Villiers turned, speaking to the maid and glancing at his wristwatch. The woman nodded, closing the door, as the general walked briskly down the steps and around the bonnet of a large saloon to the driver's side. He opened the door and climbed in, then started the engine and rolled slowly out into the middle of the street. Jason waited until the saloon reached the corner and turned right; he eased the Renault away from the kerb and accelerated, reaching the intersection in time to see Villiers turn right again a block east.
There was a certain irony in the coincidence, an omen if one could believe in such things. The route General Villiers chose to the outlying suburb of Nanterre included a stretch of back road in the countryside nearly identical to the one in St Germain-en-Laye where twelve hours ago Marie had pleaded with Jason not to give up – his life or hers. There were stretches of pasture land, fields that fused into the gently rising hills; but instead of being crowned by early light, these were washed in the cold, white rays of the moon. It occurred to Bourne that this stretch of isolated road would be as good a spot as any on which to intercept the returning general.
It was not difficult for Jason to follow at distances up to a quarter of a mile, which was why he was surprised to realize he had practically caught up with the old soldier. Villiers had suddenly slowed down and was turning into a gravelled drive cut out of the woods, the parking area beyond illuminated by floodlights. A sign, hanging from two chains on a high-angle post, was caught in the spill.
L'Arbalete. The general was meeting someone for dinner at an out-of-the-way restaurant, not in the suburb of Nanterre but close by. In the country.
Bourne drove past the entrance and pulled off the shoulder of the road, the right side of the car covered by foliage; he had to think things out... he had to control himself. There was a fire in his mind; it was growing, spreading. He was suddenly consumed by an extraordinary possibility.
Considering the shattering events – the enormity of the embarrassment experienced by Carlos last night at the motel in Montrouge, it was more than likely that Andrel Villiers had been summoned to an out-of-the-way restaurant for an emergency meeting. Perhaps even with Carlos himself. If that was the case, the premises would be guarded, and a man whose photograph had been distributed to those guards would be shot the instant he was recognized. On the other hand, the chance to observe a nucleus belonging to Carlos – or Carlos himself -was an opportunity that might never come again. He had to get inside L'Arbalete. There was a compulsion within him to take the risk. Any risk! It was crazy! But then he was not sane. Sane as a man with a memory was sane. Carlos. Find Carlos! Cod in heaven, why?
He felt the gun in his belt; it was secure. He got out and put on his overcoat, covering the jacket with the lettering across the back. He picked up a narrow-brimmed hat from the seat, the cloth soft, angled down on all sides; it would cover his hair. Then he tried to remember if he had been wearing the tortoise-shell glasses when the photograph was taken in Argenteuil. He had not; he had removed them at the table when successive bolts of pain had seared through his head, brought on by words that told him of a past too familiar, too frightening to face, He felt his shirt pocket; the glasses were there if he needed them. He pressed the door closed and started for the woods.
The glare of the restaurant floodlights filtered through the trees, growing brighter with each several yards, less foliage to block the light. Bourne reached the edge of the short patch of forest, the gravelled parking area in front of him. He was at the side of the rustic restaurant, a row of small windows running the length of the building, flickering candles beyond the glass illuminating the figures of the diners. Then his eyes were drawn to the first floor – although it did not extend the length of the building but only halfway, the rear section an open terrace. The enclosed part, however, was similar to the ground floor. A line of windows, a bit larger, perhaps, but still in a row, and again glowing with candles. Figures were milling about, but they were different from the diners below.
They were all men. Standing, not sitting; moving casually, glasses in hands, cigarette smoke spiralling over their heads. It was impossible to tell how many – more than ten, less than twenty, perhaps.
There he was, crossing from one group to another, the white beard a beacon, switching on and off as it was intermittently blocked by figures nearer the windows. General Villiers had, indeed, driven out to Nanterre for a meeting, and the odds favoured a conference that dealt with the failures of the past forty-eight hours, failures that permitted a man named Cain to remain alive.
