“Goodnight Shelby.”
***
“Shelby, wake up.”
“Huh?” I squinted to focus my gaze on Suzette, who stood beside my bed. “What time is it?”
“Close to six in the morning. Listen, Gabriel called. They found Cypher’s hide-out in the catacombs.”
I inhaled sharply and sat up. “Was he there?”
“They caught two of his men, but the rest of them got away. He doesn’t know if one of them is Cypher, but from the artist’s sketch, it doesn’t look like it. But he’d like you to come.”
“To the catacombs?” I asked. She nodded, and I continued. “Yeah, sure.”
“Good. He was hoping that this is the breakthrough we need, and with your premonitions, maybe you’ll be able to figure out their plans.”
“So they didn’t find the bomb?”
“No.”
“Okay.” I sighed and pushed my hair off my face. “I’ll get ready.” She turned to leave. “Will you tell Ramos? I want him to come too.”
“Already done,” she said. As she closed the door behind her, I picked up that she’d enjoyed knocking on his door and peeking inside to wake him. I rolled my eyes, but understood the feeling.
Ten minutes later, I left my room and hurried down the stairs. Ramos straightened from the door frame and nodded a greeting. He hadn’t shaved. With his black leather jacket, broad shoulders and brooding eyes, he looked almost as dangerous as a terrorist... only in a much better way.
Suzette came from the kitchen and handed each of us a travel mug filled with something hot. “If you like chocolate, you’ll love this.” She was thinking it was her cook’s special recipe for real hot chocolate that was nothing like we had in the states, and perfect for a cold, early morning.
“Wow, thanks,” I said with enthusiasm, then sipped my drink and thought I’d died and gone to heaven. “This is amazing.”
Suzette threw a smile over her shoulder, and we followed her out to the garage and into the Mercedes.
“I’ll sit in the back,” I offered, knowing Ramos could watch for a tail better from the front seat. At the gate, she entered the code, and I made a note of the four-digit number from her mind, just in case I ever needed it.
“Gabriel’s waiting for us at an old entrance to the catacombs,” Suzette explained. “They found the hide-out around four-thirty this morning. From what he told me, the bomb wasn’t there, but they caught two of the men.” She was thinking they were waiting for me to do my premonition thing before they carted off the evidence.
Oh great, more pressure, just what I needed. My stomach clenched with apprehension, turning the hot chocolate I’d consumed into a sour lump. I set my mug in the cup holder, knowing I couldn’t drink it now. I should be used to this since it happened all the time, but I wouldn’t be able to understand these guys’ thoughts at all. How was I supposed to work with that?
Suzette pulled the car off the street near a bridge and parked behind several police cars that still had their lights flashing. A policeman with a flashlight came to the car. After they spoke, he motioned for us to follow him down the embankment toward the bridge, shining the light on the path so we wouldn’t stumble. Knowing my limits, I took Ramos’ arm and followed behind Suzette.
Several officers stood at the base of the bridge, but moved to allow us passage beneath the columns and through a crevasse between the cement and several rocks. One of them spoke into a radio and asked us to wait. Soon, Gabriel appeared, looking haggard and dusty.
“Ah... merci, thank you for coming,” he said. “Follow me, s’il vous plait.” The passage was wide enough for two people and, to my relief, lit by lanterns hanging every few feet. “This is not a well-known entry point, but my friend, a cataphile, as we call them, heard of some recent activity here. This entrance leads to several tunnels, but we will take the one to the right. As you can see, it circles back and opens into this room.”
The large opening had chain-link fence across it that had been cut down the middle. A fold-out table with four folding chairs sat inside the room. The table held all kinds of electrical components, from wires and cutting tools to transistors and computer terminals. There were also boxes of other things lying around, including a few haz-mat suits.
“This room has an escape route through there.” Gabriel pointed to a large hole in the corner of the wall. “The tunnel leads back up to the street. This is where the others escaped, but we caught these two.”
