While doing research on the Internet concerning an article he is writing, Steve comes upon a startling and little known fact concerning the French 2nd Armored Division and the German 33rd Waffen SS Charlemagne Division that occurred at the end of the war. The German 33rd Waffen French SS Charlemagne Division is composed of Frenchmen who joined the German army. A patrol of 20 French Waffen SS of the Charlemagne Division surrendered without trying to fight to the US American army. These men were transferred to the control of the French 2nd Armored Division. The French SS tried to escape by fear of reprisals. They finally are captured in a small forest, encircled by two French companies. General Leclerc will question them. Asked about their German uniforms, they replied: "And you, you have an American uniform " Judging their attitude insolent, the General decides to execute them. The execution will take place, on May 9 1945. His curiosity brings him to ask his friend in Sacy the Colonel who was in the French 2nd Armored Division and in Bad Reichenhall at that exact time. The Colonel confidentially tells Steve that not all 20 French prisoners were shot because he knew for certain that a squad of 8 men escaped and were never captured or ever heard of again. Their names were Conrad Heintz, Kaufmann, Kohler, Kurt Bischwiller, Louie Haguenau, Xavier Baysinger and Georges Ribbonet all from Mulhouse and Kurt Dammerskirch It was most likely they headed for the German army still in west Czechoslovakia where the German 7th Army controlled the sector. For Steve this was too close to the city of Stechovice where the SS had hidden the war loot they had gathered during the war. Having participated in the discovery and retrieval of part of the Stechovice treasure, Steve had a hunch that the escaped squad must have participated in the evacuation of the remainder of the treasure somewhere else like Argentina where the Rat Line had assisted many high ranking SS officers. Steve starts researching the escapees and finds clues to their whereabouts through a magic circle that he must interpret. Steve and Ping follow the clues one by one looking for the escapees and the remainder of the Stechovice treasure. Their search takes them to various places in France and especially Peru and Brazil."