The Amber Room Mystery: Chapter 5

Ciara sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked around the room.  It was morning, and the four girls had crashed hard when they finally got back to the hostel.  Ciara had slept on the couch, there only being three beds in the room; as she yawned, she told herself it wasn’t the worst night of sleep she’d ever had.

She looked across the room; Hannah and Kat were still asleep in their beds, but Amanda’s bed was empty.  As her eyes moved across the room, she saw her friend sitting at the desk by the window, the lamp above her turned on and illuminating whatever it was she was looking at.  Ciara stood up and slowly walked over to see what her friend was up to.

“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked, as she walked around to Amanda’s left, peering over her shoulder as she did so.

“I got four hours, that’s about all I need.  I am trying to make sense of this map I found last night.”  Amanda pointed at the piece of paper on the desk in front of her.  

“Where did you find that?” Ciara questioned as she glanced at it.

“It was in the pocket of one of the guys from the barn.  I…swiped it while Nick was inside untying the three of you.”  Amanda motioned to the corner.  “It’s from 1945, and it’s German, but it’s incomplete – it looks like it was ripped in half.”

“What good is half a map?” Ciara quipped.  “There’s two large words here, they look like place names, but all you have is the last half of each word?”  She ran her finger across each: ‘nhohle’ and ‘berg’.  “It definitely looks old – it’s in black and white and all.  What do you think it’s of?”

“I really think it has something to do with the Amber Room,” Amanda replied.  “Do you have your tablet with you?”

“Yeah.  I forgot to plug it in to charge last night, but I think it still has some battery left.  You mind if I get dressed first though?”

“Go ahead.  Your clothes are over here though,” and she pointed to three neatly stacked piles of clothing on top of the dresser.  “I took the liberty of washing everyone’s stuff when I woke up; hope you don’t mind.”

“You washed everything?”  Ciara reached for her clothes and selected a khaki button-up shirt, short khaki shorts, and dark stockings.  

“Well, with how light the three of us packed, and as much as we have been traveling, we have to wash clothes whenever we can.”  The sound of the shower running caused them to turn their heads; Kat’s bed was empty, and some of the clothes from her clean stack were gone.  “Okay I have my tablet Miss Jones, what am I supposed to be looking at?”

“Type this website in,” Amanda answered.  “It’s a map archive site.  You can scroll through hundreds, thousands of maps…if this map is out there somewhere, I would bet it’s on this site.”

Ciara pulled up a chair next to Amanda, and typed in the link.  She clicked on the first map that came up.  “So you just want me to keep scrolling until I find something that looks like this map?”

“Exactly.  I am starting at the end, so this way we can get through the maps in half the time.”

“So, why did you tell that Nick guy last night that we were done ‘sleuthing’ around?  I gotta tell you, it took everything I had not to say ‘bullshit’ when I heard those words come out of your mouth!”

“Well first off, I don’t know him.  Hannah made a good point – why was he so interested in what we were doing?  She told me that he showed up at the bar last night and came to their ‘rescue’ there too.  I will admit, he’s kinda cute and all, but maybe too good to be true?  And second, I wanted him to believe that I threw the key out in the woods.”

“You didn’t even have the key.  So it’s still lost?”

“Nope,” a voice tittered from behind them.  “Not lost at all!”  Kat emerged from the bathroom, dressed in her tiny silver top and short khaki shorts.  

“So, Kat, the key, where is it?” Amanda asked.  Kat giggled and started to unbutton her shorts.

“Oh no, don’t tell me you put it where I think you put it,” Ciara gasped.

Kat smiled and rolled down the front of her shorts just enough to show the hidden pocket.  “Here,” she smiled, as she removed the thin piece of amber.  “Right where I put it yesterday.”

“Kat,” Amanda laughed, “I just WASHED those!”  She took the piece of amber from Kat’s hand and examined it.  “Good as new.  Amber is pretty sturdy stuff, I guess!”  She handed it to Ciara.

