scheduled to intercept and protect to the destination.
347
At Bem they were met by a Swiss government vehicle, Ranked by a motorcycle
escort of eight men-one at the front, one at the rear, and three on each
side. All were armed in spite of the Geneva pact, which prohibited such
practices.
11ey drove to a village twenty-odd miles to the north, toward the German
border. Kreuz&gen.
They arrived at a small inn, isolated from the rest of civilization, and
the man and boy got out of the car. The driver sped the automobile away,
and the motorcycle complement disappeared.
Matthew Canfield led the boy up the steps to the entrance of the inn.
Inside the lobby could be beard the wailing sound of an accordion, echoing
from what was apparently a sparsely populated dining room. The
high-ceilinged entry room was inhospitable, conveying the feeling that
guests were not welcome.
Matthew Canfield and Andrew Scarlett approached the counter, which served
as a front desL
“Please, ring through to room six that April Red is here.tv
As the clerk plugged m his line, the boy suddenly shook. Canfield grabbed
his arm and held him
They walked up the stairs, and the two men stood in front of the door
marked with the numeral six.
‘7heres nothing I can tell you now, Andy, except that were here for one
person. At least thats why Im hem Janet. Your mother. Try to remember
that-
The boy took a deep breath. ‘T11 try, Dad. Open the doorl Jesust Open the
doorl”
The room was dimlylit by small lamps on small tables. It was ornate in the
fashion the Swiss felt proper for tourists-heavy rugs and solid furniture,
overstuffed chairs and much antimacassar.
At the far end sat a man in half shadow. The spill of light angled sharply
dawn across his chest but did not ilhuninate bis face The figure was
dressed in brown twee4 the jacket a combination of heavy cloth and
leaffier.
He spoke in a throaty, harsh voice. “You arer’
“Canfield and April Red. Kroeger?”
“Shut the door.”
348
Matthew Canfield closed the door and took several steps forward in front of
Andrew Scarlett. He would cover the boy. He put his hand in his right coat
pocket.
“I have a gun pointed at you, Kroeger. Not the same gun but the same pocket
as last time we meL This time I won1 take anything for granted. Do I make
myself clear?”
“If you like, take it out of your pocket and hold it against my head….
There’s not much I can do about it.”
Canfield approached the figure in the chair.
It was horrible.
The man was a semi-invalid. He seemed to be paralyzed through the entire
left portion of his body, extending to his jaw. His hands were folded
across his front, his fingers extended as though spastic. But his eyes were
alert.
His eyes.
His face…. Covered over by white splotches of skin graft below gray
short-c-ropped hair. The man spoke.
“What you see was carried out of Sevastopol. Operation Barbarossa.”
“What do you have to tell us, Kroeger?”
First, April Red…. Tell him to come closer.”
“Come here, Andy. By me.”
“Andyl” The man in the chair laughed through his half-closed mouth. “Isn’t
that nicel Andyl Come here, Andyl”
Andrew Scarlett approached his stepfather and stood by his side, looking
down at the deformed man in the chair.
“So you’re the son of Ulster Scarlett?”
“I’m Matthew Canfield!s son.”
Canfield held his place, watching the father and son. He suddenly felt as
though he didn’t belong. He had the feeling that giants—old and infirm,
young and scrawnywere about to do battle. And he was not of their house.
“No, young man, you’re the son of Ulster Stewart Scarlett, heir to
Scarlattil”
“I’m exactly what I want to bel I have nothing to do with you.” The young
man breathed deeply. The fear was leaving him now, and in its place
Canfield saw that a quiet fury was taking hold of the boy.
“Easy, Andy. Easy.”
“Why? . . . For him? … Look at him. He’s practically dead… He doeset
even have a face.”
349
#,Stop itr’ Ulster Scarletes shrill voice reminded Canfield of that
long-ago room in Zurich- “Stop it, you fooll”
“For what? For you? – . . Why should I? . . . I don% know yout I doWt want
to know youl . – . You left a long time agol” The young man pointed to
Canfield. He took over for you. I listen” him. You’re nothing to mer’
“Don’t you talk to me like thall Don’t you darer’
Canfield spoke sharply. “rve, brought April Red, Kroegerl What have you got
to deliverl Thafs what were here for. Le’s get it over withr’
“He must understand firstr’ The misshapen head nodded back and forth. “He
must be made to understand,”
, “If it meant that mucb, why did you hide it? Why did you become Kroeger?”
