promise, gave him the backing, and persuaded the schools to take him. It wasn't so easy in those days, the early nineteen hundreds. The two-toilet Irish had barely gotten their gecond john, and there weren't too many of them. An Italian kid-excuse me, Eyetalian-was nowhere. Gutter meat." Bray's words floated; he could hardly hear them himself. "That was Joshua Appleton, the second, wasn't it?" "Yes.,, "He did all that for this child." "Hell of a thing, wasn't it? And the Appletons had enough troubles then.
They'd lost damn near everything in the market fluctuations. They were hanging on by the skin of their teeth. It was almost as if old Joshua had seen a message on some mystical wall." "What do you mean?" "Guiderone paid everything back several thousand fold. Before Appleton was in his grave he saw his companies back on top, making money in areas he'd never dreamed of, the capital flowing out of the banks owned by the Italian kid he'd found in his carriage house." "Oh, my God.
"I told you," said Goldman. "It's one hell of a story. It's all there to be read." "If you know where to look. And why." "I beg your pardon?" "Guiderone...." Scofield felt as though he were walking through swirling circles of mist toward some eerie light. He put his head back and stared at the ceiling, at the dancing shadows thrown up by the fire.
"Guiderone. It's a derivative of the Italian 'guida.' A guide." "Or shepherd," said Goldman.
Bray snapped his head down, his eyes wide, riveted on the lawyer. "What did you say?" Goldman was puzzled. "I didn't say it, he did. About seven or eight months ago at the U.N." "The United Nations?" "Yes. Guiderone was invited to address the General Assembly; the invitation was unanimous, incidentally. Didn't you hear it? It was broadcast all over the world.
He even taped it in French and Italian for Radio-International." "I didn't hear it." "The U.N.'s perennial problem. Nobody listens." "What did he sayT' "Pretty much what you jut said. That his name had its roots in the word 'guida,' or guide. And that was the way he'd always thought of himself.
As a simple shepherd, guiding his flocks, aware of the rocky slopes and uncrossable streams... that sort of thing. His plea was f or inter- national relationships based on the mutuality of material need, which he claimed would lead to the higher morality. It was a little strange philosophically, but it was damned effective. So effective, in fact, that there's a resolution on this session's agenda that'll make him a full-fledged member of the U.N.'s Economic Council. That's not just a title, by the way. With his expertise and resources, there's not a government in the world which won't listen very hard when he talks. HeT be one damned powerful arnicus curiae." "Did you hear him give that speech?" "Sure," laughed the lawyer. "It was mandatory in Boston; you were cut off the Globe's subscription list if you missed it. We saw the whole thing on Public Television." "What did he sound like?" Goldman looked at his wife. "Well, he's a very old man. Still vigorous, but nevertheless old. How would you describe him, darling?" "Just as you do," said Anne. "An old man. Not large, but quite striking, with that look of a man who's so used to being listened to. I do remember one thing, thoughabout the voice. It was high-pitched and maybe a little breathless, but he spoke extremely clearly, every phrase very precise, very penetrating. Quite cold, in fact. You couldn't miss a word he said." Scofield closed his eyes and thought of a blind woman in the mountains above Corsica's Porto Vecchio, twisting the dials of a radio and hearing a voice crueler than the wind.
He had found the shepherd boy.
He had found himl Toni, I've found him! Stay alive! Don't let them destroy you. They won't kill your body; instead, they'll try to kill your mind. Don't let them do it. They will go after your thoughts and the way you think. They will try to change you, alter the processes that make you what you are. They have no choice, my darling. A hostage must be programmed even after the trap is closed; professionals understand that. No extremity is beyond consideration. Find something within yourself-for my sake. You see, my dearest love, I've found something. I've found him. The shepherd boy! It is a weapon. I need time to use it. Stay alive. Keep