Its holdings in Verachten?" "Ownership would be more like it. I trust you noted the location of the corporate headquarters. Boston, Massachusetts. A city quite familiar to you, I think." "What's more to the point, it's the city-and state of Joshua Appleton, the Fourth, patrician and Senator, whose grandfather was the guest of Guillaume de Matarese. It'll be interesting to see what-if any-his connections are to Trans-Comm." "Can you doubt they exist?" "At this point I doubt everything," said Scofield. "Maybe I'll think differently after we've put together those facts you say we now have.
Let's start with when we left Corsica." Taleniekov nodded. "Rome came first. Tell me about Scozzi." Bray did, taking the time to explain the role Antonia had been forced to play in the Red Brigades.
"That's why she was in Corsica, thenT' asked VasiIL "Running from the Brigades?" "Yes. Everything she told me about their financing spells Matarese...
." Scofield clarified his theories, moving swiftly on to the events at Villa d'Este and the murder of Guillamo Scozzi, ordered by a man named ParavacinL "It was the first time I heard that I was dead. They thought I was you.... Now Leningrad. What happened there?" Taleniekov breathed deeply before answering. "They killed in Leningrad, in Essen," he said, his voice barely audible. "Oh, how they kill, these twentieth-century Fida'is, these contemporary mutants of Hasan ibn-al-Sab- bah. I should tell you, the soldier I pushed from the car in the Place de la Concorde had more than a blemish on his chest. His clothes were stained by a gunshot that left another mark. I told his associate it was for Leningrad, for Essen." The Russian told his story quietly, the depth of his feelings apparent when he spoke of Lodzia Kronescha, the scholar Mikovsky, and Heinrich Kassel.
Especially Lodzia; it was necessary for him to stop for a while and pour more whisky in his glass. Scofield remained silent; there was nothing he could say. The Russian finished with the field at night in Stadtwald and the death of Odile-Verachten.
"Prince Andrei Voroshin became Ansel Verachten, founder of the Verachten Works, next to Krupp the largest company in Germany, now one of the most sprawling in all Europe. The granddaughter was his chosen successor in the Matarese." "And Scozzi," said Bray, "joined Paravacini through a marriage of convenience. Bloodlines, a certain talent, and charm in exchange for a seat in the board room. But the chair was a prop; it's all it ever was. The count was expendable, killed because he made a mistake." "As was Odile Verachten. Also expendable." "And the name Scozzi-Paravacini is misleading. The control lies with Paravacini." "Add to that Trans-Communication's ownership of Verachten. So two descendants of the padrone's guest list are accounted for, both a part of Matarese, yet neither significant. What do we have?" "What we suspected, what old Krupskaya told you in Moscow. The Matarese was taken over, obviously in part, possibly in whole. Scozzi and Voroshin were useful for what they brought or what they knew or what they owned. They were tolerated-even made to feel important-as long as they were useful, eliminated the moment they were not." "But useful for what? That's the questionl" Taleniekov banged his glass down in frustration. "What does the Matarese want? They finance intimidation and murder through huge corporate structures; they spread panic, but why? This world is going mad with terror, bought and paid for by men who lose the most by it. Their investment is in total disorder!
It makes no sensel" Scofield heard the sound-the moan-and sprang out of the chair. He walked quickly to the bedroom door; Toni had changed her position, twisting to her left, the covers bunched around her shoulders. But she was still asleep; the cry had come from her unconscious. He went back to the chair and stood behind it.
"Total disorder," he said softly. "Chaos. The clashing of bodies in space.
Creation." "What are you talking about?" asked Taleniekov.
"I'm not sure," replied Scofield. "I keep going back to the word 'chaos' but I'm not sure why." "We're not sure of anything. We have four names-but two didn't amount to much-and they're dead. We see an alignment of companies who are the superstructure-the essential superstructure-behind terrorism everywhere, but we cannot prove the alignment and don't know why they're sponsoring it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Scozzi-Paravacini finances the Red Brigades, Verachten no doubt Baader-Meinhof, God only knows what Trans-Communications pays for-and these may be only a few of the many involved. We have found the Matarese,