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PROLOGUE

THIRTY MILES NORTHEAST OF CAPE HATTERAS, NORTH CAROLINA

JANUARY 30, 1921

Through his periscope, Kapitän Hans Schultz watched the chaos aboard the schooner Carroll A Deering and s vessel was easy to see against the gray storo ship rushed back and forth across the deck in hopeless panic

Schultz narrated what he was seeing for the sailors in the control room of his U-boat, the Bremen

“Onehis hair out Another see uncontrollably as he runs in circles Two of thepapers and objects overboard”

“What kind of objects?” asked scientist Istvan Horváth with a slight accent Although born Hungarian, he spoke Gerued by the results of his brainchild, an ingenious device he had dubbed Irre Waffe

Insanity weapon

“Trunks Clothing Books Navigational equipment”

“Fascinating”

Schultz’s eyes were drawn to a couple ofat the davit ropes with large knives

“They’re cutting a lifeboat loose,” Schultz said

“They’re not getting in it?” Horváth asked

“No It looks likeYes, it landed in the water upside down Now they’re getting ready to jettison the second one” He looked away frolasses and a receding hairline as jotting notes in a leather-bound book

“Even though it took longer for the effects to manifest this time,” Horváth said with both curiosity and pride, “the outcome seems to be the same I suspect that the fact this ship has a wooden hull may account for the difference”

“Then we’ll stick to steel-hulled ships fro at periscope depth this long near a Coast Guard patrol area”

They had their pick of targets along the United States’ East Coast, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, so they could afford to be choosy The Deering was the fourth ship they’d attacked in the past three weeks Designed as a le supplies past the British naval blockade during the Great War, the Breinal purpose on herso she could be used as a secret test bed for an experiy, one that could have won the war for Germany had it been perfected in time

But the Irre Waffe wasn’t ready before the Central Powers surrendered So Schultz and Horváthcrew and the radical weapon to undertake a new goal to get rich For three years, the plan had worked beyond their wildest dreams, and this expedition was the most lucrative yet The Breo, but she’d been so successful on this mission that her holds would soon be full They’d have to return to base to off-load the hijacked spoils

Schultz turned back to the periscope The Deering’s second lifeboat tumbled into the water unoccupied Then one of the crew jumped overboard after it With the ship at

full sail, she quickly left him behind

“There goes the first one,” Schultz said

“Life jacket?”

“No”