the family business until the war…. I guess it was the languages.’
‘Thanks,’ said David. ‘Bum the Teletype, Bobby.’
‘With pleasure…. When are you coming in? You better get here before the
FMF finds you. Jean can probably convince old Henderson to cool things
off.’
‘Pretty soon. How’s Jean?’
‘Huh? Fine…. Scared; nervous, I guess. You’ll see. She’s a strong girl,
though.’
‘Tell her not to worry.’
‘Tell her yourself.’
‘She’s there with you?’
‘No .Ballard drew out the word, telegraphing a note of
concern that had been absent. ‘No, she’s not with me. She’s on
her way to see you. . .
‘What?’
‘The nurse. The doctor’s nurse. She called about an hour ago. She said you
wanted to see Jean.’ Ballard’s voice suddenly became hard and loud. ‘What
the hell’s going on, Spaulding?’
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41
‘Surely the, man from Lisbon expected countermeasures. I’m amazed he was so
derelict.’ Heinrich Stoltz conveyed his arrogance over the telephone. ‘Mrs.
Cameron was a flank you took for granted, yes? A summons from a loved one is
difficult to resist, is it noff
‘Where is she?’
‘She is on her way to Lujin. She will be a guest at Habichtsnest. An
honored guest, I can assure you. Herr Rhinemann will be immensely pleased;
I was about to telephone him. I wanted to wait until the interception was
made.’
‘You’re out of line!’ David said, trying to keep his voice calm. ‘You’re
asking for reprisals in every neutral area. Diplomatic hostages in a
neutral . . .’
‘A guest,’ interrupted the German with relish. ‘Hardly a prize; a
step-daughter-in-law; the husband deceased. With no official status. So
complicated, these American social rituals.’
‘You know what I mean! You don’t need diagrams!’
‘I said she was a guest! Of an eminent financier you yourself were sent to
contact . . . concerning international economic matters, I believe. A Jew
expelled from his own country, that country your enemy. I see no cause for
immediate alarm…. Although, perhaps, you should.’
There was no reason to procrastinate. Jean was no part of the barFain, no
part of the indictment. To hell with the indictmentl To hell with a
meaningless commitment! There was no meaning!
Only Jean.
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‘Call the moves,’ said David.
‘I was sure you’d cooperate. What difference does it make to you? Or to me,
really…. You and I, we take orders. Leave the philosophy to men of great
affairs. We survive.’
‘That doesn’t sound like a true believer. I was told you were a believer.’
David spoke aimlessly; he needed time, only seconds. To think.
‘Strangely enough, I am. In a world that passed, I’m afraid.
Only partially in the one that’s coming . . . . . The remaining
designs are at Habichtsnest. You and your aerophysicist win go
there at once. I wish to conclude our negotiations this evening.’
‘Wait a minute!’ David’s mind raced over conjectures-his counterpart’s
options. ‘That’s not the cleanest nest I’ve been in; the inhabitants leave
something to be desired.’
‘So do the guests. . . .’
‘Two conditions. One: I see Mrs. Cameron the minute I get there. Two: I
don’t send the codes – if they’re to be sent – until she’s back at the
embassy. With Lyons.’
‘We’ll discuss these points later. There is one prior condition, however.’
Stoltz paused. ‘Should you not be at Habichsnest this afternoon, you will
never see Mrs. Cameron. As you last saw her…. Habicht.snest has so many
diversions; the guests enjoy them so. Unfortunately, there have been some
frightful accidents in the past. On the river, in the pool … on
horseback. . . .’
The foreman gave them a road map and filled the FMF automobile’s gas tank
with fuel from the ranch pump. Spaulding removed the orange medallions from
the bumpers and blurred the numbers of the license plates by chipping away
at the paint until the Is looked like 7s, and 3s like 8s. Then he smashed
the ornament off the tip of the hood, slapped black paint overi the grill
and removed all four hubcaps. Finally, he took a sledgehammer and, to the
amazement of the silent gaucho, he crashed it into the side door panels,
trunk and roof of the car.
When he had finished, the automobile from Fleet Marine Force looked like
any number of back-country wrecks.
