Page 64 of The Last Kingdom

Chapter 34

COTTON SAT ON THE EDGE OF THE BED.

The meeting of the Guglmänner had adjourned an hour ago. Fenn had offered a place to sleep for the night and he decided to accept that hospitality. Why not? He was tired and needed time to think. A lot had been coming fast. Which was par for the course.

He should call Koger and report that he’d made contact with that “additional help” he’d mentioned. Also with Jason Rife, whoever the hell that was. Koger needed to know. First impression? Rife talked like an intelligence operative. He’d said an ex, so the likely suspect was again the CIA. All the more reason Koger should be informed. He had to admit, Fenn stood his ground against those guns. That took guts. But for what? An ideal? A memory? A corpse that had been hidden away long ago? A legend? A story? The whole thing was nuts. Was he dreaming? No. His dreams were rational. Even his nightmares carried more reasonable content than all this. He considered himself a solid listener. Someone who absorbed details, cataloged them in proper order, then made good decisions. Sure, he’d made his share of mistakes. But decisiveness had always kept him alive. He liked to adhere to three basic rules. First, organize. Second, gather your strength. Third, test that strength before using it. None of that seemed possible here.

Everything seemed jumbled.

But that did not include the bedchamber he’d been assigned, which was anything but a hodgepodge. Part if it jutted into one of the round turrets, the ceiling coffered with huge crossbeams that framed out elegantly carved panels. The poster bed was enormous with bulbous Jacobean legs. A lovely baroque mirror with a brace of flying angels carved around it held sconces that lit everything with a warm glow.

He found his cell phone and located Cassiopeia’s number in his favorites. He tapped the screen and the phone dialed. He didn’t expect her to answer. It was the middle of the night. He just wanted to hear her voice when asked to leave a message. It always calmed him. Hard for him to admit that he needed someone. He was pushing fifty, living alone, and constantly in the middle of this or that. Thankfully, Cassiopeia was equally restless. They made a good team. She got him.

And he her.

Where he and his ex-wife butted heads more than they should, he and Cassiopeia seemed to work things through. Neither pushed nor threatened the other. The emotional walls that had been so tall and thick in the beginning of their relationship had withered to nothing more than faint gauze. They’d both overcome their fear of need. Instead, longing brought comfort.

And they loved being together.

Should he marry her?

That was a question he’d been asking himself more and more lately. He’d not been all that great a husband the first time. There’d been infidelities on both their parts. And a son came out of that betrayal. He loved Gary. The boy was growing up fast, soon to be out of high school. He was still talking about joining the Navy and making the military a career.

Like his dad.

And granddad.

His ex-wife wasn’t happy about the choice, but realized there was little she could do. The boy may not be a Malone by blood, but he was in every other way that mattered.

He ended the call without leaving a message.

A knock came to the door.

Fenn entered, carrying a laptop. “I apologize for disturbing you, but I saw the light on and thought you should see this.”

They’d not had an opportunity to speak earlier as Fenn had quickly hustled him off, away from the brothers.

“Why did you want me to watch that initiation?” he asked. “It seems that would be a private matter, not for outsiders.”

“Ordinarily, that would be true. But you needed to see that one.”

Now he understood. “You know that guy works for Prince Stefan.”

Fenn nodded. “I do. He has set himself up as supposedly our spy within the prince’s ranks, but I know better. He’s a double agent, with his true loyalty to the prince. I’ve allowed him to ingratiate himself with us, and I allowed the initiation. But he is no brother of ours.”

“We call that rockin’ someone to sleep.”

Fenn nodded. “That would be accurate.”

“He’s the one who alerted you about the book theft?”

“Ja.He also set up a scenario where we could steal the book back. But I am not fooled. I suspect the prince wanted us to take the book and solve its significance for him, with his spy telling him all we learned.”

“That would mean Stefan is seriously uninformed.”

“He is. He and his brother, Albert, are not close. I doubt Stefan has much more than bits and pieces of the puzzle. He’s hoping we have more.”

“So the spy will not learn of the envelope?”

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