There was a ripple of suppressed laughter in the room.
“This is a delicate subject we’re about to discuss now,” Vitali said. “In the last days of World War Two, when it was clear that the Allies were advancing on both fronts, there were a number of Nazi party members who thought they should gather together all of the gold they had plundered throughout Europe. The so-called Raubgold. Some of it had been hidden in Switzerland, some in Portugal.” He paused. “According to some records, which are still in dispute, there may have also been a large reserve of gold stored in the Vatican. As much as one hundred tons. The gold was moved by a group of Nazi officials and sympathizers who called themselves Die Bruderschaft. ‘The Brotherhood.’ They may have moved as much as four hundred tons in all, from any number of locations and countries, if you count all of the rumors and stories. That would amount to around thirty billion in today’s dollars. Four tons of it were recovered soon after the war, in the Merkers Salt Mine. That leaves ninety-nine percent of it still hidden somewhere.”
“So follow the map,” Nick said. “Go find the gold.”
Vitali stepped aside to give Nick a clear view of the screen. “Be my guest, Mr. Fox. Decode these symbols for us and tell us where it is.”
“It’s not exactly my area of expertise, but if you print me a copy, I’ll take it home and study it for a while.”
Kate looked over at him. The moment this map had been projected on the screen, Nick’s whole demeanor had changed again. No matter what else was going on here, there was a real-life treasure map involved, and that was something Nick Fox could not resist.
“You wouldn’t be the only one trying,” Vitali said. He brought up one more photograph. A man with a wide face, thin blond hair, and intense blue eyes magnified through rimless glasses, burning with sharp intelligence. If the Aryan Nations had a library, this man would be the head librarian, Kate thought.
“This is Klaus Egger. He was born in Austria, the grandson of a priest who joined the Nazi party, and who was one of the founding members of the original Bruderschaft. Egger attended Catholic seminary himself, but was expelled in his first year. He spent the next twenty years involved with various causes, some of them neo-Nazi, some of them extremists like the Society of St. Pius X, until he ultimately appeared at the top of an organization that has reclaimed the name of his grandfather’s old organization. A new Bruderschaft. A new Brotherhood. We don’t know exactly what their philosophy is, or what they’re trying to achieve. We’ve intercepted communications about forming a ‘Fourth Reich,’ but we have no idea what that would look like.”
There was another murmur in the room as everyone processed this idea.
“We have been collecting more dark web chatter all morning, and we now know that the Brotherhood is convinced that the Raubgold exists, and they are obsessed with finding it. We also know that they’ve put out open contracts, with an incredibly large bounty for any individual or group who helps them achieve that goal.”
Vitali clicked one more time, to bring up the last image. It was a bright red star, emblazoned with the letters “RSK.” Another murmur passed through the room.
“This is the insignia for the Roter Stern Korps, the Red Star Corps, a terrorist organization responsible for a string of bombings throughout West Germany before unification. The targets were mostly American military bases then, as well as the American embassy. They have been largely off the radar since then, but they reemerged three years ago. The current climate is ripe for any group that’s nationalistic in nature, and the RSK is as extreme as it gets. And now they have recruited heavily from every country in Europe, not just Germany. Our current intel suggests that they’re attempting to acquire sophisticated biological and chemical weapons.”
Vitali paused to let all of this sink in. The room was deadly quiet.
“You may also remember that the top three leaders of the RSK were arrested in Belgium last year. The Brotherhood has capitalized on this leadership vacuum, and now it’s safe to say that nearly every former RSK member, every Red Star as they often call themselves individually, is now working for the Brotherhood. It’s a marriage of convenience for both organizations. If the RSK obtains these advanced weapons, they could create mass chaos across the continent. If this fortune really exists, we must prevent the Brotherhood and their hired guns from finding it. Which means we must recover the map that was stolen last night.”
“I don’t know why my father would take this map,” Nick said. “But I can promise you one thing. If he has it, it’s safe. He’s not going to give it to any of these wack jobs.”
“We know a lot more this morning than we did last night,” Vitali said, “beginning with the fact that the map was the target, not the papal ring. We also know that the Brotherhood reached out to your father.”
“That’s impossible,” Nick said. “He wouldn’t have anything to do with these people.”
“The father who hid a secret life from you for years? The former spy who you barely speak to anymore? That father?”
“He may have kept some secrets from me,” Nick said, “but I know what kind of man he is.”
“We have the intel, Mr. Fox. Encrypted communications, directly between Egger and your father. The specifics of the job. Negotiation on the price. If you want to see it for yourself, I’ll arrange it.”
Nick shook his head. “Don’t bother.”
“We’ve opened a Red Notice,” Vitali said. “It will be broadcast to every Interpol office in the world.”
Nick knew exactly what a Red Notice was, because he’d been the subject of one or two himself. Interpol couldn’t actually create a global arrest warrant, but a Red Notice was the next best thing. Any country that chose to cooperate, and that was most of them, would keep an eye out for you, arrest you if they found you within their borders, and then turn you over to the country that originated the Red Notice.
The meeting adjourned and Nick was first out of the door. Kate followed, and then Jessup. As soon as all three were in the hallway, Jessup grabbed the young gendarme who was on loan from the Vatican to accompany Inspector General Vitali and to guard the door of the conference room. “Watch this man,” he said, indicating Nick. “If he tries to leave, shoot him.”
The gendarme was wearing the traditional navy blue uniform with the kepi hat, but he had checked his weapon before entering the building and he probably didn’t speak much English anyway.
“Just watch him,” Jessup said, doing the two fingers at his own eyes and then pointing at Nick. He walked fifty feet down the hallway and made a left turn. Kate knew to stay on his heels.
“As a warm-up,” Jessup said, taking a moment to rub his bloodshot eyes, “did I hear correctly that you brought your firearm into the Vatican? Into the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica?”
Kate was ready to tell him about Vitali seeing her put her Glock in her belt and not saying anything about it, but Jessup didn’t look like a man who’d buy that story. “Do you think that’s our biggest problem right now?” she asked instead, realizing as the words came out of her mouth that this was an even worse choice.
“You’re right,” Jessup said, after taking a moment to compose his thoughts. “We do have a bigger problem. And when I say we, I mean you and your partner.”