“Where are they?”
With a movement of his eyes, Gabriel indicated they were parked nearby.
“What about the kidnappers?”
“They’re not in here.”
“Do they know we’ve arrived?”
“Absolutely.”
“How do you know?”
“Check your phone.”
Khalid looked down. He had an incoming call. No name. No number.
Gabriel tappedacceptand lifted the device to his ear. The voice that addressed him was female and vaguely erotic. It was not, however, a recording.
The voice was real.
34
Carcassonne, France
“You couldn’t resist, could you?”
“I suppose not. After all, how often does one get to speak to a man like you?”
“And what kind of man is that?”
“A war criminal. A murderer of those who struggle for dignity and self-determination.”
Her English was flawless. The accent was German but there was a trace of something else. Something farther to the east, thought Gabriel. “Are you a freedom fighter?” he asked.
“I am a professional, Allon. Like you.”
“Really? And what kind of work do you do when you’re not kidnapping and torturing children?”
“The child,” she replied, “has been well cared for.”
“I saw the room in Areatza where you kept her. It wasn’t fit for a dog, let alone a twelve-year-old girl.”
“A girl who has spent her entire life surrounded by unimaginable luxury. At least now she has some sense of how the vast majority of the people in the world live.”
“Where is she?”
“Close.”
“In that case, leave her in front of the restaurant. I won’t make any attempt to follow you.”
She laughed, low and throaty. Gabriel raised the volume on the phone to full and pressed it tightly to his ear. She was in a moving car, he was certain of it.
“Are you ready for the next set of instructions?” she asked.
“They’d better be the last.”
“There’s a village north of Carcassonne called Saissac. Follow the D629 to the border of the nextdépartement. After a kilometer you’ll see a break in the fence on the right side of the road. Follow the track into the field exactly one hundred meters and then switch off your headlamps. Any deviation on your part,” said the woman, “will result in the girl’s death.”
