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Why had she known this wasn’t going to be that easy?
“While I appreciate your two immediate offers, and the one coming tomorrow, there is another item I require. And I’d like to see it tonight.”
THIRTY-NINE
SALZBURG
11:50 P.M.
MALONE LAY ON THE BED IN HIS HOTEL ROOM, LEGS CROSSED, hands laced together behind his head. Fatigue had hit him like a wave, but sleep was elusive. He chided himself for his fears and worries. Hated the nagging ache of doubt in his gut. He could not remember being in a stranger situation. But he hadn’t allowed a woman into his life for some time. The final five years of his marriage to Pam had been anything but intimate. They were more like strangers living together, both realizing that the relationship was over, neither one of them wanting to do anything about it. Finally Pam had forced the issue by moving out. Eventually he ended the estrangement by divorcing her, retiring from the government, quitting his job, and leaving Georgia for Denmark.
He could work a mission with Swiss precision—plotting, planning, and executing exactly what needed to be done. Yet he faltered like an amateur when it came to emotions. He simply could not make the right call at the right time. He’d messed up with Pam. Now he wondered if he was repeating the mistake with Cassiopeia.
A light rap disturbed the silence.
He’d been hoping she’d visit.
He opened the door and Cassiopeia walked inside.
“Stephanie told me where you were,” she said. “I’m not happy with her or you right now.”
“Nice to see you, too.”
“What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “Ran out of stuff to do. Thought I’d come and see what you were up to.” He could see she was not in the mood for sarcasm. Neither was he, actually. “You’re a long way from your castle.”
“I realize I lied to you. It was necessary.”
“Apparently so.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You can let it mean whatever you want it to.”
“I took a chance coming here,” she said. “But I thought we should talk.”
He sat on the edge of the bed.
She remained standing.
“Why did you buy that book?” she asked.
“The president of the United States told me to.” He could see she was unaware of Daniels’ involvement. “Stephanie left that tidbit out? Get used to it. You’re going to be told only what they want you to know.”
She wasn’t her usual self. Her eyes were elusive, her voice flat.
“Why are you here?” he asked her.
“I thought I was helping clear the name of an old friend. Now I’m not so sure.”
Time they lay all the cards on the table. “He’s more than an old friend.”
“He was my first love. We were supposed to marry. Our parents wanted that so much. But I ended it.”
“You never mentioned him. Or that you were Mormon.”
“Neither seemed relevant to anything between us. My parents were Mormon, and I was born one. Once they died, I left the religion. And Josepe.”
He wondered again how much she’d heard in the catacombs. “How long were you outside the chapel?”
Her eyes stayed cold. “Not long.”
“You didn’t hear him admit he killed our agent?”
“No, I didn’t. And it’s a lie. Stephanie said the same thing.”
Her denial sent through his mind the sight of her kissing Salazar. “Why are you so quick to think it’s not true?”
“Because you’re jealous. I saw it in the restaurant.”
“I’m not a kid, Cassiopeia. I’m working a case. Doing my job. Wake up and do the same thing.”
“Go to hell.”
His anger rose. “You understand Salazar has fanatics who do his dirty work. Danites. That’s what those two from the cemetery are.”
“Cotton, you’re going to have to let me handle this. Alone.”
“Tell that to Stephanie.”
“What you did tonight, taking Josepe, was foolish. Luckily it turned in my favor. I was able to capitalize on the situation. He’s beginning to trust me.”
Now he was pissed. “Josepe is a murderer.”
Her eyes flashed hot. “And what proof do we have of that?”
“I saw the body.”
That seemed to register, but then she said, “I have to find out what’s going on. In my own way.”
“I was there,” he said. “Last night. That kiss between you two was no act.” He could see that the revelation surprised her. “More info that wasn’t passed on by Stephanie?”
“You don’t know what it was you saw. I don’t even know what it was.”
“Which is my point exactly.”
He’d come a long way with this woman. From enemies to lovers. They’d endured a lot, formed a bond, a trust—or at least he’d thought so. At the moment she seemed a universe away. A stranger.
And he hated that.
“Look, you’ve done a good job. Why not get out and let me finish this?”
“I can handle it. Without you.”
He kept his emotions in check and risked one more attempt at reason. “This old friend is into something big enough that it involves the president of the United States personally. One agent is dead, whether you want to believe it or not. Three of his men are dead. I killed them. You gotta get with the program, Cassiopeia.” He paused. “Or get out.”
“You really can be an ass.”
“I’m not trying to be.”
“You need to go home.”
She turned for the door.
He did not move.
Not once had she offered anything in the form of affection. No smile. No joy. Nothing. She was as expressionless as a piece of stone. He regretted pressing her. But somebody had to.
She reached the exit.
He didn’t want her to leave.
“Would you have shot me?” he asked.
A rhetorical question, for sure, asked more as a matter of hope than for an answer.
She turned back and stared at him.
Uncertainty filled the air between them. Her eyes were as hard and brilliant as granite, her face a death mask of emotions.
Then she left.
SALAZAR KNELT ON THE WOOD FLOOR OF HIS SUITE. THE intens
e pressure to his knees reminded him of the hardness the pioneers endured to make their journey west, escaping persecution, seeking safety and freedom in Salt Lake. It was important that Saints never forgot that sacrifice. They existed today thanks to what all of those brave men and women endured, many thousands dying along the way.
“We were not compatible with the social, religious, and ethical mores of our neighbors,” the angel said to him.
The apparition floated on the far side of the room inside a brilliant halo. He’d been praying before sleep when the messenger appeared, worried that Malone might be right. Cassiopeia’s theft of the book, and his retention of it, might be sinful.
“Know this be the truth, Josepe. A certain nobleman had a spot of land, and the enemy came by night, broke down his hedge, felled his olive trees, and destroyed his works. His servants, affrighted, fled. The lord of the vineyard said unto the servants, Go and gather your residue and take all my strength of my house, which are my warriors, my young men, and go straightaway and redeem my vineyard, for it is mine. Throw down their tower and scatter their watchmen. And inasmuch as they gather against you, avenge me of mine enemies that by and by I may come with the residue of my house and possess the land.”
He absorbed the parable and understood its meaning.
“What was done was necessary. The redemption of Zion will come only by power. That is why Heavenly Father raised unto his people a man to lead them, as Moses led the children of Israel. For ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must be led out of bondage by power with a stretched-out arm.”
“My servants have been amassed and they are ready for battle.”
“All victory and glory is brought to pass through diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith.”
So he prayed harder, then said to the angel, “I allowed my anger to take over with Malone. He taunted me with the deaths of my men and I became boastful and said more than was necessary.”
“Do not lament. That man shall dwell in darkness, while you enjoy eternal light. The book is ours now. The gentile had no right to possess it. He did so to cause you harm.”
He should have atoned Malone, but Cassiopeia’s appearance made that impossible. But he wondered, had she heard all that he and Malone had discussed?
