serious, then? They believe that with all of my precautions, I am compromised?"
"They certainly do, Heracles."
"On what basis?" - "First, they want to know if you have the woman."
"De Vries?"
"I think that was the name, I'm not sure; the connection was terrible. I'm to reach Berlin within the hour."
"How would they even know about her? We haven't filed our report! We're waiting for results."
"I assume they have moles in French intelligence, the SOret, organizations like that.. .. Look, Koenig, I don't care to know anything that's not in my orbit, I have enough problems of my own back in the States. just give me the answers I can relay to our superiors. Have you got whoever this woman is?"
"Of course we do."
"You haven't killed her." A statement, not a question.
"Not yet. In a few hours we will if she doesn't produce results.
We'll drop her body off at the steps of the American Embassy."
"What results? And don't give me a bunch of complicated facts just sketch it out so they'll be satisfied. Believe me, it's in your interest."
"All right. At the first light our unit will reach her lover, this Latham, telling him that if he ever wants to see her alive, he'll come to a rendezvous, a park or a monument, someplace where several of our expert snipers can conceal themselves. When he arrives, a barrage of gunfire will kill them both."
"Where is this rendezvous?"
"That's the unit's decision, not mine. I have no idea."
"Where is she being held now?"
"Why would that concern Berlin?" The neo-Nazi suddenly squinted, staring questioningly at Drew.
"They've never wanted such tactical information before."
"How the hell do I know?" At the raising of his voice, the deadly pit bulls growled.
"I'm simply repeating what they told me to ask!"
Latham, in his anxiety, could feel the perspiration rolling down his face. Control, goddammit, control! Only a few more moments!
"All right. Why not?" said the short pit bull on two legs.
"What's in motion can't be derailed by men who are five hundred miles away. She's in a flat on the rue Lacoste, number twenty-three."
"What flat?"
"The unit never told me. It was for rent and they don't even have a telephone. Naturally, by this morning they'll disappear, and a landlord will have several months' rent and no tenants."
Step one, thought Drew. Step two was to get rid of the goddamn dogs and have Koenig to himself.
"That seems to me all that Berlin can demand," he said.
"Now, what is the information I'm to be given," asked the Lutheran neo.
I "Orders more than information," said Latham.
"You're to temporarily close down all activities, neither issuing nor accepting instructions from anyone. When the time is right, Berlin will reach you and tell you to resume operations. Furthermore, should you care to confirm your orders from me, do so at the lowest levels, preferably through Spain or Portugal."
"This is insane!" choked the diminutive prelate as the two dogs growled and snapped their teeth simultaneously.
"Halten!" he yelled, quieting the animals.
"I am the most secure man in France!"
"They told me to tell you that what someone called AndrE thought, and now he's finished."
"Andrii?"
"You heard me and I don't know who he is or what it means."
"Mein Gott. AndrE!" The Nazi's voice grew weak, confusion and fear in his expression.
"He was so getarnt!"
"Sorry, I'm not with you, the cells in America don't want all of us to know German. They figured it was a trip point."
"He was beyond unearthing."
"I guess he wasn't. Berlin said something about his going back to Strasbourg, wherever the hell that is."
"Strasbourg? Then you know."
"Not a damn thing, and II don't want to. I just want to get to Heathrow and a plane to Chicago."
"What am I to do?"
"I told you before, Heracles. In the morning you call your relays in Spain or Portugal-from a phone far away from here--confirm my orders, and do as Berlin says. How much clearer can I be?"
"Everything is so confusing-"
"Confusing, hell," said Latham, starting to take Koenig's elbow, when the pit bulls snarled.
"Come on, tell your hounds to get inside and I'll follow you. If nothing else, you owe me a drink."
"Oh, certainly.-.. . Rein," ordered Koenig as the two pit bulls raced through the open door.
"There we are, Herr Sonnenkind, come inside."
"Not yet," said Drew, suddenly slamming the door closed and yanking the neo outside, stripping the blue shawl off his shoulders, revealing the small automatic in his left hand. Before the confused Koenig could react, Latham gripped the weapon, twisting it violently counterclockwise, expecting either the Nazi's