Borderless Deceit (54 page)

He read it again. Was he reading right? IH?

The Czar raced through the remainder of the interview. Mostly it was about plans Carson had for communicating with the world once he was formally named monastery spokesbeing. Messages to the world would come out in spurts between the long periods of silence so essential to purge the mind. Once the mind had completely emptied, when there was no memory of the past and no anticipation of the future, only then could it finally accept The One Belief which, Carson was claiming, consisted of all known, and unknown, sub-beliefs.

The One Belief? the Czar thought sceptically. I've got that already: my one belief is that I'm a carrier of genes, a biochemical condition which gets messy, is temporary, but sometimes full of fun. All this pancredo stuff sure is unreal.

Unreal? Or too unreal? He scrolled through the interview again. It somehow didn't sound like Carson. It sounded more like something Carson would deploy. Think of the alternative existence he created for Rachel. But there was that reference to IH. If you looked at the article with trenchant realism, there were really only two pieces that had some credibility: one was Carson wanting to spend the remainder of his days repenting, and the second was the reference to him, to IH as a guiding light and source of wisdom. Heywood thought a moment. Put repentance and a humble recognition of authority together. What do they add up to? A heartfelt apology?

Heywood's mind raced. Was Carson apologising? Were there some flecks of humanity in him? Had he merely had difficulty over the years to bring that out? Could it be that Carson had lived in inner turmoil, there being a basic goodness in him, though suppressed, and
that his agony over that was always growing? Was it possible that he, Czar of Service Operations, source of wisdom, hadn't seen what he ought to have?

A further insight jumped in his head. The process by which Carson's message had appeared on his device – it had to have come through Jaime. Carson couldn't have usurped Zadokite Port. It was too sophisticated. So Jaime must have cooperated. Once released from hospital, he must have found out she was in California. He'd have gone there to seek her help. After all, there had been those signs that she had a feeling for him. That was it! Jaime had advised him to apologise. Because she was smart. Smart, though a bit skittish. And Carson? Carson was deep, just a bit squirrely. So they were opposites. Which attract. Could it be? Somewhere in California? Carson and Jaime?

The Czar, with the tiny communications tool in his hand, thrust an arm skyward. And then, in the Service foyer, where ambassadors were crisscrossing and old salts and new fry were hurrying off to urgent meetings, under the flags of all the members of the United Nations, and overcome with love for people and technology both, there Heywood set his flesh in motion. Round and round he went, dancing out a momentum-gathering pirouette.

Praise for
The Berlin Assignment
Also by Adrian de Hoog

“Characters are skilfully drawn and the story unfolds… with a climax as unexpected as it is satisfying. The tale is rich in gossip and loaded with scandalous traps. All in all, an auspicious debut.”

– Don Graves,
The Hamilton Spectator

<
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c =Article&cid=1173507171028&call_pageid=1024322466723
>

“…easily the most gripping novel I've read this year.”
– Jean Graham,
Bookcase

“This well-crafted spy thriller combines an exciting, well evoked time–Berlin just after the destruction of the wall–with some engaging characters.”
– Joan Sullivan,
The Telegram