And by the way, Ive landed from a flying saucer.

'I wont last a few hours, Petrie repeated desperately.

'Sure you will. Look, take in a movie. And call the Emba.s.sy at seven oclock. Hey, this is like the good old days. The man turned back towards the Tesco.

Petrie, feeling exposed, walked off in the opposite direction. He gave serious thought to clearing out of Bratislava altogether, finding his way across the Austrian border only a few miles away. But what then? Would he be any safer there? Wandering the exposed streets at random, he came across a cash machine. Money! In his present situation, it was water in the desert. He inserted Vashislavs card. After an uncomfortably long delay a message came back: refer to your bank.

He visualised a warning message coming up on some terminal somewhere: card belonging to wanted criminal being used at the General Credit Bank, Gorkeho 7; the terse message going out to the nearest police car; the swift U-turn in the street; the arrest.

Get a grip. They cant have antic.i.p.ated Id have Vashislavs card and pin number. He tried Svetlanas card, inserting it wrongly twice in his haste. Again the delay; this time agonisingly long. And again the message: refer to your bank.

Petrie cleared off smartly.

It was half past four when he joined a short queue outside the Kino Istropolis. The poster outside showed a group of youths obliterating the entire Yakutsa by leaps, kicks and punches against a background of skysc.r.a.pers and exploding cars. Blood of the Tiger, it turned out, was in j.a.panese with Czech subt.i.tles but Petrie followed every word. When he emerged from the cinema, warm but hungry, it was dark, snowing heavily, and time to phone the Emba.s.sy.

'Is that Brenda? Joe Callaghan, please.

'A moment.

A couple, in their thirties, appeared outside the phone booth, hats flecked with snow.

Petrie thought there was a coolness in Brendas voice, and then he thought he was being paranoid, and then he thought that in his present fix maybe paranoia was his best friend. He waited. The man outside the booth made a big thing of the cold, stamping his feet and flapping his arms. Then a strangers voice, male, came on the line. 'Dr Petrie? Be at the Zmoncka Ulica at nine oclock.

'Where the h.e.l.l is that?

'Its in the Old Town, just off St Michaels Lane. I cant talk any more. The line went dead.

Petrie glanced at his watch: eight-forty. He had a vague idea that the big castle overlooked the Old Town. He set out, using the orange-lit Bratislavsk hrad as a beacon.

He wandered along cobbled streets, shiny and wet. Past an Irish bar, all Guinness and green and full of chatter. Couples pa.s.sed, sometimes single people; there was a 1920s elegance about the fur coats and hats. In the dull light, the East European architecture seemed bleak and unwelcoming. Away from the main thoroughfares, the narrower streets were almost deserted; windows were shuttered or heavily curtained. It was a good night to be indoors.

He found the Zmoncka Ulica within fifteen minutes. It turned out to be a narrow cobbled lane. Feeling vaguely uneasy, Petrie turned cautiously into it, peering into dark corners. Wonderful smells drifted out of a crepa, reminding him that he was out of money to buy food. Something moved but it was only a shadow pa.s.sing behind a heavy curtain; the lighting inside the room was dull. The lane had a blind bend and light from a cafe flooded the cobbles at its curve. Petrie stepped into the shadow of a doorway, and waited.

By mid-afternoon, another call reached Colonel Borovika, this time from the Deputy Governor of the General Credit Bank: an attempt had been made to use two of the credit cards belonging to the criminal gang, on the Gorkeho, right in the city centre. A swift convergence of plainclothes policemen and anonymous cars drew a blank, as did saturation coverage of the surrounding streets.

Still, the news was good: they had no money. Hunger, and the rigours of sleeping in the open in this weather, would soon force their hand. Bratislava was so close to the Austrian border that, Borovika felt, they would try to cross it in desperation.

He gave them a day, two at the most.

At ten to nine a police car stops at one end of the lane and a small policeman steps out. Two uniformed colleagues go over and start chatting to him. Petrie tries to sink into the shadow, wonders if he should clear off; but they are just laughing and talking, one of them leaning on the car. It has to be coincidence.

At nine oclock a church bell begins to strike. At the other end of the lane, two men appear in silhouette. They walk unhurriedly into the lane.

Suddenly, irrationally, Petrie is overcome by panic. There is something implacably hostile about their body language. And the policemen have stopped chatting; they are peering into the lane.

