take out the problem, eliminate Beowulf ourselves.
None of this is new to you, Herr Scofield. You have given such orders; you know they must be carried out." Taleniekov yanked the phone away while keeping the barrel of his weapon pressed against Amsterdam's neck. "You heard it. The trap you set for me is being used to ambush you. By your own people." Silence. Beowulf Agate said nothing. Vasili's patience was running out.
"Don't you understand? They've exchanged information, it's the only way they could have found the depot-what you call a 'drop.' Moscow provided it, can't you see that? Each of us is being used as the reason to execute the other, to kill us both. My people are more direct than yours. The order for my death has been sent to every Soviet station, civilian and military. Your State Department does it somewhat differently; the analysts take no responsibility for such unconstitutional decisions. They simply send warnings to those who care little for abstractions, but deeply for their lives." Silence. Taleniekov exploded.
"What more do you want? Amsterdam was to draw you Gut; you would have had no choice. You would have tried to position yourself in one of two exits: the service area or the staircase. At this moment, Marseilles is by the service elevator, Prague on the staircase. The man from Prague is one you know well, Beowulf. You've employed his gun and his knife on many occasions. He's waiting for you. In less than fifteen minutes, if you do not appear in either place, they will take you in your room. What more do you want?" Scofield answered at last. "I want to know why you're telling me this." "Reread my cipher to you! This isn't the first time you and I have been used. An incredible thing is happening and it goes beyond you and me. A few men know about it. In Washington and Moscow. But they say nothing; no one can say anything. The admissions are catastrophic." "What admissions?" "The hiring of assassins. On both sides. It goes back years, decades." "How does it concern me? I don't care about you." "Dimitri Yurievich." "What about him?" "They said you killed him." "You're lying, Taleniekov. I thought you'd be better at it. Yurievich was leaning, he was a probable. The civilian killed was my contact, under my source-control. It was a KGB operation. Better a dead physicist than a defected one. I repeat, come and get me." "You're wong!... Later! There's no time to argue. You want proof? Then listen! I trust your ear is more skilled than your mind!" The Russian quickly shoved the Graz-Burya into his belt and held the mouthpiece up in the air. With his left hand he gripped the throat of the man from Amsterdam, his thumb centering on the rings of trachea cartilage. He pressed; his hand was a vise, his fingers talons crushing fiber and bone as the vise closed. The Hollander twisted violently, his arms and bands thrashing, trying to break Vasili's grip, the effort useless. His cry of pain was an unbroken scream that diminished into a wail of agony. The man from Amsterdam fell to the floor unconscious. Taleniekov spoke again into the telephone. "Is there human bait alive who would permit what I've just done?" "Was he given an alternative?" "You're a fool, Scofield! Get yourself killed!" Vasili shook his head in desperation; it was a reaction to his own loss of control. "No.... No, you mustn't. You can't understand, and I must try to grasp that, so you must try to understand me. I loathe everything you are, everything you stand for. But right now, we can do what few others can do. Make men listen, make them speak out. If for no other reason than they fear us, fear what we know. The fear is on both sides-" "I don't know what you're talking about," interrupted Scofield. "You're mounting a nice KGB strategy; they'll probably give you a large dacha in Grasnov, but no sale. I repeat, come and get me." "Enough!" shouted Taleniekov, looking at the clock on the desk. "You have eleven minutes! You know where your final proof is. You can find it in a service lift or on the staircase. Unless you care to learn it as you die in your room. If you create a disturbance, you'll draw a crowd.
That's more to their liking, but I don't have to tell you that; you may recognize Prague, you won't