Page 48 of The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon #6)

Lieutenant Pavel’s head was still throbbing from the fire extinguisher blow, but it was nothing compared to the pain of seeing his uncle’s lifeless body at the bottom of the ravine. The embassy attaché Michael Harris believed the captain had jumped, but Pavel knew better.

Janá?ek was fearless…not a quitter. He was murdered…and I know who killed him.

Robert Langdon’s list of crimes against úZSI was growing ever longer since his hotel stunt—resisting arrest, assaulting an officer, stealing an úZSI weapon, and now, if the jumble of footprints on the ridge were to be believed, murdering Captain Janá?ek and fleeing the crime scene.

Alone now at the bastion, Pavel was recuperating on the plush couch in Gessner’s reception room. Harris had given him a bag of ice, told him not to move, and then headed off to the U.S. embassy, promising to call úZSI headquarters immediately about Janá?ek.

That fall was no accident, Pavel knew.

He also knew that Harris was full of shit; the attaché had no intention of making that call. He was just buying time so the embassy could concoct their lies before úZSI even heard about Janá?ek’s death.

Pavel had pulled out his phone to call headquarters himself, but after thinking a moment, he paused. He had no doubt that the arrest of a prominent American would end as it always did—infuriatingly—with the U.S. embassy stepping in, taking over, and finding some loophole to leave úZSI in the cold.

“Oko za oko,” Pavel said aloud, knowing how his late captain would handle this situation. An eye for an eye.

Nobody was aware yet of Janá?ek’s death, which meant Pavel had a small window of opportunity to handle Langdon himself.

But first I have to find him. Locating a fugitive in a city this size would have been nearly impossible, except for one ace up Pavel’s sleeve…

which would turn the tables on the American in an instant.

Janá?ek taught me to bend the rules…to improvise for the greater good.

Technically, Pavel did not hold sufficient rank to do what he had in mind, but he was in possession of Captain Janá?ek’s personal phone, which he had found on the snowy ridge.

With one little lie, Pavel could change everything.

Langdon would have nowhere to hide.

Dana Daněk marched back into her office at the embassy, still fuming from her confrontation at the Four Seasons. The ghostly woman from Charles Bridge had scared the hell out of Dana, which was not easy to do.

She aimed a fucking gun at my face!

Dana’s jealousy had turned to seething rage.

Who the hell is she?

The answer, Dana knew, was already waiting on her computer—the results of the facial recognition search that Dana had launched nearly an hour ago with the screenshot from Charles Bridge.

Dana hurried to her computer and sat down. As expected, the program had run its complete cycle.

Dana stared at the results in disbelief.

There must be some mistake…

Search Complete

Matches: 0

Dana had never had a database search return no matches whatsoever. In the modern world, it was a physical impossibility to exist without leaving a single digital footprint anywhere.

Digital “whitewashing” was the only possible way for a person to remain outside this Echelon database.

The network was U.S. owned and operated, meaning the American government could create “invisible people” simply by limiting search results to exclude any faces they preferred untraceable.

This technique was employed often to ensure the privacy and security for government officials, prominent American businesspeople, and undercover military or intelligence personnel.

Dana considered the puzzling bouquet of red, white, and blue tulips she had seen in the Royal Suite.

These flowers were the standard welcome gift from the U.S.

ambassador to American VIPs visiting Prague, and as PR liaison, Dana was responsible for having them delivered.

The problem was that these tulips, Dana had never even heard about.

Did the ambassador organize these herself?

“Ms. Daněk!” a woman bellowed from the doorway.

Dana spun, knowing the voice at once. “Madam Ambassador?! I was just—”

“Were you at the Four Seasons?!”

Dana opened her mouth, but no words came.

“Did you follow Mr. Harris there?”

“No!” Dana blurted. “Well, sort of…I thought…”

“You thought… what ?” The ambassador’s glare cut through her.

Dana stared at the floor. Shit.

“Ms. Daněk, this is precisely why we don’t sleep with coworkers.”