The Charlemagne Pursuit cm-4 Read online

  FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS DOROTHEA FELT OUT OF CONTROL. She'd seen none of this coming. And now, standing back inside the church, facing her mother and husband, Ulrich Henn obedient and off to the side, she fought to keep her usual composure.

  "Don't mourn the loss of that American," Isabel said. "He was an opportunist."

  She faced Werner. "And you're not?"

  "I'm your husband."

  "In name only."

  "That's by your choosing," Isabel said, voice rising, then paused. "I understand about Georg." The old woman's gaze drifted toward the side chapel. "I miss him, too. But he's gone and there's nothing any of us can do about it."

  Dorothea had always despised the way her mother dismissed grief. She never recalled a tear shed when her father disappeared. Nothing seemed to faze her. Yet Dorothea could not shake Wilkerson's lifeless gaze. True, he was an opportunist. But she'd thought their relationship might actually have developed into something more substantial.

  "Why did you kill him?" she asked her mother.

  "He would have brought immeasurable trouble to this family. And the Americans would have killed him eventually, anyway."

  "You're the one who involved the Americans. You wanted that file on the submarine. You had me arrange that through Wilkerson. You wanted me to get the file, make contact with Malone, and discourage him away. You wanted me to steal Father's papers and the stones from the monastery. I did exactly as you requested."

  "And did I tell you to kill the woman? No. That was your lover's idea. Poisoned cigarettes. Ridiculous. And what of our lodge? Now in ruin. Two men dead inside. Men whom the Americans dispatched. Which one did you kill, Dorothea?"

  "It had to be done."

  Her mother paced the marble floor. "Always so practical. It had to be done. That's right, because of your American. If he'd continued to be involved there would have been devastating consequences. This did not concern him, so I ended his participation." Her mother stepped close, a few inches away. "They sent him to spy on us. I simply encouraged you to play off his weaknesses. But you went too far. I must say, though, I underestimated their interest in our family."

  Dorothea pointed at Werner. "Why did you involve him?"

  "You need assistance. He'll provide it."

  "I need nothing from him." She paused. "Or from you, old woman."

  Her mother's arm swept up and slapped Dorothea's face. "You will not address me in such a manner. Not now. Not ever."

  She did not move, knowing that though she might be able to overcome her aged mother, Ulrich Henn would be another matter. She caressed her cheek from the inside with her tongue.

  Her temple pulsed.

  "I came here tonight," Isabel said, "to make things clear. Werner is now part of this. I have involved him. This quest is of my choosing. If you do not want to accept these rules, then it can end now and your sister will be given control of everything."

  Rapier eyes appraised her. She saw that her mother had not tossed an idle threat.

  "You want this, Dorothea. I know you do. You're much more like me. I've watched. You've worked hard in the family businesses, you're good at what you do. You shot that man at the lodge. You have courage, which your sister sometimes lacks. She has vision, which you sometimes ignore. A shame that the best of you both couldn't be merged into one person. Somehow, inside me long ago, everything was scrambled and, sadly, each of you has suffered."

  Dorothea stared at Werner.

  She might not love him any longer but, dammit, sometimes she needed him in ways that only those who'd outlived their children could understand. Theirs was a kinship bound by grief. The numbing agony of Georg's death had erected barriers they both had learned to respect. And yet, while her marriage faltered, her life outside of it prospered. Her mother was right. Business was her passion. Ambition is a powerful drug, dulling everything, including caring.

  Werner clasped his arms behind him and stood straight, like a warrior. "Perhaps, before we die, we should enjoy what life we have left."

  "I've never known you to have a death wish. You're quite healthy and could live many years."

  "No, Dorothea. I can breathe for many years. Living is an entirely different matter."

  "What is it you want, Werner?"

  He lowered his head and stepped close to one of the darkened windows. "Dorothea, we're at a crossroads. The culmination of your entire life could perhaps occur in the next few days."

  "Could? Such confidence."