“So, Amanda,” Ciara inquired, as she rolled the piece of amber in her fingers, “how do you know what this is? And how did you get it?”

“Well, the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Amber Room has had my interest for as long as I can remember.  I have read every book and news clipping I could find relating to it.  A couple of months ago, I stumbled across an online community that was discussing it, and struck up a conversation with one of the users.  His handle was bernsteinzimmer – that’s German for ‘Amber Room’.  Anyhow, when I told him that I was going to be backpacking through Europe this summer, he told me he had something he had been keeping for many years, and he didn’t have any relatives to leave it to, and as he was old and in poor health, he wanted somebody to have it who would appreciate it.”

“So this old man, he had this piece of amber?  What did he tell you about it?”

“All he said was that it was part of the key to unlock the mystery of the Amber Room.  He said that by itself it was useless.  He left me directions to pick it up yesterday, that’s why I left early and got to Konigsberg before you,” she added, turning to Kat.  

“Why didn’t you just tell us about it before?” Kat retorted.  “Do you not trust us yet?”

“Oh no, it’s not that at all.”  Amanda’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.  “The whole thing, with meeting some random guy off the Internet, I mean I didn’t even know if he was legit?  I’ve been burned before, getting all excited about something that turned out to be nothing.”

“This groove is interesting.  It looks like this piece of amber is made to fit into something else?” Ciara wondered, as she passed the piece of amber back to Amanda.  “Or maybe there should be another piece that slides into it.”

“I think you’re right!”  Amanda exclaimed as she glanced at it again.  “That’s our archaeologist!  Have I mentioned that I am really glad you’re here, Ciara?”

“Did you meet this man?” Kat interjected.  “Maybe he knows more than he is telling you?”

“No, he said it was too dangerous to meet in public.  He gave me detailed instructions to pick up the envelope in a safe deposit box.  I had to give the bank worker a whole bunch of information before he would let me have it.  I tried sending the man a message back this morning, to let him know I got the package, but he hasn’t replied.”

They heard the sound of the shower again as Hannah was up.  Kat was looking at her phone.  “Hey, there’s something in the news.  A break-in last night in a museum in Bremen - that’s northeast Germany.  The only thing that was taken was a small piece of amber.”

“Whoa,” Amanda gulped.  “Does it say anything else? Did they catch who did it?”

“A woman dressed in black, like a cat burglar or something.  She was moving too fast past the cameras for them to identify her, but it says she is still at large.”

Amanda took a deep breath.  “Okay, we need to take a step back and look at what we have here.  We have a piece of amber that we think is part of a key – and someone wants it pretty bad, judging from what happened to us last night.  There’s another piece of amber that was stolen from a museum last night.  And then there’s this piece of a map that I found in the pocket of one of our attackers.  I think we are really onto something here, something big!”

“I’ve been scrolling through these maps, and not a single one looks like this fragment,” Ciara interjected.  “I’ll keep looking while you keep talking,” she added with a wink.

“So what do we do next?” Kat asked.  

“Has anyone seen my phone?” Hannah came out of the bathroom, dressed in a green sweater and capris, with her hair still wet.

“Your phone!” Amanda exclaimed.  “The guys that kidnapped you, they had it, right?  I bet they still do!”

“It had all my contacts, my photos, everything.  What am I going to do?”

“You could try calling it?” Kat offered.  “Or maybe it’s still in the barn?”

“No,” Amanda interrupted, “I have a much better idea.  You remember last week, we got that app that lets us see each other’s GPS location from our phones?  All I have to do is turn mine on and I should be able to see exactly where your phone is!”  

“I forgot all about that,” Hannah muttered.  “It’s just a phone, though.  I can always get another one when I get home.  I really don’t want to run into those guys again – even if they are still tied up in the barn.”

Amanda was looking at the app on her phone.  “Well you won’t have to worry about checking the barn.  It’s not here anymore, and it’s moving.”

“Moving?”

“Yeah, I am zooming in now to see if I can see where.” She tapped the screen of her phone repeatedly.  “It’s moving north…it’s on a train.”

