Nina laughed. “My lecture is only due once I have translated and checked the names on these documents, Prof. Megalos. Now be a good boy and go warm your bones.”
Fighting the dirty double entendres her choice of words evoked, Nina did her best to speed up her deciphering of the handwriting and language.
Costa obliged and promptly left for his room for a shower and a change of clothing.
“Hurry up, Zorba!” Don cried. “You don’t want to miss class, eh?” He sank back in his bed. “Christ, I’d kill for a stiff one right now.”
Nina’s eyes flashed up from the page, pushing more images from her head before continuing.
“You!” Purdue smiled. “I know you are the type to marry double vodkas with painkillers, but not on my watch. My worries are already full up with trying not to get my expedition party killed, especially after today. I don’t want to worry about your drinking habits killing you too, old boy.”
“I really thought Costa was done for,” Nina remarked, looking at Don in the mirror.
“Funny,” Don remarked, “he did not ask what happened to Heidmann.”
28
When Costa entered the room, he looked much better. Not usually one to blow-dry his hair, the frigid weather did not permit him to let it dry as usual, and he used the hotel hair dryer. It gave his hair a fuller look, almost challenging Nina’s tresses in the process, and obviously spurring Don to make fun of him.
“Hey Zorba, you smell great! Tell me, how does one say L’Oréal in Greek?” Don snorted as he laughed. “You need some relaxer, girlfriend?”
Costa laughed along, mumbling something in Greek and giving Don the finger. Nina and Purdue shared a giggle, too but did not add insult.
“I think your hair is gorgeous, Costa. Don’t listen to him. He wears a kilt on weekends,” Nina winked.
“Aye, and I have the legs for it too!” Don babbled loudly. “I wonder if Zorba can hook me up with some hair removal cream or stockings from his vanity case.”
Costa honestly found it incredibly funny, not because of what the stoned archeologist said, but because of that broad Scottish accent. He always found everything funnier when a Scotsman said it, but he kept that to himself. After all, the pretty historian liked his long locks, and that outweighed out all criticism.
By now, Purdue had voiced his reasonable presumption that Heidmann was not coming back. They had heard nothing from him, and regrettably assumed him dead.
“Am I too late for the lecture, Dr. Nina?” Costa smiled, his voice low and fraught with mesmerizing charm. Purdue was astute enough to see what was going on. Although he had all the patience in the world with bagging Nina for himself, he did not want her to get involved with men he did not know. Right now, though, there was no time for juvenile interventions.
“Nope. Finished the pages a minute ago,” she replied amicably, aware that Purdue was paying attention. She did not want to jeopardize the excursion, however. Whether Purdue believed it or not, she was invested in the investigation for her own reasons, for the sheer thrill of trailing something so mysterious and unprecedented.
Costa sat on the floor, pulling up his legs and wrapping his arms around his shins. Purdue sat down on other chair matching Nina’s while Don was fighting to stay awake. The light of dawn crept out from behind the horizon, gradually coloring the heavens from a dark grey to a lighter hue from the still overcast sky. The group was not in a hurry to further their search that day. Purdue had instructed everyone to take the day off to recuperate from the nerve wrecking close call they suffered the day before.
Nina turned her chair to face her companions. Having arranged the new pages in successive order, she started reading the information. Much of it was perfectly clear, void of any scientific gibberish she feared to have to learn.
“The originals actually resemble a logbook or a diary of sorts,” she started. “I suppose this man kept record of what he was instructed to do by order of his superior officer. What makes this so juicy is that what is written here is directly pertinent to what we have been dealing with!”
“People being turned to stone?” Don cackled.
Costa stared at him as if assessing the level of inebriation Don was suffering at the moment.
“Aye, Dr. Graham, this man was involved with turning people into stone. But not just any people,” she said secretively, arresting the curiosity of the men. “The SS who were in charge of Auschwitz had received orders from as high up as Himmler himself to take corpses from the gas chambers to experiment on. Now, here is the missing piece, the thing I think we have been searching for and did not have a name for it.”
