The Lafayette Sword (28 page)

107

Brooklyn, New York

Present day

A
n hour after Jack Winthrop left, a small white van pulled up in front of 25 Coffey Street. A man dressed like a gas-company employee entered the abandoned building and slipped through the underground
passage.

An hour later, he emerged, dragging the lifeless bodies of Ray Robinson and Joan Archambeau. He locked the warehouse door and hoisted the bodies into the back of the van. He got behind the wheel and drove to the end of the street. Then he pushed a button on a black box. A deafening explosion caused the earth t
o tremble.

Satisfied, he sent his report to Aurora Source and drove off. When the fire trucks and television reporters arrived, spectators told them that the rundown building was an eyesore anyway. Good riddance. An attorney, sent by Aurora, ensured all the neighbors of the destroyed building that they would be compensated for any damages. The building would be replaced by a retail-office complex that would revitalize the whole area. A few hours later, the first bulldozers were clearing the debris, erasing all traces of the entrance to the crypt and its tw
o pillars.

PART THREE

Whatever has its price has little value.

—Friedrich Nietzsche

108

Newark Liberty Airport

Present day

J
ack Winthrop massaged his neck. The hours spent staking out his new target had left him stiff and tired. It was a cop's job, for sure. Nothing like the risky and exhilarating missions he'd been put on until this latest assignment. He didn't like playing private eye. The Air France check-in was busy, but he could see the target. He had followed the man a good part of the night—from the time he left the building in Brooklyn until he returned to his hotel the next morning. No news of the two men and woman who had gone in first. That wasn't hi
s problem.

When the target slipped into a taxi in the morning, Winthrop contacted his employer to warn him of the imminent departure. He was told to stay on the m
an's tail.

Now the man was in the line to catch a flight to Paris. Winthrop knew his mission was winding down. Once he had verified the flight and arrival time, he grabbed a bite to eat and wrote up h
is report.

What a demoralizing assignment: hours spent waiting for some unknown target. Winthrop shook his head. Operation Chimera—who had come up with that name? Well, at least it was over. He still wondered what happened to the others, but he didn't pursue the thought any further. Not hi
s problem.

He hit “send.” Aurora Source would contact a colleague in Europe, who would tail the target over there. With a little luck, he'd catch the next flight to
Pensacola.

And when he got to Pensacola, he'd submit his re
signation.

Winthrop ordered a coffee and followed the man as he checked his bags and waited to go through
security.

His phone vibrated: a message from Auro
ra Source.

“Dammit!” He wasn't done with Operatio
n Chimera.

He rushed to the Air France counter and elbowed his way through a group of Russian
tourists.

“Are there any seats left on Flight 2271
to Paris?”

“I'm sorry, sir, but we can't accept last-minute check-ins.” The woman enumerated the various reasons related to the heightened risk of terrorism and explained that international flight lists were sent to the au
thorities.

“I get it. What's the next availabl
e flight?”

The woman eyed him suspiciously. Winthrop gave her his most charming smile and showed her his Marine ID, which he stil
l carried.

“Listen, my buddies from the Marines are getting together in Paris, and I have to catch up with them. One of the guys suffered a head trauma in combat, and we're treating him to the trip. You understand, d
on't you?”

The woman checked his passport and smiled back. “We can't make any exceptions, sir. You'll have to wait. And next time, try not to push the other passengers around. Have a
nice day.”

“Bitch,” he muttered. He kep
t smiling.

“I can give you a seat on the same flight
tomorrow.”

For crying out loud! He'd be cooling his heels in New York still another God-for
saken day.

He took the seat and informed Aurora Source of
the delay.

109

Air France Flight 2271, Above the Atlantic

Present day

T
he Sword of Light took out his ear buds and sipped a glass of champagne offered by the flight attendant, who had smiled at the huge teddy bear sitting on the vacant seat ne
xt to him.

He had bought presents at the airport: the stuffed animal for his son and a Cartier watch for
his wife.

Perfect. It was all going so well. He was watching the pillar video over and over again, and what he discovered stupefied him. He recognized the site engraved in the column right away, but he couldn't believe it. To think that the ultimate secret was hidden in the middle
of Paris!

The name of the descendant in the fourth family didn't matter now. And he'd gotten rid of those in the way, starting with that black police officer and brother Marcas. The two other known descendants, de Lambre and Archambeau, had both gone to the eternal Orient. As for the fourth, there was no reason to fear a simp
le legend.

Now he knew where the secret of gold was hidden, and his impatience was growing. He put the ear buds back in and watched the video ano
ther time.

110

Palais Royal, Paris

Present day

E
dmond Canseliet didn't like to wake up early. When he did get up, he glanced at his nude partner, asleep on the satin sheet. But he had no time to lose in erotic fantasies. Canseliet tiptoed out of the room and headed to his office. His phone buzzed. Annoyed, he tapped it and h
it “open.”

Decoding of the encrypted message began. It wouldn't take more than a fe
w seconds.

The message popped up on t
he screen.

Aurora Source to Au
rora Paris

Operation Chimera.
Our agent says the target linked to Operation Chimera in New York will arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport tomorrow afternoon at 1:15, local time. Photo attached. Continue tailing in Paris. Agent will arrive on the next flight to take
the relay.

I'll be there personally in a few hours and will let you know when I arrive. Plan to provide agent with a weapon when h
e arrives.

