"The belt. You grabbed him and told him to sit up; that's when I saw him reaching under his jacket."
"Thank you-"
"Don't thank me, do something. People are running away from the fountain. Soon the police wi e here."
"Come on!" ordered Latham, shoving the automatic into his belt and pulling the cellular phone from his inside pocket.
"Into the trees-way into." Awkwardly' they raced through roughly sixty feet of dark foliage when Drew held up his hand.
"This'll do," he said, out of breath.
"Where did you get that?" asked Karin, pointing at the barely visible outline of the telephone in Latham's hands.
"The Antinayous," replied Drew, squinting and touching the buttons in the dim, filtered light from the fountain.
"They're very high-tech."
"Not when anyone can scan into a mobile phone's frequency, although in emergencies, I suppose-"
"Stanley?" said Latham, cutting her off.
"Christ, it happened again! The Bois de Boulogne; a neo was covering the area, sent to take me out."
"And?"
"He's dead, Stosh, Karin shot him when he was about to blow my head off.. .. But, Stanley, listen to me. He said Kroeger was here in Paris, here to find Sting!"
"What's your situation?"
"We're in the woods off a path, maybe twenty or thirty yards from the body."
"Now, you listen to me," said Witkowski harshly.
"If you can do it without running into the police-hell, even if you risk running into them-pick that bastard's pockets clean and get out of there."
"Like I did with Harry. Drew's voice dropped to a painful whisper.
"Do it for Harry now. If what you say about this Kroeger isn't second-hand nonsense, that corpse is our only link to him."
"For a moment he thought I was Harry; he's got a photograph, he said."
"You're wasting time!"
"Suppose the-police arrive
"Use your well-known bullshit officialese to talk your way out of it. If that doesn't work, I'll take care of it later, although I'd rather not go by the book on this. Get going!"
"I'll call you later."
"Make it sooner rather than later."
"Come on," said Latham, grabbing Karin's right wrist above the bandage and heading for the path.
"Back there?" cried De Vries, stunned.
"Our colonel's orders. We've got to move fast-"
"But the police!"
"I know, so even faster.. .. I've got it! You stay on the path, and if the police come, act frightened, which won't take much talent if you're anything like me, and tell them your boyfriend stepped into the woods to take a leak."
"Not impossible," conceded Karin, ol ing on and dodging the trees and the underbrush with Latham.
"More American than French, but not impossible."
"I'll drag our would-be killer into the woods and sweep him clean. He also has a better watch than mine; I'll take that too."
They reached the path, the fountain below now practically deserted, only a few morbidly curious observers scattered about the borders.
Several kept glancing down the other paths, obviously expecting the police. Drew pulled the corpse feet first into the brush and went through the pockets, removing everything that was in them. He did not bother to look for the weapon that came within a second of ending his life; it would tell them nothing. Finished, he rushed back to the path and Karin as the shouts came' from below.
"Les gendarmes, les gendarmes! De I'autre ceti "Oh?"
"Oti done?"
Fortunately, in answer to the two police officers' demands of where "on the other side," the remaining civilians pointed in various directions, including several shadowed paths. Frustrated, the policemen split and raced down different paths. It was enough;
Latham and De Vries ran across the open fountain and up the north path again until it leveled out, and they found themselves in the splendor of summer gardens surrounding a small manmade pond where white swans paddled majestically under the wash of floodlights. They spotted an empty bench, and with very little breath in either of their lungs, sat down, their spines slumping against the back slats. Karin tore the blond wig from her head and shoved it into her purse, shaking her hair loose.
"As soon as I can talk, I'll call'Witkowski," said Drew, breathing deeply.
"How's your hand? Does it hurt?"
"You can think of my hand at a time like this?"
"Well, -1 grabbed it back there because you were still holding the gun in your left and I though t the goddamned thing, might go off if I reached for it-your left hand, I mean."
"I know what you mean. There was no time to put it back in my purse then.. .. Call the colonel, please."
"Okay." Latham again removed the cellular phone from his pocket and dialed, thankfully