The Project 05 - The Tesla Secret

with two needle-shaped towers of whitish stone. The towers were over 90 feet high. Everything about the castle was big. The Basilica of St. George was no exception.
    They strolled through the castle grounds until they reached the Basilica. They went in with their watchers not far behind. Their footsteps echoed on the hard stone floor. Nick looked around and pointed at a side chapel.
    "That looks like a good, quiet spot."
    The tour map identified the chapel as the shrine of Vratislav I. A sign with closed in four languages hung from a chain strung across the entrance between two metal stands. They stepped around the barrier and into the shrine.
    It was an impressive room. The high, arched ceiling had been fitted together with a master stone mason's skill. At the far end of the chapel, wide stairs swept up in matching curves to a curved apse with tall windows. The dome-like ceiling of the apse bore faded paintings of religious figures against a white background. Afternoon sun streamed though the windows and filled the chapel with light.
    The tomb of the saint was to their right. It looked like a small wooden house set on a stone base and was decorated with a painting of a nun and a bishop holding a staff. The bishop knelt in front of the nun. Nick didn't have time to contemplate the symbolism. Blue Cap and Suspenders came in. Steel flashed in their hands.
    "Go for the high ground," he said. "There's room to move up there. Try not to use your gun."
    They ran up the stairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY- THREE

    The two Serbian killers split and came up the stairs on each side of the apse. Selena and Nick waited for them near the windows. Blue Cap had a long, shiny switch blade. He tossed it from hand to hand and smiled. Nick watched them come. He turned to Selena.
    "I hate knives."
    "So do I."
    "To hell with the noise." He pulled his pistol out. Selena did the same.
    The two Serbs froze. They hadn't expected that.
    "Drop the knives." Nick's voice was harsh. "Do it."
    The one wearing suspenders looked at Blue Cap. Blue Cap was the leader. He nodded. The knives clattered on the stones.
    "You will not shoot," Blue Cap said. "If shoot, police come, you die in jail quick. I guarantee this."
    "Your English is pretty good for something I'd usually scrape off my shoe. Tell us who sent you."
    "No one send. We are seeing sights. We see rich American tourist, think you have money. Just business. You should let us go now."
    "Who told you we were American? We're Canadian, asshole. You were waiting for us in the cafe. Who told you we'd be there?"
    "Okay, you Canadian. Having coffee in cafe." He shrugged. "No one sends us." He grinned.
    "Get down on your knees."
    Blue Cap didn't like that.
    "You make mistake."
    "Down. Now."
    The two men got down on their knees.
    "Put your hands behind your back." Nick took a roll of electrician's tape from his pocket and gave it to Selena.
    "Cuff 'em, Dano."
    "What?"
    "You never watched Hawaii Five-O? Doesn't matter. Wrap this around their wrists and hands. Bind them tight. We'll take a little walk to the police station. I know who you are, Jovanovich. The cops might be interested in Srebrenica."
    Blue Cap was fast. As Selena stepped forward, he fell forward onto his hands in sudden movement and swept his legs across and knocked Selena down. He grabbed for her gun. She rolled toward him and slammed her elbow into the side of his head and followed with a hammered fist into his solar plexus. He gasped and stopped fighting. His partner tried to get up. Nick brought the Sig down hard on top of his head, then hit him again to make sure. The man sprawled unconscious on the floor. Selena got to her feet. They taped the men's hands behind them.
    Jovanovich groaned. Blood trickled from his ear.
    "What do we do with them?" she asked.
    "We talk to our friend here. Then we turn them in. Interpol's going to love it. Give me your gun."
    She handed it to him. He took the pistols and went over to a tall, wide vase filled with flowers next to the wall and dropped the guns in.
    "I've done enough sightseeing for one day."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

    Back in the hotel, Nick had Harker on the satellite phone.
    "Jovanovich talked. He doesn't know who hired him, but he's worked for the same person before."
    "Yes?"
    "Jovanovich makes his living killing people. His first job for whoever is after us was a little over three years ago. He knifed a clerk from the Tesla Museum in Belgrade and made it look like a sex deal gone wrong. The clerk had