“Probably,” said Nemo. “Cell service around here is not reliable enough to use a remote detonator. But they’ll want to be well off the mountain before it goes. I’d say we have a half hour or so.”

“My grandparents died in Dachau,” Jean said softly. “I had never been there until two days ago. Before I went to confront Ingrid Weiss, I went to the memorial at the camp, and they have a monument there that says, in five languages it says, ‘Never Again.’ I guess maybe five languages isn’t enough.”

“She won’t win,” said Patton. “She can’t win.”

At that moment they heard a click from outside the door.

“Sounds like something just activated,” said Patton.

“Given my career choice,” said Nemo, “this is not something I thought I would ever have the opportunity to say, but, ladies, it’s been an honor serving with you.”

april 1945

The night of his brother’s murder, Helmut Werner traded his SS uniform for civilian clothing he found in an abandoned house a few miles away. Keeping off the roads, he spent two weeks escaping on foot to Switzerland. Only when he arrived did he hear of the final capitulation of Germany to the Allies and the death of Adolf Hitler. Changing his name and passing himself off as a German civilian refugee, he lived in Switzerland for six years before returning to his homeland, marrying, and raising a family while working as a civil servant in what was now called West Germany. Himmler had prepared Helmut well for life after the war. When he left Dachau, Helmut had nearly 50,000 Swiss francs sewn into the lining of his coat. He transferred these to the pockets of his new clothes and was staying at a small hotel near St. Gallen when he heard on the radio that Himmler had committed suicide while in custody. He climbed up to his room and wept.

Lying awake in bed that night, Helmut recalled the day that Himmler had shared with him the true nature of Projekt Alchemie.

“So it’s not alchemy at all,” said Helmut with a smile.

“I wouldn’t say that,” said Himmler. “We take something base and worthless and we turn it into something of value. The vermin arrive in the camps and they become mine. Their gold fillings and their jewelry and their watches become mine. The things they have left behind in their stinking hovels become mine. They serve the Reich with their labor, and they serve the Reich with their ill-gotten gold, and then they serve the Reich by dying to cleanse it of their filth and make way for a master race.”