The Golden Path (A Tom Wagner Adventure Book 4)

by M. C. Roberts

  As for clothing, Uncle Scott had worn a uniform most of his life, and for the few private moments of his life, a track suit or jeans and a T-shirt had sufficed. Tom had packed up his uncle’s comprehensive book collection and sent it off to Vienna as well. Everything else had gone to the Salvation Army or ended up in the trash.

  A horn sounded outside. His taxi was here. He picked up his duffel bag, slung it over his shoulder, and left the bungalow. He locked the door and dropped the key in the small combination-locked box the real estate agent had installed.

  Tom climbed into the taxi. “The airport, please,” he said, looking back one last time at his uncle’s house as the taxi pulled away.

  Suddenly, he found himself thinking of Hellen and what he had realized in the plane over the jungles of Belize. Whatever it was they had, it felt right. He fished out his mobile phone and dialed her number, but heard only: “You’ve reached Hellen de Mey. I’m not available to take your call, but . . .” Tom hung up. He hated voicemail. Then he looked at his watch. She was probably asleep, anyway. He would try again later, maybe from the airport.

  He looked out the window, noticing that the driver seemed to be taking the scenic route. “Hey, the airport’s the other way!” He knocked on the partition separating the front and rear seats. But the driver did not react. “Hey!” Tom said again, louder.

  The door locks clicked as the driver locked them from the front. A moment later he reached back and closed the small hatch in the partition. Tom heard a hissing sound from the footwell and felt panic grip him. Gas! he realized. He pounded wildly at the partition and shook the door, but the gas did its job quickly. Tom had no chance: in less than ten seconds, he passed out.

  75

  Oval Office, White House, Washington D.C.

  “Congratulations, Mr. President,” said the man that Pitcock’s secretary had just shown into the Oval Office. He and Pitcock shook hands.

  “Thank you. Frankly, I’m amazed it all came together. I had serious doubts when you first told me the plan. Please, take a seat.” Pitcock pointed to the sofa opposite.

  “Thank you,” said Noah Pollock, and he sat down. “Our plans are audacious, often opaque, and exceptionally ambitious. That is part of the reason why we have so much influence. By the way, the Leader wanted me to convey his congratulations.”

  Pitcock inclined his head slightly. “Please pass on my thanks for the trust he has placed in me. I will not let him or the organization down,” he said. He paused for a moment. Then, with respect and appreciation in his voice, he added: “It was a masterful piece of work, to say the least.”

  Noah radiated pride, superiority and a touch of arrogance. “Yes,” Noah agreed. “We see once again that people today have no interest in the truth. Their only interest is in sensation, scandal, extraordinary events that they can chatter about on Facebook and Twitter. Hardly anyone can separate fake news and alternative facts from the truth these days. Hardly anyone wants to. In today’s society, everyone can have their say on social media, and people think that makes them freer than they used to be. They are not. They are trapped. Trapped in sensory overload, caught up in the desire to be part of something big, to help shape it instead of just being swept along. Why do you think humans fall so easily for these absurd conspiracy theories? Because they’re tired of being sheep, tired of those at the top taking away all responsibility for their lives. So we give them a grand conspiracy. When they discover that the president is planning to clinch his own re-election by manipulating people with some ancient Mayan drug, they believe it, because it fits into their view of the world. They are outraged, and they jump on the bandwagon without a second thought. This is the essence of our plans: to give people the impression of greater freedom and self-determination—when the reality is the opposite.”

  Pitcock observed Noah as he spoke. The man was not crazy, not some megalomaniac. He had simply realized how modern society worked and was expertly manipulating it.

  “I assume none of those involved knew of this? Not even Ms. Matthews?” Pitcock said.

  “Of course not. People function best when you tell them only what they need to know, leaving them plenty of room to form their own interpretations. Every dictatorship in history has worked that way.”

  Noah suddenly grew more serious, his tone forceful. The lines of his face hardened.

  “The Leader will contact you directly very soon. There are a few organizational matters to arrange. In particular, we need several of our people in important positions, where our influence is currently too weak. Everything else will follow, step by step. We have big plans.”

  They shook hands, and Noah left the Oval Office. Pitcock remained, deep in thought—and very glad indeed to be on AF’s side. They had the power, and they held all the cards. He felt sorry for the people who had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. But he felt far sorrier for those who knew what was going on, but who were utterly powerless to do anything about it.

  76

  Unknown location

  A splash of ice-cold water in his face brought Tom back to the world of the living. He jolted awake, twisting his head in all directions.

  Where am I? What happened? Handcuffs dug painfully into the skin of his wrists, bound behind his back. His feet were also chained to the chair he sat on, which was bolted firmly to the floor. A dim light bulb dangled overhead. He tore at his bonds with all his strength, but quickly realized that it was both painful and hopeless.

  He looked up. Someone was standing in the shadows.

  “Who are you? Where am I?” Tom asked, once he had composed himself a little.

  “Right now, where you are makes no difference. And you already know who I am.”

