The Napoleon Affair

by Ernest Dempsey

  Adriana spun in a full circle before she noticed something move between a cluster of tombs in the center of the graveyard—between the paths as they forked in several directions.

  She reached down to her hip, but the sound of sirens on the street reminded her that she wasn't exactly supposed to be carrying a firearm, much less brandishing it in a public place in Paris. A famous public place at that.

  Thinking better of it, she took one last glance through the gate and then jogged ahead, careful to run on her tiptoes so as not to give away her approach to the target, whoever or whatever they were.

  She reached the peninsula that jutted into the thoroughfare. There, she paused for a moment, watching and listening to the spot where she first saw the movement.

  Adriana cautiously stepped up onto the stone ledge that lined the path and turned her body sideways to fit through the narrow gaps between the graves. She slithered through the narrow gap, bracing herself on a wrought iron fence at her back. Even when she was safely out of sight of the gate and the approaching police, she kept her weapon holstered. There could be danger lurking around any one of the tombs, but if the cops came through the gate and saw her holding a gun, there would be no escaping the trouble it would cause.

  If there were any enemies still in the cemetery, she was going to have to take them down the old-fashioned way. The Old Testament way.

  She heard a leaf crunch barely ten feet away and immediately knew that her quarry was close.

  Adriana's training kicked in automatically.

  She moved deftly, without sound, maneuvering to her left and crouching low to keep from being seen. She stepped into the narrow path between a row of monuments and lunged forward as she caught sight of the figure.

  Even as she attacked, she realized that the person she was pursuing wasn't an enemy. Or were they?

  Her quick movement hadn't caught the man's attention as he hid between the tombs, apparently hoping to evade the cops. She slipped her hand around his mouth and cupped it tight, pulling him into her chest with the other arm and holding him tight.

  "Don't speak," she whispered into the man's ear and lowered him back down to the ground.

  Wagner nodded, though the panic in his eyes betrayed his uncertainty, and his fears.

  "Where is Tommy?" she asked hissed.

  Wagner raised a finger, pointing toward a row of tombs.

  Adriana wasn't sure, but she assumed he meant the other side of the boulevard.

  "I'm going to loosen my grip on your mouth. If you cry out for help or try anything stupid, I will rip your vocal cords out of your neck. Do you understand?"

  He nodded without hesitation. It wasn't a fear-filled gesture. It was one of a man who had nothing to hide, who was innocent of any wrongdoing.

  Adriana loosened her grip, and he whispered, "Other side of the boulevard." He motioned again with the same finger.

  Wagner waited for a moment as she surveyed the area. Then he spoke again. "I think Tommy saw something suspicious. I don't know how he saw it, but as we were heading toward the gate, he took off running away from us, toward that section of the cemetery. At first, I didn't know what he was doing." Wagner's eyes darted around almost frantically.

  Adriana understood why. The sirens were closing in. Some squad cars were probably already lining up outside the gate. Getting out through one of the other exits wouldn't be a bad idea. She recalled one such exit on the other side of the cemetery. It was right next to a metro station. If they could get there, it was possible they could evade trouble with the cops.

  "What about Sean?" she asked. "Where is he?" She assumed he was hiding among the tombs, same as them, or perhaps he'd escaped with the throng of crazed people and she simply hadn't seen him.

  "I don't know," Wagner confessed. "There was a man behind him. He was standing very close. I can't be sure, but it appeared the man was holding him there, maybe with a gun in his back. I couldn't tell, and I don't want to speculate on such things without having proof."

  Adriana's heart skipped a beat. Sean was caught?

  "How did that happen? Where's Bodmer?"

  "That's just it," Wagner said, twisting his head around slightly so he could look the woman in the face. "Bodmer was the gunman everyone was running from."

  The words processed quickly, and almost immediately their truth hit her: Bodmer was a mole. He was the one feeding information to the people chasing them, the Teutonic Order. It was Bodmer who'd orchestrated the murder of Cardinal Jarllson. He may have even been the one to carry out the deed.

  It all made perfect sense. Getting away with the murder would have required intimate knowledge of the Vatican's campus, the apartment complex, the palace, the alleys and courtyards. No one would have more knowledge about the inner workings of every security feature, every square inch of the property like the commander of the Swiss Guard.

  In hindsight, Adriana realized it was obvious and should have been all along. This wasn't some grand plot twist. Then again, maybe it was. Bodmer worked for the Holy See. While she wasn't Catholic, Adriana had always respected the religion and its adherents. Usually, no one was more loyal to the pope than the man directly responsible for his safety and the safety of all the cardinals on site. As she considered it, Adriana forgave herself for missing that piece of the puzzle.

  She did not forgive herself, however, for losing Sean.

  The rush from realization to the pangs of guilt took less than five seconds.

  "Bodmer took Sean?" She nearly ran out of breath as she asked the question, so grave was her distress over her husband.

  "Yes. I believe he did."

  She gave a curt nod and then pulled the man up by the collar. "Come on. We have to find Tommy and get out of here."

  "He could be anywhere," Wagner protested. "We need to leave. I was going to sneak into the center of the park and then cut across to the exit leading to the subway."

