Part 35 (1/2)

A series of burns decorated the professor's chest Two of his fingers had been snipped off But however agonising those injuries, they had not been life-threatening Daniel had not been able to pinpoint the cause of death

They decided to bury hiirl Sebastien had brought to the as awful as this

'I'll be inside' Daniel walked towards the building, studying its blank s So ht Such a ain at the shattered s, the broken glass on the flagstones He went down the hall and into the dining rooes that snaked across the table

It was going to be a last stand Yet they h not without a price

Daniel shi+vered, his therhty mausoleum He heard footsteps in the hall Palinkas ca '

Daniel moved to the sill and looked out He could already hear the distant beat of rotor blades 'Is it finished?'

'It's not pretty, but it'll keep the scavengers off him'

'We've done e can'

'Did you ever o now Just after his wife died He was half rief, suddenly responsible for the safety of a fifteen-year-old girl who half loved him, half hated him for what had happened I didn't think they had a chance It's aas he did'

The helicopter, a Bell 206 JetRanger, appeared over the trees and arced around the front of the building, a growling beast of black and silver The bass thruine and the hup of its blades see in the funereal stillness of the valley: obscene Llyn Gas a ceed for silence

The helicopter circled the house, hovered and began to descend, stirring the snowflakes into a , its doors opened and threeDaniel recognised one of them He stiffened

Benjaneur, leaned back inside the craft and removed a wheelchair His two associates helped a fourth man out of the aircraft and into it This time Daniel blew air froneur looked about as alive as the corpse they had buried earlier The thick padding of his jacket did little to disguise the frailty of his body His eyes held a dangerously fanatical shi+ne

Palinkas appeared at Daniel's side 'This isn't good'

'No'

'You wantthe Presidente can do from Budapest'

Palinkas nodded They both watched the four men approach the farneur's chair into the dining room and parked him in front of the fire When he turned to face Daniel he was s, face shi+ny with perspiration He clapped his hands, two hard punctuations, and rubbed theether 'Nice place Rerow to appreciate it Perhaps What do you think, Daniel?'

'About what?'

'About your faruess Holiday hoet away fro that's why you're here'

'I'm sure you know that's not why I'm here'

Vass went to the sideboard, picked up a china figurine, studied it 'Ah Of course There's been soraves by the lake Perhaps not such a nice place after all Oh, well I'h, in fact, for you to tell oat, Sebastien'

Daniel felt his teet your position, Benjamin People have died here I've no wish to listen to your insolence'

'Insolence? Oh, Daniel, I can't express howI wake up and tell myself how I need to win the respect of my acadeim, win the trust of the loyal, unimpeachable Daniel Meyer And now you cut ripped the arers His voice was a rasping whip 'God damn you both, stop it!' The words seemed to exhaust him He collapsed back in his chair 'Daniel, come here Sit down Listen to me We knohat happened The important part, at least We need to knohere they went'

'Signeur, I can't tell you that'

'The wolanced across at Vass, as staring out of the'I' to ensure we don't add to it'

'Your ht decisions We can protect the them'

Vass turned froraves contains the wo the other contains her father Dropping like flies, aren't they? If that's the kind of protection Sebastien's providing, it makes h!' the signeur barked 'Daniel, you're not a fool I ade But the positive side effect is that we can save the lives of this wohter I know I speak as only one ulnok I can dial Foldessy right now and give you a majority decision if you wish But I believe we're beyond Eleni politics at this point It's become a very sineur studied Daniel's face He see, he inclined his head at his second

Daniel felt Vass approach him from behind The man's breath, spicy andon the other side, Daniel,' he said 'If you're interested in seeing how unpleasant, I'd be more than happy to deion, France Now Hannah discovered the note while she was preparing Leah's breakfast

She had woken when the first pale light of hter's rooirl was asleep beside her, warm and at peace, and it took all Hannah's will to force herself up from the bed and down the stairs to the kitchen

She had, for too long, allowed her grief to consuirl The knowledge of her failure was like a steady drip of poison in her veins, and while she would force herself to bury the agony of Nate's death for now stifle it, sive herself for the three days she had abandoned Leah to her loss

He makes monsters of us all

No

Too easy, Hannah That failure had nothing to do with Jakab That was your weakness alone

Nate's passing, she knew, had destroyed so in her that could never be healed That life was over, its echoes already faint, and now that she had eed from her paralysis into this cold new existence, she found she had only one goal Last night she had extracted a pro home should she not survive a final encounter with Jakab She had asked hile lay near, and because she planned to kill him at whatever cost to herself

The prospect of death did not raise in her the slightest fear Perhaps, she thought, it was the one advantage she had over the creature that stalked theer placed any value on her life

On the kitchen worktop she found two baguettes froe yielded a box of soft cheese, a paper bag of sausages, a hae juice and s and coffee She discovered the note, written on a single sheet of watermarked paper, propped on the sill between pots of basil and tarragon The handwriting was a graceful looping of ink

Hannah, I'll be down at the river My people are co Gabriel

She turned the note over in her hands The experience they had shared the previous evening had filled her onder at first, although it had quickly been overtaken by fear Perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised by that: despite her inclination to trust Gabriel, he was still hosszu elet, inextricably linked to the nightmare that had claih, the experience seemed to have shaken hili their ride up Cadair Idris had surfaced onceloneliness in his eyes