Amber

Chapter 5

A rubble field. That’s all it looked like at first. Maddock shook his head as he took it in. At least the visibility had improved in the deeper water where the wreck lay. But that also allowed him to see how discouraging the view was. Even with their underwater vehicles, there was still a daunting amount of ground to cover. The former hospital ship had been over 700 feet long and eighty wide. Its immensity combined with decades of wave and current action in the stormy Baltic meant that there was now a vast debris field to comb over in addition to the bulk of the ship’s remains.

“I think I see something.” Professor’s voice cut through Maddock’s intimidating thoughts.

“What have you got?” Maddock strained to see through the gloom.

“A… light?”

“It does look like a light on a stick,” Bones added, pointing down at the bottom near the edge of the debris field.

Jimenez commented as he eased the SDV toward the seabed. “Could be that the Russians are putting markers down as they search.”

“I see another one over there.” Professor pointed to the edge of their visibility in front of them, where another pinpoint glow of light beckoned. “They could be transecting line markers, to delineate a measured search area so that they know for sure where they’ve already looked.”

“Maybe we should start looking somewhere else, then.” Bones crouched on the side-runner platform of the SDV, ready to jump off at any time.

Professor’s response was prefaced with a hissing inhalation through his scuba regulator. “Its common practice to lay out the transect lines first and then start searching, keeping track of which quadrants have been searched as you go.”

Maddock unclipped a waterproof camera from his weight belt and snapped a few pictures as they “flew” over the edge of the wreck, the lighted transect poles highlights of the frame. The shots would become intel passed on to Admiral Liptow. Maddock knew that the chances of recovering the amber from the Amber Room after so much time were next to impossible, unless it were somehow sealed within a watertight container. Amber required a dry environment to survive for so many decades. But he also knew the fact that the Russians had such a presence on the Wilhelm would in itself be of interest to Liptow and those he served, especially the details of that presence.

And what else could the wreck offer? Maddock continued to survey the rubble-strewn plain, which became denser as it neared what was left of the ship itself. Most of the massive vessel had long since been crushed flat or simply disintegrated, but there were sections that remained somewhat intact.

“Let’s look for structurally unbroken sections where we can swim inside” Maddock flipped on his dive light at the same time as Jiminez activated their SDV’s front-mounted halogen beam.

“If we’re lucky they started with the debris field because it’s easier than the penetration diving.” In the SDV ahead of Maddock’s, Professor swept the beam of his own light on a jumble of twisted metal.

“It’s crazy, but there are still ropes intact from the original ship.” Jiminez banked their craft to the right as he swooped in low over the Wilhelm Gustloff. As Maddock studied part of the deck of the sunken ship, he saw that the navy diver was correct. Twisted jags of rusted metal were intertwined with manila lines, some of which seemed to dance in the currents.

Bones pointed out masses of monofilament fishing nets that obstructed much of this part of the wreck.

“Very common to see that stuff on many of the wrecks in the Baltic,” Yu pointed out as he ascended in his SDV to follow the contour of the ship. “Diving hazard for sure.”

Maddock’s gaze roved over what was left of the open deck of the once glorious German cruise ship. He couldn’t help but imagine the terror of that fateful night during World War II when three torpedoes from a Russian sub slammed into the hull, the ship canting hard to port. Maddock had read a recounting of the sinking from one of the 1,200 survivors in his briefing materials, and although he tried to stop himself, he couldn’t help but envision the events of that long ago night now that he was staring at the real thing…

He could hear the alarms and sirens, the ship’s crew calling for order as the panicking passengers stampeded on their way up to the decks. Bottleneck points like stairwells and ladders became deathtraps as the terrified masses became increasingly desperate. Guns are brought out and used, some by crew to try and keep control, others by passengers who would rather control their own fate and that of their families. For those who do reach the deck, the steep angle combined with the layers of ice spell the end for many as they slide fast and far into the freezing sea. There are lifeboats but many of them are frozen in place on their supports; bloodied hands attempt to knock them loose in time. Of the few boats that are managed to be launched successfully, some are hit once in the water, laden with survivors, by heavy equipment falling from the ship, which slips beneath the waves, lights on and sirens still blaring as it drops from sight…

This was war at its worst.

“I see an opening!” Willis jolted Maddock from his haunting reverie. Maddock saw him pointing from the SDV ahead of his off to their left, where an intact structure of some sort rose from the chaotic ruins of the once expansive deck. A jagged, yawning aperture led into a dark space.

Maddock spoke into his transmitter. “Bones and I will enter first. Professor: you and Willis follow us inside after about a minute once we’re sure there’s somewhere to go. Raul and Alex: patrol the area in the SDVs and give us a holler if you see anything strange.”

Acknowledgments were given and then Maddock and Bones pushed away from the SDV and swam to the opening in the wreck. Maddock shined his beam into the cave-like space. Immediately it became apparent that, although cramped, a labyrinth of passageways and rooms awaited their discovery.

Twisted steel beams and unidentifiable parts of structures splayed out in all directions as Maddock and Bones played their lights around the claustrophobic area. Maddock decided not to get sidetracked by exploring the adjoining rooms that were closest to the entrance, figuring those were probably the first to have been looted. Instead, he led the way straight back down the narrow passageway, now tilted at slight angle to the left. Bones finned his way along just behind him, while Professor and Willis announced over the comm units that they had just entered the wreck.

“Who turned out the lights?” Willis commented on the relative darkness inside the wreck. Without their dive lights it would be nearly pitch black. Occasionally they would swim past a pitted section of rusting hull and see one of the transect pole lights winking at them, but other than that it was dark all around. Then Maddock came to a stairwell that unbelievably led into an even darker, more foreboding passage. He followed it down without hesitation.

Bones was large enough that he had to carefully position himself to fit into the narrow corridor, and Willis and Professor caught up to him at the entrance.

“Gonna fit, big man?” Willis asked.

“I’ll make it. Your butt might be too big.” Bones made it through and kicked off into the gloomy shadows after Dane, who cut off Willis’ retort with his transmission.

“Branches off down here. Hallways right and left. Bones, you follow me to the right, Willis and Professor, you’ve got left.”

The two teams went their separate ways into the eerie ship. The passageway was encrusted with marine growth, and a few small fish flitted about. Maddock reached an open room after about ten fin strokes and he and Bones entered it one at a time. About ten by ten, it featured a piece of equipment that looked like a stovepipe leading from a box up through the ceiling. Maddock checked it out but it didn’t seem to hold anything of interest. Bones, meanwhile, directed his light beam around the space, probing here and there but also finding nothing noteworthy.

Maddock was about to suggest they exit the room and continue down the hall to the right when they heard Professor’s voice over the comm channel.

“See something shiny back in a tight space. I can reach it but I’ll have to take my tank off.”

“Careful, Prof.” But Willis didn’t sound all that concerned. Maddock couldn’t see what they were doing, but removing a scuba tank while underwater to access a tight space wasn’t unheard of or even an especially dangerous thing to do, as long as one stayed within arm’s reach of the abandoned tank.

Professor’s voice came as labored though audible grunts. “Lemme… just… grab this… ”

A few seconds of silence elapsed. As Maddock was about to ask Prof and Willis what was happening, the wreck shook around them.