The Mozart Conspiracy

Chapter Forty-Nine

Ben lay and stared at the dark, grey ceiling above him until it swam in front of his eyes. He looked at his watch. Only five minutes had gone by since the last time he’d checked it. His mind had been working so furiously that it seemed like hours.

He had checked the cell a hundred times for weak spots. The only light filtered in through a high barred window. He’d jumped up, scrabbled up the wall and grabbed the cold, black steel bars, wedged his knees against the wall and jerked them with all his strength. There was no give in them, no movement at all. They were solid. It would take a tractor to tear them out of their concrete bedding.

Dropping back down into the shadows, he’d run his fingers along the contour of every stone block. The walls were in perfect condition and at least double-skinned. Nothing to work on. Then he’d tried the door. It was sheet steel, the hinges were concealed and the rivets were flush. Finally, he’d turned to the bunk, looking for something he could use as a lever or a hammer. But the steel frame was welded solid and its feet cemented into the floor.

Worse than the prison walls around him, he was trapped inside his own thoughts.

Leigh was dead. Leigh was dead.

And it was his fault. He’d left her on her own. She’d died alone, unprotected, in fear.

Just as Oliver had died. It was his fault. And now the little girl was a hostage. That was his fault, too. He’d get her out, or he’d die trying.

Tomorrow his mission would begin. He’d have the equipment he’d asked for, a vehicle, some clothes, some cash, a weapon and a phone to call them on when he’d acquired his target. They were going to let him go free, and he already knew what his first move would be. But he’d never felt so powerless in his life.

There was no use in hammering on the steel door until his knuckles were a mess of blood. No use in screaming his frustration until his vocal cords were in tatters. No use beating his own brains out against the stone walls. He dropped to the floor, down on his fists and the tips of his toes, and pressed thirty push-ups out of his screaming muscles. Then another thirty. The pain purged his thoughts for a few minutes. It helped him to focus on what he was going to do next.

He started at the sound of jangling keys against the steel door. The lock turned. A sliver of light shone from the corridor outside as a figure slipped inside the cell.

It was a woman, furtive, nervous. He knew her.

‘What are you doing here?’ he demanded.

‘I had to come,’ she said. Her eyes were moist and caught the light.

‘How did you get in?’

The ring of keys glinted in the shadows. ‘Kroll keeps a spare set in his study,’ she whispered.

‘What do you want, Ingrid? Or whatever your name is today.’

Eve winced and put her finger to her lips. ‘Shhh. Glass is out there. They’d kill me if they knew I was here.’

‘Then I’ll call them,’ he said. ‘They might let me watch.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said.

‘That’s what you said last time we met.’

She crept across the cell towards him. In the light of the window her eyes were wide and bright with terror. ‘I’m Eve,’ she muttered. ‘Eve’s my real name. That’s the truth. I promise it.’

‘I don’t care what your name is,’ he said. ‘What do you want?’

‘They have the little girl,’ she said.

‘You came here to tell me that?’

‘I want to help,’ she whispered. Her voice was husky and urgent.

‘I don’t trust you,’ he said.

‘I’m sorry about what happened. I had no choice. You have to believe me.’

‘You won’t fool me twice.’

‘I can help,’ she protested. ‘Please listen to me. I know things.’

He could smell her fear. That couldn’t be faked. She was telling the truth. ‘Tell me,’ he said.

‘They’re planning something,’ she said. ‘Kroll is holding a party. Those men will all be there. They’re going to kill someone.’

‘Who?’ He already knew the answer.

She shook her head. ‘Someone important to them. I don’t know. I just know that every time they have one of their gatherings, someone dies. There’s a signal. It’s usually between nine and ten, when the party’s in full swing and the guests are distracted by the music. The men leave one by one and go down to a special part of the house. That’s where it happens.’

‘Who are these men?’ he asked.

‘They’re in business with Kroll. That’s all I know. Old men in suits who kill people. Politics. Money. I don’t know. I just know they make people disappear.’

‘Where does it happen?’ he asked.

She glanced nervously at the cell door. ‘The house has its own private church,’ she said. ‘I think that’s where they go. I’ve never seen it. Kroll keeps it all locked up.’

‘Would it have a vaulted ceiling, pillars? A tiled floor with a checkered pattern.’

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Maybe. But I wanted to tell you something else. The little girl.’

‘Clara?’

She nodded. ‘They’re going to kill her. Afterwards, by lethal injection.’

He glared at her. ‘Why are you telling me all this?’ he asked. ‘Why wait until now?’

‘Because I want to get her out of there,’ she said. ‘They’ve got to be stopped. It’s gone too far.’ Her eyes were earnest, pleading, searching his. She glanced over her shoulder at the door. ‘I’m sick of this whole thing,’ she went on. Her words were a gushing whisper. ‘When he told me about the child, I had to do something. You’ve got to believe me. It was hard for me to turn you over. But I had no choice. They have a hold on me, like they have on you now. That’s what they do, they trap people and then use them.’

Ben said nothing as he worked through it all from every angle. ‘Where are we?’ he asked.

‘An old military base near Ernstbrunn, north of Vienna. Kroll owns it.’

‘Where are they holding Clara?’

‘At the house.’

‘The von Adler house?’

Eve gave a quick nod. ‘They’ve got rooms for her, secure and guarded.’

‘Tell me exactly where the place is,’ he said.

‘About five kilometres south of Vienna. I’ll take you there. I’m getting you out. I have a car.’

Outside, there was the loud clang of a steel door and the sound of heavy footsteps echoed off the walls of the narrow corridor. Eve gasped. ‘It’s Glass. He’ll kill me.’

Ben froze. There was nowhere to hide her.

The footsteps had almost reached the cell door. They were out of time.

‘Kiss me,’ he said. He put his arms around her.

Eve looked startled, then she understood. It could save them both. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew her body up close to his. Her lips were warm and soft on his mouth.

The cell door clanged back against the wall. The tall, broad figure of Jack Glass stood silhouetted in the doorway. He laughed when he saw them. ‘My, how romantic. So the old man was right-you were fucking him this afternoon. You come back for some more?’

‘I had to see him,’ Eve said. ‘I love him.’ She stepped away from Ben. Glass walked into the cell, ducking his head at the entrance. He grabbed Eve’s arm and jerked her away. ‘You’re in deep shit now,’ he said.

‘Don’t hurt her for this,’ Ben said. ‘It’s my fault.’

Glass sneered.

‘Please don’t tell Werner,’ she pleaded. ‘He’ll kill me.’

‘Oh, I know that,’ Glass said. ‘And then he’ll go to work on you.’ He paused. There was a light in his eye as the possibilities began to flash up in his mind. He had her now. This was what he’d been waiting for. ‘But maybe you and I can come to an agreement,’ he said. He turned and winked at Ben.

Ben’s eyes were on the Beretta 92 in Glass’s belt. It was only four steps away. He could break his neck before he knew what was happening. Take his pistol and use it to kill the other guards.

It was a crude plan but it appealed to him.

He took the first step, then the second. Eve was struggling in Glass’s arms.

Five more guards came through the doorway. They weren’t taking any chances and all the guns were aimed steadily at him. Suddenly the odds had shifted. He stopped and stood still.

‘See you later, cowboy,’ Glass said.

Ben caught a last imploring glance from Eve as Glass dragged her out of the cell. The guards followed. The steel door clanged shut and he heard the turn of the lock. He was alone again.