Barely glancing at her, Caedmon scotched the idea with a terse shake of the head. 'Too much is at stake. If we go to the police, the Montsegur Medallion will end up in the b.l.o.o.d.y Louvre.'

'B-better that than the two of us ending up in the grave,' she retorted.

Caedmon made no reply.

Fear level spiking, Kate took a deep stabilizing breath. In through her nostrils, out through her mouth. She kept a mental count until finally they reached the guichet.

'Quickly! Take the lead!' Caedmon ordered, pulling her in front of him.

Shoving wet hanks of hair out of her face, she did as instructed, belatedly realizing that Caedmon was s.h.i.+elding her with his own body, protecting her from the monster to the rear of them.

Although a full storey in height, the dimly lit guichet was stifling. Kate was pressed in on all four sides. The crowd's mood having noticeably soured, the thick stream of soaking wet tourists trudged through the dank chasm.

Craning her neck, Kate caught Caedmon's eye. 'Is he still '

'Yes. About forty metres back.'

'How are we going to elude him?'

'I'm not altogether certain.'

Seconds later, like projectiles fired from a cannon, they burst free of the guichet, the summer tempest no less severe on the other side. Many in the throng rushed across the street, taking shelter under the covered arcade that ran parallel to Rue de Rivoli.

'We mustn't tarry. Our a.s.sailant will emerge from the portal at any moment.' s.n.a.t.c.hing hold of her hand, Caedmon turned to the right and ran up to a middle-aged man holding a large black umbrella over his head.

Tapping the bespectacled gentleman on the shoulder, Caedmon, speaking in flawless French, told the stranger that he'd give him fifty euros for his umbrella.

Brown eyes opened wide. 'Mais, oui! '

Ten seconds later, the transaction complete, Caedmon shepherded the two of them, now huddled under the umbrella, down Rue de Rivoli.

'Caedmon, have you lost your mind?' Kate hissed. 'You just paid that man the equivalent of sixty-eight dollars. For an umbrella! '

'I didn't think that twenty euros would seal the deal. Trust me. There's a method to my madness.'

'Who cares if we get Oh, I get it,' she said abruptly, noticing that the pavement teemed with people carrying umbrellas, most of which were basic black. Just like the one that Caedmon now held over their heads. 'The black umbrella isn't to keep us dry. It's to camouflage us.'

'Our a.s.sailant will, hopefully, a.s.sume that like everyone else who doesn't have an umbrella, we sought dry shelter under the arcade.'

'So, what's our next move?' she huffed, barely able to speak and draw breath at the same time.

Caedmon jutted his chin towards the taxi stand a block away. 'Do you have enough energy left for one last sprint?'

Despite the fact that her s.h.i.+ns ached and the sides of her abdomen were painfully cramped, Kate gamely nodded. She hoped fear would make her fleet of foot. Or at least keep her on her feet.

Hand in hand, they sloshed down the pavement.

A few moments later, her lungs on fire, they reached the taxi stand. Opening the door of the cab, Caedmon motioned her into the back seat. He then closed the umbrella and sidled next to her.

Red hair plastered to his skull, Caedmon leaned forward and said, 'a la Tour Eiffel, s'il vous plait.'

42.

'... avec le citron.'

Nodding, the waiter scribbled the drink order on to a notepad before heading back into the cafe, muttering under his breath about the crazy Englishman who insisted on sitting outside during a deluge.

What the sulking Frenchman failed to mutter was that Caedmon and Kate were protected from the rain, their small table situated beneath a canvas awning.

'Where is he?' For the fourth time in as many minutes, Kate anxiously glanced at her wrist.w.a.tch.

About to inform his overwrought companion that he didn't know and, moreover, he didn't give a monkey's, Caedmon thought better of it at the last. 'He's only six minutes late. Let's not sound retreat just yet, eh?' At least, not until my G&T arrives.

'What if Finn didn't make it? Maybe the gunman shot him at the Arc de Triomphe plaza. If that happened, he could be injured or '

'But he's not,' Caedmon interjected in a firm tone, alarmed by Kate's runaway imagination, concerned that she might be suffering from a mild case of hysteria. An understandable enough reaction given the recent hair-raising episode.

In truth, the skin on the back of his neck still p.r.i.c.kled, his senses in a heightened state of awareness.

Feigning an interest in the large potted palm diagonally opposite their table, he surrept.i.tiously scanned the bustling cityscape; the driver of a panel truck parked directly across the street was in the process of delivering plastic tanks of bottled water; motorists weaved in and out of traffic; pedestrians, huddled beneath their brollies, scurried down the pavement.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

So, why this dread feeling in the pit of my stomach?

