I nodded at Killingsworth who only continued to stare at me as I turned and called down the stairs. “Come on up, there’s nobody here but the ambassador.” It wasn’t a bad line.
I walked across the room. “Hello, Killingsworth,” I said.
His mouth worked a little before the words came out. I was sure that there would be plenty of them. “You’re Phil... Phil St. — uh—”
“Ives,” I said. “St. Ives.”
“You used to work for me.”
“Until you fired me.”
“Did I?” he said.
“In Chicago.”
“I remember now.”
I examined the ropes that bound him to the chair. “I’ll get you out of these as soon as I get something to cut them with. They been treating you all right?”
“It’s been a terrible ordeal,” he said and I knew that he was feeling fine.
“Rough, huh?”
Before he could answer the rest of them trooped into the room and headed for the fireplace with only a glance at Killingsworth. If his eyes had popped when they saw me, they bulged at the sight of Tavro and Gordana. Tavro nodded vaguely at Killingsworth as he warmed his hands before the fire. Gordana tried to smile at him but she seemed too worn and cold. I moved over to Arrie.
“Have you got that safety razor?” I said. She nodded and fished around in her large bag with numb hands. She held it out to me. I removed the blade, went back to Killingsworth, and sliced through the ropes that bound his arms and feet. He massaged his hands and then said, “I don’t understand. I don’t understand what all these people are doing here — what you’re doing here. Where’re those two men — those two that kidnapped me? They did kidnap me, didn’t they? This hasn’t been somebody’s idea of a wretched joke?”
“No joke,” I said. “I’ll tell you about it after I get warmed up.”
Killingsworth rose and said in a stern voice, “I think you’d better tell me about it now, St. Ives.”
“Fuck off, Killingsworth,” I said, “I’ll tell you about it when I’m goddamned good and ready.”
I turned my back on him and walked over to the fire. They were all crowded around it, their hands and feet extended to the blaze. Arrie and Cordana had their shoes off. I looked around for something and finally found a large iron pot. I picked it up and walked across the room, down the stairs, and through the door that led outside. I dipped up a large pot of snow and took it back upstairs.
“Here,” I said to the two women, “rub your feet with this. You could have frostbite.”
“Well, by God, if any man alive could get us through it,” Wisdom said, “I knew St. Ives could.”
“What’s your name, young man?” Killingsworth said, putting his hand on Wisdom’s shoulder.
Wisdom popped to attention in his bare feet. “Wisdom, sir. I’m one of the St. Ives Irregulars. He brought us through hell, sir.”
“Jesus,” I said and tugged off my soaked shoes.
“At the pass, Mr. Ambassador,” Knight said in a rich voice full of respect and wonder. “Well, back at the pass I thought for a moment that we were all done for. If it hadn’t been for Colonel St. Ives, sir, well you could have written finis to this expedition.”
“What are they talking about?” Tavro asked me in a hoarse whisper.
“They’re full of frozen shit,” I said. “Some of it’s just beginning to thaw.”
“What’re you doing here, Tavro?” Killingsworth said, his big voice booming the question out.
Tavro looked at me and I took a handful of snow and rubbed it on my bare feet. “He’s with me, Killingsworth,” I said. I looked up at him. He hadn’t changed much in thirteen years. His hair was gray now and he wore it the way he always had, so that a thick lock of it fell down across his forehead. He was still handsome except for his blue eyes that were just a little pale and maybe just a little stupid, but then I was prejudiced. It was a big, wide face with a lot of chin and right now the big face looked puzzled and uncertain and I decided it was time to set him straight.
“Near Sarajevo,” he said. “They forced my car off the road. It was a new car.”
“Then what?”
“They brought me here and made me chop wood. There were two of them, an Italian and another one, a Croat, I think. They threatened to kill me.”
“Didn’t they tell you anything?”
“They told me I was being held for ransom, but they wouldn’t tell me how much or how long I’d have to wait. They didn’t tell me anything. I kept asking about my car, but they wouldn’t even tell me about that.”
“Your car’s okay,” I said. “The ransom was a million dollars. The government paid it. The kidnappers also demanded the release of Anton Pernik from house arrest and his safe conduct to the border. Gordana was to have gone with Pernik but he died. Tavro took his place. The kidnappers didn’t seem to care who came along. Anyway, I was tapped by the State Department to act as go-between in the deal. Mr. Wisdom and Mr. Knight came along to help out. You know Miss Tonzi here. She works for the CIA. I’m not sure why she’s along.”
“You don’t make any sense, St. Ives,” Killingsworth said.
“You’re not tied to a chair anymore, are you?”
“No.”
“Be grateful.” I turned back to the fireplace. “Anybody bring any booze?” I said.
“It just so happens that I have a pint of fair bourbon,” Wisdom said, handing it over to me.
“You’re a treasure, you are,” I said and took a long gulp.
“What now?” Arrie said.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
I looked at my watch. It was nearly three o’clock. “I’m not planning on walking down any mountain tonight, are you?”
“No.”
“Then we’ll just sprawl around the fireplace and sing songs till it gets light.”
“And then?”
I shrugged. “Then you, Killingsworth, Wisdom and Knight can start back for Sarajevo.”
“What about Tavro?”
“He and Gordana go with me.”
“Where?” she asked.
I grinned at her. “I still don’t know.”
I looked up and saw that Killingsworth was now talking to Gordana, his big face worked up into an expression of sadness. She was nodding, as if only half listening to what he had to say. Then she shook her head sharply and moved away. Killingsworth looked around as if bewildered, but then I remembered that he’d often looked that way. He saw me and came over to where I sat
“I have to talk you privately,” he said. “It’s important.”
I sighed and rose. We went over to the rough wooden table. Killingsworth sat down and hunched over it in what he may have hoped was a conspiratorial manner. “This man Tavro,” he said.
“What about him?”
“He’s dangerous.”
“So?”
“He approached me with information. He wanted me to help him get out of the country.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“But you took the information.”
Killingsworth looked around. “You have no idea how vital it is, St. Ives.”
“Hot stuff, huh?”
“It could well determine the future leaders of this country.”