Read Online The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry - Free Book Online Page B

how could he possibly understand Stephanie? He should stay out of her business. After all, it was her life.
    But something nagged at him.
    When he was twelve he’d learned that he’d been born with an eidetic memory. Not photographic, as movies and books liked to portray, just an excellent recall of details that most people forgot. It certainly helped with studying, and languages came easy, but trying to pluck one detail from so many could, at times, aggravate him.
    Like now.
     
    DEROQUEFORT TRIPPED THE FRONT DOOR LOCK AND ENTEREDthe bookshop. Two of his men followed him inside. The other two were stationed outside to watch the street.
    They crept past darkened shelves to the rear of the cluttered ground floor and climbed narrow stairs. No sound betrayed their presence. On the top floor, de Roquefort stepped through an open doorway into a lit apartment. Peter Hansen was ensconced in a chair reading, a beer on the table beside him, a cigarette burning in an ashtray.
    Surprise flooded the book dealer’s face. “What are you doing here?” Hansen demanded in French.
    “We had an arrangement.”
    The dealer sprang to his feet. “We were outbid. What was I to do?”
    “You told me there’d be no problem.” His associates moved to the far side of the room, near the windows. He stayed at the door.
    “That book sold for fifty thousand kroner. An outrageous price,” Hansen said.
    “Who outbid you?”
    “The auction will not reveal such information.”
    De Roquefort wondered if Hansen thought him that stupid. “I paid you to ensure that Stephanie Nelle was the purchaser.”
    “And I tried. But no one told me the book would go for such a price. I stayed with the bidding, but she waved me off. Were you willing to pay more than fifty thousand kroner?”
    “I would have paid whatever it took.”
    “You weren’t there, and she was not as determined.” Hansen seemed to relax, the initial surprise replaced with a smugness de Roquefort fought hard to ignore. “And besides, what makes that book so valuable?”
    He surveyed the tight room, which reeked of alcohol and nicotine. Hundreds of books lay scattered among stacks of newspapers and magazines. He wondered how anyone lived in such disarray. “You tell me.”
    Hansen shrugged. “I have no idea. She wouldn’t say why she wanted it.”
    De Roquefort’s patience was wearing thin. “I know who outbid you.”
    “How?”
    “As you well know, the attendants at the auction are negotiable. Ms. Nelle contacted you to act as her agent. I contacted you to make sure she obtained the book so that I might have a copy before you turned it over to her. Then you arranged for a telephone bidder.”
    Hansen smiled. “Took you long enough to figure that one out.”
    “Actually it took me only a few moments, once I had information.”
    “Since I now have control of the book and Stephanie Nelle is out of the picture, what is it worth for just you to have it?”
    De Roquefort already knew what course he would be taking. “Actually, the question is, how much is the book worth to you?”
    “It means nothing to me.”
    He motioned and his two associates grabbed Hansen’s arms. De Roquefort jammed a fist into the book dealer’s abdomen. Hansen spit out a breath, then slumped forward, held upright by his limbs.
    “I wanted Stephanie Nelle to have the book, after I made a copy,” de Roquefort said. “That was what I paid you to do. Nothing more. You once possessed a use to me. That’s no longer the case.”
    “I . . . have the . . . book.”
    He shrugged. “That’s a lie. I know exactly where the book is.”
    Hansen shook his head. “You won’t . . . get it.”
    “You’re wrong. In fact, it will be an easy matter.”
    MALONE FLIPPED ON THE FLUORESCENT LIGHTS OVER THE HISTORYsection. Books of every shape, size, and color consumed the black lacquered shelves. But there was one volume in particular he recalled from a few weeks back. He’d bought it, along with several other