He pointed out the two men I hadn’t seen behind the table, sitting against the wall. Both had their heads down, but glanced up as we came into view. My breath caught. They were the two who’d followed me to the cemetery and caught me at the café. They took one look at me and shook their heads, thinking what I could only guess were a lot of French swearwords.
I glanced at Gabriel. “They’re the ones who caught me the other night.”
“Good,” Gabriel said. “Then we know we are on the right track. We believe the bomb was here, but as you can see, it is gone. These men have not spoken to us yet, but I wished for you to be here in case you picked up something from this room. Is it possible for you?”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “I think so, but... can I talk to you privately for a moment?”
Gabriel’s brows drew together. “But of course.” He drew me to a corner away from everyone else in the room. I caught Ramos’ alarm but shook my head. “What is it?” he asked.
“I can help, but I need someone to stand beside me and interpret what I say to them in French.” Gabriel’s eyes narrowed, and his brows drew together in confusion. “Let me explain. With my premonitions, I will probably pick up something, but it will be in French. Since I don’t know French, I won’t know what it means. If I can repeat what I pick up to whoever’s standing beside me, maybe they’ll know what it means, even if I don’t.”
He nodded, but was thinking, ça me semble un peu fou.
“Uh... like... what does ‘ça me semble un peu fou’ mean?”
His startled gaze jerked to mine. “Is that what you do? Hear thoughts?”
I glanced around the room in alarm. No one was looking at us, so I didn’t think they’d heard him. But what had I just done? My heart raced and I grabbed his arm, catching his gaze and pleading for him to understand. “Gabriel... this is... you can’t let anyone know. No one knows about this... not Blake... not anyone. You have to promise me you won’t ever tell my secret. Please.”
Gabriel studied me intently, thinking those same French words over and over.
“What does that mean anyway? You keep repeating it a lot.”
“Mon Dieu,” he said, closing his eyes and bowing his head. After a deep breath, he glanced at me. “I am sorry. I find it hard to believe, but it must be true.”
I nodded. “If this wasn’t a matter of life and death, believe me, I wouldn’t have told you. But I don’t know how to do this otherwise. Now that you know, you have to promise me you won’t tell another soul. My life would never be the same if people knew, especially the wrong sort of people.”
“Oui,” Gabriel nodded. “I understand. You have my word. Upon my honor as a Frenchman and a patriot, I will never tell another soul.”
“Thank you,” I said, letting out a breath. “That means you have to be the one listening to what I tell you. I can’t promise that my French will sound right, because I’ll just be repeating the sounds I hear in their minds. I hope that’s enough.”
He smiled. “I will do my best. Oh... and the phrase ‘‘ça me semble un peu fou’’ means, it seems a bit crazy.”
I chuckled. “You’ve got that right.”
“What kinds of questions should I ask them?”
“Whatever you want to know, but be specific. Things like, where are you planting the bomb, and how are you going to do it, stuff like that. Just make sure to wait between questions so I can hear the answers and repeat them to you.”
He nodded. “I will have my lieutenant ask the questions. You an
d I will stand over here where no one will hear us.”
“Okay. That should work.”
As soon as Gabriel left my side, Ramos came over, his brows drawn together with concern. “Babe, what’s going on?” His mind was quiet, but I still caught an inkling of suspicion that he wasn’t going to be happy with me.
“Ramos, I had to tell him the truth. If that bomb goes off, lots of people will die. He’s not going to tell anyone. He promised me, and I believe him... and... quit swearing.”
“Shelby,” he moaned, shaking his head. He was thinking that I sure knew how to make his job hard. Now he was going to have to kill Gabriel.
“No you’re not!” I gasped.
“I should. But... I won’t for now.”
“We’ve worked it out so no one will suspect a thing.”
