Page 123 of The Secret of Secrets

“Excellent.” He gave her a tight smile. “I believe it’s time you knew the real reason you were placed in Prague.”

That night had marked the death of Nagel’s wide-eyed naivete regarding the serendipitous events that brought her to Prague.

My presence was orchestrated.

The old-boy network had placed a female pawn in a position of power where they needed her, and Nagel had been trapped ever since. She eventually learned what should have been obvious from the start—that Finch had engineered her dismissal from the CIA, planting the documents in her home.

When Nagel angrily confronted him on the matter, his response was chilling. With no show of emotion whatsoever, Finch produced photocopies of the classified documents that she’d allegedly possessed in her home, informing her that if these copies ever surfaced in the hands of foreign operatives, her claims of an “innocent mistake” would immediately be considered treason.

Nagel threatened to call CIA Director Judd, but Mr. Finch only encouraged it, telling her that both Judd and the president were briefed on the plan, and that a call to them would only confirm that she was playing in the big leagues with no allies.

I’m a puppet.

Finch might have been bluffing, but Nagel could not possibly risk calling the bluff of men like the U.S. president and the director of the CIA, especially when a treason charge hung in the balance…not to mention a top secret intelligence project.

That’s how people disappear.

From that moment on, Nagel had despised Finch…and obeyed him.

Now, standing alone at her bathroom sink, Ambassador Nagel rinsed her mouth out and stared into her own tired eyes.

Michael Harris is dead.

“No more,” she said aloud.

Finch had pushed too hard…too far.

For more than two years, Nagel had been looking for any way out of her prison, but Finch had never provided even the slightest opening.

Until now.

Chapter 79

The Golěm felt alive with anticipation as he approached Crucifix Bastion. By all appearances, Gessner’s hilltop lab was now deserted, meaning he would finally be able to retrieve what he had failed to secure earlier this morning.

This time, I will not be denied.

Gessner’s RFID key card was safely tucked into his pocket, and he estimated he would need less than three minutes to obtain the only remaining element he required. Then he would depart the lab for his final destination.

Threshold.

Which I will reduce to dust.

As he strode toward the bastion’s shattered doorway, he recalled the words of his legendary predecessor—the golem of Prague.

There are only two paths…Truth or Death.

The Golěm had chosen both.

Unveil Truth.

Accept Death.

The Golěm had died countless times, but death was never permanent. Unlike the ancient golem whose death had been final, The Golěm moved in and out of this form at will.

I am my own creator. I will always be my own master.

Each time he erased the Hebrew letter aleph from his forehead—transforming Truth to Death—The Golěm died…but only from view. He became invisible. His hulking outer shell evaporated, transforming a monster into…one of them. Unremarkable. Inconspicuous. His inner power hidden.