The Excalibur Codex by James Douglas Page B

bottom of the Elbe or rusting away in some Bavarian salt mine. One thing was certain, Reinhard Heydrich wasn’t telling. Himmler’s mastermind of the Final Solution had died in Prague in the spring of 1942 from a bad case of the after-effects of hand grenade fragments in the lower intestine. But Adam Steele’s confidence wasn’t to be dented by a little problem like a sixty-odd-year time lapse and a room full of dead witnesses. There had never been any doubt about the decision. He grinned. ‘Then we proceed on the assumption that he found what he believed he found. You still think Dortmund is the place to start?’
    Jamie nodded. ‘Whether you believe him or not, Ziegler left a lot of unanswered questions. Why didn’t he give us a description of the sword? He must have seen it. If we knew what it looked like, it would at least give us a hint whether it was worth chasing after. If Excalibur exists it isn’t a medieval sword, but much earlier. We need to know one way or the other. We have only the slightest hint where the ritual took place—’
    ‘Wewelsburg, surely?’ Steele interrupted, telling Jamie he hadn’t read the codex as carefully as he might have. ‘Himmler’s Camelot.’
    ‘Wewelsburg is the holy of holies Ziegler refers to earlier.’ Gault’s head came up sharply as the art dealer corrected his boss. ‘It’s in northern Germany, not the east. And then there’s the cryptic reference to Adolf Hitler – in a place not far from where the Führer charted the course of the Thousand Year Reich – once we work that out we’ll have a clue, but we need more information. He mentions the Polish invasion, so it’s likely to be somewhere in Poland, but inside the German zone after the country was carved up in nineteen thirty-nine. Which takes us to who took part? Heydrich, almost certainly – it was his party. The others were all of the rank of Obergruppenführer in nineteen forty-one and members of Himmler’s SS inner circle, so we should be able to track down their identities. I have some ideas about that. Ziegler’s informant was a Gruppenführer, an SS general, but not one of the chosen few and he must have been several ranks lower in the early part of nineteen forty-one. That means there were others involved in the ritual, perhaps observers or helpers.’
    ‘How does that help?’ Charlotte asked.
    ‘The men who played the key roles would all have been in their forties and will almost certainly be dead, if not in the war, then of old age. According to Ziegler, the Gruppenführer was in his mid twenties, so there’s at least a chance he might still be alive. The first step is to talk to Ziegler’s family. If he made a will he must have left his worldly goods to someone. Maybe they’ll give us more clues.’
    Steele rose from the table and stalked the length of the dining room, his voice shaking with passion.
    ‘Can you imagine what it would be like to hold the sword of Arthur?’ The legend says he’s sleeping in a cave waiting for the call to save Britain in its time of need. I find that comforting, although I can’t quite bring myself to believe it. But, make no mistake, this is our time of need.’
    The banker stopped abruptly and his dark eyes challenged anyone in the room to deny it. He fixed on Jamie. ‘The attack that killed your Abbie was just the start. Britain looks for strong leadership. The forces of darkness aren’t just gathering, they’re upon us. What if a man could stand up holding Excalibur high for all to see and offer that leadership? What could that man not achieve?’
    Jamie felt a tightening in his chest at the throwaway use of Abbie’s name, but he managed a smile. ‘I hope you’re not thinking of going into politics, Adam?’
    Steele’s expression didn’t alter. ‘Find it for me, Jamie.’

X
    Charlotte walked into the office as Jamie and Gault were going over their technical equipment. The former SBS man barely spared her a glance as she sat down at the