Vargas smiled at his friend. “There’ll be plenty of time to sleep on the plane.”

Hembury poured them both some steaming hot coffee and passed a mug to Vargas. “What time are we heading for the airport in the morning?”

Vargas carried a handful of papers over to the scanner that was sitting on top of a small cupboard. “We need to leave by eleven thirty but, before then, I have one more job to do.”

“Which is?”

Vargas held a wad of papers up in the air. “Find a safe place for this stuff.”

Chapter Forty

19 July 1975

Zurich Airport

The Grumman Gulfstream touched down on the tarmac with its trademark silky landing and the two VIP passengers immediately disembarked and walked across to the waiting blacked-out Mercedes 600 limo.

Richard Franklin relished his foreign trips with Bormann, especially when it was just the two of them. He would regale him with stories of the glory days when the Third Reich was in its pomp and his father was riding high and looking invincible. Richard loved hearing first-hand accounts of the Anschluss – the unification of Germany with Austria; the unopposed seizure of Czechoslovakia and the spectacular Nazi parade down the Champs-Élysées after the French capitulated. Then came the betrayal. The arrogant generals who stubbornly refused to follow the Führer’s military orders. Finally, the reality, in late 1944, that the war was lost and the recognition that Nazi treasures would inevitably fall into the hands of the communists and Western Allies. Bormann explained to Richard how, at that time, he looked for a safe haven and began shipping Nazi gold and priceless artworks to Switzerland and South America.

Goehner and Roths was one of the oldest private Swiss banks, having been established in1865. Their motto, engraved on the gold oval nameplate above the main red-brick entrance stated “Personal Service and Discretion”. Discretion was a code word for secrecy. The bank, which was situated on Bahnhofstrasse, one of the most exclusive avenues in Zurich’s business quarter, also operated a small number of undisclosed vaults that were hidden in underground bunkers built into the foothills of the Alps. These secret facilities were not subject to normal banking regulations and were only available to clients who held over a billion dollars on account. They couldn’t be accessed by road or foot and therefore the bank laid on a helicopter for those “special” clients who desired to visit their secret possessions.

After a short fifteen-minute flight, Franklin and Bormann, accompanied by the bank’s chief executive, Christian Keller, passed through the various security protocols and finally reached the entrance to their private vault. Richard felt as though he were entering a classic Bond villain’s lair that had literally been carved out of the side of a mountain.