Mystery of the Amber Room

Chapter 24

After they had taken care of Kiril’s body and wrapped it in sheets on his bed, the atmosphere in the house was thick with tension and grief. Nina sat at the table, still sporadically shedding tears over the death of the sweet old Russian. In front of her, she had Purdue's machine and her laptop, deciphering Detlef’s number sequences slowly and without enthusiasm. Her coffee was cold, and even her pack of smokes was untouched.

Purdue joined her und gently pulled her in a sympathetic embrace. “I'm so sorry, love. I know you adored the old man.” Nina said nothing. Purdue affectionately pressed his cheek against hers, and all she could think of was how quickly his temperature had returned to normal. Under the shelter of her hair, he whispered, “Be wary of that German, please, love. He seems to be a damn good actor, but he is German. Catch my drift?”

Nina gasped. Her eyes found Purdue's as he frown silently demanded an explanation. He sighed and looked around to make sure they were alone.

“He is adamant to keep his cell phone. You know nothing about him, other than his involvement with the Berlin assassinations investigation. For all we know he could be the kingpin. He could have been the one who killed his wife when he realized that she was playing for the opposing side,” he stated his case softly.

“Did you see him killing her? At the embassy? Are you even listening to yourself?” she asked in a tone full of resentment. “He helped save you, Purdue. If it weren't for him, Sam and I would never have known you were missing. If it weren't for Detlef, we would never have known where to find the Black Sun's Kazakh shit hole to rescue you.”

Purdue smiled. His expression conveyed his victory. “Exactly my point, my dearest. This is a trap. Don’t just follow his every direction. How do you know he was not leading you and Sam to me? Maybe you were supposed to find me; supposed to get me out. All part of the grand plan?”

Nina did not want to believe it. Here she was preaching for Detlef not to be blind to danger out of nostalgia, but she was doing precisely the same thing! There was no doubt that Purdue had a valid point, but she could not process the possible betrayal just yet.

“The Black Sun is predominantly German,” Purdue continued to whisper while checking the hallway. “They have people everywhere. And who do they want to wipe off the planet most of all? Me, you and Sam. What better way to get us all together to chase an elusive treasure than to insert a double agent, a Black Sun operative, to play the victim? A victim with all the answers is more like… a villain.”

“Have you managed to decode the information, Nina?” Detlef asked as he came in from outside, dusting off his shirt.

Purdue gave her an intense look as he stroked her hair one last time before going into the kitchen to get a drink. Nina had to keep her cool and play along until she could somehow figure out if Detlef was playing for the wrong team. “Almost done,” she told him, hiding any doubt she was harboring. “I just hope we get enough information to find anything useful. What if this message is not about the location of the Amber Room?”

“Don't worry. If that is the case, we will attack the Order head-on. To hell with the Amber Room,” he said. He made a point of staying away from Purdue, at least avoiding being alone with him. The two did not get along anymore. Sam was distant and spent most of the time alone in his room, leaving Nina feeling utterly alone.

“We will have to leave soon,” Nina suggested loudly for everyone to hear. “I am going to decipher this broadcast and then we have to be on our way before somebody finds us. We will call the local authorities regarding Kiril's body as soon as we are far enough from here.”

“I agree,” Purdue tossed in his vote from the door where he was watching the sun die. “The sooner we get to the Amber Room the better.”

“Provided we get the right information,” Nina added as she wrote down the next line.

“Where is Sam?” Purdue asked.

“He went to his room after we cleaned up Kiril’s mess,” Detlef answered.

Purdue wanted to talk to Sam about his suspicions. As long as Nina could keep Detlef occupied, he could warn Sam as well. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Purdue knocked louder to wake Sam in case he was sleeping. “Master Cleave! This is no time to snooze. We have to pack up soon!”

“Got it,” Nina exclaimed. Detlef came to join her at the table, eager to know what Milla had to say.

“What does she say?” he asked, falling into the chair next to Nina.

“This looks like coordinates, maybe? See?” she suggested, shifting the paper to him. While he looked at it, Nina wondered what he would if he noticed that she had written down a fake message just to see if he already knew every move. She had fabricated the message, waiting for him to doubt her work. Then she would know if he was steering the group with his number sequences.

“Sam is gone!” Purdue shouted.

“Can’t be!” Nina shouted back, waiting for Detlef’s response.

“No, he is really gone,” Purdue wheezed after searching the entire house. “I have looked everywhere. I even checked outside. Sam is gone.”

Detlef’s cell phone rang.

“Put it on speaker, champ,” Purdue insisted. With a vindictive leer, Detlef obliged.

“Holtzer,” he answered.

They could hear the phone being passed on to someone while men were talking in the background. Nina was disappointed that she could not finish her little test for the German.

The true message from Milla she had deciphered did not yield just numbers or coordinates. It was far more disturbing. While she was listening to the phone call, she was hiding the paper with the original message in her slender fingers. It read, ‘Teufel ist gekommen’ first, followed by ‘shelter object’ and ‘contact compulsory’. The last part simply said ‘Pripyat, 1955’.

