The Project 02 - The Lance

Hiding the Vienna Lance."
    " There wasn't much future for the Nazis in 1945," Ronnie said. "Why go all the way to Antarctica to hide a Christian relic? Who's Parsifal?"
    Selena said, "Parsifal was a knight who sought the Holy Grail. Wagner wrote a whole opera about it. Parsifal had to retrieve the Holy Spear from an evil magician named Klingsor. That must be what Dysart's email was about. The Spear. The Lance. That's the Antarctica reference, and Parsifal is some kind of code name for whatever is going on."
    " I don't get it." Lamont rubbed the bump on his head. "What's the big deal about this spear?"
    Selena brushed her hair back. "It's supposed to be the spear that pierced Christ's side on the cross. Sometimes it's called the Spear of Longinus, after the Roman legionnaire who wielded it. It's said to have mystical powers because it was bathed in the blood of Christ. There's a legend that whoever has it will rule the world. All the great conquerors of Europe carried it, starting with Charlemagne. The Holy Roman Emperors, Barbarossa, Frederick the Great. People like that. That's why Hitler wanted it."
    "Napoleon?"
    "No, it was hidden from him. Then it ended up with the Hapsburg Emperor."
    " But Patton's army found it, didn't they? So how could it be in Antarctica?" Lamont picked up his empty cup, set it down.
    " They found something that looked like the one Hitler stole in Vienna," Selena said, "but there have been tests on it since then. It's no older than the sixth or seventh century CE. It couldn't have been the actual spear at the crucifixion. It does have a first century piece of iron attached to it that's supposed to be a nail from the True Cross."
    " Then what's this one, the one he's talking about in the journal?" Lamont asked.
    "According to that diary H immler used the Lance for his Council of Knights," Carter said. "I don't think Hitler would have let him do that. Himmler could have made a copy to fool Hitler and taken the real one."
    Selena picked up the diary, put it back in the pouch. "There have been rumors for years saying the lance Patton found is a copy and that the Nazis hid the real one. Maybe it's true."
    Ronnie peered into his cup. "So when Himmler sees that time's up for the Third Reich, he sends one of his generals down to the South Pole to hide the lance in a secret base nobody knows about."
    Selena stood up and went to the stove, poured herself some more coffee. "The journal says they will continue. He's talking about his Nazi Council. Do you think they could still exist? Could they be behind the attack in Antarctica?" She set the pot back on the stove.
    " There are plenty of Nazi groups," Nick said. "None so organized they could intercept information sent to Berlin and mount an armed expedition within hours."
    " None that we know about," said Lamont.
    " Someone knew the Vienna Lance was in that vault. They must not have known where it was until the research station notified Berlin. When they found out they went and got it. It's like they were waiting."
    " Waiting for almost seventy years? That's too weird."
    He stood up. "We need to get back and get this to Harker."
    As they walked out to the van, Nick touched Selena on the arm. He had to say it.
    "You were good out there today. I'm sorry for that crack I made about everything you know how to do. I don't know why I said that. If you hadn't been down there Lamont would have died."
    "Is that an apology?"
    "Maybe you're right about talking with someone."
    "Maybe we both should. You're not the only one on the edge."
    Two hours later they were in the air.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

    It was a pleasant evening. The windows of the safe house were cracked open. A cool night breeze brought the pungent scent of burning leaves from somewhere. Nick tried to relax on the couch. A ceiling fan turned above. Selena sat across from him in a wingback chair.
    "We have a lot to talk about," Harker said. " Stephanie broke the encryption on Arslanian's drive."
    "I figured out most of it," Stephanie said. " Arslanian was researching the Holocaust. He visited Germany two weeks before he was killed and found documents written by Himmler. They were stashed away in one of the old Stasi archives in what used to be East Germany. He scanned them and that's what's on his drive."
    "Stasi?" Lamont said.
    "The East German Secret Police," Harker tapped her pen. "Kind of like the Nazi Gestapo."
    Stephanie said, " Himmler knew Germany would lose the war. Sometime in 1943 he prepared