Easily unlocking it with another of his lock picks, he sifted through the contents. On the drop-down flap, was an ivory handled letter opener. Swan leant over, picked it up and inserted it into the gap, he had observed in the bookcase.
Weitz watched him with interest. ‘Have you found something, Alex?’
Swan continued to prod with the letter opener. ‘Not sure, there seems to be something in this gap, and fixed to the sides.’ He followed the channel upwards, pulling over a chair to stand on. ‘Wait a minute, here’s another one.’ Now at eye level with the porcelain bird statuettes, he studied them carefully, looking around them. Not noticing anything unusual, he got down from the chair, stood back and surveyed the bookcase again. He looked back up at the birds, pondering for a few seconds, then got back onto the chair and placing his hands around the base of the eagle, lifted it from the shelf. There was a sudden click, and the other end of the case flicked forward. ‘Eureka!’
The others stopped what they were doing, to join him. Epstein placed his fingers on the opened panel and swung it open. ‘It is a door. There’s another room behind here!’ Exposed to the three men, was a solid wooden door with just a keyhole in it.
‘The key must be in this room, somewhere. Let us look for it,’ Weitz suggested.
Swan held out his hand. ‘No need, Bruno, just pass me your little case of lock picks.’ Weitz handed them to him. Swan then opened the case and selected one, placed it into the lock and swivelled it persistently, until he heard it catch. The lock turned, the door opened inwards, and the three men walked inside.
Chapter 39
High above the Atlantic, Katrina Holz had finally relaxed in her seat, while next to her, Fleischer had his head pressed against the headrest, his eyes closed. Her thoughts were of America. Having never been there before, she wondered how different it was to Europe. She had seen it in magazines and on television, the clothes American women wear, the big cars, the sun soaked beaches of California and the razzmatazz of Hollywood. She did not know how long Fleischer intended to stay there, and what would they do there? All these questions, suddenly began to unnerve her again. To take her mind off it, she turned her head to look out at the eiderdown of white fluffy clouds below them, as the aircraft flew at its current cruising altitude of 32.000 feet. She turned to look at her man next to her and thought to herself; how could he be so relaxed? Vexed with him, she gently nudged his side with her elbow.
Fleischer opened his weary eyes. ‘What is it, my dear?’ She stared back out at the clouds ‘I want to talk, I am still not happy with our situation.’
The former SS Obersturmfuhrer listened, as Holz raised her concerns with his plans. She needed answers to many questions. He tried to reassure her by clutching her hand, and attempting to kiss it, but she pulled it away, violently. The scene had caused a few passengers around them to now glance over.
Fleischer whispered. ‘Please be calm, Katrina. You are bringing attention to us, and that is something we cannot afford to have.’
Noticing all the eyes on her, she ceased with her tantrum and kissed his cheek. ‘I am sorry, Gunther. Please forgive my temper.’ Fleischer took her hand, squeezing it tight. ‘Everything is going to be alright. I promise that all of our dreams, are still very much with us.’ He closed his eyes again, leaving her to look back out at the clouds.
The hidden room at Fleischergarten, had been built as part of the original design specification. Originally concealed by a false wall, its intention was to conceal the smuggled contraband, in which the proprietor prospected, as a profitable side line. In the hands of the Fleischer family, the wall had been demolished and replaced with the present bookcases spanning the room; the central unit, becoming a hidden entrance.
Swan searched for a switch and found one, causing the centre strip light to flicker on. Now bathed in brightness, the room revealed its contents. On the wall was a world map, where cut outs of birds had been pasted in various locations. Below the map, was a row of two shelves, one of which was stacked with more books. This time, they were of engineering and mechanics, including a brand new translated copy of Werner von Braun’s Space Frontier. Below the shelves, was a table covered with scattered documents. On another wall, dressed in his uniform, hung a portrait of Herman Goering with a swastika banner hooked to the frame.
Weitz whistled. ‘Mein Gott! What is this place?’
Swan acknowledged him. ‘I would say, that this is Fleischer’s area of operations.’ He stared closely at the world map, noticing one of the pasted pictures had been ripped off. Looking on the table at a screwed-up piece of paper, he soon found it. ‘Look, here is your Falcon, you have on your transcripts. It was stuck over the Isle of Wight. I suspect, Fleischer removed it, when he discovered Lempiere was dead.’
Weitz saw another bird picture, pasted over the area of the USSR. ‘Look, here is the Condor, which was also in the transcripts.’ He then looked over at the United States, and saw that two other birds were pasted near to the Florida coast.
‘This must be the Albatross, but what bird is this?’
Swan saw a grey book on the shelf without a dust jacket titled: Der Vogelwelt Europas. He picked it up, thumbing through it, discovering the birds on the map, had come from this book. He managed to trace three of the birds in the pages, then looked for the fourth. Eventually, he found the page it had been cut out from. ‘Here it is, my German bird knowledge is a bit rusty. Can any of you chaps tell me, what a Komoran is, in English? A Cormorant, is what I’m guessing.’
Weitz looked at the bird on the map, instantly he recognised it from the plumes of feathers on its head and its long fish-spearing beak. ‘This is indeed what you call a Cormorant, Alex. A large Atlantic sea bird.’
Epstein stepped forward. ‘We have had no transcripts mentioned with this Kormoron. So, what does this mean?’
Swan sighed, still holding the bird book. ‘I think this means, whatever Fleischer is planning in the States, involves two people.’
Weitz collected the documents from the table, collated them, then sat down and read through them. Swan closed the book and looked at the title. Suddenly, he remembered seeing another copy of this same book, but with a dust jacket. ‘Our man obviously likes this book, he has another one in the bookshelf.’ A thought suddenly came to him. Why would he have two copies?
He left the room to seek it out and seeing the title on the dust jacket, pulled it out to make a strange discovery. It wasn’t the book, but was the dust jacket from the copy in the room, and it was wrapped around a plain wooden box. Swan removed the jacket and took the box back into the secret room.
Inside, he shouted to the others as they sat sifting through documents. ‘I’ve found something.’
The two BND men ceased in their tasks to join him.
Swan fumbled for the catch and opened the box. Inside, was a smaller red leather box, a Reich Adler embossed in gold on the lid. As he held the object in the palm of his hand, he became speechless, suddenly recalling what Charles Bedworth-Jones had told him.
Epstein gave him a curious look. ‘What is it, Alex?’
Swan turned to both men. ‘Gentlemen, if I am not mistaken, I think I am holding the supposed lost onyx cross, of Reichsmarshall Herman Goering, himself.’
Weitz’s eyes widened with surprise. ‘Ach du lieber, Gott,’ he exclaimed, in his native tongue.
Swan placed his fingers around the lid, and lifted it as they stared transfixed to the object. The SID man had been right, the black velvet insulation inside the box had indeed been shaped to accommodate the Nazi cross, comprised of a black onyx core, bordered with a white gold trim. But, what would have fitted snugly within its case, was missing.