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4 |Acton Residence St. Paul, Maryland Present Day
Archaeology Professor James Acton lay in his two-person hammock, the other half occupied by his wife, Archaeology Professor Laura Palmer. An iPad lay in his lap as they shared a set of earbuds, listening to an audiobook they had been competing for, finally agreeing just to listen to it together.
The hammock had been his choice, the sunroom at the back of the house and a bright sun enough to let them enjoy the experience without suffering the chill on the other side of the glass.
And there was nothing like shared body heat.
He stared at her chest, a hint of cleavage visible as she was slightly squished against him.
He kissed the top of her head.
She snuggled a little closer.
He tilted her chin up and smiled.
She eyed him. “It’s a book on the Templars. How is this making you horny?”
Acton grinned. “It’s not, you are.”
“You’re like one of your students.”
“Hey, enjoy it while you can. One of these days I’m going to need pharmacological assistance.”
“Then maybe the girls will get a breather.”
His busy hands froze. “I thought they were always enthusiastic participants.”
She groaned. “Oh well, I suppose I could spare a few minutes.” She leaned over to put the iPad on the floor when Acton felt them tip.
“Oh shit!”
He rolled over her and slammed onto the floor first, Laura landing on top of him with a thud. He groaned in pain, then forgot about it as a hand reached for his crotch.
“You don’t waste any time.”
She smiled. “Now you’ve got me feeling frisky.”
He groaned. “Meet Frisky.”
She squeezed. “Is that his new name?”
Acton tilted his head back, his ecstasy only beginning, when the doorbell rang. “Ignore it.”
“Your wish is my command.”
Oh yeah!
The doorbell rang again. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, you’re killing me!” He grabbed his phone and swiped his thumb, a live video of the front porch displayed. He held it up for Laura to see.
Tommy and Mai, two of their students.
“Yes?”
“Hi, Professor, I hope we’re not disturbing you, but we found something we think you should see.”
Acton sighed as Laura put Frisky away then gave the hidden bundle a pat before climbing off him. “What is it?”
“Some old papers of my great-grandfather. There’s something here I think you should read.”
Acton rolled to his feet. “Just a second.” He extended a hand and pulled Laura up, copping a few extra feels under the guise of straightening her clothes.
She stared at him. “Don’t think you’re fooling anyone.”
He grinned. “Am I that obvious?”
“Get the door.”
“Yes’m.” Acton opened the front door with a genuine smile. Mai Trinh had helped save their lives in Vietnam, and had paid the price by having to flee her country, the communist regime none too happy with her. He had invited her to his university, and over the past couple of years had come to think of her almost as a daughter, now very protective of the young woman.
Which was why he had been a little concerned when Tommy Granger, hacker extraordinaire, who as a teenager had broken too many laws to count, had taken an interest in her. Fortunately, his fears had been unfounded, the young man having turned his life around, now Acton’s go-to guy if he needed something computer related.
“Come on in guys.” He gave Mai a hug and would have shaken Tommy’s hand if he weren’t carrying what appeared to be a very heavy box. He stepped aside, letting Tommy rush past him to find relief through a flat surface somewhere. “What brings you two here?”
Tommy sighed around the corner after a heavy thump, as Acton took Mai’s coat and hung it up.
“We found something in some old papers that Tommy got recently from his grandmother. They belonged to his great-grandfather, and, well…” She smiled. “Maybe he should tell you.”
Tommy gasped from around the corner. “You’re doing fine.”
Acton followed Mai into the living area, Tommy standing with one hand on the wall, the other on his hip, the box sitting on the kitchen island. Mai retrieved an envelope from the top and handed it to Acton.
“We found this inside.”
Acton examined the envelope, something written on the front in black ink. “What language is this? German?”
Tommy nodded. “Yeah, my mom said her family is part German. My great-grandfather, her grandfather, was German, then immigrated here.”
“I assume you know what it says?”
“It says, ‘My biggest regret.’”
Acton exchanged a glance with Laura, his eyebrows rising slightly. He carefully removed a sheaf of papers inside, opening the dry foolscap pages, praying they didn’t crack. It appeared to be a handwritten letter of sorts, dated January 28, 1965. “We’re going to have to get this translated.”
