Page 29 of The Last Kingdom

Great.

And what did the scramble of twelve letters mean at the bottom?

He shook his head and replaced the sheet in the envelope, then slipped it back into his pocket. The words and letters were now ingrained into his mind. He should report the find to Koger.After all, he’d been sent back to make sure there was nothing left behind. But right now he wanted to get back to Munich and a warm hotel room. Some food would be good too. This favor had turned into something much, much larger.

“I have some additional people I want you to talk with tomorrow,” Koger had told him right before he left. “I’ll set up a meeting in the morning and be in touch with details.”

Fine. He’d hand over the envelope then.

He hopped into the boat he’d used earlier and powered off across the lake, away from the approaching police craft. Onshore, he walked past the closed buildings that accommodated tourists who flooded to the Chiemsee in warmer times during the day. More bright pole lights illuminated the concrete path back to the parking lot where the fixtures became fewer and far between. The lot had been about a quarter full when he arrived a few hours ago. Now only a few cars sat scattered across the asphalt. Most likely they belonged to the tour group still waiting at the palace and the few employees.

He approached his rental vehicle and opened the door with the fob. He was just about to climb inside when he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. Its suddenness caught him off guard, but he quickly recovered and was about to spin around and deal with the attack when another blow brought bright spots before his eyes, dazing him.

A cloth sheathed his face and he smelled a sharp, acrid odor.

Then the world went black.

Chapter 16

LUKE STOOD WITHIN A SMALL CLOSET.

He’d fled inside as someone knocked a third time on the apartment’s door. In the next instant the door was forced upon, splintering the jamb with such force that the lock was wrenched from its mounting. Two men entered. Neither one of whom appeared to be an academic. More the “guys you hire to handle the dirty job” type.

He’d left the closet door cracked open enough to see what was happening. The two newbies began searching, examining the books on the sofa, checking the cushions, stripping the shelves. Crap. The closet would surely be on their agenda. One of the men approached the desk and forced open the drawers, finding the book.

“Is that it?” one of them asked.

The other checked something on his phone, then nodded. “It matches the photo perfectly.”

Photo? Matching perfectly? These guys were seriously informed.

One man held a phone with its flashlight activated, while the other opened to the first few pages.

“This is definitely it.”

The other guy switched off the light and made a call.

“We got it,” the man said into the phone. A pause as the guy listened. “We’ll be there.”

The call ended.

Luke debated whether to abort the mission, deal with these two, and just take the book. That would also allow him to get his hands on that cell phone, as he’d love to know who was just called.

But stupid moves led to stupid problems.

Like the guy who went fishing and saw a snake with a frog in its mouth swimming in the water. Feeling sorry for the frog, he reached down and gently freed it. Then he felt sorry for the snake, having taken away a tasty meal. So he looked around the boat for some food. Seeing none, he noticed his bottle of bourbon, which he opened and gave the snake a few shots. The reptile accepted the offer, then slithered off. He thought everything was over until ten minutes passed and he heard something knock against the side of the boat. The fisherman looked down in the water and saw the snake was back.

With two frogs this time.

That’s what this little venture had turned into.

He watched through the crack in the doorway as the intruders left with the book. The apartment door still hung open, dangling from two of its three hinges; the desk drawer lay open and empty, the place a wreck. Clearly nothing subtle was occurring here. They wanted Christine Ertl, and surely the prince, to know they’d taken the book.

His mind swirled with possibilities.

At times like this he thought of his father. A saint of a man who’d been his idol. He had three older brothers, prophetically named Matthew, Mark, and John. When he came along Luke completed the four evangelists. His mother was devoutly religious,his father not so much. But he still went to church with her every Sunday, sincethat’s what husbandsdo. The older he gotthe more he understood his father’s comment. His mother tolerated hunting and fishing, which were a year-round obsession in the Daniels home. So his dad indulged her with religion. Compromise and giving.

Both helped with relationships.