Risky Obsession (Wolf Security #3)

28. Kane

CHAPTER 2 8

Kane

I forced the car around another hairpin bend, and the road abruptly ended. Around us, the bush was so dense there was nothing to see but vegetation. I pulled on the handbrake so the car didn’t roll backward.

“Oh, I guess we stop here then?” Lacey undid her seatbelt.

I turned off the engine, and the vehicle shuddered as it died.

“Can we leave our things in the car?” she asked.

I stepped out into the frigid mountain air and as I scanned the area for an obvious path, scents of pine and damp earth swirled around me.

“Do you see a path?” Lacey came to my side and her stunning eyes shimmered.

I opened the back door, yanked out my bag, and started walking.

“Oh, okay, we’re going that way.”

She shut the car door.

“Do you want to lock it?” She called to my back.

Ignoring her, I ducked under a thick branch and crunching on dead leaves and twigs, kept on walking. I figured that as long as I was climbing up the hill, I would eventually see the castle. Or at least what was left of it.

Lacey’s puffing behind me showed her determination to keep up with me. I pictured her carrying her case because there was no way the wheels would work in this terrain .

It went against my being not to help her, but she didn’t deserve anything from me.

“Shit,” she cried, and a thump told me she’d gone ass over.

Unable to help myself, I turned around. She was on the ground, nursing her injured hand to her chest.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine.” Clenching her jaw, she stood again and scooped her case into her arms.

“Lucky you travel light,” I said as I turned my back on her again.

“Well, this is only my third overseas trip in my life. So, I had no idea what to pack. If I’d done more research, I would have packed gloves and a scarf. How many times have you been abroad?”

I didn’t answer.

“I guess my trip to New Zealand doesn’t really count,” she said. “I was only there for one day to escort a felon home. And I didn’t need to pack much for my five days in Bali. Just a few casual clothes and my bikini. Have you been to Bali?”

My mind pictured her stunning curves in a bikini, and I slapped that image away before my dick got hold of it.

“Right. Good chat then,” she said.

The branches scratched against Pops’ duffle as I trudged farther up the hill. The air grew thinner, and the sounds of my boots on the ground were drowned out by the wind that howled through towering trees that loomed overhead, almost blocking out the sky.

Lacey’s breathing became more ragged, yet she kept her pace behind me. Finally, the dense bush thinned out, revealing glimpses of a castle turret over the treetops.

“Oh hey, I see it,” she said.

Her joy was like igniting a firecracker inside me.

“Look,” she said. “Kane, over there.”

Christ! She never shuts up.

“I see it,” I said.

“It looks okay. Maybe we can climb that tower.” Her childish glee was both fun and fucking infuriating.

A massive stone wall appeared through the bushes ahead, marking the perimeter of the castle land. The stones were mottled with dark green moss, and one section was missing from either crumbling away with age or being demolished during the war.

I adjusted my direction and headed toward it.

“There’s a wall,” Lacey said through ragged breaths.

Shoving past a spindly branch, I stepped onto a small clearing and took in my first uninterrupted view of ünetzburg Castle.

“Wow. This is amazing.” Lacey’s eyes dazzled.

With her beautiful enthusiasm grating on my nerves, I strode toward the breach in the wall.

She chased after me.

Ivy clung to the stone fence that stretched all the way to the corner towers where a circular turret stuck out from the bricks like a koala clinging to a tree trunk. Would the Navy port still be visible from the turrets at the ocean end of the castle?

I left Pops’ duffle next to the wall and Lacey dumped her case next to mine.

“Where do we start?” She tugged off her beanie, and her wild hair added to her look of excitement.

The ancient rocks that had once formed part of the fence were a jumbled mess of different sizes and shapes, and I stepped onto a massive brick.

“You know, you can be angry at me all you want, and I deserve it, but if we work together, you’ll get rid of me quicker.”

I groaned at her.

“We both want the same thing, Kane.”

“No, we don’t. I want you to piss off.”

