I was alive. So you were right. Only certain people inside the Matarese were told I was dead." "Does that tell you something?" "The same thing it tells you. They make distinctions." "Exactly. When either of us ever wanted a subordinate to do nothing, we told him the problem was solved. For such people you're no longer alive, no longer hunted." "But why? I am hunted. They trapped me." "One question with two answers, I think," said the Russian. "As any diverse organization, the Matarese is imperfect. Among its ranks are the undisciplined, the violenceprone, men who kill for the score alone or because of fanatic beliefs. These were the people who were told you were dead. If they did not hunt you, they would not kill YOU." "That's your first answer; what's the second? Why does someone want to keep me alive?" "To make you a consigliere of the Matarese." "What?" "Think about it. Consider what you'd bring to such an organization." Bray stared at the KGB man. "No more than you would." "Oh, much more. There are no great shocks to come out of Moscow, I accept that. But there are astonishing revelations to be found in Washington.
You could provide them; you'd be an enormous asset. The sanctimonious are always far more vulnerable." "I accept that." "Before Odile Verachten was killed, she made an offer to me. It was not an offer she was entitled to make; they don't want the Russian. They want you.
If they can't have you, they'll kill you, but someone's giving you the option." It would be far better for all concerned if we sat down and thrashed out the diflerences between us. You may discover they're not so great after all. Words from a faceless messenger.
"Let's get back to Paris," said Bray. "How did you get her?" "It wasn't so difficult. The man on the phone was too anxious; he saw a generalship in his future, or his own execution. I discussed what might happen to the soldier with the ugly little mark on his chest; the fact that I knew about it was nearly enough in itself. I set up a series of moves, offering the soldier and Beowulf Agate for the girl. Beowulf was tired of running and was perfectly willing to listen to whatever anyone had to say.
He-I-knew I was cornered, but professionalism demanded that he-youextract certain guarantees. The girl had to go free. Were my reactions consistent with your well-known obstinacy?" "Very plausible," replied Scofield. "Let's see if I can fill in a few spaces. You answered the questions: What was my mother's middle name? or When did my father change jobs?" "Nothing so ordinary," broke in the Russian. "Who was your fourth kill.
Where?"' "Lisbon," said Bray quietly. "An American beyond salvage. Yes, you'd know that.... Then your moves were made by a sequence of telephone calls to the flat-my call from London was the intrusion-and with each call you gave new instructions, any deviation and the exchange was canceled. The exchange ground itself was in traffic, preferably one-way traffic, with one vehicle, one man and Antonia. Everything to take place within a time span of sixty to a hundred seconds." The Russian nodded. "Noon on the Champs Elys6es, south of the Arch. Vehicle and girl taken, man and soldier bound at the elbows, thrown out at the intersection of the Place de la Concorde, and a swift, if roundabout, drive out of Paris." Bray put the whisky down, and walked to the hotel window overlooking Carlos Place. "A little while ago you said you had two choices. To go out after her, or wait in the rue de Bac.
It seems to me there was a third but you didn't take it. You could have gotten out of Paris yourself right away." Taleniekov closed his eyes. "That was the one choice I didn't have. It was in her voice, in every reference she made to you. I thought I saw it in Corsica, that first night in the cave above Porto Vecchio when you looked at her. I thought then, how insane, how perfectly...." The Rus- sian shook his head.
"Unreasonable?" asked Bray.
Taleniekov opened his eyes. "Yes. Unreasonable... as in unnecessary, uncalled for." The KGB man raised his glass and drank the remaining whisky in one swallow. "The slate from East Berlin is as clean as it will ever be; there'll be no more cleansing." "None will be asked for. Or expected." "Good. I presume you've seen the newspapers." "Trans-Communications?