I frequently travel to many cities in Europe, and most of the Germans I've come to know are charming, courteous gentlemen."
"I'm sure they are," interrupted Witkowski, "but these aren't.. . We're wasting time. We were looking for a man who worked here and instead we ended up with two females who are visiting the place. Not very encouraging."
"I don't know about that, Colonel." Drew gripped his captive's arm.
"Elyse here said that she, and I assume her friend, visit here for a week or so every few months, isn't that right, lady?"
"That is the arrangement, yes, monsieur," agreed the woman, shaking off Latham's hand.
"Then what?" pressed Drew.
"After proper medical attention, we go elsewhere. I know nothing-we know nothing. Our job is to provide companionship, which, I trust, you will not be so tasteless as to inquire about."
"Don't trust anything, lady. They killed my brother, so I haven't got much trust left." Latham again gripped the woman's arm, now far more firmly, viselike. The plans of the chateau were on a hastily retrieved drinks table from the poolside area. Drew swung her toward it, grabbed a penlight, and angled it down at the diagrams.
"You and your friend are going to tell us exactly who and what's in every room, and let me explain why you'd better not lie or be evasive.. .. Less than a minute away, down the road, is a French intelligence assault team ready to blow up the front gates, run in here, and take into custody everyone on the premises. I'd advise you to help us, and you might live long enough to make a deal for yourself since you've been traveling the circuit. Entendu?"
"Your French improves, monsieur," said the gowned courtesan, her cold, frightened eyes locked with Latham's.
"It's all a question of survival, isn't it? .. . Come, Adrienne, study these plans with me."
The innocent-looking miniskirted girl beside Dietz got out of the chair and joined her associate.
"Incidentally, monsieur," said Elyse, "I will read these quite easily. Mes etudes at the Sorbonne were in architecture."
"Holy shit," exclaimed Captain Dietz quietly.
Minutes passed as the former Sorbonne student examined the diagrams. Finally, she spoke.
"As you can see, the first floor is obvious-the north veranda, the large common area in the center which also serves as a dining room, and the kitchen, large enough for a popular restaurant on the Rive Droite. The second and third floors are suites for visiting dignitaries, which Adrienne and I can describe down to a mattress."
"Who's in them now?" asked Witkowski.
"Herr Heinemann was with you, Adrienne, right, mon chou?"
"Oui," said the girl.
"Such a bad man!"
"Two other suites on that floor are occupied by Colette and Jeanne, their companions are businessmen from Munich and Baden-Baden; and on the third floor there is myself and a terribly nervous man, so upset he drank himself into a stupor and could not perform. I was grateful, naturally, and decided to go for a walk where I met you, monsieur. The other rooms are not occupied."
"The man with you, what does he look like?" asked Latham.
Elyse described him, and Drew said quietly, "That's our man. It's Bergeron."
"He's terrified of something."
"He should be. He's a liability and he knows it.. ..
You've described three floors; there's a fourth. What's up there?"
"It's completely off limits to everyone but a select few who wear black suits with the red swastika armbands. They're all tall, like you, and their bearing is quite military. The help, even the guards, are frightened to death of them."
"The -fourth floor?"
"It would appear to be a tomb, monsieur, the living grave of a great pharaoh, but instead of being buried in the bowels of the pyramid, it is at the highest point, nearest to the sun and the heavens."
"Clarification, please?"
"I said it was off limits, verboten, but I should also add that it is sealed off. This very-much-inhabited tomb comprises the entire top floor and every-door is made of steel. No one goes in there but the men in dark suits. They insert their hands into spaces in the walls and press their palms down for a particular door to open."
"Electronic print-scan releases," said Witkowski.
"There's no way to bypass those photoelectric cells."
"If you've never been up there, how do you know all this?" asked Drew.
"Because the front and back staircases to the top floor, as well as the hallways, are constantly patrolled. Even the guards need relaxation, monsieur, and some are very attractive." ,
"Ah, oui," piped the young miniskirt brightly.
"The blond Erich asks me to please see him whenever