“I am holding my breath here, Nina,” Purdue pressed. Costa nodded, already knowing what she was going to reveal; having known all along.
“They used a relic discovered in Greece during the Axis Invasion or Operation Marita, aptly called the Medusa Stone,” she smiled, her dark eyes alight with exhilaration.
Purdue slammed his hands together and chuckled. He looked at the others, but found Costa indifferent and Don asleep. “Well, excuse me while I find this utterly fascinating,” he said dryly, slightly disappointed. “Costa? You have no enthusiasm for this?”
Costa’s face suddenly became animate and he answered more lively, “No, of course I am absolutely intrigued, David! It is just so…” he winced a little, “…flashy. So American, hype…I don’t know how to say. It just sounds like bullshit to me. The science you and Dr. Graham discovered in the lab – that was not some fairy tale of mythology. Medusa Stone…” he shrugged.
“That is what they call it here - verbatim!” Nina moaned, wildly lashing about the papers in her raised hand.
“I know, Nina. I know,” he snickered. “It just sounds silly to me.”
Purdue was amused by it all, especially the way that Costa could rile Nina up in the same way that Sam used to. “Alright, Dr. Gould, tell us what else is he wrote there. Give us details.”
Nina narrowed her eyes lightly at Costa, shunning his unsupportive attitude, but he sank his head in respect and gestured for her to continue. Don snored away in the background as Nina filled the others in on the rest of the information.
“Look, I take it this guy was an SS officer by the name of Franz Böhme. While we waited for Costa, I ran a check on who he was on my laptop. Sorry it took so long,” she sighed, “the internet runs on abacus binary here, it seems.”
“I know. That is why satellite is so much better…and so is home-made tech,” Purdue bragged with a smirk.
“How wonderful for you,” she cooed sarcastically, smiling. She opened the saved page on her computer and scanned through it. “Anyway, Franz was involved in the invasions of Poland in 1939. He also commanded forces invading France in 1940, right? Now, listen to this. As commanding General and Commander of Serbia, Böhme ordered the retaliatory executions of about 2,000 Jews in Topola, Serbia after 22 soldiers of the 421 Korps-Nachrichten-Abteilung were attacked.”
“What a surprise! Another bloody drunk fuckwit,” Purdue acknowledged mock-courteously.
“Trust me, David, bloodthirsty pricks with power issues are not exclusive to the Nazi party or their affiliates,” Costa said casually. Purdue agreed.
“In 1945 he was Commander-in-Chief of the 20th Mountain Army too, as well as one of the commanders of the units from the German 12th Army – the XVIII Mountain Corps during Operation Marita,” she reported. Nina looked up with one eyebrow raised. “That places Böhme in Greece during the Axis invasion and here in Eastern Europe after!”
“So he could have brought the Medusa stone to Auschwitz during his stint in Poland,” Purdue speculated.
“Just what I thought too,” Costa affirmed. “That’s background on the man you found the papers on, but what do the actual papers say, Nina?”
She replaced her laptop and took up the pages she translated again. “This is a more detailed daily account of the fucking atrocious measures these animals went to at several of the satellite camps under A
uschwitz command.”
“Medical experiments?” Costa asked. “You know, I don’t have the stomach for torture. Never liked hearing what Nazi’s did to their prisoners.”
“Not just medical. Apparently the Medusa stone was to be used in conjunction with two others to attain immortality, to make the wielder impervious to destruction by giving them the properties of stone,” Nina winced. “That is a bit far-fetched, no?”
“God knows anything is possible these days with the right technology paired up with physics, Nina. You and I both know this,” Purdue reminded her. “I bet there is just some element or a set of scientific laws we have not yet discovered that may very well make such things possible.”
“I agree,” Costa nodded. “Look, I know art and mythology, but from what I know about science, I am sure on a molecular level some applications of chemistry or alchemic practices could well maybe change a human’s biological composition. Why not flesh to stone?” he shrugged.
