The Prof Croft Series: Books 0-4 (Prof Croft Box Sets Book 1) by Brad Magnarella (best business books of all time txt) ๐
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- Author: Brad Magnarella
Read book online ยซThe Prof Croft Series: Books 0-4 (Prof Croft Box Sets Book 1) by Brad Magnarella (best business books of all time txt) ๐ยป. Author - Brad Magnarella
โWhat if we all set out together?โ I asked. โThe stronger our numbers, the less likely any wolves would be to mess with us, right?โ
โSounds like perfectly good reasoning to me, but youโll need to convince the others. Their interest in Dolhasca seems nothing short of mercenary.โ He pronounced the word as though the concept were far beneath him.
โMaybe we can all meet for dinner this evening,โ I said. โTalk it over.โ
โSplendid. Iโll arrange it. Thereโs a restaurant on the corner.โ He bussed my empty glass. โBut you should go up and get some rest, my friend. You look right knackered.โ
I did as James suggested, finding the pension owner, an elderly woman, who showed me to a simple room on the second floor. After washing up, I lay on the single bed, the dayโs motion swimming through my exhausted body. It was hard to believe I was less than thirty miles from the Book of Soulsโa title that vanished from Grandpaโs collection with his death. A title research had shown me should never have existed in the twentieth century.
But then to read of it last month in the Historical Journal, the author believing that Dolhascaโs founding monks had transcribed reams of lost texts and tomes, among them the Book of Souls. I closed my eyes. To think that in two days time I could be holding the same book I had seen in Grandpaโs hands ten years earlier. My thoughts began to drift on that thought.
I was nearly asleep when, in the far distance, a wolfโs cry went up.
4
Bertrand shook his head emphatically, eyes closed. โNo.โ
โWhy not?โ I asked.
โI planned a solo expedition,โ he replied in a stuffy French accent, โand a solo expedition it will remain.โ
The middle-aged man sitting across from me was tall and lean with a sour face and eyelids that fluttered when he voiced an objection, which was often. James had been right about the โnot particularly friendlyโ bit. More to the point, he was a dick.
โAnd we are after the same manuscripts, no?โ he continued. โWhy would I want to share my findings with a group of amateurs?โ He returned to his stewed rabbit with prim stabs of his fork and knife.
We had convened for dinner about an hour after Iโd lain down. Thanks to the wolf howls, which had grown into a nightmare chorus, I hadnโt slept a wink. Tiredness and anger now growled inside me. Before I could respond to Bertrandโs โamateurโ dig, James clapped his hands once.
โWell,โ he said cheerily. โParty of three, then?โ
We all turned to Flor. With her sultry eyes, pouting lips, and sheen of shoulder-length black hair, she was hard not to jaw-drop over. But I saw what James meant about her mercenary quality. It wasnโt just in her black tank top and cargo pants, but also in the flat, almost groaning way she spoke.
โI am of the same mind as Bertrand,โ she said, dropping a gnawed bone onto her plate. โAs much as I hate to admit it.โ
I looked around in exasperation. The restaurant was an older coupleโs home, three tables pushed into a dining room and adorned with sooty plastic flowers. In a back kitchen, pots clinked and water gurgled. Despite that we had the place to ourselves, I lowered my voice.
โLook,โ I said. โWhat Iโm proposing will entail some compromise, yes. But it gives us the best chance of reaching Dolhasca. Attempt it alone and thereโs a chance weโll not only fail to find the monastery, but end up as wolf food.โ
Bertrand sniffed. โIt sounds like the American is afraid.โ
Heat flashed over my face. โAnd you sound like aโโ
โI asked around after our chat earlier,โ James interrupted. โEversonโs concerns about the wolves are to be taken seriously. The history of the region is peppered with attacks on villagers, some of them fatal. Even the hunters donโt dare venture into the deep forest anymore. The roaming packs have little fear of humans, it seems. And they are especially aggressive at night.โ Like everything else, he delivered the dire news with an almost buoyant air.
โTales,โ Bertrand decided.
โAnd what makes you the expert?โ I was struggling not to rise and smack the haughty look from his face.
He touched his napkin to his lips and took another half minute to chew and swallow. โI was educated at your Harvard University, an overpriced, overrated institution, if ever there was. I completed my doctoral work at the Sorbonne in Paris, where I have been a full professor since. My publications are extensiveโperhaps youโve read my tome on medieval philosophy? I have won two book awards and am presently up for a third. And I am constantly being asked to lecture at prestigious conferences and universities.โ He looked pointedly at James. โLast month I turned down an invitation from Oxford.โ
โThanks for the curriculum vitae,โ I said, โbut I missed the part where you slayed wild animals.โ
Bertrand went to work on his potatoes as though he hadnโt heard me.
โMaybe the American is right,โ Flor said. โMaybe we should stick together until we reach the monastery.โ
I pushed my upturned palms toward her. โThank you.โ
โBut once there,โ she continued, โwe will need to decide how to apportion the spoils.โ
Apportion? Spoils? I drew my hands back. โWeโre not looters, for Godโs sake. Weโre researchers.โ A slanting look in Florโs eyes made me hesitate. โWait, you are a researcher, arenโt you?โ
โI was just testing you,โ Flor said. โAnd what I am is none of your business.โ
Ouch. โWell, if weโre going to join forces, I think James and I need to know what youโre doing here.โ
โGood luck, my friend.โ James chuckled. โFlor and I have danced around the question a few times this week, havenโt we, love?โ
Flor narrowed her eyes at him.
I decided not to press her, lest she change her mind about joining our party. Sharp-tongued or not, I didnโt like the thought of her attempting the journey alone. Plus, her
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