That was an incredible coincidence.
It took me a moment before I understood what this meant for us: We had the thief. Well, at least his identity. "Where...how do you know him?"
"He betrayed us. Me first and foremost. He made me think he was dead."
And then the scales fell from my eyes. "Your friend? The one who was supposed to find the ring?"
A bitter smile had crept onto the elf's lips. "That's the one."
"But... The message on the voicemail."
"I told you: he was clever."
Oh man. I couldn't imagine how Legolas had felt when he'd found that out. How long had he had to believe that this person had died, only to have to uncover the worse truth? That also explained his reaction, back in the interrogation room. "I'm so sorry."
"You shouldn't be. It was bound to happen."
"What do you mean?"
"He's always been doubtful."
We lapsed into silence again until something occurred to me. "How could he steal the ring first and then leave that voicemail message? If I remember correctly, it sounded like he was looking for it."
Legolas tilted his head. "He did."
"I don't understand."
"It's not easy. He managed to fool everyone, after all." He took a few seconds to continue. "After the ring was stolen, the kingdom was in turmoil. He offered to search for Narya. We trusted him, so why shouldn't we have allowed him to go on this mission?"
True. If I was asked I would stake my life on my best friend, I would do it with no hesitation. At the thought of her, a guilty conscience flashed through me. "So he was both thief and savior?"
"So it seems."
I snorted. "At least until he faked his death. After that, he was nothing at all and could do whatever he wanted."
Legolas nodded again as I watched the waitress struggle to get to us with two glasses of beer. "And why are we still sitting here? Shouldn't we be hot on his heels by now?"
The expression on Legolas' face was pretty clear: he wanted nothing more than that, but something was stopping him.
"Before I can put an end to this charade, we have to ditch the agency first."
Ah yes. Nearly forgot about that. I looked around, "I don't see anything."
"Oh, they're here."
My scalp began to tingle, and I tried to figure out which of all these people was tailing us. The drunk sitting at the counter, nearly drowning in his beer glass? The couple feeding each other pasta? Or the waitress who was at that moment putting the drinks down in front of us?
"Here you go."
Legolas nodded at her, but didn't touch the beer. I took a sip. If I hadn't been quick enough to order some food, I wanted to at least enjoy this. "Where?"
"Two next to the entrance, one at the counter."
Discreetly, or so I hoped, I let my gaze wander over the many heads. Indeed, the guys described by the elf looked much more sober than the rest of the pub and tried hard not to look in our direction. And now it became clear to me why Legolas had led us in here: Outside he would never have had them all so close together. In the stuffy room, however, it must have been easy for him to spot them.
I took another sip of beer. Next to us, a raucous conversation about the pros and cons of goal-line technology was underway, growing more heated by the second. I glanced at Legolas and noticed that he was watching the group very closely. Or rather, that he was waiting for something.
And then it happened: Someone tipped his beer over the trousers of one of the brawlers and the scene escalated. The man who had been poured on grabbed his counterpart by the collar and gave him a hard right hook. The friends of the beaten man now began to attack in their turn and within no time the fists of all involved were flying.
"Come on, let's get out of here." I felt Legolas' fingers closing around my forearm and pulling me to my feet.
So now was the appropriate time.
Stooping, we crept toward the counter, away from the brawl. Since everyone was busy separating the men, it was unoccupied. And behind him was the emergency exit.
I glanced over my shoulder, trying to locate the agency people. But except for the bickering men wedged into each other and the enormous noise, I noticed nothing.
The elf pushed open the door and the cold night air hit me. A light drizzle fogged the lenses of my glasses.
"Not so fast."
I winced and whirled around. There stood the agents, and all three of them had their weapons pointing on us.
My heart stopped as I stared at the muzzles of them, mesmerized. Of course, I didn't move an inch. "You know why we're here."
It was the one of the men standing in the middle who had spoken. And it hadn't sounded like a question.
"Indeed," I heard Legolas reply. My tongue, just like the rest of my body, was still trapped in a kind of rigidity of shock.
"Then you also know that you will now lead us to him."
"I could do that."
My head wheeled around to Legolas. What was he saying? They were pointing their damn guns at us! What did he mean could? The agents seemed to think similarly, because one laughed.
