Page 85 of Denied Access

“When did the quiet begin?” Rapp said.

“About an hour ago. We’re at a little estate in the country. Mygrandfather’s had the property for years. There’s a guest wing with its own kitchen and bedrooms and that’s where the security detail members go when they’re off duty. I didn’t sleep much last night, so I was in the kitchen preparing coffee during their shift change brief. While I couldn’t make out their words, I did hear the conversation’s tenor. Something had them on edge and they couldn’t agree on how to handle it.”

Rapp stopped walking. The three rough-looking men increased their pace, positioning themselves between him and the park.

“How long ago was this meeting?” Rapp said.

“Thirty minutes or so. They always check in with me after shift change, so I didn’t get a chance to call until now.”

“Can you get outside unnoticed?”

“I think so. My room’s on the second floor, but it’s a short drop to the ground. I used to sneak out as a child. There’s a village with a pub just a short hike down the mountain.”

“Do it. Pick up a new phone at the village and call me. Is there somewhere you can go? Somewhere public that no one would think to look?”

The men fanned out with coordinated movements, cutting off potential escape routes unless Rapp decided to retreat.

He wasn’t much on retreating.

“Umm… yes. I can call a taxi once I get my new phone. There’s a hostel in Rheinfall, about twenty miles to the north. My friends and I used to go there when we were in high school. It has a café that’s usually full of backpackers and students.”

Were the situation not so dire, Rapp might have pursued this revelation in more depth. Sneaking out of her grandfather’s estate for clandestine visits to the village pub and slumming with university students at a hostel. Neither of these was an activity he would have associated with his girlfriend.

But the situation was dire.

The biggest of the trio stared at Rapp with hard eyes as his shoulders bunched.

“Go now,” Rapp said. “Call me once you’re safely out of the woods.”

“Okay. Are you all right?”

“Fine, darling. I’m heading to the airport now. I’ll pick you up in Rheinfall in four or five hours. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Greta ended the call.

The biggest of the three men flicked open a knife.

CHAPTER 46

GIVEme your money.”

Or at least that’s what Rapp assumed the hood said. Words aside, the tough’s body language spoke volumes. As did his folding blade.

“Not today,” Rapp replied.

He responded in Arabic.

This was not lost on the would-be robber.

Though the knife was just as tightly clenched in his right hand, the hood’s scornful expression lost some of its certainty. To blend in with his European counterparts, Rapp was wearing slacks and a button-down shirt. But upon closer examination, his dark complexion didn’t match the Germanic stock common to this Austrian city. Sure, this was a rougher part of town, but a mugging attempt in broad daylight at a busy intersection suggested that what was happening was more shakedown than violent crime. Rapp’s gut told him that the thugs were opportunistic scavengers looking to prey upon well-heeled Viennese who take a wrong turn.

Hyenas rather than lions.

Unslinging his backpack, Rapp tossed the satchel at the knifeman. The bundle smacked into the man’s chest. He reflexively grabbed at the nylon strap with his left hand while cupping the bottom with his right.

Rapp followed the backpack’s flight path.