“A suicide bomber?”
Sarah nodded slowly. “Have you ever seen one before?”
“A suicide bomber? I’ve lost count.”
Sarah winced suddenly. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. I think I might have broken a rib or two.”
“We’ll have a doctor take a look at you before your flight.”
“What flight?”
“The flight that’s going to take you from Paris back to New York.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Gabriel didn’t bother to respond. The face in the glass was contorted with pain.
“The evening didn’t go exactly as planned,” said Sarah. “Lucien Villard got blown to bits. And one of Reema’s kidnappers slipped through our fingers.”
“I’m afraid that sums it up rather nicely.”
“He walked straight into our arms, and we let him get away.”
“Mikhail and I were the ones who lost him, not you.”
“Maybe we should have taken him at the café.”
“Or maybe we should have put a bullet in him while he was walking along that quiet street near the movie house. A bullet tends to make even the hardest of men talkative.”
“I remember that, too.” Sarah watched an ugly banlieue slide past her window. “I guess we know how the kidnappers learned that Khalid’s daughter was enrolled at that school.”
“I doubt they needed Villard to tell them that.”
“So what did he do for them?”
“That,” said Gabriel, “would require speculation on my part.”
“It’s a long way to Paris. Speculate away.”
“Close observation of the target,” said Gabriel after a moment.
“Go on.”
“They couldn’t do it themselves because they knew the Swiss services were watching her. So they hired someone to do the job for them. Someone who was supposed to be looking after her safety.”
“Did he know who he was working for?”
“I doubt it.”
“Then why kill him?”
“I suppose they wanted to eliminate anyone who could implicate them. Or it’s possible Lucien might have done something foolish.”
“Like what?”
“Maybe he threatened them. Or maybe he asked for more money.”
“He must have thought there was money in the briefcase. Why else would he have taken it?” Sarah looked at Mikhail, who was watching them from the front of the carriage. “You should have seen his face when he thought I might be dead.”
