Chapter 9

Keith sprang awake when the plane touched down in Frankfurt and felt fantastic—at least by comparison. Things weren’t hurting as badly and he was thinking clearly when they stood to get off the plane. He waved away the offered wheelchair and they walked through passport control with the only difficulty being a border agent curious about his bandages. Keith was scanned and then they both passed through into Germany. They were met on the other side of passport control by a tall man to whom Keith spoke in German. Keith greeted him as Günther and they were escorted to a waiting Mercedes. Günther tossed their bags in the trunk and got in the front to drive. Maddie kept the archival box containing the stolen pages and manuscript with her. Inside the car, Frank was waiting for them.

“No trouble getting that through Customs?” he asked, pointing at the box.

“None at all,” Keith said. “They were more concerned that I might be carrying drugs under my bandages than that I was transporting stolen manuscripts.”

“They can be strange about transporting antiquities,” Frank said, “but printing seldom raises an eyebrow.” Frank paused and looked at Keith strangely. “What do you mean stolen?”

“You’ve brought manuscripts in before?” Maddie interrupted.

“In and out,” Keith said. “Usually we’ve had certificates and authorization to transport early printing, but there have been instances...”

“Speaking of which ... stolen?” Frank repeated.

Keith had his phone open. No sooner had the phone found a signal than it began to chime with text messages.

“Somebody wants to reach us,” Keith said.

“Who is it?” asked Maddie.

“About a dozen messages from Agent Fry demanding that we call him at once. Either we’re suspects or something else has happened.”

“Well, don’t ignore it,” Frank said. “What did you steal?”

Keith entered the number. “You probably have messages on your phone, too, Maddie,” he said as he waited for it to connect.

“I don’t know if I even have service in Europe,” Maddie said as she pulled her phone from her bag and powered it on. By the time her phone started chiming with incoming text messages, Keith had Agent Fry on his line.

“Where the hell are you?” Agent Fry demanded at once.

“In Germany,” Keith responded.

“I hope you aren’t visiting any libraries.”

“Not exactly,” Keith said. “We are investigating some old manuscripts. What’s up?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know about the bombing at the National Historical and Genealogical Archives,” the agent growled.

“Wait! Bombing of what? We were just there,” Keith said.

“Imagine that!” Fry shouted. “You were just at the Kane Memorial Library when it blew up. You were just at the NHGA when it blew up. What library are you heading for now?”

“We’re headed into Mainz, Germany to the Gutenberg Museum,” Keith answered. “You don’t really think we had anything to do with this, do you?”

“Anything to do with it? Yes. Responsible for it? No,” Agent Fry said. “The NHGA was bombed just after you visited it. Same kind of explosives and trigger. Exactly what got you out of a hospital bed to travel to Indiana?”

“I went to see my grandfather and while we were there we...” Keith hesitated. He didn’t really want to go into any detail about what they were really after. “We were doing some family research and decided to go visit the library,” he finished lamely.

“And this family research has taken you to Germany now?” Agent Fry asked.

“We’re visiting friends,” Keith answered. “My PhD advisor lives here. We have some questions about an old manuscript.”

“And will your visit include any libraries?” Fry pushed.

“Yes,” Keith answered.

“Well don’t,” Fry said. “I think the bomber is following you. I don’t know why or how, but I have a feeling you do.”

“What gives you that idea?”

“The latest note,” Fry said. “Somehow I think this is going to be important to you and I don’t know why. I have a notion to have you picked up and put in protective custody until I get there. I am leaving in 20 minutes so give me your hotel name and I will meet you there as soon as I arrive.”

“We’re on our way to Mainz,” Keith said. “We’re staying at the Sheraton. It’s just two blocks from the museum.”

“There will be plain-clothes police in the hotel,” the agent said. “They are there for your protection. I want to be there before you enter that museum.”

Keith nodded his head as he looked at his grandfather and Maddie and then realized that the agent couldn’t hear him.

“Can we visit a friend?” Keith asked.

“I don’t see any problem with that,” Fry said. “But don’t try to lose the agents who will be following you.”

“What does this note say?” Keith asked.

“I’ll tell you when I get there,” Fry said. “Do not go to the Gutenberg. Understand?”

“Yes.” Fry broke the connection before Keith could ask anything else.

“This is going to be more difficult than I thought,” Keith said. “Homeland Security thinks we are being followed by the biblio-terrorists. They don’t want us to go to the museum until Agent Fry gets here. He wants us to stay in the hotel, but said we could go to a friend’s house.” Keith looked meaningfully at Frank. Frank nodded.

“I’ll make the arrangements,” Frank said. “Why don’t I drop you at the hotel and take the package with me. That way when you walk over to Dr. Schneider’s house you won’t be carrying anything suspicious—or stolen.”

“It’s some pages we found at the NHGA,” Keith explained sheepishly. “We didn’t have time to check them out properly.”

“You two may be a bad influence on each other,” Frank said shaking his head.

“Do we have time for a nap before we do anything else?” Maddie asked around a yawn she couldn’t seem to stifle.