He dives for the cafe and almost collides with a woman of about thirty, dressed against the cold in a long fur coat and hat. She says, 'Darling! and gives him a squeeze, puts her arm in his and guides him along the lane towards the police. He wonders about pulling free and running but the men, both in their fifties, are about twenty yards away and approaching smartly. 'Put a smile on your face. The accent is American. Terrified, he tries to grin. 'Thats horrible. You look like Hannibal Lecter. He giggles like a teenage girl, feels the womans arm tensing in his. They pa.s.s within feet of the policemen. They watch them pa.s.s, a couple enjoying an evening out.

Up St Michaels Lane, under the archway, breaking into a trot. The two men are now half-running; they are drawing the attention of the policemen. At the top of the lane there is a black Merc; they climb in. Now the men break into a sprint. The car takes off. One of the men manages to grab a door handle. He is white-haired, about fifty. But then the car accelerates clear. Petrie says, 'Oh Jesus. Callaghan, at the wheel, says, 'Dont worry about the number plates.

The woman is holding out her hand. 'Im Alice, Joes a.s.sistant, she says in a conversational tone. She is long-faced, with gypsy earrings and lots of bangles. Petrie begins to wonder if he has strayed into some alternative reality, like Alice in Wonderland.

'So, says Callaghan. Petrie waits, but Callaghan has nothing to add.

'Who were they? Petrie asks Alice.

She shrugs. 'Dont worry about it.

The car moved quietly north on the Stefanikova. They stopped at traffic lights, next to a blue tram. Faces looked down at him, people who rode trams every day and lived in cramped apartments where you could hear your neighbour snore, and who wondered what it was like to drive an E-series Merc with soft lights, sweet music and red leather seats no doubt convertible to a bed.

Callaghan looked at Petrie in the rear mirror. 'Youre quite a guy, Tom.

'I committed murder?

'Uhuh.

He kept his voice level. 'Why did I do that?

The traffic was lightening and Callaghan put his foot down. The car surged forward effortlessly. 'n.o.bodys saying, beyond the fact that state security is involved. The cops have clear instructions: find you, fire you over to the army, and forget you. Callaghan looked over at Petrie, strummed his fingers on the leather-padded steering wheel. 'State security, he said thoughtfully.

Petrie nodded. 'Find, fire and forget.

'And the media are being kept out of it.

'What did I do exactly?

'You took a hatchet to some guy. You and your girlfriend both. Split his skull in half.

Alice said, 'I can tell youre a dangerous psychopath just by looking at you.

Callaghan added, 'Your girlfriend has such a sweet innocent face I think she must be the axe lady.

Petrie looked out at the grey streets. 'What was our motive?

'The uniforms arent privy to that. State securitys a wonderful blanket.

'So what happens now?

'Alice and I are taking you someplace safe. We listen to what you have to say, and then people in Washington make a decision about you.

'Theres a limit to what I can tell you.

Alice said, 'Theres no limit to the time you can spend in a Slovakian prison.

'I wouldnt get the length of the courthouse.

Callaghan sounded as if he was in pain. 'Tom, the Cold Wars long dead. Extrajudicial killings and poisoned umbrellas are for spy stories.

Petrie allowed himself a brief, sardonic laugh. 'Mr Callaghan, you havent a clue. Not even the beginnings of a clue. In fact, you have absolutely no b.l.o.o.d.y idea.

41.

High Tatras They were on a motorway. It was dark and the traffic was thin, but Callaghan was clearly taking no chances with the speed limit. The big estate car was warm and Alice slipped out of her fur coat. Soon Petrie recognised the road as the one which Freya and he had taken with the soldiers. Callaghan turned off at a sign for Zilina and they drove into a middle-sized, underlit town. Callaghan trickled the car round dark cobbled streets until he found a quiet cafe. They sat on rickety wooden chairs in a corner.

Petrie had forgotten when he had last eaten. The Czech for spaghetti turned out to be spagety and the proprietor, a small man with Turkish features and a filthy ap.r.o.n, served him a satisfyingly large plate. The Americans settled for coffee and cakes.

Petrie asked Callaghan what he did.

'Im a trade adviser. Been on the trans-Caucasian desk until now.

'Youre CIA, of course.

'I strenuously deny it.

Alice said, 'And I deny it too. Im a freelance travel agent. I travel between Bratislava, Budapest and Prague, arranging package deals for regular tour companies.

