Pantera came alongside, closely followed by Cassidy. Gunn, Jemma, Lucie, and Yasmine waited behind two vehicles.
“And you are here,” Gurka continued, “because of this man.”
The pungent figure leaned on his knees, looking away from his captors. He shrank away from the words, saying nothing.
“This is Dante Caruso,” Gurka said in what sounded to Bodie like a Russian accent. “What he lacks in bodily hygiene he makes up for in his abilities to ferret out the cheapest, nastiest treasures this side of Cairo. But recently, Caruso uncovered something he’d never dreamed of finding. Something incredible. Yes?” This last word was clearly directed at Caruso. The man nodded quickly, still staring at the floor.
Bodie spoke up. “Mr. Caruso says you took his family. Is that true?”
Gurka raised an eyebrow as the one called Dudyk laughed nastily. It was Dudyk who answered, top lip curling with an expression of hatred. “Yes, his child and wife. We will kill them if he fails us.”
“Don’t worry,” Gurka said. “Dudyk here hates everyone. He is a good man to send into a fight, and, of course, he is right.”
Bodie couldn’t see a quick way out. If you were captured, the discipline was simple—live a minute more. Every passing moment, hour, and day might offer up a fresh chance of escape. Pantera had drilled that into him since day one.
“You’ve heard of us, Agent Moneymaker?” Gurka offered Heidi a malicious smile.
Heidi answered after a few seconds. “R24 is a group of relic smugglers preying mostly on eastern Europe. The reports I have seen say they are ruthless and savage. Barely above the level of wild animals.”
Bodie blinked and threw Cassidy a warning glance; they might have to fight. He tensed, prepared in case Gurka reacted badly to the description, but the man just threw them a grin.
“Is that what they say?” He laughed. “I love it.” He punched Dudyk on the shoulder and clapped the one called Vash on the back. “We’re wild animals!”
Bodie noticed that Nina didn’t look particularly impressed, and Belenko had no reaction whatsoever. They were an odd bunch, this group . . .
Of what?
“So you guys are anti–relic hunters,” he said. “Well, I guess that explains why you kidnapped Caruso rather than asking nicely or pretending to help. But what do you want from us?”
“R24 is the brains,” Gurka said. “But you are Guy Bodie, and this is your team. I have heard of you. Of the Zeus statue and Atlantis. And before that. Your prowess is what brought you to our attention, why I am . . . hiring you.” Gurka laughed loudly at his own joke. “But we hire mercs for muscle, to get their hands dirty. Caruso . . . why don’t you tell them what you found?”
Heidi held up a hand. “I already know—”
But Caruso was displaying the first sign of interest since they’d met him. His body was upright, his face animated. His fists were clenched.
“The Amber Room,” he whispered in a low, reverential tone. “I found the Amber Room.”
CHAPTER TEN
“Sounds like something gratuitous to me,” Cassidy said. “The den of a madam. Do we really wanna hear more?”
Gunn looked like he wanted to jump on the web and start research. Lucie stepped forward, as if eager to explain.
Bodie saw the potential of engaging Caruso, who appeared to be the only other person who knew the stakes. He crouched beside the Italian. “The Amber Room was looted by the Nazis in World War Two, yes?”
Caruso met Bodie’s stare. “Yes, and it’s been sought by individuals and governments ever since.”
Lucie spoke up now. “The Amber Room is one of modern history’s great mysteries.” She took a breath. “How did you . . . ?”
Caruso blinked as she paused. “How did I?” He scratched his head. “Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?”
Gurka leaned against the front wing of a half-repaired car. “We asked around about Caruso. Seems he’s always this way. His friends call him addlebrained. In truth, he’s in the early stages of dementia. So yes, perhaps he found the Amber Room. Perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps he found it and can’t remember where. And that’s why you are here.”
Heidi frowned. “What makes you believe him? I mean . . . you raided a CIA-Bratva meeting in the US. Kidnapped us. Abducted Caruso and his family. That’s some hard faith, right there.”