  "We're finding Tommy. Then we go."

  He saw the intensity in her gaze and realized there would be no convincing her otherwise. Not that he needed convincing. Wagner was a man of honor. He didn't want to leave Tommy behind, but he also knew the situation.

  "Come," he said. "I saw him go in over there."

  He wound through the tombs and headstones with Adriana tucked behind him so close that she was almost physically on his heels.

  They climbed through the last narrow sections and crouched behind a stone crypt that stood around ten feet tall.

  "Over there," Wagner said, pointing through an opening between graves across the way.

  There was no sign of Tommy, but Adriana had to trust the man's claim.

  She glanced over at the gate and heard the commotion as police swarmed the area. Some were yelling orders in French through a megaphone, mostly telling the citizenry to get clear of the cemetery in an orderly fashion, while some scurried about to get into position in order to prevent an escape of what they believed to be a lone gunman.

  "Now," she said and leaped from her place.

  Adriana sprinted across the path and dove between two tombs. There was barely room on either side of her as she rolled to a stop and onto her feet behind a bizarre monument featuring what could only be described as a zombie trying to escape from the headstone. It was one of the strangest monuments she'd seen in her life, and she wondered if the person buried there was a fan of horror stories or just deranged.

  Perhaps it was both.

  She shook off the distracting thoughts and watched as Wagner darted toward her, bounding across the path in four long strides. The man was more agile than he appeared, but she could tell from his build that he still trained and worked out frequently. This man may have been a decade or so older than her, but he didn't move like it.

  Wagner dove out of sight a mere two seconds before cops took up positions at each side of the gate, awaiting further orders.

  Adriana peeked around the corner of the nearest tomb and saw the armed police officers scurrying around just beyond the
exit. They were getting people clear of danger and securing the perimeter in case the gunman was still inside the cemetery.

  Adriana knew that the other exit would be smothered in cops within minutes. They had to move. But they also needed to find Tommy.

  "Where is he?" Wagner hissed.

  "You're the one who said he came in over here," Adriana countered. She didn't hide her irritation.

  "I'm right here," Tommy whispered.

  The other two turned around and saw him poking his head around a skinny obelisk. Tommy motioned them over, and they hurried to his position, keeping low as they maneuvered through the headstones to where Tommy crouched.

  The three ducked behind an aboveground tomb and then exchanged concerned glances.

  "Where's Sean?" Adriana asked. There was a hint of anger in her voice, but Tommy knew there was much more than she let on. She was holding back the winds of strife, knowing lashing out at Tommy would be counterproductive.

  Tommy sighed. "There was a man. I think he had a gun. The guy had to be in his late twenties, maybe younger. Sean caught my eye. He didn't have to say anything." There was dejection in Tommy's voice. It wasn't the first time his best friend had been abducted, but Tommy wondered how many times they could push their luck.

  "He warned me," Tommy said, his voice growing distant. "It was Bodmer. I didn't realize he'd slipped behind me and Wagner. By the time I realized what Sean was trying to tell me, Bodmer had already produced his weapon and was about to shoot Wagner here." He motioned to the older man.

  "We can discuss all that later," Adriana interrupted. "Where is he now?"

  Dogs barking at the gate cut off her question.

  "He's gone. They took him. We have to get him back." Tommy didn't like his response, but it was the only one he could offer at the moment and under these conditions. Adriana knew that to be true, as well. There was no way they were getting past the cops. The metro exit was their only chance to get out.

  "Come," Adriana snapped under her breath. "We must move quickly."

  Wagner said nothing, simply nodding his agreement.

  "No," Tommy argued. "We can't just leave him here. He's your husband for crying out loud, and my friend. We're not abandoning him."

  Adriana sighed and felt a tightening in her chest. All of her life, she'd been able to suppress emotions during times of crisis or danger. Compartmentalizing feelings was a large part of her training. It was one of the rules she'd learned while under the tutelage of the ninja. The training had been brutal, and she'd been forced to do things that still disturbed her in the darkest hours of the night. She pushed the thoughts away and looked dead into Tommy's eyes.

  "I love Sean as much as you. I haven't known him as long, but he is my husband. I love him with all my heart. There is nothing I wouldn't do to keep him safe. Do not think that our running is due to a lack of courage. A strategic retreat, Schultzie. We must retreat so we can attack again. I will find Sean. We," she said the word emphatically, "will find him. But we must leave."

  That was it. She turned and started toward the other side of the park, snaking her way between monuments, careful to stay low as she navigated the maze.

  Tommy followed behind them, checking over his shoulder periodically.

  Adriana led the way through the rows of monuments and tombs. She knew there were more than a million people interred at Père Lachaise, but the scope of that number was truly unfathomable until you actually went there and saw the place—or tried to escape its maze under pressure.

  The graves seemed to stretch on forever, only broken up by a few hills and outcroppings of trees where ancient forests would have stretched for miles prior to the establishment of the cemetery.

  It wasn't a short trip to get to the metro exit, and their journey took longer because they were forced to stay off the cobbled paths, instead ducking and weaving through the array of tombs and graves. The clock in Adriana's head was screaming that they weren't going to make it.