'How do these cities compare? Petrie asked her, although he was too fraught to care.

'Bratislava and Budapest are cities in transition. Theyre exciting places to be. Im not so fond of Prague these days. Its still beautiful, still the Paris of the east, but its become too fashionable for me and theres too much organised crime. You cant walk alone at night and the Mafia control the taxis.

Callaghan nodded his agreement. 'Getting like LA. He was beginning to twitch restlessly and kept glancing towards the door. 'We ought to move on, people. The less exposure the better.

Beyond Zilina the road was poor. An ocean liner in the distance turned out to be the chemical works from his earlier trip and Petrie wondered if he was being taken back to the cavern for some reason. But Callaghan drove past the turnoff without comment, and presently they turned left.

They were heading north. From his memory of a map Petrie knew they were approaching the triple point between Slovakia, Poland and Russia. It was gratifyingly far from Bratislava.

'The High Tatras, Alice said.

'Real mountains, Callaghan added. 'Not the toys you people have been under.

The warmth of the car, and the events of the day, were driving Petrie towards sleep. He fought it.

A side road, and a long, winding climb. At just after 1 a.m. by the Mercs clock, the headlights swept round a large white-painted building.

The stars were bright in a crystalline sky and the air was bitter. Callaghan was playing with a flashlight, and then he had turned a key and was pushing open a green-painted metal door.

Petrie found himself in a cavernous living room with a sloping, wood-lined ceiling. Wooden shutters took up the far end of the room; at the other end was a fireplace seemingly large enough to take small trees, and next to it a set of wooden steps went up to an unfenced balcony from which doors led off. The house was icy.

'This is a safe house?

'I guess so, Callaghan said. 'At least until I turn you over to the authorities. We dont have much call for safe houses these days. Its actually my holiday chalet. Come on up and Ill show you to a guest room. Maybe I can rustle up a toothbrush.

They left Alice pouring herself a remarkably large Martini.

'This do?

'Fine, thanks.

'See you in the morning, then. The door was heavy ash and it closed with a satisfying clunk. There was a lock and Petrie turned it. More wooden shutters took up a wall but Petrie left them shut. He felt coc.o.o.ned and safe after the exposure of the city streets, and he knew it was a dangerous illusion.

He emptied the contents of his pockets on to the bed.

A few notes and coins. Six credit cards. A Swiss army knife. Two compact disks which could change the world, and Vashislavs mobile phone, which Freya had handed him in the coach.

He adjusted the mobile to be mute and put it under his pillow. There was a small bookcase and he slipped the disks into Wildlife of the High Tatras, somewhere between the Tatra marmot and the Ural owl. He told himself, as he slid into a dream, that Freya was safe and well somewhere in Europe and that the Americans would pluck them out of the cauldron and that in the land of the Burger King they would, like so many before them, find refuge from a hostile world.

Low sunlight was finding c.h.i.n.ks in the solid wooden shutters. Petrie pulled them open and looked out over a panorama more Swiss than Slovakian. A French door led directly on to a wooden balcony and he stepped out.

As safe houses went, this one would be hard to fault. A scattering of chalets lined a hairpin road up through the mountains. Anyone approaching would be seen for maybe fifteen minutes. Here and there, in the distance, sunlight glinted metallically from mountain tops, pink in the morning sun, and he thought there might be radio antennae or military radars on the summits.

The early morning cold was breath-catching, and he was wearing only boxer shorts. Shivering, he turned back to dress.

He checked the mobile phone. A message!

Crossed border through woods near Bratislava, stole bicycle and cycled to Gyor in Hungary, fifty miles. Lift to Romania dont ask about border crossing.

How are you? Reply through Unur.

Freya.

Relief surged through Petries body. He looked again at the snowy needles bristling all the way to the far horizon, topped with sun-pierced fluffy clouds like pink and yellow knickerbocker glory, and he thought it was the most beautiful sight on the planet. He re-read the message, bubbling with pleasure.

Freya! Still alive!

'Who is he?

General Kamensky was enjoying another of Borovikas cigars. There was a No Smoking sign in the police chiefs office but n.o.body, least of all the Chief of Police, was daring to point out the fact.

The screen showed a security cameras view of a busy street. The time resolution was poor, and Petrie and the other man were shown as walking in a series of jerks.

'Wheres his companion? The girl?

'Were working on that.