  The corners of his lips turned down. "I meant no disrespect. Though we disagree on many matters, I'm not your enemy."

  "Who is, Werner?"

  His eyes hardened like iron. "Actually, you have no need for them. You are your own."

  MALONE STEPPED DOWN FROM THE PULPIT. "REVELATION IS THE final book of the New Testament, where John describes his vision of a new heaven, a new earth, a new reality." He motioned into the octagon."That building symbolized this vision. They will be His people and He will live among them. That's what Revelation says. Charlemagne built this and lived here, among his people. Two things, though, were critical. The length, height, and breadth must be the same, and the walls should measure one hundred forty-four cubits. Twelve times twelve."

  "You're quite good at this," she said.

  "Eight was also an important number. The world was created in six days, and God rested on the seventh. The eighth day, when everything was completed, represented Jesus, his resurrection, the start of the glorious crowning work of completion. That's why there's an octagon encircled by a sixteen-sided polygon. Then the designers of this chapel went a step farther.

  "Clarify this pursuit by applying the angel's perfection to the lord's sanctification.That's what Einhard said. Revelation is about angels and what they did in forming the 'new Jerusalem.' Twelve gates, twelve angels, twelve tribes of the children of Israel, twelve foundations, twelve apostles, twelve thousand furlongs, twelve precious stones, twelve gates were twelve pearls." He paused. "The number twelve, deemed perfection by the angels."

  He left the choir and reentered the octagon.

  He pointed to the encircling mosaic band. "Can you translate it? My Latin is okay, but yours is better."

  A thud echoed off the walls. Like something being forced.

  Again.

  He identified the direction. From one of the side chapels-St. Michael's. Where the other exit door was located.

  He raced inside and rounded the empty pews toward the stout wooden door held shut with an iron latch. He heard a pop from its other side.

  "They're forcing the door."

  "Who's they?" Christl asked.

  He found his gun.

  "More trouble."

  FORTY-THREE

  DOROTHEA NEEDED TO LEAVE, BUT THERE WAS NO ESCAPE. SHE WAS at the mercy of her mother and her husband. Not to mention Ulrich. Henn had worked for the family for over a decade, ostensibly making sure Reichshoffen was maintained, but she'd always suspected that he provided a wider range of services. Now she knew. This man killed.

  "Dorothea," her mother said. "Your husband wants to make amends. He wants you two to be as you were. Obviously, there are feelings still there or you would have divorced him long ago."

  "I stayed for our son."

  "Your son is dead."

  "His memory isn't."

  "No, it's not. But you're engaged in a battle for your heritage. Think. Take what is being offered."

  She wanted to know, "Why do you care?"

  Isabel shook her head. "Your sister seeks glory, vindication for our family. But that would involve much public scrutiny. You and I have never sought that. It is your duty to prevent that."

  "How did that become my duty?"

  Her mother seemed disgusted. "You are both so like your father. Is none of me inside you? Listen to me, child. The path you're taking is useless. I'm simply trying to help."

  She resented the lack of confidence and the patronizing. "I learned a good deal from reading those Ahnenerbe periodical
s and memos. Grandfather wrote an account of what they saw in Antarctica."

  "Hermann was a dreamer, a man rooted in fantasy."

  "He spoke of areas where the snow gave way to rock. Where liquid lakes existed where none should be. He talked about hollow mountains and ice caves."

  "And what have we to show for all those fantasies? Tell me, Dorothea. Are we any closer to finding anything?"

  "We have a dead man in the trunk of the car outside."

  Her mother exhaled a long breath. "You are hopeless."

  But her patience had worn thin, too. "You set the rules of this challenge. You wanted to know what happened to Father. You wanted Christl and me to work together. You gave us each part of the puzzle. If you're so damn smart, why are we doing all this?"

  "Let me tell you something. What your father told me long ago."