“Oh well.  Like I said, it’s not the end of the world.  I’ll just get another one.”  Hannah paused, looking into the faces of her friends.  “Although…”

“Oh no,” Kat hollered.  “I’ve seen that look, Hannah.  You have an idea don’t you?”

“Well if we are going to keep pursuing this ‘Amber Room’ like you seem to want to, Amanda – and yes I heard most of your conversation earlier – then shouldn’t we see where these two are off to?  This is our only chance to find where they are going, and maybe why they want that piece of amber so badly.”

Amanda had a train schedule in her hand.  “Then we better move – the next northbound train leaves here in twenty minutes.  I have a feeling that where they are headed may answer some of our questions.”

“So I guess the ‘Summer Sleuths’ are still going strong!” Kat declared.  “And now there are four of us!”

“Here, Kat, why don’t you hang on to the piece of amber,” Amanda stated as she handed it back.  “I think you have the best hiding place!” She folded up the map carefully and tucked it into the pocket of her denim shorts.  Five minutes later, the four girls were out the door and walking towards the train station with their packs on their backs.

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Lianne opened her eyes slowly and lifted her head, looking around.  She had no idea where she was; the last thing she remembered was being in the hire car and two men showing up, one of them pushing a cloth over her face, and then nothing.  She looked down, relieved to see that she was still dressed.  

The room was fairly well-lit, with a closed door on each wall, but no windows.  Lianne looked to her right, and stretched out unconscious on a table a few feet away was Penelope.  She was on her back, her black suit unzipped almost all the way to her crotch, exposing her chest and stomach.  Her black gloves and boots were off and sitting on the floor below her.

“Pen?” she whispered, but her friend was out cold.  Lianne looked to her left, and lying on a similar table was a girl she had never seen before.  She had shoulder length brown hair, and her black blouse and bra had both been pulled up over her rather large bosom; she also appeared to be unconscious.  Her grey skirt was pulled up around her waist, revealing her matching black undergarment and bare legs, and her black pumps were on the floor beneath her.

Lianne sat up slowly, and as she did, she heard male voices coming from the next room.  She got up from the table quietly and walked to the wall, putting her ear against it, and this is what she heard:

“So Kristian, where did you find the American bimbo?”

“At a library in Berlin.  She had half of the map.  I understand you have the other half?”

“In my pocket.”

“Let me see it.  Before the boss gets here, I want to make sure we have what we promised.”

“I swear I had it right here, right in this pocket.”

“Well I suggest you find it fast.  You know happens if the boss gets upset.  What about the blonde – she’s the one that stole the piece of amber, right?”

“That’s what the guys said that brought those two in.  Steve searched that broad all over and couldn’t find it.”

“She must be working for someone and passed it off then.  Where’s the other piece?”

“We found it but this American bitch threw it into the woods.  We looked all over this morning but we couldn’t find it anywhere.”

“So you lost the map and the amber?  I told the boss not to hire you retards.  You better get your ass moving and find where you put that map, or I wouldn’t want to be you when the boss gets here.  Once they wake up, I’ll get the information we need out of them.”

Lianne heard footsteps, and then a door opening and closing.  Then, it repeated a minute later, as someone else came in.  She heard the following:

“Steve, get in there and keep an eye on them.  The moment one of them wakes up, call me.  Especially the blonde in the black suit – I need to know who she gave the amber piece to.”

“I’m gonna grab a drink first.  Need something to wash down this pizza.  That OK, Kristian?”

“Make it quick.  You two haven’t shown me any reason to keep you around so far.  Heads are gonna roll when the boss gets here.”

She took a deep breath and looked around the room, and that’s when she saw Penelope’s phone in the corner.  She knew that in Black Arrow’s hands it was much more than a phone, it was a weapon!  She slid over and picked it up, then walked quietly back to Penelope’s side, carefully slipped her hand inside the open black suit and found what she was looking for: a small packet of smelling salts.

