The man saw Seth’s gun and quickly stepped close to the wall, out of the line of fire. The elevator closed again against the fallen killer and Seth stooped to get a grip on the body. As he hauled it into the car, the doors slammed against the man’s ankles and again retracted.

When the doors opened fully, the second man was standing there, and instead of the radio, he was holding a pistol, the twin of the one Seth now held. For an instant the two men stared at each other, dumb and surprised. Then each raised his weapon and brought it to bear. Seth was a split second faster and a hair more accurate. He felt the pistol recoil firmly in his hand once, twice and then dived to safety. As the doors closed firmly this time, Seth caught a glimpse of the man as he fell to his knees and then went face first onto the carpet.

Inside the descending elevator, Seth rolled the dead killer’s body over and found two additional clips for the automatic. He stuffed them into his trouser pockets.

“Who …” Zoe’s voice cracked. She cleared her thrbat and tried again. “Who were they?”

Seth shook his head and continued his search of the dead man’s body. He pulled out the man’s wallet and flipped it open. There was a thick wad of currency: Swiss francs, Austrian shillings, a scattering of German marks. Among the stack of credit cards, Seth found a photo ID that identified him as Bernhard Saltzer, an employee of the Thule Gesellschaft Bank.

He held the card up for Zoe to see. “Herr Mutters wasn’t the only person here prepared to service those who came for the contents of that box.”

The elevator began to slow at the ground floor. “Here, keep this,” he said, handing her the man’s wallet. The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Seth picked up the metal briefcase and pushed at the door that would detach itself from the paneled wall in the reception room. He stepped from the elevator. Next to him the guard was slumped over his massive wooden desk, blood streaming from a small round hole in his temple.

Sitting at the sofa was a man dressed in a black uniform with red piping. It took Seth a second to recognize one of the Salvation Army band members. Another stood by the front door to the reception room. Both men looked surprised to see Seth. They froze for an instant.

The Salvation Army band member sitting on the sofa raised a lumpy device that Ridgeway recognized as a H&K MP5A. Ridgeway stepped quickly back into the recesses of the elevator, stumbling over Zoe as he did. They tangled feet and fell to the floor just as slugs from the H&K thudded dully into the paneled walls of the elevator car.

“Schnell! Schnell!” Quickly! Quickly! Seth heard his assailant shout. Seth untangled himself from Zoe and, aiming from his knees, fired a shot at the onrushing killer with the machine pistol. The shot slapped into the man’s belly and straightened him up, his face a mask of wide-eyed surprise. Apparently no one had told him Ridgeway would be armed. Seth took advantage of the man’s surprise and fired again. Most of the man’s right eye vanished in a spray of red and pink.