They drove out the road to the primitive highway by the telephone junction
box and turned east toward Buenos Aires. Spaulding pressed the accelerator;
the vibrations caused the loose metal to rattle throughout the car. Lyons
held the unfolded map on his knees; if it was correct, they could reach the
LujAn
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district without traveling the major highways, reducing the chances of
discovery by the FMF patrols that were surely out by now.
The goddamned irony of itl thought David. Safety … safety for Jean, for
him, too, really … lay in contact with the same enemy he had fought so
viciously for over three years. An enemy made an ally by incredible events
… treasons taking place in Washington and Berlin.
What had Stoltz said? Leave the philosophy to men of great affairs.
Meaning and no meaning at all.
David nearly missed the half-concealed entrance to Habichtsnest. He was
approaching it from the opposite direction on the lonely stretch of road he
had traveled only once, and at night. What caused him to slow down and look
to his left, spotting the break in the woods, were sets of black tire marks
on the light surface of the entrance. They had not been there long enough
to be erased by the hot sun or succeeding traffic. And Spaulding recalled
the words of the guard on the pier in Ocho Calle.
… There is a lot of shouting.
David could visualize Rhinemann screaming his orders, causing a column of
racing Bentleys and Packards to come screeching out of the hidden road from
Habichtsnest on its way to a quiet street in San Telmo.
And no doubt later – in the predawn hours – other automobiles, more
sweating, frightened henchmen – racing to the small isolated peninsula that
was Ocho Calle.
With a certain professional pride, Spaulding reflected that he had
interdicted well.
Both enemies. All enemies.
A vague plan was coming into focus, but only the outlines. So much depended
on what faced them at Habichtsnest.
And the soft-spoken words of hatred uttered by Asher Feld.
The guards in their paramilitary uniforms leveled their rifles at the
approaching automobile. Others held dogs that were straining at leashes,
teeth bared, barking viciously. The man behind the electric gate shouted
orders to those in front; four guards ran to the car and yanked the smashed
panels open. Spaulding and Lyons got out; they were pushed against the FMF
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vehicle and searched.
David kept turning his head, looking at the extended fence beyond both
sides of the gate. He estimated the height and the tensile strength of the
links, the points of electrical contact between the thick-poled sections.
The angles of direction.
It was part of his plan.
Jean ran to him from across the terraced balcony. He held her, silently,
for several moments. It was a brief span of sanity and he was grateful for
it.
Rhinemann stood at the railing twenty feet away, Stoltz at his side.
Rhinemann’s narrow eyes stared at David from out of the folds of suntanned
flesh. The look was one of despised respect, and David knew it.
There was a third man. A tall, blond-haired man in a white Palm Beach suit
seated at a glass-topped table. Spaulding did not know him.
‘David, David. What have I done?’Jean would not let him go; he stroked her
soft brown hair, replying quietly.
‘Saved my life among other things …..
‘The Third Reich has extraordinarily thorough surveillance, Mrs. Cameron,’
interrupted Stoltz, smiling. ‘We keep watch on all Jews. Especially
professional men. We knew you were friendly with the doctor in Palermo; and
that the colonel was wounded. It was all quite simple!
‘Does your surveillance of Jews include the man beside you?’ asked
Spaulding in a monotone.
Stoltz paled slightly, his glance shifting unobtrusively from Rhinemann to
the blond-haired man in the chair. ‘Heff Rhinemann understands my meaning.
I speak ‘pragmatically; of the necessary observation of hostile elements!
‘Yes, I remember,’ said David, releasing Jean, putting his arm around her
shoulders. ‘You were very clear yesterday about the regrettable necessity
of certain practicalities. I’m sorry you missed the lecture, Rhinemann. It
concerned the concentration of Jewish money…. We’re here. Let’s get on
with it.’
Rhinemann stepped away from the railing. ‘We shall. But first, so the …
circle is complete, I wish to present to you an acquaintance who has flown
in from Berlin. By way of neutral passage, of course. I want you to have
the opportunity of knowing you dealdirectly with him. The exchange is more
genuine this way.’
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Spaulding looked over at the blond-haired man in the white Palm Beach suit.