Description: One I Radio Intercept, Paris: September 9, 2013, 19:30 hours. Groupe d''Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale: Code Red Alert. ". . . Batobus Manon dockside at Muse d''Orsay. Several bodies seen floating in river. Manon heading east on river. Anonymous tip reports area of Notre Dame to be target of attack by Muqatileen Lillah. This is a GIGN Code Red Alert. Engage Operation Dragon Fortress. Repeat: This is a GIGN Code Red Alert. Engage Operation Dragon Fortress. Level A terrorist strike in progress. Six men wearing black jumpsuits and balaclavas, carrying light automatic weapons have hijacked Batobus Manon dockside at Muse d''Orsay. Several bodies seen floating in river . . ." Harper''s mobile reconnected to Operations Control in Berne. "Did you copy that transmission, Mr. Harper?" "The enemy tipped off the police." "Indeed, they plan to make a show of it. The world''s news media will be all over the story in a few minutes." "You''re sure the bomb is on board?" "Affirmative." "How many goons?" "Standard kill squad of six." "Time to target?" "Tactical gives it eighteen minutes at present speed and course." "Can the mechanics shift the time warp?" "Negative. It''s locked over Saint-Sulpice." Swell, Harper thought. Plan A looked great on paper. Goons attack, Inspector Gobet''s time mechanics drop a warp over Saint-Sulpice. Harper sorts the goons, cleanup crew secures the bomb. Just another night in paradise. None of the Parisian locals the wiser as they take aperitifs in nearby cafs. "Then now''s the time for suggestions, Inspector." "Tactical is transmitting a counterattack to your mobile as I speak." A map of Paris appeared on Harper''s mobile screen, zoomed in on the border of the 6th and 1st arrondissements. Two dots appeared marking Pont Alexandre III and Notre Dame; a third dot triangulated Harper''s position at Rue de Mzires, then a line appeared marking a track to l''Acadmie franaise on the Left Bank. "Double-time it, Mr. Harper, and you''ll reach the river ahead of the Manon. From there you''ll have an opportunity to intercept." "Just how am I supposed to get aboard, swim?" "Tactical suggests something more along the lines of flight." "What?" "Old tricks being what they are, Mr. Harper." The map zoomed into a footbridge above the river Seine, directly in front of l''Acadmie franaise. Manon ''s course would bring her directly under Pont des Arts. The map flipped to side view and an arrow marked height from bridge to river. It was a thirty-five-meter drop; winds: southwest at nine klicks per hour. "You can''t be serious." "In the last few minutes, SX sweeps have popped hot with chatter on the Internet. Signals decode the chatter to read the bomb is worse than suspected." "Define ''worse.'' " "The enemy has successfully bonded the Ra-226 with agony potion." Harper worked the chemistry. Ra-226: radium, rare earth metal. Number 88 on the periodic table of elements, highly toxic. Pack enough of it with explosives, you''ve got a dirty nuke. Bond it with agony potion, you''ve got a fucking nightmare. "Christ, they''ll turn the center of Paris into a dead zone." II The pilot of the MANON felt the blade slice across his throat and he watched his blood spill down his chest. In the last moment of his life, he heard voices and screams . . . "We bring you forever death!" "No, please!" "Oh, God! Help me!" "Get the skins together!" The hostages fell atop one another as they were herded to the center of the cabin. They huddled between the benches and watched six hooded men move quickly to take control of the boat. Four of the men squeezing the hostages together, another carrying a large backpack and rushing to the outer deck at the stern, one more taking the helm and hitting switches to kill the cabin and pilot lights. The Manon was cast into darkness. Abu Jad, at the outer edge of the hostages, held his daughter close to his chest to hide her from the hijackers. It was her ninth birthday and this was to be her present: a trip to Disneyland Paris and a night cruise of the river Seine to see Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was all the little girl dreamed about since seeing The Hunchback of Notre Dame on DVD last year in Beirut. She knew all the songs from the film. She was singing her favorite of the songs to her father as the boat docked near Muse d''Orsay to take on a family of German tourists. That''s when the hijackers appeared from the shadows. Long knives in their hands, machine guns strapped across their chests. And though Abu Jad heard the hijackers'' leader shouting his commands in Arabic, there were French and Americans and Asians on board, too, all of them seeming to understand the