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"Ever heard of the Deutsche Antarktische Expedition?" she asked.
The German Antarctic Expedition.
"It left Hamburg in December 1938," she said. "The public purpose was to secure a spot in Antarctica for a German whaling station, as part of a plan to increase Germany's fat production. Can you imagine? People actually bought that story."
"Actually, I can. Whale oil was then the most important raw material for making margarine and soap. Germany was a huge purchaser of Norwegian whale oil. About to go to war and dependent on foreign sources for something that important? Could have been a problem."
"I see you're informed."
"I've read about Nazis in Antarctica. The Schwabenland, a freighter capable of catapulting aircraft, went with what-sixty people? Norway had recently claimed a chunk of Antarctica they called Queen Maud Land, but the Nazis charted the same region and renamed it Neuschwabenland. They took a lot of pictures and dropped steel-barbed German flags all over the place from the air. Must have been quite a sight. Little swastikas in the snow."
"Grandfather was on that 1938 expedition. Though one-fifth of Antarctica was mapped, its real purpose was to see if what Einhard had written in the book I showed you was true."
He recalled the stones from the abbey. "And he brought back rocks with the same symbols on them as in the book."
"You've been to the abbey?"
"At your sister's invitation. But why do I get the feeling you already knew that?" She did not reply, so he asked, "So what's the verdict? What did your grandfather find?"
"That's the problem. We don't know. After the war the Ahnenerbe's papers were confiscated by the Allies or destroyed. Grandfather had been denounced by Hitler at a party rally in 1939. Hitler didn't agree with some of his views, especially his feminist slants, which asserted that ancient Aryan society may have been ruled by priestesses and female seers."
"A far cry from the baby machines Hitler believed women to be."
She nodded. "So Hermann Oberhauser was silenced, his ideas banned. He was forbidden from publishing or giving lectures. Ten years later his mind began to fail him, and he lived the last years of his life senile."
"Amazing Hitler didn't simply kill him."
"Hitler needed our factories, oil refinery, and newspapers. Keeping Grandfather alive was a means to have legitimate control over those. And unfortunately, all he ever wanted to do was please Adolf Hitler, so he willingly made all those available." She removed the book from her coat pocket and freed it from the plastic bag. "There are many questions raised by this text. Ones I've been unable to answer. I was hoping you'd help me solve the riddle."
"The Charlemagne pursuit?"
"I see you and Dorothea did have a long talk. Ja. Da Karl der Gro?e Verfolgung. "
She handed him the book. His Latin was okay, so he could roughly decipher the words, but she noticed his struggle.
"May I?" she asked.
He hesitated.
"You might find it interesting. I know I did."
TWENTY
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
5:30 PM
STEPHANIE STUDIED THE OLDER MAN WHO OPENED THE DOOR TO the modest brick home on the city's south side. He was short and overweight, with a bulbous, fiery-hued nose that reminded her of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. According to his service record, Zachary Alexander should be pushing seventy-and he looked it. She listened as Edwin Davis explained who they were and why they'd come.
"What do you think I can tell you?" Alexander asked. "I've been out of the navy almost thirty years."
"Twenty-six, actually," Davis said.
Alexander leveled a pudgy finger at them. "I don't like wastin' my time."
She heard a television playing in another room. Some game show. And noticed that the house was immaculate, the inside reeking of antiseptic.
"We only need a few minutes," Davis said. "After all, I did come from the White House."
Stephanie wondered about the lie, but said nothing.
"I didn't even vote for Daniels."
She smiled. "A lot of us are in that category, but could we have just a few minutes?"
Alexander finally relented and led them into a den, where he switched off the television and offered them a seat.
"I served in the navy a long time," Alexander said. "But I have to tell you, I don't have fond memories of it."
She'd read his service record. Alexander had made it to commander but was twice passed over for further promotion. He'd eventually opted out and retired with full benefits.
"They didn't think I was good enough for them."
"You were good enough to command Holden."
Crinkly eyes narrowed. "That and a few other ships."
"We came," Davis said, "because of the mission Holden completed to Antarctica."
Alexander said nothing. Stephanie wondered if his silence was calculated or cautionary.
"I actually was excited about those orders," Alexander finally said. "I wanted to see the ice. But later, I always thought that trip had some-thin' to do with me being passed over."
Davis leaned forward. "We need to hear about it."
"For what?" Alexander spat out. "The whole thing's classified. May still be. They told me to keep my mouth shut."
"I'm a deputy national security adviser. She's the head of a government intelligence agency. We can hear what you have to say."
"Bullshit."
"Is there any reason you have to be so hostile?" she asked.
"Besides that I hate the navy?" he asked. "Or besides you two are fishin' and I don't want to be bait."
Alexander relaxed in his recliner. She imagined that he'd sat there for years thinking about what was running through his mind at this moment. "I did what I was ordered to do, and I did it well. I always followed orders. But it's been a long time, so what do you want to know?"
She said, "We know Holden was ordered to the Antarctic in November 1971. You went looking for a submarine."
A puzzled look came to Alexander's face. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"We've read the court of inquiry report on the sinking of Blazek, or NR-1A, whatever you want to call the thing. It specifically mentions you and Holden going to search."
Alexander gazed at them with a mixture of curiosity and enmity. "My orders were to proceed to the Weddell Sea, take sonar readings, and be alert for anomalies. I had three passengers on board and was told to accommodate their needs, without question. That's what I did."
"No submarine?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Nothin' close."
"What did you find?" Davis asked.
"Not a damn thing. Spent two weeks freezin' my ass off."
An oxygen bottle rested beside Alexander's chair. Stephanie wondered about its presence, along with an assortment of medical treatises that lined a bookcase across the room. Alexander didn't appear in poor health, and his breathing seemed normal.
"I don't know anythin' about a submarine," he repeated. "I recall, at the time, that one sank in the North Atlantic. And it was Blazek, that's right. I remember. But my mission had nothing to do with that. We were cruisin' the southern Pacific, rerouted to South America, where we picked up those three passengers. Then we headed due south."
"What was the ice like?" Davis asked.
"Even though it was nearly summertime, that place is tough sailing. Cold as a freezer, bergs everywhere. But one beautiful spot-that I will say."
"You learned nothing while you were there?" she asked.
"I'm not the one to ask about that." His countenance had softened, as if he'd concluded they might not be the enemy. "Those reports you read didn't mention three passengers?"
Davis shook his head. "Not a word. Only you."
"Typical friggin' navy." His face lost its impassive look. "My orders were to take those three wherever they wanted to go. They went ashore several times, but when they came back they'd say nothin'."
"Take any gear with them?"
Alexan
der nodded. "Cold-water diving suits and tanks. After the fourth time they went ashore, they said we could leave."
"None of your men went with them?"
Alexander shook his head. "No way. Not allowed. Those three lieutenants did it all. Whatever that was."
Stephanie considered the oddity, but in the military strange things occurred on a daily basis. Still, she needed to ask the million-dollar question. "Who were they?"