The odds. What were the odds? Where were the guards? How many, and where were their stations? Keeping behind the edge of the woods, Bourne side-stepped his way towards the front of the restaurant, bending branches silently, his feet over the underbrush. He stood motionless, watching for men concealed in the foliage or in the shadows of the building. He saw none, and retraced his path, breaking new ground until he reached the rear of the restaurant
A door opened, the spill of light harsh, and a man hi a white jacket emerged. He stood for a moment, cupping his hands, lighting a cigarette. Bourne looked to the left, to the right, above to the terrace; no one appeared. A guard stationed in the area would have been alarmed by the sudden light ten feet below the conference. There were no guards outside. Protection found – as it had to be at Villiers's house in Pare Monceau – within the building itself.
Another man appeared in the doorway, also wearing a white jacket, but with the addition of a chef's hat. His voice was angry, his French laced with the guttural dialect of Gascony. 'While you piss off, we sweat! The pastry cart is half empty. Fill it. Now, you bastard!'
The pastry man turned and shrugged; he crushed out his cigarette and went back inside, closing the door behind him. The light vanished, only the wash of the moon remained, but it was enough to illuminate the terrace. There was no one there, no guard patrolling the wide double doors that led to the inside room.
Carlos. Find Carlos. Trap Carlos. Cain is for Charlie, and Delta is for Cain.
Bourne judged the distance and the obstacles. He was no more than forty feet from the rear of the building, ten or twelve below the railing that bordered the terrace. There were two vents in the exterior wall, vapour escaping from both and next to them a drainpipe that was within reach of the railing. If he could scale the pipe and manage to get a toehold in the lower vent, he would be able to grab a rung of the railing and pull himself up to the terrace. But be could do none of this wearing the overcoat; he took it off, placing it at his feet, the soft-brimmed hat on top, and covered both with undergrowth. Then he stepped to the edge of the woods and raced as quietly as possible across the gravel to the drainpipe.
In the shadows he tugged at the fluted metal; it was strongly in place. He reached as high as he could, then sprang up, gripping the pipe, his feet pressed into the wall, pedalling one on top of the other until his left foot was parallel to the first vent. Holding on, he slipped his foot into the recess, and propelled himself further up the drain. He was within eighteen inches of the railing; one surge launched from the vent and he could reach the bottom rung.
The door crashed open beneath him, white light shooting across the gravel into the woods. A figure plummeted out, weaving to maintain its balance, followed by the white-hatted chef who was screaming.
'You piss-ant! You're drunk, that's what you are! You've been drunk the whole shit-filled night! Pastries all over the dining-room floor... everything a mess. Get out, you'll not get a sou!'
The door was pulled shut, the sound of a bolt unmistakably final. Jason held onto the pipe, arms and ankles aching, rivulets of sweat breaking out on his forehead. The man below staggered backwards, making obscene gestures repeatedly with his right hand for the benefit of the chef who was no longer there. His glazed eyes wandered up the wall, settling on Bourne's face. Jason held his breath as their eyes met; the man stared, then blinked, and stared again. He shook his head, closing his lids, then opened them wide, taking in the sight he was not entirely sure was there. He backed away, lurching into a sideslip and a forward walk, obviously deciding that the apparition halfway up the wall was the result of his pressured labours. He weaved around the corner of the building, a man more at peace with himself for having rejected the foolishness that had assaulted his eyes.
Bourne breathed again, letting his body slump against the wall in relief. But it was only for a moment; the ache in his ankle had descended to his foot, a cramp forming. He lunged, grabbing the iron bar that was the base of the railing with his right hand, whipping his left up from the drainpipe, joining it. He pressed his knees into the tiles and pulled himself slowly up the wall until his head was over the edge of the terrace. It was deserted. He kicked his right leg up to the ledge, his right hand reaching for the wrought-iron top; balanced, he swung over the railing.