Tommy emerged from the kitchen, a glass of ice water in his hand. He grabbed a blue file folder from the box and handed it to Mai, who passed it to Acton.
“Tommy already used his computer to translate everything. It’s rough in some spots, but it’s accurate enough to get the gist.”
Acton scanned the pages, handing each one off to Laura as he finished. His eyes were wide when done, and he waited for Laura before saying anything.
She looked at him. “Is this saying what I think it’s saying?”
Acton shrugged. “I don’t know what you think it’s saying, but to me, it’s a retired cop telling about his last murder case, and how there might be a Nazi gold train sitting in the side of a mountain!”
Laura patted his shoulder. “Stay calm, dear, nowhere in here did it say there was a Nazi train loaded with gold sitting inside a mountain.”
Acton grunted. “You’re no fun.”
“That wasn’t the impression I got just a few minutes ago.”
“All right, Docs!”
Acton laughed at Tommy who delivered a remote fist bump. “Keep it clean.” He waved the sheaf of papers. “Okay, let’s cover what we know. Your great-grandfather was a cop. I assume there are things in that box to confirm this?”
“Yes.”
“And he’s talking about his last case. His big regret is that he was never able to tell the wives of the victims what had actually happened. As an archaeologist, there’s not much we can do with any of this story concerning the murders and the case itself, but I return to the fact that we have a dead train engineer, who must have delivered something to this mine he refers to, something that was worth killing for.” He pointed at Tommy, typing furiously on his laptop. “Have you looked up this mine?”
He nodded. “Yup. It was abandoned at the end of the war. Google is just showing green. Looks like there’s nothing there at all.”
“But it did exist.”
“Yup.”
Acton paused. “Wait. Where is it? Germany’s no longer Germany.”
“Poland.”
Acton’s eyes narrowed. “Poland? Why would they hide their gold in Poland?”
Laura shook her head. “You’re fixated on gold.”
“I like gold.”
“Uh huh.” She tilted her head toward Tommy. “Where in Poland?”
“South of Gdansk.”
A smile spread on Acton’s face, and Laura’s. “Formerly known as Danzig, a major city in what was formerly known as Prussia.”
Tommy’s eyes narrowed. “What’s Prussia? Some sort of Russian offshoot?”
“There were tight ties before the Russian Revolution, of course, but what’s important here is that Prussia was traditionally German. That means that it is plausible the Nazis would hide something on Prussian territory, thinking that even if they lost the war, it would remain German.”
“Boy were they wrong.”
Acton agreed. “Who do we know in Poland?”
Laura thought for a moment. “What about Professor Lisowski? She’s always asking us to visit. This would be a golden opportunity to meet her in person finally, and satisfy your curiosity.”
Acton grinned. “Road trip!”
“I’ll take a plane.”
“Suit yourself.” He stared once again at the translation. “It would be nice to get some answers, but also perhaps provide some closure to these families. I wonder if there’s some way to track them down.”
“Found them.”
Acton’s eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”
Tommy held up his notebook. “I already found them. Everything’s computerized now, which means there’s no way to keep anything secret from me.” He flashed a toothy smile at Mai, who giggled.
Acton shook his head, the boy’s skills never ceasing to amaze him. “If you broke any laws, then I don’t want to know.” He rose. “We should make plans to leave right away.”
Laura pulled out her phone. “I’ll call our agent and have her get the jet ready.”
Tommy cleared his throat, raising a finger. “Umm, professors, ahh, can we come?”
Acton stared at him for a moment, then looked at Laura, who shrugged. “Why not?”
“You’re right, why not.” Acton thought for a second. “But how about this? There are two things we’re trying to accomplish here, and we don’t have a lot of time to do it, since classes resume in a week. Laura and I will go to Poland to see if there’s anything in this mine, and you two go to Germany and see if you can track down the two families. Have copies made of the pertinent documents so you can give them to the descendants of the victims, and if we find something at the mine, we can share that information with them as well. It did say one of the engineers was missing and presumed dead. I have a sneaking suspicion we’re going to find his body with his train.”