The Atlantis Scrolls

Chapter 18

“New to the people, not to the soil. So this was a new place when Klaus Werner returned to Germany in 1935, or whenever he came back. Sam is checking the legionnaires’ names for the years 1900 to 1935,” Nina told Agatha.

“But is there any way we’ll see where he lived?” Agatha asked, leaning on her elbows, face cupped in her palms like a nine-year-old girl.

“I have a Werner that entered the country in 1914!” Sam exclaimed. “He is the closest Werner we have to those dates. The others are 1901, 1905, and 1948.”

“It could still be one of the previous ones, Sam. Check them all. What does this one from 1914 say?” Purdue asked, leaning on Sam’s chair to study the information on the laptop.

“Many places were new then. Jesus, the Eiffel Tower was young back then. It was the Industrial Revolution. Everything was newly built. What is 680 twelves?” Nina grunted. “My head hurts.”

“Twelves must be years,” Purdue chipped in. “I mean, it is referring to new and old, therefore age of existence. But what is 680 years?”

“The age of the place he is talking about, of course,” Agatha slurred through her clenched teeth, refusing to remove her jaw from the comfort of her hands.

“Okay, so the place is 680 years old. Still growing? I’m at a loss. It cannot possibly be alive,” Nina sighed hard.

“Maybe the population is growing?” Sam offered. “Look, it says ‘God pointer’ holding ‘two trinities’ and that is obviously a church. That is a no-brainer.”

“Do you know how many churches Germany has, Sam?” Nina sneered. It was clear that she was very tired and very impatient with it all. The fact that something else was pressing her for time, the impending demise of her Russian friends, was slowly gaining on her.

“You are correct, Sam. It is a no-brainer that we are seeking a church, but the answer to which one lies, I’m certain of it, in the ‘two trinities.’ In every church there is a trinity, but rarely would there be another set of three,” Agatha replied. She had to concede that she too, had mulled her brain to the edge on the poem’s arcane points.

Purdue suddenly leaned over Sam and indicated on the screen, something under the 1914 Werner. “Got him!”

“Where?” Nina, Agatha, and Sam exclaimed in unison, grateful for the breakthrough.

“Cologne, ladies and gentleman. Our man lived in Cologne. There, Sam,” he underlined the sentence with his finger nail, “where it says, ‘Klaus Werner, city planner under the administration of Konrad Adenauer, mayor of Cologne (1917 to 1933).’”

“That means he wrote this poem after the dismissal of Adenauer,” Nina said, perked up. It was good hearing something familiar she knew from German history. “In 1933 the Nazi Party won the local elections in Cologne. Of course! The Gothic church there was turned into a monument for the fresh new German Empire shortly afterward. But I think Herr Werner was a tad off with his calculation of the church’s age, give or take a few years.”

“Who gives a shite? If it is the right church, we have our location, people!” Sam urged.

“Hang on, let me make double sure before we go out there unprepared,” Nina said. She typed “Cologne landmarks” into the search engine. Her face lit up as she read through the write-ups of the Kölner Dom, Cologne Cathedral, the most significant monument of the city.

She nodded and stated irrefutably, “Aye, listen, the Cologne Cathedral is the host of the Shrine of the Three Kings. I bet that is the second trinity Werner referred to!”

Purdue stood up amid the sighs of relief, “Now we know where to start, thank God. Agatha, make the arrangements. I’ll gather everything we will need to retrieve that journal from the cathedral.”

By the next afternoon the group was ready to take the trip to Cologne to see if their unraveling of the age-old riddle would lead them to the relic Agatha’s client so coveted. Nina and Sam had taken care of the rental car while the Purdues stocked up on their finest illegal devices, should their retrieval be deterred by those pesky security measures that towns took to protect their monuments.

The flight to Cologne was uneventful and swift, thanks to Purdue’s flight crew. The private jet they took was not one of his best, but this was not a lavish trip. For once Purdue utilized his aircraft for practical reasons, not flair. On the smaller, southeastern-bound landing strip at the Cologne Bonn Airport the light Challenger-350 glided gracefully to a standstill. The weather was horrid, not just for flight, but for general traveling. The roads were wet with the onslaught of an unexpected storm. As Purdue, Nina, Sam, and Agatha meandered through the crowds, they discerned the miserable demeanor of the passengers bemoaning the fury of what they thought would be a normal rainy day. Apparently the local forecast mentioned nothing of the intensity of the outburst.

“Thank God I brought my wellies,” Nina remarked as they traversed the airport and made for the exit of the arrival hall. “This would have destroyed my boots.”

“But that hideous yak coat would have served well now, don’t you think?” Agatha smiled as they descended the steps to the lower floor to the ticket booths of the S-13 train to the city center.

“Who gave it to you? You said it was a gift,” Agatha asked. Nina could see Sam cringing at the question but she could not see why, since he was so invested in his memories of Trish.

“The commander of the Brigade Apostate, Ludwig Bern. It was one of his,” Nina said in no uncertain bliss. She reminded Sam of a schoolgirl swooning over her new boyfriend. He just walked a few yards on, wishing he could catch a smoke right about now. He joined Purdue at the ticket machine.

“He sounds delightful. You know those men are known to be very brutal, very disciplined and very, very industrious,” Agatha said matter-of-factly. “I did extensive research on them quite recently. Tell me, do they have torture chambers in that mountain fortress?”

“Aye, but I was fortunate enough not to have been incarcerated there. Turns out I look like Bern’s late wife. I suppose such small graces saved my ass when they captured us, because I got a first-hand taste of their reputation as brutes during my apprehension,” Nina told Agatha. Her glance stayed firmly on the floor as she recounted the violent episode.

Agatha saw Sam’s reaction, subdued as it was, and she whispered, “That’s when they hurt Sam so badly?”

“Aye.”

“And you got that nasty bruise?”

“Aye, Agatha.”

“Cunts.”

“Aye, Agatha. You got that right. So it was a rather big surprise that the leader on that shift treated me more humanely when I was interrogated… of course… after he threatened me with rape… and death,” Nina said, almost sounding amused over the whole thing.

“Come, let’s go. We have to get sorted at our hostel so we can get some rest,” Purdue said.

The hostel Purdue had referred to was nothing of the sort that usually came to mind. They had left the tram at Trimborn Strasse and walked the next block and a half to the unassuming old building. Nina looked up at the towering, four-story, brick building, which looked halfway between a World War II factory and a well-renovated old tower house. The place had an Old World charm and welcoming air, even though it clearly had seen better days.

The windows were adorned with ornate frames and sills while on the other side of the glass Nina could see someone peeking through the impeccably clean drapes. On entering, the smell of freshly baked bread and coffee overwhelmed the guests in the small darkness of the musty lobby.

“Your rooms are upstairs, Herr Purdue,” a painfully neat man in his early thirties informed Purdue.

“Vielen dank, Peter,” Purdue smiled and stood aside for the ladies to make their way up the stairs to their respective rooms. “Sam and I in one room; Nina and Agatha in the other.”

“Thank God, I don’t have to stay with David. Even now he has not ceased that irritating chatter in his sleep,” Agatha nudged Nina.

“Ha! Did he always do that?” Nina grinned as they set their bags down.

“Since birth, I think. He was always the wordy one, while I shut up and learned stuff,” Agatha jested.

“Right, let’s get some rest. Tomorrow afternoon we can go see what the cathedral has to offer,” Purdue announced as he stretched with a mighty yawn.

“I hear that!” Sam agreed.

With one last glance at Nina, Sam entered the room with Purdue and closed the door behind him.