  She veered to the right and skirted the perimeter wall. Tommy and Wagner followed close behind. They passed a series of tombs that stretched nearly to the height of the wall. One was only a few inches below the wall's top edge. Two others nearby were shorter in a descending order, almost like a staircase.

  Adriana pressed ahead and down a gentle slope. The slight incline allowed them to move faster as they continued through the vast cemetery. She scanned the area in front of them. There were no signs of trouble. That would change soon. She listened intently. Sirens whined on the other side of the wall. Adriana felt a flood of dread fill her stomach and chest. They weren't going to make it to the exit in time. They were trapped.

  35

  Père Lachaise

  "There's no way we're going to beat them to the exit," Wagner said. Hearing the sirens, he'd arrived at the same conclusion as Adriana. The cops were ahead of them now and they would be swarming the metro gate, leaving them with no way out.

  Adriana spun on her heels, nearly bumping into the two men who were following perhaps a little too close behind her. She darted between them, leaving Tommy and Wagner staring at each other in confusion.

  "Where are you going?" Tommy asked, beleaguered.

  "Back up here," she said. "Just up this rise." She motioned toward the wall and a row of tombs they'd passed before.

  He didn't know what plan she was concocting, but she must have seen something they could use. Adriana was adept at such skills. While Tommy was spending hours deep in research, working on his field of expertise, he'd missed out on the kinds of training Sean and Adriana had received in their younger days. He knew what skills they possessed, especially Sean, though Tommy still didn't have a full grasp on how Adriana had become what she was.

  She'd disclosed the fact that she'd been taken at a young age by her father to a secret monastery where she spent years training under what was believed to be the last remaining sect of ninjas on the planet. Tommy couldn't imagine the rigors the young girl must have endured, what she'd been forced to do. He wasn't sure he wanted to know, either. Some stones, he decided, were best left unturned.

  He shrugged and took off after her without so much as a single word of explanation to Wagner about what they were doing.

  For his part, Wagner trusted what the other two were up to, though he was wary that the police were right on their heels. At the moment, they were running headfirst, back into the jaws of the enemy.

  Adriana stayed low as she worked her way back up the slope. She used her hands to brace herself against the headstones and tombs. The technique made her movements more fluid, as though she herself was a ghost slipping through her domain, swinging through narrow gaps and paths.

  The three were near the crest of the rise when Tommy realized Adriana's plan. Against the wall were the three tombs he'd noticed on their initial passing. Apparently Adriana had seen them as well, though she'd come up with a backup plan, or perhaps recalled the conveniently stacked tombs and crypt the moment they went by.

  "You're going to use those as stairs to get over the wall. Aren't you?" Tommy asked suspiciously. He didn't hate the idea, but he wondered what was on the other side of the wall. There could be cops parked there, waiting for them to vault over, right into their trap. There was simply no way to know without taking a look or going over the lip.

  "It's our only chance." She tipped her head toward the main boulevard that ran through the cemetery, "That, or we try to pry that manhole cover from the stones and get out through the sewers."

  Tommy followed her line of sight down to the path and then shook off the idea. "No, the wall is probably a better option."

  He knew that while the sewers were probably a better possibility in that the cops would have difficulty finding them, getting the lid off the manhole might prove impossible without the right tools. Then there was the little fact about what was in the sewers—something he'd rather not think about.

  No, the wall was the best option, regardless of what awaited on the other side. They
'd have a better chance that way than the other.

  Adriana climbed irreverently onto the aboveground vault of the lowest tomb and stepped across it to the next in line. She pressed her palms into the top of the second tomb and pushed her weight up, letting her feet dangle momentarily until she was high enough to raise them over the edge and swing them onto the roof.

  "Go," Wagner ordered Tommy.

  Tommy wasn't planning on leaving the man behind, but he got the impression Wagner wasn't the type who was accustomed to having his orders questioned. Tommy gave a nod and vaulted onto the first tomb. By the time he reached the opposite edge, Adriana was already on the roof of the third, the largest of the crypts.

  Its roof was slanted, not at a sharp angle but steep enough to cause trouble if they weren't careful. The real issue was the slick slate tiles that covered the top of the crypt. If it had been raining or even foggy, Tommy imagined the surface would have been too slippery to navigate.

  Adriana, however, was having no trouble.

  She deftly skirted up the back edge of the roof, using the wall as a brace until she reached the ledge. Then she swung her right leg over while balancing her weight with her left hand on the flat surface of the wall's top. She disappeared over the edge, and Tommy was left wondering what had happened to her.

  He'd find out soon enough.

  Pushing off the sudden sense of concern filling his abdomen, he climbed on top of the next tomb and quickly shuffled over to the third. He was only about six feet off the ground, but it felt much higher. He was exposed, an easy target standing out in the open. If any cops were within range, they would see him. Then Adriana's escape plan would be over as quickly as it began.

  Tommy didn't see any, though, and he reminded himself that the park was massive, too vast for even a considerable force of cops to cover in a short amount of time. Still, that didn't mean he should linger about pondering the issue.