Akira, who stood farther back in line so he wouldn't seem to be traveling with them, joined them shortly afterward. “I studied the crowd. No one showed interest in us.”
“Just as we hoped. Papadropolis has no way to guess where Rachel went. He probably figures we're still in southern France, trying to get onto her sister's island.”
They walked through the noisy, crowded concourse.
“Then I'm free?” Rachel asked.
“Let's call it ‘reprieved,’ “ Savage said. “I have to be honest. Your problem's been postponed, not canceled.”
“I'll settle for what I can get. For now, it's a relief not to have to keep watching behind me.”
“Ahead, though,” Akira said. “We have to deal with Graham.”
“I understand. I'm holding you back. I'm sorry. But if it weren't for the two of you… I don't know how to… It sounds so inadequate. Thanks.”
She hugged them.
2
They took a taxi to Grand Central Station, entered on Forty-second Street, came out on Lexington Avenue, and took another taxi to Central Park, from where they walked two blocks to a hotel on a side street off Fifth Avenue.
The suite that Savage had phoned ahead to reserve was spacious.
“Rachel, the bedroom's yours,” Savage said. “Akira and I will take turns using the sofa.”
They unpacked the travel bags they'd bought before leaving Paris.
“Anybody hungry?” Savage took their requests and ordered smoked-salmon sandwiches, salads, fruit, and bottled water from room service.
For the next few hours, they rested, bathed, and ate. Though they'd slept on the plane, they still felt jet lag. A further call to room service brought coffee and tea. The stimulants helped, as did a change of clothes. Just before five, Savage went to a nearby store to buy coats and gloves, a TV news announcer having warned that the night would be chilly and damp.
They waited till nine.
“Ready?” Savage asked.
“Not yet,” Akira said. “There are still some things we need to discuss. I know the answer already, but the question can't be ignored. Would it not be better to leave Rachel here?”
“We think we weren't followed, but we can't be totally sure,” Savage said. “If we leave her unprotected, she might be in danger.”
“Might be.”
“An unacceptable risk.”
“I agree,” Akira said.
“So what's the trouble?”
“Something I should have realized. Something I suddenly thought of. Your assignment to rescue Rachel,” Akira said. “What about it?”
“My assignment was to protect her husband. I arrived on Mykonos a day before you did. Graham negotiated my fee. And Graham sent you to get Rachel. Doesn't it strike you as curious that the man who arranged for both of us to protect Kamichi also arranged for both of us to go to Mykonos, our first assignment after we recovered from our injuries?”
“We were meant to meet?” Savage's spine froze.
“There was no guarantee we'd see each other. But I'd have chased you.”
“Just as I'd have chased you if our roles had been reversed, “ Savage said. ‘ ‘Graham knew he could count on our sense of obligation.”
“And on my skill. No matter how long it took, eventually I'd have found you.”
“There are few men I'd admit this to, but yes, you're good enough, eventually you'd have found me. We were meant to come face-to-face,” Savage said.
“And confront each other's nightmare.”
“A nightmare that didn't happen. But why do we think it did? Why did Graham arrange for us to meet six months ago and then meet again?”
“That's why I have to ask. Since we don't know what we're facing, should Rachel be part of it? We might be putting her in worse danger than she already is.”
“Then what do we do? Stay here?”
“I have to know why I see a dead man before me.”
“So do I,” Savage said.
“Then you're going,” Rachel said.
They turned, surprised.
“And I'm going with you.”
3
The weather forecast had been accurate. A cold, damp wind gusted along Fifth Avenue, bringing tears to Savage's eyes. He rubbed them, closed the top button of his overcoat, and watched the taillights of the taxi he'd left recede toward Greenwich Village.
Rachel stood next to him, flanked by Akira.
“One more time,” Savage said. “If there's any trouble, run. Don't worry about Akira and me. Go back to the hotel. If we're not in touch by noon, check out. Leave town. I gave you ten thousand dollars. That'll help you get started. I've told you how to contact your parents and your sister and get money without your husband being able to trace it. Pick a city at random. Begin a new life.”
“At random? But how would you find me?”
“We wouldn't, and no one else would either. That's the point. As long as you stay away from anyone or anything related to your former life, your husband can't track you. You'll be safe.”
“It sounds so”-Rachel shivered-”lonely.”
“The alternative's worse.”
The three of them walked down Fifth Avenue.
Three blocks later, near Washington Square, they reached a lane between streets. A wrought-iron gate blocked the entrance, its bars topped with spikes. The gate had a keyhole beneath a handle. When Savage twisted the handle and pushed, he discovered that the gate was locked. That didn't surprise him.
He studied the bars. They were tall. The many passing cars and pedestrians were bound to see two men and a woman climb over.
Despite the myth that New Yorkers minded their own business, it was more than likely that someone would call the police.
“Do the honors, Akira.”
On the way here, they'd stopped at an East Side tavern, where the owner-one of Savage's contacts-had sold them a set of lockpicks.
Akira freed the lock as easily as if he'd possessed a key. From their frequent visits here, both men knew that the gate was not equipped with intrusion sensors. Akira pushed the gate open, waited for Savage and Rachel to follow, then shoved the gate back into place. In case they needed to leave here quickly, he didn't relock it. Anyone who lived along this lane and found the gate unlocked would merely be disgusted that one of the neighbors had been irresponsible.
They faced the lane. A century earlier, stables and carriage houses had flanked it. The exteriors of the buildings had been carefully modified, their historical appearance preserved. Narrow entrances alternated with quaint double doors that had long ago provided access to barns. The surface of the lane remained cobblestoned. Electric lights, shaped like lanterns, reinforced the impression that time had been suspended.
An exclusive expensive location.
The lane was wide. Intended for horse-drawn buggies, it now permitted residents to steer cars into renovated garages. Lights gleamed from windows. But the only lights Savage cared about were those that shone from the fourth town house on his left.
He walked with Rachel and Akira toward it. Pausing at the entrance, he pressed a button beneath an intercom.
The oak door was lined with steel, Savage knew. Even so, he heard a bell ring faintly behind it. Ten seconds later, he Tang the bell again, and ten seconds later again. He waited to hear Graham's voice from the intercom.
No response.
“Asleep?” Savage wondered.
“At ten P.M.? With the lights on?”