Page 118 of Risky Obsession

“No. His yacht is much bigger.”

“Okay, you have my attention,” Archer said. “What’s going on?”

“I have you on speaker with my fellow treasure hunter, Tory Parmenter.”

I winked at her, but she seemed to shrivel under my gaze. Maybe she didn’t want him knowing she was on the phone.

“Hi, Tory, how did you get hooked up with that sidewinder?”

She huffed. “It’s a long story.”

“It always is,” Archer said. “So, what’s this situation?”

“Have you heard of the Goering Gold?” I said.

“Sure. That Nazi bastard Goering melted down looted gold and made them into five hundred bars. They were divided into three portions that went missing at the end of World War Two, and some Aussie soldiers found a large portion of them last year.”

“That’s the one.” I laughed. Archer always had good recall when it came to treasure.

“You trying to find the missing portion that went onto the train?” Archer asked.

Tory bulged her eyes at me.

“You guessed it. And we think we’re onto something, but we hit a snag,” I said.

“More than a snag,” she corrected.

“Sounds interesting,” Archer said. “Let’s hear it.”

As the dark German landscape blurred past us, Tory and I bounced the conversation between us, filling Archer in on our last couple of days.

“So now we’re heading to Cuxhaven in a car we stole from a man who we think is a murderous asshole, we have limited cash, and we’re wanted fugitives.”

Archer released a hearty laugh. “Sounds like fun. Count me in. What do you need?”

I mouthed at Tory, “Told you.”

She nodded and seemed relieved.

“We need to swap cars and get cash, for starters,” I said.

“Done. I’ll have that ready for you when you get to Cuxhaven,” Archer said. “What else?”

I looked at Tory to see if she had any more ideas.

“Well . . . there is something else you can do.” She scrunched her nose as if debating whether or not to ask her question.

“You name it, Tory.”

“Can you research castles in and around Cuxhaven? See if any have any references to lions or had a moat around them.”

I nodded. “Good idea.”

“Lions? As in roaring lions?” Archer said.

“Yeah, Goering had them as pets during the war.”

“Of course he did. Fucking bastard,” Archer said.