Page 62 of Stuart Woods' Golden Hour

“Someone picked him up in a car, and they raced off. Sorry.”

“No apology necessary. But I am curious: how did the guy know you were after him in the first place?”

“As I was sneaking up on him, something started banging inside the building. The watcher turned and saw me. The rest was a lot of running. I don’t suppose you had anything to do with the noise.”

“Our guy decided to use the stairs as a slide instead of as intended.”

“So, it wasyourfault.”

“It was his fault, for which he paid the ultimate price.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Very.”

22

“You want to tell mewhat happened?” Dieter asked, his normally smooth tone somehow sounding more menacing than it would if he were yelling.

He had pulled the BMW to the side of the road and was staring into the back seat at Max Gruber, who was still panting from being chased.

“I’m sorry,” Gruber said between breaths. “Someone must have been watching us.”

“Really? What gave you that idea?”

“Well, I mean, she had to—”

“Obviously, someone was watching you,” Dieter cut him off. “What I’m wondering is why you didn’t spot them earlier?”

“I swear we did a thorough search. There was no one.”

“And yet there was. Which means your thorough search was not thorough enough, don’t you think?”

Gruber reluctantly nodded.

“And where is Hilgard?” Dieter asked.

“I’m not sure. He was still inside when I was, um, spotted.”

“Perhaps you should tell me what happened from the beginning.”

“Um, sure. I can do that.” Gruber ran a hand through his hair. “We did exactly what you told us to do. We followed the CIA agent to the building, then we searched the area to make sure he hadn’t brought anyone else with him.”

Dieter arched an eyebrow.

“Which we failed at,” Gruber added quickly. “Then we waited to see what would happen. About thirty minutes later, another guy showed up and went inside.”

“Was the new guy alone?”

“He was when we caught sight of him.”

“Did you recognize him?”

“No. But I got a photo.”

“Show me.”

Gruber did so. The image was of a man walking down a dimly lit sidewalk.

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