Brad Thor - The Athena Project

When Casey didn’t elaborate, Rhodes asked, “So are we supposed to guess what else the Nazis were working on here, Gretch?”

In the parking area, several fit, serious-looking men with short, military-style haircuts, wearing plain clothes with tan tactical boots, had just taken up positions around a black Range Rover and distracted her. “I’m sorry,” said Casey. “A Czech-speaking SS Obergruppenführer named Hans Kammler had been sent into Czechoslovakia after the Nazis invaded to take over one of its largest industrial-engineering companies, called Škoda.

“Kammler wasn’t a soldier, he was an engineer and a scientist. Some say he was Hitler’s most brilliant. He set up his offices in the city of Pilsen, which we passed about twenty miles back, but he lived here at the castle.

“He was in charge of the Third Reich’s most avant-garde, cutting-edge scientific programs. He claimed that in addition to the quartz found throughout this region, he had discovered other ‘miraculous minerals,’ as he put it, that unlocked doors to things never before seen in science.

“With the assistance of the Škoda staff, he began building bunkers and cave complexes throughout the region where he could protect his research, not only from aerial bombardment by the Allies, but also from the prying eyes of Allied spies, who very much wanted to get their hands on anything and everything that Kammler was working on.

“One of the bunkers he had created was on the grounds here at the castle.”

“But what specifically was he working on?” asked Cooper.

“Hutton said that information was on a need-to-know basis.”

“And we don’t need to know.”

“Exactly,” replied Casey. “What I did manage to get out of him was that it had something to do with bending or absorbing radar waves. That was it.”

Rhodes looked at Casey. “The Soviets took Czechoslovakia from the Nazis over sixty years ago. Why is there this sudden interest in Kammler and Zbiroh now?”

“The castle has the deepest well in Europe; over 550 feet. The well has all sorts of tunnels and passages splitting off from it. Most were sealed with concrete and steel by the Nazis before they fled. Almost all of them were boobytrapped. Whatever the Nazis were doing here, they believed they would eventually return to pick up where they left off.

“According to Hutton, the United States slipped a team in here just as the Nazis were leaving. Based on documents captured from one of Kammler’s lieutenants, we uncovered the location of one of the Nazis’ most secret research complexes.

“With the Soviet Red Army advancing, Kammler’s team abandoned the facility and blew up the entrance. There was a much smaller, very well-hidden secondary entrance, which took the team two days to find.

“When they got inside, they discovered that the complex had been flooded. Scuba equipment was air-dropped to the team, and they salvaged the documents they could and then photographed as much as possible. Because of sheer size, they were not able to extricate any of the equipment.

“They’d only brought a certain amount of explosives with them, so they had to choose between trying to blow the submerged equipment and collapsing the hidden entrance to the complex.

“They decided to destroy the equipment, but were only partly successful. The Red Army was almost on top of their position. After they had called in two airstrikes, the third finally hit the target dead center and completely sealed off the secret secondary entrance.”

“So we’re here to make sure the doors are still closed? Why?” asked Cooper. “It doesn’t make sense. Like Megs said, this research facility is more than sixty years old.”

Casey shrugged. “Ours is not to reason why. We’ve been tasked with reconning the complex and reporting back. That’s what we’re going to do.”

“And after that,” said Ericsson as the women watched a handsome man exit the hotel and climb into the black Range Rover idling in front with his bodyguard detail, “I think I may have found my full set of teeth.”

As Casey watched the Range Rover roll away from the front of the hotel, a bad feeling started to well up from deep within the pit of her stomach.

There was no need to draw straws. Jean “John” Vlcek was Julie Ericsson’s contact, so she needed to be the one to go meet him. And as usual, wherever Julie went, so did Megan Rhodes.

Vlcek had pitched a fit about having to leave his zip code. It wasn’t until Julie played the age card and asked him if he was worried that he couldn’t find decent senior discounts outside Prague that he agreed to meet the women halfway, in a town called Beroun.

Vlcek was a former Delta operative who had served in the Bosnian invasion, taken a liking to that part of the world, and decided to retire there. He was a part-time consultant to the Czech firearms manufacturer CZ and held a minority interest in a tequila bar and music venue in Prague. He had also been one of Julie’s first instructors when she had joined Delta. It was precisely how she knew he was so sensitive about his age.

A gentleman and a professional, Vlcek had arrived at the bar well in advance of Ericsson and Rhodes. It would have been impolite to make the ladies wait for him to get there, and old habits died hard, so he arrived early enough to reconnoiter the bar, get a feel for the clientele, and make sure it wasn’t under any sort of surveillance. When Julie and Megan walked in, Vlcek stood to greet them.

He was in his fifties, with long gray hair that he kept tucked behind his ears. He sported a gray Van Dyke and had piercing blue eyes beneath thick gray eyebrows. His nose was long, but not unattractively so. He was good-looking, in a rugged sort of way. “Hello, Ms. Ericsson,” he said, putting his arms out for a hug.

Julie walked right up and embraced her former instructor. “It’s really good to see you.”

“How’s the leg?”

Ericsson had been shot a couple of months back when the team had been taking out a terror cell in Chicago. She stepped back from him, tapped her leg, and replied, “Good as new.”

“Ah, to be young again,” said Vlcek.

He was staring at her teammate when he said that, and she couldn’t tell if he was referring to the ability to heal quickly or his interest in Megan. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. “John, this is Megan,” she said. “Megan, John.”

“Damn, you’re tall,” said Vlcek.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too,” replied Rhodes.

“And good-looking, too.”

So much for the benefit of the doubt. “Easy, big fellah,” said Julie.

“How do the boys at the Unit get any work done with you ladies around?”

Megan didn’t miss a beat. “All their trousers have bull’s-eyes painted on the flies,” she replied. “And we’ve got Tasers.”

“Ouch,” said Vlcek as he placed his hand over his crotch, and Megan winked at him.

A waitress came over as they took their seats, and the trio ordered coffee. They made small talk and caught up until she came back, and then they got down to business.

“Were you able to get everything on the list?” asked Ericsson.

“All business, this one,” said Vlcek to Megan. “I bet she does all the heavy lifting for your team.”

“We all do the heavy lifting. That’s why it’s called a team .”

Vlcek dismissed the remark with a wave. “What I mean is that she’s happy doing what needs to be done, even if it’s not the most glamorous stuff. I’ll bet she does most of the team’s driving, right?”