He was on a terrace used for dining in the spring and summer months, a tiled floor that could accommodate ten to fifteen tables. In the centre of the wall separating the enclosed section from the terrace were the wide double doors he had seen from the woods. The figures inside were now motionless, standing still, and for an instant Jason wondered whether an alarm had been set off – whether they were waiting for him. He stood immobile, his hand on his gun; nothing happened. He approached the wall, staying in the shadows. Once there, he pressed his back against the wood and edged his way towards the first door until his ringers touched the frame. Slowly, he inched his head up to the pane of glass level with his eyes and looked inside. What he saw was both mesmerising and not a little frightening. The men were in lines – three separate lines, four men to a line – facing Andrel Villiers, who was addressing them. Thirteen men in all, twelve of them not merely standing, but standing at attention. They were old men, but not merely old men; they were old soldiers. None wore uniforms; instead in each lapel they wore ribbons, regimental colours above decorations for valour and rank. And if there was one all-pervasive note about the scene, it, too, was unmistakable. These were men used to command – used to power. It was in their faces, their eyes, in the way they listened – respect rendered but not blindly, judgment ever present. Their bodies were old, but there was strength in that room. Immense strength. That was the frightening aspect. If these men belonged to Carlos, the assassin's resources were not only far-reaching, they were extraordinarily dangerous. For these were not ordinary men; they were seasoned professional soldiers. Unless he was grossly mistaken, thought Bourne, the depth of experience and range of influence in that room was staggering.
The mad colonels of Algiers, what was left of them? Men driven by memories of a France that no longer existed, a world that was no more, replaced by one they found weak and ineffectual. Such men could make a pact with Carlos, if only for the covert power it gave them. Strike. Attack. Dispatch. Decisions of life and death that were once a part of their fabric brought back by a force that could serve causes they refused to admit were no longer viable. Once a terrorist, always a terrorist, and assassination was the raw core of terror.
The general was raising his voice; Jason tried to hear the words through the glass. They became clearer.
'... our presence will be felt, our purpose understood. We are together in our stand, and that stand is immovable; we shall be heard! In memory of all those who have fallen – our brothers of the tunic and the cannon? 'Who laid down their lives for the glory of France. We shall force our beloved country to remember, and in their names to remain strong, lackey to no one\ Those who oppose us will know our anger. In this, too, we are united. We pray to Almighty God that those who have gone before us have found peace, for we are still in conflict... Gentlemen. I give you our Lady. Our France."
There was a murmur of muttered approvals, the old soldiers remaining rigidly at attention. And then another voice was raised, the first five words sung singly, joined at the sixth by the rest of the group.
Allans, enfants de la patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrive...
Bourne turned away, sickened by the sight and the sounds inside that room. Lay waste in the name of glory; the death of fallen comrades perforce demands further death. It is required; and if it means a pact with Carlos, so be it.
What disturbed him so? Why was he suddenly swept by feelings of anger and futility? What triggered the revulsion he felt so strongly? And then he knew. He hated a man like Andrel Villiers, despised the men in that room. They were all old men who made war, stealing life from the young... and the very young.
Why were the mists closing in again? Why was the pain so acute? There was no time for questions, no strength to tolerate them. He had to push them out of his mind, and concentrate on Andrel Francois Villiers, warrior and warlord, whose causes belonged to yesterday but whose pact with an assassin called for death today.
He would trap the general. Break him. Learn everything he knew and probably kill him. Men like Villiers robbed life from the young and the very young. They did not deserve to live. 7 am in my labyrinth again, and the walls are embedded with spikes. Oh, Cod, they hurt.
Jason climbed over the railing in the darkness and lowered himself to the drainpipe, each muscle aching. Pain, too, had to be erased. He had to reach a deserted stretch of road in the moonlight and trap a broker of death.
Bourne waited in the Renault two hundred yards east of the restaurant entrance, the motor running, prepared to race ahead the instant he saw Villiers drive out. Several others had already left, all in separate cars. Conspirators did not advertise their association, and these old men were conspirators in the truest sense. They had traded whatever honours they had earned for the lethal convenience of an assassin's gun and an assassin's organization. Age and bias had robbed them of reason, as they had spent their lives robbing life... from the young and the very young.
What was it? Why won't it leave me? Some terrible thing is deep inside me, trying to break out, trying I think to kill me. The fear and the guilt sweep through me... but of -what and for what I do not know. Why should these withered old men provoke such feelings of fear and guilt... and loathing?