“I know. And you’ll get your wish once we find this gold.”

I halted on a rock to face her. “ If the gold was stashed here in 1945, there’s slim to no chance it’s still here.”

“Maybe, but I’m pretty sure if some lucky bastard just happened to find a hundred bars of gold stashed in this abandoned castle, then it would have made news headlines all over the world. But it didn’t. So, I’ll take your slim chance and bet we’re celebrating tonight.” She jumped onto a rock in front of me and put her hands on her hips. “Want to take my bet?”

I stepped around her. “Just stay out of my way.”

“Likewise, mister. I’m getting good at this treasure-hunting business.”

Fighting a grin, I stepped into a large central courtyard covered with overgrown weeds and wildflowers living through the field of stone pavers. Several trees had put down roots between the stone floor and were taller than the perimeter of the castle. On the opposite side of the courtyard, the thick stone wall was crumbling, and gaping holes dotted along the length.

“This is amazing.” Lacey spread her arms wide and did a slow turn. Her enthusiasm was contagious, sweeping me up in the marvel of the ancient building. “How old is this castle?”

“About five hundred and fifty years.”

“Wow. I can’t believe I’m here.”

“You shouldn’t be.” I marched toward the main castle building where a mixture of dead and thriving vines twisted across the gray stone exterior walls.

She skipped ahead of me. “Hey, what about there?” She pointed at an arched doorway where the wooden door had long ago rotted away. A mass of ivy dangled over the entrance like a living curtain, as if hiding what lay beyond. “Looks like as good a place to start as any.” She stepped over the threshold.

Annoyed that she took that decision from me, I followed her through the archway into a cavernous foyer. Dust motes drifted through the shafts of light filtering in from cracks that spiderwebbed across the ancient stonework.

Lacey let out a low whistle. “This would have been beautiful back in the day. What do you think this room was for?” She stepped back, trying to take it all in. “Maybe they did ballroom dancing here?”

I walked over debris and rubbish that covered the stone floor. The grand stone walls were streaked with moss and water damage, and the vaulted ceiling overhead was partly collapsed, allowing beams of sunlight to filter in and illuminate the area. There was nowhere to hide the gold in this space.

Spying a dark doorway at the back of the hall, I headed toward it. On the other side of the exit, I stepped into a dim passage.

“We should have bought a flashlight.” Lacey’s voice echoed behind me.

The air was musty with scents of decaying stone and dampness, and I had to duck under several low sections to avoid banging my head.

Each time we found a doorway, Lacey bounded in with youthfulness, but exited like her dreams had been crushed.

I had no idea what she expected. Finding treasure wasn’t easy .

We entered a large room with a massive fireplace and a table in the middle that looked like it had been made from one large stone.

“This must’ve been the original kitchen,” I said.

Lacey ran her fingers along the crumbling stone countertops. “Look at the size of this fireplace. It probably baked enough bread to feed an army!”

My boots crunched on the debris-strewn floor as I crossed to a few alcoves on the opposite side of the room. The rough shelving would have once stored equipment and food.

“Find anything?” Lacey asked, upbeat.

“Oh yeah. Look. There are some gold bars just sitting here.”

She gave me a massive grin. “You’re a funny guy, Kane.”

“And you’re a pain in the ass.”

“I know. Where to next?” she said, heading toward the exit.

“How the fuck should I know?”

“Okay. I’ll lead the way.”

We explored room after room, traipsing along corridors that were so narrow my shoulders touched both sides of the wall. A few times, Lacey’s breathing was labored, and I couldn’t tell if she was exhausted, or scared.

I didn’t ask.

Some corridors had narrow cracks where sunlight pierced through, allowing us to see where we were going, and I wondered if they had been designed for exactly that purpose.

My stomach grumbled, and I felt like we’d been searching for hours, and yet we found nothing.

As I followed Lacey up the circular steps to the top of the turret, I tried to force my gaze away from her sexy ass. But it was impossible.

Damn, she’s fit.

