Contents

The Gutenberg Rubric

Fourteen

GERMAN POLICE patrolled the square with vicious-looking dogs. Fry approved. Drucker and Zayne had left the museum three hours ago and were escorted to their hotel. It was nearly six o’clock. The museum was closed and the staff had been led out through a rear entrance. A policeman was leading a bomb-sniffing dog up to all surfaces of the building that could be reached from the street. The dog had found nothing.

At last the inspector emerged from the building indicating there were no employees left inside. Still there was no sign of a threat. Major Dern stood with Agents Fry and Holtz near the fountain in front of the museum discussing whether the target was still under threat. The other two attacks had occurred within ten minutes after the facility closed while there were still at least a few people in the area to witness the explosion. The square had cleared as the sun set and people were mostly inside their homes, restaurants, or hotels. Dern wanted to call off the surveillance, but agreed to leave two officers on patrol for the night.

Fry turned away from the conversation toward the square after they had agreed, and told Gretchen he would go to his room to sleep and to wake him if there was any development. He wanted a meal, a shower, and a bed. Gretchen agreed to meet him in the morning. They started toward the hotel but were brought up short by a dog’s bark and angry voices shouting. Fry looked up to see Madeline Zayne walking across the square in her blue wool coat with red hair flying. She angled slightly toward the museum ignoring police orders to stop. The bomb-sniffing dog that Fry had seen near the building was straining at his leash and setting up a ruckus that the other dogs on the team were quick to pick up on.

“Doctor Zayne! Stop!” Fry yelled at the woman. On hearing his voice, she changed course and headed directly toward Fry and the museum. Something was very wrong. That’s not Zayne, Fry thought as the officer released the dog. She was a few yards away when the dog brought her down. The dog’s master was moving in with an automatic weapon drawn, shouting orders at the woman. Fry could see a device in her hand and sprinted toward her, yelling at the officer to back off. He could see the woman’s face as she turned and smiled at him past the dog. Without stopping, Fry bowled the dog over off the terrorist and rolled to the feet of the officer as the explosion rocked the Platz and knocked the officer off his feet onto Fry. Shards of paving stones pelted the two of them. Forty feet away, Gretchen was being lifted to her feet by the Major as officers rushed to the scene.

Unrecognizable body fragments followed the rubble to the ground and Fry could see in his mind the grim determination of the woman as she smiled at him and raised the trigger for the explosives she was wearing. He knew her and in the aftermath of the explosion he could see the red wig askew and her blonde hair showing beneath it. He knew exactly where he had seen her. He was struggling for his phone as the officer on top of him struggled to comfort his whimpering dog next to them. Sirens began to blare and an ambulance arrived in moments. The police officer and dog had taken more of the blast’s impact than Fry, but were both alive. The woman was dead—all for the sake of a small hole in the pavement.

“Danke. Danke,” repeated the officer as he cradled the wounded animal in his arms. He looked at Fry through a sheet of blood that ran from a cut above his eye and repeated again, “Danke.”

This was serious. In America, the bombs had been planted and set off from a distance. Fry had allowed himself to believe this group would not send suicide carriers to deliver a bomb for such small stakes; but that a suicide bomber would be the same person who had orchestrated the other explosions was unfathomable. He was on his cell phone by the time Gretchen reached him.

“Hu,” Fry barked into the phone. “What’s the status on locating the woman in the security footage of the Kane Memorial Library?”

“We have a name,” Hu responded, “but it doesn’t check out. The student ID she used to check books out was stolen.”

“I need the footage that shows her leaving the library ahead of Drucker. We need a positive ID on both her and the boy she was with,” Fry said. “Don’t worry about trying to find her, she’s here. We just need to identify the remains.”

Fry replayed the security tapes in his mind. A young woman and her apparent boyfriend leaving the library ahead of Druker. They were out of the picture when the explosion went off, but Drucker had said they were fumbling for keys as they juggled the books. There would be no rest tonight as they tried to identify the body and waited for the inevitable message claiming credit for the bombing.

Agent Fry showed up at Keith and Maddie’s room an hour before they were scheduled to join Frank and Rolf for dinner. They were shocked at the news. When they heard the sirens converging on the Platz they tried to go see what was going on, but the guard stationed in their hall asked them politely but firmly to stay in their room. Fry interrogated them about their activities during the day. Keith said he had been invited to a Museum laboratory in the lower levels to examine some recent acquisitions.

“I need to account for everyone,” Fry said. “Were your grandfather and Dr. Schneider with you?”

“Yes. They were there before we arrived,” Keith said. Agent Fry looked at him, scowling and absently twisting the ring on his finger. This time Keith was near enough that he could see the symbol on the ring. Fry turned to Maddie.

“Ms. Zayne, when is the last time you saw your brother?” he asked.

“Two days after the explosion at the Kane Library,” Maddie said. “I talk to him on a regular basis and after the explosion he became very protective.”

“Was he in town at the time of the blast.” Fry asked.

“He said he flew in from Japan,” Maddie said. “He’s kind of a free spirit and doesn’t really call anywhere home. He spends a lot of time in Iran. He has dual citizenship.”

“Did you tell your brother you were coming to Mainz?”

“Not precisely. I called him from the San Diego airport to let him know that Keith and I were doing some family research and then flying to Germany. I didn’t say Mainz in particular. You can’t think my brother is involved in this can you?”

“We believe the terrorists are getting their information about your movements from someone. So far the only people who have come up that have had contact with you and knew where you were going are your brother and the senior Mr. Drucker,” Fry said. He rubbed his eyes. “Do you know where your brother is now?”

“No. He said he was going to resume his trip the last time I talked to him, so I assumed that meant Japan.” Maddie shook her head. “He’s a little paranoid, but he’s not the kind of guy who would bomb buildings.”

“I’d like you to take another look at this photograph,” Fry said. “Please search your memory.” He pulled a photo from his briefcase and handed it to the two.

“No,” Maddie said. “Isn’t this the photo you showed us in the hospital? There just isn’t enough detail to recognize her.”

“Yes,” Fry said. “It is from the security camera.”

“I’m in the background,” Keith said. “I don’t recognize her from my class if that is what you are thinking.”

“This young woman just blew herself up in front of the Gutenberg Museum, half an hour after it closed tonight.”

“My god,” Maddie whispered.

“Keep me informed if you have any strange contacts, see anyone following you, or think of anything that might be useful in preventing more attacks. And let me know if you’re planning to visit any more libraries on your trip.”

“Can we continue with our plans for dinner and the evening?”

“Of course. Oh, and here are your cell phones. Call me if anything develops.” Agent Fry left the room.

After a few minutes, Keith and Maddie left to join the Guild ceremony. There was no longer an officer in their hall.

“It seems we’re no longer under suspicion,” Maddie said.

“That, or we’re no longer considered worth protecting,” Keith answered thoughtfully.

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