ago!
And that fact made the remainder of the message frightening.
THE PAST WAS PREPARATION, THE FUTURE IS COMMITTED TO THE MEMORY OF A MAN AND HIS DREAM. HIS WAS AN ACT OF DARING AND BRILLIANCEIN A WORLD GONE MAD. NOTHING MUST STAND IN THE WAY OF THAT DREAM’S FULFILLMENT.
WE ARE THE SURVIVORS OF WOLFSSCHANZE. THOSE OF US WHO LIVE WILL DEDICATE OUR LIVES AND BODIES TO THE PROTECTION OF THAT MAN’S DREAM. IT WILL BE FULFILLED, FOR IT IS ALL THAT IS LEFT. AN ACT OF MERCY THAT WELL SHOW THE WORLD THAT WE WERE BETRAYED, THAT WE WERE NOT AS THE WORLD BELIEVED US TO BE.
WE, THE MEN OF WOLFSSCHANZE, KNOW WHAT THE BEST OF US WERE. AS HEINRICH CLAUSEN KNEW.
IT IS NOW UP TO YOU, NOEL CLAUSEN-HOLCROFT, TO COMPLETE WHAT YOUR FATHER BEGAN. YOU ARE THE WAY. YOUR FATHER WISHED IT SO.
MANY WILL TRY TO STOP YOU. TO THROW OPEN THE FLOODGATES AND DESTROY THE DREAM. BUT THE MEN OF WOLFSSCHANZE DO SURVIVE. YOU HAVE OUR WORD THAT ALL THOSE WHO INTERFERE WILL BE STOPPED THEMSELVES.
ANY WHO STAND IN YOUR WAY, WHO TRY TO DISSUADE YOU, WHO TRY TO DECEIVE YOU WTTH LIES, WILL BE ELIMINATED.
AS YOU AND YOURS WILL BE SHOULD YOU HESITATE. OR FAIL.
THIS IS OUR OATH TO YOU.
Noel grabbed the paper out of the drawer; it fell apart in his hand. He let the fragments fall to the floor.
“Goddamned maniacs!”
He slammed the drawer shut and ran out of the bedroom. Where was the telephone? Where the
hell
was the goddamned
telephone?
By the window—that was it; it was on the
kitchen
table by the fucking
window!
“
Maniacs!
” he screamed again at no one. But not really at no one: at a man in Geneva who had been on a train bound for Zurich. Maniacs might have written that page of garbage thirty years ago, but now, thirty years later, other maniacs had delivered it! They had broken into his home, invaded his privacy, touched his belongings.… God knows what else, he thought, thinking of Peter Baldwin, Esq. A man who had traveled thousands ofmiles to see him, and talk with him … silence, a click, a dead telephone line.
He looked at his watch. It was almost one o’clock in the morning. What was it in Zurich? Six? Seven? The banks in Switzerland opened at eight. La Grande Banque de Genève had a branch in Zurich; Manfredi would be there.
The window. He was standing in front of the window where he had stood only minutes ago, waiting for Baldwin to come back on the phone. The
window
. Across the courtyard in the opposite apartment. The three brief flares of a match … the blond-haired woman in the window!
Holcroft put his hand in his pocket to make sure he had his keys. He did. He ran to the door, let himself out, raced for the elevator, and pushed the button. The indicator showed that the car was on the tenth floor; the arrow did not move.
God damn it!
He ran to the staircase and started down, taking the steps two at a time. He reached the ground floor and dashed out into the lobby.
“
Jesus
, Mr. Holcroft!” Jack stared at him. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“Do you know the doorman in the next building?” shouted Noel.
“Which one?”
“
Christ! That
one!” Holcroft gestured to the right.
“That’s three-eighty. Yeah, sure.”
“Come on with me!”
“Hey, wait a minute, Mr. Holcroft. I can’t leave here.”
“We’ll only be a minute. There’s twenty dollars in it for you.”
“Only a minute.…”
The doorman at three-eighty greeted them, understanding quickly that he was to give accurate information to Jack’s friend.
“I’m sorry, sir, but there’s no one in that apartment. Hasn’t been for almost three weeks. But I’m afraid it’s been rented; the new tenants will be coming in.…”
“There
is
someone there!” said Noel, trying to control himself. “A blond-haired woman. I’ve
got
to find out who she is.”
“A blond-haired woman? Kind of medium height, sort of good-looking, smokes a lot?”
“Yes, that’s the one! Who is she?”
