves from falling debris. Seeing that it was only about a ten-foot drop, the SEAL let go and allowed himself to hit the floor, where he rolled and came up on two feet.

“Mind the gap on the way back up.” Bones dusted off his pants without looking up, but Maddock and Leopov wore big frowns as they eyed the damaged stairs.

Maddock pointed. “Nice going, Bonebrake. That little gap’s about fifteen or twenty missing steps. No way we’re getting back up.”

Bones surveyed the damage. “Sorry, guys. I’ve been meaning to start that diet… ”

Maddock picked up the walkie-talkie from his belt. “Let me see if we can make radio contact with Professor and Willis before we go any deeper inside.” He hailed them on the preset channel. About a minute went by during which Bones mentioned his grappling hook rope was not long enough to reach the top of the stairs, and then the radio erupted with static. It was Professor’s voice, but it was all but impossible to make out the words.

“Try moving around.” Bones pointed to another part of the room. Maddock walked and the reception improved slightly. “…around front… ”

“Professor. Can you hear me now?”

Bones muttered in the background.

“Affirmative. Repeat sitrep.”

“The big man busted the stairs and we’re going to need some help getting out of here. Ropes if you can find enough. Ladders won’t be high enough. Thirty feet.”

“Copy. Will rustle something up and meet you down there.”

The radio blared static once more but Maddock turned it off. The message was through for now. He turned to the others.

“Let’s see if we can check the rest of this place out without obliterating it, shall we?”

The only way to proceed was directly in front of them, where a narrow passageway continued ahead for some distance before bending out of sight. Maddock led the way, with Leopov in the middle and Bones bringing up the rear. The ceiling, floor and walls were irregularly shaped and carved entirely out of natural rock.

“This is definitely not part of the modern building,” Leopov observed. Up ahead, Maddock disappeared around the curve. Leopov and Bones heard his voice call back before they could see him.

“Dead end here.”

They found him in a tight cul-de-sac, playing his light around the walls. There was nowhere to go from here; the ceiling was low and solid. Suddenly Maddock’s light caught on an object protruding about waist high from the left-side wall.

“Found something.”

All three of them directed their lights to the protuberance, which was caked in dirt and dust but still discernible. “Well, well, well.” Bones turned to Leopov. “Look familiar, Zara?”

She shot him a quizzical glance. “Why do you ask?”

Bones appeared confused. “Isn’t this some kind of Russian national symbol?”

Maddock aimed his beam on the emblem, which was about a foot in diameter, while Leopov answered. “I would certainly recognize a Russian Imperial Eagle when I see one—“

“Russian Imperial Eagle!” Bones enthused.

Leopov shook her head. “…but the Russian Eagle is two-headed, while this one only has a single head.”

Maddock waved his light over the center of the eagle. “It has an ‘R’ carved on it, too. Is that for Russia?”

Leopov shook her head even faster. “Why don’t both of you shut up and I will explain.” Maddock and Bones looked at each other and shrugged. Leopov continued.

“This is not the Russian Imperial Eagle, which has two heads, one looking left and the other, right.” All of them gazed at the eagle on the wall again.

“Okay, I’m no expert,” Bones offered, “but this here eagle only has one head. So I concur.”

Leopov rolled her eyes and went on. “It is in fact the Prussian Eagle, from the Prussian Coat of Arms, and, as you may know, a perfect match for the eagle found in the amber chamber itself.”

They studied the emblematic bird some more, until Maddock asked, “So what’s the ‘R’ stand for?”

“Run for your life?” Bones said half-jokingly, looking around the subterranean space. No one laughed.

“Are you quite through clowning around?” She looked at Maddock and then her gaze lingered on Bones, who nodded. “I can stop now.”

Leopov shined her light on the center of the eagle. “It’s not just an ‘R’ you’re looking at, but actually a stylized ‘F’ and ‘R’, superimposed over one another. Look, do you see?”

Upon closer inspection, Maddock and Bones agreed that the letter carved into the center of the eagle’s chest was indeed actually two letters. Maddock rephrased his original question.

“Okay, so what’s R.F. stand for? Russian Federation?”

Leopov gave an exasperated sigh. “It’s F. R. It stands for Fredericus Rex. You may know him better as Frederick the Great. He was king of Prussia in the mid-1700s, when the amber chamber was commissioned.”

The eyebrows of Maddock and Bones rose toward the tunnel ceiling. Still, they had both reached their tolerance for Leopov’s lecturing. Bones stepped toward the eagle, which was carved into a stone disc set into the rock wall. Bones pushed on the wall to one side of the eagle.

“Maybe it’s actually a door. Why would someone put the Prussian emblem here for nothing?” Despite his best efforts, the wall did not budge nor give any other indication that there was anything special about it.

“Wait a minute… ” Maddock looked around the small space. “That carving couldn’t be the one from the actual Amber Room, could it?”

Leopov shook her head yet again. “Impossible. This tunnel is much too small to contain even the disassembled panels.” She stepped over to the eagle and knelt before it. “And this,” she said, reaching out a hand to brush off some of the caked-on dirt from the eagle’s surface, “is not amber or gold. It’s just ordinary old iron, and set into stone, neither of which were used in the amber chamber.”

To emphasize this she rapped her knuckle on the eagle’s chest and turned away as she rose.

They heard a sharp click as the eagle slid sideways within the stone disc. Leopov froze in place but Maddock’s eyes, wide as saucers, compelled her to turn back around.

“Oh my God.”