Her two employees looked wild-eyed, there was blood everywhere and through the window they could see the French DGSE agent in hot pursuit of the three men, shooting at them as they leapt into the moving truck and took off at full speed. He was certain he had wounded one of them, and the one he had injured in the living room was too badly hurt to move. The other two were dead.

As soon as the truck sped off, he called in the description and license plate to his superiors, reported what had happened, and rushed back into the house to make sure that Theo wasn’t hurt. She was badly shaken and sitting on the floor, the tape and rope binding her hands removed. She sat between the two dead men, and the DGSE man put handcuffs on the injured man who’d been shot in the shoulder and leg. The agent had saved Theo’s life, and had been chosen for the detail for his expert marksman skills. He was well aware of the risk he had taken, shooting so close to her, but he was certain that if they took her, they would kill her sooner or later, probably after they got the ransom again. His shooting the foreman in the head had been an act of desperation, which had saved her.

She had bits of the dead man’s brain all over her, and blood smeared everywhere. The agent knelt beside her to make sure she wasn’t hurt, and he asked her questions while carefully examining her. She was untouched. The bullet had gone right past her into its intended target.

“I’m sorry,” the agent said kindly. “I had no choice, before they took you.”

“Thank you,” she said in a shaking voice. “I’m okay.” She looked like she was about to faint. There was a pool of blood soaking into the Persian carpet, and more splashed on the upholstery. The agent helped her to her feet to lead her away from the bodies and the injured kidnapper, then asked Franck to take her to the kitchen and sit her in a chair. Her legs could hardly hold her as he walked her to the kitchen with an arm around her waist. The agent remained with his gun pointed at the injured kidnapper.

They could hear sirens in the distance by then. A moment later, the driveway was filled with police cars and an ambulance. And moments after that, an unmarked DGSE car arrived with two senior agents. The injured kidnapper was bleeding profusely but not at risk of dying, and a police paramedic tended to him. They wanted a statement from him before they took him away. They put him on a gurney where the DGSE sergeant gave him the opportunity to confess and inform on his co-conspirators, only to discover that he spoke no French and only Russian.