Page 55 of The Last Kingdom

“We are prepared,” Fenn called out defiantly.

Rife motioned and the six men opened fire, sending their rounds into the stone of the castle walls. They all ducked for cover, but it seemed no attempt was made to aim upward at the battlements and Fenn motioned, preventing his men from returning fire.

The staccato from the automatic weapons ended.

They cautiously stood.

“Next time,” Rife called out, “it will be flesh those bullets find. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you, or some of your brothers, end up dead.”

The six men with guns kept watch as Rife retreated back to one of the cars and climbed into the front passenger’s seat. They then joined him and entered the other vehicles.

All three drove off.

“Quite a show,” Fenn said.

“Is this worth dying for?” Cotton asked.

“That will be a decision for the brothers. Follow me.”

Chapter 30

LUKE ROLLED OFF THE FROZEN PLATFORM, ALLOWED HIS BODY TOhang down by his outstretched arms, then let go. The jolt came quick to his cold shins as his boots pounded into the pavement. He faced Lexi. “You want to tell me who you are. And it’s not Lexi Blake.”

She stood in the shadows, her hair, lustrous and coiled, falling wildly to the top of her shoulders.

“My name is Toni Sims.”

“And which agency do you work for?”

“You’re here for the CIA. I’m here for the White House.”

“I wasn’t aware that the White House employed intelligence agents on its own.”

“It doesn’t. I’m on loan to the NSC.”

The National Security Council? The president’s advisory council on foreign policy matters? That was a bunch of policy makers, not an action committee. “On loan from where?”

“The ASIS.”

Australian Secret Intelligence Service? That was a new one. He’d never met anybody from there.

“The White House went looking a long way for you.”

“Good things are hard to find.”

Touché. He said, “Let’s save that one for later. Right now, who are these guys?”

And he pointed to the two still forms lying on the snowy pavement.

“Your tails. I’ve been on you since you left the beer hall earlier and headed to Professor Ertl’s apartment.”

“And these two?”

“They’ve been on the man you followed from the beer hall. The one with the book. My guess is they would have taken that book. But, for some odd reason, you became more important.”

Clearly, she’d known about him from the start. So the NSC planted an agent with the prince? Before he was involved. Extraordinary. But what did that mean? Did Koger know?

He doubted it.