Page 83 of Stuart Woods' Golden Hour

“Roll camera.”

“Rolling.”

“And action!”

Danielle slipped out of thehotel without seeing Dieter or his men, and headed to the river. Her fear of not being able to find the filming location turned out to be a nonissue. As soon as she reached the Danube, the shoot’s bright production lights acted like a neon sign, pointing the way.

A large mob of onlookers stood by the barriers meant to keep them from swarming the film site, and just beyond the barriers several police officers watched over everything.

She cursed to herself.

She had assumed the shoot would draw some attention, but she hadn’t anticipated as many people as this.

Turning around and going back to the hotel wasn’t an option, however. She needed to talk to Barnett now so that he could pass on the warning.

She slipped into the crowd and began squeezing through the gaps, hoping that she could convince one of the officers to let Barnett know she was there.

Upon arriving at the Ritz-Carlton,Dieter Wenz found a housephone and asked the operator to be connected to Roland Turner’s room.

The phone rang until the hotel answering system picked up. Dieter set the receiver back in the cradle. His was a message that needed to be delivered in person.

He approached the reception desk.

“How may I help you?” the man behind the counter asked.

“I’m supposed to meet one of your guests,” Dieter said. “Roland Turner. I tried calling his room, but there was no answer.”

“Would you like me to try for you?”

“That won’t be necessary. He’s here to film a commercial, and I’m wondering if he might have mentioned when he’ll be back.”

The man checked his computer and shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir. He did not leave a message to that effect.”

“Thank you anyway.”

As Dieter was turning to leave, one of the clerk’s female colleagues said, “Are you talking about the shoot with Tessa Tweed and Mari Chen?”

“I believe so,” Dieter said. He had no idea if the women she’d mentioned were in the commercial or not, but how many shoots could be happening that evening?

“They’re filming by the river.” She pulled out her phone and showed him a few photos posted to Instagram from the production site.

“Is this far?”

She shook her head. “Just walk down to the river and you’ll see it.”

“Thank you. You’ve been most helpful.”

Dieter rejoined Rolf and Andreas, the two men he’d brought with him.

“Any luck?” Andreas asked.

“Not here, but I know where he is.” He gave Andreas along look. “If we get this done, maybe we can keep your ass out of the fire.”

Andreas had overseen the team in Romania who’d failed to take out Danielle Verde. Dieter had pulled him in to help protect him from Braun’s wrath.

“You’re not going to let it drop, are you? I told you we did everything right.”

“If that were true,” Rolf said, “then wouldn’t you have taken care of Verde already?”

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