They were war. They were death. On the ground and from the skies. From the skies... from the skies. Help me, Marie. For God's sake, help me!
There it was. The headlights swung out of the drive, the long black chassis reflecting the wash of the floodlights. Jason kept his own lights off as he pulled out of the shadows. He accelerated down the road until he reached the first curve, where he switched on the headlights and pressed the pedal to the floor. The isolated stretch of countryside was roughly two miles away; he had to get there quickly.
It was ten past eleven and, as three hours before, the fields swept into the hills, both bathed in the light of the March moon, now in the centre of the sky. He reached the area; it was feasible. The shoulder was wide, bordering a pasture, which meant that both cars could be pulled off the road. The immediate objective, however, was to get Villiers to stop. The general was old but not feeble; if the tactic were suspect, he would break over the grass and race away. Everything was timing, and a totally convincing moment of the unexpected.
Bourne swung the Renault around in a U-turn, waited until he saw the headlights in the distance, then suddenly accelerated, swinging the wheel violently back and forth. The car careened over the road – an out-of-control driver, incapable of finding a straight line, but nevertheless speeding.
Villiers had no choice; he slowed down, as Jason came racing insanely towards him. Then abruptly, when the two cars were no more than twenty feet from colliding, Bourne spun the wheel to the left, braking as he did so, sliding into skid, tyres screeching. He came to a stop, the window open, and raised his voice in an undefined cry. Half shout, half scream; it could have been the vocal explosion of an ill man or a drunken man, but the one thing it was not was threatening. He slapped his hand on the frame of the window and was silent, crouching in the seat, his gun on his lap.
He heard the door of Villiers's saloon open and peered through the steering wheel. The old man was not visibly armed; he seemed to suspect nothing, relieved only that a collision had been avoided. The general walked through the beams of the headlights to the Renault's left window, his shouts anxious, his French the interrogating commands of Saint Cyr.
'What's the meaning of this? What do you think you're doing! Are you all right?' His hands gripped the base of the window.
'Yes, but you're not,' replied Bourne in English, raising the gun.
'What?...' The old man gasped, standing erect. 'Who are you and what is this?'
Jason got out of the Renault, his left hand extended above the barrel of the weapon. 'I'm glad your English is fluent. Walk back to your car. Drive it off the road.'
'And if I refuse?'
'I'll kill you right now. It wouldn't take much to provoke me.'
'Do these words come from the Red Brigades? Or the Paris branch of the Baader-Meinhof?'
'Why? Could you countermand them if they did?'
'I spit at them! And you!'
'No one's ever doubted your courage, General. Walk to your car.'
'It's not a matter of courage' said Villiers, without moving. 'It's a question of logic. You'll accomplish nothing by killing me, less by kidnapping me. My orders are firm, fully understood by my staff and my family. The Israelis are absolutely right! There can be no negotiations with terrorists. Use your gun, garbage! Or get out of here!'
Jason studied the old soldier, suddenly profoundly uncertain, but not about to be fooled. It would be in the furious eyes that stared at him. One name soaked in filth coupled with another name heaped with the honours of his nation would cause another kind of explosion; it would be in the eyes.
'Back at that restaurant, you said France shouldn't be a lackey to anyone. But a general of France became someone's lackey. General Andrel Villiers, messenger for Carlos... Carlos's contact, Carlos's soldier, Carlos's lackey.'
The furious eyes did grow wide, but not in any way Jason expected. Fury was suddenly joined by hatred, not shock, not hysteria, but deep, uncompromising abhorrence. The back of Villiers's hand shot up, arching from his waist, the crack against Bourne's face sharp, accurate, painful. It was followed by a forward slap, brutal, insulting, the force of the blow reeling Jason back on his feet. The old man moved in, blocked by the barrel of the gun but unafraid, undeterred by its presence, intent only on inflicting punishment. The blows came one after another, delivered by a man possessed.
'Pig!' screamed Villiers. 'Filthy, detestable pig! Garbage!'
