The Temple Mount Code

31

Certain he was going to find his brains lying in a pool at his feet, Lourds cracked his eyes open against the harsh white light shining full in his face. The overpowering glare made learning any details about where he was being held difficult.

He was definitely being held, though. Leather straps bound him to a chair. He struggled against them, found they were more than strong enough to hold him in place, and succeeded ultimately only in making his already pounding headache worse.

Resigned, he leaned back against the chair and listened. The quiet told him that either the room was soundproofed or it was far from the neighbors. Either reason was bad.

A door opened. Tense, heart pounding, Lourds waited. He was pretty certain he knew who’d kidnapped him.

‘Professor Lourds.’ Von Volker’s voice was immediately recognizable. ‘Did you have a good time getting … reacquainted with my wife?’

There was no possible way that could be answered. Lourds didn’t even bother to try.

‘Come on, Professor Lourds. Surely you have some cutting remark to offer the man you just cuckolded.’

Fear made Lourds speak, but not for himself. ‘Where is Alice? What have you done to her?’

Von Volker laughed, and Lourds hated the man for that.

‘I’ve not done anything to Alice. She doesn’t even know we’re here.’

Lourds felt a little relief, but he was hardly in a position to be worry-free. ‘If you’re going to blame anyone for Alice’s indiscretion—’

‘I should blame you?’

‘No, you pompous ass, you should blame yourself.’ Lourds didn’t know he was going to say that until he’d already spoken. But he remembered the fear and loathing he’d seen in Alice’s eyes and couldn’t hold back. He blamed the pain inside his skull, and the fact that he was possibly still addled.

Someone removed the light shining in his face. It took a moment for his vision to clear well enough to make out the small room and the three men in it.

Von Volker sat in a comfortable office chair. The room was small and barren except for a long counter that ran the length of one wall. A double stainless-steel sink with hose attachments occupied the center of the counter. The floor was concrete, and in the center of it was a large grill over a water drain.

The presence of the drain chilled Lourds’s blood. The room was a kill room, a place where game was brought to be cleaned and dressed after being shot.

The two men with Von Volker were grim-faced hard-cases who wore pistols in shoulder holsters.

The Austrian glanced around the room and smiled. ‘I surmise that you’ve fathomed the purpose of this room?’

Lourds remained silent.

‘We’re at my jagdschloss. You know the term, yes?’

‘I speak German fluently.’ A jagdschloss was a hunting lodge.

‘Of course you do. That was one of the languages you used with Alice last night.’

Lourds couldn’t believe it. ‘You were watching?’

‘Nearly the whole time.’ Von Volker shrugged. ‘I have to admit, watching her with someone else is quite interesting. The only time I ever get her so receptive to sex is when I drug her. During those times, she’s hardly a scintillating conversationalist. To be equitable, you had her fairly speechless most of the time.’ He grinned coldly.

‘You’re a sick, twisted bastard.’

A nerve high on the Austrian’s face jerked. ‘I’m tempted to have my men remove one of your fingers for such an insult.’

Lourds swallowed a thick ball of fear lodged at the back of his throat.

‘Do I have your attention?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. This will go much faster and be more rewarding for both of us.’ Von Volker crossed one leg over the other. ‘How did you find out I had taken Lev Strauss’s little religious artifact collection?’

‘Alice called me.’ Lourds didn’t see that telling the truth would get her in any more trouble than she was already in.

Von Volker nodded in satisfaction. ‘Excellent. Having to fight you to get the truth out of you would be tedious. Although the thought of torturing you would be somewhat rewarding. On my part, at least.’

‘Did you murder Lev?’

After a brief hesitation, Von Volker shook his head. ‘No. I wanted him alive. His death was unfortunate. There is another man, a Saudi named Rayan Mufarrij, who caused your friend’s death. Have you heard of him?’

‘No.’ Lourds was glad to be able to tell the truth. His mind had already started summoning awful images of what Von Volker’s men would do to him.

‘He’s a very bad man, a dangerous man.’

‘What does he want?’

‘Presumably what we all want: Mohammad’s Koran, the one given to him from God’s lips.’ Von Volker smiled mockingly.

