all. Against one of your tidy laws?”

Another man came out from a darkened doorway, turned suddenly, and walked quickly away.

“Friend of yours?” M. Beret stopped and pulled a small pistol from his pocket. Then he spoke softly into a tiny radio. I stopped, too, and looked for a convenient place to hide if someone started shooting. Whatever this was, it wasn’t my fight, not as far as I knew. “You’ll remember”—M. Beret sounded somewhat annoyed—“I said that you’d be like a flower attracting bees. Well, that was a bee. You should stay off the phone; too many people on the other end.”

“I wasn’t on the phone, but I’ll bear it in mind. You wouldn’t know any bars around here, would you? Now I’m not so restless, but I’m getting thirsty. Walking at night does that to me.”

“Are you kidding? Nothing is open at this hour. Your brother isn’t here, if that’s who you’re looking for.”

I digested this.

“He had too much to drink at dinner, and his friends carried him back to his hotel on Rue Puits-St-Pierre. Not a very friendly man, your brother. He seems to think highly of himself, though; keeps his clothes clean and pressed.” M. Beret stared at my shoes, which were well worn. “He’s staying in a pretty nice place, not like the cracker box you’re in.” We had resumed walking, with less of a sense of urgency. M. Beret looked at me sideways. “You mad because I’m criticizing a family member?”

“I’m just thirsty.”

“I suggest you try the bottled water in your hotel. That’s all my budget will support tonight.”

2

“You’re not bamboo, you can’t just bend in the wind. You’re flesh and blood, much as you hate to admit it. And you will bleed like the rest of us when it comes to that.”

“I’m surprised you even recognize the concept of bending, or stopped long enough to look at bamboo, for that matter.”

My brother was still pale from too much alcohol, but nothing seemed to affect his air of nasty superiority. “I found out a little about what you’re doing here,” he said. “It’s crap.”

“In contrast to your mission, no doubt one of extreme urgency—so urgent that you had to drink yourself into a coma.” His hotel room was bigger than mine. The bed was large enough for a whole family. I looked into the bathroom. A nice bar of soap. A little bottle of shampoo. Fresh towels everywhere. M. Beret was right, my hotel didn’t measure up to this.

“I’m not answerable to you, or to anyone that you will ever deal with. Don’t forget that.” My brother slumped against the wall and closed his eyes. “Did you wait for me in Coppet?”

“Briefly. I was joined not only by an unknown figure that walked quickly into the shadows but also by the Swiss service, which already knew you were falling-down drunk and wouldn’t show up.” I gave him an extra few seconds for that information to get past the last vestiges of alcohol before continuing. “They don’t like us.”

My brother laughed, softly. “No one likes us. Fuck them all.”

“Yes, but they all have food. Perhaps you’re too busy drinking to notice.”

“Food?” His eyes opened slightly. “Is that what you’re here for, to crawl and beg for food? I’ll bet that bastard Sohn is behind this. Sure, he picked you for the annoyance factor. He knew you’d run into me out here. He must have planned it. This is his way of getting my goat. He didn’t mention I’d be here, did he?”

“You two don’t get along, I take it.” My estimation of Sohn was climbing with every throb in the vein in my brother’s forehead.

“Sohn has no authority to send people like you overseas. None. Pretty soon, he won’t have the authority to flush the toilet. Let me see your orders.”

“Impossible.”

“Let me see them.”

“I don’t have any. Can you believe it? Completely paperless.” I held up two empty hands. He didn’t have to hear about Sohn’s instructions to me. They weren’t written down, so they weren’t exactly orders. “My orders were transmitted directly to the mission, apparently. I’ve never seen them.” This was true. “No one bothered to tell me until I arrived that I’m here as part of the delegation to the talks.” Not true, but the truth was none of his business. “How do you like that? Your brother, the diplomat.”

“You?” He snorted. “You? You don’t know the first thing about diplomacy.” The phone rang. My brother cursed and grabbed it. “What is it?”