In Pursuit of Platinum: The Shocking Secret of World War II (Ben Peters Thriller series Book 1) by Robbie Vic

Author:Robbie, Vic [Robbie, Vic]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Principium Press
Published: 2012-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

41

THE landing at bilbao had been smoother than Weber believed possible and he alighted from the plane feeling relieved and extricated his cigarette case and lit up another smoke. A visiting committee of two officers and a civilian awaited him. The officers, standing to attention as if their lives depended on their posture, greeted him with the respect his mission demanded. They saluted and the civilian shook his hand and ushered him into a Nissen hut in which there were couches and tables and some hot coffee was served. Outside a car, its engine running, waited for him, and his six soldiers and their armoury were shepherded onto a covered truck.

Although the civilian looked Spanish, he spoke perfect German with a Berlin accent and Weber noticed the man didn’t offer a name and neither did he ask him for one.

‘What have you for me?’ Weber took a swig of the strong aromatic liquid. He loved their coffee. The one good thing that could come of this war would be if they could assimilate all the best of the cuisines of occupied countries into the German diet. If it were true an army marched on its stomach, then the Fatherland’s cause was surely lost.

‘I’ve been to the border near Hendaye,’ the civilian said, joining him with a coffee. ‘All the French refugees were stopped at the border and turned back. There was a long queue of traffic and some refused to disperse. The gendarmes went down the line ordering people to leave and a car pulled out of the line and instead of turning around it went up a lane heading for the foothills of the mountains.’

‘The car?’

‘It resembled your description although it was hard to tell the colour because it was covered in mud and was damaged. They said it could have been a Bentley.’

‘Aha!’ He doubted the border guards could tell a Bentley from a horse and cart. ‘Perhaps we’re getting somewhere.’

‘But...’

‘What?’ he snapped.

‘It got away. The gendarmes couldn’t follow the van; the lane was too narrow.’

‘Weren’t they ordered to track it down?’

The civilian spread his hands in apology. ‘We can’t order them... yet. They said it wasn’t their business if someone wanted to drive into the mountains.’

He gave the impression of being angered by this incompetence yet in reality he was relieved. If they’d taken them into custody and asked too many questions, it would have delayed the outcome of his mission. And if they’d discovered the platinum it would have made it difficult for him to get to the woman and her son.

‘So what do we have? Is there a route over the mountains?’

‘Yes, of course, smugglers have been using them for centuries.’

‘Ah, so...’

‘However, it would be impossible to get a car through.’ The civilian shook his head to emphasise it. ‘Impossible.’

Weber didn’t necessarily care about the car or its bullion. The woman and her child were his targets and he had to be careful what he told the civilian and the soldiers. They believed he was

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