The Last Airship by Christopher Cartwright Read Free Book Online Page A

the weather systems collided. So, that left only
his father, who never called unless there was a problem. Sam decided to hope
that it was Mark on the phone, telling him the storm was going to be worse than
he’d originally predicted.
    “Sam,
its Blake Simonds.” There was a pause after that. What the heck is Blake
doing ringing me? “I got your picture,” the man continued, as though he’d
anticipated Sam’s lack of response as an indicator of non-recognition.
    He’d
almost completely forgotten about the gold ingot.
    “Oh,
yeah, do you know where it’s from?” Sam asked.
    “Yeah,
it’s from the Oppenheimer and Goldschmidt family.” He could tell by the tone of
Blake’s voice that the man assumed that everyone knew about the family.
    “Never
heard of them.”
    “They
were an extremely wealthy Jewish family who disappeared during the Holocaust.”
    “Don’t
you mean that they were murdered?” Sam corrected him.
    “No,
their deaths couldn’t have been kept secret, not even during the Holocaust.”
    “Any
idea where they are now?” Sam asked.
    “No.”
Sam heard Blake sigh on the other end of the line. “But that’s just it. No
one’s heard from them since.”
    “Any
relatives?”
    “No,
the last anyone saw of them was when they tried to escape Munich on the
Magdalena.” Blake sounded excited, as though he was close to discovering
something of great importance.
    “What’s
the Magdalena?”
    “She
was a luxury airship, like the Titanic’s equivalent of a Zeppelin airship. It
was said that her owner, a Mr. Peter Greenstein, made a number of trips aboard
her, attempting to rescue rich Jewish families in the early days of the war.”
    “Just
the rich ones?” Sam, having grown up with a father who considered himself in
financial trouble when his name didn’t appear in the Top 10 Rich List in Forbes
Magazine, found that irritating and typical.
    “It’s
what I heard.” Blake said.
    “That
figures.” Sam had seen firsthand what was offered to the rich. “What happened
to him and the rest of the people on the Magdalena?”
    “Well,
that’s just it. They were never seen or heard from again after the night that
the Oppenheimer and Goldschmidt family disappeared.”
    Now,
the story behind the treasure hunt began to pique his interest.
    “Thanks
for that.”
    “Not
a problem. You haven’t found the gold, have you?”
    “No,
just doing some research for a friend. Say, how did you get this number?”
    “My
father told me the story about the lost Magdalena when I was a boy, so when I
saw the image, I just had to know the answer. I rang your father and told him
that it was urgent that I speak with you. He gave me this number. Said you
wouldn’t mind. By the way, he told me to give you his regards and that he hopes
your new job is working out for you.”
    It
had been a year since he’d reluctantly taken the job, but he and his dad didn’t
talk too often.
    “Not
a problem. Thanks for that.”
    “Hey,
if you find anything more on the final resting place of the Magdalena, I’d love
to know about it. Can you keep me in the loop?”
    “Sure.”
    He
hit the end button on his sat phone and then scrolled down through his address
book until he reached Tom Bower’s number.
    He
hit the call button.
    Sam
heard the first and the second ring. He never heard the third one. Instead,
there was a loud bang as an unusually large wave hit Second Chance’s portside, very nearly causing her to broach and flooding her. Dropping the sat
phone, he heard the sudden rush of water engulfing the center cockpit.
    He
looked at hatchway high above him, and saw a wave of sea water breaking
overhead.
    It
was too late.
    His
hands instinctively gripped two of the many cabin holds, before the torrent of
water swept through the open hatchway and all light disappeared from his world.

Chapter T wo
    Cyclone
Petersham had reached its peak on the morning of August 25 th , just
as the Maria Helena reached the failing