At the top, we each stood at an arched window, peering across the ocean landscape.

“Look,” Lacey said. “There’s the port.”

The sprawling industrial site was only just visible through the trees.

“We’re a long way up from the ocean,” she said.

“Yep.”

“It must’ve been a huge effort to take prisoners and supplies from here down to the shoreline.”

“Archer said there was a set of stairs,” I said.

“Maybe they took the gold down the stairs, too. ”

“Yeah. And then they put them on a boat that sank somewhere out on that ocean.” I flicked my hand, indicating to the vast blue expanse that dominated the view.

“Well, aren’t you a bundle of joy.”

“Don’t.” I eased back from the wall to glare at her.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t give me that shit. I’ve been searching for this gold for ten years. What about you? Oh, you have never searched for this gold. You’re just leeching off me.”

“That’s not true. I brought intel to this partnership.”

“Bullshit. And this is not a partnership.”

“You’re right. It’s not. But I did find that clue back at the train station.”

“A clue that was in my photo.”

She rolled her eyes. “I have told you things about Emmy Sonnemann that you didn’t know, and about castles she owned.”

“None of that led us here.”

“I found that map in Gunter’s shop.”

“ We found that map.”

She put her hands on her hips. “But I was the one who found the lion on the map.”

“No. I lined up the teeth on the map to make the lion.”

Her eyes brightened. “The maps!”

“What about them?”

“Maybe there’s another clue on them. They led us here. There has to be a connection.”

I fumed at her excitement but also conceded we were running out of ideas. “Let’s get back out to the sunshine and take another look.”

We retraced our steps back through the dark passages, and the blazing sunshine blinded me until my eyes adjusted.

A few feet from the arched doorway, we cleared a section on a stone pathway, laid down the maps, and squatted down to view them.

Lacey pointed at the two fangs on the map we bought from Gunter. “Here’s the lion’s teeth. And this is one part of the x that we used to find Cuxhaven.”

“And here are the matching markings on Pops’ map.”

She leaned into my side. “Is there anything around this area that stands out on yours? ”

I shook my head. “I can’t see anything.”

“We must be missing something.” She traced her finger along a random line on the map. “What’s this for? Do you have this line?”

I assessed where she pointed on her map and checked it on mine. “Maybe if we lay the maps on top of each other again, something will show up.”

Working together, we adjusted the maps on top of each other so the lion’s fangs were in position on top of the phone light.

She leaned closer to me, and I could almost feel her mind ticking over as we studied the map.

“I don’t understand this wavy line.” She pointed at the mark again. “Do you?”

“Nope. And what about these.” I pointed at four straight lines that looked like the outside of a square that was incomplete.”

Lacey gasped.

“What?” I blinked at her.

“What about if we turn Gunter’s map this way?” She adjusted the top map lining up something that only she could see. “Yes. Look.”

She pointed at the markings that I thought were a square.

“A swastika,” we both said at that same time.

“Good work.” I grinned, and she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth like she was trying not to smile.

“And look, now the maps are perfectly lined up.”

We both leaned over the maps, and excitement surged through me. It took me back ten years to a time when Pops and I put clues together.

I studied a faint, wave-like pattern of overlapping arches or semicircles, hoping to make sense of them. Lacey seemed to be looking at the same spot.

“I feel like it’s right in front of our face,” she said.

“Me too.” I moved to a different position, so my shadow didn’t cover the map. “Holy shit! It’s a submarine.”

“Where?” She jumped to her feet.

I pointed at the barely perceptible outline of a submarine’s elongated form that was nearly obscured by the wavy lines around it.

“Yes, I see it. There’s the periscope.” She squealed and slapped my arm in excitement. “What does it mean?”

She swept her gaze up to me and excitement shimmered in her eyes .

“Archer said the Nazis used a naval base in Cuxhaven to house their submarines during the war.”

She cocked her head. “So, you think we need to go there?”

I frowned, trying to piece the clues together. Near the outline of the submarine were four straight lines that made absolutely no sense. I shook my head. “I think it would have been harder to hide the gold bars there. They would have been found by now.”

