Hermann nodded. “I was hoping that once you saw the fallacy of the Bible, its inherent flaws, you’d understand that we’re merely telling the world what it should have been told fifteen hundred years ago.”
“Is the world ready?”
“I don’t care to debate this, Henrik.” He thrust his arm forward and leveled the gun. “What I want to know is, how did you learn of those letters?”
“Like you, Alfred, I always know.”
The gun stayed aimed. “I will shoot you dead. This is my homeland and I know how to handle the matter once you’re gone. Since you already have my daughter, I can use that. Some sort of extortion plot you’d concocted that went bad. It won’t really matter. You won’t care.”
“I believe you’d actually prefer me dead.”
“No question. Much easier, in every way.”
Thorvaldsen heard the running steps at the same moment he spotted Gary bolt from the plants and tackle Alfred Hermann. The boy was tall, lanky, and solid. His momentum toppled the older man from his feet and caused Hermann to lose the gun.
Gary rolled off his opponent and snatched up the weapon.
Hermann seemed stunned by the attack and came to his knees, searching for breath.
Thorvaldsen stood and grabbed the gun from Gary. He wrapped his hand around the weapon and, not giving Hermann time to rise, slammed the butt into the side of his head.
The dazed Austrian crumpled to the dirt.
“That was foolish,” he said to Gary. “I would have handled it.”
“How? He was pointing the gun at you.”
He didn’t want to say that he was indeed running out of options, so he simply clasped the boy’s shoulder. “Good point, lad. But don’t do that again.”
“Sure, Henrik. No problem. Next time I’ll let whoever shoot you.”
He smiled. “You’re just like your father.”
“What now? There’s another guy outside.”
He led Gary near the exit and said in a soft voice, “Go out and tell him Herr Hermann needs him. Then let him enter first. I’ll take care of things.”
MALONE FOLLOWED THE TUNNEL MARKED BY THE LETTER D. The route was narrow, two people wide, and extended deep into the bowels of the rock. The path turned twice. Light came from more low-wattage sconces. The chilled, mysterious air carried an acrid quality that stung his eyes. After another few twists, they entered a chamber decorated with magnificent murals. He marveled at their brilliance. The Last Judgment, hell mouthing flames in the river, a Tree of Jesse. Cut into the wall from which they entered were seven doorways, above each of which was a single Roman letter. On the opposite wall seven more doorways, a solitary letter above each, too.
D M V S O A I.
“We take the O, right?” Pam said.
He smiled. “You catch on fast. That arbor is the way through this maze. There’s going to be seven more of these junctures. V O S V A V V. That’s what’s left. Thomas Bainbridge left an important clue-but one that makes no sense until you get here. That’s why the Guardians left it alone for three hundred years. It’s meaningless.”
“Unless you’re in this rat maze.”
They kept moving forward through the puzzle of passageways, misleading corridors, and dead ends. The time and energy required to construct the tunnels staggered Malone’s imagination. But the Guardians had been at their task for two-thousand-plus years-plenty of time to be both innovative and thorough.
Seven more junctions appeared and he was pleased to see that each time a letter from the arbor appeared above a door. He kept his gun ready but heard nothing ahead of them. Each juncture contained a different marvel of hieroglyphs, cartouches, alphabet engravings, and cuneiform symbols.
Past the seventh intersection and into another tunnel, he knew that the final path lay ahead.
They turned a corner, and the light from the exit ahead was clearly brighter than the other junctures. McCollum could be there waiting, so he positioned Pam behind him and crept forward.
At the end, he stayed in the shadows and peered inside.
The room was large, maybe forty feet square, with overhead chandeliers. The walls towered twenty feet and were covered in mosaic maps. Egypt. Palestine. Jerusalem. Mesopotamia. The Mediterranean. Detail was minimal, coastlines tapered off into the unknown, and the writing was in Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew. On the opposite wall were seven more doors. The one with the letter M above it surely opened into the library itself.
They stepped inside the chamber.
“Welcome, Mr. Malone,” a male voice said.
Two men took form from the darkness of one of the other doorways. One was the Guardian whom McCollum had earlier held at gunpoint, minus his straw hat. The other was Adam from Haddad’s apartment and the monastery in Lisbon.
Malone aimed his weapon.
Neither the Guardian nor Adam moved. Both men simply stared at him with concerned expressions.
“I’m not your enemy,” Adam said.
“How did you find us?” Pam asked.
“I didn’t. You found me.”
Malone thought about how the man standing across from him had gunned down George Haddad. Then he noticed that Adam was dressed similarly to the younger Guardian-baggy pants, cloak tucked into his waistband, rope belt, and sandals.
Neither man was armed.
He lowered his gun.
“You’re a Guardian?” he asked Adam.
“A faithful servant.”
“Why did you kill George Haddad?”
“I didn’t.”
Movement behind the two men caught Malone’s attention. He saw a third figure step from the doorway.
Eve from Haddad’s apartment. Alive and well.
“Mr. Malone,” she said. “I’m the assistant librarian and we owe you an explanation, but it must be quick.”
He kept his composure.
“We were there in London to create an illusion. It was imperative that you continue forward, and the Librarian believed the ruse was the best way to accomplish that goal.”
“The Librarian?”
She nodded. “He leads us. We aren’t many, but have always been enough to protect this place. Many Guardians have served. I’m sure you saw their bones in the church. But the world is changing. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for us to continue our mission. We are about to be without funds, and our recruitment, of late, has been dismal. Then there is the threat.”
He waited for her to explain.
“For the past several years someone has been seeking us. They’ve even involved governments. The incident five years ago with George Haddad-where you were able to secret him away-left an invitee both known and exposed. That has
“You knew we were coming?” Pam asked.
“Most of your journey was stimulated by us, except that the Israelis have been quite aggressive in trying to find you. Even the Americans were involved. But it seems for different reasons. Everyone was willing to bargain us away. The Librarian decided to set into motion events that we controlled, ones that could lead the relevant players straight here.”
“How is that possible?” he asked.
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
