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By Root 1083 0

a fifth for bridge or the best man at an ex-wife’s wedding. These were veteran policemen, professionals, whose lives were intertwined in that world like so much muscle and bone. The warrant in McVey’s pocket had come from one of the state’s most prestigious criminal judges and the man they were going up against was very nearly a world figure who would have an army of his own. McVey had told him the reason he was coming with them to Berlin was to give a deposition, and he had. And now there was no need for him. Was he so naive as to believe McVey was actually going to go the next step and honor what he’d said and let him come along when he confronted Scholl? Suddenly a knot tightened in his stomach. McVey didn’t give a damn about Osborn’s personal war. His agenda was his and nobody else’s.

“What is it?” McVey caught him staring at him.

“Just thinking,” Osborn said quietly.

“Don’t overdo it.” McVey didn’t smile.

The elevator slowed and then stopped. The door opened and Remmer stepped out first. Satisfied, he led them down a carpeted hallway. They were in a hotel. The Hotel Palace. Osborn saw a brochure on a table as they passed.

Then Remmer stopped and knocked on the door to room 6132. The door opened and a stocky, tough-looking detective ushered them into a large suite that had two good-sized bedrooms connected by a narrow hallway. The windows in both rooms angled out toward the green of the Tiergarten park, with the window in the first room looking at an angle toward rooms in what appeared to be a newer wing.

Remmer slipped the gun inside his jacket and turned to talk to the detective who had let them in. McVey went into the hallway and looked into the second bedroom. Then came back. Noble wasn’t particularly fond of the proximity of the new wing, which had any number of rooms that could see, albeit on a slant, into theirs, and said so. McVey agreed.

The stocky detective threw up his hands and told them with a heavy accent they’d been lucky to get rooms at all, let alone a suite. Berlin was alive with trade shows and conventions. Even the federal police didn’t have a lot of pull when rooms had been overbooked three months in advance.

“Manfred, in that case, we’re overjoyed,” McVey said. Remmer nodded, then said something in German to the detective and the man left. Remmer locked the door behind him.

“You and I’ll camp out here,” McVey said to Remmer. “Noble and Osborn can have the other room.” Crossing to the window, he fingered the feather-light material of the draw shade and looked down at the traffic on the Kurfürstendamm below. “Phones secured?” His gaze lifted to the dark expanse that was the Tiergarten across the street.

“Two lines.” Remmer lit a cigarette and took off his leather jacket, revealing a muscular upper body and an old-fashioned leather shoulder holster that cradled what Osborn now saw was a very large automatic.

McVey pulled off his own jacket and looked at Noble. “Check on the situation with Lebrun, huh? See if they’ve found who the shooter was. How he got in. What the word is on Cadoux. See if anybody knows where he went, where he is now. We need to determine if he was there by chance or on purpose.” Hanging up his jacket, he looked at Osborn. “Make yourself at home. We’re gonna be here for a while.” Then he went into the bathroom and washed his hands and face. When he came out he was drying his hands on a towel and talking to Remmer.

“This Charlottenburg deal tomorrow night. Let’s find out what it is and who’s going to be there. I trust your people in Bad Godesberg can do that for us.”

Osborn left them, went into the second bedroom and looked around. He was working like hell to control the paranoia growing inside him. Twin beds with olive-and blue bedspreads. Small table between the beds. Two small chests of drawers. A TV. A window looking out. Its own bathroom. He knew McVey’s mind was tracking the whole, a field officer with a slim ace up his sleeve maneuvering a small combat unit against a king’s army and searching every way possible to gain advantage against it. Osborn wasn’t even in