The Crossed Keys Part 3 (Steemit Orginal Fiction)

The logs crackled and spittled in the vast chimney place. The slate floor was warm. Various hunting trophies were placed on the walls. The two man sat in opposite chairs. They looked at each other in a mysterious silence and smiled.

Find the rest of the story here== Part 1 == Part 2 ==

Geoff removed his hat and fiddled with his waistcoat. Allegro shuffled about in the wing-backed chair. Neither of them wanted to make the first move. Indeed they both knew that silence spoke volumes.

It was not an uncomfortable silence - it was a peaceful and slightly nervous silence. That gentlemanly sign of good company, and peaceful acceptance of each other. Two energies emerging and entangling into the small room.

"Tell me - how long have you worked at the Chateau Rouge?" he asked in a well-bred British accent, sizing the man up with a squint of the eye.

Allegro looked up and nodded at his new companion.

"18 years 4 months and 26 days. 23 days less, if you exclude the influenza I caught from Madame duVilliers a decade ago.

"I see." he said raising his eyebrows and wincing.

"Is this a secret club?"

"It could be" said Geoff with a mischievous glint in his pupils.

"Forgive me for asking sir - but why have you brought me to a town full of smelly goats?"

"I'm beginning to have second thoughts about you" said Geoff teasing and twirling the whiskey in his glass.

"What?"

"Come on Antonio Francesco Allegro. You have a nose for knowing what's going on. You don't become head concierge without sniffing what's happening and turning a blind eye. Think man. Think."

"OK." He paused. "By the way you invited me - this must be a very secret club and you couldn't have me followed. You live here in this mountain lodge with your wife because that's what you could afford. You worked in a fine establishment that was obliterated by something tragic, judging by the long face and frowns on your brow... probably in the colonies as you have tanned. And you now take pleasure in the company of bringing hoteliers here."

"Bravo old chap! My scouts were right about you."

"Right about what?"

"Don't you see. Your intuition is sharper than an axe. You're in the heart of a busy Paris hotel - you're the heart pumping those guests in and out those rooms. You offer the insincere smile they love. You shrug them away when they make complaints. They adore you Allegro. You hear all sorts of tales from your staff and you know more about the world than our journalists."

"I suppose so."

"Don't you realise knowledge is power and money?"

"It never really occurred to me."

"I don't suppose it would. Now you know as well as I do that money doesn't buy you contentment. You just need to look at the miserable old widows haunting your most expensive suites."

"But power? That's a different beast. All these grande-fromages - diplomats, businessmen, royalty - they get terribly bored. They have all this power but don't know what to do with it and this is dangerous for us all." His eyes were lighting up with a blaze of aliveness, reflecting the fire in them.

"And they're greedy. The only thing they know to do with power is want more of it. It's like pigs in a trough, they've grown to a size where they can't fit their snouts in the trough any more. But they keep going for it."

"You know what this means?"

Allegro pulled his mouth downwards and shrugged. Geoff paused for suspense.

"War!"

"Europe as we know will be gone! It's going to the dogs anyway... but not on my watch."

"Can you imagine it? The Opera bombed to smithereens... Les Deux Magots gone forever and replaced by some futuristic monstrosity... Libraries torched by the enemy's barbaric troops. And our best hotels - subpoenered by enemy generals before falling into rack and ruin."

"We have a duty to save what is good, right and wholesome in our world before the bloodthirsty bastards get their hands on it. And you're here this weekend to join the Order of The Crossed Keys, if you choose to accept?"

"The Crossed Keys?" asked Allegro.

"Ever wondered how you could come by front row seats at the Opera Toscana on the opening night? Ever wonder how you were able to get a private viewing at the Royal Gallery before anyone else? Ever wondered how you secured a corner table at Chez Louis on a Friday?" his voice was almost indignant.

"Maybe. It does seem I've had a string of good fortune recently."

"Well, we've been helping you these past several months! Between our lobby boys, waitresses, concierges, taxi drivers, shopkeepers, ushers and receptionists - we have a vast network of nobodies watching the somebodies. We're a large secret family! We earwig, we observe, we watch, we pull strings and above all we report back."

"Aha!" gasped Allegro biting his lip and looking towards his companion conspiritorially. "That explains it all. So when do I start?"

"You will stay here this weekend. You'll meet your compatriots and all will be revealed. That is all you can afford to hear now please excuse me for the hour is well past the bedtime of a man of my age. Good night."