slide being forced backward by the recoil, the ejected case clattering onto the stone floor, and a fresh round being loaded into the breech. He had no idea whether or not he’d hit his target, but because the man made no sound, Bronson assumed that he’d missed. Semi-automatic pistols are notoriously inaccurate, even in experienced hands. But then there was another shot, the crack of a small-caliber weapon, and immediately Bronson heard a howl of pain from the intruder, followed by the sound of

pulse. “I think that bullet must have hit his lungs, maybe some other organs.” Angela stared down at the corpse. “I’ve never killed anyone before,” she said, a quaver in her voice. “I didn’t even mean to do it.” Bronson wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said, “but I’m glad you shot him. If you hadn’t, I might be dead now and I don’t like to even think what he’d have done to you if he’d found you. As I told you, these people play for keeps.” Angela looked away

They aren’t Kevlar, just nylon, but those, and the caps, might help us pass for real coppers if we have to.” “You are a real copper,” Angela pointed out. “I was when I started this caper,” Bronson replied, “but I have no idea what I am right now. I don’t even know if they’re still paying me.” He picked up the keys for the car Angela had hired, a nicely anonymous means of transport that wouldn’t ring the alarm bells in any police car they passed, and turned to leave. “If you have any brain

drive away. Her message was just as abrupt and terse as his had been. I GET IT, she’d sent. Bronson grinned, pulled out the phone’s battery, and drove away. Near Körbiskrug he pulled into a garage to fill the car’s fuel tank, and buy some snacks and a couple of cans of drink. While he was in the garage, he looked at some of the other items on display, and in what looked like a “special offer” section—which was probably stuff the owner was desperate to get rid of—he found exactly what he wanted.

won’t have done,” Angela replied, “because as far as I’ve been able to find out, it was the only one ever created. These SS men went into the mine, removed Die Glocke itself and all the documentation, and selected which scientists should accompany the device on its journey out of Germany. The rest of the scientists and technicians were executed on the spot.” Bronson nodded grimly. “I guess that’s what you’d expect of the SS—doing what they did best and keeping up their tradition of slaughtering