The Color Of Night (23 page)

“This is a sure thing?” Skerlic asked. “I can count on this, as of this moment?”

“Oh, most assuredly. I’ve only to negotiate the time. It might take as long as five days, however. I’ll try to hurry it up.”

“I see.”

“Does it suit you? This plan?”

Skerlic pulled something from his ear, looked at it, then flicked it toward the Mediterranean.

“I don’t mind it,” he said. “It could work.”

“It’s ingenious. Very precise.”

“If we do this, there’s no going back. I have to concentrate on the delivery mechanism, and once I get started on it I don’t want you to come to me and tell me you have changed your mind or that it can’t be done. What we settle here, we settle for good. The decision is final.”

“Well, that is good with me,” Rousset observed cautiously, “but, well, this is a bit rigid, isn’t it? I thought one had to be flexible… you know, the value of resilience.”

“You are not so sure, then, after all.”

“You need to be certain that your ‘delivery mechanism’ is realistic, given the context of the situation. You understand? I mean, for instance, what if you’ve thought of a brilliant way to work the explosive into, say, a pat of butter… but butter has no place in an art dealer’s shop. Do you see?”

Skerlic looked as if the comment were so stupid that he didn’t know how to respond to it. But he summoned his patience. The money was so extraordinarily good.

“We will have to meet again, Mr. Rousset, to work out the logistics of the situation. Then you can see for yourself.”

“One more thing,” Rousset added. “About the explosive device. I want to stress that Mr. Schrade is the target. I don’t want… there mustn’t be… a conflagration, an apocalyptic event. You understand?”

Skerlic regarded him with a blank expression. Rousset suspected him of playing dumb.

“The term required is ‘surgical,’ Mr. Skerlic. I don’t want anyone to die except Mr. Schrade. That’s a
firm
stipulation. I am making the opportunity very accommodating to you.
You
have to make sure the explosion is precise. Do you understand?” Rousset asked.

“I understand what you want,” Skerlic said.

“That’s good, wonderful.” Pause. “Can you do it?”

“Yes, I can do it. Okay?”

“Very good. That’s important to me. Precision. One can’t just throw a stick of dynamite into the room.”

Strand and Mara drove out of Bellagio at dusk and headed along the east side of the western leg of the lake, driving nearly halfway to Como on one of the most torturous stretches of mountainside roadway in Europe before Strand turned off the pavement outside a small unnamed village perched above the lake. He maneuvered the rental car down a long drive shrouded by the heavy canopies of ancient trees, to the front of a large, gloomy villa resting on the breast of the shore.

Just as Strand cut the headlights and the motor, a figure appeared at the edge of the cinder courtyard, walking toward them. They followed the figure through a portico into an inner courtyard and out again to a curving path that took them in a slow decline to a boathouse on the water.

Inside the boathouse a thirty-foot Abbate speedboat sat in its slip, black, low against the water, glistening in the dim light. Its nose faced out to the lake.

Within moments the boat’s powerful engines came to life, and they eased slowly out of the boathouse, away from the tree-draped shore and into the open lake. It was a clear night, the darkness crazed by the blue light of the stars and the amber lights of the villas along the dark swells of the hilly shoreline.

The Abbate made the ride down the lake an easy endeavor. Soon its engine cut back to a mutter, and the boat slipped toward the Villa d’Este’s boat docks and its floating swimming pool that jutted out into the lake, ringed with lights. Other boats were arriving and departing along the docks, and they had to wait a moment before the long Abbate was able to pull up to the dock and let them off onto the cork-covered landing.

The brightly lighted sixteenth-century Villa d’Este loomed up into the trees above them. They made their way through the formal gardens, passing the hotel’s guests coming and going through the lamp-lighted evening, some in swimsuits and some in formal dress. There were also lakeside residents who, in the summer evenings, boated in from their villas up and down Como’s shores to dine at the hotel’s famous restaurant, a gathering place for those who had acquired a large measure of international wealth and fame.

