Kingdom of Darkness

24

Nina looked up from the bronze fish at a quiet ‘Psst’ from Macy. The young woman gave the bored guard a sidelong glance to make sure he was not paying close attention, then whispered: ‘I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. I’ve worked out the same set of map coordinates six times already; they’ll figure out that we’re screwing them around sooner or later.’

‘Hopefully later,’ Nina replied. The archaeologists had covertly used the position of Alexander’s original tomb in Memphis as a new baseline to calculate the latitude of the Spring of Immortality, and the text upon the relic describing the king’s journey to narrow down its probable location to a mountainous region of northern Iran. However, the maps on the wall were of too large a scale to pinpoint it exactly. ‘We’ve got to stretch this out for as long as we can.’

‘But when they realise that we have kept the spring from them, then what?’ said Banna. The Egyptian was tired, despair clear in his voice. ‘If we give them what they want, they might let us go…’

‘They won’t,’ the redhead told him firmly. ‘The moment we’re no longer useful to them, they’ll kill us. If we give them the spring’s real location, they’ll have everything they need to kick-start their goddamn New Reich.’

‘Then — then we give them the wrong location!’ He waved a hand at the maps. ‘We name a place, tell them it is there—’

‘You think they won’t check it first?’ Macy cut in. ‘We can’t just pick some random spot and hope they’ll believe us.’

‘She’s right,’ said Nina. ‘Kroll’s computer gives them access to satellite photos, terrain maps. The text on the fish describes the area around the spring — which means that if we choose a location, it has to match that description. But we don’t have satellite maps, so if we make some place up, we won’t know if it fits—’

The guard belatedly registered the muttered discussion. ‘Hey! What are you talking about? Have you found what we are looking for?’

‘No, we haven’t,’ said Nina. ‘We were just translating this Greek text.’

The guard’s permanent scowl made it hard to tell if he believed her or not. ‘Work faster,’ he finally said. ‘And if you talk, talk loud so I can hear you.’

‘Jawohl,’ she replied, loudly and sarcastically. ‘Okay, so maybe we need to go through the whole translation again. Start from the beginning. It’ll take time, but we want to be sure we’re right. Don’t we?’

Banna nodded reluctantly. ‘We will do it your way. But if they lose their patience, then what—’

He broke off as the door opened. Rasche entered, his piercing stare locking on to Nina. ‘Come with me,’ he snapped. ‘All of you.’

‘Where are we going?’ she asked.

A chilly smile. ‘Herr Kroll wishes you to meet an unexpected guest.’ He drew his sidearm and gestured for the prisoners to go ahead of him.

The trio were marched through the compound to a windowless concrete bunker. Nina spent the journey in a state of growing apprehension. Who was the ‘guest’? Rasche’s sadistic amusement suggested that it was somebody she knew… which meant another friend had been captured by the Nazis.

Walther and Schneider joined them at the building, the latter giving Nina and especially Macy lecherous looks. The corpulent Nazi leader was waiting within, as was Gausmann. The latter wore a pair of heavy leather gloves, and to Nina’s alarm had a set of knuckledusters clutched in one fist. The dull metal was spattered with blood. ‘Dr Wilde,’ said Kroll. ‘Dr Banna, Miss Sharif. I hope you are making progress.’

‘Not much,’ said Nina, trying to mask her dread. Someone lay on the floor behind Kroll and Gausmann, back to her and hands secured behind him by a plastic zip-tie. The man’s head was blocked from her view by the obese German, but more spilled blood was visible in little pools around him. ‘All our calculations still say that the spring’s latitude is six and a half degrees north of Alexander’s tomb, but…’ A groan came from the slumped figure.

‘But what?’ Kroll prompted, ignoring the sound. Gausmann kicked his subject.

Nina continued, mouth dry. ‘We’ve tried taking into account possible calculation errors by Andreas, but even then the results are the same — it always ends up in the Caspian.’

Kroll fixed his gaze upon her. ‘You would not be lying to me, would you, Dr Wilde?’

‘No, I’m not lying,’ she insisted. ‘We just need more time to work it out.’

He shook his head. ‘You are out of time. We are all out of time.’ He stepped aside to give Nina a clear view of the man on the floor.

She gasped in shock. It was Jared Zane.

The Israeli’s ripped clothes were stained with blood, cuts and angry bruises visible through the torn fabric. He weakly turned his head, revealing the damage done to his face. One eye was swollen and purple, and a bloody lump marked where his nose had been broken. A thick line of blood and saliva oozed from his mouth.

Macy and Banna both reacted in horror at the sight, but Kroll’s full attention was on Nina. ‘I believe you know this man, Dr Wilde.’

