“I saw a dump truck parked at a building site just before where we turned off the main road,” said Nemo. “It’s not even midnight yet, and no one will miss it until morning. I’ll go steal it and take Jean with me to drive the van back up here. Patton, you and Ruthie can start taking this wall apart. That path isn’t too steep. I might be able to back the truck up close to the chapel to load it.”

“But then what do we do?” said Jean. “Drive a stolen truck and all this stolen gold . . . where?”

“Zurich,” said Nemo. “I have an account with a bank there and I can arrange for them to have a vault ready for us, no questions asked. It’s not even a four-hour drive.”

“So we just drive a stolen truck from Italy to Austria to Switzerland?”

“No one checks license plates,” said Nemo. “Now let’s get going. We should still have a few hours before Weiss finds this place.”

“You should,” came a voice from the back of the chapel. “But you don’t.”

Jean had already met Ingrid Weiss, and none of the others needed to be told the identity of the woman standing in the doorway and pointing a rifle at them. She was flanked by two men and a woman, all holding pistols.

“It probably wasn’t a good idea to leave your weapons in the van,” said Ingrid.

XIII

XIII

For a moment, nobody spoke, then Ruthie strode down the aisle toward the newcomers. Patton was stunned by Ruthie’s bravery. Of the four of them, Ruthie was the last one Patton expected to confront gun-wielding criminals. But then, she thought, Ruthie always was full of surprises.

“Sorry it took so long to call,” said Ruthie to Dietrich. “I had to wait until we made a rest stop.”

Patton felt as if she had been struck in the chest. She could not breathe as she tried to process what was happening. Ruthie embraced Ingrid and her companions in turn with kisses on the cheek. Patton tried to wrap her mind around the fact of this betrayal. There would be no domestic bliss, no long nights under the covers together, no revival of the long dormant relationship. And Patton had not manipulated Ruthie; on the contrary, Ruthie had manipulated her.

“You?” said Nemo, apparently as confused as Patton.

“And yes, I told them about Prague, too,” said Ruthie with sudden vitriol in her voice. “You should keep a better eye on me. Not such a big shot now, are you?”

“But how?” said Patton.

“Dietrich recruited me ages ago,” said Ruthie. “Long before you got involved in all this. He knew if they ever found the message they might need someone at Bletchley.”

“But why . . .” said Patton.