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Chapter 20

The J-Team


Father Nicholas was strapping his bag shut when Father Johannes Khün, Rector Wangnereck’s secretary, appeared in the doorway of their room. “Preparing to leave?” that worthy asked.

“Ja,” Gus replied from where he was donning his coat. “It’s warm, the roads are dry again, the horses are rested and restive, according to the lads working in the stables. Time to be back in the saddle and riding on.”

“The rector would like to speak with you both before you leave,” Father Johannes said. “At your convenience, of course.”

Gus looked at Nick and quirked his mouth. “Our day is his, I would say. Come, Nick, let us go see what the rector has to say.”

Nick waved a hand at the door. “After you.”

***

They returned to the rector’s office, following Father Johannes in silence, through the halls and doorways into his presence. The secretary closed the door and stood before it. Rector Wangnereck waved his hand at the chairs, and Gus and Nick resumed their places as if only a few moments had passed since they were last there.

“I have some news for you about the subject of our last conversation,” the rector began. Nicholas settled in his chair, hands folded in his lap. Somehow he doubted that this would be welcome news, based on the frown lines showing on Wangnereck’s face.

“I sent Jakob Gretsner and Friederich Schott, two of our rising lay brothers, to Augsburg a couple of days ago to try and gather intelligence about your man Gottesfreund.”

“He’s not our man,” Gus muttered.

“Indeed,” the rector said dryly. “That became very clear over the course of an evening. They were only supposed to gather information already collected, but on their second day, after making a few inquiries, they were sent a message saying someone who knew of Gottesfreund was willing to meet with them at night near the cathedral.”

“Oh, that won’t end well,” Nick muttered to himself, apparently not as quietly as he’d thought, for Wangnereck pointed a finger at him.

“Indeed,” the older man repeated.

“Let me guess,” Gus said. “They were met by Gottesfreund.” Wangnereck nodded. “Are they still alive?”

“Ja, albeit a bit roughly handled. They’re not sure what he hit them with, but they are both severely bruised, to the point that they will not be able to sit in saddles for some time.”

“Just bruised?” Nick asked.

“That’s the report. No broken bones, and no cuts or gashes.”

“Admirable restraint, one would think.” That from Gus in a sour tone.

“Not just restraint,” Nick said. “Intent.”

The rector nodded. “One of the things they sent in their report,” he picked up a piece of paper from his desk, “was that Gottesfreund said he ‘had no great enmity for Jesuits, and that we should not make him rethink that.’” He put the paper down. “Odd way of showing ‘no great enmity.’”

Gus sat up straight in his chair. “Restraint I said, and restraint I meant. That, my dear Rector, was a message that we would do well to not ignore. The man is a seasoned trooper and campaigner. Do not take him lightly. Our foolish brothers are only alive because he chose not to do something more lasting.”

“One would do well to not carry owls to Athens,” Wangnereck murmured.

Gus sat back. “Apologies.” The rector waved a hand in dismissal.

Nick bit back a smile for a moment, then asked, “Is Gottesfreund still in Augsburg?”

“Not according to this,” the rector tapped the report page again. “He apparently left that night, and was last seen headed north.”

“Which means he’s most likely well south of Augsburg by now.” Gus rejoined the conversation.

“Agreed.”

“So what do we do now?” Nick asked. “Our goal hasn’t changed. We can’t start chasing him. We have to remain focused on our task.”

Father Johannes cleared his throat slightly from behind them. The rector nodded at him.

“If he was coming here, he’d already be here,” the secretary said. “Otherwise, from Augsburg, his most likely destinations are either Ulm or Füssen,” the secretary said. “So, two days to Ulm, or three days to Füssen if the weather’s good and the roads are dry.”

“If he’s looking for the codex, he’ll be on the way to Füssen,” Gus said. “No reason to go out of his way to Ulm.” Nick watched his partner tap his lips with a finger. “I was of a mind to go to Innsbruck next, but now I think we need to go to Füssen. If that man is chasing the codex, and if he knows something we don’t know, we need to be there to watch him. If he doesn’t know something we don’t know, it’s still a high probability locus. But I dislike leaving Innsbruck uncovered.” Gus bent his gaze on the rector, who sighed.

“Father Johannes,” the rector said.

“Yes, Very Reverend Father Heinrich.” Nick saw the secretary give a slight bow out of the corner of his eye as he responded with a bit of humor in his voice.

“Since you are privy to everything involved in this matter, please make the trip to Innsbruck to consult with our brothers there and determine if there has been any sign or hint of the codex either being there or being on the way there. Take a couple of the lay brothers with you. We obviously need to be giving our lay brothers more experience.” He tapped the report on his desk. “One of the critiques Gottesfreund made was that we did not teach our lay brothers enough spycraft.”

Nick winced at that one, but still chuckled a bit. There was some obvious truth to that.

“Four days there,” Father Johannes said, “four days back, plus however long it takes to consult with the senior brothers there.”

“See to it,” Wangnereck said. He then looked to Gus and Nick. “And you’re off to Füssen?”

“We’re already packed,” Gus said, “and the stables are supposed to have our horses ready. We can leave in the quarter hour for Füssen rather than Innsbruck. Do we have any contacts at all in Füssen?”

“Nothing official, and next to nothing that’s not,” the rector said with a twist to his mouth. “The Monastery of St. Mang dominates that town, and Jesuits are not at all welcome. Very few clerics of any other order have a presence there.”

“Well, it’s still the best option we have. By your leave, Rector?” Gus stood, and Nick followed suit.

“Go with God,” Wangnereck said, folding his hands on his desk.

Gus made the sign of the cross, Nick followed suit, and they turned and left. And true to Gus’ word, in a quarter hour they were mounted. In another quarter hour they were riding through a city gate, after which they broke into a trot. There was time and distance to be made up.



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