The Napoleon Affair by Ernest Dempsey

Author:Ernest Dempsey [Dempsey, Ernest]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 138 Publishing
Published: 2019-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

24

MALBORK

Lucien Berger stopped in his garden to admire a particularly robust rose. The flower was in full bloom and its vibrant red color was at peak perfection. He bent down toward it and took a sniff of its delightful perfume.

He allowed the scent to linger for a moment before he stood up straight again. Berger appreciated the simple things in this world, especially things from nature. He felt that his connection with God was heightened by the things that remained untainted by man. Plants like this rose were one such natural, simple thing. It grew almost in spite of man, with a will of its own. There was a kind of spirit to a plant, especially the rose. Perhaps, Berger thought, he wasn't the first one to consider that.

His phone vibrated on the table at the end of the courtyard and he turned, irritated. He narrowed his eyes and stalked over to the table, looking down at the electronic abomination that had just interrupted his meditative time.

He looked at the screen and pressed the answer button. "What's going on? It's been too long since your last check-in."

There was a pause on the line, only broken by gasping breaths.

"Hello?" Berger said, suddenly concerned.

"Grand Master," a weary voice said. "We…we encountered a problem."

Berger knew who it was. Only a few had this number, and Michael was one of them. His daughter was the other. Everyone else contacted him through other means.

"What is the problem? Did you handle it?"

"We…we went to Saint Helena, as you requested, sir. We tracked the…targets."

"Yes? Spit it out."

"We didn't anticipate that they would be so well armed and well trained."

Berger didn't like where this was going. His asset sounded like he had been running from someone. He was outside; that much the man knew because there was the subtle hint of wind in the microphone and he could hear birds singing in the background. It sounded like seagulls, which meant the asset was at a port somewhere, most likely Cape Town.

"It was an ambush, sir. There was nothing we could do." The man offered the explanation, doing the best he could to hide the hopefulness in his voice.

It was not lost on Berger. "Ambush?"

"The couple, sir. They led us to a building. We tracked them, like you told us to do. But then things got out of control."

"Why do you sound like that? You sound weak and pathetic. You are a Teutonic Knight, are you not? Get yourself together, or I will flog you myself when you return. Where is Kallia? Perhaps I should have her do it for me and save the time."

Another pause came through the line. This time, it wasn't accompanied by deep breathing. The young man had fallen silent.

Berger fought off the suspicion. "Did you not hear me, boy? Where is my daughter?" He found his voice booming louder than intended.

A swallow preempted the answer. "She…she's dead, Grand Master. We were in a gunfight on the island. They counterattacked. We…we had them pinned down. It was…it was a lucky shot, sir.

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