There was no point denying it; Rasche had seen Zane rescuing her in Alexandria. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.

‘And you know that he is an agent of the Mossad?’

She said nothing, in case it was a trap; Zane might not have confessed that fact. Rasche sneered at her. ‘He is a Mossad agent. Trying to protect him will gain you nothing.’

Nina still did not reply. Rasche raised a hand as if to strike her, but Kroll waved him off. ‘It is of no consequence whether she admits it, or not,’ he said. ‘What is of consequence, Dr Wilde, is that a Mossad agent — a member of their Criminal Sanctions Unit, the so-called “Nazi hunters” — has found the Enklave. Where one comes, more will soon follow, like rats. Our secret has been discovered. So we must act quickly to protect ourselves. But our first priority is to locate the Spring of Immortality.’ He crossed the room to stand in front of her, close enough for her to smell the stale tobacco on his breath. ‘You will do that for us. And you will do it now.’

‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘We need to go back to the original Greek, in case we missed something. There must be—’

‘No!’ Kroll barked. ‘I do not believe you.’ He stepped back and regarded each of the trio in turn. ‘I think you already know where to find the spring, and that you are keeping it from us.’ His gaze returned to Nina. ‘You will tell us.’

A fearful silence followed — broken by a faint voice from the floor. ‘Nina…’ croaked Zane. Gausmann kicked him again. The Israeli gasped, but forced out another word. ‘Eddie…’

‘Eddie?’ Nina echoed. Kroll had turned to look at Zane; she ducked around him to get closer. ‘Jared, what about Eddie? Where is he?’

Rasche yanked her back. ‘Who is Eddie?’

‘Her husband,’ said Kroll. The answer was matter-of-fact — but then realisation made him whirl back to Nina. ‘Wait — your husband was with this man?’

A sudden fear rolled over her. ‘Yeah…’

‘In Italy?’

The feeling became more intense. ‘Yes, he was…’

‘Leitz said there was someone else with the Mossad agent,’ Rasche reminded Kroll. ‘He must have been the other man that Santos arrested!’

Kroll’s piggy eyes widened. He addressed the others in German. Nina picked out an obscenity easily enough: Scheiße! Whatever had happened to Eddie, the Nazi leader was displeased about it.

Fear was replaced by hope. Zane had found the Enklave, and he had been travelling with Eddie — so her husband was here too. And judging from Kroll’s reaction, he was causing as much trouble as ever. She exchanged a look with Macy, who had reached the same conclusion. There was still a chance they might get out of this.

But the other Nazis — Gausmann, Walther, Schneider — didn’t appear as concerned as their commander, while Rasche merely shrugged. Then the sense of hope curdled in her stomach as she saw Schneider’s face break into a nasty little smile. Something was wrong, very wrong…

Kroll scowled, then stood over Zane. ‘Tell her,’ he growled, nudging the Israeli’s bruised side.

‘Tell me what?’ Nina demanded.

Zane lifted his head, coughing wetly to clear blood from his mouth. ‘Nina, I’m… I’m sorry, but… he’s dead.’

‘No,’ she breathed. ‘I don’t believe it.’ Behind her, Macy choked back a shocked sob.

‘I’m sorry,’ Zane repeated, ‘but… it’s true. Cops in the town… Nazis paid them to keep this place secret. They… arrested us, brought me here, but… they were told to kill Eddie.’

‘They did kill him,’ said Kroll, annoyed. ‘The mayor himself told me. Idiots!’

‘What does it matter?’ asked Rasche, dismissive. ‘He was a threat, he was eliminated.’

‘You are an idiot too, Rasche!’ Kroll snapped. ‘Are you deaf? She is his wife.’ He pointed at Nina. ‘We could have used him to force her to tell us the location of the Spring of Immortality!’

Nina was no longer listening, the discussion receding into the distance. Eddie couldn’t be dead! She had thought more than once in the past that she had lost him, only for him to reappear with a quip and a cheeky smile — not least right before they finally took the plunge and got married. It would happen this time, too.

Wouldn’t it?

But it wasn’t just Kroll giving her the news. Zane had no reason to lie to her. If Eddie was still out there, potentially able to help, then his best course of action would have been to say nothing at all…

As if reading her thoughts, Zane spoke again. ‘Nina, I’m so sorry… I tried to help him, but—’ He was cut off by Gausmann’s boot to his stomach.

Kroll finally turned away from his subordinates with deep irritation. ‘The situation has not changed, Dr Wilde,’ he said. ‘You will still tell me what I want to know.’

Nina struggled to speak, choked by raw emotion. ‘If Eddie’s dead, then — then you can go fuck yourself. All of you. Without him, I’ve got nothing left to live for.’

