The Amber Room Mystery, Chapter 9

 Kat was running as fast as the map and light would allow her to, navigating the twists and turns of the maze-like lower level of the castle, until she finally reached the door to the outside and pushed it open, running straight into Denise, who was heading towards her!

 

“Owww!!” the two girls exclaimed as they collided.  Luckily, neither was moving too fast, so the collision wasn’t too painful, and the recovered rather quickly.

 

“Why are you in such a hurry, Kat?” Denise asked, once both similarly-dressed girls had recovered.

 

“Ciara…captured…Nick…some girl named…Rachel…she had a gun…” Kat was still trying to catch her breath.

 

“Oh, yes, I encountered them too,” and Denise related how she had first met Rachel back in Berlin, and how Rachel had chloroformed her just a couple of hours earlier.  “I had to go all cheerleader-crazy on Nick to escape!”

 

“Wow,” Kat smiled, impressed.  “You haven’t seen Penelope by chance, have you?”

 

“Actually, yeah, I saw her fighting two of those big goons just a bit ago.  She knocked out one, but the other shot some kind of dart into her neck. I managed to grab these off her before the second guy saw me.”

 

“Her boots?” Kat looked perplexed.

 

“Don’t you remember, when we were in the church?  She hid her half of the key in the bottom of one of her boots!  I sure wasn’t going to let that guy get it, that’s for sure!”

 

“Denise, are you sure you’ve never been on any kind of adventure like this?  You are pretty awesome, how you got away from Nick, and then to think about grabbing her boots…”

 

“I don’t know, it’s like I was terrified but then I was like, maybe those other girls, Amanda, Penelope, they inspired me or something!  I mean if they can do it why can’t we?”

 

“Okay,” Kat nodded, as she took one of the boots.  “I was actually paying a bit of attention when she opened up the bottom of her boot.” She fumbled around until she found a tiny catch.  It took a few minutes of turning it in different directions, almost like a combination lock, but finally it sprung open, revealing the key.

 

“You did it, Kat!”  The two girls hugged.  “See it’s not just me that’s been inspired!”

 

“Maybe you’re right, Denise, I mean, a month ago, I would have never dreamed I would have met someone like Amanda, and gotten involved in all this, but now, I am doing it and it doesn’t feel so strange.”

 

Denise took a deep breath.  “Okay, so as far as we know, we are the only two that are free, right?”

 

“Yeah.  Ciara and I were trying to get hold of Amanda and the others but we had no luck.  So we have to assume they’ve been captured too. There’s a truck down there, under the trees, maybe that’s where they are being taken.”  Kat paused.  “Nick seemed so nice, I can’t believe he is in on this too…”

 

“I don’t know, I thought the same thing about Rachel.  I’m not sure that they are part of the same group as the others.  But they don’t seem to mind using whatever means necessary against us, either.  We need some answers!”

 

“And we need the other half of this,” Kat declared, holding up the small piece of amber. “Penelope was heading down to scope out that truck.  Maybe that’s where we need to go.  At any rate, we need to find out what’s happened to our friends.”

 

“I agree, but I hate to leave the castle knowing Ciara is their prisoner?  I mean, who knows what they have done to her?”

 

“Did they hurt you?”

 

“No,” Denise muttered, “they didn’t.  Nick was getting a bit handsy with me, right before I went all crazy with my kicks.  But they didn’t hurt me at all.”

 

“Like you said, I don’t know if they have anything to do with the other group, and those guys, they scare me, I think they WOULD hurt us for sure.”

 

“Then it is decided.  Let’s get moving!”  Denise still had one of Penelope’s boots in her hand; Kat had the other, and they made their way slowly and carefully towards the back of the truck.

 

“I don’t see anything yet,” Denise whispered to Kat, as they tiptoed along the back of the truck. There was a small window, too tall for either of them to see through.

 

“Here, lift me up a little,” Kat asked, “let me see if I can see anything.”

 

“Okay,” Denise answered, as she stood behind her friend and carefully lifted her up by her waist about a foot, just enough for Kat to peek into the small window.  She looked for a few seconds, then whispered that Denise could let her down.  “What did you see?”

 

“They’re in there…Amanda, Hannah, Lianne, and Penelope.  Each in some kind of wooden crate with a gas mask over their face.  There’s some old lady in a wheelchair, and that skinny guy is in there, and two big guys I didn’t really recognize, and oh yeah, the guy that had a knife on you in the warehouse.”

 

“Omigod,” Denise whispered back, “anything else?” 

 

“There’s three more crates, but they’re empty.” Kat’s expression changed from puzzlement to understanding.  “Seven crates for seven of us…oh and there’s one guy missing, I didn’t see Billy.”

 

Denise took a deep breath.  “Let’s leave the boots here by the base of this tree, and sneak up to the front part of the truck, see if we can see anything else.”

