A flight attendant leaned over to remove the detritus of Nemo’s tea and told them both to put away their tray tables and raise their seats to the upright position.

“Of course,” said Nemo with a smile. “We certainly want to be uncomfortable in case of a crash.”

“Should you call attention to yourself like that?” whispered Patton after the attendant had moved on.

“I promise you people use that line on him all the time. He’ll forget me by the time he’s at the back of the cabin. But I did distract him from looking at the notebook that has the words ‘Project Alchemy Successful’ underlined about six times.”

“I guess you’re pretty good at manipulating people,” said Patton, wondering to what extent Nemo had successfully manipulated her over the past day and a half.

“It’s not exactly manipulation,” said Nemo. “It’s just directing their attention where you want it to go—like a magician. And considering what else you wrote down, I thought some misdirection would be wise.”

Nemo nodded to the notebook in Patton’s lap and pointed to the two words written at the bottom of the page. Two words she had guessed might end the message.

“Heil Hitler.”

Erich and Karl couldn’t believe their luck. Because of their foray into Tennessee, they were too late to catch any overnight flights to London, but Gottfried had booked them on a morning flight out of Atlanta. When they had arrived at the gate, the woman whose picture Gottfried had sent them had been standing in the boarding line beside a man who, they decided, must be the assassin.

“I’m still sore where that bastard hit me with the tranquilizer dart,” hissed Erich. “He’s gonna pay for that.”

“Shut up,” said Karl. “We can’t let them see us.” He made a quick call to headquarters to relay the good news as he and Erich lurked at the far end of the boarding gate, their backs to Patton and Nemo. Remaining hidden from their quarry had proved easy. Nemo and Patton disappeared into the first-class cabin; Karl and Erich were flying economy. “The class system will do all the work for us,” said Karl.

They had gotten off the flight when the first-class passengers were already in the immigration lines, and still managed to spot Nemo and Patton disappearing into the restrooms in the terminal. They hid behind newspapers and Erich didn’t realize what had happened until Karl nudged him and nodded toward the door. A dark-haired man in a Versace suit and Gucci sunglasses strode toward the exit carrying only a shiny new leather weekend bag. Behind him a short-haired blond in jeans and a ball cap dragged a battered suitcase.

“What about them?” said Erich.

“That’s them,” said Karl, tossing down his newspaper and getting up.

“They don’t look anything like them,” said Erich.