Page 93 of The Last Kingdom

“This is Jason Rife,” Ming said in English. “Formerly of the CIA.”

“You are working with the Chinese?” Stefan asked, keeping to English.

Rife shrugged. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“I wanted you both to meet. Jason has informed me about Derrick Koger and the CIA’s interest.” Ming faced Rife. “Tell him.”

“Washington is definitely in your business,” Rife said. “Lucky for you, I’m in your business too. At this moment an operative by the name of Cotton Malone is doing something at the Bavarian State Library. Did you know that?”

He shook his head.

“Isn’t it good I do? I have a man there right now, ready to deal with Malone. I also know that you have a spy in your midst. You know him as Jonathan Smith. His real name is Luke Daniels, an American intelligence officer. He was placed there by Koger to monitor your activities.”

That couldn’t be.

“Can you see now,” Ming said, “how complicated this has become?”

He did.

Ming explained to Rife about Koger meeting with Albert at the Residenz last night. Exactly as his man there had reported to him earlier.

“And you had no idea about the connection between your brother and Koger?” Rife asked Stefan.

He shook his head. “None at all.”

Rife grinned. “Then it’s a good thing we’ve joined forces. We also have the Guglmänner to deal with.”

“I have a spy there,” he told them.

Rife seemed impressed. “Do you now?”

“What do I do about this Luke Daniels?” he asked. “Kill him?”

Ming raised a halting hand. “Not at all. There are other ways to deal with the problem. But first there is something else you need to know.”

“And you’re not going to like it,” Rife said.

Chapter 51

COTTON OPENED THE OLD ENVELOPE, THE SECOND ONE LIKE IT INtwo days, removed a small piece of paper, and read the typewritten words in German, silently translating.

When Good Friday falls on St. George’s Day, Easter on St. Mark’s Day, and Corpus Christi on St. John’s Day, all the world will weep. But where the minstrel aims his praise, and Parsifal points his gaze, the seer and dove offer help from above. Faithfulness keeps guard by day and night, though the gateway opens and closes with Wagner.

krty ognm isql nbcd zioh lwdp dsgr aloc

050 16 19 2

More riddles.

He showed the note to McCarter. “Couldn’t they just tell us in straight language? Why all the subterfuge?”

“That would have been impractical,” she said. “The idea was to make the mystery game a challenge. Only those with the right knowledge could solve it. Of course, its creators never anticipated the internet. You must remember that Ludwig III lived in a most turbulent time. Germany had been defeated in war, then politically dismantled. The kaiser was gone. A revolution had taken place and monarchy abolished. Bavaria as an independent kingdom ended. He had no one he could trust. Even his wife, perhaps the one person he was closest to, died in 1919, just a few months after he was deposed. He was a man lost, with nothing but an empty title as king of Bavaria. So he clung to the past and hoped for a future. Part of that involved hiding away his cousin’s body, along with who knows what else, none of which was overly important until the 1940s.”

“It sounds ridiculous.”

“Perhaps. But, as people like to say, it is what it is.”

“There’s no guarantee that the deed was hidden away with Ludwig II’s remains.”