She opened the packet and pressed it to Penelope’s nose; in a few moments, the salts did the trick, and Penelope sat up slowly.

“What happened…where are we…Lianne-”

“Not now.  Somebody’s coming soon.”  Lianne pressed the phone into her friend’s right hand, turning it so it was hidden from view.  “They need to think we are still unconscious,” she added as she got back up on the center table, back in the position she was in when she woke up.

The door opened and Steve walked in, a slice of pizza in one hand and a can of soda in the other.  “This is my lucky day I guess! Three hotties all to myself.  What’s a guy to do?”  He took a bite of his pizza and popped the soda can open, taking a swig before setting both down.  He walked over to Denise first, and ran his hand up and down her bare, toned, tanned legs a couple of times before moving his attention to her exposed chest.

“Perfect, just perfect.  Kristian says the boss is gonna sell you broads to the auction when we’re through – it’s a shame really, I would love to have you all to myself.”  Denise never stirred, breathing gently and easily as Steve’s hands roamed all over her body.  After a few minutes, he moved over to Lianne.  It was all she could do to keep quiet as his hands slid up and down her hose covered legs.  Then his hands slid up underneath her sweater, groping her breasts roughly, before pulling them out and moving up to her face.  Steve brushed the hair from her face and gave her a deep, wet kiss.

She breathed a silent sigh of relief when he finally moved on to Penelope.  Once his back was turned, she opened her eyes just enough to see what he was doing: his fingers were caressing Penelope’s bare skin where her suit had been unzipped.  She told herself to lie still and be patient – this was Black Arrow’s area of expertise and Lianne knew her friend would know exactly what to do!

“It’s too bad you’re not awake to enjoy this,” Steve smirked as his hands started to roam underneath the black suit, one of his hands straying down to caress her black stockings.  He had no idea that Penelope was awake and enjoying it in a way he couldn’t imagine; this wasn’t the first time she had pretended to be unconscious and it made her body tingle all over from the excitement it was causing her.  Her body was limp, as if she was almost offering herself up to him, her head back, mouth open.  His fingers found her hardened nipples and he leaned down to give one of them a quick nibble.

In fact, Penelope knew she had to act before she started to enjoy it TOO much and lost the element of surprise, or for that matter the desire to end the sensations she was experiencing.  Her hand gripping the phone jerked up suddenly, finding the center of his chest just as her thumb clicked the taser on.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” Steve screamed as his body convulsed from the electric shock.  Penelope leapt up, keeping the taser pressed to his chest until he slumped to the floor.  Her left hand went to her zipper, pulling it up as she kept her phone aimed at Steve just in case he wasn’t completely incapacitated.

Lianne opened her eyes and jumped to her feet, looking down at Black Arrow’s handiwork.  “Is he out?”

“I think so.  All thanks to you! That was some quick thinking!”

“I’ve been watching you too much I guess!” Lianne exclaimed.  “There are two other guys around here though, at least. One of them doesn’t sound very nice at all – I heard their conversation.  We need to find a way out of here before-”

Her sentence was interrupted by the door at the other end of the room opening suddenly.  A large man stood there, wearing a black shirt, jeans, and black boots.  He had a large knife in his right hand, and the look on his face showed he had no problems using it.

“You aren’t going anywhere,” Kristian barked.  He looked down at the unconscious Denise right in front of him and grinned as he reached down and wrapped his left arm around her torso, pulling her up, as he pressed the knife against her right breast.  “Make a move and I’ll ruin this beauty good.”

“What do you want?” Penelope snapped.  

“The amber.  I know you stole it from Kunsthalle last night.  Who did you give it to?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You lie.”  Kristian pressed the point of the knife deeper.  

“We don’t even know who she is,” Penelope responded as she pointed towards Denise, who was starting to stir.

“Who are you working for?  Tell me.  I have no qualms about carving her up if you don’t start talking right now.”

