The Parsifal Mosaic [antikvár]

1 The cold rays of the moon streaked dovm from the night sky and bounced oflF the rolling siuf, which burst into suspended sprays of white where isolated waves crashed into the rocks of the shoreline. The stretch of beach between the towering boulders of the Costa Brava was the execution ground. It had to be. May God damn this goddamned world—it had to be! He could see her now. And hear her through the sounds of the sea and the breaking surf. She was running wildly, screaming hysterically: "Pro boha iivéko! Proe! Co to dëléS! FfeM! Proë! Probî Her blond hair was caught in the moonlight, her racing silhouette given substance by the beam of a powerful flasUight fifty yards behind her. She fell; the gap closed and a staccato burst of gimfire abruptlv, insolently split the night air, bullets exploding the sand and the wild grass all around her. She would be dead in a matter of seconds. His love would be gone. They were high on the hill overlooking the Moldau, the boats on the river plowing the waters north and south, their wakes furrows. The curling smoke from the factories below diffused in the bright afternoon sky, obscuring the mountains in the distance, and Michael watched, wondering if the 3