I took his hand and squeezed it. “Your father hid it there because he knew you’d never abandon your faith,” I told him.

A shoe squeaked on the tiles behind me. I whipped around and my stomach dropped when I saw Becker standing there.

“Very clever,” he said coldly. And he held his hand out for the key.

He was between me and the exit. I backed away towards the only other door.

Becker moved closer. The General’s son moved to block his path.

“Get out of my way,” Becker snapped. “Or do you think I won’t shoot a man of God?”

The priest drew himself up to his full, impressive height. “I think my father gave me that key to keep it away from people like you,” he told Becker. Then he looked at me. “Run!” he commanded.

I turned and fled deeper into the building. Behind me, I heard a tussle, then a gunshot. I ran on, not daring to look back.

65. Danny

65

DANNY

We blasted out of an underpass and despite weighing over two tons, the car actually got air for a second as we crested the top of the hill. I spun the wheel and we turned into the plaza in front of the cathedral, sending pedestrians running. We slewed to a stop in front of the massive building and jumped out.

From inside, we heard a gunshot. JD glanced at me, looking sick: it was sinking in that his anger had put Erin in danger. But it was myself I was mad at. This is all my fault.

A few cops who’d been on patrol nearby were running towards us, shouting into their radios when they saw our guns. In a couple of minutes, the entire Berlin police force was going to descend on this place. But we couldn’t worry about that now: we had to save Erin.

We ran inside and spread out, searching. I asked everyone I saw, wishing I spoke German. I eventually started miming Erin’s long hair, and finally a nun pointed to a door. “That way? She went that way?”

I ran through the door and found the General’s son lying on the floor, a sobbing nun tending to him. He’d been shot in the stomach. I fell to my knees beside him and got pressure on the wound, like Olivia taught us. “Is an ambulance coming?” I asked the nun. She understood well enough that she nodded.

The priest reached up weakly and pointed to a door at the back of the room. I nodded my thanks, grabbed the nun’s hand and pressed it to the wound, and ran.

66. Erin

66

ERIN

I pounded down another flight of stairs, my lungs burning. Becker was old but he was far fitter than me. I could hear him steadily gaining.