Meagan pointed at Stephanie. “Is she always so pushy?”
“Actually, she’s mellowed over the years.”
“How about you two excusing us a minute,” Stephanie said. She grabbed Malone’s arm and led him away, asking, “What did you find in the Invalides?”
He reached beneath his jacket and showed her the book. “Lord Ashby wasn’t happy it was gone. I watched as he read my note. But I also noticed that he avoided Caroline Dodd’s questions and blamed it all on Larocque.”
“Which explains why Thorvaldsen doesn’t know Ashby is working for us. He’s kept his spying close. I didn’t think Henrik could have the man followed twenty-four hours a day, or listen to every communication.”
Malone knew intense surveillance, no matter how professionally done, was eventually noticed. Better to be selective and careful.
“Our handlers have done a poor job riding herd over Ashby,” she said. “He’s had a free rein, calling all the shots.”
He watched Sam and Meagan Morrison as they stood a hundred feet away. “Is he doing all right?”
“He wants to be a field agent, so I’m going to give him a chance.”
“Is he ready?”
“He’s all I’ve got right now, so he’s going to have to be.”
“And her?”
“Hothead. Cocky. The balls of an alley cat.”
“Easy to see how you two would butt heads.”
She smiled. “I have French intelligence working with me. They’ve been told about Peter Lyon. They want him bad. He’s linked to three bombings here a decade ago where four policemen died.”
“They still pissed about the Cluny?”
She chuckled. “The dírecteur générale de la sécuríté extéríeure knows all about you. He told me about the abbey at Belém and Aachen’s cathedral. But he’s reasonable. That’s how you and Ashby walked in and out of the Invalides with no problem. Believe me, they have better security than that.”
“I need something else.” He motioned with the book. “A press story on its theft. Nothing major—just enough to make tomorrow’s paper. It would help.”
“With Henrik?”
He nodded. “I need to keep him at bay. He has a plan to use the theft against Ashby with Larocque. I don’t see the harm, so let’s indulge him.”
“Where is he?”
“Driving a wedge deeper between Eliza Larocque and Ashby. You realize, like him, I’m playing both ends against the middle.”
“Played right, we may all get what we want.”
He was tired, the strain from the past couple of weeks returning. He ran a hand through his hair. He also should call Gary. Christmas was tomorrow, a day when fathers should talk to their sons.
“What now?” he asked.
“You and I are headed to London.”
SAM STUFFED HIS BARE HANDS INTO HIS COAT POCKETS AND stood in the crowd with Meagan. The sun shone brightly in a cloudless winter sky.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked her.
“Your lady friend there said I’d be arrested if I didn’t.”
“That’s not why.”
Her pleasant face showed no apprehension, something he’d noticed often since yesterday. No negativity in this personality, or at least not any she allowed to surface.
“We’re finally doing it,” she said. “No more talking. We’re here, Sam, doing something.”
He’d felt some of the same ebullience.
“We can stop them. I knew it was real. So did you. We’re not crazy, Sam.”
“You realize what Stephanie wants us to do is dangerous.”
She shrugged. “How bad could it be? Any worse than at the museum yesterday? What’s wrong with being a little cavalier?”
“What’s that word mean?” he asked Norstrum.
“Free. Offhand. Somewhat careless.”
He allowed his fifteen-year-old brain to absorb the definition. He’d broken another rule and risked a free climb up the rock face. Norstrum had told him to use a rope, but he hadn’t obeyed.
“Sam, we all take chances. That’s how you succeed. But never foolish ones. Success comes from minimizing risk, not making it greater.”
“But the rope wasn’t needed. I made it fine.”
“And what would have happened if your grip had not held? Or your foot slipped? Or a muscle cramped?” Norstrum’s terse questions were a clear indication that he was, if not displeased, certainly unhappy. “You would have fallen. Been maimed for life, maybe killed, and what would you have gained from taking such a risk?”
