Vargas led the chief through the main corridor directly towards his office. The smoke levels got worse the further inside they went. It was obvious the fire had started in the open-plan area and the partition wall to his office had completely burnt down. Through the smoke, he could make out the small iron safe in the far corner of the office. At first sight it appeared intact. As he approached, he could feel the extreme heat levels emanating from the cast-iron casing, so he gave the combination to Carizzo, who was wearing fire gloves. Vargas held his breath as the fire chief pulled open the door.

The small black case appeared unscathed and, although it was warm to the touch, Vargas was able to hold it with his bare hands. He thanked the chief and made his way out of the station as fast as he could. As soon as he emerged onto the pavement, he placed the case on the ground and flipped open the top. The files were as he’d last seen them and none of the contents had suffered any damage. He puffed out his cheeks and let out a huge sigh of relief.

By the time Vargas returned to his apartment, it was almost three in the morning. Hembury had been dozing on the living room sofa, but stirred as soon as he heard the front door open. Vargas walked in and placed the case on the small oval dining table. Troy immediately fired off a bunch of questions.

“Nic, what the hell happened? Is that Bormann’s case? Did everything survive?”

“Luckily, the firefighters got there before things got too wild.”

Vargas started to open the case. “There’s a lot of damage at the station and my office is burnt to a crisp, but this baby and its secrets survived intact.”

“Nic, yesterday you pulled an all-nighter and whoever did this may have assumed you would be doing the same tonight. Was it aimed at you or the case?”

Vargas thought for a moment. “Probably both.”

“You told me you suspected there was an insider working for Franklin’s people. Well, they’ve just raised the stakes to a whole new level.”

Hembury got some coffee on the go while Vargas placed the three files on the table, along with the two film cans and the tobacco box containing Hitler’s war medals.

“Troy, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Other than the photos I showed you on my phone, there isn’t a comprehensive copy of these documents. If they had gone up in flames, along with the film, the only proof we’d have had left would have been the military medals, which, on their own, may not be enough. We need to scan in all the key paperwork along with the pictures and create a safe file we can place in the cloud, with a couple of backups.”

“Got it. Sounds like another all-nighter.”