giving each word equal emphasis. "Per... nostro... circolo!" The smile faded from her lips, her white skin grew paler. "Again from the past. From a primitive people Who don't know what they're saying. We should have known you might learn it." "You believe that? You think they don't know what they're saying?" 'Yes.
It was now, or it was not, thought Taleniekov. He took a deliberate step toward the woman. The killer's gun inched out, only feet away, aimed directly at his skull. "Then why do they talk of the shepherd boy?" He took another step; the killer breathed abruptly, audibly through his nostrils-prelude to fire the trigger was being squeezed.
"Stop!" screamed the Verachten woman.
The explosion came as Vasili dropped to a crouch. Odile Verachten had thrust her arm out in a sudden command to prevent the gunshot, and in that instant, Talenie- kov sprang, eye and mind and body on a single object. The gun, the barrel of the gun.
He reached it, his fingers gripping the warm steel, hand and wrist twisting counter-clockwise, pulling downward to inflict the greatest pain. He threw his right hand-fingers curled and rigid-into the man's stomach, tearing at the muscles, feeling the protrusion of the rib cage.
He yanked up with all his strength; the killer screamed, and fell.
Vasili spun and lunged at Odile. In the brief moment of violence, she had hesitated; now she reacted with precision, her hand underneath her fur stole pulling out a gun. Taleniekov tore at that hand, that gun, throwing her to the chapel floor, his knee hammering into her chest. The handle of her own gun pressed across her throat.
"There'll be no mistake this time!" he said. "No capsules in the mouth." "You'll be killed!" she whispered.
"Probably," agreed Vasili. "But you'll go with me, and you don't want that. I was wrong. You're not one of your soldiers; the chosen don't take their own lives." "I'm the only one who can save yours." She choked under the pressure of the steel, but went on. "The shepherd.
. Where? How?" "You want information. Good! So do L" Taleniekov removed the gun from her throat, clamping his left hand where it had been, the fingers of his right hand entering her mouth, depressing the tongue, digging through the soft tissue downward. She coughed again, only mucus and spit rolling down her chin; there were no lethal pills in her mouth. He had been right; the chosen did not commit suicide. He then spread the stole and ran his hand over her body, pulling her off the floor, and reaching around her back, pushing her down again and plunging his hand between her legs, ankles to pelvis, feeling for a gun or a knife. There was nothing. "Get up!" he ordered.
She rose only partially, her knees pulled up under her, holding her neck.
"You must tell me!" she whispered. "You know you can't get out. Don't be a fool, Russianl Save your life! What do you know of the shepherd?" "What am I offered to tell you?" "What do you want?" "What does the Matarese wardir, The woman paused. "Order."
"Through chaos?" "Yes! The shepherd? In the name of God, tell mel" "I'll tell you when we're out of the compound." "No! Now." "Do you think I'd trade that off?" He pulled her to her feet. "We're leaving now. Your friend here will wake up before too long, and a part of me would give my life to take his. Slowly, in great pain as he took another's. But I will not do that; he must report to faceless men and they must make their moves-and we must watch. For Verachten is suddenly headless; you'll be far away from Essen." "NO!" "Then you'll die," said Taleniekov simply. "I got in, I'll get out." "I gave orders! No one's to leavel" "Who's leaving? A uniformed guard returns to his post. Those aren't Matarese out there. They're exactly what they're supposed to be: former kommandos hired to protect wealthy executives." Vasili jammed the gun into her throat. "Your choice? It doesn't matter to me." She flinched; he grabbed her neck, pulling it into the barrel. She nodded.
"We will talk in my father's car," she whispered. "We're both civilized people. You have information I need, and I have a revelation for you. You have nowhere to turn but to us now. It could be far worse for you.,,
He sat next to her in the front seat of Walther Verachten's limousine. He had taken off the uniform, and was