‘You will not die slowly,’ said Gausmann, almost with relish.

‘Shut up,’ Kroll told him. ‘Dr Wilde, we may not have your husband, but we have other people you care about. Your friends here.’ He looked first at Zane, then Banna and the tearful Macy. ‘Will you let them die to keep your secret?’

‘There is no secret,’ Nina spat. ‘We followed Andreas’ instructions exactly, and the results always end up in the sea. Either there’s something missing from the clues, or the spring’s not where he thought it was — if it even exists any more. I don’t know how to find it!’

Kroll regarded her in silence… then slowly smiled, a chilling sight. ‘I am impressed. You have almost convinced yourself that you are speaking the truth. But I know you are lying.’

‘She’s not,’ said Macy. ‘We’ve been working on it flat out all this time, and we still haven’t found it.’

The SS commander turned to her. ‘You are not so convincing, I’m afraid. And as for you…’ He moved on to Banna, who was so overcome by fear he couldn’t even speak. ‘No. You know where to find the spring.’ He returned to Nina, the stink of his breath once more hitting her nostrils. ‘I have looked into the eyes of many people as I questioned them, so many I have lost count. I know, I always know, when they are telling me a lie. And you are lying.’

Nina felt her heart pound. Kroll wasn’t the only one who could tell what a person was thinking from their eyes; she knew that he had decided to do something terrible to force her to cooperate. ‘I’m not. Honest to God, we didn’t get anything else from the relic. That’s why we need to start again with a new translation, find out if—’

She stopped abruptly as the obese man drew his Luger. ‘Dr Wilde, you have three friends in this room: a fellow archaeologist, your protégé, and a Mossad agent who saved your life. You will now make a choice — which one of them I kill.’

Banna let out a terrified gasp, Macy going pale. Zane tried to speak, only to be silenced by another kick from Gausmann. ‘If you do not choose one,’ Kroll continued, ‘I will kill two of them. You have thirty seconds to decide… or to tell me the location of the Spring of Immortality. Your time begins now.’ He nodded to Rasche, who raised his watch arm.

Macy fearfully gripped Nina’s hand. ‘Oh God! Nina, what do we do?’

Despite her own terror, Nina stood firm. ‘There isn’t anything we can do, because we don’t know where the spring is!’

The Nazi leader was unmoved. ‘Twenty,’ Rasche announced.

‘We can’t tell you what we don’t know,’ Macy begged the watching men. ‘Don’t hurt us, please.’ Nina felt a rush of pride at her friend’s bravery. With her backup, they might call Kroll’s bluff…

If it was a bluff. She knew from the Nazi’s reputation that he had no compunction about killing. But even as she squeezed Macy’s hand in reassurance, she saw that Banna looked about to vomit, his face pallid and sweating, hands trembling.

Ready to crack.

Kroll knew it too. Years of interrogation and torture had taught him how to spot a confessor as well as a liar. He went to the Egyptian, raising the gun to his chest. ‘Do you have something to say, Dr Banna?’

‘We don’t know where it is!’ cried Nina, willing Banna to hold his nerve as Rasche counted down to ten seconds. ‘We need more time to find it!’

Rasche spoke over her. ‘Three. Two. One—’

‘Wait, wait!’ Banna shrieked. ‘We know where it is, we know, we know! Don’t kill me, please!’

‘Ubayy, no…’ Nina gasped, defeated.

Kroll gave her a brief look of satisfaction before returning his attention to Banna. ‘Where is the spring?’

‘I don’t know exactly — but wait, wait!’ he shrilled as the gun pressed against his sternum. ‘The tomb, Alexander’s tomb; it was moved! Ptolemy moved it from Memphis to Alexandria!’

Kroll’s eyes grew wide in realisation. ‘Yes… yes, of course! They are over two hundred kilometres apart…’

‘Andreas did not know that the tomb had been moved when he made the statue,’ Banna gabbled. ‘The spring is six and a half degrees of latitude from the tomb — but the tomb in Alexandria is over one degree farther north than the old one. That is why the results were in the sea! The spring is a long way south of where we first thought.’

‘And you have located it?’

Banna slumped in capitulation. ‘Yes. Not precisely, the maps were not detailed enough, but to within about thirty kilometres.’

‘And if you have a more accurate map… can you find it?’

‘Yes. Yes, I can.’

Zane reached pleadingly towards him. ‘No, don’t give it to them…’

‘Silence,’ snapped Kroll. Gausmann stamped the Israeli’s hand back to the floor.

‘What have you done?’ Nina said to Banna.

‘I have saved our lives!’ he replied, tears streaming down his face. ‘He was going to kill us, Nina!’

