Page 34 of The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon #6)
Dana Daněk was growing impatient with the lack of results from the facial recognition database to identify the woman on Charles Bridge. The process seemed to be taking an unusually long time.
While she waited, she had returned to the bird’s-eye surveillance footage. She was now watching the woman with the tiara standing motionless at the eastern end of the bridge…as if waiting for something.
Perfume? Holy water?
She pocketed the bottle, adjusted her spiked tiara, and then reached inside the lining of her coat and pulled out a metal rod of some sort. It looked like a small silver spear.
Is she carrying a weapon?
Then she began drifting slowly, almost zombielike, across the deserted bridge.
As she approached the halfway point, a tall man with dark hair entered the frame, striding eastward, moving toward her.
He was wearing exercise sweats and running shoes.
As he drew even, he abruptly stopped and turned, as if talking to her.
The woman either ignored him or didn’t hear.
She just kept moving. The man seemed momentarily paralyzed.
He called out to her again with no response, and then abruptly he wheeled and sprinted away in the direction he had originally been running… until he was out of the camera frame.
What just happened?
Dana rewound the playback and watched the whole sequence again.
She was curious to know where the man was running, but for now she scrutinized the strange phantomlike woman.
Dana engaged the software’s “autotrack” mode, which used facial recognition, artificial intelligence, and projection algorithms to stay locked on a subject.
As the video continued, the program switched from camera to camera, following the woman in the spiked tiara across the bridge.
She was just passing the statue of St. Augustine when she abruptly stopped.
After glancing around as if to confirm she was alone, she removed her tiara and nonchalantly dropped it off the bridge into the waters below.
The spear went over next. Then she pulled a white wool cap from her pocket and donned it, tucking her dark hair up inside it.
Finally, she removed her black jacket, revealing a heavy red sweater beneath it.
She folded the coat and set it like an offering at the base of the statue of St. Augustine, a common site at which to leave donations for the homeless or those in need.
Now transformed, the woman took an abrupt left turn, disappearing down a narrow staircase that clung to the outer wall of the bridge and connected to the west bank of the river. Whoever this chameleon was, she apparently did not want to be followed.
Dana fast-forwarded through the archived footage, following the woman at high speed across the cobblestone plaza outside Liechtenstein Palace…
past Museum Kampa with its bizarre outdoor installation of three giant bronze babies with barcode stamps for faces…
and finally deep into Kampa Park, where she wandered awhile before buying a coffee at a kiosk.
While sitting on a bench and sipping the hot brew, she received a phone call.
When the call ended, she rushed back to the Charles Bridge, which was now dotted with pedestrians on their way to work.
The woman hurried back the way she had come, exiting the bridge and turning left on K?i?ovnická Street.
As she strode down the sidewalk, the playback slowed abruptly and began flashing “LIVE.” The woman’s speed-walking turned to a normal pace.
Real time. This is happening right now…
Dana had no authorization to use the sophisticated surveillance system in this way, but she couldn’t take her eyes off this shape-shifter. She watched as the woman strode down the sidewalk and turned left across an elegant parking courtyard toward the main entrance of one of Prague’s finest hotels.
She’s going to the Four Seasons?
As the woman disappeared through the hotel’s revolving door, something unexpected caught Dana’s eye—an Audi A7 parked in the reserved spaces in front of the hotel.
Dana would have thought nothing of it, except that the unique red lettering on the sedan’s license plate indicated a diplomatic vehicle.
Is that one of our embassy cars?
A moment later, Dana had her answer when the elegant form of Michael Harris stepped out of the sedan and strode briskly into the hotel.
Dana stared in shock and her stomach turned.
You son of a bitch, Michael. I knew it!
The manager of the Four Seasons Hotel was still aglow from his recent personal call from the U.S. ambassador. After she thanked him for his discretion this morning regarding the unfortunate situation with Mr. Langdon, the ambassador had asked a favor of him.
A favor that just walked in, the manager thought, seeing the well-dressed gentleman now striding toward reception.
“Mr. Harris,” the manager said, extending a hand. “The ambassador just called.”
“Thank you,” the man replied, his handshake like a vise.
“I saw you earlier with Mr. Langdon,” the manager said. “And…úZSI.” He grimaced. “I hope all that is being sorted out?”
“Absolutely. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding, and we’re working through it. I’m here now, as you probably already know, because Mr. Langdon has asked the embassy to collect a few things from his suite while we sort this out. There’s some medication, which I gather is import—”
“Of course, I already have the room key printed for you, sir. I’ll just need to see some identification? I apologize for the formality, but this is just a bit unusual, and hotel policy—”
“No worries at all,” the man said, handing over his embassy ID. “I appreciate your care. The embassy has learned to expect only the best from the Four Seasons.”
Beaming, the manager handed back the ID. “Very kind of you. I trust you remember how to reach the Royal Suite? And when you’re finished, you can just leave the room key in the suite and pull the door shut behind you.”
The man from the embassy thanked him and headed upstairs.
The manager returned to his duties, too busy to notice the pretty woman in a red sweater following the man upstairs.