Twelve seconds gone.

He strode across to the bookshelves, cut the speaker wires, and put the speakers in the fireplace. The Claymores would still go off, creating the explosion he wanted, but the solid brick and stonework of the chimney-breast would absorb the back blast and restrict the spread of ball bearings. The neighbors should survive okay.

Twenty-six seconds.

He retraced his steps back out into the hall, breaking into a run, and crossed into the bedroom. Alix was just slipping on the dress that had been in her case. She had nothing on but a pair of white panties slung low beneath a smooth, flat, pale brown stomach. Her breasts were small and neat with perfect rosy brown nipples. They rode up her chest as she raised her arms and let the ice blue dress slither down her body like mercury.

Carver didn’t give her a second glance. He went around to the far side of the bed, took the Claymore from the wall, and shoved it down between the end of the bed and the mattress, with the rear of the mine facing into the mattress to dissipate its energy.

Thirty-nine seconds.

It took three more seconds to get into the bathroom and another five to rip the bomb out of the cistern, take out the detonator, and place both in one of his jacket’s side pockets. On the way out, he grabbed Alix’s makeup and wash bags, lobbing them toward her as he went back into the bedroom.

Alix was bending down, slipping on the white sneakers.

“Thought you might need these,” he said with a wry grin, as her startled face looked up at him across the bed.

She shoved the cosmetics into her black shoulder bag, picked it up, and dashed from the room, her dress fluttering around her thighs. There were ten seconds left as Carver followed Alix out of the bedroom, along the hall, and through the door of the apartment. Carver closed it behind him, and ran for the stairs.

Five… four… three…

Colclough had seen the lights go on. Nothing happened for a while. He wondered if something had gone wrong. He could sense Max’s impatience in the silence at the other end of the line. Then the windows of the top-floor apartment exploded outward, showering wood and glass across the street. There was a sharp, pattering sound on the roof and windows of Colclough’s car – tiny steel balls raining down like metal hail.

The street was almost empty. The restaurants had all closed; the tourists had all gone off to their hotel beds. There were just two people wending their way home when the blast went off. The woman screamed. The man grabbed her and tried to shield her with his body as the debris rained down around them. They didn’t seem to have been seriously hurt, but the woman was weeping helplessly while the man just stared around him, dazed and uncomprehending.

“Bleedin’ ’ell!” Colclough shouted. “Whoever you got to do that job, he doesn’t do nothing by half!”

Max didn’t seem too excited. “So, there’s been an explosion?”

“Yeah, there bloody has. Hang on a minute, I’ve got company.”

A woman was running from the front door of the apartment building, a blond in a blue dress. She ran toward the car, her eyes wide with panic, and pressed her face up against the glass. “Help! For God’s sake, you must help!” she screamed. She spoke English. Sounded like a Yank.

Colclough could hear Max’s voice on the speakerphone: “What’s happening?”

“Just some bird got caught up in the blast. Nothing serious. Bit hysterical is all.”

He pressed the button and opened the window. The girl leaned in and started tugging at his sleeve.

“Come quickly, please. It’s my mother! She’s… Oh God, I think she’s dead!” she cried.

Colclough did not hear the passenger door open beside him. The first he knew of Samuel Carver’s presence was the cold metal of the gun pressing behind his ear and the whispered voice that said, “Keep talking. I’m not here. Got it?”

The ex-policeman’s balding head nodded up and down.

“Now tell the girl to piss off, nice and loud.”

“Er, er, sorry, love,” stammered Colclough. “Be happy to help. But I’m busy, see? Got things to do.”

Max’s voice snapped over the speakerphone: “Oy, Colclough, get this sorted!”

“You got it guv’nor,” Colclough replied. “Listen, love, you heard the man. Naff off.”

Alix smiled and patted his cheek. “Good boy,” she mouthed, then got into the car herself, sitting behind Colclough.

Carver tapped Colclough’s shoulder with his gun to get his attention. With his free hand he pointed at the phone, mounted on the dashboard. Then he pulled his finger across his throat. The meaning was clear: End the conversation.

Colclough turned back toward the phone. “She’s gone,” he said. “I’m returning to base. Over and out.”

“Right,” said Carver. “Sit on your right hand. Wedge it under nice and tight. Good. Now put your left hand on the wheel. Don’t move.”

“Or what?”

Before Carver could answer, Alix leaned forward and brought her arm around the back of the driver’s seat, her fist balled. She gave a gentle squeeze of her hand and a high-carbon stainless-steel blade sprang out from between her thumb and forefinger. She pressed the tip of the blade against Colclough’s neck.

“Or I teach you to show a woman respect.”

Having made her point, Alix relaxed back into her seat and snapped the blade back into its handle. Carver looked at her, startled, unable to hide his surprise. He saw a mocking look cross Colclough’s face and felt the surprise give way to anger, mostly at his own stupidity.

He reached into one of his pants pockets and pulled out another plastic cuff strip and handed it to Colclough.

“Loop one end around the steering wheel. Pass the other end through it. Then pull it tight.”

Colclough did as he was told. One half of the cuff was now attached to the wheel, the other half dangled free.

“Now put your left hand through there,” said Carver, gesturing with his gun at the empty cuff. “Tighten it with your right hand. Good boy.”

Colclough was now cuffed to the steering wheel. He wasn’t leaving the car until Carver cut him loose. Carver patted him down, looking for a weapon.

“Maybe you should have done that to the bird, eh?” Colclough sneered. “You might’ve enjoyed it an’ all.”

Colclough was balding, maybe twenty pounds overweight. His shirt was white polyester. He was wearing gray trousers, with a matching jacket hanging from a hook behind the passenger seat. His shoes were black lace-ups. He wasn’t carrying a gun or knife. There was nothing in his jacket.

Carver looked at Colclough with a wry, contemplative smile on his face, then glanced down at his gun. Without warning, he lashed out, smashing the pistol into Colclough’s face, cracking his cheekbone and drawing blood. Colclough bent over, holding his face in his uncuffed hand. He prodded his battered cheek with a fingertip and winced.

“What the ’ell did you do that for?”

“You heard the lady,” Carver said. “Show some respect.”

“My hero,” said Alix, teasingly. She tossed the knife handle up and down in her hand. “It was in my boot,” she explained, “then in my hand. From the moment you set me free, I could have killed you anytime.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I still might.”

Carver ignored the remark and turned back to Colclough. He took the lump of C4 putty from his pocket and held it out.

“Do you know what this is?”

“I can guess.”

“Good,” said Carver. “Now, watch.”

He leaned down and stuck the putty underneath the side of the passenger seat, out of Colclough’s reach. Then he rummaged through another pocket and pulled out a timer detonator.

“Max is in town, isn’t he?”

Colclough nodded.

“Thought so. An operation like this, he’d have to control it on-site. So I’m guessing he’s not far from here, right?”

Another nod.