Ixeos: Book One of the Ixeos Trilogy (27 page)

“What does he want to do exactly?” Neahle asked.

“First, talk to Abacus and Vasco, and Landon if he can. Obviously, that goes without saying. If they say no, that’s it. No one’s ever left and come back, so I don’t know how that would go. If they agree, he doesn’t want to work here in Paris. He said he would be a danger to all of us here. He wants to work on ops, go wherever they need him. At least, that’s what he said.”

“You know Abacus a lot better than I do. What do you think he’ll say?”

Hannah shrugged. “No idea. That’s why I wanted to talk to Landon first. If he said no, that would be that. But I guess I’ll have to tell them.” She didn’t look overly excited at the prospect.

“Probably soon, huh?” Neahle said, putting an arm around Hannah’s shoulders and hugging her. “Want me to come with?”

“No, that’s okay. Now that I’ve said it to you, I think I can say it to them. I guess we’ll see.” She hugged Neahle back and stood up. “Wish me luck.”

“Of course,” Neahle said, watching her walk away.

An hour later, while Neahle was getting ready for bed, Hannah came into the dorm and threw her sweatshirt on her bed.

“What did they say?”

“Well, they asked me to repeat everything he said about four times. They asked me what he looked like, what he sounded like, if I thought he was high or drinking. They asked me how he got in the Depot and if he’d been using the motorcycles. He said he hadn’t, but how would I know? They asked me what I thought, then what I felt. If I still love him…” She flopped down on the bed. “Then they told me I could leave and said they’d talk about it, and that they didn’t know if they’d do anything on it before the next time Landon comes.”

“Very helpful,” Neahle said.

“Tell me about it. I’m supposed to go up in a few days; I know he’ll find me if he wants to. What am I supposed to say?”

“Tell them they’re thinking about it. He has to know they wouldn’t just let him back without a lot of discussion, not after he’s been gone so long.”

“I guess. He’s really antsy to get out, though. He’s gonna pester me until they do something.”

“Don’t go up for awhile, then. Monkey can go, right? He knows where the cells and the vault are. Tell Abacus you don’t want to run into him again until they’ve decided something or they’ve talked to him themselves. He should understand that.”

“Maybe you’re right… I wouldn’t mind having a break. Maybe I’ll head to Jordan for a swim.” She smiled at Neahle. “Or come with y’all on your Enigma hunt. I wouldn’t mind a change of pace.”

“There you go,” Neahle said, climbing up to her bunk. “Problem solved.”

At breakfast the next morning, Will stuck his head out of the kitchen and called out to Hannah. “Abacus wants to see you when you’re done, in his office.”

Hannah looked at Neahle. “That was fast. You think that’s good?”

Neahle shrugged. “No idea. Want me to come this time?”

“Yeah, thanks. My nerves are shot; I barely slept. I don’t know if I want Rod back or not, even if all he’s saying is true. And if he’s lying… I don’t want to be responsible for something bad happening.” She poked at her eggs then tossed her fork down on the plate. “Ready when you are.”

“I’m good,” Neahle said, taking the last sip of tea. “Might as well get it over with.”

The door was open when they got to the office and Abacus waved them in. “Have a seat,” he said.

“Thanks,” Hannah muttered.

Abacus sat back in his chair and looked at her. “Here’s what we’ve decided, at least in the short term. You probably won’t like it, but we have to think of the safety of everyone here. What they’re doing every day is dangerous enough without adding risk in their own home.” He stared at Hannah for a long moment before continuing. “Both Vasco and I feel that Landon needs to make the final decision. He brought you both here for a reason and only he knows what that reason is for Rod.” When Hannah started to protest, he held up a hand. “But we know that Rod might be in danger up top if his gang knows he’s trying to leave, so we don’t plan to leave him there, either.”

“I don’t understand…” Hannah began.

“We’re going to get him out of Paris and take him to another location. Somewhere he doesn’t know anyone, where he can start working with a rebel cell. He’ll be out of danger and so will we. There are a number of new portals he doesn’t know about, and we’ll make sure he doesn’t see how to get back. The next time Landon comes, we’ll bring him down and they can chat. It’s the most we’re willing to do, Hannah. There are three hundred other people we need to protect.”

“And if he’s sincere, he’ll go for it,” Hannah said, smiling.

“If he’s sincere, yes.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

M
onkey and Jose returned that
night empty handed. Fighting disappointment, Clay sat with Monkey and Abacus in the library planning the next move.

“The house in Paris should be next. That won’t take long. Does anyone know where this address is?” Clay turned the file around so Monkey could read it. “7435 Rue Mayet.”

Both men shook their head. Abacus pulled down a well worn street-by-street guide of Paris from a nearby shelf. Consulting the street listings, he found the page, then the square containing the street. “East side of the Seine. We have a rebel cell, Two, out that way, but we don’t visit it very often. I’m not really sure the best way to get there. You?” he asked Monkey.

Monkey shook his head. “What about Hannah?”

