The Treasures of Saint Germain

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

Drake stumbled as an entire shelf of books thumped and clattered down his back, hard edges hammering his spine. Ahead, a stack of crates toppled, hitting the floor with an ear-splitting crash and filling his vision with dust and debris. Dahl cleared a path through, kicking and wrenching the wreckage apart. Another shelf, this one over eight feet high, threatened to crash among them and the tottering heavy pots and urns, the statues and oversized artefacts, promised more than just bruises if they fell.

Mai pulled away. Drake herded Alicia past the last shelf as it collapsed. Dahl made the exit door, then turned to help Lauren and Smyth through. Hayden found herself propelled by Kinimaka so that her feet practically skimmed the ground. Yorgi sprang, nimble and fleet as a cat, picking his way through the destruction. Kenzie came last and then, only inches behind, Drake. As they raced, the rumbling eased and quieted, the shake of the building stopped. Only seconds had passed since the localized explosive went off.

Drake slowed, staring back the way they had come. No chance of them following Webb; the floor was nothing but rubble, the endless high stacks crumpled and ruined.

“Some treasures never see the light of day because scientists can’t explain them,” he said. “We learned that from the Odin thing. These treasures… stored, hidden perhaps, now spoilt, will end their days in devastation.”

“Don’t get over-weepy,” Alicia huffed. “Most of them do.”

A sense of the surreal and the incredulous hung over the team. Drake summed it up in true Yorkshire fashion. “So that French arse-end is gonna need a slap, no mistake.”

Dahl, for once, just nodded. “I’ll be happy to oblige.”

Hayden made a phone call, explained the situation, and asked for all eyes to be turned toward Webb. She also mentioned they might still have an ally in Sabrina without tabling the question as to the thief’s fate. All there hoped Webb had further uses for her. Truth be told, he had to have known she was compromised in the first place — yet still he’d desperately used her services. And the quest was not yet done.

Dahl cleared his throat noisily. “And may I address the brand new elephant in the room?” He paused. “All those things Webb was spouting? Are any of them true?”

Drake didn’t like to think too hard about them, and assumed the rest of the team needed some time to ponder. “Let’s chat later,” he said. “I need some air.”

Almost in silence, they trooped along the corridor and found a way to the museum’s entrance. Fresh air helped revive Drake and he was soon casting around, wondering what the next move might be.

Then Alicia surprised them all by pushing her way into their midst. “Look, guys,” she muttered. “I’m apologizing here. I don’t know how,” she shrugged. “But I’m sorry my relationship with Beau helped keep his cover.” She drew a heavy breath. “That’s it.”

Drake smiled at her. The new and improved Alicia Myles, and even more startling with each passing day.

Mai ignored the apology and turned to Hayden. “We won’t be able to rely on Sabrina anymore. If she’s still alive.”

“I know.” Hayden bit her bottom lip and looked over at Lauren. “I seem to remember a snippet of conversation, do you?”

“Yeah. Webb’s a talker, all right. He told Sabrina the next clue will be found ‘where he died’, or something like that. Obviously that doesn’t mean Webb, but the crazy obsession he lives and breathes — Germain.”

“I dunno,” Smyth grumped. “Sounds like a long shot.”

“Oh great,” Lauren said. “Now you don’t believe a thing I say.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t believe. I said—”

“You’re both right,” Hayden interrupted quickly. “Webb was referring to Germain but he rambles and fantasizes and builds all his castles in the air. It’s a leap. But…” She gave them a small smile.

“We see if it matches the merc’s list,” Yorgi said.

“And,” Dahl said, “it is what he told Sabrina so I’m inclined to believe. She has become a true and believable asset.”

“Calm down,” Kenzie muttered. “Don’t forget the ole lady.”

Dahl frowned. “Eh?”

“Yer main squeeze.” She effected an accent. “The old battle axe.”

“You probably know her as ‘boo-bear’,” Alicia put in.

“Oh, you mean Johanna?”

The two laughed.

“Maybe he’ll never get out of London,” Kinimaka offered.

“He will find a way behind our backs,” Mai said with a sly glance over at Alicia. “The slippery ones always do.”

Drake almost gulped, but luckily the Englishwoman was still feeling a little humbled and brooding over all that she had said, and most likely her relationship with Beau. How many times would she replay their conversations through the next weeks and months? Drake ignored Mai and found himself thinking about all that Webb had said.

Some gigantic bombshells dropped.

And such personal information. But then the man who boasted of private footage of Hayden Jaye — ex-CIA and at the top of her game — no doubt had the resources to breach any wall, delve through any record. Our personal worlds were there for all to see if a despicable individual knew where to look.

“Shouldn’t be hard to find out where Saint Germain died,” Drake extended the option.

“Already done,” Lauren said. “The merc said northern Germany and there’s a place there called Eckernförde. On the coast of the Baltic Sea. The town’s history contains an interesting anecdote. The Count de Saint Germain was buried in Eckernförde near the Saint Nicolai church. His grave was destroyed in 1872 by a storm surge.”

Even Smyth had to affect a wry grin. “Convenient,” he said. “No body.”

“It all adds to the conspiracy and the legend,” Lauren said. “No remains. No proof he died at all.”

Mai snorted. “Do not tell me you are buying into this immortal nonsense.”

“Me?” Lauren drawled. “I’m from Manhattan and believe absolutely nothing that I’m told. I just paint the pictures, darlin’.”

“I imagine this Eckernförde is a big place,” Dahl said. “Maybe Webb thinks the old grave site is intact? He would go there.”

“And what was Germain doing in Germany?” Kinimaka said. “From what we know of him he always seemed to travel with purpose, not by whim.”

Hayden turned her nose up at the London drizzle. “So unless there are any objections we’re out of this murk.”

“And quickly,” Drake urged them. “Maybe this time, with the manhunt slowing him down, we can actually get ahead of Webb. I don’t believe we should wait. Fact is, even with measly resources he’ll be able to fly anywhere in the world.”

“So let’s go.” Alicia was the first to move. “Because I know one big, fat penis with whom I want to set a very special date.”