The Sean Wyatt Series Box Set 4

by Ernest Dempsey

  9

  Aachen

  “What do you mean there’s another piece in play?” Min-Woo’s voice was full of fury. “How did someone else find out about it?”

  “I’m not sure, sir. We’re working on it.” Han-Jae’s face remained like stone as he stared into the alley.

  The police showed up only minutes after the Americans left. He’d watched as the man on the ground was scooped up and taken away in an ambulance. If it was a crime scene, it was the sloppiest one Han-Jae had ever seen, and he’d observed plenty during his time as an operative in Europe.

  “Well, you need to find out soon. The Chairman has grown suspicious of our activities. If we are going to strike, it must be soon. I cannot risk doing this without the sword.”

  “I understand, sir. I intend to find out exactly who these meddlers are. When I do, they will be dead. As will the Americans.”

  “Good. Don’t call me until it is done.”

  The call went dead, and Han-Jae slid it back into his pocket. Two of his assets were standing behind him, leaning casually against the wall of a building opposite of the alley. Another one was across the street, taking a look around to make sure everyone was gone.

  Han-Jae waited for the man to wave them over. When he did, Han-Jae motioned with a nod of his head for the other two to follow him across.

  The three men joined the fourth and walked into the alley, leaving one just on the outer edge to keep watch.

  Han-Jae took point, leading the other two to the far end of the narrow street. Their nostrils filled with the stench of garbage. Multiple bins were nearly overflowing with trash, stuffed by the restaurants and cafes on either side of the alley.

  Something metal clanked on the ground around the corner, causing the two men with Han-Jae to draw their weapons and take aim in the general vicinity. They poked their heads around the building to make sure it was clear and found the source of the noise. A bird was pecking away at a nearly empty can on the pavement.

  The operative on the left turned and gave the all-clear nod to his superior, then took up a position at the corner just like the guy at the other end.

  Han-Jae stood in the middle of the alley for a moment, looking around for a clue as to who the mysterious gunmen were who attacked the Americans. He understood why the general was upset. New players in the game could mean additional problems. Then again, it could also work to their advantage. If these new men took out Wyatt and the others, the path to the sword would be clear.

  The sun cracked through the gray soup above and for a moment sprayed rays of light on the world below. Something flashed on the ground, catching Han-Jae’s eye. He frowned and took a few steps over to where he’d noticed the anomaly. Bending over, he discovered a burn mark surrounded by tiny pieces of metal. He picked one of the fragments up and held it up to the sunlight.

  “What is it?” the man closest to him asked.

  Han-Jae had watched the interaction between the Americans and the two strange gunmen. He’d seen the flash bang go off from across the street, far enough away that it only blunted his vision for a moment.

  “Just pieces left from the device that man used to get away.”

  “What’s next?”

  Han-Jae looked out the other end of the alley at the people passing by on the street. “Let’s see where our American friends are going now.”

  10

  Cologne, Germany

  “Please, just talk to me,” Tommy begged. “You have to understand, I didn’t know any of that was going to happen.”

  June had been silent during the entire car ride to Cologne. Fortunately, it wasn’t that far away. With very little traffic, the drive took less than an hour. June stared out the window at the approaching city.

  The massive twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral dominated the skyline of the town next to the Rhine. At over five hundred feet tall, the cathedral’s twin spires were the tallest twin varieties in the world, and second only to Ulm Minster in the south of the country.

  Cologne Cathedral was Germany’s most popular landmark, boasting twenty thousand visitors per day. During World War II, people had to be warned not to try to make pilgrimages after the United States took over that section of the city. Snipers still plagued the area even though the war was all but over.

  “June?” Tommy said after a minute or two of waiting. “You okay?”

  “Construction on that cathedral started in 1248. They didn’t finish it until 1880.”

  That wasn’t an answer to Tommy’s question, but it was a start.

  “What took them so long?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably resources. It was ongoing for about two hundred years until they stopped in the late 1400s. Then it just sat there for four hundred years until they started up again in the 1800s.”

  He reached out and put his arm around her shoulders, wary she might shrink away again.

  She sniffled. “I’m fine. I just didn’t think when I woke up this morning I’d have a gun pointed at me. Twice.”

  “I know. And I am so, so sorry. If I had known that might happen, I would have never involved you.”

  She forced a smile onto her face. “It’s okay. Really. It’s not your fault. You’re here doing your thing. People get mugged all the time. It could have happened to anyone anywhere.”

  “Thank you,” he said. “I just want you to be safe. Is there someone you can stay with for a few days until this blows over?”

  “I have a friend in Dusseldorf. I can stay with her. I just hope the university understands. This will put me behind significantly.”

  “I feel horrible about it,” Tommy said.

  “Don’t,” she said and shook her head. “I’ll be okay. I needed a little time off anyway. I’ll tell them it’s for a personal emergency or something. They’ll be okay.”

  Sean steered the car into the left lane of the bridge crossing the Rhine River. “You know, you could hang out with us if you wanted to.”

