Free The Julian Secret (Lang Reilly Thrillers) by Gregg Loomis

number, and a request her call be returned. Obviously, Herr Blucher was not in or not answering.
    Gurt returned the device to her purse. “What now?”
    Lang pointed to the packet of papers the police had returned. “I guess we divide those up and see what we can find.”
    In less than a minute, Jessica looked up. “These are just lists of stuff. Here’s a list of books, and this one’s got places on it. Makes no sense.”
    Lang was already beginning to agree. “This one has only one word on it: Montsegur.”
    Gurt put her papers down. “That’s in France, the Languedoc. I saw a road sign with that on it when we were . . . when we were there last year.”
    She and Lang exchanged looks. It had been in thesouthwest of France that Lang had first confronted the powerful Pegasus organization in the search for the killers of his sister and nephew. The encounter had been very near fatal. It was a region to which he was not eager to return.
    Before he could reply, his cell phone chirped. There were only three people who had the number, and two of them were present.
    “Yes, Sara?” Lang asked while calculating it was four o’clock in the afternoon back in Atlanta.
    The voice was as clear as though it were crossing a room rather than an ocean. “Judge Henderson’s put Wiley on next month’s trial calendar. Thought you’d like to know.”
    Lang groaned. Wiley was the civil counterpart to Lang’s criminal defense of the originator of a multitiered sales/financial services scam. Not only was the U.S. Justice Department prosecuting Lang’s client for a laundry list of security violations, the SEC was suing to regain investors’ money. Mr. Wiley had already been forced to sell his vintage Ferrari and one of his Rolls Royces just to continue his lavish lifestyle. An adverse verdict in the civil case would bankrupt him. Worse, he would be unable to pay the rest of his lawyer’s fees. The complexity of the case would require Lang’s attention every day between now and the time Mr. Wiley faced a jury of his peers.
    Lang snapped the phone shut. “Jessica, I’m afraid something’s come up back home. We, Gurt and I, need to leave immediately.” He noted the look on her face, that of someone about to lose their last friend. “We can keep trying to contact this guy in Heidelberg. When I finish what I’ve got to do, I’ll be in touch to see if the local cops have made any progress.”
    From her appearance, Jessica wasn’t comforted, butshe gamely extended a hand. “I can’t thank you enough for coming all the way to Spain to help.”
    Lang shook. “I couldn’t do enough for your dad. He saved my life. I’ll be back if you need me.” Lang left with the dissatisfaction of a job not completed.

C HAPTER F IVE
    Southwest France
Montsegur
September 1940
    Only ropes and pitons hammered into crevices had allowed the men to climb the mountain’s north face. Even so, it had taken over seven hours. All five were close to exhaustion. Had they been mere sport climbers, they would have savored the water in their canteens, smoked a cigarette, and admired the view their efforts had given them.
    But they were not amateurs.
    A close look would have revealed that, under his Alpine hat, each man’s hair was cut so close that the scalp was visible. They all wore identical short-sleeved shirts and lederhosen, which revealed tightly bunched arm and leg muscles.
    Although they were dressed the same, one was clearly the leader. A tall, blond man with a scar bisecting his rightcheek, he spoke in the accent of his native Austria rather than the harsher German of his companions. While four of the climbers stretched out on the rocky surface, he scanned the countryside a thousand feet below with a pair of binoculars.
    He smiled when he saw a cloud of dust moving down the road at the foot of the mountain. The trucks were right on time.
    The men groused good-naturedly when he coaxed, rather than ordered, them back onto weary feet. Each man shook