«Don’t tell me you’re a doctor,» said Helden.
«One doesn’t have to be a doctor to treat bullet wounds. You just have to get used to them.» The Israeli crossed to the door. «Stay here. I want to talk to Mrs. Holcroft.»
«No!»
Ben-Gadíz stopped. «What did you say?»
«Don’t send her out alone. She’s beside herself with guilt and frightened for her son. She can’t think clearly; she won’t have a chance. Don’t do it.»
«And if I do, you’ll stop me?»
«There’s a better way. You want my brother. Use me.»
«I want the Sonnenkinder list first. We’ve got three days to kill Von Tiebolt.»
«Three days?»
«Banks are closed tomorrow and Sunday. Monday would be the earliest they could meet with the Grande Banque’s directors. The list comes first. I agree with Litvak; it is the priority.»
«If it’s so important, he’s surely got it with him.»
«I doubt it. Men like your brother don’t take chances like that. An accident, a robbery in the streets … someone like me. No, he wouldn’t carry that list around. Nor would he put it in a hotel vault. It’s in his room. In a better vault. I want to get in that room, get him out of there for a while.»
«Then all the more reason to use me!» said Helden. «He thinks I’m dead. He didn’t see me at the seaplane base; he was looking for her, not me. The shock will stun him; he’ll be confused. He’ll go anywhere I say to find me. All I have to do is say the word ‘Nachrichtendienst.’ I’m sure of it.»
«And I’m counting on it,» replied Yakov. «But for tomorrow. Not tonight. You’re not the one he wants tonight. Holcroft’s mother is.»
«I’ll tell him she’s with me! It’s perfect!»
«He’d never believe you. You, who went to Neuchâtel to meet Werner Gerhardt? Who escaped? You’re synonymous with a trap.»
«Then at least let me go with her,» pleaded Helden. «Set up a meeting and I’ll stay out of sight. Give her some protection. I have a gun.»
Ben-Gadíz thought a moment before answering. «I know what you’re offering, and I admire you for it. But I can’t risk the two of you. You see, I need her tonight, and I’ll need you tomorrow. She’ll draw him away tonight; you’ll draw him out tomorrow. It has to be that way.»
«You can accomplish both tonight!» pressed Helden. «Get your list. I’ll kill him. I swear it!»
«I believe you, but you’re missing a point. I give your brother more credit than you do. No matter how we plan, he’ll control the meeting with Mrs. Holcroft tonight. He has the numbers, the methods. We don’t.»
Helden stared at the Israeli. «You’re not only using her; you’re sacrificing her.»
«I’ll use each of us, sacrifice each of us, to do what has to be done. If you interfere, I’ll kill you.» Yakov walked to the bedroom door and let himself out.
Althene was sitting at a desk at the far end of the room, its small lamp the only source of light. She wore a deep-red bathrobe that she’d found in a closet, and it fit her loosely. The drenched clothes she and Helden had worn were draped over radiators, drying out. She was writing on a sheet of stationery. At the sound of Yakov’s footsteps, she turned.
«I borrowed some paper from your desk,» she said.
«It’s not my paper, not my desk,» answered the Israeli. «Are you writing a letter?»
«Yes. To my son.»
«Why? With any luck we’ll reach him. You’ll talk.»
Althene leaned back in the chair, her gaze steady on Ben-Gadíz. «I think we both know that there’s little chance I’ll see him again.»
«Do we?»
«Of course. There’s no point in my deceiving myself … or in your trying to deceive me. Von Tiebolt has to meet with me. When he does, he won’t let me go. Not alive. Why would he?»
«We’ll take precautions as best we can.»
«I’ll take a gun, thank you. I’ve no intention of standing there, telling him to fire away.»
«It would be better if you were sitting.»
They smiled at each other. «We’re both practical, aren’t we? Survivors.»
Yakov shrugged. «It’s easier that way.»
«Tell me. This list you want so badly. The Sonnenkinder. It must be enormous. Volumes. Names of people and families everywhere.»
«That’s not the list we’re after; that’s the master list. I doubt we’ll ever see it. The list we can find—we’ve got to find—is the practical one. The names of the leaders who’ll receive the funds, who’ll distribute them in strategic areas. That list has to be where Von Tiebolt can get it readily.»
«And with it, you’ll have the identity of Wolfsschanze’s leaders.»
«Everywhere.»
«Why are you so sure it’s at the d’Accord?»
«It’s the only place it could be. Von Tiebolt trusts no one. He lets others deal in fragments; he controls the whole. He wouldn’t leave the list in a vault; nor would he carry it on him. It will be in his hotel room, the room itself filled with traps. And he would leave it only under the direst of circumstances.»
«We agree I’m that circumstance.»
«Yes. He fears you as he fears no one else, for no one else could convince your son to walk away from Geneva. They need him; they always have. The laws must be observed for the funds to be released. There was never any other way.»
«There’s irony in that. The law is used to perpetrate the greatest illegality imaginable.»
«It is not a new device, Mrs. Holcroft.»
«What about my son? Will you kill him?»
«I don’t want to.»
«I’d like something more concrete.»
«There’ll be no reason to, if he comes with us. If he can be convinced of the truth and not think he’s being tricked, there’s good reason to keep him alive. Wolfsschanze won’t end with the collapse of the funds. The Sonnenkinder are out there. They’ll be crippled, but not exposed. Or destroyed. We’ll need every voice that can be raised against them. Your son will have a vital story to tell. Together we’ll reach the right people.»
«How will you convince him … if I don’t come back from my meeting with Von Tiebolt?»
The Israeli saw the hint of a smile on Althene’s lips and understood her pause. His assumption had been clear: She would not come back.
«As the contact in Neuchâtel and I see it, we have today and tomorrow; the moves at La Grande Banque will no doubt begin Monday. They’ll keep him isolated, out of reach. It’s my job to break that isolation, get him away.»
«And when you do, what will you say?»
«I’ll tell him the truth, explain everything we learned at Har Sha’alav. Helden can be extremely helpful—if she’s alive, frankly. And then there’s the list. If I find it, I’ll show it to him.»
«Show him this letter,» interrupted Althene, turning back to the paper on the desk.
«It, too, would be helpful,» said the Israeli.
«Erich!»
Kessler whipped around, his obese body rigid. He started to lower the phone, but Holcroft stopped him.
«Hold it! Who are you talking to?» Noel grabbed the telephone; he spoke into it. «Who is this?»
Silence.
«Who is this?»
«Please,» said Kessler, regaining his composure. «We’re trying to protect you. You can’t be seen on the streets; you know that. They’ll kill you. You’re the key to Geneva.»
«You weren’t talking about me!»