'I'll shoot! I'll kill you! Stop it!' But Bourne could not pull the trigger. He was backed into the small car, his shoulders pressed against the roof. Still the old man attacked, his hands flying out, swinging up, crashing down.
'Kill me if you can, if you dare! Dirt! Filth!' Jason threw the gun to the ground, raising his arms to fend off Villiers's assault. He lashed his left hand out, grabbing the old man's right wrist, then his left, gripping the left forearm
that was slashing down like a broadsword. He twisted both violently, bending Villiers into him, forcing the old soldier to stand motionless, their faces inches from each other, the old man's chest heaving.
'Are you telling me you're not Carlos's man? Are you denying it?'
Villiers lunged forward, trying to break Bourne's grip, his barrel-like chest smashing into Jason. 'I revile you! Animal!'
'Goddamn you, yes or no!
The old man spat in Bourne's face, the fire in his eyes now clouded, tears welling. 'Carlos killed my son,' he said in a whisper. 'He killed my only son on the rue du Bac. My son's life was blown up with five sticks of dynamite on the rue du Bac'
Jason slowly reduced the pressure of his fingers. Breathing heavily, he spoke as calmly as he could.
'Drive your car into the field and stay there. We have to talk, General. Something's happened you don't know about, and we'd both better learn what it is.'
'Never! Impossible! It could not happen!'
'It happened,' said Bourne, sitting with Villiers in the front seat of his car.
'An incredible mistake has been made! You don't know what you're saying!'
'No mistake, and I do know what I'm saying because I found the number myself. It's not only the right number, it's a magnificent cover. Nobody in his right mind would connect you with Carlos, especially in light of your son's death. Is it common knowledge he was Carlos's kill?'
'I would prefer different language, Monsieur.'
'Sorry. I mean that'
'Common knowledge? Among the Surete, a qualified yes. Within military intelligence and Interpol, most certainly. I read the reports."
'What did they say?'
'It was presumed that Carlos did a favour for his friends from his radical days. Even to the point of allowing them to appear silently responsible for the act. It was politically motivated, you know. My son was a sacrifice, an example to others who opposed the fanatics.'
'Fanatics?'
'The extremists were forming a false coalition with the socialists, making promises they had no intention of keeping. My son understood this, exposed it and initiated legislation to block the alignment. He was killed for it'
'Is that why you retired from the army and stood for election?'
'With all my heart. It is customary for the son to carry on for the father...' The old man paused, the moonlight illuminating his haggard face. 'In this matter, it was the father's legacy to carry on for the son. He was no soldier, nor I a politician, but I am no stranger to weapons and explosives. His causes were moulded by me, his philosophy reflected my own, and he was killed for these things. My decision was clear to me. I would carry our beliefs into the political arena and let his enemies contend with me. The soldier was prepared for them.'
'More than one soldier, I gather.'
'What do you mean?'
Those men back there at the restaurant. They looked as if they ran half the armies in France.'
They did. Monsieur. They were once known as the angry young commanders of Saint Cyr. The Republic was corrupt, the army incompetent, the Maginot a joke. Had they been heeded in their time, France would not have fallen. They became the leaders of the Resistance; they fought the Boche and Vichy all through Europe and Africa.'
'What do they do now?'
'Most live on pensions, many obsessed with the past. They pray to the Virgin that it will never be repeated. In too many areas, however, they see it happening. The army is reduced to a sideshow. Communists and socialists in the Assembly are for ever eroding the strength of the services. The Moscow apparatus runs true to form: it does not change with the decades. A free society is ripe for infiltration and, once infiltrated, the changes do not stop until that society is remade in another image. Conspiracy is everywhere; it cannot go unchallenged.'
'Some might say that sounds pretty extreme itself.'
'For what? Survival? Strength? Honour? Are these terms too anachronistic for you?'
'I don't think so. But I can imagine a lot of damage being done in their names.'
'Our philosophies differ and I don't care to debate them. You asked me about my associates and I answered you. Now, please, this incredible misinformation of yours. It's appalling. You don't know what it's like to lose a son> to have a child killed.'
