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MALONE ASSESSED THE SITUATION HE WAS STANDING IN A PUBLIC place, adjacent to a crowded street People were co fro for their cars to be brought by attendants from a nearby lot Clearly his surveillance of Stephanie had not gone unnoticed, and he cursed hi more alert But he decided that, contrary to the threats made, the two men on either side of hi detained, not eli in the cathedral with Stephanie time to unfold
Which meant he needed to act
He watched as ly Dane, owned a bookshop in the Stroget, near Peter Hansen’s store He watched as a valet delivered the n," Malone called out, stepping away froun to his back
His friend heard his name and turned
"Cotton, how are you?" the man answered in Danish
Malone casually walked toward the car and looked back to see the short-haired man quickly conceal the weapon beneath his jacket He’d caught the ht These guys were amateurs He was ready to bet that they didn’t speak Danish, either
"Might I trouble you for a ride back to Copenhagen?" he asked
"Certainly We have rooer door "I appreciate it My ride is going to hang around awhile and I need to get back home"
As he slah theand saw a confused look on the twointerest you today?" Vagn asked
He turned his attention to the driver "Not a thing"
"Me, either We decided to leave and take an early dinner"
Malone glanced over at the woman next to him Another man sat in the front He did not know either, so he introduced himself The car slowly ht streets toward the Copenhagen highway
He spied the twin spires and copper roof of the cathedral "Vagn, could you let er"
"You sure?"
"I just re I need to do"
STEPHANIE PARALLELED THE NAVE AND PLUNGED DEEPER INTO the cathedral Past the ht, the church service was still in progress Her low heels clicked off the flagstones, but only she could hear thean The path ahead rounded the main altar, and a series of half walls and memorials divided the alanced back to see theforward, but the two other men were nowhere to be seen She realized that she would soon be heading back toward the church’sFor the first tients took She’d never worked in the field--that was not part of her job--but this was not an official assignment This was personal and she was officially on vacation No one knew she’d traveled to Den her present predica a problem
She rounded the ambulatory
Her pursuer stayed a discreet distance back, surely knowing that she had nowhere to go She passed a set of stone stairs that dropped down into another side chapel and then saw, fifty feet ahead, the two otherher way out of the church Behind her, Bernard continued his steady advance To her left was another sepulcher, this one identified as the Chapel of Magi
She darted inside
Two marble tombs lay within the brilliantly decorated walls, both reminiscent of Roman temples She retreated toward the farther Then a wild unreasoning terror seized her as she realized the worst
She was trapped
MALONE JOGGED TO THE CATHEDRAL AND ENTERED THROUGH the ht he spotted two men--stocky, short hair, plainly dressed--similar to the two he’d just evaded outside the auction He decided not to take any chances and reached beneath his jacket for a Beretta autoents He’d been allowed to keep the weapon when he retired and un here was illegal
He palun, shielding it with his thigh He’d not held a weapon in ht part of his past, one he hadn’t rabbed his attention, so he’d coent did, and one of the reasons he’d served as the pallbearer for a few friends instead of being hauled down the center aisle of a church hi with their backs to hian music ht, fellows"
Both turned and he flashed the gun "Let’s keep this civil"
Over the shoulder of one of the ht of anothertoward them He saw the man reach beneath his leather jacket Malone did not wait for as next, and dove left into an ean and a bullet tore into the wood pew ahead of him
He saw the two other men reach for weapons
From his prone position, he fired twice The shots exploded through the cathedral, piercing the music One of the men went down, the other fled Malone came to his knees and heard three new pops He dove back down as more bullets found wood near him
He sent two unan stopped
People realized as happening The crowd started flooding fro safety outside through the rear doors He used the confusion to peer above the pew and saw thenear the entrance to one of the side chapels
"Stephanie," he called out over the mayhem
No answer