 

“Sounds good.”  They carefully walked around the back side of the truck, towards the front end; there were more windows there, and as they got close, they could see Billy; he was lying down, and on a shelf above his head was the other piece of the amber key.

 

“That’s the guy Penelope knocked out earlier,” Denise whispered.  “He still looks a little out of it.”

 

“We need to get that other half of the key, Denise.”

 

“I know, but if we open this window, he is gonna hear us for sure.  He might still be a bit groggy but he is still bigger than both of us put together!”

 

“Then, we need a distraction.  I have an idea,” and Kat whispered into Denise’s ear.

 

“You want me to do WHAT?” Denise gasped quietly.

 

“Well, you’re ‘bigger’ than me.  Don’t tell me you’ve never flashed a guy before!”

 

Denise blushed slightly.  “I may have, I did go to college you know…okay fine, I’ll do it, but we better do this fast before any of those others show up.”  She crept around the front part of the truck, slowly stepping towards the window he was facing, until she knew she was in his line of vision.  Then, she reached down, unbuttoned the single button holding her green sweater closed, and reached down seductively to the ultra-short white top that barely covered her breasts pulling it up slowly.  She smiled as she watched him get up, his eyes glued to her, as she lifted it up completely, letting her large globes free.  His face was pressed to the window, totally engrossed in the show Denise was putting on for him, as Kat slowly slid the window behind him open, reached her small hand through, and deftly plucked the piece of amber. 

 

As she started to close the window, it made a squeak, and his reverie was suddenly interrupted as he turned to look.  She grabbed her hand holding the amber away and started to run, as Denise, seeing all this, pulled her top back down and started to run up the hill with her.  Every few yards, one of them would look back, but nobody was following them yet, but still they kept running until they made it to the group of rocks and bushes where Penelope had been earlier.

 

“Omigod, we did it,” Kat breathed hard, “we got the amber…we have both halves of the key now,” and she pulled the other half out of her pocket and slid them together.

 

“I can’t believe we did that!” Denise gasped. “What a rush!” They were standing side by side, leaning over a bit as they both tried to catch their breath; they never saw Rachel coming up behind them.  She had a white, soaked cloth in each hand, and quickly, without any warning, she reached around and pressed the cloth in her left hand over Denise’s face, and the one in her right hand over Kat’s.

 

“Mmmmm! MMMMMM! MMMMMM!”  The two girls moaned and struggled, but Rachel’s grip was strong, and the chloroform was as well, and it only took a minute for both to slump helplessly to the ground, out cold.

 

“I’ll take that,” Rachel chuckled, as she took the key from Kat’s motionless fingers.  Sliding it into a bag around her waist, she then rolled a large wheelbarrow up next to them, and carefully lifted Denise’s sleeping body into it, then Kat’s next to her, their legs dangling out of the end, as she rolled her two captives back towards the castle.  Once she got to the door, she called Nick.

 

“I have the key, plus a couple of bonus items. Is yours still secure?  Okay, then get up here, I could use your help with these.”  And she hung up and opened the door, smiling to herself; she knew how close they were to their goal.

 

 

Frau Braun, Kristian, and her two German bodyguards were looking down at Penelope, also known as ‘Black Arrow’, lying peacefully in her crate asleep, next to her friends.  Over in the corner, Steve was eating a slice of pizza, trying to hide his guilt at what he was a part of.

 

“Well done, Kristian.  The Black Arrow will fetch us a fine profit at the slave auction.”

 

“Yes, Fraulein.  She did knock Billy out; he’s up front recuperating.  You think we could get even more from the Agency though, as a reward for returning her?”

 

“Maybe, maybe not.  I’d rather not, who knows, she and the Agency might come after us.  It’s best if we dispose of them all.  Once they’ve been sold, none of them will ever see the light of day again.”

 

“I thought for sure she would have the other half of the key,” Kristian noted.  “She did have this on her, it looks like some kind of map, perhaps for the lower level of the castle-”

 

The door between the two halves the truck flew open, and Billy stumbled in.  He mumbled something in the direction of Frau Braun.

 

“WHAT?” Braun screamed.  “They got WHAT?”

 

Billy was red-faced.  “Two girls, they snuck in, they took the key.”

 

“While you were right there?”  She was incensed.  She reached for her cane and swatted Billy hard across the face.  “I have had it with you incompetents!”  She snarled in the direction of her two bodyguards.  “I am through asking you idiots to do anything.  I’ll do things myself from now on!  Hans, Marten, get me out of this truck, and take me up to the castle!”

 

Kristian was still clutching Penelope’s map. “You want us to come along too, Boss?”

 

“You, and Billy, yes, get your guns and whatever else you have.”  She glared down at Steve, who was still sitting on the floor.  “Pizza Guy, you think you can handle Sleeping Beauties by yourself?”

 

Steve clambered to his feet.  “Yes, Frau Braun. I think I can manage.”

 

“Let’s get going.  Kristian, Billy, you see one of those girls, you shoot first, ask questions later, got it?”