‘They’re going to kill us anyway! These people are Nazis — they’re murderers, psychopaths! And you just gave them a way to live for ever!’

‘You made the right choice, Dr Banna,’ said Kroll. He stepped back, but did not lower the gun. ‘Now that you have agreed to help us, you will live. However…’ he glanced down at Zane, ‘I do not need all of you.’

‘What?’ Banna said, shocked. ‘No! You said you would not kill us if we told you how to find the spring!’

‘Yes, I did.’ Kroll looked back at Nina. ‘But I will not tolerate deception, Dr Wilde. I must make an example of one of you.’

Macy’s hand tightened around Nina’s as Kroll lowered the gun towards the Israeli. ‘Oh, Jesus,’ she gasped.

‘If you’re going to kill anyone,’ Nina said desperately, ‘kill me! I’m the one who lied to you!’

‘No, I am not going to kill you, Dr Wilde,’ said Kroll. ‘Not yet. But I am going to kill someone we do not need.’

Zane gasped out a final defiant Hebrew curse as Kroll took aim. The Luger moved up his body, pointing at his stomach, his heart, his face…

Then the Nazi whirled around — and fired.

The bullet hit Macy in the upper chest. The young woman convulsed, her hand clenching painfully tightly around Nina’s. She stumbled back a single step, staring at her friend with wide-eyed disbelief… then her fingers went limp and she crumpled to the floor.

Nina couldn’t move, cold shock locking every muscle solid. For a moment her mind flatly refused to accept what she had just seen; she could still feel the warmth of Macy’s touch, the pressure of her grip. She was still standing beside her, whatever lies her eyes were telling her…

The feeling faded, and was gone.

‘No!’ Nina screamed. ‘No, you motherfucker, no!’ Paralysis was replaced by panic. She dropped to her knees beside Macy, pressing both hands over the wound. Hot blood squelched between her fingers. ‘Macy, no! You bastards, help her!’

Walther hauled her up, Nina struggling uselessly against the huge man’s hold. Macy tried to reach after her, but her arm flopped to the floor as the bloodstain swelled. ‘Nina, I…’ she whispered, her breathing rapid and shallow. ‘I don’t — I don’t want to die!’

Time seemed to slow for Nina, the air turning as thick as molasses. ‘No, you fuckers!’ she wailed, thrashing and kicking at Walther. ‘Please, I’ll do anything you want, just help her! Don’t let her die! Please, God!’

The war criminals stared back at her without pity. ‘You brought this upon yourself,’ said Kroll.

Helpless, Nina looked back at the trembling Macy. ‘Oh God,’ she said, eyes brimming. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry…’

A solitary tear ran down Macy’s cheek. ‘Nina…’ she said, the name barely audible…

Her shivering stopped.

Nina tried to speak, but the only sound that emerged was a choked sob of grief, horror, fear… guilt. Her legs weakened, Walther’s relentless grip alone keeping her upright.

A gesture from Kroll, and the big man let go. Nina slumped to the floor beside Macy. Vision blurred by tears, she groped for the young woman’s hand. ‘No, no… oh God, no,’ she managed to say, her whole body shaking as she wept. ‘She — she was only a kid, she never hurt anyone! Why did you have to kill her?’

‘I only need one archaeologist,’ said Kroll, unmoved. He gestured at the shell-shocked Banna. ‘He has proved that he is… cooperative. He will take us to the spring, because he knows now what will happen if he refuses. A difference of one degree of latitude would place it in northern Iran, yes?’

Banna did not reply. Rasche twisted his arm behind his back. ‘Answer him!’

‘Yes,’ said the Egyptian in a weak, tremulous voice. ‘That is where it must be.’

Kroll nodded. ‘Very well. You will work out the exact location, while I contact Leitz and arrange transportation.’ He straightened, addressing his officers. ‘We must be ready to move out as soon as possible. Make the preparations. The Mossad may already be on their way.’ He paused, glancing at Zane as if only just remembering that he was there, then continued issuing orders in German.

Walther summoned several men from outside. One was assigned to escort Nina back to her cell, another taking Banna to Kroll’s residence. Two more picked up the battered Israeli, far from gently. Nina took one last despairing look back at Macy as her friend’s body was wrapped in plastic sheeting, then she was forced from the bunker.

‘Those fuckers,’ she hissed. ‘I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all…’

Zane spat blood on to the ground. ‘I don’t think you’ll get the chance.’

‘Why not?’

‘I speak German; I know what Kroll’s planning.’ He drew in a pained breath. ‘They’re going to have a big rally tonight, to psych everyone up to move out… by executing two enemies of the Reich.’

He didn’t have to say any more for Nina to know they were the Mossad agent… and herself.