Gurka shrugged. “Whatever you think of us”—he threw icy looks at both Heidi and Bodie—“we know our relics and their history. When Caruso described what he’d found over the internet, we knew his descriptions were genuine.”
Bodie winced. “You described your find on the web, mate? Bad move.”
“Carvings of angels and children.” Caruso appeared to be lost in memory but spoke lucidly as he related his thoughts. “I saw jade, onyx, and quartz, backed by gold. To see the Amber Room with your own eyes, even packed in crates and dulled by decades of dust . . . it is not something you . . . umm . . . mescolare?” He struggled with the English for a second. “I mean . . . muddle up.”
Bodie wasn’t convinced. Lucie interjected with, “It did contain six tons of amber. You can only imagine the stunning effect it would have.”
Gurka coughed. “What he described so well was the brittle, crumbling nature of the amber. How, when he attempted to lift one panel to look closer, it broke away in his hands. This is exactly what would happen as the amber dried out. It gave his story a ring of truth. Plus, he also recited what he remembered of his travels. Everything fitted. And if I’m being honest, Miss CIA Agent, extracting you from America wasn’t hard or risky for us. As I said, we pay other people to take the big risks. And do the killing.”
“It’s still a risk,” Heidi insisted. “What you’re doing now. All of this is.”
“The Amber Room was the biggest-value item looted in World War Two,” Dudyk hissed at her. “We play with probabilities all the time. Live. Die.” He gestured with both hands. “Win. Lose. Run or be captured. This probability is worth the risk.”
Bodie shrugged unhappily at Heidi. The savage Russian had a point. The blonde agent stared disconsolately back, her curls flecked with dirt, her mouth drawn into a tight line. Despite their dire situation, Bodie found himself wondering if they’d ever explore the unspoken questions between them.
Is it real attraction or mild fixation? Is there something worth the risk here?
He’d felt from the beginning that an occurrence might draw them closer together, but the velocity with which their lives had accelerated recently had put personal matters on hold. Heidi had helped rescue him from a Mexican prison . . . they had barely paused for breath since. But the way she’d offered her condolences after Cross’s funeral had made him realize there might be something deeper between them than a working relationship.
“Why us?” Gunn asked in a quiet voice.
Bodie studied the youngest member of their team. Both Gunn and Jemma looked scared, unused to kidnap and confrontation. Bodie also saw how Lucie’s lips were drawn pale and thin with the strain. This was no place for their historian. Yasmine and Pantera, on the other hand, both stood easily, radiating confidence, accustomed to perilous situations.
“Why you?” Gurka was looking straight at Gunn, much to the young man’s discomfort. “Honestly? Is there anyone better known in the relic hunting game? Is there anyone better connected”—he glanced at Heidi—“or more experienced? We want you, and we want your resources.”
“And what do we get out of it?” Cassidy asked.
“We won’t shoot you in this room, and we won’t hurt Caruso’s family. Yet. Is that incentive enough?”
Bodie’s survival instinct kicked in. He evaluated the preparedness and positions of the five armed men in the room. The situation did not look good for his team. Their enemies were ex-soldiers, trained fighters, and while Cassidy might be able to match them blow for blow, neither he nor Heidi was close to her league. No matter how he looked at it, they were in dire straits.
For now.
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br /> “Also,” Gurka went on, “we will take this one”—he indicated Lucie—“as added collateral.”
Two men hustled toward the historian. Bodie set off quickly on an intercept course. One of the men, a merc with yellow teeth, raised his weapon, so Bodie gave him the full-on grin. Though he wasn’t entirely sure if it was the smile or the blinding white rack that slowed him, Bodie was able to grab the rifle’s muzzle and wrench it up toward the ceiling. The second man turned, but Cassidy confronted him, leading with an elbow to the nose that sent him staggering back into the garage wall. When he started at her again, she held up a hand, warding him off.
Bodie didn’t press his advantage, just gripped the gun with its muzzle up, holding on tightly and matching the merc for muscle power. The three remaining armed mercs had already leveled their guns.
Gurka laughed. “Don’t worry; she’ll be coming along with us. But she will be . . .” He paused, thinking. “Kept separate.”
