field, I'm not in a situation where I have to anticipate the movements of someone in the next dark street, or over a hill at night. I have to look at the whole landscape in clear daylight, and there's no way I can accept the Sonnenkinder operation."
"So why don't you reject the premise and put the list of names on a back burner?"
"Because I can't. Because Harry Latham brought it out.. .. Set up a meeting toMorrow with the Secretary of State and the DCI over at State or Langley. Since I'm the stepchild, I'll meet wherever they say."
Chapter Seven
Drew Latham sat at his desk on the second floor of the American Embassy, swallowing the dregs of his third cup of coffee. The single knock on his office door was followed by its being opened, an anxious Karin de Vries walking inside.
"I heard what happened!" she exclaimed.
"It had to be you!"
"Good morning," said Drew, "or is it noon? And if you brought your Scotch, you're very welcome."
"It's all over the papers," cried the researcher from D and R, crossing to the desk and throwing down the noon edition of L'[email protected]
"A burglar attempted to rob a guest at the Meurice, shot up the room, and was killed by a floor guard!"
"Boy, their public relations people work quickly, don't they?
That's real security; it can't-get much better."
"Stop it, Drew! You were at the Meurice, you told me so. And when I called the arrondissement police, they said -very awkwardly that no information was available."
"Wow, everybody in Paris protects the influx of tourist cash.
Actually, they should. This sort of thing never happens except to people like me."
"Then it was you."
"You said that already. Yes, it was me."
"Are you all right?"
"I think that's been asked before, but, yes, I am. I'm still scared to death-strike the last two words-but I'm here, breathing, warm, and ambulatory. Do you want to go to lunch, anyplace you want except the last joint you recommended?"
"I have at least forty-five minutes worth of work to do.
"I can wait that long. I just got finished with Ambassador Courtland and his diplomatic crony, Ambassador Kreitz of Germany.
They're probably still talking, but my stomach couldn't take their interacting, exculpatory bullshit any longer."
"In some ways, you are like your brother. He dislikes authority."
- "Correction, please," said Latham.
"We both dislike authority when it doesn't know what it's talking about, that's all. Incidentally, he's flying over from London tomorrow or the next day. Would you like to see him?"
"With all my heart. I adore Harry!"
"Strike two against my brother."
"I beg your pardon?"
"He's a nerd."
"I don't understand."
"His intellect, it's so far up in the sky, you can't reach it, can't talk to it."
"Oh, yes, I recall so well. We had such wonderful conversations about the incremental explosions of religiosity from Egypt to Athens to Rome and into the Middle Ages."
"Strike three against Harry. Where for lunch?"
"Where you suggested yesterday. The brasserie across the Gabriel from the cafe where we talked."
"We're likely to be seen together."
"It doesn't matter now. I spoke to the colonel. He understands completely. As he said, "No sweat."
"What else did
Witkowski say?"
"Well"-De Vries lowered her head and spoke softly" he said you weren't your brother
"In what way wasn't P"
"It's not important, Drew."
"Maybe it is. In what way?"
"Let's say, you aren't the scholar he is."
"Harry just struck out on fouls.. .. Lunch in an hour, okay?"
"I'll make the reservation, they know me." Karin de Vries walked out of the office, closing the door far more quietly than she had before.
Latham's telephone rang. It was Ambassador Courtland.
"Yes, sir, what is it?"
"Kreitz just left, Drew, and I'm sorry you weren't here to listen to the rest of what he had to say. Your brother hasn't just disturbed a hornet's nest, he's smashed hell out of it."
"What are you talking about?"
"Kreitz couldn't have said it in front of you anyway, actually, as a matter of security. It's so maximum classified, even I had to get clearance to confirm it."
"You?"
"Given the fact that Heinrich had broken Bonn's seal and insofar as Harry's your brother and is flying here tomorrow, I guess the intelligence hats felt it was useless to keep me out of the circle."
"What did Harry do, find Hitler and Martin Bormann in a South American gay bar?"
"I wish it were so insignificant. Your brother brought out lists from his German operation, names of neo-Nazi
S
supporters in the Bonn government and industry, as well as the same in the U.S." France, and England."
"Good old bright Harry!" exclaimed Latham.
"He never