structures, which were accented with yews. The buildingâs walls were strung with climbing ivy.
Toni had raced her Alfa Romeo from high in the Dolomites to Milan. On the way there she had thought about calling ahead and having local authorities detain the professor until she arrived, but she had no reason to do so. Only a hunch. And even if she had wanted to involve the locals, she couldnât. She was not to involve anyone in her current work, on the orders of her superior in Vienna. Thinking of those orders, she wondered how she could do what she had to. Sure she had stretched orders in the past, knowing she could get in trouble for her malfeasance. But this was different. She was assigned to Rome and only working on temporary assignment out of Vienna, and she barely knew the new station chief there that had given her the operational plan. Only time would tell if she did what she was told to do for this engagement.
On the drive to Milan she had gotten the beeper call from her old friend Jake Adams. He had sounded so stressed, which was totally out of character for him. She had tried to return the call, leaving a message on his service. She still wasnât sure what he was doing in Austria, but wished he was here with her now. She could use the back up. They had always worked so well together, she thought. Professionally and personally.
Her mind switched back to the reality in front of her. The BMW. There was a slight dent in the trunk, so she was certain it was the same car that had run the Austrian scientist from the road just hours ago. The only difference was the license plates, which had been conveniently changed.
Milan was much hotter than the Dolomites, so she stripped the leather jacket off and flung it to the back seat. She gazed down at her 9mm Beretta in her right hand, wondering how to conceal it without her jacket. She settled on the handbag. It always worked the best.
Placing the strap of the leather bag over her head and shoulder, she slid the gun inside and tested how she could reach in casually and draw it. It felt as natural as slipping sun glasses on, which she did now as well.
â
The late morning was beautiful, and all Giovanni Scala could think of, looking out over the sunny terrace and gardens at the University of Milan, was walking along an alpine stream and sitting among mountain flowers, dreaming of his place in history alongside his Austrian colleague.
Scala was hunched over a stainless steel table, his nimble little fingers shuffling papers into his briefcase. Anyone observing him for the first time would have thought a prodigy had invaded the university. Yet those who knew Professor Scala, no longer saw him as a man of barely five feet, for he had accomplished so much in life. In fact, he had been a prodigy. He had completed secondary school at age twelve, undergraduate studies at the University of Rome at fourteen, and his doctorate in biochemistry from this very university at seventeen. When he graduated he simply stayed on, continuing his ground-breaking doctoral DNA research. At age twenty-two, he had been the youngest man ever to achieve a full professorship in the universityâs history. He had been there now for some twenty-five years, and at forty-two, his only regret was not having time for a family. But he knew he only had room for one child in his life. His current research project. Which was presently the discovery he and Leonhard Aldo had accomplished.
He thought about Leonhard Aldo. He guessed his partner was in Innsbruck now preparing for his meeting in the morning with one of the sponsors of their research, the board of directors of Tirol Genetics.
Checking his watch, he realized that he had only two hours before his flight to Innsbruck, where he would meet Leonhard for dinner and they would discuss last minute changes for their presentation.
He had come down out of the Dolomites the day before to brief the head of the universityâs research department