Through the speaker of the phone they heard a familiar voice, confirming their worst fears.

“Nina, ignore what they say! I can survive this!”

“Sam!” she shrieked.

They heard scuffling, as his captors physically disciplined Sam for his audacity. In the background, a man told Sam to say what he had been told.

“The Amber Room is in the Sarcophagus,” Sam stammered, spitting out the blood of the blow he had just received. “You have 48 hours to retrieve it or they kill the German Chancellor. And…and,” he panted “take control of the EU.”

“Who? Sam, who?” Detlef asked quickly.

“It is no mystery who, my friend,” Nina told him outright.

“Who do we deliver it to?” Purdue jumped in. “Where and when?”

“You will receive instructions at a later time,” a man said. “The German knows where to listen for it.”

The call ended abruptly. “Oh my God,” Nina moaned through her hands as she buried her face in her palms. “You were right, Purdue. Milla is behind it all.”

They looked at Detlef.

“You think I am responsible for this?” he defended. “Are you out of your minds?”

“You are the one who has given us all the directions so far, Mr. Holtzer — from Milla’s broadcasts no less. The Black Sun is going to send our instructions through the same channel. Do the fucking math!” Nina shouted, restrained by Purdue not to attack the large German.

“I knew nothing about this! I swear! I was looking for Purdue to get an explanation how my wife died, for Christ's sake! My mission was just to find my wife's killer, not this! And he is standing right there, Liebchen, right there with you. You are covering for him, still, after all this time, and all along you knew he killed Gabi,” Detlef shouted furiously. His face had turned red, and his lips quivered in rage as he drew his Glock on them, opening fire.

Purdue grabbed Nina and pulled her to the floor with him. “To the bathroom, Nina! Go! Go!”

“If you say I told you so I swear I'll kill you!” she yelled at him as he pushed her forward, barely dodging the well-placed slugs.

“I won’t, I promise. Just move! He is right on us!” Purdue pleaded as they slithered over the threshold of the bathroom. Detlef shadow, massive against the corridor wall, swiftly moved closer to them. They slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it just as another shot rang out, chiming against the steel door frame.

“Jesus, he is going to kill us,” Nina wheezed as she checked the medicine cabinet for anything sharp she could use when Detlef would inevitably crash through the door. She found a pair of steel scissors and slipped them into her back pocket.

“Try the window,” Purdue suggested, wiping his brow.

“What is wrong?” she asked. Purdue looked sick again, sweating profusely and clutching at the handle of the bath tub. “Oh God, not again.”

“That voice, Nina. The man on the phone. I think I recognized him. His name is Kemper. When they said the name on your recording, I felt the same way I do now. And when I heard that man's voice on Sam's call, this horrible nausea hit me again,” he confessed through ragged breaths.

“You think these spells are caused by someone's voice?” she asked hurriedly as she pressed her cheek flat on the floor to see under the door.

“I’m not sure, but I think so,” Purdue answered, fighting the overwhelming embrace of oblivion.

“There is someone in front of the door,” she whispered. “Purdue, you have to stay awake. He is at the door. We have to go through the window. Do you think you can manage?”

He shook his head. “I'm too exhausted,” he huffed. “You have to g-get…uh, out…”

Purdue spoke incoherently as he stumbled toward the toilet with outstretched hands.

“I am not leaving you here!” she protested. Purdue vomited until he was too weak to sit up. It was suspiciously quiet in front of the door. Nina guessed that the psychotic German would be patiently waiting for them to exit so he could shoot them. He was still in front of the door, so she opened the taps in the bath to mask their movements. She opened the faucets all the way and then carefully opened the window. Patiently Nina unscrewed the burglar bars with the blade of the scissors, one by one, until she could remove the contraption. It was heavy. Nina groaned as she twisted her torso to put it down, but found Purdue's hands raised to help her. He put the bars down, looking like his old self again. She was absolutely taken aback by these strange spells that made him terribly sick only to release him shortly after.

“Feeling better?” she asked. He nodded with relief, but Nina could see that the constant attacks of fever and vomiting were rapidly dehydrating him. His eyes looked weary, and his face was pallid, but he acted and spoke as he always did. Purdue helped Nina through the window, and she jumped onto the grass outside. His tall body arched awkwardly through the rather narrow opening before he leaped down beside her.

Suddenly, Detlef's shadow fell over them.

When Nina looked up at the giant threat, her heart nearly stopped. Without a thought, she jumped up and stabbed him in the groin with the scissors. Purdue knocked the Glock from his hand and claimed it, but the slide was locked back, indicating an empty magazine. The big man had Nina in his grip, laughing at Purdue's failed attempt to shoot him. Nina pulled the scissors out and stabbed him again. Detlef’s eye burst as she shoved the closed blades into his eye socket.

“Come Nina!” Purdue shouted, discarding the useless weapon. “Before he gets up. He is still moving!”

“Yeah?” she sneered. “I can change that!”

But Purdue pulled her away, and they fled in the direction of town, leaving behind their belongings.