The waiter, lips turned down in a cla.s.sic Gallic sneer, returned with their drinks. Caedmon, accustomed to the French and their infernal bad manners, wordlessly handed the man ten euros.

Reaching for the white ceramic cup set in front of her, Kate smiled weakly. 'If I didn't need the caffeine fix, I would have joined you.'

She referred, of course, to the fact that he'd ordered a gin and tonic. And a double, at that.

Unable to meet her gaze, Caedmon squeezed the wedge of lemon before dropping the mutilated piece of fruit into his gla.s.s. 'Having successfully outwitted the evil ogre, a celebratory drink is in order.' Affecting a jovial air, he toasted the sentiment with a raised gla.s.s. A gla.s.s punctured with a red light beam.

No sooner did the unexpected image hit his ocular nerve than the gla.s.s shattered in his hand.

's.h.i.+te!'

In the next instant, a green bottle of Perrier exploded.

Lurching at Kate, Caedmon none too gently yanked her out of the bistro chair, pulling her under their table. Hunched over the top of her, he grabbed the nearby potted palm and dragged it in front of them. Because of the rain, all of the outdoor tables were vacant. Because the gunman's weapon was suppressed, no one inside the cafe was even aware of what was happening, the bullets silently lodging in the stucco wall behind them.

'Oh, G.o.d!' Kate moaned, her body contorted into a quivering ball.

Acid churning like mad in the pit of his gut, Caedmon ventured a glance across the street. The gunman had to be hiding behind the delivery van parked on the other side of the road!

Just then, a taxi pulled up to the front of the cafe. Both rear doors, as well as the front pa.s.senger door, flung open. Four tall Swedes, businessmen on a working holiday from the looks of them, got out of the cab.

Caedmon, seizing what might be their one and only chance to escape unscathed, quickly stood up. Extending a hand, he helped Kate to her feet. 'She lost a contact lens,' he said to one of the men in the group who glanced quizzically at them.

'Found it.' Raising an index finger, Kate displayed a nonexistent lens.

Explanation offered, Caedmon immediately insinuated himself into the middle of the foursome, dragging Kate along with him, purposefully sandwiching her between his chest and a hefty blond bloke. Tightly cl.u.s.tered, the six of them entered the cafe. Once they were safely over the threshold, Caedmon splintered off, pulling Kate towards the polished bar that ran along the back wall of the cafe. Out of the gunman's line of sight.

'Are you all right?' As soon as he asked, he shook his head. 'Yes, I know, an asinine question.'

'H-how is this happening?' she stammered. 'How does he k-keep f-finding us?'

'That is a d.a.m.n good question.' His gaze trained on the truck still parked across the street, he said matter-of-factly, 'The situation being what it is, we can no longer wait for your mastodon.'

'My what!?'

'I refer, of course, to McGuire, who is '

'Right here. I came in through the back exit.'

Hearing that raspy baritone, Kate spun around, throwing herself at Finnegan McGuire's chest. Drenched from head to foot, the commando hesitated a moment before wrapping his wet arms around Kate's backside.

'I was so worried about you, Finn! I thought ... thought that something terrible had '

'Hey, Katie. Shhh. I'm here now. It's all right.' His movements curiously tender, McGuire smoothed his hand over Kate's flushed cheek.

'Actually, it's not all right. We just came under fire,' Caedmon informed the other man in a lowered voice. 'I suspect our gunman is positioned behind the delivery truck that's parked across the street.'

Eyes narrowed, McGuire stared out of the bank of plate-gla.s.s windows. 'I know that the b.a.s.t.a.r.d didn't follow me. h.e.l.l, my own shadow couldn't keep up.'

'I a.s.sume that our a.s.sailant is using some sort of GPS device.' Caedmon grabbed a handful of paper napkins from the top of the bar, ignoring the waiter's furious glare. As he dabbed at his jacket, trying to soak up the spilled gin and tonic as best he could, he turned to Kate. 'I need the laptop computer that's in your rucksack.'

'We've got a gun-toting Oom-pah-pah on our six and you're worried about a d.a.m.ned computer!'

Caedmon shoved the saturated napkins on to the bar, halfway tempted to stuff the wad into the commando's mouth. 'You earlier mentioned that it was Fabius Jutier's laptop, did you not?' When McGuire nodded warily, he said, 'I believe that's how the Seven Research Foundation tracked you from Was.h.i.+ngton to Paris.'

'How can you be so sure?'

'Commandos attack, snoops track. Trust me, there's a microchip implanted on your pilfered laptop.'

