Fool's Gold (12 page)

Little Bill walked forward. “You three,” he said, pointing to three of the soldiers, “at the door. Nobody comes, nobody goes. Nobody says a word.”

“Yes, sir,” one of them said, and then all three soldiers saluted and rushed away.

“I want these two searched, and somebody tend to that man's wounds,” he continued.

“Should we call in the doctor?” the Lieutenant-Colonel asked.

“We call nobody until I know more,” Little Bill answered. “George, Jack, you come with me.”

We got to our feet.

“Bill, you come too.”

Little Bill led us down a passage. The ceiling was low and, like the walls, it was cut out of sheer rock. The floor was wet and slippery. He opened a door to reveal an office and he motioned for us to enter. There was a small desk and four chairs and behind that, piled right to the ceiling, were glimmering bars of gold!

“Please sit,” Little Bill said. We each took a chair and Little Bill took a seat behind the desk.

Even though it was the middle of the night, Little Bill was dressed in a fresh white shirt, crisp black tie and perfectly creased trousers. We sat down, and Little Bill took a seat behind the desk. Bill didn't sit. He stood right behind us.

“George, are you wounded?” Little Bill asked, pointing to my shirt.

“No, it's not my blood. It belonged to Moose … to the dead guy.”

“Better him than either of you.”

“We're fine,” Jack said.

Actually, I was hurt. I was banged up in the ribs where Moose had fallen on me, but I didn't think I should mention that right now.

“You had us all pretty worried.”

“How did you even know that there was something to worry about?” Jack asked.

“Please, Jack, knowing things is what we do,” Little Bill said. “Your mother didn't report for work and you two weren't in school. That was reported to us instantly.”

“I sent a man to your house and found it deserted,” Bill said.

“And then there was the matter of your family going to stay with your grandmother when we know that both of your grandmothers are deceased.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“George, remember, we have files on everybody who has ever been associated with the camp.”

“So you expected to find us here?” I said.

“This is the last place in the world I expected you to be,” Little Bill answered. “Now, tell us what is really happening. Who are those men, and where is your mother?”

“Those men have her!” I blurted out. “Not them, but their boss! You have to help us or they'll kill her! You gotta help her!” I burst into tears again, this time even worse.

Little Bill got up from his seat, circled the desk and came and put a hand on my shoulder.

“It will be all right, George,” he said softly.

“It doesn't matter what you do with us,” Jack said. “We know what we did was wrong. But we didn't have a choice—we had to bring those men here or they were going to kill our mom. If we have to go to jail we'll go to jail, but you have to save our mother. She didn't do anything wrong … just us!”

“It's not quite clear to me what you did. Please explain the situation, and try not to leave out any details.”

Jack started talking. That was good. I didn't know if I could get any words out. He told them about arriving home and the three men and how they were only after the gold.

“They're not Nazis!” I exclaimed. “They're criminals.”

Little Bill nodded. “Organized crime. Do you know their names?”

“Just their first names,” Jack said. “The one who's dead, his name is Moose … but I guess that isn't really his name.”

“Probably the name he is known by. And the second man?”

“Red, he's called Red.”

“And their boss is Dom,” I added. “They mentioned his name.”

“Are you getting all of this?” Little Bill asked Bill.

Bill was taking notes. “We'll check our sources. We'll soon know more than their first names.”

“Are we going to have to go to jail?” I asked.

“If we have to, we have to,” Jack said defiantly. “We didn't have a choice. We had to try to save our mother. We did wrong, and we'll take our punishment like men.”

“I understand,” Little Bill said. “I don't know if I would have done anything differently for my mother.”

“Then we're not in trouble?” I asked.

“I didn't say that,” he answered, and my fleetinghopes were dashed. “But on the other hand, I can't help but feel responsible. You see, I was the one who set up this trap.”

“What do you mean, ‘trap'?” Jack asked.

Little Bill reached back and removed one of the gold bars. He tossed it to Jack, who caught it.

“This isn't gold. This is wood painted to look like gold.”

“With the exception of a few real gold bars, that's what they all are. We let it be known, we leaked word, that the gold reserves of England were here on the grounds of Camp X.”

“So they're really not here?” I asked.

“Safely where they belong, not here.”

“But why would you do that?” I asked. “Why would you pretend that they were here?”

“So that the Nazis wouldn't know where the gold really is, and instead they'd try to break in here to steal it.”

“And instead of enemy agents you caught some crooks.”

“We already caught a spy ring, two weeks ago, coming in off the lake. Catching organized criminals was not the goal. My only question is how the two of you got involved in this.”

“They came to our house. They were waiting there with guns,” I said.

“Your house? How would they know anything about you?”

“They said they had an informant inside the camp,” Jack explained.

“I don't believe for a second that one of my men could be an informant,” Bill said.

“But they knew all about us, and Mr. Krum, and that we knew how to sneak into the camp.”

“Are you sure they weren't just bluffing?” Little Bill asked.

“If they were bluffing, how did they know to come and get us in the first place?” Jack asked. “How did they even know that we had sneaked into the camp before?”

Bill didn't answer. His look was one of confusion and concern, as though he was struggling to think through the possibilities.

“I think we have a situation,” Little Bill said. “We may have to—”

“What about our mother?” Jack asked, cutting him off.

For one of the first times I could ever remember I saw surprise in Little Bill's face. “Jack, George, I'm so sorry … of course, getting your mother back is of the utmost concern. We will secure her rescue.”

“But we don't even know where she is,” I said. “We don't know where they're holding her.”

“I'm sure that your friend, Red, will know where your mother is being held, and possibly the name of the leak as well. I will personally arrange for him to provide that information,” Little Bill said.