Strand left Mara in the center of the elegant main hall surrounded by white marble columns and grained ceilings and announced at the reception desk that he was here to meet Lu Kee. Then he turned and watched Mara, who wore a simple black dress. No jewelry—the flight from Rome had not allowed time for that.

“Mr. H.S.?”

Strand turned to see a slim young Chinese whom he guessed to be in his late twenties, dressed in a fine white linen summer suit, looking at him.

“Yes,” Strand said.

“Mr. Lu is waiting.”

Lu’s suite was lavish, with a stunning view of the shores of Como. The old man appeared immediately, dressed nattily in ecru linen trousers, a black linen shirt open at the neck, and a mocha silk jacket with a black kerchief in its breast pocket. He wore light beige espadrilles. His hair was white and very thick. His manner was relaxed and gracious.

Strand introduced himself and then introduced Mara Song. The old man made no pretense of taking her beauty for granted. He bowed to her first and then reached out and took her hand. He did not shake it but simply held it a moment, smiling at her appreciatively. Then he said:

“Very lovely.” He turned to Strand. “Well, it seems that I have a lot to learn from you, Mr. Strand. So why don’t we begin.”

Lu’s English was fluent and was spoken with a soft British accent. They walked to a sitting area of several sofas and armchairs, and Lu gestured for them to sit down.

“I was rather startled to receive your message,” Lu smiled, sitting down after them. “My people became very excited.” He raised both opened hands, wagging them lazily in imitation of his flustered subordinates. Without further niceties, he held out his hands to Strand, palms up in a gesture of invitation. “Please proceed.”

“For many years I was an American intelligence officer living and operating out of Europe,” Strand began. He quickly moved into a detailed but concise recounting of what he knew about Lu’s international criminal involvements and then focused on the spectacular series of failures that he had mentioned earlier to Mara. Lu listened closely, his elbows resting on the arms of his chair, the fingers of his hands interlaced, the tips of his thumbs touching and resting against his chest.

“In short,” Strand concluded, “this betrayal set back your European operations by about three years.”

Lu dropped his head forward slightly and looked at Strand as though over the top of a pair of glasses.

“All of this was brought about by one man,” Strand added, “with whom you are still working. He no longer works for the Americans, but I’m reasonably sure he’s now informing for the German Bundeskriminalamt and the French Sous-Direction des Affaires Criminelles.”

“You are going to tell me his name?” he said.

“Yes.”

“And give me documented proof of this betrayal?”

“Yes.”

Lu nodded pensively. He thought a moment, looking at a place on the floor in front of him. Then he looked at Strand.

“Mr. Strand, I find it difficult to believe that someone who works for me could cause me that much damage and I would not yet have found him out. This is very disturbing.”

“He doesn’t work
for
you, Mr. Lu. He works
with
you.”

Lu’s head came up. “I see,” he said, and his eyes regarded Strand differently now, as though he was reexamining everything Strand had said in a different light. Strand watched as the old man reordered his thoughts, recalibrated his mental instruments to adjust for a new kind of measurement and calculation.

“This will be interesting,” Lu said finally. “But first, before we hear this name”—he cut his eyes at Mara and allowed a polite, almost timid, smile—“which you have so cleverly withheld up to now”—he came back to Strand, his smile fading—“what wicked thing do you want done in return for this… kindness?”

The note of irony in Lu’s voice was not lost on Strand. He did not want to respond too readily. He did not know what influenced him in this decision to be hesitant, but he gave in to it. He looked at Lu and tried to appear as guileless and straightforward as possible.

“I will be satisfied having done this,” he said.

Lu raised his eyebrows. He studied Strand. And then slowly, very slowly, a smile returned to his face.

“Oh, Mr. Strand,” he said, “that is a most revealing answer.”

Strand waited.

Now Lu adjusted his position in his chair, turning his body slightly toward Strand. He was still smiling, as though he were enjoying the game they were playing and he had just anticipated Strand’s next move.

“You must believe that you know me very well, Mr. Strand. Having brought this… valuable… information to me, you have already envisioned my response to it. You are satisfied that this response will suit you. And that is enough.”

He paused.

