“An operative? You think Grossman is a spy?”

“I do. And a very good one, too. No doubt in my mind he’s had covert training. To best Nigel, who’s trained in hand-to-hand combat, and to best you, as well? To sneak in here like a thief in the night and confront us? And to put together the operation in only a few hours? He had no idea who we were until he came to Ariston’s this morning. Yes, to plan and execute this so quickly, get past my security and my butler? And you? He’s a pro.”

“Maybe you need a dog.”

He laughed. “Not a bad idea. Nigel would walk him and he’d hate that. Yes, that’s good.”

“Do you have any idea what Grossman’s real connection was to Jonathan Pearce, and to Sophie?”

“Not yet, but I’d wager there was something in that book Sophie passed him this morning. She was so adamant he receive the package. You could tell he wanted it badly.”

Mike said, “When Grossman had me around the neck, he said something I’ve heard you say—There’s a good girl. And he sounded British before he realized it and reverted back to perfect American.”

Nicholas perked up. “Interesting. No one ever checked him out, did they?”

“We had a lot of balls in the air today. I do remember he said he owned a pub. It won’t be hard to see if he was telling the truth. We’ll have to ask Ben, he can do a background on him. If Grossman’s even his real name, of course. So Sophie’s in on it since she did hand off the book to Grossman, plus she wasn’t at all anxious to help us. And Adam, of course.”

“Yes, the whole bloody family. A family enterprise.”

Mike said, “All right, so tell me this, who does Grossman work for?”

“Haven’t a clue. Not yet, anyway. This Havelock character, perhaps, or another bad guy who wants to benefit from Pearce’s sudden knowledge of the submarine’s location. Speaking of the sub, Adam’s finding its exact location seems to be the trigger.”

Mike sat forward, excited. “And once Adam told his father he’d located the sub, his father wrote to the list of fifteen men on his computer, the ones whose correspondence was sprinkled with code. You’re exactly right—finding the sub was the precipitating event. Bad guys converged on New York. And here we are.”

Both of them were thoughtful, silent. Mike said, “So we know the sub’s resting place was narrowed down to the northern coast of Scotland.”

“Correct. Actually, I know exactly where it is,” and he waved a piece of paper.

She jumped up from the couch, grabbed his arm. “Nicholas, that’s it. What Pearce said to Mr. Olympic when he was dying—The key is in the lock? That’s exactly right, only it’s not a lock on a door. It’s a loch, L-O-C-H, like a Scottish lake.”

He smiled. “You’re amazing, you know that? Even though your jaw is a deep purple.”

“Don’t you start.” But she grinned, so tickled she did a little dance, finished it off with a bump and grind and high-fived him. “Okay, James Bond, looks like I’ve done the heavy lifting—your turn now.”

43

Nice moves.” He settled more comfortably into the chair, clicked the track pad of his laptop and read. After reading for a while, he looked up. “Okay, here goes. You’re perfectly right, Mike—the coordinates Adam texted to his father match a loch in northern Scotland, a Loch Eriboll. It’s isolated, desolate, but it’s also one of the few deepwater lochs in Scotland. The Royal Navy has used it for years. Submarines go in and out, frigates, everything. It was a perfect staging area, more so in World War Two than in World War One. Brit ships would sail into the loch, anchor for the night, for the week. Whatever was needed. There’s even a spot where the sailors would disembark and use the white granite stones to spell out their boat’s name on the hillside above the western edge of the loch.”

“If it’s so active, how in the world did they miss this?” Mike said. “There’s been a German U-boat in the loch since 1917, and no one knew it? How can that be? I mean, I’ve never seen one in person, but it’s a loch. They aren’t that big, are they?”

“This loch is very deep, but you’re right, it isn’t very big. Victoria has been concealed all this time under a shelf of granite, deep under the water, but near the shoreline, and no one’s ever seen it. Pearce and his son have been searching for it for years, but it wasn’t until the satellite technology caught up that they could see through the mass to the submarine beneath. It’s been cozied up in there for nearly a century.”

“Holding a key and the kaiser’s gold.” Nicholas tossed her a bottle of water and she drank deep. “Thanks. Now, what is the key to? Is there an explanation in their files?”

“Didn’t see it, but I’ll look deep now that Gray’s downloaded his file copies.”

“Obviously it has something to do with the polonium and Havelock.”

“Yes, which is rather unsettling. An unstable man looking to get his hands on some sort of a secret weapon? But it was 1917, what could it possibly be?” Nicholas’s house phone rang. “I see Nigel didn’t toddle off to bed. Maybe he’s ill, maybe—” He answered, and relief flooded his face. He listened for a few moments, then said, “Fine, fine. I will. Yes, I swear. Go to bed, Nigel. Now.”

He clicked off, set the phone on the table beside him. “Nigel sends his best wishes for a good night’s rest, and made me promise to get some sleep myself.”

Mike nodded. “He’s a good man. A good friend, too.”

“That he is. Stubborn as a mule, though.”

“He worries for you.”

“I’m worried for him, damn it all. Bloody sod’s being a bloody hero about the whole thing.”

I wonder where he learned those moves. Mike laughed. “Relax. He’s fine. I’m fine. Why don’t you tell me the big surprise? Come, what did you just read?” She stretched and yawned. “And then we can get some sleep. This couch is very comfortable.”

“I’ll get you set up in one of the guest rooms.”

“Aren’t you going to sleep?”

He shrugged. “I will in a bit. I want to work some more first.”

Mike curled into herself on the sofa. “Then I’ll stay here. I like the sound your typing makes. It’s very soothing.”

She reached up and pulled the ponytail holder from her hair, slipped it onto her left wrist. She scratched her head and turned her head a bit, not too much, and her hair settled around her shoulders. She pulled a dark blue throw over her legs. “Tell me, Nicholas.”

He’d been watching her. Now he tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. “I found something. This is where it gets very interesting. It’s a German sub, no doubt about it. According to Pearce’s files, it belonged to Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, which makes sense, I guess, since his gold is supposedly on board. Some say Wilhelm was crazy, whatever, he got Germany into the war, as the leader, he cocked things up royally and they lost. He ended up abdicating the throne.”

“Come on, Nicholas, what is it? You’re grinning like a madman.”

“I’ll tell you, but then you have to promise to go to sleep. It’s late, and we have an early morning.”

“That’s so not fair.”

“You need rest to heal. I want you to close your eyes and sleep for a bit.”

“No, I don’t need to—” And she yawned and yawned again, wider this time, covering her mouth with her hand. “Okay, so I’m a little tired, no big deal.”

Even as he said, “Please, Mike, rest,” she yawned again. He smiled at her. “I’ll keep an eye on you.”

She curled up against the couch pillows, settled in and closed her eyes. “Nicholas? Thank you, you saved me twice today.”

Thank goodness he’d been able to. “Go to sleep, Mike. I’ll be right here, watching over you.”

“Okay.” She opened her eyes and gave him a heartbreaking sweet smile. “But first tell me the big secret. Was Victoria important only because she belonged to the kaiser?”