The pain comes back to me and I don't know why. Pain and emptiness, a vacuum in the sky... from the sky. Death in and from the skies. Jesus, it hurts. It. What is it?
'I can sympathize,' said Jason, his hands gripped to stop the sudden trembling. 'But it fits.'
'Not for an instant! As you said, no one in his right mind would connect me to Carlos, least of all the killer pig himself. It's a risk he would not take. It's unthinkable.'
'Exactly. Which is why you're being used; it is unthinkable. You're the perfect relay for final instructions.'
'Impossible! How?'
'Someone at your number is in direct contact with Carlos. Codes are used, certain words spoken, to get that person on the line. Probably when you're not there, possibly when you are. Do you answer the telephone yourself?'
Villiers frowned. 'Actually, I don't. Not that number. There are too many people to be avoided and I have a private line.'
'Who does answer it?'
'Generally the housekeeper, or her husband who serves as part butler, part chauffeur. He was my driver during my last years in the army. If not either of them, my wife, of course. Or my aide, who often works at my office at the house; he was my adjutant for twenty years.'
'Who else?'
'There is no one else.'
'Maids?'
'None permanent; if they're needed, they're hired for an occasion. There's more wealth in the Villiers name than in the banks.'
'Cleaning woman?'
'Two. They come twice a week and not always the same two.'
'You'd better take a closer look at your chauffeur and the adjutant.'
'Preposterous! Their loyalty is beyond question.'
'So was Brutus's, and Caesar outranked him.'
'You can't be serious...'
'I'm goddamned serious! And you'd better believe it Everything I've told you is the truth.'
'But then you haven't really told me very much, have you? Your name, for instance.'
'It's not necessary. Knowing it could only hurt you.'
'In what way?'
'In the very remote chance that I'm wrong about the relay -and that possibility barely exists.'
The old man nodded the way old men do when repeating words that have stunned them to the point of disbelief. His lined face moved up and down in the moonlight. 'An unnamed man traps me on a road at night, holds me under a gun and makes an obscene accusation – a charge so filthy I wish to kill him – and he expects me to accept his word. The word of a man without a name, with no face I recognize, and no credentials offered other than the statement that Carlos is hunting him. Tell me why should I believe this man?'
'Because,' answered Bourne. 'He'd have no reason to come to you if he didn't believe it was the truth.'
Villiers stared at Jason. 'No, there's a better reason. A while ago you gave me my life. You threw down your gun, you did not fire it You could have. Easily. You chose, instead, to plead with me to talk.'
'I don't think I pleaded.'
'It was in your eyes, young man. It's always in the eyes. And often in the voice, but one must listen carefully. Supplication can be feigned, not anger. It is either real or it's a posture. Your anger was real... as was mine.' The old man gestured towards the small Renault ten yards away in the field. 'Follow me back to Pare Monceau. We'll talk further in my office. I'd swear on my life that you're wrong about both men, but then as you pointed out, Caesar was blinded by false devotion. And indeed he did outrank me.'
'If I walk into that house and someone recognizes me, I'm dead. So are you.'
'My aide left shortly past five o'clock this afternoon, and the chauffeur, as you call him, retires no later than ten to watch his interminable television. You'll wait outside while I go in and check. If things are normal, I'll summon you; if they're not, I'll come back out and drive away. Follow me again. I'll stop somewhere and we'll continue.'
Jason watched closely as Villiers spoke. 'Why do you want me to go back to Pare Monceau?'
'Where else? I believe in the shock of unexpected confrontation. One of those men is lying in bed watching television in a room on the second floor. And there's another reason. I want my wife to hear what you have to say. She's an old soldier's woman and she has antennae for things that often escape the officer in the field. I've come to rely on her perceptions, she may recognize a pattern of behaviour once she hears you.'
Bourne had to say the words. 'I trapped you by pretending one thing, you can trap me by pretending another. How do I know Pare Monceau isn't a trap?'
The old man did not waver, 'You have the word of a general of France, and that's all you have. If it's not good enough for you, take your weapon and get out.'
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