  Charlemagne listened in awe as Einhard spoke. They were safe inside the palace chapel, in the room he maintained in the octagon's upper gallery. A summer's night had finally arrived, the exterior windows dark, the chapel equally quiet. Einhard had only yesterday returned from his long journey. The king admired him. A tiny man but, like the bee that makes fine honey or a busy ant, capable of great things. He called him Bezalell, from Exodus, a reference to his great workmanship. No one else would he have sent, and now he listened as Einhard told him of an arduous sea voyage to a place with walls of snow so luminous that sunlight cast their heights in shades of blue and jade green. On one a waterfall formed, the flow of it like silver, and Charlemagne was reminded of the jagged mountains in the south and east. Cold beyond believing, Einhard said, and one of his hands shivered with the memory. The wind blew with such force that not even the chapel surrounding them could have survived. Charlemagne doubted that claim, but did not challenge him. People here live in mud huts, Einhard said, no windows, only a hole in the roof to let smoke escape. Beds are used only by the privileged, clothes are unlined leather. There, it is so different. Houses are all of stone and furnished and heated. Clothes are thick and warm. No social classes, no wealth, no poverty. A land of equals where night comes without end and the water remains still as death, but so beautiful.

  "That's what Einhard wrote," Isabel said. "Your father told me, as his father told him. It came from the book I gave you, the one from Charlemagne's grave. Hermann learned to read it. Now we must as well. That's why I set this challenge. I want you and your sister to find the answers we need."

  But the book her mother had given her was penned in gibberish, full of fantastical images of unrecognizable things.

  "Remember the words of Einhard's will," Isabel said. "A full comprehension of the wisdom of heaven waiting with Lord Charles begins in the new Jerusalem. Your sister is there, right now, in the new Jerusalem, many steps ahead of you."

  She could not believe what she was hearing.

  "This is not fiction, Dorothea. The past is not all fiction. The word heaven in the time of Charlemagne had a much different meaning than today. The Carolingians called it ha shemin. It meant 'highlands.' We're not talking about religion or God, we're talking about a people who existed far off, in a mountainous land of snow and ice and endless nights. A place Einhard visited. A place where your father died. Don't you want to know why?"

  She did. Damn her, she did.

  "Your husband is here to help," her mother said. "I eliminated a potential problem with Herr Wilkerson. Now this quest can continue without interference. I'll make sure the Americans find his body."

  "It wasn't necessary to kill him," she declared again.

  "Wasn't it? Yesterday a man burst into our home and tried to kill Herr Malone. He mistook your sister for you and tried to kill her. Thankfully, Ulrich prevented that from happening. The Americans have little regard for you, Dorothea."

  Her eyes sought and found Henn, who nodded, signaling that what her mother had said was true.

  "I knew then that something must be done. Since you are a creature of habit, I found you in Munich where I knew you'd be. Imagine, if I could find you so easily, how long would it have taken the Americans?"

  She recalled Wilkerson's panic on the phone.

  "I did what needed to be done. Now, child, you do the same."

  But she was at a loss. "What am I to do? You said I was wasting my time with what I obtained."

  Her mother shook her head. "I'm sure the knowledge you gained on the Ahnenerbe will be helpful. Are the materials in Munich?"

  She nodded.

  "I'll have Ulrich retrieve them. Your sister will shortly follow the correct path-it is imperative you join her. She must be tempered. Our family secrets must stay within the family."

  "Where is Christl?" she asked again.

  "Attempting what you were trying to do."

  She waited.

  "Trusting an American."

  FORTY-FOUR

  AACHEN

  MALONE GRABBED CHRISTL AND FLED ST. MICHAEL'S CHAPEL, rushing back into the outer polygon. He turned for the porch and the main entrance.

  More pops came from St. Michael's.

  He found the main exit doors, which he hoped opened from the inside, and heard a noise. Somebody was forcing the outer latches. Apparently Hatchet Face didn't work alone.

  "What's happening?" Christl asked.

  "Our friends from last night found us. They've been following all day."

  "And you're just now mentioning it?"

  He fled the entranceway and reentered the octagon. His eyes searched the dim interior. "I figured you didn't want to be bothered with details."

