‘Christ, Alex, the only thing missing from that story of yours is an ogre!’ Shroder remarked sarcastically, leaning back further in his chair. ‘Oh, wait a minute, I forgot, there’s one still being held captive underneath the Vatican.’
Harker held his hands out in front of him as if pleading. His retelling of events had been going OK until he had mentioned the reanimated corpses – and the transformed ‘demon’ being held in the bowels of the Governorate building. To be fair, Shroder had been taking it all quite well, all things considered, even if he did occasionally look like he was about to blow a gasket. Fortunately the mention of Chloe’s kidnapping had him taking the whole thing seriously. ‘I know how it sounds incredible, but it’s all true.’ Harker turned to Carter, who had remained unusually silent throughout. ‘David, tell him.’
‘I can confirm it’s all true,’ Carter said wide-eyed, ‘except for the demon part… I didn’t see that. But the corpses rising, I saw them with my own eyes.’
Shroder stood up and stared at them both pensively. ‘OK, let’s get back to the question of this “God” character. Do you have any idea who this man actually is…any idea at all?’
Harker was already shaking his head. ‘Absolutely none.’
‘Well, it seems he knows a lot about you,’ Shroder continued. ‘And despite all these tasks he’s forced upon you, he doesn’t appear to want you to complete any of them.’
Given the speed that everything had been happening, Harker had not given it much thought, but this simple observation by Shroder now had him thinking more clearly. ‘Go on.’
‘At every turn, this man has thrown you right in the middle of things, and then he tells you to go to the vault. And who shows up there but Vlad, the very man you’ve been up against from the start.’
The notion had Harker feeling like a fool. It was obvious.
‘You’re saying that “God” is on the same side as Vlad?’ Carter now asked, looking just as shocked.
‘Well, all the evidence would suggest so, wouldn’t it? How else would he know you were there at the vault, and then he didn’t even seem bothered about the third page of the Codex – only the Illuminismo.’ Shroder was sounding increasingly irate. ‘You said so yourself, Alex.’
Harker’s mind was now swirling with possibilities and, although he didn’t know why, it was obvious that he had been played for a fool. ‘But why bother dragging me into this whole thing when all I would do is cause unnecessary trouble? It doesn’t make any sense.’
‘It does if he’s trying to drop you in the shit,’ Shroder explained, before reaching over to the kitchen sideboard and picking up a grey steel iPad. ‘You know those pictures you handed over to Tristan?’
Harker nodded and made his way over to join Shroder, who was busily tapping away at the touchscreen.
‘He sent them to me and I was able to get a few positive IDs on them. Don’t get too excited, because I only had a few hours, and I was tracking you down at the same time, but you need to take a look.’
They crowded around the small screen to see one of the pictures Harker had taken of the guests back at Spreepark.
‘That’ – Shroder pointed to one of the male guests – ‘is Hans Vexer. You might recognize the name?’
‘Vexer Pharmaceuticals,’ Harker said, hazarding a guess.
‘Yes, one of the largest medical companies in the world, and he is the sole heir.’ Shroder next pointed to one of the women. ‘And she is Marie Ledux, who is the last surviving member of the Ledux family. They are one of the richest families in the world, with fingers in everything from property to shipping lines.’
Shroder placed the tablet on the table and pulled out a small colour photograph from his jacket pocket. ‘There’s more. When I searched Lucas’s flat I found something that you missed: a floor safe hidden underneath his bed.’ Shroder dropped the picture on top of the iPad and pointed. ‘Take a look.’
The image showed a close-up of an old man sitting in a wheelchair while talking to someone with his back to the camera. ‘I asked the London office to do a facial check, and what I got back is disturbing to say the least.’
Harker didn’t recognize the old man but he already guessed who the image was of, it had to be. ‘“God”.’
‘Can’t be totally sure,’ Shroder replied, as Carter now began to examine the photograph intently, ‘but you did say that Lucas worked for him, and the voice was that of an old man.’
‘Who is he?’ Harker asked, and by the way Shroder was looking at him, he was dreading the answer.
‘His name is Jacob Winters and up until recently no one had ever heard of him, but in a short space of time he has come to the attention of MI6 and our American counterparts. We suspect he’s involved in a whole host of nasty trades, with drugs, gunrunning, human trafficking and cybertheft amongst them.’
Harker picked up the photo and stared down at it intently. ‘He’s an old man, so how come he only came onto your radar recently?’
