The woman’s voice came on the line again. “Your friend from England wanted me to tell you it is time to leave.”
Before responding, he flung open the door.
A woman stood in the hallway, phone in hand. She flipped it closed and walked in without an invitation. “Dr. O’Rourke, I presume. Are you ready?”
She entered and closed the door behind her. She moved about the room, prowling like a cat ready to spring, long black hair pulled back into a silky ponytail and a body that would make most men sit up and take notice.
And she knew it.
She looked back, almost defiantly, knowing she could make most men succumb. He had no doubt she used this to her advantage. Her dark, inviting eyes watched him like a feline eyeing a mouse.
“I know Kane said you’d get a call-and I did call because I always do what Kane wants.” She offered a smile. “But I could not help myself. I wanted to see who my boss had picked. I have heard so much about you, Gerrit.”
“And I’ve heard so little about you, Miss…”
“Collette. That’s all you need to know about me.”
“Well, Collette, now that we’ve met, maybe you can tell me what you do for Kane?”
She shot him a sultry look. “Now, Doctor, Kane and I must keep our secrets. You understand.” She looked at him with amusement.
He walked over to the door and opened it. “Well, Collette, it’s time I get to work. Will I see you again when this is over?”
She moved toward the door. “Oh, we will meet again. You can count on it.” Collette seemed to float down the hallway. He watched her walk all the way to the elevator. She turned and smiled back before closing the elevator door.
He gathered the briefcase and his coat and slipped on a black ivy hat he’d picked up in London. The hat-like that worn by comic strip antihero Andy Capp-might break up his profile, make witnesses later think long and hard about what Gerrit really looked like.
As he walked through the lobby, he glanced around to see if Collette lingered nearby, but she seemed to have vanished. He piled into a taxi and directed the driver to deliver him to the Rathaus, Vienna’s historic city hall, located several blocks from his destination.
“American?” The driver eyed him from the rearview mirror.
Gerrit nodded, turning his attention elsewhere. He did not want to engage the driver in small talk. Better to fade from the driver’s mind as quickly as possible. In case witnesses were sought later.
Jeez, I’m thinking like some kind of spook…or crook.
Twenty minutes later, Gerrit rolled out of the cab after leaving a modest tip with the driver. Clutching the briefcase, he stared up at the Rathausmann, a statuesque knight standing guard on top of the tallest tower above Vienna’s city hall. He read somewhere this figure in Renaissance-style armor had become a symbol representing the centuries-old conflict between Vienna and the Crown.
He related to the lone figure above, standing guard between local and federal forces, protecting the citizenry. He studied the building’s architecture-a blending of neo-Gothic, baroque, and other period influences-before weaving his way through the Rathauspark and square, strolling toward his destination while searching for signs of counter surveillance.
No one seemed out of place or interested in his travel.
Once clear of the park, he began making his way along a sidewalk, eyeing street signs and numbers on the buildings to get his bearing. He saw the street he sought and followed the numbered dwellings until he spotted his destination about fifty yards farther down the block.
An older couple, maybe in their seventies, walked arm in arm ahead of him. He slowed his pace so he wouldn’t pass them. In what seemed like an eternity, he approached the target location, a modern four-story apartment building with a white stone facade for the first two floors and pale-yellow stucco walls rising to the third and fourth floors. At the building’s peak, a studio-Adleman’s apartment-seemed to have been created in what once was the attic, creating a fifth floor.
Inside, a high, narrow door-solid oak with dome headers-led to a black-and-white tiled hallway and a lift. He entered, pressed the button, and the engine whirled as the elevator slowly climbed. It jerked to a stop and the door rolled open.
After pulling on a pair of latex gloves, he knocked on Adleman’s apartment door, fingering the key he’d been given as he waited. He wasn’t sure what he’d say if anyone came to the door. The place was supposed to be empty. The scientist reportedly used this place to meet with other cyber sleuths when they were in Europe.
He gave it a minute, then used the key to gain entry. He called out to announce his presence. No one answered. Three large bay windows allowed the occupants a bird’s-eye view of the Rathaus towers with their neo-Gothic fingers clawing at the sky.
He turned from the view and saw an opened briefcase on a desktop near the far wall. He walked over to it. Inside were a bundle of business cards with Ron Adleman embossed in gold lettering. Right guy. Right briefcase. So where was the scientist?
Gerrit made a cursory search of the place. A door leading to the back bedroom sat ajar. He scanned the bedroom and bath. Empty. He exited the bedroom and searched the kitchen area and a sitting room before returning to the desk in the living room.
Satisfied he was alone, Gerrit went through Adleman’s briefcase. It took him several minutes before he saw the file he was looking for. It was the last of about fifteen files, each one bulging with information-none of it relevant to what he’d been sent to find.
Until the last file.
Upon opening it, he smiled and reached for a thumb drive wedged in a slot inside the briefcase cover. He glanced at the hard copy and saw Adleman’s abbreviated name, Ron12Aldlemn, and two letters: PW.
Password?
Next to those letters were a sequence of letters and numbers written in pencil.
He reached inside his own briefcase and withdrew the laptop he’d been given. Inserting the portable thumb drive, he flicked on the computer and activated the removable disk drive. After typing Adleman’s user name and password, a list of files emerged on the screen, some of them matching the hard copy in the scientist’s briefcase. He scrolled down the list until he came to a file titled Quantum Leap, a name that conjured up an old television series back in the eighties. He clicked on the file name, and his laptop strained to load the document.
He heard the elevator activate in the hallway. Someone was coming up from a lower floor. Tapping his fingers on the desktop, he waited until his screen opened up to the file menu. The file creator had categorized these documents on a number of headings, including Correspondence and Latest Findings.
He settled back in the plush chair as he read the first e-mail from Adleman. The writer outlined a project that had nothing to do with exposing government secrets. Kane was wrong. Instead, Adleman and his colleagues seemed to be concerned about an organization aimed at bending the knee of sovereign nations to serve a greater good, a global effort to consolidate and control political power. They didn’t identify the organization but indicated that the safety of Adleman and others might be at risk due to this unnamed group, which seemed bent on influencing or controlling a number of scientists from several nations.
One e-mail titled Use of Force and Violence immediately caught his attention. Adleman’s group listed a series of incidents in chronological order-car accidents, shootings, alleged suicides, and bombings-going back more than a decade. He quickly scanned through the document until he came to 2004. There, among other incidents, a reference had been made of two people killed in a Seattle car bombing.
The report gave details of his parents’ murders.
Gerrit felt like someone had just sucked the air out of the room, felt his insides tighten.
Another thought came to mind and he clicked on the document’s history. It had been e-mailed to others. After opening the message, he clicked on the Send To list. One name made the hair on his neck stand up.