Page 28 of The Medici Return

He angled his head and stared down the long corridor of swaying cars through the windows at each end.

The woman was here.

He just needed to find her.

THOMAS SAT ALONE, HIS HIRED HELP IN THE NEXT CAR.

His new instructions were to proceed to Munich and await the arrival of Cardinal Richter, then orchestrate the man’s suicide. He’d accomplished his first task, making sure there was money to find inside the Dillenburg residence and that the local police were involved to corral the American. The killing of the Swiss Guard contact in Cologne had also been part of his original mission. Why was that necessary? Not his place to ask. Nor did he care. What concerned him was theproblemthe text mentioned.

The plan was to travel overnight to Munich and deal with Richter, who was scheduled to arrive there tomorrow evening. The envelope he’d been provided earlier at Stonehenge contained details about the Munich residence and Richter’s most commonly known traits and habits. All of that information would prove vital in the coming days as an appropriate “suicide” was enacted. How? When? No need to think about that now.

A little rest would be welcomed.

He was about to lay his head back and relax for a few hours when he caught sight of someone in the car ahead.

Standing up.

A man.

With a face he recognized.

COTTON STOOD FROM HIS SEAT AND DECIDED TO MAKE HIS WAYcloser to the woman. She was somewhere in the cars ahead. Heneeded to be close, but not too close. She knew his face. And he needed to see where this led. What he was doing was way outside his mission parameters. But there seemed no choice. Things had not played out according to plan.

He worked his way down the aisle, passed through the connecting door between cars, and kept going through the next car. The seats were about half full with an assortment of singles and doubles.

Through the next car and still no target.

Then he spotted her in the following car. The conductor was checking tickets, so he took a seat, but kept watch through the glass panels.

Nowhere for her to go.

So don’t rush it.

THOMAS WATCHED AS COTTON MALONE RETOOK ANOTHER SEATtwo cars ahead. What was he doing here? He should be under arrest in Dillenburg. He’d been told about Malone and provided a bio and photograph. The man was a trained intelligence officer who once worked for the United States Justice Department. Retired now. Living in Denmark. Owner of a rare-book shop who apparently still freelanced on occasion.

A professional.

The plan had been simple.

Plant the money, confirm its presence officially, then have the American arrested for trespassing, drawing lots of attention. He assumed the media would have been involved next. Now Malone was here. On the train. In pursuit of his associate?

Was that theproblem?

Malone was not supposed to be anywhere near Cologne. Was he himself likewise compromised? No. Malone had walked right past him and never blinked. But Malone clearly knew about the woman. What had happened in the Cologne Cathedral?

He needed to know.

Acolytes could be easily hired. He had a running list of names who all worked for a price. Nothing was out of bounds, and the loss of one would not matter in the least.

This trail had to go cold.

Now.

CHAPTER 18

9:40P.M.

ERIC ENJOYED THE STROLL ACROSSFLORENCE FROM THE RESTAURANTto the Church of San Lorenzo. For over three hundred years it had been favored by the Medicis as their family church, where they were christened, married, and buried. Gathered here were the threads of a checkered history from over three centuries between the tomb of Giovanni in the Old Sacristy, the first Medici, and that of Anna Maria Luisa, the last, in the crypt below. A family that spawned four popes, countless dukes, two French queens, and an assortment of cardinals.