The question had Shroder shaking his head. ‘I have no idea, but he burst onto the criminal scene with a vengeance, and has already destroyed and taken over some of the largest criminal syndicates in a matter of months. I’m not just talking small gangs but serious, well-established Russian and Western organized crime families. The speed at which it has happened is nothing short of remarkable.’
Harker placed the photo back on the table, took his seat and held his head in his hands as Shroder continued with his unnerving analysis.
‘Alex, no one knows who this man is, where he came from or how he was able to put together such a powerful organization without being noticed. It’s unprecedented, and the intelligence services are struggling to catch up.’
Harker was now feeling queasy as all the fragments of this puzzle rattled around in his head, with no clear picture emerging in sight. Why would Winters drag him into something that was of his own creation only to cause himself problems? Was it all about gaining access to the Templars’ Illuminismo? Was Vlad actually one of the old man’s hired goons, therefore a member of this crime syndicate? What had Vlad said back at the vault? That acquiring the Illuminismo was an opportunity too good to pass up. As far as that psycho was concerned, it hadn’t obviously been his main objective. And then there was the idea of Judgement Day, which was somehow connected to some of the wealthiest families on the planet.
‘What does it all mean?’ Carter now asked, the question directed at Shroder, as Harker began to emerge from his mental turmoil.
Shroder let out a deep sigh and sat down on one of the cheap kitchen chairs. ‘In a nutshell it means you both have a lot of very powerful and dangerous people all extremely pissed off at you, including the Templars. And,’ Shroder continued, now locking eyes with Harker, ‘if you’re even half right about this idea of Judgement Day, then it’s not just you who’s in deep shit, but everyone.’
Shroder’s mention of the Templars had Harker sitting up straight in his chair. ‘What are they going to do?’ he asked, genuinely rattled by the notion of his own side coming after him.
‘It’s not what they’re going to do but what they are doing right now,’ Shroder replied with a look of despair. ‘William Havers, the man you met on Tristan’s yacht, is the one you have to worry about. He’s been put in charge of finding you and, from the signals he’s sending, it’s not going to be a pleasant outcome when he does.’
‘What the hell does that mean?’ Harker rasped.
‘It means that he believes you either have the Illuminismo or know where it is, and he will do anything to get it back or else exact revenge on you for taking it in the first place.’ Shroder suddenly looked uncomfortable. ‘Even I was given orders to detain you when I found you.’
‘Christ, John,’ Harker said nervously.
Shroder raised his hand in a soothing manner. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to. I don’t think you’re responsible for this – not willingly anyway. But Havers does.’
Shroder’s support did little to calm Harker’s nerves, and he scooted his chair a bit closer to the MI6 agent. ‘What about Tristan?’
‘Our Grand Master is in a real bind over this one. I don’t know if he told you but the Templar hierarchy is going through something of a rocky patch at the moment.’
‘He did mention something,’ Harker replied before Shroder continued with his analysis.
‘Well, to ignore Havers’s calls on this matter could be all that is needed to topple any faith in his leadership, which is already questioned by many.’
The idea that the entire Templar organization was currently on such shaky foundations was as worrying as anything else going on at that moment, but oddly it imbued Harker with a stronger sense of resolve rather than a feeling of hopelessness. ‘Then we should focus on what we can do rather than worry about what we can’t.’
Harker’s upbeat attitude drew a smile from Shroder, who began to nod his head. ‘Couldn’t agree more,’ he replied, then he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a white rectangular piece of card. ‘That photograph wasn’t all I found in Lucas’s floor safe.’ He leant over and placed the item in front of Harker. ‘It’s a boarding card dated a few months back, for a one-way trip to the UK.’
‘No surprise there,’ Harker said in view of Lucas’s suicide, and he picked it up and scrutinized it more closely. ‘Departing from Corsica.’
‘Yes, the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, no less,’ Shroder remarked with a wistful smile. ‘I did some checking and found out the ticket was paid for with a credit card linked to an address in Bastia, which is on the north-east tip of the island.’
‘You think that’s where “God”, I mean Winters, might be?’ Carter asked, taking a look at the boarding card for himself.
Shroder shrugged his shoulders. ‘Impossible to say, but it’s as good a place to start as any.’
‘It’s the only place to start,’ Harker decided, then turned his attention to his iPhone on the table, which was still powered off. ‘But what to do about our “walkie-talkie”?’
‘I’ve got an idea about that,’ Shroder replied deviously, with one eyebrow raised, as he picked up the mobile and gave it a gentle shake. ‘Tell me, gentlemen, how’s your acting?’