Steve Berry: The Paris Vendetta

“Then it is a good thing we did,” Napoleon declared .

The night was quiet and dull, so he decided to examine the papyri he’d found near the body. His savants had told him how the locals routinely pillaged sacred sites, stealing what they could to either sell or reuse. What a waste. He’d come to discover this country’s past, not destroy it .

He popped the string and unrolled the bundle discovering four sheets, written in what appeared to be Greek. He was fluent in Corsican, and could finally speak and read passable French, but beyond that foreign languages were a mystery .

So he ordered one of his translators to appear.

“It’s Coptic,” the man told him.

“Can you read it?”

“Of course, Général.”

“What a horrible thing,” Mastroianni said. “Killing that infant.”

She nodded. “That was the reality of the Egyptian campaign. A bloody, hard-fought conquest. But I assure you, what happened there is why you and I are having this conversation.”

SAM COLLINS SAT IN THE PASSENGER SEAT AND WATCHED AS Malone sped out of Copenhagen, heading north on the Danish coast highway.

Cotton Malone was exactly what he’d expected. Tough, gutsy, decisive, accepting the situation thrown at him, doing what needed to be done. He even fit the physical description Sam had been given. Tall, burnished blond hair, a smile that betrayed little emotion. He knew about Malone’s twelve years of Justice Department experience, his Georgetown legal education, eidetic memory, and love of books. But now he’d seen firsthand the man’s courage under fire.

“Who are you?” Malone asked.

He realized he couldn’t be coy. He’d sensed Malone’s suspicions, and didn’t blame him. A stranger breaks into his shop in the middle of the night and armed men follow? “U.S. Secret Service. Or at least I was until a few days ago. I think I’m fired.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because nobody there would listen to me. I tried to tell them. But no one wanted to hear.”

“Why did Henrik?”

“How’d you-” He caught himself.

“Some folks take in stray animals. Henrik rescues people. Why’d you need his help?”

“Who said I did?”

“Don’t sweat it, okay? I was once one of those strays.”

“Actually, I’d say it was Henrik who needed help. He contacted me.”

Malone shifted the Mazda into fifth gear and sped down the blackened highway, a hundred yards or so away from a dark Øresund sea.

Sam needed to make something clear. “I didn’t work White House detail at Secret Service. I was in currency and financial fraud.”

He always laughed at the Hollywood stereotype of agents wearing dark suits, sunglasses, and skin-toned earpieces surrounding the president. Most of the Secret Service, like him, worked in obscurity, safeguarding the American financial system. That was actually its primary mission, since it grew out of the Civil War, created to prevent Confederate counterfeiting. Only after the assassination of William McKinley, thirty-five years later, had it assumed presidential protection responsibility.

“Why’d you come to my bookshop?” Malone asked.

“I was staying in town. Henrik sent me to a hotel yesterday. I could tell something was wrong. He wanted me away from the estate.”

“How long have you been in Denmark?”

“A week. You’ve been gone. Just got back a few days ago.”

“You know a lot about me.”

“Not really. I know you’re Cotton Malone. Former naval officer. Worked with the Magellan Billet. Now retired.”

Malone tossed him a glance that signaled rapidly depleting patience with his evasion of the original question.

“I run a website on the side,” Sam said. “We’re not supposed to do stuff like that, but I did. World Financial Collapse-A Capitalist Conspiracy. That’s what I called it. It’s at Moneywash.net.”

“I can see why you’re superiors might have a problem with your hobby.”

“I can’t. I live in America. I have a right to speak my mind.”

“But you don’t have a right to carry a federal badge at the same time.”

“That’s what they said, too.” He could not hide the defeat in his voice.

“What did you say on this site of yours?” Malone asked him.

“I told the truth. About financiers, like Mayer Amschel Rothschild.”

“Expressing those First Amendment rights of yours?”

“What does it matter? That man wasn’t even American. Just a master with money. His five sons were even better. They learned how to convert debt into fortune. They were lenders to the crowns of Europe. You name it and they were there, one hand to give money out, the other to take even more back.”

“Isn’t that the American way?”

“They weren’t bankers. Banks operate with funds either deposited by customers or created by the government. They worked with personal fortunes, lending them out at obscene interest rates.”

“Again, what’s wrong with that?”

He shifted in his seat. “That’s the attitude that allowed them to get away with what they did. People say, ‘So what? It’s their right to make money.’ No, it’s not.” The fire in his belly surged. “The Rothschilds made a fortune financing war. Did you know that?”

Malone did not reply.

“Both sides, most times. And they didn’t give a damn about the money they loaned. In return, they wanted privileges that could be converted into profit. Things like mining concessions, monopolies, importation exceptions. Sometimes they were even given the right to certain taxes as a guarantee.”

“That was hundreds of years ago. So the hell what?”

“It’s happening again.”

Malone slowed for a sharp curve. “How do you know that?”

“Not everyone who strikes it rich is as benevolent as Bill Gates.”

“You have names? Proof?”

He went silent.

Malone seemed to sense his dilemma. “No, you don’t. Just a bunch of conspiracy crap you posted on the Internet that got you fired.”

“It’s not far-fetched,” he was quick to say. “Those men came to kill me.”

“You sound almost glad they did.”

“It proves I was right.”

“That’s a big leap. Tell me what happened.”

“I was cooped up in a hotel room, so I went out for a walk. Two guys started following me. I hauled ass and they kept coming. That’s when I found your place. Henrik told me to wait at the hotel until I heard from him, then make contact with you. But when I spotted those two I called Christiangade. Jesper said to find you pronto, so I headed for your shop.”

“How’d you get inside?”

“Pried open the back door. It’s real easy. You need an alarm.”

“I figure if somebody wants to steal old books, they can have ’em.”

“What about guys who want to kill you?”

“Actually, they wanted to kill you. And by the way, that was foolish breaking in. I could have shot you.”

“I knew you wouldn’t.”

“Glad you knew that, ’cause I didn’t.”

They rode in silence for a few miles, coming ever closer to Christiangade. Sam had made this journey quite a few times over the past year.

“Thorvaldsen’s gone to a lot of trouble,” he finally said. “But the man he’s after acted first.”

“Henrik’s no fool.”

“Maybe not. But every man meets his match.”

“How old are you?”

He wondered about the sudden shift in topic. “Thirty-two.”

“You’ve been with the service how long?”

“Four years.”

He caught Malone’s drift. Why had Henrik needed to connect with a young, inexperienced Secret Service agent who ran an off-the-wall website? “It’s a long story.”