Tricia Goyer - Chasing Mona Lisa

2012 by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey

Published by Revell

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.revellbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3599-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Published in association with the Books & Such Literary Agency, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-7953

Page 7Description from Claudine Canetti, The Worlds Most Famous Painting Has the World All Aflutter, Actualit en France , http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr.

Page 211Material taken from Mona Lisa : The myth of Mona Lisa , Treasures of the World, pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/mona_lisa/mlevel_1/m4myth.html.

Page 277Description from R. A. Scotti, Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), 222.

The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

Praise for Chasing Mona Lisa

Intriguing and well-written... Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey had me at hello!

A riveting, well-researched tale that kept me glued to the pages. Chasing Mona Lisa is absolutely my favorite kind of story: rich in period detail, fast-paced, and loaded with twists. A winner!

I love it when I get lost in a good book, and Chasing Mona Lisa kept me enthralled from start to finish.

With Chasing Mona Lisa , you purchase a ticket to a world of mystery, heroism, and adventure. Join the battle to free France and save her priceless treasures from Nazi hands. In the process youll find yourself sinking into a story that leaves you longing for just one more page.

Praise for The Swiss Courier

What I love about The Swiss Courier is its gutsy heroine, Gabi. Willing to take risks for the higher good, yet vulnerable, Gabi is a wonderful portrayal of the tender strength of womanhood. Add to that a twisting plot, the raging of World War II, and a kindling love story, and you have an enjoyable read.

Fabulous! Filled with heart-stopping suspense and fascinating details of life in WWII Europe, The Swiss Courier is an unforgettable story of faith and courage when faced with the highest of stakes. I loved everything about this book, from its riveting first scene to the surprise denouement. Bravo, Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey. This is more than a page-turner; its a keeper.

The Swiss Courier sizzles like a episode with a World War II twist. The pulsating action and plot twists will keep you riveted.

This was a time of war, not love. That statement from the beginning pages of The Swiss Courier sets the tone for this gripping, fast-paced story of honor and duty set in 1944 against the backdrop of World War II. With an intensity that builds to the very end, this book is compelling, chilling, and fascinating.

From Mike:

To Jon Shafqat

With many thanks...

From Tricia:

To Katie

Having you join our family has been
as priceless as the Mona Lisa

Contents

To the Reader

The world-renowned Muse du Louvre, in Paris, France, started as a fortress when construction began in 1190. In the fourteenth century, Charles V converted the fortress into a residential chateau, and from the 1660s until 1682, Louis XIV, the Sun King, transformed the Louvre into the grandest palace in Europe. Within its walls today, 35,000 irreplaceable pieces of art are exhibited, including the three most notablethe Mona Lisa , Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory at Samothrace.

The Mona Lisa , or as she is called in French, La Joconde , greets visitors from behind a climate-controlled enclosure fronted by bulletproof glass. Over five hundred years old, the portrait of the most famous woman in the worldLisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine silk merchantmeasures only twenty-one inches wide by thirty inches tall. It is said that her eyes followperhaps even hauntviewers. Her folded hands look smooth, and her smile, forever enigmatic. From the moment the Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci finished this masterpiece in 1519 a few years before his death, no portrait has elicited more scrutiny, study, and even parody in the history of art.

During World War II, the Nazis looted thousands of paintings and art works from the lands they conquered. Armed with the knowledge that their beloved treasures were in danger, the French packed up the Mona Lisa before the German Army overran Paris. She was moved from one hiding place to another, and she even hung in a little girls bedroom for a time. The Mona Lisa remained safe throughout the time of the Nazi occupation of France...

Until the Libration of Paris.

Pro logue

Thursday, August 20, 1942

Paris, France, during Nazi occupation

Dressed in soiled blue overalls and pushing a dented trash can, the solitary figure shuffled past two German sentries stationed at the Gare de lEsts archway entrance.

The brim of a felt hat covered Bernard Rousseaus downturned eyes, allowing him to avert the soldiers cold glare. No one will bother you if you avoid eye contact while performing a menial job . Cradling that thought, he moved past the guards into the gilded entrance arcade.

Gare de lEst, one of six train stations in Paris and the main terminus for rail traffic to and from Germany, was moderately busy this summer afternoon. In stark contrast to the pall of oppression in the streets, a festive spirit hung in the air underneath the iron trusses of the train shed where clusters of German officersflanked by smiling wives and jubilant childrenarrived on holiday. Sweating porters toted their luggage, struggling to keep up within the grand structure dominated by decorative columns.

Rousseau ground his teeth at the sight of Germans vacationing in his city. They were the only ones who could afford the haute cuisine at the Htel Ritz, the nightly revues at the Moulin Rouge, and the soporific productions at the Paris Opra. Signs in German plastered the city, including a garish DEUTSCHLAND SIEGT AN ALLEN FRONTEN affixed to the Eiffel Towers first terrace Germany Is Victorious on All Fronts .

Every day at the stroke of noon, German tourists assembled along the Champs lyses and clapped for three hundred Wehrmacht soldiers goose-stepping toward the Place de la Concorde, trailing a brass band that oom-pahed the strident notes of Prussias Glory.

With a sigh of regret, Rousseau refocused on the task at hand. There was only one train that interested himthe 14:05 Intercity to Berlin on Voie 2. He aimed his wheeled trash bin for the voluminous train shed, which covered twenty lines. The departure was an hour away.