  "Details?"

  He heard the door within St. Michael's give way. Behind him, the squeak of ancient hinges confirmed that the main doors had been flung open. He spied the stairway and they raced up the circular risers, all caution abandoned for speed.

  He heard voices from below and motioned for quiet.

  He needed Christl somewhere safe, so they sure as hell couldn't be parading around the upper gallery. The imperial throne sat before him. Beneath the crude marble chair was a dark opening where pilgrims once passed, he recalled the guide explaining-a hollow space beneath the bier and six stone steps. Below the altar that jutted from the rear was another opening, this one shielded by a wooden door with iron clasps. He motioned for her to crawl under the throne. She responded with a quizzical look. He wasn't in the mood to argue, so he jerked her toward the iron chain and pointed for her to crawl underneath.

  Stay quiet, he mouthed.

  Footsteps sounded from the winding staircase. They'd only have a few more seconds. She seemed to realize their predicament and relented, disappearing beneath the throne.

  He needed to draw them away. Earlier, when he'd surveyed the upper gallery, he'd noticed a narrow ledge with a profile that ran above the lower arches, marking the dividing line between the floors, wide enough to stand on.

  He crept past the throne, rounded the bier, and hopped the waist-high bronze grille. He balanced himself on the cornice, spine rigid against the upper pillars that supported the eight arches of the inner octagon. Thankfully, the pillars were two joined together, a couple of feet wide, which meant he had four feet of marble shielding him.

  He heard rubber soles sweep onto the upper gallery's floor.

  He began to rethink what he was doing, standing on a ledge ten inches wide, holding a gun with only five rounds, a good twenty-foot drop below. He risked one peek and saw two forms on the far side of the throne. One of the armed men advanced behind the bier, the other assumed a position on the far side-one probing, the other covering. The smart tactic showed training.

  He pressed his head back against the marble and stared out across the octagon. Light from the windows behind the throne cast a glow on the shiny pillars of the far side, and the fuzzy shadow of the imperial chair was clearly visible. He watched as another shadow circled behind the throne, now on the side closest to where he stood.

  He needed to draw the attacker closer.

  Carefully, his left hand searched his ja
cket pocket and found a euro coin from the restaurant. He removed it, dropped his hand to one side, then gently tossed the coin in front of the bronze grille, finding the ledge ten feet away, where the next set of pillars rose. The coin tinkled, then dropped to the marble floor below, a ding echoing through the silence. He was hoping that the gunmen would realize he was the source and come forward, looking left, while he struck from the right.

  But that didn't take into account what the other armed man would do.

  The shadow on his side of the throne grew in size.

  He'd have to time the move perfectly. He switched the gun from his right hand to his left.

  The shadow approached the grille.

  A gun appeared.

  Malone pivoted, grabbed the man's coat, and yanked him out over the rail.

  The body flew into the octagon.

  Malone rolled over the railing as a shot popped and a bullet from the other gunman smacked off the marble. He heard the body slam into the floor twenty feet below, chairs clattering away. He fired one shot across the throne then used the momentum he'd generated to hustle to his feet and find refuge behind the marble pillar, only this time in the gallery as opposed to the ledge.

  But his right foot slipped and his knee banged the floor. His spine vibrated with pain. He shook it off and tried to regain his balance, but he'd lost any advantage.

  "Nein, Herr Malone," a man said.

  He was on all fours, holding the gun.

  "Stand," the man ordered.

  He slowly came to his feet.

  Hatchet Face had rounded the throne and now stood on the side closest to Malone.

  "Drop the weapon," the man ordered.

  He wasn't going to surrender that easily. "Who do you work for?"

  "Drop the weapon."

  He needed to stall but doubted this man was going to allow too many more questions. Behind Hatchet Face, near the floor, something moved. He spotted two soles, toes pointed upward, in the darkness beneath the throne. Christl's legs sprang from her hiding place and slammed into Hatchet Face's knees.