‘You sound like you don’t believe it exists.’

‘For me to believe that that version of the Koran exists, I’d also have to believe in a God. I don’t. I believe in power. In the unity of the German and Austrian people. And in our destiny to become a powerful nation — a united nation — again. I also believe in me being the head of state of such a country. Anything else is unacceptable.’ Von Volker paused a moment, then studied Lourds. ‘Do you know where Mohammad’s Koran is?’

‘No.’

‘Sadly, I believe you. Torture seems like such an ideal way for us to spend the morning, however.’

Trying to contain his fear, Lourds just stared at the man.

‘You see, it’s easy to believe you don’t know where an imaginary object is. However, I do want to know what this means.’ Von Volker held up the piece of paper Lev had left in the candelabrum.

Lourds shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I was on my way back to Jerusalem to find out.’

‘That’s too bad.’ Von Volker put the piece of paper into his pocket and stood. ‘Because I don’t believe that.’

More afraid now, Lourds took a breath. ‘Under the circumstances, if I knew, I’d tell you. You’ll have to trust me on that.’

Von Volker studied him for a moment. ‘Perhaps.’ He looked at the two men. ‘I’m going to return to Vienna. Give me time to establish an alibi, since it may come out that he’s an old lover of my wife’s, then kill him. Make it painful.’ He turned and walked away, and the click of his heels against the concrete sounded loud and grim.

Alice tried to go about her day as if nothing had happened, but that was almost impossible because all she could think about was Thomas. Her body ached in pleasant ways from all the positions she’d found herself in during the course of the night.

She glanced at her watch again. It was after ten. He should have been at the airport already. She’d left six messages on his cell phone. She didn’t know whether to be more afraid that he was deliberately ignoring her or that something had happened to him.

Seated in her office space, she had a clear view of the front gate, so when Klaus’s private car pulled into the circle drive, she saw the vehicle immediately. Panic tightened her stomach, but she made herself breathe.

Leaning against the window, she watched her husband enter the house. She grabbed her keys from the nightstand beside the bed, flung open the window, stepped out of her shoes, picked them up, and scrabbled across the roof.

At the roof’s edge, she hesitated. The drop was only fifteen feet or so, but it looked much farther. She tossed her shoes onto the ground, then lowered herself and hung by her arms. A moment later, she let go and dropped. When she hit the ground, she tumbled back into a yoga roll and came up on her feet.

She stepped into her shoes and ran to the front of her house. Her husband was still inside.

The driver stood outside the luxury vehicle and looked a little surprised to see her. ‘Herr Von Volker is inside the house, Frau Von Volker.’

Alice casually waved the news away. ‘I’m going into the city. I’ll talk to him later. I suppose the after-rally party ran late last night. Did you just get in from Vienna?’

‘Yes.’

Alice started to continue on her way, then she spotted the hunting jacket in the backseat of the car through the open window. Her heart lurched into a furious beat as she headed for the long garage. She knew Klaus had been to the jagdschloss that morning. The last time he’d been out there, he’d left the jacket there. He’d complained about it for a week.

Thomas!

Swallowing her fear, Alice keyed the garage door and entered. She slid behind the wheel of a white Wiesmann two-seater sports car and took out her phone. She hesitated only a moment, then punched in the number for the police patrol around the jagdschloss.

‘Hello. This is Alice Von Volker.’

The man at the other end of the connection responded immediately, obviously impressed with the name. ‘Ah, Frau Von Volker. How may I help you?’

‘Yes, I think so. Could you have someone check on my husband’s jagdschloss? I drove by there only a few minutes ago and saw a strange car parked out front.’

‘Of course. We’ll get someone out there immediately.’

‘Thank you.’ Alice turned the phone off and dropped it on the passenger seat. She keyed the ignition and triggered the electronic garage door opener. Engaging the transmission, she shot out of the garage and roared toward the front gates.

The wrought-iron barrier pulled back just in time to allow her passage. She never looked in her rearview mirror to see if her husband had come out of the house or if anyone was in pursuit.

She had only one thought on her mind as she drove toward the jagdschloss.

Please don’t be dead, Thomas.