Final Option (Oregon Files 14) - Page 91
“The how is probably a little easier to answer,” Juan said. “I’m guessing that we’re currently standing on what used to be an old riverbed. This whole area is one big floodplain. Every time they get a major storm, it’s possible for the higher river waters to carve out new pathways. That would have left the Bremen stranded here. Assuming it’s been here since the First World War, that’s plenty of time for the overgrowth to swallow it.”
“And the why?” Bradley asked.
Juan shrugged. “If we find the captain’s log, it might tell us.”
As they began a search of the control room, Bradley said, “I don’t speak German. What will it look like?”
“It might say Kriegstagebücher on the cover,” Juan said. “That literally means ‘War Diaries.’”
“Long German word,” Linc said sarcastically. “Gotcha.”
They rifled through the maps and code books, but they found nothing that looked like a logbook.
Then Juan glanced down at the body propped up against the periscope and saw the corner of a book protruding from under the corpse’s leg. He bent down and tugged at the cover until it came free.
The letters KTB were etched on the cover. He gingerly opened it. Although the pages were yellowed, the neat German handwriting was easily legible. The date on the first page read “Der 7.9.16.”
September 7, 1916.
“Found it,” Juan said as he flipped through the book.
Bradley and Linc came to him and looked over his shoulder.
“What does it say?” Bradley asked.
Juan shook his head. “I don’t know German, either. Murph can help us translate it. But what’s strange is that the last date in the book is June 18, 1922.”
“That’s four years after the war ended,” Linc said.
“I’m guessing they went into business for themselves,” Juan said.
“Why do you think so?” Bradley asked.
“Because as I was scanning through the pages, I saw the names of some American vessels, including the Carroll A. Deering.”
“That sounds familiar,” Linc said.
Juan nodded. “It’s a pretty famous maritime mystery. She grounded herself near Cape Hatteras after a storm. The ship was completely intact, but the entire crew had vanished and was never seen again.”
“We still don’t know why Tate went to so much trouble to kill Jiménez and sink the KC,” Bradley said. “Why would he care if we found this ancient U-boat?”
Juan was about to give his theory for Tate’s motives when he heard a call from the bow.
“Chairman, I think we’d better leave as soon as we can!” Raven yelled.
Juan gave the log to Linc and hurried forward until he reached the torpedo room. He found Raven and MacD standing with their backs to the bulkheads, as far away as they could get from the two torpedoes strapped to cradles at the center of the room.
They were fully intact, but one of the winch chains used to move the torpedoes into the tubes had fallen onto the torpedoes. It was hanging from the contact fuse at the front of one of the weapons.
“Was it like this when you entered?” Juan asked.
“Yes,” Raven said calmly. “It’s exactly as we found it.”
“Ah wouldn’t go anywhere near those things,” MacD spluttered.
“All right,” Juan said. “Don’t touch them. We don’t know if the warheads are still active or if the chemicals inside have broken down and become more volatile.”
“What about the fuel?” Raven asked.
Source: readsnovelonline.net