"guest" reached over and took the ID case out of Harry's limp-Left hand. He opened it, sat back down on the couch, and picked up the pocket watch from the small, low table. He pressed the crown, holding it in place until he saw Latham's eyes coming back into focus, saw him blinking, suddenly aware of his surroundings, his face again firm, the muscles of his chin taut.
"There," said the visitor, loudly snapping the ID case shut, "so now that you know I'm legitimate, photograph and all, just call me Peter.
"Yes .. . authentic. I still don't understand .. . Peter. All right, you're a ghost, but why? Who's not secure on the tribunal?"
"Mine not to wonder why or who, I'm just the unseen presence that talks to you.. .. My word, I think that's a rhyme."
"A bad one, but never mind. How could any of them be questioned?"
"Maybe they're not, individually, but others were brought in, weren't they?"
"A gaggle of clowns, yes. They didn't want to examine the names I brought out. They just wanted to clear a lot of them before the microscopes are activated-less work and less chance of stepping on the toes of big feet."
"What do you think of the names?"
"What I think doesn't matter, Peter. Naturally, a number of them strike me as preposterous, but I was at the source, a trusted confidant until I escaped. I was a major contributor, a believer in their cause, so why would they feed me dirt?"
"The rumor is that the Nazis, the new Nazis, may have known who you were from the beginning."
"That's not a 'rumor," that'll be their credo. What the hell would we do, and how often did we do it, when we found a mole or a turnaround who fled to Mother Russia after looting us? Of course we proclaimed how smart we were, how deep-efficient, and how useless was the information stolen from us-when it wasn't."
"It's a conundrum, isn't it?"
"What isn't in this business? Right now, for my own sanity, if you like, I have to purge Alexander Lassiter from my psyche. I have to be Harry Latham again; my job is finished. Let others take over."
"I agree with you, Harry. Also my time's up. Please, remember my orders. We didn't meet tonight.. .. Don't blame me, blame Washington."
The visitor walked up the hallway to the elevators. He took the first one available and descended a single floor, then went down the corridor to his own suite, directly below Latham's. Inside, on the desk, was an arrangement of electronic equipment. He crossed to it, pressed several buttons rewinding a tape, and confirmed its accuracy. He picked up the telephone and dialed Mettmach, Germany.
"Wolf's Lair," said the quiet voice over the line.
"It's Catbird."
"Introduce your impediment, please."
"At once." The man who called himself Peter delicately pulled a thin wire out of his equipment, its tip attached to a razor-sharp alligator clamp, and rotated it around the telephone cord until there was a momentary burst of static on the line.
"The metro meter indicates clearance, how so there?"
"Clear. Go ahead."
"Catbird, if I remember correctly," began the tape recording. The resident below Harry Latham's suite played it to the finish.
"I agree with you, Harry.. .. Don't blame me, blame Washington."
"What's your assessment?" asked Latham's visitor.
"It's dangerous," said Gerhardt Kroeger in Germany.
"Like most deep-cover operatives, he's subconsciously crossing over from one identity to another. It's in his own words: "I have to purge Alexander Lassiter from my psyche." He was Lassiter too long, and he's fighting back to be himself. It's not an uncommon occurrence, the dual persona becoming a dual personality."
"He's accomplished what you wanted him to do in a matter of two days. The list itself was sufficient to put our enemies into a collective state of shock. They don't want to believe his information, they're very vocal about that, but they're also frightened to deny it. I can take him out with a single shot in the hallway.
Shall I?"
"It would lend credence to the list of names, but no, not yet. His brother is closing in on the trail of that senile tramp, jodelle, and it could be catastrophic for us. As much as it tortures me not to follow up on my patient's progress, the movement comes first and I must make the sacrifice. Alexander Lassiter will lead us to the other interfering Latham. Kill them both."
"It won't be difficult. We have Lassiter's itinerary."
"Follow it, follow them, and leave nothing but corpses. jodelle's resurrected son, the