Robert gasps for air and demands of Carola, who jogs by his side, “Quit lying to me! Quit running from me! Let’s work together, or we’ll both be dead.”
Carola stops, puts her hands on her knees, and tries to catch her breath. She extends her hand to Robert. “Okay,” she says, “we shake on it.”
“Let’s try Eugenio’s apartment. Maybe he left something there. A laptop. The USB.”
Carola nods. “Let’s find the cure; then we hold all the cards. I get my money. You get your wife, and we get the fuck out of Switzerland.”
“Agreed,” says Robert. “Give me the USB.”
“That trust thing, it didn’t last long. I thought we were on the same side.”
“Okay. I got this. You got the USB.” Robert displays the Korean’s gun.
Carola leads Robert to a three-story chalet. “He was renting the penthouse.”
“How do we get in?”
“There’s a balcony on the back side, and the snow is very high. We climb in.”
The snow is high, they find, but there is a gap between the snowbank and the top balcony. “How do we get across that?” asks Robert. “It’s three stories down.”
“Jump.”
“No. Look over there.” Robert points to an old toboggan leaning against the wall. “That’s an eight footer. That thing will make it.”
They climb to the top of the snowbank, pulling up the sled. Robert lowers the toboggan like a drawbridge over the gap. Carola tiptoes across while Robert holds it steady. She pulls on the sliding glass door. It opens and she enters.
“Hey! Come back here and hold for me.” But she’s already inside. Robert crawls across the toboggan gingerly, lunging onto the balcony as the toboggan starts to slide and tip.
Robert walks inside. “Thanks for your help out there.”
“What? You made it.”
Inside it’s a large and airy modern apartment, the ceiling angled above wooden crossbeams. There are signs of a struggle, a search, or a party; it’s hard to tell the difference. Eugenio’s clothes are thrown all over. All the cabinets and drawers are open. Three wigs rest in a row, nesting on a shelf. They make their way, searching, not finding.
Carola walks over to a pile of clothes and lifts out a gold pair of metallic tights.
“You and Eugenio were a couple?” Robert asks.
She shrugs her shoulders and walks toward the spacious bathroom. She starts to close the door.
“What are you doing?” Robert asks.
“I’m going to change. I’ve been wearing the same clothes for two days. Maybe I’ll even take a shower first.”
“Change here.”
“Okay.” She turns coquette. “You starting to like me? Don’t want me out of your sight?” She stares at Robert and pulls her shirt off. She reaches behind and unstraps her bra. “Why don’t we shower? Together.”
Turning away, Robert looks at a glass-topped coffee table.
“Now my feelings are hurt. You don’t want to even look at me, do you?” She fondles her breasts. “Do I make you uncomfortable now? Wait till I have to take a shit. This is going to get interesting.” She starts to slowly pull down her tights. “Don’t you want to see?”
“Fine! Get in the bathroom. But don’t lock the door and don’t take a long time. And leave the USB out here.”
Robert looks out the window at the starry sky. “Why is the world so exceedingly vibrant in some moments and drained of life in others?” he asks.
“To see the beauty, you have to look.”
“That’s what I tell my students.”
“Robert?”
He turns and meets her eyes. “Yes?” he asks.
“Do you want me?” she asks, seeking his eyes.
He shakes his head. “It’s about getting my wife back, remember?”
Suddenly she’s sullen. She steps into the bathroom and shuts the door. Robert hears the water run in the shower and relaxes for just a second. Then he hears the lock slowly click over. He looks for the USB, but it is nowhere to be found.
He turns the handle. “Open up, Carola!”
“In a second,” she calls.
Robert runs over to the fireplace and grabs a heavy andiron. He hammers at the lock once, twice, and the third time, the wood splits. He bursts in, not surprised to see no one in the shower stall. Carola is nowhere. He feels a cold breeze, looks up, and sees that the skylight is open. “Damn it, Carola!”
Robert crawls up the towel rack to the top of the shower stall and precariously leaps for the opening. His fingers grab hold, and he labors to pull himself up and through to the steep roof.
The sun is now up in the distance, and the large chunks of snow are melting. Carola scampers off toward the other side. She turns to look back at Robert, all smiles—then she slips and disappears.
On all fours, Robert scurries across the roof. He finds Carola hanging on by her fingernails to the rain gutter, the USB drive clenched in her teeth. Her eyes cry out for help.