Steve Berry - The Charlemagne Pursuit

And second, the gunman.

Never once had he seemed concerned that someone else was there, someone who'd shot his accomplice. Christl had indicated that she'd told her mother about Ossau. She could also have mentioned that he would come. But that wouldn't explain Werner Lindauer's presence or how he immediately knew Malone's identity. And if Christl had provided the information, that act showed a level of Oberhauser cooperation that he'd thought didn't exist.

All of which spelled trouble.

He stopped and listened to the wheezing of the wind. He stayed low, below the arches, knees aching. Across the garden, through the falling snow, he spotted no movement. Cold air burned his throat and lungs.

He shouldn't be indulging his curiosity, but he couldn't help it. Though he suspected what was happening, he needed to know.

DOROTHEA WATCHED WERNER, WHO CONFIDENTLY HELD THE GUN Malone had offered. During the past twenty-four hours she'd learned a lot about this man. Things she'd never suspected.

"I'm going out there," Christl said.

She couldn't resist. "I saw the way you looked at Malone. You care for him."

"He needs help."

"From you?"

Christl shook her head and left.

"Are you okay?" Werner asked.

"I will be when this is over. Trusting Christl, or my mother, is a big mistake. You know that."

Cold gripped her. She wrapped her arms across her chest and sought comfort within her wool coat. They'd followed Malone's advice, retreating into the apse, playing their parts. The ruinous condition of the church cast a foreboding spell. Had her grandfather actually found answers here?

Werner grasped her arm. "We can do this."

"We have no choice," she said, still not happy with the options her mother had offered.

"You can either make the best of it, or fight it to your detriment. Doesn't matter to anyone else, but it should matter a great deal to you."

She caught an underlying insecurity in his words. "The gunman was genuinely caught off guard when you tackled him."

He shrugged. "We told him to expect a surprise or two."

"That we did."

The day was sinking away. Shadows inside were lengthening, the temperature dropping.

"He obviously never believed he was going to die," Werner said.

"His mistake."

"What about Malone? Do you think he realizes?"

She hesitated before answering, recalling her reservations from the other day at the abbey, when she first met him.

"He'd better."

MALONE STAYED BENEATH THE ARCHES AND RETREATED TOWARD one of the rooms that opened off the cloister. He stood inside, amid the snow and debris, and assessed his resources. He had a gun and bullets, so why not try the same tactic that had worked for Werner? Perhaps the gunman on the opposite side of the cloister would head toward him, making his way to the church, and he could surprise him.

"He's in there," he heard a man shout.

He stared out the doorway.

A second gunman was now in the cloister, on the short side, passing the church entrance, rounding the corner, coming straight toward him. Apparently Ulrich Henn had not been successful in stopping him.

The man raised his gun and fired straight at Malone.

He ducked as a bullet found the wall.

Another round ricocheted past, straight through the doorway, from the other gunman, across the cloister. His refuge contained no windows and the walls and roof were unbroken. What had seemed like a sure bet had suddenly turned into a serious problem.

No way out.

He was trapped.

STEPHANIE ADMIRED THE INN ON BILTMORE ESTATE, AN EXPANISVE fieldstone-and-stucco building that crowned a grassy promontory, overlooking the estate's famed winery. Vehicle access was restricted to estate guests, but they'd stopped at the main gate and bought a general pass to tour the grounds, which included the hotel.

She avoided a busy valet service and parked in one of the terraced paved lots, then they climbed a landscaped incline to the main entrance, where uniformed doormen greeted them with smiles. The inside was reminiscent of what it might have been like to visit the Vanderbilts a hundred years ago. Light-paneled walls finished with a dull honey-stained gloss, marble flooring, elegant art, and rich floral patterns in the drapes and upholstery. Greenery overflowed from stone planters and warmed an airy decor that opened upward to the next floor, a coffered ceiling twenty feet overhead. The views beyond the plate-glass doors and windows, past a veranda dotted with rockers, were of the Pisgah National Forest and the Smoky Mountains.

She listened for a moment to a pianist playing near a flagstone hearth. A stairway led down to what sounded and smelled like the dining room, a steady procession of patrons coming and going. They inquired at the concierge desk and were directed through the lobby, past the pianist, to a window-lined corridor that led to meeting rooms and a conference center where they found the registration desk for Ancient Mysteries Revealed.

Davis plucked a program from a pile and studied the day's schedule. "Scofield's not talking this afternoon."

A perky young woman with coal-black hair heard him and said, "The professor speaks tomorrow. Today are info sessions."

"Do you know where Dr. Scofield is?" Stephanie asked.

"He was around here earlier, but I haven't seen him in a while." She paused. "You folks from the press, too?"

She caught the qualifier. "There have been others?"

The woman nodded. "A little while ago. Some man. He wanted to see Scofield."

"And what did you tell him?" Davis asked.

She shrugged. "Same thing. Haven't a clue."

Stephanie decided to study one of the schedules and noted the next session, set to begin at one PM. "Pleiadian Wisdom for These Challenging Times." She read its summary.

Suzanne Johnson is a world-acclaimed trance channeler and author of several bestselling books. Join Suzanne and the nonphysical, time-traveling, mind-boggling Pleiadians as she channels them for a stimulating two hours of mind-expanding questions and sometimes tough but always positive, life-enhancing answers. Subjects of Pleiadian interest include: the acceleration of energy, astrology, secret political and economic agendas, hidden planetary history, god games, symbols, mind control, blossoming psychic abilities, time line healing, personal self-empowerment, and much more.

The rest of the afternoon featured a host of more oddities focusing on crop circles, the world's impending end, sacred sites, and one expansive session on the rise and fall of civilization, including binary motion, change in electromagnetic waves, and the impact of catastrophic events, with an emphasis on the precession of the equinoxes.

She shook her head. Like watching paint dry. What a waste of time.

Davis thanked the woman and retreated from the table with a pamphlet still in hand. "Nobody from the press is here to interview him."

She wasn't so sure. "I know what you're thinking, but our guy wouldn't be that obvious."

"He may be in a hurry."

"He may not be anywhere near here."

Davis hastened back toward the main lobby.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"It's lunchtime. Let's see if Scofield eats."

RAMSEY HURRIED BACK TO HIS OFFICE AND WAITED FOR HOVEY, who arrived a few moments later and reported, "McCoy immediately left the grounds."

He was furious. "I want everything we have on her."

His aide nodded. "That was a solo job," Hovey said. "You know that."

"I agree, but she feels the need to record me. That's a problem."

Hovey was aware of his boss's efforts to secure the Joint Chiefs position, just not the particulars. Ramsey's long-standing relationship with Charlie Smith was his alone. His aide had already been promised that he'd be going to the Pentagon with him-more than enough incentive for Hovey to actively participate. Lucky for him, every captain wanted to be an admiral.