Page 49 of The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon #6)

As Langdon’s taxi ascended the wooded hill toward Pet?ín Tower, he realized he was still clutching the note that had been slid under Sasha’s door.

I have Katherine.

Come to Pet?ín Tower.

Whoever had left it had a grim sense of symbolism; the tower stood on a hilltop noted for its macabre history of death and human sacrifice.

Specifically, the death of women…at the hands of zealots.

According to lore, a sacrificial altar once sat atop Pet?ín Hill, where pagan priests would burn young virgins to delight the pagan gods.

The sacrifices continued for centuries until the Christians took over, demolished the altar, and built the Church of St. Lawrence on that spot.

To this day, however, mysterious fires broke out regularly on Pet?ín Hill and were believed by some to be the handiwork of the ghosts of the sacrificed women who still haunted these woods by the hundreds.

The fortysomething, ponytailed cabdriver navigated the winding road up Pet?ín Hill, glancing in the rearview mirror at his passenger. The man in the back seemed on edge, craning his neck and squinting nervously up at the top of Pet?ín Tower.

If you’re afraid of heights, my friend, just don’t go up.

The passenger was tall with dark hair, and while his American accent and expensive sweater screamed tourist, he had jumped into the cab with the urgency of a man fleeing a wildfire.

The cabbie had warned him that Pet?ín Tower might not be open at this hour and also that he was underdressed for the cold winds, but the man had insisted.

Suit yourself…A fare is a fare.

As the taxi climbed the hill, the cabbie tapped happily on his steering wheel, keeping rhythm with the song streaming on his phone. His favorite oldie “Kloko?í” was playing, but as the song reached its lilting clarinet solo, the music cut out abruptly, replaced by a high-pitched series of tones.

“Sakra!!” the cabbie cursed, annoyed by the interruption.

Czech law enforcement had taken to broadcasting these irritating “public alerts” in hopes of recruiting the public’s help with local police work. The first wave of alerts was always sent to transportation employees, airport personnel, and local hospitals.

I’ve got my own job, he grumbled. Why am I doing yours?!

Annoyingly, most of Europe had adopted the American system of “AMBER Alerts,” despite the acronym’s literal meaning: America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.

The cabbie reached down to dismiss the alert and get back to his song, but the blinking banner on his phone’s display gave him pause.

This alert was coded blue, which was extremely rare in Prague.

Normally alerts were coded amber or silver, requesting the public’s help locating a missing child or a disorientated elderly person.

Blue was much more serious. It meant a law enforcement officer had been killed and a criminal was still at large.

Someone killed an officer in Prague?!

Then the cabbie saw the photo of the suspect.

That guy…is my passenger!

Stunned, the driver confirmed with a quick glance in the rearview mirror. Then he nonchalantly picked up his phone and placed a call to the number on the alert, calmly relaying information in Czech to the officer who answered.

Lieutenant Pavel’s head was pounding as he dashed out of Crucifix Bastion and leaped behind the wheel of his úZSI sedan. The Blue Alert he had issued with Janá?ek’s phone had just generated a response call, within minutes…which, as Pavel had arranged, came back directly to Janá?ek’s phone.

Nobody else has the information I just received.

Robert Langdon was headed to Pet?ín Tower, and while Pavel could not imagine why, there could be no place better for Pavel to take the American. The area around Pet?ín Hill was isolated and vast. Most importantly, at this early hour on a winter morning, it would be nearly deserted.

It will be my pleasure to take Langdon down.

All I need is a weapon.

Pavel found Janá?ek’s handgun inside the glove box. As he slid the weapon into his empty side holster, Pavel fantasized about how fitting it would feel to fire his captain’s gun and kill the man who had murdered Janá?ek in cold blood.

An eye for an eye.