The nodding head stopped, the ashen slit eyes staredCaafield remembered
Janet speaking about that IDOL
“Because Ulster Scarlett was not fit to represent the new order. The new
worldl Ulster Scarleft served his purpose and once that purpose was
accomplished, he was no longer necessary… He was a hindranm – – – He
would have been a joke. He had to be eliminated.
“Perhaps there was something else, -too.”
“ISMIJ,taffs
‘-Elizabeth. She would have stopped You again. . . . She would have stopped
you later, just the way she stopped you at Zurich.”
At Elizabeth’s name, Heinrich KrOeger worked up the phlegm in his scarred
throat and spat. it was an ugly sight. “rhe bitch of the worldl . . . But
we made a mistake in twenty-six…. Let’s be honest, I made the mistake….
I should -have asked her to join us. . . . She would have, you know. She,
wanted the same things we did. . . .”
&,You’re wrong about that.”
“Hahl You didn’t know herr’
Me former field accountant replied softly without inflection. “I knew her.
. . . Take My word for it, she despised everything you stood for-”
The Nazi laughed quietly to himself- ‘Thaes very funny… I told her she
stood for everything I despised-
,I-rhen you were both right.”
,,No matter. She’s in hell now.”
“She died thinkin you were. dead. She died in peace because of thaL”
350
“Hahl You’ll never know how tempted I was over the years, especially when
we took Parisl . . . But I was waiting for London. . . . I was going to
stand outside Whitehall and announce it to the world-and watch Scarlatti
destroy itselfl”
“She was gone by the time you took ParIL”
11rhat didn’t matter.”
“I suppose not. You were just as afraid of her in death as you were when
she was alive.”
“I was afraid of no onel I was afraid of nothingl” Heinrich Kroeger stramed
his decrepit body.
‘qben why didn’t you carry out ybur threat? The house of Soarlatti lives.”
never told your’
“Told me what?”
47~ bitch-woman always covered herself on four Banks. She found her
corruptible man. My -one enemy in the I1&d Reich. Goebbels. She never
believed rd been killed at Zurich. Goebbels, knew who I was. After nineteen
thirty-three she threatened our respectability with lies. Lm about me. The
party was more important than revenge.st
Canfield watched the. destroyed man below him. As -always, Elizabeth
Scarlatfi had been ahead of all of them Far ahead.
One last questionr
OIT,Whafff
-why janet?”
The man in the chair raised his right hand with difficulty. “Him. …
Hinit” He pointed -to Andrew ScarletL
“Whyr’
“I believedl I sM believel Heinrich Kroeger was part of a new worldt A new
orderl Ile true aristocracyl … In time it would have been hist”
– But why Janet?”
Heinrich Kroeger, in exhaustion, waved the question aside. “A whore. Who
needs a whore? The vessel is all we look for. . . ”
Canfield felt the anger rise inside him, but at his age and in his job, he
suppressed it. He was not quick enough for the boy-man beside him.
Andrew Scarlett rushed forward to the overstuffed chair and swung his open
hand at the invalid Kroeger. The
351
slap was hard and accurate. “You bastardl You filthy bastardt”
“Andyl Get backl” He pulled the boy away.
‘Unehelichl” Heinrich Kroeger’s eyes were swunming in their sockets. “Ifs
for youl That’s why yotfre herel You’ve got to kDowl . . . Yoxell
understand and start us up againt Thinkl Think the aristocracyl For you
– . for you. . . .” He reached with his slightly mobile iiand to his inside
jacket pocket and withdrew a slip of paper. “They’re yours. Take theinl”
canfield picked up the paper and without looking at it handed it to Andrew
Scarlett.
“They’re numbers. Just a lot of numbers.”
Matthew Canfield knew what the numbers meant, but before he could explain,