Page 10 of Hard to Kill

Liar.Someone was a liar.

“I’m expecting a promotion once we recover the painting,” Aimes said. “Tell me what you discovered!”

Yeah. Like I’m going to tell you, asshole.“Where might I find the general?”

Aimes’s excitement faded, and observing her caution, he became wary. “He’s in the breakfast nook.”

Kellen gathered her books and papers and put them in her backpack. She walked into the sunlit breakfast nook and found the general sitting at the table. He looked up from a report he was reading.

Kellen poured tea and added milk before she seated herself across the table from him and said, “General, I have good news. I know where the painting is hidden.”

He pushed his report aside, and his flinty gaze rested on her with expectation and...something else. Caution? Contempt? Did he think she would easily fall prey to his conspiracy?

She gathered herself to play the game, to give the information necessary and withhold the information that would save her life. She opened the book and pointed. “It’s the paintings. They don’t look like the usual miniatures on an illuminated manuscript. These are created using thick layers of paint. They rise above the page by an eighth of an inch in some places, and under the lamplight, they cast shadows as they did not in the daylight. Each miniature’s shadow provided a number and a place name. As I worked through the night, I was able to match the place names to the numbers on the four maps drawn into the diary.”

She had General Slater’s full attention. “That’s brilliant. Not a code so much as an illusion.”

“Exactly.” For a moment, she met his gaze and saw in him the same appreciation she felt for such a clever ruse. Determinedly, she ignored the warmth she felt, and when she looked again, nothing of enthusiasm remained in his expression.

She showed him the first two maps—the two that led to a cave under the Altdorf Forest. “You can see here that Chester Roy noted the amount of rubble he packed at the tiny entrance of the cave,” She pointed to the second map. “We’re going to need excavation equipment.”

“I’ll alert Aimes to acquire some men and shovels. The sooner this is done, the better, and you can go your way.” Clearly, he wanted to be rid of her.

“Yes, sir, when I’ve received my medical discharge, which you will now expedite.” She matched his flinty-eyed stare.

“The discharge papers just arrived on my desk.”

So now all she had to do was stay alive long enough to collect those papers. The general didn’t realize the kinds of battles she’d fought long before she joined the military. She was a survivor, and she intended to deflect the general’s attacks with a combination of force...and deception. “There’s more,” she said. “I was going over and over these two numbers that are written on both of the maps. Eleven and forty-three. At first I thought they must be latitude and longitude. But that would put the cave in Djibouti.”

“Unlikely,” he responded. But she had his attention.

“Last night I realized there was another system that uses two numbers. The Bible.” Kellen pulled an old copy of the King James Bible from her backpack. “I found this in the library. Look, John 11:43 is Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.”

“What exactly does that tell us?”

“I researched paintings missing after World War II, and I came across this.” She pulled a printout from between the pages of the Bible and handed it to Slater.

He read the information in a glance, and then he looked up, his eyes snapping. “Are you telling me we’re going to re-acquire a Rubens?”

Kellen was almost giddy with excitement. “I believe so, sir. It’s called ‘Raising of Lazarus’ by Peter Paul Rubens. And it has been missing since 1945.”

General Slater sat with his mouth agape, and then he broke out in a grin. “I knew I had backed a winner when I picked you.” Then his grin disappeared. “More tea, Captain?” Without waiting for an answer, he rose from his seat, brought the teapot over to the table, walked to Kellen’s right side and refilled her cup.

“Thank you, sir.” She reached for it.

He grabbed her wrist hard enough to bruise. “I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, but you’re not going to get away with it. Don’t even think you can.”

Looking up into his twisted face, Kellen could only think of her husband. She would never let someone hurt her like that again.

But Major Aimes must have been hovering just outside the door, for he appeared at just the right moment to divert a fight.

Slater dropped her wrist and strode to the other side of the table. He gathered up the pages of his report and turned to Aimes. “Captain Adams has cracked the code. As soon as you assemble men and equipment, we’ll head to the cave’s location.”

Aimes gave his obnoxiously smug smile. “I anticipated your needs, sir, and we can be on our way within an hour.”

Suck-up, Kellen thought.

“Very good,” Slater said. “Captain, be ready to go by 0900. This mission is almost finished.”

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