Bodie held on to the weapon, almost nose to nose with his enemy, the man’s bad breath filling his nostrils. Heidi caught Gurka’s attention. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that we will all go together, but the blonde will travel with one of my men, under guard. That way, if you try to double-cross us, we can kill her quickly.”
“Extra security,” Dudyk added with a sneer.
“Then take me.” Yasmine spoke from behind Bodie’s back. “She is a historian, nothing more. If you take me, I will not fight you.”
Bodie felt a surge of emotion. He warmed to Yasmine silently for trying, but then he remembered she was partly responsible for Cross’s death. And the Lucie he knew would have challenged the phrase “only a historian, nothing more,” but Bodie doubted she’d heard anything beyond her own pounding heart at that moment.
Grimly, he held on to the gun, sweating and betraying no emotion. At his side, Cassidy tried not to get involved with her opponent.
“You seem to think you have a say?” Gurka put on a confused voice. “A vote, even? This is not a democracy. You will do as you’re told, or one of you dies. In any case”—he shrugged—“a historian is valuable to us. I hanged our last one recently after he failed to deliver what he promised. Perhaps we will keep her permanently.”
“Fuck you,” Heidi said defiantly. “If we’re going to help you, it will be on our terms.”
Nina, the female member of R24, spoke up. She too had a Russian accent, and she fastened her gaze on Heidi. “Do not forget,” she said, “that we have Caruso’s family too, which we will not hesitate to execute. You are not just fighting for your own lives.”
Bodie eased the pressure slightly. The merc pushed him away. It occurred to him right then—and he understood that Heidi would have considered it earlier—that the Bratva meeting had taken place without any outside surveillance. It had been set up by the CIA, but the Bratva had insisted on secrecy.
Nobody knew what had happened to them.
Except for the Bratva. But Bodie wasn’t counting on the Russian brotherhood tracking and saving them.
“We will start tomorrow,” Gurka said. “Get some rest. You will need it for the days ahead.”
Bodie watched their new enemy start to file out, thinking: So as usual, we’re working with people we can’t bloody trust.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Bodie had fought the urge to jam both hands over his ears all through the night. Caruso had kept everyone awake with his incessant jabbering, and he was still blathering now, as R24’s mercenary team watched them leave the garage. Bodie was glad to escape the dank, oily smell and the lack of fresh air, though the bright, crisp day they walked into was anything but promising. Caruso still hadn’t stopped talking, but Bodie understood. The man was worried for his family. He’d told them tales about his wife and son for hours, and most of the stories had ended in anxious tears.
“It all starts at Königsberg,” Caruso reminded them for the thousandth time. “Königsberg is where we begin.”
“Why Königsberg?” Lucie pushed through the group so that she could walk next to Caruso. “Because it’s the last place the Amber Room was ever seen?”
Caruso frowned, and Bodie thought he might zone out for a moment as if to consider a long reply. They couldn’t have the man losing his memory now. Lucie’s question was crucial, given the circumstances. The entire group was headed toward three nondescript Ford Transit vans. Bodie counted carefully as the five members of R24 separated between the gray and white vans. The fifteen mercenaries divided between all three, six taking the driver and passenger seats up front. His own crew was divided between the black and white vans, except for Lucie, who was shoved into the gray one. It was a big group, but he expected Königsberg Castle was used to large parties showing up unexpectedly. Bodie stepped up into the black van, boots grating across the metal floor, and took a seat on a wooden bench affixed to the side. Others jumped in and shuffled up or took the bench opposite. There was an uncomfortable silence as the relic hunters eyed the mercs, who eyed them in return. When the van was full, the driver slammed the back door shut and climbed into the front. Bodie heard the engine start.
“In 1945, Hitler ordered the removal of all stolen possessions from Königsberg,” Gunn said. “This order empowered the Reich minister of armaments to move national and cultural items, and none were so significant as the Amber Room. The enormous undertaking was begun and well underway, but then key figures fled the city and the Red Army attacked prior to the new occupation in April 1945.”