  Ossana Ibori stepped into the light, and Tom’s eyes widened.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be rotting in some hole in the desert?” Tom sniped, still tugging at the chains holding him. Slowly, almost gracefully, Ossana stepped in front of Tom and leaned down close.

  “I was. And when I’m finished with you, you’ll wish you were there and not here,” she whispered in his ear. She gave him a long kiss on the mouth, then straightened up and continued in a normal voice. “But the Leader still has some use for you. I’m only allowed to play with you a little. So don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you just yet—but believe me when I say your stay here will not be pleasant.”

  With that, she turned away, switched off the light, and left Tom alone in the pitch-black prison.

  77

  Blue Shield Headquarters, UNO City, Vienna. One week later.

  “And what is our dear Mr. Wagner’s excuse for not taking part in our meeting today?” Theresia de Mey drummed her fingers on the conference table in annoyance.

  “I already told you, Mother. And we are really starting to worry,” Hellen said. The anxiety in her voice was audible.

  Even Cloutard, who normally propped his feet on the table in these meetings and whose cognac-filled hip flask never left his hand, had concern inscribed deeply on his face.

  “I know Tom,” he said. “He may not always come across as especially reliable or responsible. But I would trust him with my life. I have seldom met a human being with as much integrity and loyalty as Tom. Something must have happened to him. He was planning to fly to Vienna as soon as he had settled his uncle’s affairs. But he never boarded the plane, and several days have passed since then. This is entirely out of character.”

  Cloutard placed his hand on Theresia’s, but she pulled away from him.

  “Don’t give me that, François. Integrity? Really? And to whom is Tom Wagner loyal? No one but himself.”

  “Mother!”

  Hellen had slapped the palm of her hand hard against the table. Everyone turned and looked at her in shocked surprise.

  “I don’t care what you think of Tom, but something must have happened to him or he would have been in touch. He tried to call me two hours before his flight was supposed to leave, and that was his last contact. You don’
t like him? Fine. But I will not allow you to talk about him like that. Apart from you, he has saved the life of every person in this room, more than once.”

  Hellen’s eyes turned to Vittoria Arcano, Theresia’s assistant, who was nodding vigorously. Theresia ignored her.

  “I’ve also heard some very different stories,” Theresia said, and as if on cue the door opened and Captain Maierhofer, head of the Austrian counterterrorism unit Cobra and the joint European Atlas initiative, entered the room. “Perfect timing, Captain. There are already too many Tom Wagner fans in the room for my liking. Your own assessment of Wagner is quite different, I believe.”

  Hellen was glaring at Maierhofer before he even opened his mouth. “What is Tom’s old boss doing here?” she whispered to Cloutard.

  Cloutard only shrugged. “Je ne sais pas,” he said.

  Only now did Hellen realize that another man was standing behind Maierhofer. A giant, in fact. Six foot six and at least 260 pounds of solid muscle: a hulking brute with a crew cut, standing ramrod-straight at attention.

  “I consulted Captain Maierhofer because I was sick of watching the Tom Wagner circus,” Theresia said. Hellen reached out instinctively for Cloutard’s arm. She knew what her mother was about to say, and she needed someone she trusted to hold onto. Captain Maierhofer grinned as Theresia went on: “So I asked the captain to look for a replacement.”

  “Are you serious? You can’t do that, Mother!” Hellen snapped.

  “Can’t I? After that mess with Palffy, I wanted a team to handle Blue Shield’s difficult cases, a team that would find and secure new, and more importantly valuable, artifacts for us. Palffy’s plan to put together a team consisting of an elite fighter, a historian and a gentleman criminal”—she smiled at Cloutard, whose expression didn’t change—“actually seemed like a good idea. I would never have dreamed that the elite fighter would turn out to be such a loser. But here we are and I have been forced to act.” Theresia turned and looked at Maierhofer.

  “And I’ve brought you my best man, Ms. de Mey: Maximilian Rupp,” Maierhofer said. “Rupp was one of my Cobras; I trained him myself.. He’s been a part of numerous international antiterror units, and is a former member of the French Foreign Legion. He’s as reliable as they come. He obeys orders and sticks to the rules.”

  “And he is no doubt as interesting as a block of wood,” Cloutard added, earning glares from both Theresia and Maierhofer. Rupp’s posture had stiffened even more while Maierhofer was talking about him. Impossibly, he now seemed to have grown even bigger and more massive than before. He grinned proudly and nodded to Maierhofer.

  “He even nods when you call him boring,” Hellen whispered in Cloutard’s ear.

  “They probably removed his brain when he was in the Legion. Soldiers are not there to think, n’est-ce pas?” Cloutard replied.

  “And what if we refuse, Mother?” Hellen’s tone had turned venomous.

  “Then I’ll find replacements for both of you, too. It’s that simple.” She gestured toward the door and stared back at Hellen.

  Cloutard kicked Hellen’s shin under the table. She almost squealed, but she understood his message: for the time being, they would have to make the best of it. If they got fired now, it wouldn’t do anyone any good.

  But Hellen was a poor actress. She jumped up, knocking her chair over. She felt like throwing something at her mother’s head, but thought better of it and ran out of the room.