“Precisely, Professor Megalos!” Purdue cheered. “I could not have explained it better! That is what I have always firmly believed. With the correct atmospheric conditions and equations, we can create and destroy entire worlds, had we the knowledge.”
“That is delightfully perceptive, gentlemen,” Nina said, “But let us not get ahead of ourselves before we know more.”
“You’re right, Nina,” Purdue concurred. “Go on. Where did he use the Medusa stone?”
“It says here that at first, in 1941, when he first brought it back from the mountains of Greece – he does not say which or where exactly – he was planning to give it to Field Marshal Wilhelm List as a gift. List was his superior and they took part in the campaign in Greece together,” Nina read from her notes. “But it does not say anything more about the stone’s location other than that it was used in experiments at Auschwitz.”
“It must!” Costa frowned. “Why on earth would he die like that, keeping record of what happened concerning the Medusa and not leave any tangible clues?” Costa jumped up and reached for Nina’s notes. Realizing that he may have come on a bit stronger than he should have he added, “Perhaps I can find a clue in the words that he might have hidden, as a phrase or cipher?”
Purdue thought it a good idea. “Go ahead.”
Nina reluctantly relinquished her papers, looking a bit displeased at Purdue’s permission. Costa took the pages she had written out and scanned the horrific accounts, ignoring the heinous details for any clue on the location of the stone he had to have.
The morning light was bright, even with the sun smothered by more coming rain. It was their off day, so the adverse weather did not bother them.
“Can I make you a cup of coffee, Nina? I am in dire need of more caffeine,” Purdue asked, trying to appease the unhappy historian. She just nodded in response. “Costa? Coffee?”
“Thank you, David,” Costa muttered as his serious face expressed his focus on the task at hand. He could see Nina was peeved. “I might not even find anything useful, but with my knowledge of ancient Greek art and mythology there might be something our astute historian could have missed.” Costa’s tone was polite and charming, but Nina showed no favorable reaction. Instead, she joined Purdue at the table where the kettle’s soothing sound dampened Don’s incessant snoring slightly.
“Apparently when Franz Böhme first gave List the stone in the officers’ banquet room, List was amused by the shape of the stone and used it as a monocle to look at the attractive young cook who served their lunch,” Nina recounted what she remembered from the notes, uncaring what Costa was doing. She held her mug for Purdue to fill with the boiled water. “Guess what happened.”
“He turned to stone?” Costa guessed without looking up.
“Aye,” she said evenly. Facing Purdue while he stirred her beverage, she dropped a very interesting fact on top of that. “Now guess who that young man turned out to be?”
“Who?” Both Costa and Purdue cried at the same time, staring attentively at her in anticipation. Nina just smiled in boastful victory over Costa’s intrusive ego. She would not let him have the glory of revealing what she already knew, especially after his seizure of her hard work.
Purdue’s face changed, gradually birthing a smile as he put two and two together.
“My God! He became the Son of Zyklon-B!” he exclaimed.
“Aye, so he did!” she giggled.
“That means that he had to have been kept where they used Cyclone B on the premises,” Purdue affirmed.
“The gas chambers,” Costa chipped in, looking much less obsessive now. He smiled, running his hand down Nina’s arm in congratulations. “Dr. Gould, you rock!”
Nina’s expression yielded him a befuddled reprimand at his words while Purdue laughed at his choice of words.
“You know what I mean,” he laughed.
“Semantics are dangerous,” Nina exhaled in mock relief. “Now give me back my bloody notes, you glory hound.”
Costa obeyed modestly. Don slowly woke, but he was still very dazed from the painkillers. “Hey Zorba, don’t you have your own room?”
29
Costa motioned with his cup, directing Don to Purdue and Nina just outside his initial peripheral vision.
“Oh! Group action. Nice,” Don said, looking impressed. After being briefly greeted by them, he told Purdue to check in his tan leather valise for some snacks. He offered it in exchange for a strong cup of black, bitter caffeine. Meanwhile, the others were still trying to unravel the details.
