Outside the Salle des Etats, Bezu Fache was fuming as Louvre warden Grouard explained howSophie and Langdon had disarmed him. Why didn't you just shoot the blessed painting!

　　"Captain?" Lieutenant Collet loped toward them from the direction of the command post. "Captain,I just heard. They located Agent Neveu's car.""Did she make the embassy?""No. Train station. Bought two tickets. Train just left."Fache waved off warden Grouard and led Collet to a nearby alcove, addressing him in hushedtones. "What was the destination?""Lyon.""Probably a decoy." Fache exhaled, formulating a plan. "Okay, alert the next station, have the trainstopped and searched, just in case. Leave her car where it is and put plainclothes on watch in casethey try to come back to it. Send men to search the streets around the station in case they fled onfoot. Are buses running from the station?""Not at this hour, sir. Only the taxi queue.""Good. Question the drivers. See if they saw anything. Then contact the taxi company dispatcherwith descriptions. I'm calling Interpol."Collet looked surprised. "You're putting this on the wire?"Fache regretted the potential embarrassment, but he saw no other choice.

　　Close the net fast, and close it tight.

　　The first hour was critical. Fugitives were predictable the first hour after escape. They alwaysneeded the same thing. Travel. Lodging. Cash. The Holy Trinity. Interpol had the power to makeall three disappear in the blink of an eye. By broadca............