Despite the extreme sensitivity of the Berlin and Mexico City operations, Ulrich Müller was not present at Zentrum headquarters that evening. Instead, for reasons not yet known to him, he was parked in a deserted lot several miles south of the city center along the western shore of the Zürichsee. The location had been chosen by a man named Karl Huber, a former underling of Müller’s at the Dienst für Analyse und Prävention, the Swiss domestic intelligence service. Huber said he had something important he needed to tell Müller. Something that couldn’t be discussed over the phone or in an enclosed room. Huber had sounded worried, but Huber usually did.

Müller glanced at his wristwatch, then looked up again to watch a car approaching from the south. Huber, he thought, right on schedule. The car turned into the lot, headlamps doused, and parked a few inches behind Müller’s bumper. Müller frowned. As always, Huber’s tradecraft was impeccable. A moment later, the DAP man was slumped in Müller’s passenger seat, a laptop computer on his lap, looking as though someone had just died.

“What’s the problem, Karl?”

“This.”

Huber powered on the laptop and clicked on an icon. A few seconds later, Müller heard the voice of Zentrum’s owner having an extremely private conversation with his wife. It was obvious from the quality of the audio that the conversation was being conducted face-to-face and was being picked up by a microphone several feet away. Müller listened only for a moment, then, with a sharp wave of his hand, instructed his former underling to shut it down.

“Where did you get this?”

Huber glanced at the ceiling but said nothing.

“Onyx?”

Huber nodded.

“What’s the source?”

“Landesmann’s mobile phone.”

“Why is the internal security service of Switzerland eavesdropping on the private conversations of Martin Landesmann?”

“We’re not. But obviously someone else is. And they’ve managed to get to more than just his mobile.”

“What else?”

“His laptop.”

Müller went pale. “What are you seeing?”

“Everything, Ulrich. And I mean everything.”

“Onyx?”

Huber nodded. “Onyx.”