 

“Yes, Frau Braun,” they both replied, as her bodyguards lifted her wheelchair free of the truck and began rolling her out to the sidewalk and up the hill towards the castle.

 

Steve waited until they were out of sight, then he walked around the crates, looking sorrowfully at the four sleeping Sleuths.  They all looked so peaceful, so helpless, so harmless…he stopped in front of Hannah.

 

“This just isn’t right,” he said to her, knowing she couldn’t hear or respond.  “I want the money, and everything else, but I can’t stand by and let them harm you, you’re just too beautiful.”  He reached down, slowly, deliberately, looking around once more to make sure he was completely alone, then removed the mask from Hannah’s face.  Then, he waited.

 

About ten minutes later, Hannah’s eyes started to flutter open.  “Wh-where am I, what happened,” she mumbled as she started to sit up.

 

“It’s okay, you’re okay now, beautiful girl,” Steve smiled as he looked down on her.

 

“You,” she blurted out, “you and your friends, you did this,” she added as she glanced to her left and right, seeing her friends sleeping in their crates.  “YOU!”

 

“Now now, calm down, my name is Steve, and I’m the one that took the mask off of you.  They mean to do awful things to you girls, terrible awful things!”

 

Hannah was rubbing her head as she started to climb out of the crate.  “What terrible awful things…what’s going on…why didn’t you take the masks off them too?”

 

“Our boss, I know you won’t believe me, but she is Eva Braun, THE Eva Braun, the one that married Hitler and everyone thought that she killed herself except she didn’t…she is pure evil…she’s on her way to the castle, she wants the Amber Room all to herself, and she wants to take you girls to a slave auction…”

 

Hannah stood up.  “You didn’t answer my question, STEVE.  Why didn’t you take the masks off of them too?”

 

“You’re the most beautiful, I like you, she will kill me if she finds out all of you are gone, you don’t understand what kind of monster she is, you have to understand, I would never hurt-”

 

WHAM!  Hannah suddenly lashed out at Steve with her fist, catching him square in the chin. The unexpected punch sent him reeling backwards, his head slamming into the wall behind him, as he crumpled in an unconscious heap on the floor.

 

“Asshole.  Like I would believe anything you say.”  Without wasting another moment, she pulled the mask off of Amanda’s face, then did the same for Lianne and Penelope.  It took another ten minutes or so before they were all awake.

 

“Hannah,” Amanda mumbled as she sat up, “what happened, where are we?”

 

Hannah was looking out the window, up the hill, towards the castle.  “I think we’re not far from where we were, and I think we had better head back there as soon as you three are ready.”

 

Penelope was checking her pockets.  “I had a map, they took it, they must be heading for the lower level of the castle.  My boots are gone, they must have my half of the key…”

 

“Mine too,” Amanda added, checking her empty pocket.  “This is not good, I wonder where the others are?  I hope they’re not in even worse danger than we are!”

 

Lianne kicked open the back door of the truck. “Hey Pen, there’s your boots, under that tree.” She climbed out and retrieved them for her friend and boss.  The instant Penelope got them, she checked the secret compartment, finding it empty.

 

“We had better get moving.  It looks like they really do have the key, they have my map, they might have found it all by now!”  She pulled her boots on, and followed the others who were already heading up the hill.

 

 

“You won’t get away with this,” Ciara spat at Rachel.  Denise and Kat were bound next to her in a similar fashion, and were just starting to come to.

 

“Get away with what?” Rachel grinned.  “I’m not some kind of criminal here.”

 

“Really?  I am pretty sure kidnapping is a crime everywhere, and so is art theft.”

 

“Relax, Ciara,” Rachel cooed, as she knelt in front of the struggling brunette.  “I only tied you three up to keep you out of my way.  And we’re not art thieves either.”

 

“Then what are you?” Ciara glared.

 

“Yeah, what are you,” Denise mumbled, as she shook the cobwebs out of her head.

 

“We’re like, independent contractors, private detectives, you could say.  We were hired to do one thing – to find the Amber Room, if it still exists, and provide its location to a Russian political group.  After all, it DOES belong to Russia.  The Nazis stole it during World War II. We are just doing our part, trying to right a wrong.  That’s all.”

 

“And I suppose you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart?”  Kat groaned, struggling against the ropes that had her hogtied.

 

“Oh, no, we are getting paid quite well.  I really would like to go to Harvard, and it’s very expensive, you see,” she winked at Denise. “And Nick here has some large debts to the Dutch mob.  So we both are doing it for the money, that’s it, really.”

 

“Are you done, Rachel?” Nick barked impatiently.  “I would really like to get this door open and see what’s behind it.”

 

“By all means.”  She stood up, marched over to the door, and slid the key inside.  It took a few twists, but the seventy-year-old lock finally clicked and released, opening the door.  Rachel turned her light to the opening; five pairs of eyes were staring, all curious to see what was there…