Page 139 of The Last Kingdom

He saw no one on the ground floor. The curator had to be somewhere, so he found the gift shop. Empty. He stepped back outside to the inner courtyard. Lights burned in the gatehouse on the second floor. He located a staircase and climbed, locating a series of offices. He found the curator inside one of them, donning his coat, preparing to leave. He rushed in and jammed the gun into the lower part of the Bavarian’s jaw.

“Where did they go?”

The man’s eyes went wide with terror, his face a mask of fear. “Linderhof.”

“Where is that?”

“About an…hour from…here. Another…of Ludwig’s castles.”

“Why there?”

“The cipher…pointed there. To the…Venus Grotto. Behind the castle.”

“Do you have a cell phone?”

The head nodded yes.

“I want it.”

It was quickly produced. Not a smartphone. Just a simple flip unit.

“Any security code?”

The head shook no.

He withdrew the gun. “Get out of here.”

The man scurried for the door.

“By the way. There are two dead bodies waiting on the third and fourth floors.”

The man stared at him in astonishment.

“That’s your problem,” he told the curator. “Not mine. Leave.”

The man ran out the door.

He heard a new sound. The heavy rhythmic beating of a helicopter’s rotor. Firing up, then fading away.

Derrick opened the phone and dialed.

* * *

LUKE WORKED THE BRAKE AND BROUGHT THE CAR TO A STOP.

“You have quite the nerve,” Dorner said. “How did you know he would go left?”

“I didn’t. But it was his only option.”

“Quite the risk-taker.”

“I just do what has to be done.”

Toni and the driver in the backseat said nothing. Not much to say. He shifted to reverse, swung the car around, and drove back to the other vehicle.

He and Toni exited.

They bent down in the darkness and looked inside.