«I understand that,» said Hans. «But actually, by Saturday noon, Holcroft’s expendable, isn’t he?»
Erich held up his hand. «Best put him under your drugs for a period of time, available for display, as it were. A functioning mental cripple … until a great portion of the funds is dispersed. By then it won’t matter; the world will be too preoccupied to care about an accident in Zurich. Right now we must do as Johann says. We must find Holcroft before his mother does.»
«And under one pretext or another,» added Von Tiebolt, «keep him isolated until our meeting the day after tomorrow. She will undoubtedly try to reach him, and then we will know where she is. We have men in Geneva who can take care of the rest.» He hesitated. «As always, Hans, your brother addresses himself to what is optimum. But the answer to your question is yes. By noon Saturday, Holcroft is expendable. When I think about it, I’m not sure the additional weeks are even desirable.»
«You annoy me again,» said the scholar. «I defer to your exotic mind in many things, but a deviation in strategy at this juncture is hardly welcome. Holcroft must be available. In your words, until ‘substantive progress’ is made, there can be no alarms.»
«I don’t think there will be,» replied Von Tiebolt. «The change I’m implementing would be approved by our fathers. I’ve moved up the timetable.»
«You’ve what?»
«When I used the word ‘alarms,’ I referred to legalities, not Holcroft. Legalities are constant; life spans, never.»
«What timetable? Why?»
«Second question first, and you may answer it.» Johann stood in front of the older Kessler’s chair. «What was the single most effective weapon of war the Fatherland employed? What strategy would have brought England to her knees had there been no hesitation? What were the lightning bolts that shook the world?»
«Blitzkrieg,» said the doctor, answering for his brother.
«Yes. Swift, sharp onslaughts, out of nowhere. Men and weapons and machinery, sweeping across borders with extraordinary speed, leaving in their wake confusion and devastation. Whole peoples divided, unable to reform ranks, incapable of making decisions. The Blitzkrieg, Erich. We must adapt it now; we can’t hesitate.»
«Abstractions, Johann! Give me specifics!»
«Very well. Specific one: John Tennyson has written an article that will be picked up by the wire services and flashed everywhere tomorrow. The Tinamou kept records, and there is talk that they’ve been found. Names of those powerful men who’ve hired him, dates, sources of payments. It will have the effect of massive electric shocks throughout the world’s power centers. Specific two: Saturday, the Geneva document is executed, the funds transferred to Zurich. Sunday, we move to our headquarters there; they’ve been prepared; all communications are functioning. If Holcroft is with us, Hans has him narcotized; if not, he’s dead. Specific three: Monday, the assets are deemed liquid and in our control. Using the Greenwich time zones, we begin cabling funds to our people, concentrating on the primary targets. We start right here in Geneva. Then to Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, London, Washington, New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. By five, Zurich time, we move into the Pacific Honolulu, the Marshalls, and the Gilberts. By eight we go into New Zealand, Auckland, and Wellington. By ten, it’s Australia—Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide—then to Perth and across to Singapore, into the Far East. The first phase stops in New Delhi; on paper we’re financed over three quarters of the globe. Specific four: At the end of another twenty-four hours—Tuesday—we receive confirmations that the funds have been received and converted into cash, ready for use. Specific five: I will make twenty-three telephone calls from Zurich. They will be made to twenty-three men in various capitals who have employed the services of the Tinamou. They will be told that certain demands will be made of them during the next few weeks; they are expected to comply. Specific six: On Wednesday, it begins. The first killing will be symbolic. The Chancellor in Berlin, the leader of the Bundestag. We sweep westward in a Blitzkrieg.» Von Tiebolt paused for a moment. «On Wednesday, Code Wolfsschanze is activated.»
The telephone rang; at first no one seemed to hear it. Then Von Tiebolt answered it.
«Yes?»
He stared at the wall as he listened in silence. Finally he spoke. «Use the words I gave you,» he said softly. «Kill them.» He hung up.
«What is it?» asked the doctor.
Von Tiebolt, his hand still on the telephone, replied in a monotone. «It was only a guess—a possibility—but I sent a man to Neuchâtel. To observe someone. And that someone met with another. It’s no matter; they will soon be dead. My beautiful sister and a traitor named Werner Gerhardt.»
It did not make sense, thought Holcroft, as he listened to Willie Ellis’s words over the phone. He had reached Willie at the d’Accord from a booth in Geneva’s crowded Place Neuve, fully expecting the designer to have made contact with Althene by now. He hadn’t; she wasn’t there. But his mother had said the Hôtel d’Accord. She would meet him at the Hôtel d’Accord.
«Did you describe her? An American, around seventy, tall for a woman?»
«Naturally. Everything you mentioned a half hour ago. There’s no one here by the name of Holcroft, or any woman fitting the description. There are no Americans at all.»
«It’s crazy.» Noel tried to think. Tennyson and the Kesslers weren’t due until evening; he had no one to turn to. Was his mother doing the same thing he was doing? Trying to reach him from outside the hotel, expecting he’d be there? «Willie, call up the front desk and say you just heard from me. Use my name. Tell them I asked you if there were any messages for me.»
«I don’t think you understand the rules in Geneva,» Willie said. «Messages between two people aren’t given to unknown third parties, and the d’Accord is no exception. Frankly, when I asked about your mother, I was given some very odd looks. Despite my Louis Vuitton, the little bastard couldn’t wait for me to stop talking.»
«Try it anyway.»
«There’s a better way. I think if I—» Willie stopped; from somewhere in the distance there was a tapping. «Just a minute; there’s someone at the door. I’ll get rid of whoever it is and be right back.»
Noel could hear the sound of a door opening. There were voices, indistinct, questioning; a brief exchange took place, and then there were footsteps. Holcroft waited for Willie to get back on the line.
There was the sound of a cough, but more than a cough. What was it? The start of a cry? Was it the start of a cry?
«Willie?»
Silence. Then footsteps again.
«Willie?»
Suddenly, Noel felt cold. And pain came back to his stomach as he remembered the words.
The same words!…
There’s someone at the door. I’ll get rid of whoever it is and be right back…
Another Englishman. Four thousand miles away in New York. And a match flaring up in the window across the courtyard.
Peter Baldwin.
«Willie! Willie, where are you?! Willie!»
There was a click. The line went dead.
Oh, Christ! What had he done?
Willie!
Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead; his hands trembled.
He had to get to the d’Accord! He had to get there as fast as he could and find Willie, help Willie. Oh, Christ! He wished the hammering pain would get out of his eyes!