She looked at him, startled. 'What-?' 'Why don't we take the car?' he said softly. He was pulling Diane toward the Mercedes. His grip tightened.
'No, I don't want to-' As they reached the car, Diane saw the men from the restaurant sitting inside, on the front seat.
Horrified, Diane suddenly understood how she had been trapped, and she was filled with an overwhelming terror.
'Please,' she said. 'Don't. I-' She felt herself being shoved into the car.
Greg Holliday moved in beside Diane and closed the door.
'Schnell!' As the car pulled into the heavy traffic, Diane found herself becoming hysterical. 'Please-' Greg Holliday turned to her and smiled reassuringly. 'You can relax. I am not going to hurt you.
I promise you that by tomorrow, you will be on your way home.' He reached into a cloth pocket attached to the back of the driver's seat and took out a hypodermic needle.
'I'm going to give you a shot. It's harmless. It will put you to sleep for an hour or two.' He reached for Diane's wrist.
'Scheisse!' the driver yelled. A pedestrian had suddenly darted in front of the Mercedes, and the driver jammed on the brakes to avoid hitting him. Caught unaware, Holliday's head slammed against the metal framework of the driver's headrest.
He tried to sit up, groggy. He yelled at the driver, 'What-?' Instinctively, Diane grabbed Holliday's hand that was holding the hypodermic needle, twisted his wrist, and plunged the needle into his flesh.
Holliday turned to her in shock. 'No!' It was a scream.
With growing horror, Diane watched Holliday's body go into spasms and then stiffen and collapse.
He was dead within seconds. The two men in the front seat turned to see what was happening.
Diane was out the door and seconds later in a taxi, headed in the opposite direction.
CHAPTER 39
THE SOUND OF her cell phone startled her. She picked it up cautiously. 'Hello?' 'Hi, Kelly.' 'Diane! Where are you?' 'In Munich. Where are you?' 'On a train to London.' 'How did your meeting with Sam Meadows go?' Kelly could still hear his screams. 'I'll tell you about it when we meet. Did you get any information?' 'Not much. We have to decide what to do next. We're running out of options. Gary Reynolds's plane crashed near Denver. I think we have to go there. Maybe it's our last chance.' 'All right.' 'The obituary said that Reynolds has a sister living in Denver. She might know something. Why don't we meet in Denver at the Brown Palace Hotel. I'm flying out of Schoenfeld airport, in Berlin, in three hours.' 'I'll get a plane out of Heathrow.' 'Good. The room will be booked under the name of Harriet Beecher Stowe.' 'Kelly-' 'Yes.' 'Just… you know.' 'I know. You, too…'
TANNER WAS ALONE in his office, talking on the gold phone: '… and they managed to escape.
Sam Meadows is not a happy man, and Greg Holliday is dead.' He was silent for a moment, thinking. 'Logically, the only place left for them is Denver. In fact, that's probably their last option… It looks as though I'm going to have to handle this personally. They've won my respect, so it's only fitting that I take care of them properly.' He listened, then laughed. 'Of course. Good-bye.'
ANDREW WAS SEATED in his office, his mind floating, creating hazy visions. He was lying in a hospital bed and Tanner was saying, You surprised me, Andrew. You were supposed to die. Now the doctors tell me you can get out of here in a few days. I'm giving you an office at KIG. I want you to see how I'm saving your ass. You just wouldn't learn, would you, you imbecile?
Well, I'm turning your penny-ante operation into a gold mine, and you can sit there and watch how I do it. By the way, the first thing I did was to cancel all the bullshit do-good projects you started, Andrew… Andrew… Andrew…
The voice was getting louder. 'Andrew! Are you deaf?' Tanner was calling him. Andrew pulled himself to his feet and walked into his brother's office.
Tanner looked up. 'I hope I'm not interfering with your work,' Tanner said sarcastically.
'No, I was just…' Tanner studied his brother a moment. 'You're really not good for anything, are you, Andrew? You don't reap, neither do you sow. It's good for me to have someone to talk to, but I don't know how much longer I want to keep you around.'
KELLY ARRIVED IN Denver ahead of Diane, and she registered at the venerable Brown Palace Hotel.
'A friend of mine will be arriving this afternoon.' 'Would you like two rooms?' 'No, a double.'
WHEN DIANE'S plane landed at Denver International Airport, she took a taxi to the hotel. She walked up to the front desk and spoke to the clerk.
'Oh, yes. Mrs. Stowe is expecting you. She's in room 638.' It was a relief to hear.
Kelly was waiting. The two of them exchanged a warm hug.
'I've missed you.' 'I've missed you. How was your trip?' Kelly asked. 'Uneventful. Thank God.' Diane looked at her and said, 'What happened to you in Paris?' Kelly took a deep breath.
'Tanner Kingsley. What happened in Berlin?' Diane said tonelessly, 'Tanner Kingsley.' Kelly walked over to a table, picked up a telephone directory, and brought it back to Diane.
'Gary's sister, Lois Reynolds, is listed in the telephone book. She lives on Marion Street.' 'Good.' Diane looked at her watch. 'It's too late to do anything tonight. We'll go there first thing in the morning.'
THEY HAD DINNER in the room and talked until midnight, then got ready for bed.
Diane said, 'Good night,' and reached for the light switch. The bedroom was plunged into darkness.
Kelly screamed. 'No! Turn on the lights.' Diane quickly turned them back on. 'I'm so sorry, Kelly. I forgot.' 'I used to be afraid of the dark, until Mark. And after he was killed…' Kelly began hyperventilating, fighting to control her panic. She took a deep breath. 'I wish I could get over this.' 'Don't worry about it. When you're feeling very secure, you will.'
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, when Diane and Kelly walked out of the hotel, there was a line of taxis in front of the entrance. The two women got into one, and Kelly gave the driver the number of Lois Reynolds's house on Marion Street.
Fifteen minutes later, the driver pulled up to the curb. 'Here we are.' Kelly and Diane stared out the window, aghast. They were looking at the charred rubble of a house that had burned to the ground. There was nothing left but ashes, bits of burned wood, and a crumbled concrete foundation.
'The bastards killed her,' Kelly said. She looked at Diane despairingly. 'This is the end of the road.' Diane was thinking. There's one last chance.
