Amber

Chapter 22

Situated high in the Alps and surrounded by both dense forests and towering cliffs, the lake was about a ninety-minute drive from the city of Salzburg. Its beauty was unquestionable, yet its perils were just as real.

Leopov led the SEAL foursome down a trail on foot after they had parked a rental van at a nearby lot. While they walked, she filled them in on what she knew about the legend of the golden lake.

“The legend has it that a cache of Hitler’s gold was either dumped into this lake, or else hidden on land in the nearby area.” Maddock craned his neck to look up at the majestic, snow-capped mountain peaks, but remained silent. Leopov went on.

“Several treasure hunters in this region have met with misfortune in pursuit of the gold.”

Willis stepped over a small boulder. “Sounds like that good ol’ Amber Room curse again.”

Leopov shrugged. “It does seem to crop up regularly over the years.”

Bones kicked at the dirt with his shoe while he thought. “Even with a curse, how could the secret of Nazi gold stay hidden for so long? Tons of people must have looked all over this little lake for it.”

“For one thing, no one really believes the legends. The lake is usually off-limits to visitors — we’re technically on a privately owned path right now — so it hasn’t been explored to the degree you might think.” Bones looked like he was about to say something but Leopov held up a finger and continued.

“For another thing… ” She hesitated, as if wondering how to phrase what she was about to say, allowing Maddock to take the lead on the trail while she paused.

“Spit it out, girl,” Willis goaded. She glared at him long enough to get him to stop cackling at something Bones said too quietly to hear, then went on.

“It may sound a little weird, but many of the local residents haven’t completely let go of their Nazi sympathies and would prefer to hold secret-or at least not go out of their way to publicize-what they may know about any clues that could point to a treasure trove.”

They contemplated this in silence while they got back on the trail toward the lake. The trees became shorter and bushier, but also closer together the nearer they got to the lake. As Maddock rounded a winding section of path past a small outcropping of boulders, he suddenly halted and held up a hand for the group to cease their forward progress.

All of them froze in their tracks. Bones noiselessly sidled up to Maddock, who pointed out over the low view of Lake Toplitz they had from this vantage point. Near the center of the crystal blue lake were a series of floating work docks as well as a large boat. A scuba diver was climbing a boarding ladder to get back into the boat, carrying a bag of some kind. Snatches of conversation carried across the water and although neither Maddock nor Bones could understand the words, they knew what language it was.

“Russian.” Maddock eyed Bones before quickly looking back to see if the others had caught up to them yet. Almost, but not quite. Leopov was next, then Professor, with Willis bringing up the rear. Maddock leaned in closer to Bones so that he could be heard in a low voice.

“Keep this on the low-down, but I think something’s up with Zara.”

Bones’ eyebrows rose. “Because she’s Russian?”

“She’s Russian and these Russians keep showing up, like they know right where to be. Someone must be feeding them information. And she’s always so vague about who she works for, what her objectives are. I think she has some kind of agenda.”

Bones rolled his head around on his neck, stretching his muscles, staring up at the sky while he thought about this. “The Navy brass who sent us on this goose chase must know what her deal is.”

Maddock stifled a snicker. “Bones, they probably have a one-page report on her that some junior analyst filed away five years ago because he was the closest thing to an expert on the subject matter they had at the time. They gave us what they had, but they’re not going to know more than we do about her involvement with the Amber Room at this point, with our boots on the ground out here.”

They heard the loud crunch of soil under boots as Leopov rounded the outcropping. She looked like she was about to say something when Professor’s voice came from close behind her, and then he emerged around the path holding open the leather journal again.

“Guys, check this out.” He waited for everyone to gather around and then pointed to a hand drawn map, in some color, of a blue lake surrounded by mountains. “Lake Toplitz” was scrawled at the top of the page in German.

Leopov’s face brightened. “We’re right about here.” She stabbed her pointer finger onto the drawing, where a short peninsula jutted into the lake.

“But look!” Professor indicated an ‘X’ on the map. “X marks the spot!”

Willis’ mouth tugged downward at the corners. “It looks like those divers out there are right on the spot. They’re right where we need to be, man, what are we going to do? We can’t just swim out there and take all those guys!”

“Lemme see that.” Bones took a closer look at the map and then looked up at the team.

“I’m not sure how accurate this hand drawn map is, or even how good the maps were in the 1940s, but… ” He squinted as he bent closer to the map. “…what if it’s like a topo map, but without the lines?”

“Who would make a topographic map without lines? I don’t see how you could indicate altitude without the lines.” Professor asked, his tone incredulous.

Bones shrugged. “If you were already very familiar with the area you could do it. Germans making a sort of coded map in case it fell into the wrong hands? A topo map without the lines. Or maybe it was accidental; some other ink or pencil or something was used for the lines that since faded away? Or maybe they just made maps different back then, who knows?”

Maddock shrugged. “Suppose that it was a topo map. What then?”

Bones eyed the dive operation on the lake, glanced at the map again, and then looked up at the mountains that boxed in the lake. “Then it could be up there, because if you filled in the topo lines they’d be very close together to indicate the upper portion of those mountains. But without them it just looks like a flat surface, like the lake.”

The group crowded around the map again, then took turns eyeballing the snow-capped mountain peaks. Willis in particular appeared doubtful. “Long way to go just to poke around on a vague hunch.”

“Lot of climbing, too,” Professor pointed out.

“We are equipped for it now, though. “Maddock patted his pack, reminding them that they had resupplied in town after returning from their outing to the bunker. For this trip, not knowing what to expect and after coming up a little short on gear during their excursion into the bunker, they brought along real alpine climbing gear among other equipment.

Leopov made a noncommittal gesture as she stared up at one of the white peaks. “We wouldn’t have to go to the summit or anything like that. We could hike to the base, use binoculars to scout out likely areas like caves or crevasses, and then make an ascent if we see something. The lake has been explored before without success, and has been dived no doubt in secret many times, where either success or the lack thereof went unreported.” She finished by staring out at the dive barge. “But the mountain has never been searched with any kind of serious approach as far as I know.”

Willis eyeballed the map yet again. “If there is anything in that lake, we’d have to fight that Russian team for it right now. But up here,” he said, stabbing his finger at the book, “we’d be all by our lonesome. A nice, quiet search to rule out another location. Sounds okay by me.”

Maddock shouldered his pack after having double-checked its contents. “If it is a topo map as Bones suggests, then the X would probably be that peak there.” He pointed to the tallest of several mountains that ringed the lake. The others agreed and then Maddock led the team up a trail that led to the foot of the mountain.