“What if he won't talk?” Jack asked.

“Everybody will talk,” Little Bill said. His voice was quiet and calm but there was an ominous quality to what he said.

“How badly is he wounded?” Little Bill asked.

“Shot in the gut. Pretty nasty,” Bill told him. “Come, we have to talk to him, and quickly.” Little Bill got up and we all followed him back along the passage to where we'd started.

We found Red there, slumped on the floor, leaning against the wall of the cave. His shirt was off and there was gauze taped to his stomach. The white gauze was stained red with blood. The Lieutenant-Colonel was there, and two of the soldiers kept their rifles trained on him.

Little Bill bent down so he was face to face with Red. Red's eyes were closed and he was as white as a ghost. Was he already dead?

“I need some information,” Little Bill said.

Red opened his eyes. “I'm not … I'm not … saying anything,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You will tell me what I need to know,” Little Bill said.

“And if I don't?” he gasped.

“I will wait until you decide to talk. I am in no rush,” Little Bill said. “Time is not a factor for me. I am not the one who is bleeding to death.”

Red didn't say anything. Would Little Bill really just stand there and let him die?

“With each second, more of your life is dripping away … drop by drop … drop by drop. I have seen so much death over the past years that it hardly has any effect on me. What is another life?”

“Even if I talk it don't matter … I'm dead anyway.”

“I assure you, you will not receive a death sentence if you tell us what we need to know,” Little Bill said.

“It's not you I'm afraid of,” Red said, and then he began to cough violently.

Little Bill waited for the coughing to stop. “If you are referring to your boss, Dom, you have nothing to fear. He will be shot. Besides, do you think he would put his life at risk for you? If he were in your shoes he'd sell you out in a second. You know that.”

Red remained silent. He wasn't going to talk.

“Please, Red!” I begged. “We just want to save our mother!”

He looked up at me and then back at Little Bill. “What do you need … need to know?”

I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

“There is an informant in this camp. I need to know the name of that person.”

“I don't know the name … I only know that Dom gets information, that he knows lots of stuff … but he never told me who it was. You got to believe me.”

“I do,” Little Bill said. “Unfortunately, I do. Now, for the more important matter. I need to know where the boys' mother is being held.”

Red shook his head. “I don't know for sure … I don't even know if she's still alive.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded. “We had a deal—”

“Please, George, remain silent,” Little Bill said. He turned back to Red. “I assume that the plan was to kill her and the boys once you arrived with the gold.”

“That was the plan.”

“We figured that,” Jack said. “We had a plan of our own.”

“Where were they holding Mrs. Braun? Where was she when you left?”

“What?” Red asked.

“Where was she being held?”

“With Dom … Dom had her … he was … he was …at his place.”

“At his house. Where is his house?”

“Not his house … in the city … down in the city.”

“Tell us the address,” Little Bill said.

“I … I don't know the address … I just know where … where …”

“Where is it?” Little Bill asked. There was no answer. He reached over and placed his fingers against the man's neck.

“Is he dead?” Jack asked.

“Not yet, but he will be shortly if we don't get him help, and then he'll be useless to all of us.” Little Bill stood up and faced the Lieutenant-Colonel. “Select
three of your men, get him into a jeep and drive him to the hospital in Oshawa. They are to say nothing to the guards at the gate as they leave, nothing. You will call and arrange for Dr. McCloud to meet them there. Every person who treats him, every person who even lays eyes on him, will be held in a room until tomorrow morning. No one leaves, no one is allowed to make any phone calls. Is that clear?”

“Perfectly.” He selected three men, and two of them picked Red up and carried him away. He groaned slightly as he got to his feet but I didn't think he regained consciousness.

“Now we need to get all available information on this Dom, but as long as we're harbouring an informant we can't use our normal channels here at Camp X. If he finds out we're on to him, then he'll start to tie up loose ends.”

“Loose ends like our mother, right?” Jack asked.

“I believe so.”

“So you think she's still alive, right?” I asked.

“I'm operating on that assumption, but I'm not going to lie to you,” Little Bill said. “It may be too late.”

I felt my knees get weak and I thought I was going to collapse to the floor. I put a hand against the wall to steady myself.

“Look, we can find out if she's still alive. We can call and ask to talk to her,” Jack said.

“Call? You have a telephone number?” Little Bill asked.

“Yeah, it's the number we called and—”

“You don't understand, boys—as long as we have a number we can find the location!” Bill exclaimed.

“Let me have the number,” Little Bill said.

Jack dug into his pocket and pulled out the scrap of paper. It was all folded over and crumpled. He opened it up and—

“Oh, no, it can't be.”

“What? What's wrong?” I asked.

Jack turned the paper so I could see it. Where the number had been written there was nothing more than a blur of ink on the water-soaked paper.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“
IT CAN'T BE
,” Jack said.

“Let me see the paper,” Little Bill said, and he took it from Jack.

“There's nothing … no numbers … nothing,” Jack said. “It's lost … our mother is lost.”

That brief sense of relief I'd felt was gone, and I now felt more weak and woozy than I had before. I just wanted to sit down—no, curl up in a little ball and cry. That was it, there was no way to find our mother. If she was even still alive, there was no way we could find her now, no way we could rescue her or—

“I need two of your best men in the documents-and-forgeries section—maybe Wilson and Padlowksi—to look at this paper and reclaim the number,” Little Bill said.

“Can they do that?” Jack asked.

“I don't think that should present too big a problem. The ink is badly blurred but the greatest concentration should still be at the place of origin, the place where the numbers will be.” He turned to the Lieutenant-Colonel. “Have two of your men take this
piece of paper, wake up Wilson and Padlowski, and then stand guard. No phone calls, no contact with anybody else.”