Canseliet rubbed his eyes and groaned. How was he supposed to find a weapon and put a tail together on such short notice? What was André up to? Ever since that cop had brought the pure gold, Surgens seemed to have lost all control. He was using Aurora like a private service and its members like domestic staff. He was getting on in age and would have to think about a
successor.

“I'd better make an effort,” Canseliet said to himself. “For now,
at least.”

Canseliet sent h
is answer.

Aurora Paris to Aur
ora Source

Operation Chimera.
Received. Will do as i
nstructed.

111

New York

Present day

S
itting in the back seat of the taxi, Marcas had trouble keeping his eyes open. He was
fatigued.

Ever since he had come to on the grass, with tourists staring at him as though he were a homeless bum with a bruised face and shredded clothes, everything had felt strange, like a horror story on fast forward. He had hopped on a ferry to Manhattan, and had arrived in his hotel room two hours later. He thanked God that he had the presence of mind to book a flight to Paris before falling
into bed.

He stretched in the cab and watched the sky darken over New York as he made his way to JFK International
Airport.

Marcas couldn't help thinking about Ray. If only he had been able to contact the police. They could have retrieved the body. But Marcas couldn't do that. He would have gotten stuck in New York, where alerting the authorities would have touched off a media frenzy and ruined any chance of finding the Sword of Light. Ray, a veteran cop himself, would have understood. Marcas was s
ure of it.

He had only one lead: Cenevières. The killer had given him his name. Was it a calculated risk or vanity on the killer's part? He wouldn't know until he got to Paris. The killer was at least a day ahe
ad of him.

He'd already called Hodecourt and asked him to find out what he could. He had also contacted Guy Andrivaux, because he wanted to access the Masonic database as soon as
possible.

It was his last chance before the killer disappeared forever, taking the alchemical secret with him. He shivered at the thought of that madman making gold fo
r himself.

He chased the image away with a wave of his hand. Threatening clouds settled i
n the sky.

112

Berne

Present day

T
he valet informed him that the Bentley was out front. His suitcase was already in the trunk, and his Falcon 7X private jet was fueled and waiting on the tarmac. André Surgens downed a glass of buttermilk and thanke
d the man.

All this agitation fatigued him, and it had begun when Aurora Paris sent the alert about the fragments of alchemical gold. Of course, he had expected the secret of the four families to surface one day or another, but over time he had minimized
the risk.

Yet he had been overconfident, and now he had to take emergency
measures.

He slipped on his coat and looked out at the alpi
ne valley.

When Winthrop set off on the tail of the unknown target, Surgens had called in another agent, who found the two bodies in the underground sanctuary. That had been a real hit. He sincerely regretted the death of his friend Colonel Archambeau's daughter. The man, the descendant of an old family, had created the Security and Intervention Department and had been dear to his heart. How unfortunate that father and daughter had never got
ten along.

But the second agent hadn't found the Frenchman's body. He had escaped, most certainly via the air vent in the pillar. He would be back in Franc
e shortly.

But the cop didn't worry him. No, he was worried about the man who had entered and left the sanctuary alone. He was the one who had killed. He was the one who had stolen the last riddle. He was the one to eliminate. The unknown man had put the pieces of the puzzle together and discovered the secret held by Flamel, Isaac Benserade, and Noah: the secret of the
Boo
k of Adam.

Ultimately, he would penetrate the sanctuary in Paris. The treasure hunt, hidden for centuries, had become as transparent as a chi
ld's game.

Deep in thought, André stared out the window at the car waiting for him. To know so much, the man had to be on
e of them.

The two pillars. André remembered the emotion he felt on his first visit under the Statue of Liberty. The marvel that the common mortal didn't even k
now about.

For the first time in many years, he felt very alone, and the gold to which he had dedicated his life offered no co
nsolation.

He had only one obsession now: stopping the man who had betrayed the oat
h of gold.

113

Palais Royal

Present day

H
is colleague had just called. She had found a weapon and a private detective who could tail the target. The woman always amazed Canseliet. Just recently she had managed to find twin call girls at the last minute for a highly valued client, an emir who was making a quick stop in Paris. He thanked her profusely. Unlike André Surgens, he knew how to treat his employees with elegance. And even a bit more… He thought about her naked body curled around him in his bed. But now he had to focus. He had all the cards in hand, and in less than a morning he had met all of André'
s demands.

The weapon and the tail from the airport had gone smoothly. The man had spent the day resting and had come out only today to eat at a restaurant on Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. Then he'd gone into a shopping gallery on the Champs-Élysées. At the moment, the target, as André called him, was buying a powerful flashlight in a store that specialized in security equipment. It was hard to be any mor
e precise.

Canseliet chuckled. He just had to send h
is report.

Aurora Paris to Aur
ora Source

Rates.
The gold XAU index is still volatile. Five mining companies continue to sell some of the unextracted production. The threshold of 2,800 tons sold in this way has been exceeded and is nearing the total annual p
roduction.

Digital gold currencies.
Since the creation of e-gold, Aurora has held majority shares in the top brokerage firms. I reiterate my concern that this virtual online market could cannibalize the real gold market. The going rate for ten ounces of e-gold ($10,000) is lower than the going rate for ten ounces of real gold on the traditional market ($10,600), and the transactions aren't as traceable. It could lead to a bubble, which could burst, with serious con
sequences.

Operation Chimera.
The designated target arriving from New York was tailed from the airport yesterday. All of the information was transferred to the security agent when he arrived in Paris and took over tailing t
he target.

I will wait for you at the Bourge
t Airport.