‘Are you sure?’ asked Scholz. Fabel scrambled to his feet and recovered his automatic. He stood beside Scholz and also locked his aim on the figure.

‘You’re right, Fabel. I’m not Vitrenko. He’ll be long gone by now. He told you that he wouldn’t walk into a trap.’

‘Who are you?’

‘Pylyp Gnatenko. As far as you’re concerned, a nobody.’

‘A nobody prepared to die or go to prison to buy your boss a few minutes to escape?’ asked Fabel.

‘If that’s what it takes. You still know nothing about our code, Fabel.’

‘Step out of the shadows. I want to see your face properly.’

There was a sound from behind them and Fabel spun around.

‘Maria?’ Fabel stared uncomprehendingly at the figure before him. Maria was dressed in cheap black clothes and looked painfully thin, her face pale and pinched. Almost grey. There was an ugly swollen welt across her forehead. Her blonde hair had been cropped and dyed black, just as the hotel clerk had told Fabel. She was aiming two automatics directly at the Ukrainian. Scholz swung his aim round onto her.

‘It’s okay! It’s okay!’ shouted Fabel. ‘It’s Maria. The officer I told you about.’

‘If it’s not too much trouble,’ said Scholz, ‘could you tell me what the fuck is going on?’

‘That’s him,’ said Maria. ‘The devil is here.’

‘We don’t know if it’s Vitrenko,’ said Scholz. ‘He says he’s just one of his stooges. I think you’d better give me those guns, Frau Klee.’

‘His eyes, Jan. Look at his eyes. He couldn’t change his eyes.’

‘Step out of the shadow. Now!’ Fabel kept his gun trained on the figure.

He smiled as he stepped into the light. He was too young, too dark to be Vitrenko. But Fabel knew, as soon as the emerald eyes glinted in the light cast from the high windows, that that was exactly who it was. ‘I thought my new face might fool you, but unfortunately Frau Klee has already seen it.’

‘He told me he was a Ukrainian called Taras Buslenko.’

‘The policeman they sent after him?’

Maria nodded.

Vitrenko placed his hands on his head. ‘I am your prisoner,’ he said. ‘No tricks.’

‘You’ll give in that easily?’ said Fabel. ‘I don’t believe it.’

‘There are many ways to escape,’ said Vitrenko. ‘As Frau Klee has already discovered. We found the remains of the guards, Maria. Poor Olga. It would appear your bite is worse than your bark. Anyway, like I said, there are many, many ways to escape. And I know that your Federal Crime Office will want to negotiate over what information I can give them. After all, I’ve given them a lot already.’