Lianne gasped, as Denise’s eyes flew open suddenly and she screamed.  Kristian calmly moved his left gloved hand over her mouth, silencing her.  “Now shh, behave yourself and I won’t hurt you.  These nice ladies were about to tell me something important and I can’t have you screaming or else I won’t be able to hear them.”  He turned his stare back to Black Arrow.  “WHERE is the amber?”

“Why the hell is it so important?  Have you even seen it? It’s too small to be worth much,” Penelope sputtered in reply.

“Ah, I see. You’re just a common thief.  You had no idea what you were hired to steal.  Now who did you pass it off to?”

Penelope’s eyes widened suddenly, because she spotted a shadow behind Kristian, on the other side of the open door…

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Amanda Jones and the rest of the ‘Summer Sleuths’ – Ciara, Hannah, and Kat – had arrived at the abandoned warehouse in Muhlhausen twenty minutes earlier.  It had been an hour’s train ride, and then a ten minute walk from the train station, as they followed the app in Amanda’s phone that was directing them to the location of Hannah’s phone.  They had left their packs in lockers at the train station, and so the ten-minute walk wasn’t a hard one at all – even for Kat in her heels!  

The four girls had found an unlocked door on one side and were walking down a hallway; the app was telling Amanda that they were only thirty feet or so away from Hannah’s phone.   Amanda motioned for the others behind her to slow down, as she saw an open door up ahead.  

“Shh,” Ciara whispered.  “I hear voices.”  She looked down and saw a piece of pipe lying on the floor, and reached down to pick it up.  “Just in case we run into trouble,” she whispered to Amanda, as they got closer to the door.  Wielding the pipe, Ciara took the lead.

As Ciara got close, she saw a man she didn’t recognize, his back to her.   She peered around the doorway, and saw two women standing on the other side of the room, looking afraid, and then she saw the reason: the man had a knife to a third woman that was in his grasp.

“I’m asking you one more time, bitches.  Tell me where the amber is in the next ten seconds, or I start slicing her up like a Christmas ham.”

Ciara knew she had no time to think.  She swung the pipe hard at the back of his head.  Kristian didn’t even make a sound as his grip on Denise and the knife loosened, and he sunk to the floor like a rock in the ocean.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then Denise turned and without thinking gave Ciara a huge hug.  “Thank you, whoever you are, thank you!”

“Umm, you’re welcome,” Ciara replied as Denise finally broke the embrace and then blushed as she realized the state of undress she was in.  She pulled her bra, blouse, and skirt back down, as the other Sleuths followed Ciara into the room.

“You’re both Americans,” Penelope remarked.  “Okay, what on earth is going on here?”

“I’m wondering that too,” Lianne echoed.  “But I’m thinking we should have that conversation someplace else, before these two wake up and the other guy or their boss shows up?”

Hannah looked over at the unmoving body of Steve.  “That’s the guy we ran into in Konigsberg.  Him and his friend Billy.”  She turned to Amanda.  “Where does it say my phone is now?”

“In this room.  Check his pocket maybe?”  

Hannah knelt by Steve’s body and reached into his jeans pocket, pulling out her stolen phone.  “Got it.”  She looked it over.  “Seems to be okay.”

Denise found her shoes and was putting them on.  “I have no idea who any of you people are.  And I want to get away from this place as fast as I can – is there someplace we can go that’s safe so we can talk?”

Ciara turned to Kat.  “This is your country, Kat, where would you suggest?”

“Muhlhausen has a lot of old churches.  One of those would be as safe a place as we’ll find and there are no services today so other than the priests they’ll be pretty empty.”

Penelope was tugging on her boots.  “Sounds good to me.  I have a hunch we are all looking for the same answers, why else would we have all ended up here?”  

“Alright Kat, lead the way!” Amanda cheered, as all seven girls filed out of the room.  As they headed down the hall, Denise spotted her luggage sitting against the wall.

“That’s mine, thank heavens, I thought for sure it was lost!” she exclaimed joyfully as she pulled up its handle and started rolling it behind her, following the other six young women as they all started walking towards the city of Muhlhausen, each of them full of curiosity about what had just transpired…