Part 20 (2/2)
”You went into his office?”
”I sat at his desk, actually. He shouldn't leave some of those doc.u.ments lying around like that. The wrong people might read them. Apparently, the situation is fluid.”
”Are we back to cryptic? Because if we are, I'm going to my hotel.”
”Before that, you'll have to do some shopping. There are new instructions from the Center for everyone working overseas. They can be summarized as follows: Collect vegetable seeds and food, food, food. Fertilizer if it is to be had, but the first priority is food. So is the second priority. And so is the third. On s.h.i.+ps, on trucks, on bicycles-it doesn't make any difference. For the moment, we grovel, we pander, we lick the boots of anyone who will deliver. You won't believe the catchphrase that excuses this madness.” Sohn took a pen out of his pocket. ”You need a pen?”
”That's the amba.s.sador's. I saw him use it. You took the amba.s.sador's pen.”
”Don't worry, I left him his pencils, most of them, anyway. What you need to worry about is the new instructions.”
”What happened to 'crazy'?” I asked. ”The last time you and I spoke, that was to be my message. It was delivered, incidentally.” I didn't mention to whom.
”Scratch 'crazy.' According to the new, improved thinking, it will only scare people off. 'Quietly desperate'-that's where things are now. If you already told people we're crazy, you'll have to go back and undo it.” He unscrewed the pen and looked at the parts. 'They'll eat us up,” he said absently. ”This is exactly what the wild dogs at our door have been waiting for. It's suicide, admitting we're weak.”
”I'm going to ask you a question.”
”Let me ask you one first. Your brother-do you know what a menace he is, Inspector? People like him think their time has come. The Center is distracted. Every day there is more to worry about. I think we may actually be coming out of the worst of it, but there is still plenty that can go wrong. Your brother and his friends were busy last year when the sky was darkest. They used the time well, and I'm a year behind. It might as well be a lifetime.”
”Do you want me to nod knowingly, Sohn? Or will you tell me what you are talking about first?”
”Imagine this. They've been digging, and planning, and putting together the pieces. A piece here. A piece there.” He moved the parts of the pen around on the table. ”In a month or two, if they are left alone, they'll be ready to walk into the Center and present what they've done. Then it will be too late. They'll lay out plans, sketch out scenarios. And at that point, when I am asked what I think, it's too late. Should I say: 'No! Don't do everything possible to protect the Fatherland.' Or how about: 'No! It is dangerous to go down that path, it risks everything we've accomplished, it might explode in our face.'”
I frowned. Sohn was careful with his imagery; he didn't make mistakes.
”At that point, the only answer I can offer is, 'Good for them. Hooray for them. All honor to them.' Your brother will be rewarded. He'll swagger, he'll go to the parties, he'll put his filthy fat hands-” Sohn stopped. ”Forgive me.”
”No, go ahead, say whatever you want. He isn't my brother anymore.”
I thought Sohn would bark, but he didn't. He hadn't barked once the whole time.
”You have friends here who are anxious to meet,” I said.
”If you don't mind, I'll drink while you talk.”
”There isn't much else to say. I a.s.sume that with your arrival, I've become extraneous. You'll take over, and I can go home.”
”Nothing of the sort. There is still a lot to be done.” Sohn put his gla.s.s down and leaned toward me. Surely now, a bark. ”There are things you can do that I can't.”
”Such as?”
”Such as keeping a lid on the negotiations; such as watching over our diplomats and making sure none of them decide to stay out too late or forget to come home.” He picked up the gla.s.s again and drained it. He wasn't going to bark, I finally realized. Overseas, he didn't do that. Overseas, he didn't walk like a bear, or clear his throat. Overseas, he was a different man.
”You don't want to meet your friends?”
”I'm too busy. It's too dangerous.” He put the pen back together, the way a soldier a.s.sembles a rifle during a drill.
”But it's alright with you if I put my head in that lion's mouth.”
He smiled. ”Have you discovered yet what happened to the woman in Pakistan?”
”I figured you had some connection to all of that.” A thought crept up on me. ”Was she yours?”
”Good guess. But mine? I don't own people, Inspector. I don't like to see them murdered, either. And I don't believe for a moment that she was killed by locals. Do you?”
”Don't tell me, her murder has something to do with why I'm here.” I stopped. ”Next you're going to tell me my brother is tied into this as well.”
He handed me the pen. ”I trained her.”
”You what? She was an emba.s.sy wife. What did you train her to do? Cook? Apparently, she wasn't very good at it.”
”How much do you already know about her, Inspector?”
”Nothing. I think I prefer it that way. When I went to look at her personnel file, it had disappeared. All I was supposed to do was to gather a few odd facts about her and sail them on their way. I should have done that. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't be sitting here right now.”
”You were destined to be here.” Sohn smiled. His ears looked bigger, though maybe it was just the light. ”If it's odd facts you're after, this is as odd a place as any to gather them. I thought you'd like it in Geneva.”
”Here? Why would I like it here? The trees are butchered. I'm sick to death of looking at watches in store windows. And I resent like h.e.l.l being tossed in front of my brother.”
That rolled off Sohn's back.
”Odd, my brother's taking a sudden interest in fresh-baked bread.”
Sohn perked up. ”He told you that?”
”No, I heard him talking about it on the phone.”
”I don't suppose you know who he was talking to?”
”I have no idea.”
”Your brother hates bread.”
”I know.”
Sohn looked thoughtful, and I knew I wasn't part of the conversation going on inside his head.
”I'd guess your friends are going to contact you fairly soon,” I said. ”They seem impatient. It wouldn't surprise me if they have reserved a room for you, probably at the usual place. Maybe I'll see you around.” I got up and left quickly, before he could say anything more. Halfway out the door, I realized I hadn't thanked him for the pen.
3.
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