  “I think I’ve had quite enough adventure for one day, Sean. Thank you, though. I appreciate the thought. After we take a look at this sculpture, I’ll catch the train to Dusseldorf and meet up with my friend. It’s not far, and she’s got a spare room.”

  The car quieted down again as it left the bridge behind. The enormous church loomed on the horizon to the north.

  “It really is an impressive structure,” Tommy said. “So much bigger in real life. The pictures don’t do it justice.”

  “Have you ever been inside?” June asked.

  Tommy shook his head. “Nope. Not that one. Lots of others, but never Cologne Cathedral.”

  She grinned. “Maybe when you guys are done with your treasure hunt, I’ll take you by there. That is, unless you’ll be in a hurry to leave.”

  He shook his head. “No. I’ll definitely be down for that.”

  “You’ll need to turn right at the next street, then left, and then right again,” Adriana said. “You’ll see it on the left when we get close.”

  Sean nodded. “Got it.”

  He followed her directions, making their way through the crowded streets of downtown Cologne. The west side of the city was full of tourists and working folk alike, everyone in a hurry to get to their destinations. The hour was getting late, and that meant more people and cars would be injected onto the streets soon. Some of the citizenry had already found places to get an early dinner or a late-afternoon beer.

  After parking the car and making their way through the cobblestone pedestrian streets, the group found themselves in front of the historic rathaus.

  “It’s kind of a hodgepodge of designs, isn’t it?” Sean said as they stood near the building, looking up at the façade.

  “That’s because it was built piecemeal over time, like many of the older buildings in this country. The Cologne city hall is the oldest in the country. It has a documented history back to the eleventh century. There are four distinct influences of design that span that timeline.”


  “It’s impressive,” Tommy said.

  “Indeed. Come on. I’ll show you the way to the sculpture.”

  June led the group to the entrance and into the old building. Sean lingered behind, letting a little distance grow between him and Adriana and the other two. Adriana noticed him slowing down and matched his pace.

  The interior was quiet, much like a church. The interior Gothic design with the dramatic high domes and seemingly endless rows of pillars was also reminiscent of some of the great cathedrals of the world. The cool air reeked of ancient stone, dust, and wood.

  Adriana merged closer to Sean as the group walked through the foyer and into the giant main hall.

  “I noticed,” she whispered into his ear, “you didn’t draw your weapon back there in the alley.”

  Sean wondered if she’d mention that. He was surprised Tommy didn’t bring it up sooner.

  “Heat of the moment,” Sean said. “I didn’t really think about it. I just reacted and went after that guy.”

  “Okay.” Adriana accepted the explanation on the outside. Internally, however, she knew that wasn’t the truth.

  Sean was a well-trained agent. He’d been an operative for the American government for years before calling it quits. His instincts, his training, everything was hardwired into how he reacted to certain situations. That sort of thing didn’t just go away. It took a conscious effort to push away those instincts.

  She didn’t push the issue. Adriana had a keen sense of when to try to get something out of him and when to let things go.

  The group made their way through the main hall, past a small gathering of tourists, and into an adjacent building through a pair of large wooden doors. Entering the next chamber, they found it was sparsely decorated. A wooden desk sat flush against the wall on the left. There was a red velvet-upholstered chair pushed against the right-hand wall. The ceiling was lower than in the main hall but still had the dramatic swooping curve of a Gothic dome that led up to a single line running the length of the room.

  At the other end, the sculpture of the Nine Worthies was embedded into the wall, high above the floor.

  No one dared breathe for a moment as they took in the sight. Seeing the sculpture was like looking into the face of history. Sean and Tommy always held the deepest appreciation for historical works like these. They took in the scene with reverence while they stepped softly closer to the far wall.

  “It’s smaller than I thought it would be,” Tommy said just above a whisper.

  “Incredibly intricate,” Sean said.

  The group passed under a chandelier full of half-burned candles.

  “I’ve only been in here twice,” June said. “Not sure what you’re looking for, but it’s definitely an interesting piece. These men depict the standards of chivalry that came out of the Renaissance.”

  Tommy didn’t mention they already knew that.

  “It’s amazing,” Adriana said. “I don’t mean to be a downer, but how does this thing help us?”

  The other three turned to her with questioning expressions.

  “I’m just saying, we already knew what it looked like and had analyzed every possible component. Did we really need to come to Cologne to see it personally?”

  “Sometimes you can’t see everything through a computer screen,” Tommy said. “You have to get up close and feel it, see it with your own eyes, smell it.”

  She didn’t argue the point further.

  The four moved closer to the sculpture until they were standing right in front of it.

  Tommy scratched his head.

  “Notice anything?” Adriana asked in a cynical tone. “Smell anything?”

  He cast a sidelong glance at her. “Just give me a minute.”

  Sean rubbed his chin as he stared at the sculpture. “You know, part of the problem is that we know so little about some of these guys. Like Hector, for example. Pretty much a mythical character. As for Alexander the Great, no one knows where he’s buried. Same with Julius Caesar. In fact, we don’t know where most of these guys are buried.”

