He was long dead now. It didn’t matter.
The promise of the stone’s power wasn’t a legend to Saleem—it was real. He was the Lion, and soon he would have the famed Koh-i-Noor in his possession, and everything he wanted would finally be his. Nothing could stop him. He could feel it in his bones.
53
Over the Atlantic Ocean
Mike said, “Switzerland, sir?”
“Yes. We got lucky. The French had a satellite passing over when she arrived. Facial recognition confirmed it was the Fox, though I didn’t recognize the woman in the still photos as Victoria Browning. Her hair is short now, black, and she’s smaller, if that’s possible. Talk about a master of disguise.
“The car, a Mercedes, took A40 to the A411 northwest toward Geneva. The license plate was obscured, but the satellite picked up the car entering the city limits an hour later.
“The driver dropped her at the Deutsche Bank in the city center and left. The Geneva police are looking for him, but if he’s anything like the pilot, he knows nothing of use. She seems to hire new people with every job. She doesn’t have a set group of people she uses again and again.”
Nicholas said, “It’s much safer that way. There’s very little chance of being able to turn someone against her. You lost her after the bank?”
“Yes. We’re in touch with the police in Geneva to get the camera feeds, but nothing yet. All we know for sure is she’s in the city.
“Pierre Menard will be your contact on the ground; he’s a FedPol agent stationed in Geneva. He’s a bulldog, likes Americans, and you can always count on him. Mike, I’ve texted you his number. He’s expecting your call.”
Mike said, “We’ll get in touch with him and go straight to the bank when we arrive, see what she left behind. We’ll call you when we’re on the ground.”
She hung up and pressed her call button. The pilot came on the air. “We need to reroute to Geneva, Switzerland. How long will it take to get there?”
“Hold on a moment, Agent Caine, let me get a new flight plan. I’ll be back to you in five minutes.”
She turned to Nicholas. “Geneva?”
“Best banking in the world.”
“What do you think she’s up to?”
“Maybe the buyer put her money in a Swiss account and she has to sign for it in person.”
Mike’s face fell. “She’ll probably be gone before we get there.”
“Don’t be a pessimist. Look, she anticipated we might trace her call and sent us to the wrong place at the wrong time. But she’s here. We’re going to get her.”
“You think she had prearranged codes with the buyer, something like L’Arc de Triomphe at noon means Geneva, dinnertime?”
He nodded. “I expect you’ve hit it head-on.”
Mike hated to admit it, but she felt a grudging respect for Browning. “She has thought of everything.”
“And we’ve gotten bloody lucky, tracking her to Geneva. She knew we’d find her trail, but not so quickly. We have the element of surprise. We’ve underestimated her before. We won’t do it again.”
The pilot came over the speaker. “We’re on course to Geneva, Agent Caine. We’ll be landing in less than two hours.”
Mike keyed the switch and said, “Roger that,” then pulled up the text from Zachery. “Have you dealt with FedPol before?”
“The Federal Police? Yes, many times. I’ve had mixed success with them. Interpol doesn’t have agents in the field the way we do, they’re really more data crunchers. FedPol works closely with them. Every major European country has a branch. Honestly, there are so many layers of international law enforcement that bureaucracy gets the better of them, but right now, we need someone who can move freely around the European theater. We’ll see if Menard is a help or a hindrance.”
Spoken like a true spy.
“Zachery said he’s a bulldog, plus, since I’m an American, we know he’ll at least like me. Let’s just see how much,” and she rang Menard’s number.