“And the Amber Room?” Heidi asked, helping to divert Bodie’s attention from the edgy van ride.
“Nowhere to be found,” Gunn said. “Some believe it was actually destroyed in August of 1944, when the city was bombed by the Royal Air Force. Now, that’s possible, but it doesn’t explain why hardly any part of it was ever found. Even badly damaged, the amber would have been worth a fortune. It was the Soviets who declared the Amber Room was destroyed by shelling, from their own men, but why did they then start conducting extensive quiet investigations into its disappearance? Their own senior researcher was quoted as saying, ‘It is impossible to see the Red Army being so careless that they let the Amber Room be destroyed.’ And that”—he took a long breath—“was the start of the mystery.”
“Königsberg was its last known resting place,” Caruso said, lucid on this subject. “And the occupants of Königsberg Castle did have about three months to spirit it away. Somebody made plans to safely remove it. Probably several somebodies. It would have taken a lot of man power. Also, don’t forget that those who remained had years to leave their clues.” He shrugged then and glared up at the van’s roof, as if seeking an errant thought.
“But how did you know where to look?” Gunn asked.
Caruso cocked his head at him. “Me? I don’t know where to look. Why do you ask?”
“You found a clue at Königsberg Castle?” Heidi pressed gently.
“Well, 1968 is the problem,” the Italian said.
Bodie was lost. “Why a problem?”
“That’s when President Brezhnev of Russia ordered the castle destroyed.”
Bodie’s face slipped into shock, sharing the same confused expression as everyone else in the van, even the mercs. “Are you kidding me? You say this castle where you found the clue, this castle we’re headed to now, no longer exists?”
“Yeah,” Heidi said. “Did you time travel?”
Bodie saw an intent behind the flippant comment. Caruso’s head was a mushy place, hard to navigate even for Caruso himself. Heidi was looking for clarification that his assertions weren’t the wild ramblings of a befuddled mind.
“The cellars are intatto,” Caruso said, again struggling with the English translation. “Umm, not damaged. Once, it was believed that the Amber Room itself was down there, packaged away. Many researchers visited. It was a great lure, but as time passed and nothing was found, people stopped coming. The area rifiutato . . . declined. Now, I don’t believe anybody recalls
those cellars very well. But I . . .” He tapped the side of his head. “I do.”
Bodie stared, trying to figure this man out. “But you can’t recall your entire journey? Or its end?”
“They have my family.” Caruso pleaded with his eyes. “And when they find the treasure, who are we but witnesses?”
Bodie sat back, thinking that was a very interesting answer.
The side of the van jolted his spine as it bounced over the uneven road. Was Caruso following Bodie’s own creed? Was he surviving for just one more minute, and then a minute after that, hoping for a lucky break? Did he know more than he was letting on, or did his moments of lucidity only come with talk of relics?
“We start with the cellars,” Heidi said. “And then?”
Caruso couldn’t veil the fear. “It is a long, dangerous road. My memory is fuzzy . . . but there are many pitfalls. Many predators.”
As he spoke the final word, his eyes turned hard, staring straight at Bodie and then Heidi. Bodie got the message. It was kill or be killed from here on out. What they really needed was to get Caruso alone and learn what he knew. The guard who’d stayed with them last night had stopped all attempts at personal interaction.
But Caruso was right. The relic hunters, Caruso, and his family would be eyewitnesses to the greatest treasure find in centuries.
Expendable eyewitnesses.
The members of R24 would ensure they were terminated, their bodies ground to dust and then scattered in the high winds. Nothing would remain.
As Bodie climbed out of the van, he stopped in surprise. When Caruso had said they were visiting a castle, even ruins, Bodie had expected a hillside and maybe some grassland or a forest. The remains of Königsberg Castle occupied a small, flat stretch of ground between old urban developments, blocks of flats, and busy roads. The parking area was large and faced the square where, once, the great castle had stood. Bright-red and yellow canopies stood to the left, a traveling circus. Bodie took a moment to stretch his limbs and then walked around to the front of the van.
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