The Spanish Papers

Book excerpt: THEY BELIEVE SECRETS GIVE THEM POWER World War II—Hitler is obsessed with gathering ancient knowledge and artifacts from around the globe, in an effort to consolidate the wisdom and power of long-gone cultures and rule the modern world. The División Azul—the Blue Division—is a Spanish military force fighting for the Nazis against the Russians on the Eastern Front. They are skilled, cunning, and capable, acting as a scalpel on the battlefield and bringing Hitler one victory after another. But unknown to Hitler, an ancient secret order has infiltrated the ranks of the Blue Division, and are secretly working against Hitler's interests, preserving the most dangerous and powerful artifacts in a vault hidden deep in the mountains of the Sonoran Desert, in Arizona. Dan Kotler—Archaeologist and FBI Consultant—is back, along with his partner Agent Roland Denzel. Together they race to solve the riddle of the Spanish Papers and to prevent a rogue organization from using the vault of ancient treasures to succeed where Hitler's forces failed. The fate of the modern world—and that of billions of lives—is at stake. This is the eighth full-length novel in the Dan Kotler Archaeological Thrillers, and it is a sequel to the exclusive short story The Jani Sigil, available on the author's website.