She frowned. 'Is the gun empty?'
He smiled. 'My God, I believe you're disappointed. Is it too easy for you? No, the gun has bullets and they're not blanks. What are you going to do now?'
She wasn't sure. The move had taken her by surprise. He had obviously meant to take her off guard and disarm her mentally if not physically. But she had never known a man who would take a chance like that.
'May I make a suggestion? I interrupted you while you were going through that deceased gentleman's wallet. Why don't you continue?'
'I have his passport and his name is Falbon. That's all I need to trace him.'
'Then why not leave the scene of the crime and come with me to the Sheraton to see Grady and Megan Blair?'
'I don't consider killing Molino's men a crime.' Her eyes suddenly widened. 'Megan Blair? She's here in Munich?'
'At the hotel.' His gaze narrowed on her face. 'How do you know about Megan? Does that make a difference?'
She didn't answer either question. 'Dammit, she shouldn't be anywhere near me. She might have led Molino here.'
'Then tell her that yourself. She's not going to listen to me. I'm going to phone her.' He slowly took out his phone, making sure that she could see that it was not a weapon. 'Okay?'
She hesitated. Then she nodded her head. 'But I won't go into the hotel. Tell her to meet us across the street in the park.'
'Very smart. Then you can check her out and make sure that I'm not leading you down the garden path.' He dialed the number. 'Grady, I need you and Megan to meet me at the park across the street from the hotel in about an hour. I'll bring Renata Wilger.' He listened for a moment and then smiled. His gaze wandered from Renata, still aiming the gun at him and then to the dead man crumpled on the street. 'Oh, yes, I'm sure she's the right Renata Wilger.'
HARLEY WAS WAITING UNDERNEATH a street lamp by a park bench when Grady and Megan came through the gates. He was alone.
Disappointment surged through Megan. 'Where is she, Harley? Did you lose her?'
'No, and she didn't lose me.' He took her arm and pulled her into the light. 'Lift up your head.'
'What are you doing?' Grady took a step forward.
'I'm not hurting her.' He called out into the darkness. 'Here she is. Delivered as promised. Come out, come out, wherever you are.'
'That sounds like a children's game,' Grady said.
'Hide-and-seek.' Harley nodded. 'But hopefully the seeking is over and she's not exactly hiding. She just doesn't trust us. That's why she has a gun trained on me. My gun.'
'
'It's a long story.' Harley called again, 'Renata, you've had time to get a good look at Megan. Is it yes, or no?'
'How would she even recognize me?' Megan asked.
Harley shrugged. 'Ask her.' He was looking beyond her toward the bushes. 'My dear girl, I understand your concern but it's really not polite to point guns at strangers. It makes them nervous.'
'I'm not pointing the gun at them,' the woman coming toward them said. 'I'm just ready. How do I know that Molino isn't staking her out?'
Renata Wilger was younger than Megan had thought she would be. She was perhaps in her early twenties, small, slim, red-haired with a sprinkling of freckles over the bridge of her nose. Her brown eyes were glittering with fierce intensity as she stared at Megan. 'And if you're not being used, you're either stupid or criminally negligent for coming here. Get the hell out of Munich and away from me.'
What a little tigress. 'You wouldn't have decided to come out of the bushes if you'd really thought Molino was using me to trap you. And I'm not going anywhere until I get what I want.' She glanced at the gun Renata was holding at her side. 'So give Harley back his gun and let's talk.'
'Why should I want to talk to you? You've probably already ruined things for me here. I'm going to have to go on the run.'
'Maybe not.'
'She's right,' Harley said. 'She had another tail tonight besides me. She'd already disposed of him by the time I made an appearance, but his ID was Raoul Falbon. I sent a picture on my cell phone to Venable, that friend of Grady's at CIA headquarters, and he just got back to me. Falbon is for hire to the highest bidder, but he works extensively for Molino.'
'Disposed of him?' Megan asked.
'I killed the bastard,' Renata said bluntly. 'What do you think? That I'd give him a tap and have him come after me again tomorrow? That wouldn't have been smart.'
'No, it wouldn't,' Grady agreed. 'And now Molino will have to send someone else. It will give us a little time.'
'Give me a little time,' she corrected. 'Thanks to you, I'll need it now.'
'We didn't lead Molino to you,' Megan said. 'There was no way he could know the name of the person we're searching for. I didn't know myself until a few days ago.'
'Then he found out from the same source.'
Megan shook her head. 'No way.'
'Don't tell me that. You don't know what he'd do to get what he wants.'
'Believe me, I do.' She stared her in the eye. 'I've been there.'
'Bullshit. You've been safely tucked away in Georgia all these years. You don't know anything.'
'How do you know that?' She remembered something else. 'And how did you know what I looked like?'
'It's in the Ledger.'
'What?'
'Photos. Reports. Your mother was found and documented when she was in her teens. After that we were able to keep track of both of you until you slipped away when you were fifteen. It took a long time, but Edmund was finally able to trace you when you were in your second year in medical school.'
'Edmund…'
'Edmund Gillem.' She was silent a moment. 'He's not alive any longer.'
Renata's voice was steady, but there was such a wealth of pain in those words that it shook Megan. She wanted to reach out in comfort but it would have been like comforting a wolverine. 'No, he died in that trailer in Rome. He was very brave.'
'He was a fool. I told him to run.' She drew a deep, shaky breath. 'Like I'm going to do.'
'Too many people have run from Molino.'
'Do you think I don't want to stay and take my chances to get that son of a bitch? I can't. Not now.'
'Because you have the Ledger,' Grady said.
'I didn't say that.'
'No, that's true,' Megan said. 'But Edmund said it.'
Renata went still. 'You're lying. Edmund would never have told anyone. He would have died first.'
Megan nodded. 'You're right; he did die to keep anyone from knowing you had it.' She added quietly, 'And as he died, he prayed for you, Renata.'
Renata stared at her for a long moment. 'Oh, shit.' She whirled on her heel. 'Come on, let's walk, Megan.'
'I take it Grady and I aren't invited?' Harley said. 'Stay on the path so that we can keep you in view.'
Renata didn't answer and Megan had to hurry to catch up with her.
Renata's hands were jammed into her pockets and she was looking straight ahead. She didn't speak for a few minutes and when she did, her voice was no longer steady. 'You're a Listener?'
Yes.
'In the Ledger it said you probably would become one, but we weren't sure.' She was blinking quickly to keep
