The meeting was set for a private dining room at the Hotel Baur au Lac. It was the Baroness’s choice, a site on neutral ground, public enough to discourage violence yet private enough for serious conversation. The general had agreed to the location, which meant either he trusted her or he was walking into a trap of his own. At this point, I wasn’t sure which possibility worried me more.
We arrived separately.
Bisch drove the Baroness in a car borrowed from Dr. Müller’s neighbor. Will arrived on foot to coordinate with the CIA team. I’d spotted what I assumed were two of their people, a young man nursing a drink at the hotel bar and another reading a newspaper in the lobby.
Will had described the woman who led them. He’d also mentioned—with ears turning red—that she’d “practically molested” him as part of their cover. He never did get her name,which I found more amusing than frustrating, especially considering how artfully she’d used her tongue.
My job was to watch the exterior. The hotel had three exits, a main entrance, a service door, and a side passage that led to the lake. If anyone came in who shouldn’t or if anyone tried to leave in a hurry, I needed to know.
I found a bench across the street with a clear sightline to the main entrance and settled in to wait. The air was frigid, but thankfully, snow had yet to fall, though the clouds looked pregnant with expectation.
It was the kind of winter day that made Bern feel like a city holding its breath. Pedestrians hurried past with their collars turned up. They focused on getting wherever they were going. None looked like assassins.
But then, the good ones never did.
My shoulder ached, a low, persistent throb that the doctor’s painkillers couldn’t quite touch. I’d stopped taking the pills anyway. They dulled my reflexes, and I needed every edge I could get.
A black sedan with government plates pulled up to the hotel entrance. A tall, older man with silver hair exited the vehicle. He rose with the ramrod posture of a career military officer and moved with the careful precision of someone who had spent decades giving orders.
A heartbeat later, the general disappeared into the hotel.
I checked my watch. It was 15:00 exactly. The Baroness would be waiting in the private dining room with Will positioned somewhere with a sightline to the door.
Now it was just a matter of time.
The first hour passed without incident.
I watched the street, watched the hotel entrance, and watched every car or pedestrian that slowed as they passed by. Paranoia had become second nature now. It was a constant low hum of vigilance that I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to turn off.
At 15:47, the skin on the back of my neck prickled.
A car had stopped at the corner. It was a gray Opel with two men in the front seats. They weren’t getting out. They just sat there watching with the engine still running. I watched the driver as he spoke to his passenger, gesturing toward the hotel.
On instinct, my hand drifted toward the pistol under my coat.
I counted the seconds.
Thirty.
Forty-five.
A full minute, and they still hadn’t moved, hadn’t exited the vehicle, hadn’t opened the trunk to unload luggage a hotel guest would need.
It could be nothing, I told myself.Maybe it’s just a couple of men waiting for someone, arguing about directions or killing time.
But my gut said otherwise.
I stood, stretched my back to look casual and relaxed. I was nothing more than a man stretching his stiff muscles on a bitterly cold day. There was nothing to see here.
I walked to the lamppost across the street, leaned against it, and pulled out a cigarette I had no intention of smoking. My movement was deliberate and visible from the hotel’s windows. It was our prearranged signal that meant I’d spotted a potential threat. It screamed,Be alert and ready to move.
Will would see it. The CIA team would see it, too. They would all know what to do.
The gray Opel still didn’t move.
I finished my fake cigarette, ground it out, and returned to my bench, sitting at a different angle now to better view both the hotel entrance and the Opel.
Three more minutes passed.
