Frauleinstein

Chapter XIV: Cloudy with a Chance of Death, Part I

Chapter XIV

Cloudy with a Chance of Death

"You're sure this is the right spot?" asked Klaus. He stepped on his garden spade once again, shoving the blade deep into the hard ground. With a grunt of effort he then lifted one more clump of soil, adding it to the pile he was creating.

Roddy lined up his landmarks again, just to be certain. "Within a couple of feet, anyway," he reassured Klaus, noting how the distant trees and rocks lined up to form an 'X' at this spot.

"A couple of feet," Klaus said with exasperation as he tossed another shovel of dirt. Of all the jobs he might take on in any given day, he hated digging the most. "You try digging a couple of feet! How deep did you say this thing would be buried?"

"It's down a, uh... a couple of feet," Roddy had to tell him.

Roddy, Klaus, Maria, and Zolfina were deep in the woods. Captain Lupei's woods, a fair distance from the castle site. After leaving the Golden Crown, Roddy had picked up a few supplies and then brought the whole group out to this spot. All he had told them was that it would be a treasure hunt. Klaus had been digging for half an hour.

"Why am I the only one digging?" Klaus groused.

"Young people today," Zolfina said. "Always complaining of a little hard work!"

Klaus' shovel bit down into the ground once more, but this time he was rewarded with a hollow, wooden 'Thunk'. He looked up at the excited faces above him, then set to clearing the dirt so they could see what he had found.

"That's it alright," Roddy told him, as Klaus had cleared enough to positively identify the wooden covering he had buried more than sixty years earlier. "Clear away the dirt; expose the entire lid."

"How big is it?"

"It's a, uh... a couple of feet," Roddy replied apologetically.

Klaus gave Roddy a look of extreme annoyance. However he set to clearing the lid, and was done within a few minutes. He climbed out of the hole, and all four looked down at the exposed wooden cover together.

"What did you say was down there?" Maria asked. "Treasure?"

"Of a sort," Roddy replied. "We're going to do what Zolfina asked me to do seventy years ago. We're going to destroy that laboratory forever. Down there we'll find everything we need. Maria, why don't you do the honours? Just turn the latch, and open the lid."

Maria was about to step down into the hole when a voice rang out across the woods.

"Not so fast, Roddy Williams!"

Roddy looked up. Calmly he replied, "Detective Miklos! This is a surprise. Do you enjoy the woods as well?"

"You're still not funny!" shouted Officer Dancescu.

"How ever did you find us?" Roddy called out.

"Highway cameras," Dancescu told him. "We knew where you were within a half a mile. Then we found your car and followed you out to this spot!"

"Very resourceful," Roddy commended the pair.

"Give it up Williams," called out Miklos. "You're through. Drop your weapons, hands on your head, and come over to us."

"Of course," Roddy called to him. "I just want to make sure we do this properly. Don't want anyone getting hurt, you know. I think it's traditional to release the hostages first, would you agree?"

Miklos appeared flustered, but finally he said, "Okay, we'll do it your way. Send the hostages over."

"No Roddy!" cried Maria, throwing herself at him. "We are with you! You know we are!"

"Listen to me Maria," Roddy explained like a patient father. "You're no use to me if we're all in jail together. If I'm arrested, I'm going to need a friend on the outside. But for now, I need you to go to the police. Answer all their questions, be completely honest. Go to Miklos. Please."

Maria looked at Roddy, and reluctantly agreed. She kissed his cheek, then turned and took Klaus' hand. Together they crossed the empty field to where Miklos and Dancescu waited for them.

"Stand behind me," Roddy said quietly to Zolfina, as they watched their friends leave in the direction of the waiting policemen.

"Do you have a plan?" Zolfina asked as she moved behind Roddy as requested.

"Pick up the toolbox, then get down in the hole. Turn the latch, and open the lid," Roddy told her.

Zolfina stepped down into the hole, obscured from the view of Miklos and Dancescu by Roddy standing between them. She crouched down and turned the latch, poised to open the lid.

"Roddy, what will I find?" she asked. "A weapon? I know nothing of weapons! What do you want me to do?"

"Just open the lid," Roddy said without turning, still facing Miklos. "You'll know what to do."

Maria and Klaus finally reached the policemen. Dancescu directed them to the side, out of the line of fire.

"What happened to the gypsy?" he asked when he returned to Miklos.

"She stepped behind him," the detective replied. "He doesn't want her to get shot, I guess."

"Very gallant," Dancescu said sarcastically.

"Okay Williams!" shouted Miklos. "Your hostages are safe. Now step out so I can see both of you, with your hands on your heads."

Roddy lifted his arms, and placed his hands on his head. Then he took one step backward, and disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" asked Dancescu. "There's nowhere for him to go! Where'd he go?!"

Miklos grabbed Klaus. "What was in that hole you were digging?" he shouted at him.

"Just a box," Klaus replied, mystified. "He said it was treasure."

"They're crouching in the hole, with his gun!" Dancescu said.

"Give it up Williams!" Miklos yelled. "You're just going to get yourselves both killed!"

There was no reply.

A few tense seconds passed. Miklos was about to call out again, when the empty field exploded. Flames shot from the hole, and earth and stone were thrown into the air from the force of a powerful blast. Miklos and Dancescu covered their heads as debris rained down, even at this distance. Just when they thought it was over, a charred, wooden lid fell at Miklos' feet.

On an impulse, he kicked the lid over. On the back side was the familiar WWII insignia of the German army, an eagle with a swastika, and the words, "Warnung! Explosiv!"

 "Holy Jesus," Miklos said in disbelief. "He blew himself up!"