Fast Ice by Cussler Clive & Brown Graham

Author:Cussler, Clive & Brown, Graham [Cussler, Clive & Brown, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, Adventure, Mystery, Suspense, Historical
Amazon: B08BKS6PSD
Goodreads: 54403811
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Published: 2021-03-09T08:00:00+00:00

30

BERLIN

Paul and Gamay arrived in Berlin, finding it warmer and wetter than Finland but just as gloomy. The overcast sky was heavy and low. A spitting rain drifted in the air like mist.

“I’m sure we’ll see the sun again,” Paul mused. “One of these days.”

“Not anytime soon,” Gamay said. “By the description Rudi gave, we’ll be going underground soon.”

Traveling by car, they crossed Berlin, passing the Brandenburg Gate and then the famous Reichstag, which housed the German parliament before World War II, only to be abandoned and left to rot until the reunification of East and West Germany.

The Reichstag was an impressive structure, old in style and designed with unrepentant grandeur but updated with modern touches, including a glass-domed roof that was lit boldly at night.

Berlin was filled with many such buildings, along with plenty of modern architectural wonders offering eye-pleasing lines. The Berlin Document Center was not one of them.

As they pulled onto the property, Paul summed it up succinctly. “This is a depressing-looking place.”

“It was once the secret headquarters of Hermann Göring and the SS,” Gamay replied. “Surely you weren’t expecting rainbows and unicorns.”

The name itself was part of the problem. Calling it the Berlin Document Center conjured up images of a modern government building, something big and square, with glass walls and open plazas. But the BDC was made up of smaller buildings constructed in the 1940s. The structures aboveground had once accommodated loyal SS members, while the bunkers down below served as a domestic spying operation in which hundreds of trained eavesdroppers tapped phone lines throughout the city. Nearby lay barracks that had once housed squads of vicious commandos and brutal interrogators waiting for their next victim.

In stark contrast to the drab site, Paul and Gamay were greeted by a stylish woman named Andrea Bauer. She was attractive but stern, wearing rimless glasses and a navy blue pantsuit. Ms. Bauer was the lead historian at the center.

“Guten Morgen,” Gamay said. “Vielen Dank, dass Sie uns so kurzfristig getroffen haben.” She’d been learning German for several months and was attempting to say Good morning. Thank you for meeting us on such short notice.

“You’re most welcome,” Ms. Bauer replied. Her accented English was better than Gamay’s attempt at German. “Your office in Washington alerted me to your needs. We have everything prepared. Please come this way.”

They followed her past the small buildings and through a heavy iron gate to a larger concrete structure. On the far side, they took a stairway down to one of the bunkers.

After passing through a bombproof door installed in 1943, they emerged into a large open room. What had once been the heart of the wiretapping operation now was a research center. Staff members stood at tables around the room, busily working on various documents.

Ms. Bauer explained. “Millions of files from the Nazi Party were recovered after the war. And millions more have been rounded up over the past fifty years. They have been meticulously stored and catalogued here. A microfilm record was

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