"Beep, beep."
"Hello."
After two rings, Monica answered.
"Where are you?" Alessandro asked in a lowered voice.
"On my way to the Oriental Grand Hotel." Monica lowered her voice as well.
"You found the 'landmark'?" Alessandro asked.
"That's right."
"What is it?"
"A pyramid."
Alessandro was speechless for a long while.
"I had Gianluca help me find it," Monica said, as if rubbing salt in the wound. "What's going on over there?"
Alessandro looked around.
He had already slipped out of the Château de Vincennes's main building and made his way onto the castle walls. Across from him was a French Army barracks, with uniformed soldiers standing guard at the entrance.
"Go back, lock the door, and stop wandering around," Alessandro said before hanging up.
There was also a pyramid-like structure inside the barracks, though it was nothing like the Pyramid of Khufu. It had a distinctly modern style and looked as if it were made of reinforced concrete. It stood at the end of the extended line from the eastern gate of Château de Vincennes to the barracks entrance, making it easy to spot.
Breaking into a military camp could mean prison if he was lucky, or getting shot on the spot by a sentry if he was unlucky. This was not a game where he could restart after "dying."
He looked south of the castle again. There was a public park there, and beyond it stretched an endless forest.
Alessandro had heard from members of the Carbonari that when Linda lived in Château de Vincennes, soldiers had been stationed in the forest. They had served both to protect her and to watch her.
"You said you know Mrs. Smith?"
After returning to the basement of the tavern, the contact who had arrived by boat spoke.
Alessandro easily picked