“Sadly, she was right. She was right about everything. The gold was being stolen and replaced by tungsten bars. On a massive scale. I found out about Plan 79.”
“Why ‘79’?” Riley asked.
“The nucleus of the gold atom has seventy-nine protons and seventy-nine neutrons. It must have seemed like a good code name for the operation. A plot by a cadre of nefarious central bankers working with the Federal Reserve, hoping to corner the gold market and control the world’s finances.
“I rushed back to Washington to tell my brothers what I’d discovered. I even brought fake gold bars with me, as evidence. I thought they’d be shocked. I thought I’d have a hard time convincing them of the truth. Instead, they listened very calmly. And then they congratulated me on figuring it out. Werner laughed. Hans said it took me long enough. And Manny just patted me on the head.
“Then I told them I knew about th
e coins. That got their attention. And I told them that I’d stolen forty million dollars’ worth. They really sat up and took notice then. Six hundred thousand, my ass!”
“What did they say when you told them?” Emerson asked.
“What could they say? I had the gold. I either kept quiet or talked. And if I tried to talk, I knew they’d shut me up. Permanently. But I didn’t need to tell anyone. I knew the secret. I was like the hero of ‘The Gold-Bug,’ who’d figured out the key to the treasure. It was a glorious feeling. That was enough for me.”
“So what went wrong?” Riley asked.
“Yvette went wrong. She couldn’t let it go. I told her to walk away, but she wouldn’t listen. We both knew where they were sending the gold. They were sending it to a place where no one could look for it. Where secrecy was paramount. Where the crazies had built up another myth entirely. Groom Lake. Area 51. When Yvette suddenly disappeared, I knew she’d gone to Groom Lake to snoop around, so I went after her.”
“Why?” Riley asked.
“Another good question without a good answer. I was afraid she’d screw everything up. I was afraid she’d find the gold and blow the whistle on all of us and finally someone would believe her. It wasn’t like I was innocent in all this. I had millions in bootlegged gold coins hidden away. Anyway, I thought I might be able to find her in time and persuade her to abandon the hunt.”
“And?”
“I found her but it was too late. At least it was too late for her.” He looked over at the salt flat. “There’s a whole network of caves underneath the salt flats. People think extraterrestrial spaceships and alien bodies are hidden down there. I wish they were right.”
“You’ve been in there?” Emerson asked.
“Yes. It’s incredible. There’s more gold than you can possibly imagine. God, I’m sick of the stuff.”
“But no alien corpses,” Riley said.
“No. Just Yvette’s. With her head smashed in. When I saw her I couldn’t believe it. It was horrible. It had just happened. And I was almost next. Rollo was there with his scalpel. He came after me and I panicked. I grabbed a gold bar and threw it at him and caught him on the side of his head. I don’t know how I managed to hit him. I was so scared, my vision was blurred. He staggered back and I hit him with another bar. Square in the forehead. Right between his eyes. I turned and ran and I’ve been running ever since.”
“This place is a fortress,” Riley said. “How did you and Yvette get in?”
“She told me she had an access pass. I think it was bogus but it got her in.”
“And you?”
“I’d done some research online. I’d studied satellite photos of the area and I’d eavesdropped on Werner and heard him talking about tunnels. I knew about the mining operation. Lead and silver were discovered in the southern part of the Groom Range in 1864. There are still entrances into those tunnels. I made a good guess based on my eavesdropping and chose the tunnel that led me to the gold. It turns out that security is high aboveground but lacking below. Some of the tunnels are randomly patrolled, and some not at all. There are cameras in the area close to the gold stash but they look rusted out. I’m not sure they’re maintained. Although Rollo did know Yvette was in the gold vault. And he also knew I was there. So some of the security cameras must be functioning.”
“I’m beat,” Günter said. “Has anyone got food?”
Emerson pulled granola bars out of his duffel bag and passed them around.
“How have you been eating?” Riley asked Günter. “Where do you stay?”
“I’ve been hiding out in an abandoned cabin not far from one of the mine entrances. For whatever reason, the guards don’t seem to patrol that patch of the Tikaboo Valley. I have to be careful, but I can pretty much come and go without being seen. I have some money stashed away but it’s not going to last forever.”
“I saw you at Fletcher’s Cove,” Riley said.
“I was trying to help Maxine. She’d had an affair with Werner but he kicked her to the curb when she turned thirty. If that wasn’t bad enough, he demoted her and gave her to me. The whole office knew. It was humiliating for her. I think she lived to get even. In the end, she didn’t live at all.
“When I realized I had to disappear, I gave her a bar of gold to hide. And not just any bar of gold. It happens to have a serial number that identifies it as belonging to the German government.”
“That bar’s worth about half a million dollars,” Riley said. “You trusted her not to just disappear with it?”