“Otto, where are we? What is that place?” I asked, afraid I already knew the answer.
Otto’s voice was unusually stiff, almost mournful. “It is the warehouse where the Baroness was supposed to meet Maurer.”
“No.” The word came out strangled. “No, no, no—”
I was out of the car before Otto could stop me, pushing through the crowd, ignoring the shouts of the police officers trying to maintain the perimeter. Will was right behind me, his hand on my arm, pulling me back.
“Thomas, stop—”
“She’s in there!” I struggled against his grip. “The Baroness is in there!”
“You don’t know that—”
“The meeting was tonight! She went alone! She—”
“Thomas.” Will’s voice was sharp, cutting through my panic. “Look.”
He was pointing at something beyond the fire, a cluster of figures standing near an ambulance, silhouetted against the flames.
One of them was tall with silver-blonde hair catching the firelight.
The relief hit me so hard I nearly collapsed. Will caught me and held me upright as my legs threatened to give out.
“She’s okay,” he said quietly. “She’s okay.”
I watched the Baroness turn. She had spotted our car at the edge of the crowd. Even from this distance, I could see the devastation in her face.
She walked toward us slowly, each step heavy with exhaustion and something worse.
“Maurer?” I asked when she reached us.
She shook her head.
“I arrived early. I wanted to scout the location before he appeared.” Her voice was hollow. “The fire started five minutes before he was supposed to arrive. If I had been inside . . .”
She didn’t finish the sentence.
“Damn it,” Will said. “Someone told them about the meeting.”
The Baroness looked at us, and I saw the same terrible calculation happening behind her eyes that had been happening in mine for days.
“Yes,” she said. “Someone told them.”
Her gaze drifted past us, toward the car where Otto sat waiting.
Then to where Bisch had arranged the meeting.
Where Bisch had written the address.
Where Bisch had known exactly when and where the Baroness would be.
“Someone told them,” she repeated, and her voice was ice.
9
Will
The safe house felt like a tomb.