“Hannah has something else she needs to do…” He thought for a moment. “She might know how to get there, but I think Vasco is the best bet. My brother has had the most contact with Rebel Two and he would know the roads. He’ll be back tonight, so we’ll ask him. Maybe he’ll go on this op with you instead of me. I’ve got another matter to take care of.”

“Sounds good. Guess you’ll let us know when?” Clay asked as Abacus stood.

“Probably tomorrow night but I’ll confirm it with you at breakfast. Enjoy a day off. I don’t know how many more we’ll get for awhile.” He left the room.

“What does that mean?” Clay asked Monkey.

“No idea. He doesn’t seem too happy, though. Maybe the comm center op is about to get busy.” Monkey shrugged. “Whatever it is, it’ll wait til after I take a nap. I’m beat, dude.”

The following night, Vasco and Clay paid a visit to 7435 Rue Mayet. Monkey and Samson had accompanied them as far as the Depot. Abacus had asked them to do a full inventory on the motorcycles, parts and service records. Taking two fast BMW street bikes, they arrived on the opulent street in an hour.

Clay slid his leg over the bike and took off his helmet, looking up at the seventeenth century building where Luis Leveque had lived in 1972 when he purchased his Enigma machine from Christie’s.

“There’s no telling who lived here at the time of the war,” Vasco said. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

“I know. I thought the one in Spain was our best bet, since it was the most recent. If this one is a bust, we’ll leave it up to Marty and those hard drives. I wish there was some way to communicate faster with the computer station. It could take a week before we know anything.”

“Monkey’s going to run the drives to him later tonight. I can either drop you at the vault on the way back, or you can stay at the Depot and help Samson with the motorcycles and check on Marty in a couple of days. Let’s see what we’ve got here first.” He looked up and down at the dark, quiet street. Windows and door were intact on all the houses he could see. It didn’t appear that anyone had spent much time in this part of the city since the war.

They ran up the five steps to the thick oak door. Wide sidelights framed it; they looked through the dirty glass to the dark interior. Examining the lock, Vasco pulled out a slim leather case, opened it, and selected a couple of tools. In thirty seconds he had opened the door.

“Impressive,” Clay said.

“Nah, it’s a couple hundred years old. Not very sophisticated. A lot easier than breaking a window.”

They slid into the front foyer and closed the door behind them. Vasco pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on.

“Nice!” Clay said. The foyer and what they could see in the darkness beyond was furnished with impeccable antiques. Gilt framed Renaissance art hung on the walls. A dusty but still beautiful crystal chandelier hung from the high ceiling. Ivory marble tiled the floor.

Starting with the first level, they examined all the rooms. The house was old and appeared, from photographs scattered about, to have been in the same family for generations. Searching a writing desk, Clay found an envelope addressed to Francois Leveque.

Clay held it up for Vasco. “Leveque. Same last name,” he said. Vasco gave a thumbs up.

They went to the second floor. There were many antiques and expensive works of art, but so far they’d found no relics from World War II. Shining the light up a smaller staircase, they climbed to the third floor. There were only two doors off the hallway. The first held a twin bed on a white cast iron frame, most likely the bedroom of a servant. The second was an office.

“Whoa,” Clay said, shining his flashlight along the walls. A large bookshelf lined three of them, the only break in the continuous structure being the cut-out for a small octagonal window. All of the shelves were crammed with war paraphernalia. Medals in cases. Helmets. Guns in display cases. Radios. Model ships, cars, and planes. Photographs. Books. A huge antique desk was on the fourth wall—Clay had no idea how they could have gotten it in the room—and along the front of the desk were various pieces of equipment. He recognized an old typewriter, like the one he’d found in his great-grandmother’s attic.

Walking over, he examined each of the half dozen antiques lined up there. He studied two for a long time.

“Vasco,” he called. The older man was across the room, thumbing through a photo album.

“Got something?” Vasco asked.

“Two somethings. Look.” When Vasco came over, he shined his light on two tall machines that looked similar to typewriters, but were anchored in boxes. They were covered with dust, but the rows of keys were still supple. A drawer revealed that each had full sets of rotors.

“Are they M3?” Vasco asked.

“I’m not sure. Here, shine your light on this sticker in here,” Clay said, pointing to the inside of the lid. “It’s in German…”

“No surprise there,” Vasco muttered.

Clay leaned in, skimming the faded black writing on the aged yellow sticker. “I think this is just the directions.” He closed the lid and latched it, then turned the box over to examine it. There was a small bronze plate, less than an inch high and two inches long, with engraving on it. He got his face right down next to it.

“It’s mostly worn off… There’s an M but I can’t make out the number. Let’s look at the other one.” Vasco closed it and flipped it over and Clay examined it. “Same with this one. We’ll take them both. Do you see code books? You think he had two so he could send messages, maybe with his family?”

Vasco smiled. “I don’t know, but I’d like to think so.”

They found one code book in a desk drawer. Clay scanned the first page. “Yes! It’s for an M3! So these must both be M3 if he’s only got one code book, right?”

“Makes sense to me. Let’s take them both. You never know.” Vasco put one in his duffel bag and Clay packed the other with the code book.

“Marty’ll be disappointed,” Clay said, smiling. “He won’t get to play with those hard drives.”