“How will we know which gas chamber to search?” Purdue asked.
“Let me see,” Nina wondered, taking a moment to run through her studies on the German labor and death camps. Her large dark eyes jogged to and fro above her as she made mental notes, trying to narrow down specifics. “Stammlager. The death camp…um, Auschwitz I, the main one…that one was…”
Purdue retrieved some of Don’s shortbreads that he purchased before they left for the warehouse, handing the biscuits out to the others to have with their coffee while Nina slowly recalled the facts she could remember off the top of her head.
“Ah!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Now I remember! The first attempts at killing people with the pesticide… with Cyclone B, in other words, was at Block 11. Block 11 was best known as the torture building, where they also employed the Boger swing apparatus for violent interrogations.”
“Block 11,” Costa repeated.
“Aye,” she affirmed.
“So we will go there tomorrow?” Costa asked Purdue.
“If Don is up to it,” Purdue answered, knowing full well that his friend would not spend another day immobilized. Donovan Graham was the most active, restless and curious beast Purdue had ever known. The man had a lust for exploration second only to Purdue’s, but by far outweighed the inventor’s zeal and fitness.
“I’ll race you,” Don grunted.
“Right, that’s it then,” Purdue smiled. “We will travel across the border to Auschwitz. I will take care of the permits and check with Alex to make sure we can use the vehicle to cross without incident.”
His cell phone rang. With many complaints from Don about the high tone, Purdue reported to the group, “It’s Professor Barry,” and answered the call. While they kept their voices low, Nina explained to Don the details he had missed while he was sleeping.
Not a single word escaped Purdue as he listened for over a minute to the instructions from the caller. Pallid and stunned, he did not move until his companions realized that something was amiss and grew silent. Purdue was not easily scared or intimidated, but Nina recognized a sickening expression on his face, one she had seen before. Her heart raced, and her belly ached with concern because that was how Purdue acted most of the time before he had disappeared for those many months. It was the same demeanor he displayed while he was Renatus, his title as forced leader of the Order of the Black Sun over two years ago.
He swallowed hard and ended the call.
“Oh Jesus, no,” Ni
na inadvertently uttered. He knew that she was spot on with her assumption, even though neither of the others knew his more sordid history. She laid her hand on his and looked deep into his eyes, seeing an enormous burden there.
“Heidmann? Did they hear from Heidmann?” Don asked, sparking a shrewd look from Costa at the mention. Purdue shook his head.
“Helen and her assistant have been abducted by the Black Sun,” Purdue conveyed weakly. Nina’s face was pale, and she almost forgot to breathe for a moment.
“What do they want?” she asked gently.
Seeming at once exhausted, Purdue sighed, “They want the Medusa stone.”
Tension filled the room as he carried on. “I cannot let them hurt Helen or Claire. We will have to separate without the Black Sun’s knowledge. Tomorrow Don and Costa can still travel with you, Nina, to find the Medusa stone,” he said resolutely.
“Absolutely, Dave. You can count on us,” Nina firmly assured him.
“In the meantime, I will return to the British Museum to see if I can figure out who has them, exactly,” Purdue told them, looking bitterly upset. “That way we can get the stone and use our combined efforts to thwart these bastards. We have done it before, and we can do it again. But unfortunately, there is more.”
Confusion abounded, but there was more to shock some with.
“Soula Fidikos has been killed,” he barely uttered with a shaking voice.
“What?” Costa exclaimed. “What did you say?” His voice peaked in volume as the disbelief punished his comprehension. “That cannot be!”
“Did you know her?’ Nina asked.
Costa did not notice that his reaction was quite hefty, but now it was too late to pretend he was not deeply shocked by the news. “Y-yes, I— I did know her. We were good friends, Soula and I. I worked for her once or twice as consultant on her antiquities procurements. Oh my God…Soula.”
“I’m so sorry, Costa,” Don said, using the professor’s real name for the first time in respect. “If there is anything you need…” he offered.
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