I am free, and I do."
"It's an unfair world," mumbled Dietz.
"Who's the pharaoh on the top floor?" pressed Latham.
"That is no secret," answered Elyse.
"An old man, a very old man they all worship. No one is permitted to, speak to him other than his dark-suited aides, but every morning he's brought down in an elevator, his face shrouded in a heavy veil, and wheeled to what they call the 'meditation path," beyond the pool. They open the gate and he dismisses everyone, orders them away. He then gets out of his chair, stands erect, denying his years, and literally marches out to a place none of us has ever seen. It is said he calls it his 'eagle's nest," where he can contemplate and make wise decisions while having his morning coffee and brandy."
"Monluc," said Drew.
"My God, he's still alive!"
"Whoever he is, he is the treasure they keep alive."
"Is he a treasure?" asked Witkowski.
"Or in reality a figurehead to be manipulated for their own purposes?"
"I can't presume to give you an answer," said the educated, highpriced call girl, "but I doubt he's manipulated by anyone. just as the help are frightened of his aides, those same aides appear to be terrified of him. He constantly berates them, and when he threatens them with dismissal, they virtually cower before him."
"Could they be playing their roles?" Latham studied the courtesan's face in the dull blue light.
"If they are, we'd know it, for we must constantly play our own parts. Impostors can rarely fool other impostors."
"You're impostors?"
"In many more ways than you can imagine, monsieur."
"Still, there has to be talk. That kind of behavior doesn't go unnoticed."
"Gossip, yes. The most persistent rumor is that the old man controls enormous wealth, extraordinary funds that only he can disperse. It's further said that he wears electronic devices under his robes that monitor him constantly, sending signals to medical equipment on the fourth floor, which in turn are relayed to unknown locations in Europe."
"At his age, I can understand it. He's got to be over ninety."
"They say he's over a hundred."
"And still with all his faculties?"
"If he plays chess, monsieur, I would not wager heavily against him."
"The relay machines, chlopak," interrupted the colonel.
"If they're programmed to retransmit, they can be torn apart and those unknown locations traced."
"If nothing else, they'd lead us to the money sources, the transfer points. That's why he's monitored wherever he goes. If he drops deep dead, the vaults slam shut until other orders come."
""And if we can trace the locations, we'll know where those orders come from," added Witkowski.
"We've got to get up there!
Drew turned to the cool but still frightened Elyse.
"If you're lying, you'll spend the rest of your life in a cell."
"Why would I lie at a time like this, monsieur? You've made it clear that I will be pleading for my freedom in any event."
"I don't know. You're bright, maybe you figure we'll be killed. trying to get up there, your fall-back position being well-paid whores who don't know a damn thing. That could play."
I "Then she will be dead, mon supirieur," said Etranger Two.
"I will strap her to the gate in the wall with plastique between her legs, exploded by my electronic contrOleR."
"Christ, I didn't know you had that sort of thing!"
"I added a couple of things, chlopak."
"I offer you a better solution," said the courtesan, reaching out and holding the young girl's shoulder.
"I offer you both of us."
"Et moi?" squeaked the miniskirt.
"What are you saying, Elyse?"
"Be quiet, ma petite.. .. You wish to get into the Eagle's Nest, nest-ce pas? I suggest it would be easier with us than without us."
"How so?" asked Latham.
"We are familiar-accept that as you care to-with many of the help and most of the guards. We can get you through the kitchen and into le grand foyer, where the main staircase is. The backstairs, as you can see by the plans, are through lesser parlors on the right.
We can do this much and something more, something most vital.
You will need one of the old man's aides to get into the top floor-if you even reach it. There are five, all armed, and their quarters are also on the fourth floor, but one or another is always on duty. He stays in the library, in the front of the chateau, where he can be reached instanth by y the patron, or anyone on the staff. I'll point out the door to YOU."
"What about us?" said Etranger One.
"How do you explain us?"
"I've been