the Amber Room

'You did not blink at my insistence on five million euros.' Grumer's voice carried a smug tone she was liking less and less.

'Is there more?' she asked.

'If I recall correctly, a pervasive story circulated during the 1960s concerning Josef Loring being a Nazi collaborator. But, after the war, he managed to become well connected with the Czechoslovakian Communists. Quite a trick, actually. His factories and foundries, I assume, were powerful inducements for lasting friendships. The talk, I believe, was that Loring found Hitler's hiding place for the Amber Room. The locals in this area swore Loring came several times with crews and quietly excavated the mines before the government took control. In one, I would imagine, he found the amber panels and Florentine mosaics. Was it our chamber, Margarethe?'

'Herr Doktor, I neither admit nor deny any of what you are saying, though the history lesson does carry some fascination. What of Wayland McKoy? Is this current venture over?'

'He intends to excavate the other opening, but there will be nothing to find. Something you already know, correct? I would say the dig is over. Now, did you bring the payment we discussed?'

She was tired of Grumer. Loring was right. He was a greedy bastard. Another loose end. One that needed immediate attention.

'I have your money, Herr Grumer.'

She reached into her jacket pocket and wrapped her right hand around the Sauer's checkered stock, a sound suppressor already screwed to the short barrel. Something suddenly swept past her left shoulder and thudded into Grumer's chest. The German gasped, heaved back, and then crumpled to the floor. In the dim altar light she immediately noticed the lavender-jade handle with an amethyst set in the pommel.

Christian Knoll leaped from the choir to the nave's stone floor, a gun in hand. She withdrew her own weapon and dived behind the podium, hoping the walnut was more wood than veneer.

She risked a quick look.

Knoll fired a muffled shot, the bullet ricocheting off the podium centimeters from her face. She reeled back and scrunched tight behind the podium.

'Very inventive in that mine, Suzanne,' Knoll said.

Her heart raced. 'Just doing my job, Christian.'

'Why was it necessary to kill Chapaev?'

'Sorry, my friend, can't go into it.'

'That is a shame. I did hope to learn your motives before killing you.'

'I'm not dead yet.'

She could hear Knoll chuckling. A sick laugh that echoed through the stillness.

'This time I'm armed,' Knoll said. 'Herr Loring's gift to me, in fact. A very accurate weapon.'

The CZ-75B. Fifteen-shot magazine. And Knoll had used only one bullet. Fourteen chances left to kill her. Too damn many.

'No light bars to shoot out here, Suzanne. In fact, there is nowhere to go.'

With a sickening dread, she realized he was right.

Paul had heard only scattered bits of the conversation. Obviously his initial doubts about Grumer had been proved right. The Doktor was apparently playing both ends against the middle and had just discovered the price that deceit sometimes elicited.

He'd watched in horror as Grumer died and the two combatants squared off, muffled shots popping through the church like pillows fluffing. Rachel stood behind him, staring over his shoulder. They stood rigid, neither moving for fear of revealing their presence. He knew they had to get out of the church, but their exit needed to be absolutely silent. Unlike the two in the nave, they were unarmed.

'That's Knoll,' Rachel whispered in his ear.

He'd figured that. And the woman was definitely Jo Myers, or Suzanne, as Knoll called her. He'd instantly recognized the voice. No doubt now that she'd killed Chapaev, since she'd not denied the allegation when Knoll asked about it. Rachel pressed tight against him. She was shaking. He reached back and squeezed her leg, pressing her close, trying to calm her down, but his hand shook, too.

Knoll hunched low in the second row of pews. He liked the situation. Though his opponent was unfamiliar with the church's layout, it was clear Danzer had nowhere to go without him having at least a few seconds to shoot.

'Tell me something, Suzanne, why the mine explosion? We've never crossed that line before.'

'What did I do, cramp your style with the Cutler woman? You were probably going to fuck her, then kill her, right?'

'Both thoughts crossed my mind. In fact, I was just getting ready to do the first when you so rudely interrupted.'

'Sorry, Christian. Actually, the Cutler woman should thank me. I saw she survived the explosion. I don't think she would have been as lucky with your knife. Kind of like Grumer over there, right?'

'As you say, Suzanne, only doing my job.'

'Look, Christian, maybe we don't have to take this to the extreme. How about a truce? We can go back to your hotel and sweat out our frustrations. How about it?'

Tempting. But this was serious business, and Danzer was only buying time.

'Come on, Christian, I guarantee it'll be better than what that spoiled bitch Monika puts out. You've never complained in the past.'

'Before I consider that, I want some answers.'

'I'll try.'

'What is so important about that chamber?'

'Can't talk about that. Rules, you know.'

'The trucks are empty. Nothing there. Why all the interest?'

'Same answer.'

'The records clerk in St. Petersburg is on the payroll, right?'

'Of course.'

'You knew I went to Georgia all along?'

'I thought I did a good job staying out of the way. Obviously not.'

'Were you at Borya's house?'

'Of course.'

'If I hadn't twisted that old man's neck, you would have?'

'You know me too well.'

Paul was pressed to the curtain as he heard Knoll admit to killing Karol Borya. Rachel gasped and stepped back, bumping him forward, which rippled the velvet. He realized the movement and her sound would be more than enough to attract the attention of both combatants. In an instant, he shoved Rachel to the floor, rolling in mid- flight, absorbing most of the impact on his right shoulder.

Knoll heard a gasp and saw the curtain move. He fired three shots into the velvet, chest high.

Suzanne saw the curtain move, but her interest was in getting out of the church. She used the moment of Knoll's three shots to send one of her own in his direction. The bullet splintered one of the pews. She saw Knoll duck for cover, so she bolted into the shadows of the high altar, leaping forward into a dark archway.

'let's go,' Paul mouthed. He pulled Rachel to her feet and they raced toward the door. The bullets had pierced the curtain and found stone. He hoped Knoll and the woman would be too preoccupied with each other to bother with them. Or maybe they'd team up against what might be deemed a common enemy. He wasn't going to stay around and find out which route they took.

They made it to the door.

His shoulder pounded with pain, but adrenaline streaking through his veins worked like anesthetic. Out in the