Spotting an in-service taxi at a stoplight, he hailed it with his good arm. The driver waved him in and Slaton careened into the backseat, whipping the door shut behind him.

“Gustav Vasa church,” he said breathlessly. “I’m late. How long will it take?”

“Fifteen minutes,” the driver said, not questioning the idea of being late for church on a Sunday morning.

Slaton threw a hundred-dollar bill through the Plexiglas window—there was no time for subtly. He caught the man’s eyes in the mirror. “Make it ten.”

Not another word was spoken. The cab jumped ahead.

Slaton examined his arm. Pain, moderate bleeding, but his shirt helped mask the damage—red on red. He settled back into the seat and felt his heart thumping, something you never noticed until the downside of a firefight.

The driver was worthy. He ran two red lights and hurtled over a curb to reach the church in nine minutes. Slaton got out and started toward the main chapel where a large crowd was spilling into the street. Tourists perhaps, or well-blessed parishioners leaving the midmorning service. He didn’t bother to differentiate. As soon as the cab was out of sight, Slaton reversed course and walked fifty yards to the Odenplan subway entrance. He quick-stepped down and disappeared.

Chapter 12

TWELVE

Sanderson was concentrating on a computer screen in the criminal forensics division, a video that had been captured two days earlier by the security camera of a Strandvägen bank. A silver Audi was parked along the street, blurry and distant, and the technician seated beside him tinkered with the image until the license plate became clear.

“And you ran it?” Sanderson asked.

“The number doesn’t exist—it’s probably been altered.”

Sanderson frowned, but was not surprised. “What about the car? Any luck identifying it?”

“No reports of that make and model being stolen, and we haven’t found anything similar abandoned.”

“What about our suspects? We could really use a good photograph or two.”

The tech sorted computer files like a magician running a card trick. He pulled up a half dozen photos. “These are the best we’ve been able to find.”