“What about Suzette?” he asked, sending a glance her way. She had taken a seat in one of the folding chairs, and tried to look like she wasn’t paying attention to us. But she wondered what I’d told Gabriel, and was also trying to hear my conversation with Ramos. “Don’t you think she’ll want to know what’s going on?”
“Gabriel won’t tell her. And if she asks, we’ll keep to the premonitions explanation. It will work out.”
“Then you’d better wander around this room and act like you’re getting premonitions. You might even pull it off if you make sure she isn’t here when the actual questioning takes place.”
“Oh yeah,” I agreed. “That’s a good idea. I’m sure Gabriel will agree to that. What about you?”
“I’m staying,” he said, glowering at Gabriel. He was thinking that Gabriel needed to see that Ramos might not be so agreeable to our arrangement, and take the hint that keeping this secret also meant Gabriel would live another day.
My eyes widened. Wow, he was taking this pretty seriously. “Uh... isn’t Live Another Day like the title of a James Bond movie or something?”
“Shelby,” Ramos growled, turning his glower on me.
I shrugged and tried to look innocent. “Just wondering.”
Even though he didn’t like what was happening, a small smile creased his lips. “You are in so much trouble.”
“Yeah... tell me about it.”
He shook his head at me, then raised a brow, thinking that I’d better get busy getting premonitions or I was toast. I huffed out a breath, but did as he thought, and wandered over to the table. As I scanned the objects, I closed my eyes every once in a while just to make it look good, mostly since Suzette was watching me.
Gabriel came to my side. “We are ready to begin.”
“All right,” I said. “But there’s something I need to ask you first.” I motioned him back to our little corner before continuing. “Uh... do you think we can clear the room, just in case anyone’s watching? I’m thinking mostly of Suzette. I don’t want her to get any ideas.”
“That is a good point. She is very curious. I will ask everyone to leave except for you, me, and my lieutenant.” He turned to make the request, but I grabbed his arm. “Uh... just so you know, Ramos won’t leave, but it’s okay if he stays.”
As understanding dawned, Gabriel’s lips twisted. With a nod, he issued the order. “I need everyone out of the room except for Shelby and Lieutenant Gustave. Monsieur Ramos, if you would stand watch in the doorway, I would be grateful.”
Ramos sent a respectful nod to Gabriel, pleasantly surprised that his message got through, and Gabriel seemed more than willing to cooperate. It sure did my heart good to see that. Suzette wasn’t happy about it. But there was no reason for her to stay, so she left, thinking she’d stand as close to Ramos as possible and hope to see or hear what was going on.
Lieutenant Gustave stood in front of the terrorists, and Gabriel came back to my side.
Now came the moment of truth, and my stomach clenched with worry. For all of my bravado, I wasn’t sure I could pick up everything they were thinking, especially if they were both thinking different things at the same time. I mean... most of the French I’d heard was so fast, I didn’t know if I could hear it straight, let alone repeat it. I swallowed. What had I gotten myself into now?
“Uh... just a minute.” I whispered to Gabriel. “Can you question them one at a time? I’m afraid if I hear both their thoughts at the same time I’ll get confused.” He took a breath and nodded his agreement. I continued, “Sorry I didn’t think of that before.”
“C’est bien,” he said. “Do not worry. How far away does he need to be?”
“Just out of the room is fine.”
Gabriel called two of his men back in and asked them to take one of the captives into the hall. Once they were done, I let out my breath, and the knot in my stomach loosened. At least now I had a better chance to pull this off.
I nodded at Gabriel, and he gave the command. “Commencez.”
Chapter 12
“Où avez-vous planté la bombe?” the lieutenant asked.
I listened closely and repeated the terrorist’s thoughts to Gabriel. “Eh-mare eh-vous pass ah-vuoh.” I knew I’d totally killed the accent but hoped Gabriel got it anyway. He shook his head with what sounded like swearing coming from his mind. “What did he say?”
“Une minute, s'il vous plait.” Gabriel said this to the lieutenant, then turned to me. “He said, wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Oh... that’s not good. Um... if you want me to know something, just think it in English, and I’ll nod or answer, okay? It might help things go better.”
