Laszlo, unaware of the drama unfolding behind him, slipped around the corner of the cathedral and then down the hill towards the harbor area. He hailed a taxi and headed to the northern tip of the island and the ferry to Gozo, where his boat was berthed.

Two days later on Crete he was listening to reports on the activity of those on his personal and constantly changing `most likely to want me dead this week' list. Laszlo had recognized the Eastern European cast to the crew in the square, at least those he'd seen heading towards him but considering his activities over the past six months or so had been mainly directed towards the Russian mafia and their offshoots that provided little or no help in narrowing the field.

Paul finished his recitation of the more recent villainies of the major players and concluded with his own assessment of the situation. "Most of these folks know what your response to something like this will be and haven't been hurt to the point where it would be worth the risk. The ones who have been annoyed sufficiently are the last two: Caratenakov in Bosnia and Vasiliev now based in Albania. I've got people tracing their activities the last week or so but that'll take a day or two more. In the meantime, Tobie and Chance have returned to Malta and are making their own inquiries. They are convinced there were two ops going down in that plaza and the Stephen was the specific target of the other one."

"You spoke with them?"

"No, but one of my contacts there got a message through for me. They also stressed that Sutcliffe wants you to contact him immediately."

"Send a message to Sutcliffe through the back channel and tell him I can't now but will as soon as I can. And Paul, stay away from Tobie and Chance for now. They may use them as a line to trace back to you. I don't think either Caratenakov or Vasiliev are smart enough for that but you never know."

"Well their focus is on the attack on Stephen, not on you. I guess they think it's your business and you will deal with it yourself, but what if they turn up something?"

"Then they turn up something. It's only until we narrow the field to one name only."

"What about all the other stuff we have going on?"

"I don't think this will impact that. Djibouti is a ways away still and the rest is just information gathering right now."

"Laz, there were two requests for assistance while you were gone, one in the Congo and one on Cypress. I turned Cypress down on your behalf, knowing you have no interest in the bickering of the Turks and the Greeks. The DRC however I told that we were considering it."

"What do they want?"

"Someone to go into the South Kivu area to help document government complicity for eventual litigation regarding the violence and ongoing reprisals and they want the Mayi Mayi leader taken out."

"Tell them no."

"But, Laz, this…"

"I said tell them no. I want to focus on who is responsible for yesterday, both attacks. So we aren't taking on the Mayi Mayi this week. Tell them we'll consider the other at a later date if they are still in the market."

"OK. So where do you want to start?"

"Tobie and Chance probably have the children covered. Take the descriptions I gave you and get started on finding out their point of origin, since they all had to have flown in."

"Not by water?"

"No. I don't think so, certainly not the ones there on my behalf."

"OK. I'll get on it."

"Anything from Dinah?"

"No, nothing directly. She flew to Naples and rented a car. She is now wandering around the Amalfi coast. However, the word is out as of last night that she is a friend of Carmine Abrizzi and he is...`solicitous' for her welfare was the way it was phrased in the report."

"Now that's interesting. Pull our man back, but not out. And keep me posted."

"You worried about her?"

Laszlo laughed. "Worried, no not at all. I just want to be able to find her when I decide it's time to."

Baz left the Refuge the day after Stephen woke up. He returned first to London where he digested a mountain of information on a number of topics, then showered and slept. When he rose the next morning he left immediately for Stansted airport and his flight to Malta. He was traveling this time as himself so he hailed a taxi in Valetta and was dropped at the Excelsior Grand Hotel where he met Tobie and Chance in the restaurant for lunch without needing to suffer the exigencies of public transportation.

He spent the first few minutes on an update on Stephen and then moved on to his own questions.

Tobie and Chance had finally located enough of the children involved in the diversion to know it had been initiated by the men interested in Laszlo, not the ones targeting Stephen. Abandoning that dead end for now they had then had photos made from the disk Baz had supplied them with and had gone hotel to hotel showing the photos. Yesterday at the British hotel they'd gotten their first break.

"The guy at the desk said they checked in a few days before and rode bikes. The day of they returned, and this is why the guy remembered them so well…they were really disheveled and one of them had a new cut on his face and a lot of blood on his shirt. He says they checked out immediately, bikes and all." Chance stopped there, until the waiter was gone.

"They made no phone calls and other than appearing rather uncomfortable, they were just two guys."

"Did you get anything on nationality?"

Tobie took up the tale, "No, and that was even stranger. Ordinarily you have to show your passport at the desk when you check in, but these guys didn't or if they did there wasn't anything in the register. He told me, though, that the guy who actually checked them in would be at work tomorrow so I'm going back then to see what he remembers."

"OK what else? You were checking the airport to see how they left?"

"Still no trail there. It's possible with those bikes they didn't fly in, that they came in by boat, so we're checking that out as well."

Baz nodded. "I'm not surprised. It is possible they simply teleported here, posed as Maltese and that was that. Certainly it would have been simple enough to pull off."

"I agree," Chance said. "Also Laszlo has had people here, but I think they left a few days ago. Did you ever talk to him?"

"No, though he sent a message that he could right now and would be in touch when he could."

"Things are panned out here, I'd say. So what next, Baz?" Tobieasked.

"I am inclined to think that unless we find some trace of those two men, the trail is confined to the Awakened themselves and we are not, last I checked, welcome on their world. So finish up here and then return. I will see what I can do there, without actually having to visit."

"So we meet you back in London?" Chance looked relieved to be leaving.

"Yes. Ring me when you arrive and we will see what's next."