  “She will get over it,” Cloutard said, trying to de-escalate the situation. It was not like him at all, but in the course of his extremely successful criminal career he had learned that it sometimes paid to take a step back. Theresia could say what she liked, but it was clear to him, too, that the team would not work without Tom. They had to find him.

  In the meantime, Hellen had run to the elevator. She rode it down to the ground floor, needing some fresh air. Leaving the building, she followed Leonard-Bernstein-Strasse toward the Donaupark, a large park covering almost 150 acres behind the United Nations complex.

  Hellen walked to the pond and found an empty bench to sit on. The fresh air did her good, but she was still beside herself with worry and furious at her mother. She knew that something had happened to Tom—he would never have just disappeared without a word. That wasn’t his style. And her mother’s audacity in summarily replacing him with some stupid lump of muscle made her angriest of all.

  “Hellen.”

  She heard someone say her name. Her heart stopped. She knew that voice . . . but it was impossible! She turned her head just as an elderly man laid a hand on her shoulder.

  Hellen sat as if frozen, unable to get a word out. She struggled to breathe, and even though she was sitting down, the world around her began to spin. An eternity seemed to pass. Then she said a single word, a word she had not uttered in many, many years.

  “Papa?”

  — The End —

  of „The Golden Path“

  Tom Wagner returns in

  THE CHRONICLE OF THE ROUND TABLE

  The Tom Wagner Series

  THE STONE OF DESTINY

  (Tom Wagner Prequel)

  A dark secret of the Habsburg Empire. A treasure believed to be lost long time ago. A breathless hunt into the past.

  The thriller "The Stone of Destiny" leads Tom Wagner and Hellen de Mey into the dark past of the Habsburgs and to a treasure that seems to have been lost for a long time.

  The breathless hunt goes through half of Europe and the surprise at the end is not missing: A conspiracy that began in the last days of the First World War reaches up to the present day!

  Free Download!

  Click here or open link:

  https://robertsmaclay.com/start-free

  THE SACRED WEAPON

  (A Tom Wagner Adventure 1)

  A demonic plan. A mysterious power. An extraordinary team.

  The Notre Dame fire, the theft of the Shroud of Turin and a terrorist attack on the legendary Meteora monasteries are just the beginning. Fear has gripped Europe.

  Stolen relics, a mysterious power with a demonic plan and allies with questionable allegiances: Tom Wagner is in a race against time, trying to prevent a disaster that could tear Europe down to its foundations. And there’s no one he can trust…

  Click here or open link:

  https://robertsmaclay.com/1-tw

  THE LIBRARY OF THE KINGS

  (A Tom Wagner Adventure 2)

  Hidden wisdom. A relic of unbelievable power. A race against time.

  Ancient legends, devilish plans, startling plot twists, breathtaking action and a dash of humor: Library of the Kings is gripping entertainment – a Hollywood blockbuster in book form.

  When clues to the long-lost Library of Alexandria surface, ex-Cobra officer Tom Wagner and archaeologist Hellen de Mey aren’t the only ones on the hunt for its vanished secrets. A sinister power is plotting in the background, and nothing is as it seems. And the dark secret hidden in the Library threatens all of humanity.

  Click here or open link:

  https://robertsmaclay.com/2-tw

  THE INVISIBLE CITY

  (A Tom Wagner Adventure 3)

  A vanished civilization. A diabolical trap. A mystical treasure.

  Tom Wagner, archaeologist Hellen de Mey and gentleman crook Francois Cloutard are about to embark on their first official assignment from Blue Shield – but when Tom receives an urgent call from the Vatican, things start to move quickly:

  With the help of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, they discover clues to an age-old myth: the Russian Atlantis. And a murderous race to find an ancient, long-lost relic leads them from Cuba to the Russian hinterlands.

  What mystical treasure lies buried beneath Nizhny Novgorod? Who laid the evil trap? And what does it all have to do with Tom’s grandfather?

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  https://robertsmaclay.com/3-tw

  THE GOLDEN PATH

  (A Tom Wagner Adventure 4)

 
The greatest treasure of mankind. An international intrigue. A cruel revelation.

  Now a special unit for Blue Shield, Tom and his team are on a search for the legendary El Dorado. But, as usual, things don’t go as planned.

  The team gets separated and is – literally – forced to fight a battle on multiple fronts: Hellen and Cloutard make discoveries that overturn the familiar story of El Dorado’s gold.

  Meanwhile, the President of the United States has tasked Tom with keeping a dangerous substance out of the hands of terrorists.

  Click here or open link:

  https://robertsmaclay.com/4-tw

  THE CHRONICLE OF THE ROUND TABLE

  (A Tom Wagner Adventure 5)

  The first secret society of mankind. Artifacts of inestimable power. A race you cannot win.

  The events turn upside down: Tom Wagner is missing. Hellen's father has turned up and a hot lead is waiting for the Blue Shield team: The legendary Chronicle of the Round Table.

  What does the Chronicles of the Round Table of King Arthur say? Must the history around Avalon and Camelot be rewritten? Where is Tom and who is pulling the strings?

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  https://robertsmaclay.com/5-tw