For Mann had no interest in Tony. His goal had been the drawer of the chart table. He wrenched it open and thrust his hand inside. It emerged holding a large, clumsy revolver. He looked at it wonderingly for a moment then put the barrel in his mouth. Tony looked on, powerless and aghast, as Mann’s finger tightened on the trigger. But instead of a violent explosion, there was merely a dry metallic click.

Mann pulled the gun from his mouth and stared at it with a puzzled expression. At that moment, Marijke burst through the wheelhouse door, her Walther P5 braced in her hands. Instantly she took in the scene: Tony helpless on the floor, Mann brandishing a gun. In a split second, she made her decision.

For the second time inside a minute, a finger tightened on a trigger.

This time, bone, brains and blood spattered the immaculate wheelhouse of the Wilhelmina Rosen.

It was over.

Epilogue

Epilogue

It wasn’t that there was nothing to say; more that there was too much, and neither knew where to start. Or even whether starting at all was a good idea.

The ground they finally met on was as neutral as it could get. They sat opposite each other in a café in the international departures lounge of Schipol Airport. Not only was this a physical no-man’s-land, it was also a meeting that had finite limits, since both had planes to catch.

For a while, they sat in a silence that felt easier than speech. Carol’s nose would never be quite the same, but the Berlin hospital had done a good job of resetting it. The bruising had mostly subsided, though her eyes still looked puffy, as if she’d cried herself to sleep. Tony’s injuries would take longer to heal. His broken fingers were still troublesome and his ribs a perpetual torment. But that would pass.

Both had done everything in their power to start mending themselves. But each feared that what had been broken inside the other might never be fixed.

It was Carol who eventually broke the silence. ‘You remember what Radecki said at the end?’

Tony nodded. ‘That he’d won because you’d never be free of him?’

‘Yes.’ She stirred her coffee. ‘He was wrong, you know. You see, he never got inside me. Only my body. And that doesn’t count. Not really. He’s the one who’s never going to be free. Because I did get inside him. So he didn’t win, Tony.’

Tony’s smile was barely perceptible, but it reached his eyes. ‘I’m glad. You’re going to stay in the police?’