to my superiors."
"What sort of information?" asked Two.
"What can you offer in exchange for your lives?"
"Where do you wish to begin-if we have such information?"
"Who are your colleagues in Bonn?"
"That I can tell you honestly, we don't know.. .. Let me go back, mein Herr. We are an elite group who live extraordinary lives, the fantasies of all young men who are superbly trained to follow orders. These orders are issued to us by codes, codes that change constantly." Paris Two described their lifestyles as he had told Zero Five he would do on the jet to Washington.
"We are the shock troops, the storm troopers, if you wish, and we maintain contacts with our units in every country. No names are ever used, the prefix Zero is Paris-I am Paris, Zero Two-the United States is the prefix Three, the specific names preceding."
"How do you make contact?"
"By revolving, secure telephone numbers issued by Bonn.
Again, our digits are used, no names."
"Regarding this country, what can you tell me that could convince me to recommend leniency with regard to your executions?"
"Mein Gott, where do you want to begin?"
"Anywhere you like."
"Very well, let's start with the Vice President of the United
"What?"
"He's one of us to the core. Then there is the Speaker of the House, German ancestry, naturally, an aging gentleman who claimed conscientious objector ship during World War Two. Of course, there are others, many others but their names, or positions, will depend on your recommendation to the execution committee."
"You could be lying through your teeth."
"If that's what you think, shoot us."
"You're garbage."
"As you are in our eyes!" shouted Paris Five.
"But time is on our side, not yours. Sooner or later the world will wake up and see that we're right. The dehumanized blacks commit the vast majority of crimes; the Arabs constitute the largest groups of terrorists, and the Jews are the manipulators of the world, cheating and corrupting all within their reach-everything for themselves, nothing for any-one else!"
"My passionate associate notwithstanding, do you want our information or not?" asked Zero Two.
"I loved my privileged life in Paris, but if it is to stop, why not make it complete?"
"Can you provide any evidence for the outrageous accusations you've made?"
"We can only tell you what we've been told. But please remember, we are the elite of the Brotherhood."
"Die Briiderschaft," said the director of Consular Operations, disgust in his voice.
"Precisely. That name will sweep across the globe and it will be honored."
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
"But do you, mein Herr? You are no more than a small cog in many wheels, as I am. Frankly, I'm bored with the whole thing. Let history take its inevitable course, it's beyond such men as you and me. Also, I'd much rather live than die."
"I'll confer with my superiors," said Wesley Sorenson coldly, walking to the cell gate and signaling the guard.
When both men had disappeared through the outer door, Paris Two picked up a notepad and, covering his hand, wrote in German, "He cannot afford to execute US."
"Monsieur IAmbassadeur," said Moreau, alone with Heinrich Kreitz in the latter's office at the German Embassy.
"I trust there is no recording made of our conversation. It would not be to the advantage of either of us."
"There is none," replied the aged ambassador, his small stature, pale, lined face, and thin steel-rimmed glasses making him appear more like a weathered gnome than a giant intellect of Europe.
"I have the information you requested-"
"Requested over a secure line, nest-ce pas?" interrupted the chief of the [email protected] Bureau, seated in front of the desk.
"Naturally, you have my word for it.. .. The records go back to what's known of Gerhardt Kroeger's childhood and family, through his university and medical training, to his hospital appointment and his eventual resignation in Nuremberg. It's a remarkable dossier, filled with the triumphs of a brilliant man; and with the possible exception of his abrupt resignation from the medical community, there's nothing to indicate impropriety, much less sympathy with the neo-Nazi movements. I've made a copy for you, of course." Kreitz leaned forward and placed the sealed manila envelope in front of Moreau, who picked it up, impressed by its thickness and weight.
"Save me some time, if you've got the time, sir."
"There's nothing more important than our combined investigations. Go on."
"You've read this thoroughly?"
"As if it were a doctoral thesis I had to accept or reject. Very thoroughly."
"Who were his parents?"
"Sigmund and 91si Kroeger, and you've just struck the first note that discredits any