Black Wolf

“And now you are on to other things,” said General Josef. He turned to the defense minister. “We saw the plane while you were on the phone. It’s quite an aircraft.”

“Turk already gave you a tour?” Brea

“He showed us the plane. But of course we would all like to see it fly.”

“I told them we could probably arrange a private fly-by in a couple of hours,” said Turk. “Have to do a check flight anyway.”

“By all means.”

“I’d go right now, but the minister has a meeting,” added Turk. “That’s one of the design benefits—plane can be turned around for a sortie like in nothing flat.”

You don’t have to sell them, thought Brea

“You feel like flying again so soon after coming across the ocean and continent?” asked the minister.

“There’s never a time I don’t feel like flying.”

Everyone, including Turk, laughed.

“It’s good be young,” said General Josef.

Major Krufts glanced at his watch. “General, I hate to be the one to remind you…”

“Contractors,” said the defense minister. “Always trying to sell us new toys.”

“Upgrades,” said the general. “Necessary.”

The minister gave a skeptical “Hmmm.”

“We have a meeting. Breakfast,” said the general. “We should get going.”

“Our meeting is at the Old Castle,” the defense minister explained to Brea

“As a matter of fact, I’m on my way there to meet my husband and daughter.”

“Then you will go in our car, and we can continue this conversation,” said the minister. “General, wouldn’t you say?”

“I think it’s an excellent idea.”

Brea

“I could take off in ten minutes if you want,” he told her.

“You should get some rest.”

“I’m fine.”

Brea

“It would be my pleasure to ride with you,” she told him. “Please lead the way.”

71

Old State Castle

The early guests in the small restaurant were an inconvenience, not a complication. The Black Wolf had them brought into the kitchen with the workers, while he finished examining the room where the meeting was to take place.

There was not much to it—he would stand near the door and shoot the general, then the minister. It would be over in seconds.

Then they would leave. The helicopter would land moments after the alarm was sounded. He was sure of this, since he himself would sound the alarm.

He would take one of the civilians, someone from the kitchen staff, as a hostage, insurance just in case something unforeseen happened.

No—he would grab one of the men who had been having breakfast. They were important guests; their death would be more sensational.

“Done,” said Gray Wolf, coming back. “They are locked in the storage pantry.”

“And they can’t get out?” asked the Black Wolf.

“Blue is there.”

The Black Wolf nodded. The men used English to communicate, since they came from different countries. The teams were always mixed. The Black Wolf had worked with all of the men involved on this mission before, but not together.

“The one with the wheelchair was trying to make a phone call. I stopped him,” added Gray.

“A wheelchair?”

Gray repeated the word in German.

“I understood the word,” said the Black Wolf.

“Yes, a chair. Here is the phone.”

Gray handed him a BlackBerry. Black Wolf stuffed it into his pocket, then put his hand to his ear set.

“Cafeteria is secure. Red, what is the situation?”

“Nothing on the road.”

“We will wait,” said Black Wolf. “It should not be long now.”

Zen rolled the wheelchair back against the shelf unit in the storeroom, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. Besides himself and Lynch, there were three other people inside the large pantry storeroom—the waiter, a cook, and his assistant, a woman roughly Caroline’s age. All had been searched, the contents of their pockets emptied.

“Is this a robbery?” whispered Lynch.

“No,” said Zen. “My bet is they’re after whoever’s coming to that meeting the staff was setting up for. It’s a kidnapping or an assassination.”

“Bloody hell. Leave us out of it.”

“We’ll be lucky if they do,” said Zen. He thought of the girls upstairs. There was no way to get a message to them.

Had the man he’d seen been Stoner?

It couldn’t have been. And if it was, it wouldn’t help.

“There wouldn’t happen to be a trapdoor in the place?” Lynch asked the others. “A secret exit or something?”

“No,” said the waiter.

“How about a ventilation shaft?” asked Zen. “For the air conditioner or heating?”

The waiter said something to the cook. They spoke for a few minutes.

“No. There is no vent here—this is a closet,” said the waiter finally. “In the kitchen—over the range. That is where the ventilation is.”

“Is it wide enough for someone to get through?” asked Zen.

“You’re not thinking of climbing through, are you?” asked Lynch.

“I was thinking someone with legs would be more useful,” said Zen.

“Kess could fit,” said the waiter. “She’s thin.”

Zen glanced at her. She was fairly small.

“The shaft goes to the second floor and out,” continued the waiter, translating for the chef. “There are two large fans at the side, on the wall where the vent opens. She would have to push them out.”

“Could she?” asked Zen.

He turned toward the young woman. It was too dark to see much of her face.

“Do you think you can climb through?” he asked.

“I will try.”

“To do this, she would have to be in the kitchen,” said the waiter.

“How do we get in the kitchen?” asked Lynch. “The door is locked.”

“We’ll have to get them to open it,” said Zen.

72

Ruzyne-Prague Airport

Da

He hadn’t.

He decided to try him by phone. He punched in the number and waited for the call to co

The call was just about to go to voice mail when the line clicked open.

“Zen?” said Da

There was no answer. But there was definitely someone on the line.

“Zen? Hey, it’s Da

“Who are you looking for?” said the voice.

“Zen. I—”

The line clicked dead.

Da