Page 58 of The Last Kingdom

“I want to hear more about all of this. But could we do it after some sleep? The prince is going to want to see us in a few hours. That tomb was empty. He was definitely surprised by that, and we need to be awake and alert.”

She smiled. “I should say so.”

“I’m going back to my room,” he said. “See you in a few hours.”

He turned to leave.

“Want some company?” she asked.

That caught him off guard. It seemed the night of surprises.

“You’ve been trying hard the past few weeks to get my attention,” she said, adding a smile. “Okay. You got it. And besides, I’ve been ordered to fully brief you and we can’t go to my place. Christophe knows where I’m staying.”

He didn’t have to be told twice. “Can’t argue with that logic.”

And they walked off.

Chapter 31

DERRICK SETTLED INTO THE REAR SEAT AND STARED ACROSS THE CARat Trinity Dorner. Her being here, and not at the White House, signaled a big problem. Obviously, when she called earlier TOO had been right here in Munich. Typical of her. Keeping everything close.

“And to what do I owe the honor?” he asked.

“Your crap hit the fan.”

He did not like the sound of that. He opened his mouth to speak but she silenced him with a raised hand.

“Not a word. For your own benefit.”

He decided to take her advice and they rode in silence across a nearly deserted Munich before finally entering the gated compound for the US consulate.

Back on American soil.

Something about that brought little comfort.

Trinity led him inside the building, which was quiet given it was nearly 4:00A.M.He wondered if they were here to see the consulate general. He knew the man. A recent political appointee of Warner Fox, closely aligned with the president. He’d made a point to keep his distance, though a CIA liaison worked in the building. They ended up in an empty conference room with a big-screen monitor, which came alive with the face of the president of the United States. Trinity motioned for him to sit, then left the room.

“We’ve never met,” Warner Fox said. “But Trinity tells me you’re somewhat of a maverick. In that we are alike. I want to tell you a story. I’m told you like stories.”

He stayed quiet, for once, like a good boy.

“When I was little, my nanny liked to take me to the park. Yes, I know. A nanny. But I was a rich kid and my parents were not the warm and fuzzy type. But my nanny. She was an angel. I called her Baba. I truly loved that woman. There was a lake in that park and many times, when we’d go, an old woman would be there, beside the lake, with a metal cage. Baba told me it was a trap. And, sure enough, one day, I saw two small turtles in that trap. A third was in the old woman’s lap and she was scrubbing the shell with a brush. She told me that she was cleaning off the algae and scum. Too much of that reduces the turtle’s ability to absorb heat and makes it tough to swim. It also corrodes and weakens the shell.

“I thought that was really great of her to do that. She said that it was her way of helping the little guys out. Making a difference. But me being me, I had to ask her,‘Don’t those turtles live their whole lives with algae and scum on their shells?’ ‘That they do,’ she told me. I came from a family where every minute mattered. Where your whole damn life is about making money and getting ahead. So I had to ask if her time could have been better spent. She’s only cleaning a few of the millions of turtles that exist. How was she making a difference?”

Fox pointed a finger at him.

“She just laughed and finished cleaning the turtle in her lap. Then she told me, ‘If this little guy could speak, he’d tell you I just made all the difference in the world to him.’”

Fox went silent. Seemingly considering a pleasant memory.

“The moral of the story, Derrick, is that we can change the world. Not all at once. But definitely one turtle at a time. What we do has to make a difference. It’s why I ran for this job. I know you hate my guts. I also know you’re looking for your own turtle shell to clean relative to me.”

He decided to be direct. “Is that why we’re talking? You afraid of what I might find?”

“We’re talking because this country is facing a crisis. A really serious crisis. And I’m the damn president of the United States. My job is to protect this country. I love this country. I’m told you love this country. Can we agree on those two truths?”

“Absolutely.”