“You live in your place long,
And that fact made the remainder of the message frightening.
THE PAST WAS PREPARATION, THE FUTURE IS COMMITTED TO THE MEMORY OF A MAN AND HIS DREAM. HIS WAS AN ACT OF DARING AND BRILLIANCEIN A WORLD GONE MAD. NOTHING MUST STAND IN THE WAY OF THAT DREAM’S FULFILLMENT.
WE ARE THE SURVIVORS OF WOLFSSCHANZE. THOSE OF US WHO LIVE WILL DEDICATE OUR LIVES AND BODIES TO THE PROTECTION OF THAT MAN’S DREAM. IT WILL BE FULFILLED, FOR IT IS ALL THAT IS LEFT. AN ACT OF MERCY THAT WELL SHOW THE WORLD THAT WE WERE BETRAYED, THAT WE WERE NOT AS THE WORLD BELIEVED US TO BE.
WE, THE MEN OF WOLFSSCHANZE, KNOW WHAT THE BEST OF US WERE. AS HEINRICH CLAUSEN KNEW.
IT IS NOW UP TO YOU, NOEL CLAUSEN-HOLCROFT, TO COMPLETE WHAT YOUR FATHER BEGAN. YOU ARE THE WAY. YOUR FATHER WISHED IT SO.
MANY WILL TRY TO STOP YOU. TO THROW OPEN THE FLOODGATES AND DESTROY THE DREAM. BUT THE MEN OF WOLFSSCHANZE DO SURVIVE. YOU HAVE OUR WORD THAT ALL THOSE WHO INTERFERE WILL BE STOPPED THEMSELVES.
ANY WHO STAND IN YOUR WAY, WHO TRY TO DISSUADE YOU, WHO TRY TO DECEIVE YOU WTTH LIES, WILL BE ELIMINATED.
AS YOU AND YOURS WILL BE SHOULD YOU HESITATE. OR FAIL.
THIS IS OUR OATH TO YOU.
Noel grabbed the paper out of the drawer; it fell apart in his hand. He let the fragments fall to the floor.
“Goddamned maniacs!”
He slammed the drawer shut and ran out of the bedroom. Where was the telephone? Where the
hell
was the goddamned
telephone?
By the window—that was it; it was on the
kitchen
table by the fucking
window!
“
Maniacs!
” he screamed again at no one. But not really at no one: at a man in Geneva who had been on a train bound for Zurich. Maniacs might have written that page of garbage thirty years ago, but now, thirty years later, other maniacs had delivered it! They had broken into his home, invaded his privacy, touched his belongings.… God knows what else, he thought, thinking of Peter Baldwin, Esq. A man who had traveled thousands ofmiles to see him, and talk with him … silence, a click, a dead telephone line.
He looked at his watch. It was almost one o’clock in the morning. What was it in Zurich? Six? Seven? The banks in Switzerland opened at eight. La Grande Banque de Genève had a branch in Zurich; Manfredi would be there.
The window. He was standing in front of the window where he had stood only minutes ago, waiting for Baldwin to come back on the phone. The
window
. Across the courtyard in the opposite apartment. The three brief flares of a match … the blond-haired woman in the window!
Holcroft put his hand in his pocket to make sure he had his keys. He did. He ran to the door, let himself out, raced for the elevator, and pushed the button. The indicator showed that the car was on the tenth floor; the arrow did not move.
God damn it!
He ran to the staircase and started down, taking the steps two at a time. He reached the ground floor and dashed out into the lobby.
“
Jesus
, Mr. Holcroft!” Jack stared at him. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“Do you know the doorman in the next building?” shouted Noel.
“Which one?”
“
Christ! That
one!” Holcroft gestured to the right.
“That’s three-eighty. Yeah, sure.”
“Come on with me!”
“Hey, wait a minute, Mr. Holcroft. I can’t leave here.”
“We’ll only be a minute. There’s twenty dollars in it for you.”
“Only a minute.…”
The doorman at three-eighty greeted them, understanding quickly that he was to give accurate information to Jack’s friend.
“I’m sorry, sir, but there’s no one in that apartment. Hasn’t been for almost three weeks. But I’m afraid it’s been rented; the new tenants will be coming in.…”
“There
is
someone there!” said Noel, trying to control himself. “A blond-haired woman. I’ve
got
to find out who she is.”
“A blond-haired woman? Kind of medium height, sort of good-looking, smokes a lot?”
“Yes, that’s the one! Who is she?”
“You live in your place long,
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