“Certainly, my reaction to such a traitorous association cannot be a happy one for the person under discussion. He may come to a bad end. Which will suit you. So. You betray him out of revenge. Or from a desire to be rid of a burden. Or from a deep-seated hatred. Or, perhaps, greed: you would benefit financially from his demise.”

He waited with an anticipatory expression, his eyes on Strand.

Strand met his gaze candidly. “I have many faults, Mr. Lu, but greed is not one of them. It doesn’t suit me.” And he left it at that.

Lu Kee continued looking at Strand for a moment and then stood up and walked a few steps to the tall windows that provided the fairy-tale view of Lake Como. He clasped his hands behind his back and looked out. He said nothing.

Strand glanced at Mara whose attention was fixed on Lu.

Lu turned around.

“Okay,” he said. “Who is it?”

“Wolfram Schrade.”

Lu’s face did not change. Then he tucked up his chin and turned down the corners on his mouth dismissively and shook his head.

“Well,” he said finally, “that’s very interesting.” Unhurriedly he sat down in his chair. He sat forward, closer to the coffee table between him and Strand. “Let me see what you have.”

Strand opened his briefcase and laid out on the table all the material he had prepared for Lu. The old man listened to him, looked at the photographs, read the documents, and let Strand explain to him what was on the recordings and the CD. Lu asked a few questions, which Strand answered while the old man listened carefully, pensively.

When Lu finally sat back in his chair, he shook his head again, thinking. He smiled at Mara as if to say he hadn’t forgotten she was there. He said to her:

“Do you know anything about the Song dynasty, Ms. Song?”

“A little…”

“Can you give me a single important fact about it?”

Mara, surprised by his question, smiled, embarrassed. She hesitated. “The Song were the first to provide a recipe for gunpowder, I believe, and they were the inventors of the true cannon used in warfare.”

Lu grinned, surprised and delighted. “Good. Can you name any famous historical figures of the Song?”

“I remember a famous outsider: Chinggis Khan, who overran most of the northern Song dynasty in 1215.” She paused. “Mmmm… I remember Su Shih, known as Su Dongpo, perhaps the greatest essayist and poet in the Chinese tradition. There is Zhu Xi, the dynasty’s greatest educator, who established many academies and revived Confucianism.”

Lu laughed softly, nodding. “Good, good, very good. Okay, one last question: What was the Song’s greatest accomplishment?”

Mara did not hesitate. “In my opinion…” She looked at him and tilted her head for permission.

Lu nodded.

“Its greatest accomplishment is that in its three-hundred-and-nineteen-year history, there was not a single tyrant among the Song emperors.”

Lu continued to beam at her. Then, slowly, he lifted his hands just above his head and applauded silently while inclining his head in a bow to her.

“I applaud your knowledge… and your sound good judgment. And I applaud your father’s intelligence and sense of responsibility.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lu, but it was my mother, not my father, who taught me the history of the Song. As well as the history of Abraham and his people.”

“Then I commend your mother even more. Her daughter has honored her.” He looked at Strand. “Would either of you care for something to drink? I would like a few more words with you, and then you may go.”

They both declined Lu’s offer for refreshment, and the old man went on.

“Mr. Strand, the information you have brought me poses an interesting situation for me. You see, it seems that Wolfram Schrade has been committing adultery with both the wife… and the husband.”

Strand frowned.

Lu put his short legs out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles. Even in his casual clothes, he was elegant. Strand expected that he still went to Savile Row for everything he wore. He was clearly an Anglophile at heart. Lu went on.

“It must have been shortly after you retired from the service that Mr. Schrade came to me with a proposition. He said that he had had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of an intelligence officer in the United States Foreign Intelligence Service. He said that this man, who was very well placed, would be retiring in a few years, and he was interested in building a retirement fund for himself.”

Strand’s pulse quickened.

“I began making payments. Strategic bits of intelligence began coming my way. I benefited greatly from this. I gathered from a few remarks by Mr. Schrade that I was not the only one receiving helpful… information. Nor was I the only one whose enterprises profited, literally, from this arrangement.”