'How sure are you that this Remer is a transmitter?' she asked, giving Katherina an intent look.
'For us there's absolutely no doubt,' she replied.
'But you haven't tested him?'
'No.'
Clara nodded. Several of those present put their heads together to whisper to each other.
They hadn't tested him for the simple reason that Jon was the only one who'd had any contact with Remer, and that was before Jon was activated, so he hadn't had the chance to discover Remer's powers. Besides, a receiver was required to confirm beyond any doubt whether an individual was a Lector or not.
'I was hoping for a little more concrete proof,' said Clara, letting her eyes scan the dubious faces all around them.
'And I was hoping that I could give you that proof,' Katherina admitted. 'But we thought it was better to present the information to everyone as quickly as possible, also to the transmitters.'
Her body felt tense and her eyes searched for allies in the room. Most cast their eyes down when she glanced at them; others stared back with expectant expressions, as if they thought that any minute she might break down or hand over the definitive proof. She pondered how she herself would have reacted if someone had told this story to her. Probably in much the same way. It wasn't so strange that they were sceptical, so she couldn't really allow herself to be bitter.
'I think,' Clara began, raising her voice to be heard above the murmuring that had started up. 'I think we can't afford to sit around and ignore this.' Everyone fell silent. 'If there's any truth in the existence of this Shadow Organization, then we have to respond. I'm not sure how, but we can't pretend nothing's going on.'
Katherina could have jumped up and danced with that lovely woman. For a moment she had thought they would all turn their backs on her, as seemed to be happening to Iversen, but she'd been foolish to think that these people, who had helped each other in so many situations, would desert her now when she needed them most. She felt a lump in her throat and drank some water to hide her own reaction.
'So, what now?' said Clara.
Katherina cleared her throat. 'Iversen is in the process of finding out which transmitters are on our side,' she said. 'We're all supposed to meet later at Libri di Luca.'
Clara nodded.
'Luca would have wanted it that way,' she said. 'A reunion in his own bookshop.'
'It's probably not going to be so much a reunion as a meeting of an entirely new group,' said Katherina gloomily. 'I'm not sure that Iversen will have much luck at getting the transmitters to join us. Many of them are loyal to Kortmann and wouldn't be convinced even if the Shadow Organization handed out business cards.'
'They've always been divided in William's group,' said Clara sadly. She scanned the faces of the receivers. 'We need to make them feel welcome. This is our chance to finish the work that Luca started so long ago.'
Iversen was setting up chairs at Libri di Luca when Katherina returned from the meeting with the receivers. It was after closing time but the door was not locked and all the lights were on in the shop.
'How many do you think we'll need?' asked Iversen, casting a worried glance at the stack of chairs that hadn't yet been set up.
'All the receivers are coming,' said Katherina proudly.
Iversen gave her a grateful look and smiled with relief.
'Well done, Katherina. Was it difficult?'
'Not really, but they're still sceptical. How did it go with the transmitters?'
The smile on Iversen's face vanished and he looked down at the floor.
'Rotten. Kortmann had already spoken to a lot of them.' He sighed. 'Five of them should show up, maybe a couple of others who haven't yet made up their minds.'
'What about Pau?'
Iversen looked distressed and shook his head.
'We shouldn't count on him.'
'Why not?' exclaimed Katherina. Even though she didn't always get along with Pau, she was still surprised that he would desert the ones who had taken him in when he most needed help.
'He was angry,' said Iversen. 'You know how he is. Always short-tempered and self-righteous. He claimed the receivers were to blame for the whole thing and that you had manipulated us all.'
Katherina gritted her teeth. 'We can get along just fine without him.'
'Of course we can,' said Iversen. 'I was just hoping that…' He didn't complete the sentence.
'Maybe he'll come back. Maybe they'll all come back, once we have proof.'
'I hope you're right.' He grabbed the next chair in the stack.
Katherina helped set up the rest of the chairs. There was room for forty people in the front part of the shop, approximately the same number that normally attended the evening readings at Libri di Luca. They weren't exactly comfortable chairs, but the readings were always so compelling that after a while the audience would forget about their discomfort. Only afterwards would they notice how sore their bodies were, a strangely pleasant soreness that everyone shared and that made them all smile at each other as they stretched their limbs during the breaks.
One by one the Lectors began to arrive. They nodded to each other in greeting and started wandering among the shelves, studying the books. Katherina stood on the balcony, receiving the stream of titles, author names and excerpts that emerged. They quickly became mixed in an incomprehensible babbling, like a shop filled with radios all tuned to different stations. She muted the reception and concentrated instead on the facial expressions of those present. Most were nervous, their eyes flitting over the spines of the volumes without taking in what was printed on them. Those who tried to read passages from the books did so without any real involvement or concentration. Katherina recognized Henning from the transmitter meeting. He had arrived early, wearing a grey suit and white shirt, and his hair seemed a good deal darker than she remembered. When he caught sight of her, he nodded politely, and she sensed he was making sure to keep her in sight, casting a glance at her no matter where she happened to be in the shop. Maybe she was just being paranoid.
Jon came into the bookshop with a pensive look on his face. He glanced around and quickly caught Katherina's eye. The smile he gave her made her gasp for breath, and she couldn't help breaking into a big grin herself. On his way over to the stairs, Jon was stopped several times by people who wanted to say hello, curious to hear about the activation. When he finally reached her, Jon hugged Katherina without hesitation, and they kissed for a long time, ignoring the fact that everyone had a good view of them up on the balcony.
Katherina blushed bright red when Jon finally released her, and she noticed people casting embarrassed glances in their direction. Henning's eyes were blinking even more rapidly than usual and an amused little smile appeared on his lips.
'Did you do any training?' asked Katherina after catching her breath.
Jon nodded and was about to say something but was interrupted when the shop door opened and a group of about ten receivers came in. Behind them was the couple from the meeting at the Шsterbro Library. In addition to them and Henning, Katherina had recognized a middle-aged man she remembered seeing at the evening readings. Including Iversen and Jon, she counted a total of six transmitters – not impressive in comparison to the twenty-five receivers who had shown up so far.
When she pointed this out to Jon, he nodded solemnly.
'Is Pau coming?'
'He's backing Kortmann,' said Katherina.
Jon didn't seem either surprised or annoyed by the news.
'What about the librarian?' he asked, leaning over the railing and scanning the people down below.
'I don't think she's coming either,' replied Katherina. 'But Iversen mentioned that some people still hadn't taken sides.'
Jon nodded. 'Let's hope that she changes her mind. We could really use a historian.'
Katherina was about to ask him what he meant by this when Clara came in, to be greeted by an effusively friendly Iversen.