  “The tomb of Joshua is in Palestine,” Tommy said. “Good luck visiting there.”

  “Right. And the tomb of King David is still missing. I mean, people claim it’s in Jerusalem, but it’s never been proved.”

  “So we’re looking for graves now?” Adriana asked.

  “She makes a good point, boys,” June said. “Are you looking for graves, or are you looking for a sword?”

  The two men turned to June with mouths agape.

  “What?” she said. “I’m just saying, she’s right. Maybe you’re focusing on the wrong thing. You’re searching for a sword. So think about the sword instead of graves or something else.”

  Sean and Tommy nodded, took a deep breath, and returned their gaze to the sculpture.

  “Okay,” Sean said. “Every one of these guys has a sword.”

  “Right,” Tommy agreed. “And they’re all identical. We knew that already.”

  “You said that this sword was originally the sword of Peter?” Adriana asked.

  Tommy shook his head. “No. The first one to carry it would have been Joshua. But it makes sense that Peter would have had it. That’s the theory, anyway.”

  “So Peter had a sword…the sword,” Adriana said. “And Jesus told him that anyone who raises the sword will also die by it.”

  “Right.”

  Adriana stepped nearer to the sculpture, so close she could touch it without extending her arm. She was staring at something. Sean could tell the gears were turning in her head.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  She reached out a finger and touched part of the sculpture the figure of David was standing on. “The rock,” she said in an absent tone.

  “What?” Tommy said.

  “Peter was known as the rock. Jesus said to him at one point that He would build His church upon this rock. Some people believe that Jesus was talking about Himself. A more common belief is that He was telling Peter that the church would be built on him, that he was the cornerstone.”

  “Yeah…so where are you going with this?”

  Sean picked up what she was saying. “No, she’s right. Think about it. Each one of these guys is depicted standing on a rock.” He turned to June. “Like you said, all nine of them represented what the Renaissance culture believed was chivalry. Those same noble characteristics would apply to Christianity.”

  June smiled. “I didn’t think of it that way.”

  “Correct,” Adriana said. “And take a look at these things below each pedestal.”

  “Those triangles represent churches,” June said. “You see them in lots of places on these old buildings.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Okay, hold on,” Tommy said. “Let’s put all this together. Say we focus on Peter. So all these guys are standing on a rock, and that represents Peter. And all of them are above a church, which Jesus said would be built on Peter.”

  “Along with all the fundamentals of chivalry,” June added.

  “Right. So what does all that mean?”

  His voice faded after a moment of echoing off the ancient stones, and the room fell silent once more.

  Sean had been unusually quiet. He finally spoke up. “June, you said that there are lots of places with those church symbols.”

  “Yep,” she said with a nod. “All over Europe.”

  “There wouldn’t happen to be any more on this building, would there?”

  She thought for a moment, and then her face brightened. “Oh yeah. I almost forgot. There’s one outside over the cornerstone of this building.” She paused.

  “Can you show us?”

  “Sure,” June said. Then she paused. “Although you’ll have to try to ignore the unusual base of that particular sculpture.”

  “Unusual base?” Tommy asked.

  June raised an eyebrow. Her voice filled with mischief. “You’ll see. Come on. I’ll show you.”

  11

  Co
logne

  “Yeah…that certainly is…um, unusual,” Tommy said in an awkward voice.

  “Kind of hard to not look at it,” Sean said.

  Adriana shook her head. “You boys and your sexual issues. Could you please try and focus on the sculpture above the base?”

  “I was until you mentioned it again. I mean, it’s a little person with their pants around their ankles flashing that entire part of the city.”

  Adriana and June both sighed. The latter had a playful smirk on her face.

  “Who is this guy again?” Tommy asked. “The priest. Not the…you know, the one without pants.”

  “That would be Konrad von Hochstaden,” June said. “There are about 130 dignitaries represented on the exterior of this building. Konrad was a bishop, though he had aims of being more than that. He was constantly involved in conflict and driven by what seemed to be greed.”

  “Greed?”

  June nodded. “He took bribes to give his blessing to men who would be king. In effect, that made him more powerful than the kings themselves. When kings died, he took over temporarily and even waged war like a military leader.”

  “Hardly seems fitting of a man of the church,” Sean said.

  “Indeed. So this representation of him is one of contradictions. The pantsless figure below was sort of the people’s way of memorializing how embattled the man was, and how much trouble he caused for the country. At least that’s what one local told me.”

  “Yet he’s the one who laid the cornerstone of this building, the oldest city hall in Germany?” Adriana asked.

  “That is correct. It was pretty much his idea. At least he took credit for it. He laid the cornerstone in 1248 and died thirteen years later.”

  “He only missed the completion by six or seven centuries,” Tommy joked.

  “This rock...” Sean said to himself.

  “What?”

  The other three turned to him.

  Sean was staring up at the sculpture. “Peter. Jesus said to Peter, ‘Upon this rock I will build my church.’ The cornerstone of a building is a rock.”