McGuire s.n.a.t.c.hed the laptop out of Kate's hands. 'If that's the case, I'm going to use this sucker to throw the hound off the scent. While I'm doing that, I want the two of you to exit out the back alley.'

'I have a better idea.' Caedmon reached for his mobile phone. 'While I may not have battlefield experience, I know how to escape the enemy.'

'What are you doing?'

'Calling for an ambulance.'

'Hey, grow a pair, will ya? I'm planning on all of us getting out of here alive.'

'As am I.' Turning his back on McGuire, Caedmon informed the emergency operator that an ambulance was immediately required at the Bistro de la Tour Eiffel, an older gentleman having just gone into cardiac arrest in the men's WC. Call made, he redirected his attention to McGuire. 'Take the laptop and hide it behind the commode in the gents. When you leave, make certain that the door is locked from the inside.'

Scowling, the commando strode towards the back of the cafe.

Her delicate features marred with anxiety, Kate sidled next to him. 'What are our chances of getting out of here alive?'

Unable to offer false comfort, Caedmon told the truth. 'The situation is extremely fluid. The dynamics could change in an instant.' He jutted his chin, first at the crowded cafe with its harried waiters and boisterous clientele, then at the congested streetscape beyond the plate-gla.s.s windows.

'But as long as we stay inside the cafe, we're safe, right?' There was no mistaking the hopeful glimmer in Kate's eyes.

'The danger is that our gunman will simply charge through the front entrance, gun barrels blazing.' Glancing at his right hand, Caedmon noticed that it was visibly shaking. b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, but I need a drink. 'However, you mustn't dwell on '

'The laptop is out of sight, stuffed behind the water tank,' McGuire interjected. 'Now what?' He had to raise his voice to be heard over the shrieking siren, a bright-red ambulance having just pulled up to the front door of the cafe. 'I hope to G.o.d that you're not expecting me to fake a heart attack.'

'I'm not. That said, follow my lead.'

Just as he expected, the atmosphere inside the cafe instantly changed with the arrival of the ambulance, patrons frantically glancing about, huddled waiters pointing to the front entrance. Everyone wondering for whom the sirens blared.

A suitably worried expression affixed to his face, Caedmon rushed over to the entrance, holding one side of the double doors open as the emergency crew hauled their stretcher and equipment into the cafe. With an air of heightened excitement, he directed them to the WC, which was located down a narrow hallway.

As soon as the crew was out of ear-shot, he motioned McGuire and Kate through the open door. 'Hurry! There's no time to lose!' Espying a folded umbrella propped near the entry, Caedmon pinched it before stepping across the threshold. He then closed the door and slid his purloined brolly through the metal handles, effectively barricading the entrance.

Since the parked ambulance completely blocked the front of the cafe, the gunman across the street couldn't see that they had departed the premises. And, if he was tracking them on a GPS system, he would erroneously a.s.sume that they were still inside.

Having correctly guessed the game plan, McGuire opened the pa.s.senger door on the ambulance. 'There are no keys in the ignition.'

'Ambulances are always equipped with an emergency starter b.u.t.ton located under the driver's seat,' Caedmon informed him as he climbed into the vehicle. Folding his legs, he awkwardly manoeuvred to the driver's side.

Taking the co-pilot's seat, McGuire slid his hands under Kate's arms and unceremoniously hauled her on to his lap. To say the woman was sh.e.l.l-shocked would be putting it mildly.

'Let's haul a.s.s.'

'Right.' Reaching under his seat, Caedmon pushed the protruding k.n.o.b, the engine immediately turning. Yanking the gear lever down, he slammed his foot on the accelerator and pulled away from the kerb at a frighteningly fast speed, city blocks pa.s.sing in a blur.

'All in all, not a bad idea,' McGuire grudgingly complimented as he forcefully ripped the satellite navigation device off the front dashboard. Rolling down the window, he hurled it to the kerb.

'b.l.o.o.d.y brilliant, I'd say.'

Craning his neck, McGuire peered into the wing mirror. 'I figure we got another forty-five seconds before we run into a cop car.'

'If that.' Pulling over to the kerb, Caedmon braked to a stop. 'There's a Metro station around the corner. I suggest that we jump into a crowded subway carriage post-haste.'

Kate, still wearing a stupefied expression, reached for the door handle. 'I can't get out of this stolen ambulance fast enough.'

'Er, McGuire.' When the other man glanced over at him, Caedmon cleared his throat. 'Earlier today, you saved my life ... I'm indebted.'

One side of the commando's mouth curved in his trademark sneer. 'Gee, don't know what got into me.'