She put her hands on her hips, thrusting her boobs out, and although I didn’t want to notice her nipples, they were impossible to miss.

“Maybe those wavy lines are the ocean?” She pointed at the marks on the map.

“That makes sense considering the submarine image.”

She tilted her head to look at me. “What about those stairs that went down to the ocean? Maybe they took the gold down those steps and hid them down there?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Let’s see if we can find them. I think we’ve exhausted looking here, anyway.”

I handed her the top map to fold, and I did the same with Pops’ map.

“I feel like we’re missing something,” I said.

“Same, and yet I also feel like we’re onto something. This is fun. How do we find those steps?” she asked.

“They provided access to the ocean, so let’s find the edge of the cliff.”

Leading the way, I barged through the dense bushes and the air grew saltier with each step, confirming we were going the right way. The ground sloped downward, and in some sections, the angle was so steep it was slippery.

The edge of the cliff appeared. A vast ocean spread out before us, dotted with dozens of ships of all sizes.

Lacey whistled. “Wow! Now that’s a view. It makes sense why the castle was built here.”

“And why the Nazis used it.”

“Yeah, you can see all the naval base now.” Shielding the sun with her hand, she looked toward Cuxhaven Wharf.

“Right, let’s find those stairs.” I peered over the edge of the cliff. Sixty feet below, the ocean met with the rock. “There are no waves.”

“Huh. What does that mean? ”

“It means it’s very deep right there. We could probably jump from here.”

“What’s with you and jumping off cliffs?”

“Last time was a castle wall.”

“True, but it was still this high.”

“No, it wasn’t. It was only half this height.”

“Exactly. I wasn’t jumping then. I’m absolutely not jumping now.”

“Come on. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

She waggled her head. “I’m all for some adventure, but you have no idea what’s in that water.”

“You worried about sharks?”

“No, rusty old ships.”

I frowned. “What?”

“When the Nazis knew they were losing the war, they sabotaged a lot of equipment, ships included. They probably drove cars and trucks right off this cliff.”

I squinted at her.

“What?” She pouted her lips.

Her expression was so damn cute I had to drag my gaze away. “How do you know so much about this?”

Her shoulders sagged. “When I first took on this, um, mission,” she said, waving at an invisible connection between us, “I spent a few days at Yasmin and Cole’s place recuperating after that attack. Do you know them? Yasmin and Cole?”

“No.”

“Cole is also Cobra. He works with Aria. Anyway, Yasmin’s father, David, was an expert in military history, and his specialty was Hitler and his war tactics. David had dozens of journals.” She shrugged. “That’s what I studied so I could pretend to be a treasure hunter to work with you.”

“To fool me, you mean?”

She seemed to deflate. “No, I don’t. I worked my ass off learning as much as I could so I could help you find this gold. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To find the gold?” Her chin quivered.

The vulnerability in her eyes was raw and real. And I just about cracked.

“Yes, I do, so I can get rid of you. ”

“Exactly.” She grinned way too wide. “So, let’s start with finding those steps.”

“The access to the stairs must be up here somewhere. You look that way. I’ll go this way.”

I strode away from her.

The jagged cliff face seemed endless, the bushes clinging to the rocks were thick and damn hard to push through, and the land dropped away so sharply, I had no idea how they could have built steps along this section.

Each time I peered over the edge, I studied the water. Maybe they had driven cars over this cliff, gold bars, too. But who made the two maps we carried? Why had they made them? More importantly, had the person who made the maps returned for this gold?

The questions crashed through my mind like a pileup on the M1.

“Kane, over here!” Lacey’s urgent tone yanked me from my impossible questions, and I raced over the rugged terrain to her.

She knelt beside a patch of overgrown bushes, leaning way too far over the edge. “I found it.” She beamed.

I crouched at her side. About ten feet down a set of weathered stone steps were barely visible.

“Damn it. How the hell do we get down there?” I said.