“I do.”
The doors to the library opened. Gabriel and his mother Anna entered, but they did not bring in lunch. They both cradled shotguns, covering the only exit.
Laurent never took his eyes off their group. “You must... if you wish to live.”
33
11:39 a.m.
Sharyn grabbed for her pistol, less with any hope of escape and more to grip steel in her hand, to anchor herself. The two huge dogs drew into view, flanking the armed pair.
Anna called over. “Laurent! Amélie radioed from her tower. There’s a commotion at the bottom of the hill. It appears to be an accident, but from the flashing lights, thegendarmesare coming.”
Laurent shoved to his feet, only now seeming to notice the two’s arrival. “Que ferez-vous?”
“I will take Izzy in the truck and get a closer look. Gabriel will move your van into our garage, then patrol out front with Triss. Charlotte and Amélie have rifles in the towers. I will radio when I know more.”
After this clipped report, she swung away, drawing her son with her.
Laurent remained standing, breathing harder.
He was not the only one.
Archie backed a step, his face pale but with a rising flush to it. “Bugger all this! I thought this was a trap.”
Sharyn lowered her hand from her Glock. After all that had happened, their group’s paranoia had been honed to a razor’s edge.
Laurent finally recognized their distress. “I’m sorry. But you have nothing to fear from the Barbiers. They are loyal to a fault. During World War II, their family fought with the French Resistance, losing many members. They will not betray us.”
“But what about that commotion down the hill?” Duncan asked, keeping a hand on his pistol.
“Anna will assess the situation. It is likely nothing, but we must be ready to move if that’s not the case.” Laurent cast his gaze around their group. “Still, this serves as warning enough. While I’ve been cautious, I can’t discount that theConfrérieknow about this place. They attacked the Twelfth Keeper’s home in Norway. They may know about the handful of others that still exist.”
Duncan grimaced. “Which means they could have themallwatched.”
“A possibility, but a slim one,” Laurent admitted, clearly trying to downplay the risk.
“Then why bring us to this château?” Sharyn pressed him. “You said earlier that there was something you could do only here. What were you talking about?”
Laurent turned to the table and stepped to his computer case.
“While Saint-Germain’s tome may move on from Keeper to Keeper, a seed is always left behind, both as a reward and as a means for the guardians and their heirs to still aid in the study of this treasured volume. Currently that seed is a quantum key, which decrypts access to the mainframe over at theGardiens’headquarters in Paris. It also connects to a series of VPNs linked around the globe to further mask our research. It’s why we had to reach this château for any hope of uncovering the secret buried in the pages of the Second Adage—to use its quantum key.”
Sharyn slowly sank into her chair. “But considering the danger we’re in, why does decrypting it even matter?”
Tag returned to a neighboring seat, trembling, clearly still shaken by the false alarm. “And why do our lives depend on this?”
Laurent sighed, nodding. “Because knowledge is power. And at this point, I cannot trust anyone in theGardiens. I don’t know who are—or even the number of—the traitors in our midst. If we can solve the mystery of the Second Adage, we can take the book—and ourselves—to a location unknown to both my people and the enemy. It is the best way to safeguard your lives and the book, while also securing a treasure that must not fall into the wrong hands. Especially if we ever hope to decipher the Third Adage.”
“Why is that?” Sharyn asked. While not fully accepting Laurent’s explanation, she was intrigued nonetheless.
“Many of us in theGardiensbelieve the gold lost in Africa held a clue to solving the Second Adage. Losing that knowledge stymied our efforts going forward.” Laurent stared at them with pained eyes, likely dwelling on his own grandfather’s culpability for that loss. “For this reason, we must not lose this chance to secure the treasure hidden by the Second Adage.”
“But whatchancedo we have?” Naomi pressed him. “What makes you think we could solve this mystery—something that has stumped your group for decades?”
“As I mentioned before, wehavemade significant progress over these past decades. We’ve learned much. Still, there remains a missing key, likely lost with the Solomonic gold. But now—whether due to fate or circumstance—the answer may be within our grasp.”
“Why is that?” Duncan asked.