He tried to place the information into context, allowing the rebuke to float through his mind as he determined the right response. He did not like that he’d upset Norstrum. When he was younger he didn’t care, but as he’d grown older he’d come to want not to disappoint this man.
“I’m sorry. It was foolish.”
The older man grasped his shoulder. “Remember, Sam, foolishness will get you killed.”
Norstrum’s warning rang clear in his brain as he considered Meagan’s three questions. Seventeen years ago, when he’d scaled the rock face with no safety rope, he’d learned that Norstrum had been right.
Foolishness will get you killed.
Yesterday, in the museum, he’d forgotten that lesson.
Not today.
Stephanie Nelle had drafted him for a job. Did it entail risks? Plenty. But they should be measured and calculated.
Nothing cavalier.
“I want to be careful, Meagan. You should be, too.”
FORTY-TWO
ENGLAND
2:40 PM
ASHBY GLANCED AT HIS WATCH AND NOTED THAT IT HAD TAKEN the Bentley a little over an hour to make the drive from Heathrow Airport to Salen Hall. He also noticed that his estate workers were busy maintaining the grounds, though the seahorse fountain, canal pond, and cascade were silent for winter. Except for an enlarged stable and a kitchen and servant wing, the main house had remained unchanged since the 18th century. The same clumps of forest and pasture also remained. The surrounding land all had once been ancient moors, driven back by Ashby ancestors who’d tamed the valley with grass and fence. He prided himself on both its beauty and its independence, one of the last privately owned British manors that did not depend on tourism for revenue.
And it never would.
The Bentley stopped at the crown of a graveled cul-de-sac. Orange brick and diamond-paned windows glistened in the bright sun. Gargoyles leered down from the roofline, their axes poised, as if to warn invaders.
“I’m going to do a little research,” Caroline told him as they stepped inside the house.
Good. He needed to think. He and Mr. Guildhall headed straight for his study and Ashby sat behind the desk. This day had turned disastrous.
He’d kept quiet during the short flight back from Paris and delayed the inevitable. Now he lifted the phone and dialed Eliza Larocque’s mobile number.
“I hope you have more good news,” she said.
“Actually, no. The book wasn’t there. Perhaps it’s been moved during the renovation? I found the display case and the other items, but not the volume on the Merovingians.”
“The information provided to me was quite specific.”
“The book was not there. Can you check again?”
“Of course.”
“In the morning, once I return to Paris for our gathering, perhaps we can speak privately beforehand?”
“I will be at the tower by ten thirty.”
“Till then.”
He hung up the phone and checked his watch.
Four hours to go. That was when he was scheduled to meet with his American contact. He’d hoped that to be his last conversation, as he was tired of the juggling act. He wanted Napoleon’s cache and had hoped the book in the Invalides held the key. Now the bloody Americans controlled it.
He’d have to bargain tonight.
Tomorrow would be far too late.
ELIZA CLICKED OFF HER PHONE A
ND THOUGHT BACK TO WHAT Henrik Thorvaldsen had predicted. If I’m right about him, he’s going to tell you that he wasn’t able to retrieve whatever it is, that it wasn’t there, or some other such excuse. And to what he’d told her again, just before they concluded their lunch and he left the restaurant. It will be for you to judge whether that be truth or a lie.
She was safe inside her house in the Marais, not far from where the Paris Club gathered. Her family had owned the property since the mid–19th century. She’d grown up within these elegant walls and now spent the majority of her time here. Her sources within the French government had assured her that the book she sought was there, in the museum. A minor relic, of little historical significance, other than being from Napoleon’s personal library and mentioned in his will. Her sources had asked few questions, nor would they have once they learned the book was gone, since they’d learned long ago that to appreciate her generosity meant to keep their mouths shut.
She’d debated what to do about Thorvaldsen ever since leaving Le Grand Véfour. The Danish billionaire had appeared from nowhere with information that she simply could not ignore. He clearly knew her business, and the oracle had confirmed his intentions. Now Ashby himself had corroborated what Thorvaldsen predicted. She did not intend to ignore the warnings any longer.