The 34th Degree

73

T he library was dark as Andros made his way to the bookshelves, careful to avoid running into von Berg’s desk. Fortunately, there was enough glow from the gardens to throw some light on the floor through the windows. Andros moved cautiously but quickly. It would be only a minute or two before Peter saw the real Hans dancing with Aphrodite.

He pushed aside the volumes of Greek dramas and German philosophy and found the metal door to the safe. Following the numbers Touchstone had given him, he turned the dial to the right, to the left, back to the right, and one final turn to the left. He turned the handle. Nothing happened.

He tried it again, and again the handle wouldn’t turn. Then he heard voices in the hallway. Through the slit of light beneath the door, he could see shadows moving on the other side. He held his breath, and after a moment, they passed.

Once more he gave the dial four swift turns. There was a wonderful click, and the handle turned smoothly. He pulled the heavy door, and it opened.

He flicked on his lighter, quickly scanned the contents of the safe, and pulled out three folders. The first was marked FLAMMENSCHWERT, the second LUDWIG VON BERG, and the third HUSKY. He realized he would have to skim them and choose what seemed important enough to photograph.

He opened the FLAMMENSCHWERT folder. In it, he found aerial photos of coastal fortifications, along with maps of minefields and artillery defenses. Also listed were various supply runs of Andros ships under Swiss registry, with their manifests, including metallic uranium from Brazil in crates marked for groundnuts. But he found nothing resembling an ancient text, only a report that was written in neither Greek nor even German but Danish.

The report’s title, from what Andros could make out, spoke of “the passage of charged particles through matter.” Scribbled on the cover was a note that said, “This manuscript must not fall into Nazi hands.” Signed Niels Bohr. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist? thought Andros, looking closer. On top of Bohr’s note was another note, typed on official Nazi stationery by an SS Oberfuhrer Werner Best, suggesting that “Bohr’s project be brought under our direction.” Further military orders addressed the question of “atomistics” and mentioned “the off-site laboratory Achillion.”

Andros looked again at the aerial photographs. On the back of one of the photos was writing that said it had been taken by an American B-17, and the word “Achillion.” Perhaps this was the pilot MacDonald had told him about, the one shot down over Greece.

A photograph of a photograph would never do, Andros realized. So he left the pictures but took one of the negatives in the folder, as this would be less likely to be missed by von Berg. He slipped the negative into his pocket and moved on to the second folder, the one marked LUDWIG VON BERG.