The Secret Crown

there is a good chance that his letters would have carried a lot of weight. From the look of this gold and all these crates, a lot of people took the bait.’

Kaiser laughed. ‘Let me see if I got this straight. The King of Bavaria was running a Ponzi scheme on the richest people in Europe? That’s hilarious!’

Ulster shrugged. ‘Actually, no one knows if he was scamming people out of their money, or looking for investors in a legitimate project. The truth is he was killed before his plot was revealed. In theory, the Bavarian government wouldn’t have been pleased with either result – whether he was swindling the rich or hoarding money while refusing to pay his bills. Either way, Bavaria was going to be embarrassed by Ludwig’s actions. That’s why he was eliminated.’

‘Allegedly,’ Payne stressed. ‘Or was there proof?’

Ulster shook his head. ‘As I mentioned earlier, all this – his murder, his secret plan, his disappearance – is pure speculation. The only tangible evidence ever discovered regarding the black swan was a series of Ludwig’s sketches and a few snippets in his diary about a secret organization. Everything else is a mixture of rumours, hearsay and conjecture.’

‘Until today,’ Payne said.

Ulster beamed as he stared at his grandfather’s journal. ‘Yes. Until today.’

‘So,’ Kaiser said, anxious to open the other crates, ‘what’s the next step? Can we dive right in, or do you have to do some kind of archaeology shit?’

‘About that,’ Ulster said, ‘I’m afraid I might have some bad news for you. From the looks of these crates, I’m not sure you’re going to find anything of value.’

Kaiser laughed and snatched the gold bar from Ulster. ‘I don’t know about you, but gold has plenty of value to me. What does this thing weigh? Ten, twelve pounds? This crate alone will buy me an island.’

Jones looked offended. ‘Just a second! I pried off the damn lid. What’s my cut?’

‘Don’t worry, man. You can use my beach.’

Ulster cleared his throat, suddenly nervous. He wasn’t used to dealing with men like Kaiser and wasn’t sure how he would react to bad news. ‘Actually, that’s not what I meant. If my theory is correct, there’s a very good chance that most of these crates are worthless.’

‘Worthless?’ Kaiser blurted. ‘Why would they be worthless?’

Ulster ignored the question. Instead, he searched through the stacks – kicking a few crates, shaking another – until he found three that met his needs. ‘If you don’t mind, can you open these for me? They will illustrate my point.’

‘Sure,’ Kaiser said as he grabbed the crowbar.

‘Actually,’ Ulster told him, ‘tools won’t be necessary. The crates aren’t sealed.’

‘Why not?’ he asked.

‘Remove the lid and find out.’

Intrigued, Payne and Jones moved closer as Kaiser pulled off the first lid. Much to their surprise, the crate was completely empty.

Ulster tapped on another. ‘Now this one.’

Kaiser did what he was told, but it was empty as well.

‘And this one.’

Same thing. The crate was empty.

Ulster motioned towards the stacks. ‘Unfortunately, I have a feeling most of them will be empty. Otherwise, my grandfather wouldn’t have stacked them like this.’

Payne grimaced. ‘Your grandfather? How do you know they were his crates?’

‘Simple. Look at the wood.’

‘What’s wrong with the wood?’ Kaiser demanded.

‘Nothing. And that’s the problem.’ Ulster ran his hand over one of the empty crates. ‘No nicks, no cracks, no scuffs of any kind. Much different to Ludwig’s crate, which was weathered and worn, but quite similar to the crate with my family’s crest. I noticed that earlier, but it didn’t make sense until now. If I had to guess, most of these crates were assembled here in anticipation of my grandfather’s next discovery.’

Jones glanced at the crates. ‘Which was?’

Ulster shrugged. ‘I honestly don’t know what he was searching for. Perhaps his journal will give us a clue, perhaps not. However, based on the size of this bunker and the dozens of crates that fill this chamber, he was preparing for something huge.’

21

Over the next hour, Payne, Jones and Kaiser opened every crate in the bunker while Ulster studied his grandfather’s notes on the other side of the room. To everyone’s disappointment, Ulster’s theory about the crates was proven correct: most of them were empty. The few that had something to offer were filled with family heirlooms – personal items that could be returned to the rightful owners – but nothing came close to the van Gogh crate or Ludwig’s gold.

‘I’m sorry,’ Kaiser said after they opened the final one.

‘For what?’ Payne asked.

‘For wasting your time.’

Payne wiped the sweat off his brow. ‘What are you talking about? You didn’t waste our time. This was kind of fun – in a chain gang kind of way.’

Jones took a gulp of water. ‘Speak for yourself. My back is killing me, and I’ve got a blister on my thumb the size of a dumpling. I hope our host has insurance.’

Kaiser smiled. ‘Just grab some gold, and we’ll call it even.’

Jones considered the offer. ‘It’s a pleasure doing business with you.’

‘In all seriousness,’ Payne said to Kaiser, ‘we appreciated the heads up. Obviously things didn’t work out the way we had hoped – ‘

‘That’s an understatement,’ Jones mumbled.

‘ – but we managed to protect Petr’s reputation. And that’s good enough for us.’

Jones cleared his throat loudly, the sound echoing through the room.

Payne stared at him. ‘What?’

‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’

‘I don’t think so … Am I?’

Jones sighed in disappointment. He had always been better with details than Payne. ‘Please forgive my former captain. The mind starts to go at his age.’

‘What are you talking about? You’re older than I am!’ Payne grumbled.

Jones ignored the comment. ‘What Jon meant to say was this: although we were thrilled to protect the Ulster family name, we’ll still gladly accept the free trip to Oktoberfest.’

Payne paused in thought. ‘Actually, he’s right. That is what I meant to say.’

Kaiser laughed at their antics. ‘Don’t worry, fellas. I’ll keep my word. You’ll still get two days at Oktoberfest. If all goes well, you’ll be in the beer gardens before dinner.’

‘Unless …’ Ulster called from the far side of the room.

All three of them turned towards him. He was sitting on an empty crate with his back against the bunker wall. In his hands, he held his grandfather’s journal.

‘Unless what?’ Payne asked.

‘Unless you want to retrieve the treasure that was destined for these crates.’

Jones stepped forward. ‘What are you talking about?’

Ulster rocked back and forth a few times in order to generate enough momentum to stand up. ‘While you gentlemen have been searching through the crates, I’ve been conducting a search of my own – one that has been a tad more fruitful than yours. According to my grandfather’s notes, his biggest problem wasn’t finding Ludwig’s treasure, it was retrieving it.’

Silence filled the room as they considered Ulster’s words.

A few seconds passed before Kaiser spoke. ‘What do you mean?’

Ulster grinned. ‘I had a feeling that would get your attention.’

‘Well, you have it. Now explain.’