They traversed the crumbling limestone walls, with the Afrikaner carefully checking each shadowy overhang to make sure it offered no means of escape. The stream terminated in a large crescent basin of deep, wonderfully clear water, and Nash’s hopes disintegrated. Somewhere, in the shadows of the sinkhole wall where it plunged out of sight, was the huge passage through which the water in the flooded gorge had escaped. Unfortunately, without dive gear, it was not an option.

Back at the crumpled stern, Boerman held up his massive hand like a traffic cop.

‘Tomorrow we ferry in the gear. You’ll be staying here.’

Now Nash understood the reason for their thoroughness.

‘Don’t look so pissed off.’ Boerman grinned. ‘I could have told you after you’d climbed back up to the rope.’

Testing a handhold on the buckled steel of the stern, Boerman pulled himself up and climbed at speed to the conning tower. Nash watched as he efficiently jumared his way out of sight to the surface. The rope was then pulled up. Some time later, he heard the helicopter taking off, before the sound gradually faded away.

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Being the truthful account of Dr Jürgen Fürth (George Ford), July _? 1945

It has been three weeks since we escaped the clutches of Martin Heider. Our escape is so miraculous no one would ever believe it. Fortunately, it is a tale that will never be told. When Ilse led me out of the submarine into the vast cave lake, I believed it was a hallucination. Electric lights strung over its superstructure made the I-403 look like an ocean liner, except it was crewed by dead men. The bodies of the Japanese collaborators lay where they had been gunned down. Ilse told me some of the SS had slipped away last night, but not before they had assembled two of the torpedo bombers.

The sleek seaplane faced the bright opening of the cave, which hurt my eyes to look upon. Climbing onto one of the floats, Ilse told me to hurry, for Heider was preparing to leave. She opened a flap in the belly of the plane, and I saw the cavity was stuffed full of gold bars. Ilse began throwing them into the water, and we did not stop until we figured we had removed enough to compensate for our combined body weights. Not a moment too soon, we sealed ourselves inside, for Heider and the sole surviving Japanese pilot clambered into the cockpit, and started the engine with a deafening roar.