The pressure of his hand on my arm intensified. " But I could also do this."
And with those words, he tossed something to the agents. As if in slow motion, I saw the thing fly through the air and then hit the ground. Then I was grabbed and pushed behind the next corner of the house with incredible speed.
Not a second too late.
The bang shook my entire body. I had not even been able to cover my ears, so now an unpleasant beeping made any communication impossible. The bright flash of light had also blinded me so much that when I tried to focus on my surroundings, only stars danced before my eyes.
I saw nothing. I heard nothing. And to make matters worse, I couldn't feel Legolas either.
Shit. Had that been a grenade?
Panic rose in me and I felt blindly over the ground with my fingers. But except for the tar of the road, I could find nothing. I was alone. He had left me alone. What was I supposed to do? I had to get out of here. But how, when I could see nothing?
The beat of my heart almost drove me crazy because it sounded so fast and fearful. Oh God, he had killed them just like that. Without hesitation. And for what? For a ring!
My fingers brushed against what felt like a pipe and I clung to it, my eyes squeezed tight.
Two hands grabbed me by the waist and pulled me relentlessly away from my lifeline. I didn't dare resist, and I was also far too busy trying to suppress the burgeoning nausea.
After a while, the hissing and beeping in my right ear slowly subsided and I heard the elf's footsteps. That it was he who carried me, I knew instinctively. Who else could it have been?
I would have liked to hit him.
He had sacrificed those men. Without hesitation. He could have solved the situation differently, should have solved it differently. He could have...
They would have done the same to you.
The thought came so abruptly that I winced. It sounded like a justification for what had happened. But that didn't make it any better. Not by a long shot.
Legolas set me down and I opened my eyes. The stars were gone and I looked around. We were in a street lit by lanterns at irregular intervals. I smelled the nearby water.
"Are you all right?"
I shook my head. "I can't hear anything in my left ear... it's..."
"Then you'll stay here."
The spirits of life shot back into my body. " The hell I will!"
In one leap I was on my feet, but I had to hold on to the wall of the house against which he had leaned me. The dizziness was so strong that I almost blacked out.
Legolas sighed, "All right."
He turned away and fiddled with something. What it was, I couldn't make out.
I watched him.
His profile was just as sharp as it had been the day he had first appeared on my balcony. And after what he had just done, he seemed just as dangerous to me as he had then. I was afraid of him. I realized that now.
"Here." He handed me a gun.
Without returning his gaze, I took it. "What do you want me to do with this?"
"To defend yourself."
"So that's what you call it." I had uttered the sentence before I could bite my tongue.
His voice sounded sharp as he asked, "What do you mean?"
"Nothing." He eyed me, but then turned and pointed to the end of the street. "We have to get to the port."
I pushed back my feelings, locked them in, and told myself it would soon be over. Soon I would never do this again. Until then, I had to keep it together.
Carefully, I put the gun in my jacket pocket. Where had the other one that Legolas had given me gone? As a precaution, I pulled the zipper closed so that it could not ominously disappear again and followed the elf.
We walked side by side in silence. There was nothing we could have discussed.
We crossed two bridges and always kept close to the water. "Where are we going?"
He turned around, "There's supposed to be a tunnel here."
I frowned. "There are a thousand tunnels here."
"It should be old."
What was old to him?
"And run under the river."
Did he perhaps mean... "The old Elbe tunnel?", I asked - more on the off chance than really believing he could mean this tourist attraction.
"Yes."
"Really?"
He didn't answer.
Fine.
I looked around. During the day, people crowded around the excursion steamers and ferries. But at night the quay and the pontoons were deserted.
We passed through the passages to the pontoons and a little later we were standing in front of the entrance to the tunnel.
"It's locked."
I rolled my eyes. Of course it was, "I could have told you that before."
Legolas hissed and I took a step back. He didn't seem to be in the mood for flippant remarks. "We have to go down there."
"But we can't."
He slammed his hand against the wall and paced. I had never seen him so nervous.
Okay, we needed a solution. I took three more steps back and surveyed the mess. There was no way through the large driveways for the cars. But hadn't I come in at night with my then boyfriend on my first visit to Hamburg? How had we managed that?
Without paying further attention to the elf, I continued to the right.
And then I saw it: The pedestrian entrance.