leader''s commands. "Get down on your knees! All of you!" The hostages sank to the deck. Abu Jad felt his daughter''s face against his chest; her eyes squeezed shut, her voice singing quietly: "But suddenly an angel has smiled at me, and kissed my cheek without a trace of fright." Abu Jad stroked his daughter''s hair. He whispered in her ear. "Yes, my darling Rima, God will send an angel to protect us." Abu Jad felt the tip of a bloodied blade under his chin, forcing him to look up into the leader''s eyes. "Perhaps you should pray to me, little man." "I . . . I pray only to God." "Hal ante muta''aked wa ana al lathy mumsek bi rouh ibnaitka alkhalida ayuha al rajul?" the leader said. "I hear your words as Arabic, but you are not speaking Arabic. How can this be? Who are you?" The leader moved the blade from Abu Jad''s chin and traced it through Rima''s long hair. "Aren''t you the clever little man?" Abu Jad pulled Rima to his chest. "I beg you to have mercy on my child." The leader set the tip at Abu Jad''s throat. "Tell me who I am, clever little man, tell me and I will be merciful to the little skin." The black eyes staring at him, Abu Jad thought, were not even human. No, they were the eyes of the evil jinn. "You are not a man, you are a demon escaped from hell!" Abu Jad cried. "May God send an angel to crush you and protect the innocent!" The leader''s evil eyes glared with hate. "Tsk, tsk, little man. Haven''t you heard? There is no heaven, there is no hell. There is only this place." By the time he finished the words, the demon had buried his blade in Abu Jad''s throat. III Harper ran up Rue de Seine, crashed through the tables at Caf La Palette. Just after Place Gabriel Piern, he cut through the passageway off Rue des couffes and came onto the esplanade of l''Acadmie franaise. At first sight things were as they should be of an autumn night. Traffic speeding down Quai de Conti, bouquiniste stands along the embankment walls, people crowding around. Traffic lights turned red and cars and buses stopped. Pedestrians hurried to and from Pont des Arts, the footbridge stretching above the river to le Louvre. Harper checked his watch: four minutes to intercept. He moved into the shadows along the limestone faade of l''Acadmie. He stood motionless and unseen, watching Pont des Arts. The footbridge was one of the city''s favorite gathering places. And tonight, hundreds of locals had come to sit on the wooden planks and picnic and wave to the tour boats passing below. Words flashed through Harper''s eyes. Words he''d read somewhere . . . For the world''s more full of weeping than you can understand. A local wrote those words , Harper thought. A poet, maybe . Harper reached under his coat, unhooked the lock straps of his killing knives. He drew his SIG Sauer, loaded a 9-millimeter hollow-point into the firing chamber. He pulled the decocker, eased down the hammer, imagining what he''d tell the poet over a pint: It''s the war, mate, eternal and forever . . . "But it wasn''t supposed to be this way." An EC135 police chopper dropped from the sky with a growl, skimmed the heads of the locals on the bridge before racing downstream. It hovered over Pont Alexandre III, searchlight switching on, lighting up the dark river below. Airborne French coppers , Harper thought, searching for the Manon. Another chopper roared in from over the Tuileries, searchlight already blazing. It circled above Pont de la Concorde, drifted slowly upriver toward Muse d''Orsay. The locals on the Pont des Arts fell quiet, all eyes following the two shafts of light like moths to flames. Sirens. Harper looked upriver, saw the spinning blue lights of police vans turning onto Pont Neuf. The vans skidded to a stop, doors burst open, and a company of GIGN deployed across the length of the bridge. Snipers armed with M82s took positions in the downstream bastions. The rest of the company draped a curtain of heavy chains over the bridge''s arches. The chains reached down into the river. And that would be Operation Dragon Fortress , thought Harper. Meaning no matter what, Batobus Manon was not getting beyond Pont Neuf. He checked his watch again: three minutes. "Right then." He stepped from the shadows, marched toward Pont des Arts. He saw a platoon of French police storm Pont des Arts from the Right Bank. They were decked out in body armor and helmets with blast shields. They were armed with PSR assault rifles. The locals on the bridge made way for the platoon, many of them capturing the action on their mobile phones. The platoon''s lieutenant raised his mask and yelled through a loudspeaker: "vacuez le pont! vacuez le pont!"

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