It wasn’t until they were halfway to Berchtesgaden that she realized those words were not exactly true. She had left behind one irreplaceable item. She had purchased it as a way to feel closer to Heinrich Himmler, the man for whom her grandfather had worked, and who had begun Projekt Alchemie. Late at night, when sleep would not come, Ingrid would leaf through the pages of the ledger—a list of all the books in Himmler’s secret library of the occult. She had, of course, obtained copies of nearly every book on that list that mentioned alchemy and read them all carefully, but they had shed no light on Himmler’s secret project. And naturally she had made a digital copy of the ledger. Still, she loved the physical feel of the book, a book that Himmler himself had held and used again and again. She liked to run her finger down those columns and imagine that library and the great man himself pulling a book off the shelf and sitting by the fire as he read. Now the ledger sat on her bedside table fifty miles away. She would miss that means of communing with Himmler, but now was no time for sentimentality. The Reichsführer himself had set them on the road to Berchtesgaden and soon they would realize his dream and Projekt Alchemie would change the world.

Nemo, Ruthie, and Patton had parked at the end of the street and saw the lights go out at Ingrid Weiss’s house. A few moments later, a black BMW pulled out from behind the house and disappeared in the opposite direction.

“They took the bait,” said Nemo.

“It can’t be that easy,” said Ruthie.

“It’s not,” said Patton. “But give me a half hour and I can make it a lot easier.”

They had assumed that Weiss did not work alone and would not leave her lair unguarded. But Patton would set up a surveillance system that would give them infrared eyes inside the house, allowing them to pinpoint anyone left behind and monitor their movements. As uncomfortable as she had been earlier in the stuffy back seat of the car, she now felt almost exhilarated. She was in her element, doing what she had trained to do and doing it well.