The Amber Room Page 0,85

entered the garni and climbed a marble staircase to the second floor. Grumer had called ten minutes ago and informed her that McKoy and the Cutlers had left for the excavation site. Grumer waited at the end of the second floor hall. "There," he said. "Room Twenty-one."

She stopped at the door, a slab of paneled oak stained dark, its jamb tattered from time and abuse. The lock was part of the doorknob, a tarnished piece of brass that accepted a regular key. No dead bolt. Lock picking had never been her specialty, so she slipped the letter opener commandeered from the concierge's desk into the jamb and worked the point, easily sliding the latch bolt out of the strike plate. She opened the door. "Careful with our search. Let's not announce our visit." Grumer started with the furniture. She moved to the luggage and discovered only one travel bag. She rifled through the clothes-mainly men's-and found no letters. She checked the bathroom. The toiletries were also mainly men's. Then she searched the more obvious places. Under the mattress and bed, on top of the armoire, beneath the drawers in the nightstands.

"The letters are not here," Grumer said.

"Search again."

They did. This time not caring about neatness. When they finished the room was a wreck. But still, no letters. Her patience was running thin. "Get to the site,Herr

Doktor, and find those letters or there'll be not one euro paid to you. Understand?" Grumer seemed to sense she was in no mood and only nodded before leaving.

FORTY-ONE

Burg Herz

10:45 a.m.

Knoll thrust his erect member deeper. Monika was hunched on all fours, back to him,

her firm ass arched high, her head buried deep into a goose-down pillow. "Come on, Christian. Show me what that bitch from Georgia missed." He pumped harder, sweat beading on his brow. She reached back and gently massaged his balls. She knew exactly how to work him. And that fact alone bothered him. Monika knew him far too well.

He grasped her thin waist with both hands and torqued her body forward. She accepted the gesture and sighed like a cat after a satisfying kill. He felt her come a moment later, a deep moan confirming her delight. He pounded a few more seconds, then came, too. She continued her testicle massage, milking every drop of his pleasure.

Not bad, he thought. Not bad at all.

She released her hold. He withdrew and relaxed onto the bed. She lay beside him, belly down. He caught his breath and allowed the last spasms of orgasm to shudder through him. He kept his body still, not giving the bitch the satisfaction of knowing he enjoyed it.

"Hell of a lot better than some mousy lawyer, huh?"

He shrugged. "Never got to sample the wares."

"What about that Italian whore you sliced up. Good?"

He kissed his index finger and thumb. "Mullissemo.Well worth whatever she

charged."

"And Suzanne Danzer?

The resentment was clear. "Your jealousy is so unbecoming."

"Don't flatter yourself."

Monika raised up on one elbow. She'd been waiting in his room when he arrived a half hour ago. Burg Herz was only an hour west of Stod. He'd returned to his home base for further instructions, deciding a face-to-face talk with his employer was better than the telephone.

"I don't get it, Christian. What is it you see in Danzer? You prefer the finer things of life, not some charity case raised by Loring."

"That charity case, as you say, graduated with honors from the University of Paris. She speaks a dozen languages, that I know of. She is well versed in the arts and can fire a sidearm with expert accuracy. She is also attractive, and an excellent lay. I'd say Suzanne has some admirable credentials."

"Like one-upping you?"

He grinned. "To the devil her due, yes. But payback is truly hell."

"Don't make this personal, Christian. Violence draws too much attention. The world is not your personal playground."

"I am well aware of my duties and my limits."

Monika shot him a wiry grin, one he'd never liked. She seemed determined to make this as difficult as possible. It was so much easier when Fellner ran the show. Now business mixed with pleasure. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

"Father should be through with his meeting. He said for us to come to the study." He pushed up from the mattress. "Then let us not keep him waiting." He followed Monika into her father's study. The old man sat behind an eighteenthcentury walnut desk Fellner had purchased in Berlin two decades ago. He sucked on an ivory pipe with