public. The Group had presumably booked the entire place, wanting privacy.
Stikes spoke briefly to a man inside a control booth, then led Nina and his two goons to the waiting gondola. She looked past it up the mountainside. Little was visible through the clouds and blowing snow. Her destination was effectively isolated from the rest of the world. She shivered.
The Englishman opened the cabin door for her. ‘Cold? Get in, it’ll be warmer.’
‘You’re the perfect gentleman,’ she said with a sneer as she entered. Stikes merely smirked and joined her, his men doing the same. A gesture to the booth from the former SAS officer, and the cable car lurched into motion.
Pointedly turning her back on Stikes, Nina went to the front window as the gondola began its ascent. A few buildings passed below, then the woods at the bottom of the hill. The best of the mountain’s ski runs were apparently reserved for the hotel’s residents, a low fence above the railroad separating the rising slopes from the village. The Blauspeer had other attractions than downhill skiing, however; a long luge track coiled down through the trees separating two of the ski runs. There were also what looked like target ranges for biathlon contestants.
‘I should ask the obvious question while we have the time,’ said Stikes. ‘Where’s your husband?’
‘In New York.’
‘No, he’s not. He’s in Switzerland — he took a different flight from you, but I know he’s here.’ His voice became flinty. ‘I warned you what would happen to his father if he tried to interfere.’
‘But he hasn’t interfered, has he? The only reason he’s here is to make sure we get out of the country safely.’ She glanced back at his two silent companions. ‘I’m assuming you’ve got more than just these two clowns watching the place. You’d know if he were in town.’
‘I know Chase,’ said Stikes. ‘He’s not the kind to sit around and wait.’ He looked out into the grey blankness obscuring the mountains. ‘He’s here, somewhere.’
‘If you think so, why don’t you try to make me tell you?’
‘Normally I would, as I’m sure you remember. But I have my orders, so my hands are tied… for the moment.’ A small, nasty smile.
Nina turned away again. The ride continued for a couple more minutes before a large, blocky shape finally loomed into view ahead. The Blauspeer hotel stood on relatively flat ground part-way up the mountain, the upper cable-car station actually built into one wing near the start of the luge track. The building looked quite old, timber- framed beneath its high, steeply sloping roof, but Nina suspected its facilities would be ultra-modern and luxurious. An ice-skating rink and an outdoor cafe overlooking the valley came into view as the cable car approached the end of its climb; considering the conditions, both were unsurprisingly deserted.
The gondola stopped. Stikes, feigning politeness, ushered Nina out. Even inside the station, the wind was stronger and colder than in the village, cutting through her coat. She hurried towards the glass doors leading to the hotel proper.
Warden waited in the expansive lobby beyond. ‘Dr Wilde,’ he said. ‘Welcome. I’m so glad you agreed to come.’
Her voice was as icy as the conditions outside. ‘I wasn’t exactly given a lot of choice.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Don’t pretend you don’t know.’ She jabbed a thumb at Stikes. ‘Your errand boy kidnapped my father-in-law and threatened to kill him if I didn’t bring you the statues.’
‘What?’ He looked at Stikes in genuine surprise. ‘Is this true?’
‘You told me to bring Dr Wilde and the statues here,’ Stikes replied smoothly. ‘I chose the most expeditious way to make sure that happened.’
Warden’s mouth twisted angrily. ‘I wanted her to come here
‘Maybe you should have done what I said and fired him,’ said Nina.
Still fuming, Warden glared at Stikes. ‘Where is he now?’
The Englishman composed himself. ‘He’s in the hotel, and perfectly safe.’
‘Is he a guest or a prisoner?’ asked Nina pointedly.
‘Make sure it’s the former,’ said Warden. ‘Now get out of my sight!’
Stikes stiffened, offering a terse ‘Yes,
Warden muttered something unflattering as he watched them leave, then addressed Nina. ‘Again, I apologise. You’re an absolutely vital part of what the Group hopes to achieve, and I want you to be completely free in your decision to join us. I hope Stikes’s stupidity hasn’t affected that. I’ll make sure your father-in-law is freed, and fully compensated for whatever inconvenience and distress he’s been caused.’
‘I’m sure he’ll appreciate that,’ said Nina. Warden didn’t seem to detect her undercurrent of sarcasm — though she couldn’t help noticing that he was so arrogant as to assume that she would agree to go along with the Group, no matter what. ‘As for what Stikes has done, I don’t think that’ll have much effect on my decision.’
‘I’m very happy to hear that.’ Again, the financier failed to pick up on her not-exactly-buried subtext. ‘In that case, if you’ll come with me, I’ll introduce you to the Group.’
Eddie gazed through the binoculars, holding one gloved hand above the lenses to ward off the blowing snow. ‘So that’s the hotel? Looks like it should have Jack Nicholson as the caretaker.’
He and the group of eight men with him, in white camouflage gear and balaclava masks, were at the top of a ridge about three-quarters of a mile from the Blauspeer hotel and several hundred feet higher. At this distance through the obscuring conditions, the building was barely more than a silhouette against the clouded valley, its shape defined more by its lights than by detailed features.
But Eddie could still see enough to tell that it was heavily guarded. Figures patrolled the grounds, making sure that the hotel’s reclusive VIP guests maintained their privacy.
They were about to be gatecrashed.
His companions were some of Glas’s loyal employees, a retinue of European security personnel urgently assembled on the billionaire’s orders while Eddie was on the flight to Switzerland. A helicopter had made a risky flight into the thickening clouds to drop them on the other side of the mountain, out of sight of the hotel, so they could traverse a pass and approach from a direction that would — in theory — be more lightly guarded. He didn’t know how good the men were, but had been assured that all were ex-military, willing and able to accomplish their mission.
That assurance was about to be tested. He tilted the binoculars down to the mountainside below. It was one of the hotel’s slopes — a black run, steep and potentially dangerous, even deadly, to anyone not an expert skier. The poles of a ski lift were visible off to one side, but it was not running. The only way down was to ski.
Eddie had done a considerable amount of that during his SAS training, but mostly cross-country rather than downhill, and it had been some years since he had been on a skiing holiday. Now that he thought about it, the last time had been during his marriage to Sophia, over seven years before. Christ, where had the time gone? He hoped he hadn’t become too rusty.
He would find out soon enough. The already grim sky was steadily darkening as evening drew in. They would have to move quickly — not least because Nina would be inside by now.
He continued his sweep of the slope. Before setting out, he had surveyed the area using online aerial photos; as expected, he spotted a small building at the bottom of the ski lift. It was the perfect place for a guard to find respite from the wind…
‘Thermal,’ he said. A man produced a device resembling a compact video camera and handed it to him. Eddie switched it on and peered through the eyepiece at the hut.
Someone was there, a humanoid shape in bright blues, yellows and reds standing out against the cold grey blankness of the snow. He panned the thermal imager across the vista below. More figures popped out from their surroundings, some standing watch in the shelter of buildings and trees, others trudging through the open along well-trodden patrol routes. ‘How many guards?’ asked one of the men.
‘I count, let’s see… four at the bottom of the slope, and another eight or nine nearer the hotel.’ Even through the thermal imager, it was impossible to miss that all the guards were armed with MP5 sub-machine guns. He gave the gadget back to its owner, who conducted his own scan while Eddie checked the sky. Conditions were steadily