“Oui.” He took a deep breath and told the lieutenant to continue.
This time the terrorist thought something else, and I did my best to say everything right. The lieutenant kept at it for the next fifteen minutes, asking the same questions over and over again. I repeated what I could to Gabriel, then he called a halt, and asked them to switch to the other prisoner.
This guy’s thoughts were much more expressive. From Gabriel’s scowl, I’m sure I repeated some pretty bad language as well as some nasty remarks toward the police. But there was a point where I picked up a view of a metro station with the words and a door to the ventilation system there. I knew Gabriel got it from what I told him too, because he perked up. Right after that, he ended the interrogation and told the lieutenant to take the prisoners to a holding cell.
After they were gone, he turned to me. “It worked. I know the station and ventilation system where they plan to plant the bomb, and also how they plan to get inside. It is ingenious, really. They found a passageway through the tunnels that opens into this particular metro station. I will need to work backwards from the station to find the tunnel, but with help from my cataphile I can do it. This is just the break we need.”
“That’s great,” I said.
“Oui, and it is all thanks to you. For this, I promise your secret will go with me to my grave.” He took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Once this is over, I will thank you properly, but now I must find the tunnel and the bomb.”
“Yes, of course. Once you do, will you please let me know? I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that we’re missing something.”
“I hope that is not the case. But of course I will let you know at once.”
“Thanks,” I said. Gabriel led the way out of the room. Ramos waited for us to pass and walked behind me until we were out of the tunnel and back outside under the bridge. It wasn’t as dark up here now that the sun was about to rise. I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t seen much of the catacombs with their famous bones, but not enough to want to go back down there, or to visit the actual museum.
Gabriel spoke to Suzette for a moment, and then gathered his forces. We left him to it and got into the Mercedes. Suzette could hardly wait to pepper me with questions and began right after we pulled onto the street.
“Gabriel said you got a premonition about the metro station where they’re planting the bomb. Is that right?”
“Yeah, but not just the station; they’re using the tunnels to get to it. I think that’s
where the rest of the terrorists went when the police raided this place, so if Gabriel can get to the station and backtrack, he and his men should stop them.”
“Yes, that should work,” she agreed. “Did you ever figure out the building you had the premonition about?”
“No. I kind of fell asleep last night before I could. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to look again.” That building had to be important, or Cypher wouldn’t have thought about it. So why hadn’t the terrorists thought about it too? Their whole focus was on the metro system. Did that mean they didn’t know? What if Cypher had never told them about his plan B?
After talking to me the first time, he thought someone in his organization was a traitor. Knowing that, he might not tell them anything about his second plan, and the only reason I knew about it was because of our meeting at Mason’s apartment.
Something settled inside me, and I knew that was the part we were missing.
We got back to Suzette’s mansion, and I went right to the library. Ramos came with me, and Suzette left to tell her cook to fix us some breakfast. She also wanted to check on Blake and update him on the latest news. Alone in the library, I told Ramos my theory, and he agreed that it had some merit.
“It must be a place with a lot of people, so we should look at public buildings, like museums or a cathedral, or even the opera house,” I told him.
“That makes sense,” he answered, and he stacked the books I’d looked through the night before on the table, along with a few others I couldn’t reach.
“I know it wasn’t Notre-Dame or Sacré-Coeur, since I would have recognized them, but there are so many other famous buildings in the city. To make this work, I’d have to see it just the way Cypher did in his mind, and that might not show up in a picture.”
“I know what to do,” Ramos said, his eyes sparkling. “Suzette told me I could take the bike out, remember? Why don’t we do a little sight-seeing? You can look at the buildings from all angles and get a clearer picture. That way something might stand out, and you’ll recognize it.”
“I like the way you think,” I agreed. “In fact, that’s the best thing I’ve heard since coming to Paris.”