Chapter 21

21

Teddy crouched behind the mezzanine’s half wall and rose just high enough to peek over the top.

Below, the shadowy form of the intruder was moving toward the stairs.

Teddy ducked back down and whispered, “Is there someone who wants you dead?”

“I am the CIA’s Paris station chief, so…”

“Hazard of the job?”

Rick nodded. “As far as I know, there’s no one actively pursuing me at the moment.”

A faint groan of metal drifted up from the stairs.

Teddy scanned the mezzanine. Jammed against the wall between the first and second offices were a pair of old file cabinets. They would work for what he needed.

“How do you feel about being bait?” he asked.

“Not my favorite role, but what do you have in mind?”

Teddy told him.

“If this doesn’t work and I get killed, I’m not going to be happy about it.”

“I’ll be sure to convey your sentiments to the appropriate people.”

Rick smirked, then reentered the office they’d met in and quietly shut the door, while Teddy repositioned himself to the other side of the discarded file cabinets.

Several seconds later, the stairs groaned again, this time from much closer to the top.

When Teddy heard the gentle tap of a shoe stepping onto the mezzanine, he sent Rick a text that read:

Now

A moment later, Rick began talking at a normal level, his voice muffled but understandable through the office door. “I’m not sure how feasible that’ll be. I’ll have to check with Washington to see if we can make it work.”

As the Paris station chief droned on, Teddy listened to the faint sounds of the intruder creeping along the mezzanine. When the steps reached the office door, they stopped.

Teddy waited another moment, then leaned out until he had eyes on the intruder. The man had his ear turned toward the door, listening to Rick. After several seconds, he reached into his jacket.

Teddy raised his gun, ready to take him out if he was going for a weapon. But when the man’s hand reappeared, the item he was holding was too small to be a gun.

He stuck it to the top of the doorframe, where it stayed, inspected his work, then headed toward the stairs.

Teddy sneaked out from cover and silently halved the distance between them before the intruder sensed he was there and looked back.

“Hi,” Teddy said. He nodded his head at the office Rick was in. “Let’s go inside for a chat.”

The intruder bolted toward the stairs. Hoping to freeze the guy in place, Teddy fired a warning shot over the man’s head.

The intruder jerked down at the sound, then tripped over his own feet onto the top step of the stairs, and tumbled down, out of sight.

Teddy raced over just in time to see the man bounce off the last few risers and come to rest on the concrete floor in a disjointed heap.

Rick ran up behind him. “What the hell happened?”

“He decided to take the fast way down.”

“I thought the idea was to capture him.”

“I forgot to send him the script.”

“Clearly.”

Teddy jogged back to the office doorway and pried off what the intruder had stuck there. As he’d thought, it was a listening device.

He tossed it to Rick, who looked it over and said, “If my people can find a serial number, they might be able to track where this came from.”

“Even better if they find out who bought it.”

“No promises.”

Teddy unmuted his radio as he and Rick headed down the stairs. “Vesna. Status?”

It took a moment before she came on. When she did, she was breathing heavily. “In pursuit.”

“Pursuit? I thought you were sneaking up on him.”

“Can we discuss this later? I’m a little preoccupied.”

“We can.”

Teddy and Rick reached the ground level and crouched next to the intruder. One look and they could tell the man was dead.

Rick stepped away to make a phone call while Teddy searched the body.

He found a Glock 9mm subcompact pistol in a shoulder holster; a silencer; three more listening bugs; a phone; a set of car keys; and a wallet holding nearly a thousand euros, two credit cards, and an Italian ID that Teddy was sure was fake. He laid them on the floor next to the body.

“I’ll be waiting,” Rick said, then hung up and rejoined Teddy. “Thanks to your exploits on the train earlier today, we have a cleanup team in the area. Should be here in thirty minutes.”

“You want me to stay with you till they arrive?”

“No. My backup can be here in a few minutes.”

Vesna’s voice came over the radio. “I have bad news. The watcher got away.”

Teddy unmuted his mic. “What happened?”

“Someone picked him up in a car, and they raced off. Sorry.”

“No apology necessary. But I am curious: how did the guy know you were after him in the first place?”

“As I was sneaking up on him, something started banging inside the building. The watcher turned and saw me. The rest was a lot of running. I don’t suppose you had anything to do with the noise.”

“Our guy decided to use the stairs as a slide instead of as intended.”

“So, it was your fault.”

“It was his fault, for which he paid the ultimate price.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Very.”