my free time?’
‘Not unless they’re made of sausage,’ Jones teased.
Payne rolled his eyes. ‘In that case, who found it?’
‘A friend of the deceased.’
‘And when did you get involved?’
Kaiser explained. ‘As luck should have it, I was notified right after the site was discovered. Due to the embarrassing nature of the hunter’s death - getting crushed by a flying pig - a colleague of mine was paid good money to move the corpse to a secondary location, one that would be more dignified. He made it look as though the hunter died in a fall.’
‘This colleague of yours. Is he your partner?’
Kaiser shook his head. ‘Thankfully, my colleague owed me several favours, so I traded them for the rights to the site. Personally, I think it was a bargain.’
‘Do you trust this guy?’ Payne asked.
‘Not completely, but I have enough dirt on him to guarantee his silence.’
Payne agreed. ‘Sometimes that’s better than trust.’
Kaiser read between the lines, trying to remain calm. ‘Listen, I understand your frustration. I truly do. You’ve come all this way, and I’ve been stonewalling you the entire time. But I promise, that’s about to change. Give me five minutes - just five more minutes. That’s all I need. After that, everything will make sense. My secrecy, your involvement, everything!’
‘It’d better, or we’re leaving,’ Payne warned him.
Kaiser smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. ‘Trust me, Jon. What you’re about to see will convince you to stay. I guarantee it.’
Payne glanced at his watch and noted the time. More than twenty-four hours had passed since Kaiser’s initial call. Since then, he and Jones had travelled nearly 4,500 miles from Pittsburgh to Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And now, under the vigilant watch of five armed guards, the duo had followed a smuggler up the side of Zugspitze, yet they didn’t know why. In many ways, it was exhilarating.
‘You’ve got five minutes. Lead the way.’
Kaiser did as he was told, leading them into the natural cul-de-sac where the boar had been killed. The area didn’t seem special in any way, except for the large hole in the forest floor. For safety’s sake, the perimeter had been marked with several wooden posts and a bright yellow rope. With a buffer zone of ten feet, the rope formed a semi-circle with the rock face on the far side of the hole.
‘What do you think?’ Kaiser asked.
Jones crouched and examined the boundary. ‘I like the rope. Is this nylon?’
‘I meant about the site.’
Payne scrunched his face. ‘This is the site?’
‘Technically, it’s the entrance to the site, but what do you think?’
Payne paused, searching for words. ‘It looks like a hole.’
‘Well, it is a hole. But a hole in what?’
Payne guessed. ‘The ground.’
Kaiser shook his head. ‘Actually, it’s a hole in the roof.’
Jones stood, confused. ‘The roof of what?’
‘A secret bunker,’ Kaiser replied. ‘As far as I can tell, the ground collapsed from the weight of the pig. I’m telling you, it’s a massive sucker. At least six hundred pounds.’
Jones whistled. ‘That’s a big pig.’
‘Unfortunately you’ll get to see it - and smell it. It’s way too big to lift by hand. We’ll need a winch to move all that meat.’
Jones grinned. ‘I dated a girl who said the same thing about me.’
Kaiser ignored the comment. ‘Obviously I can get you anything you need. But extra equipment means extra workers and at this stage of the game, I felt privacy was more important.’
Payne smiled. ‘Same old Kaiser. Still loving your privacy.’
Kaiser corrected him. ‘Not my privacy, your privacy. I’m doing this for you.’
‘For me?’ Payne asked.
‘For all of you.’
Although he wanted Kaiser to explain himself, Payne figured it would be a waste of time. Why settle for an ambiguous response when they were this close to learning the truth? On multiple occasions, Kaiser had said everything would make sense once they saw the contents of the site so it seemed foolish to ask any more questions.
They were standing ten feet from the entrance to the site.
It was time to climb inside.
8
Due to the instability of the terrain, the fifteen-foot extension ladder did not lean against the sides of the hole. Instead, the ladder was attached to scaffolding on the floor of the bunker. The last thing they wanted was for the ground to open any wider and swallow another victim.
‘Coming down,’ Kaiser yelled as his feet clanked on the aluminium steps. At the bottom, he was greeted by a sixth guard, who was positioned underground just in case intruders slipped past everyone else and tried to