had paused before reluctantly deciding that - as always - it was much safer to tell the truth to Berlin. He always knew when you shaded a meaning. Outright lying she would not have considered. "She sounded like a woman who was expecting just such a warning and had worked out what her reply would be."
"Like you, she is tough, ruthless - and well-trained. A pity she has to be the sacrificial goat."
Sonia Karnell, dark-haired, five feet six tall, and thirty-two years old, was Swedish by birth, a native of Stockholm and fluent in six languages, including English. Despite the heat of the evening, Berlin wore his normal black suit across his ample form. As he spoke he looked frequently at Karnell across the table to gauge her reactions. He was always watching the people around him, especially those closest and none was closer than Sonia Karnell like a man whose greatest fear in life is betrayal.
"We flew here today just so I could phone her?" she asked.
"Eat your melon - it helps replace moisture. Yes, we flew here partly to make a phone call. Had Beaurain answered, you would have made the same menacing noises about Hamilton - but this may be more effective. When he hears what happened."
"A sacrificial goat. What does that mean, Otto?"
"Let me eat. The plan is based on the fact that the first complete meeting of the Syndicate takes place near Sweden in two weeks' time. We have a problem because Telescope has as its objective our destruction."
"How does my phone call fit in? I don't understand."
"Patience!" The eyes behind the thick pebble glasses studied her. "I have contacts inside the European police - high-level informers. There is a discreet understanding between Beaurain and certain of his old colleagues who agree with his methods. It was a police contact who informed me Beaurain is Telescope's chief, and determined to wipe out the Stockholm Syndicate. So we must destroy them first before the meeting, otherwise there could be a catastrophe. Beaurain is getting too close."
Sonia Karnell, her white face framed by her close-cut hair, started eating her melon to please Berlin. The heat was appalling! "Why threaten Beaurain's tart?"
To distract him. One thing is needed before our soldiers can attack – we must know the location of Telescope's main base, which we should learn soon from Serge Litov."
"What's going to happen to her?"
"Gunther Baum will deal with her. That will shake Beaurain's nerve."
She stopped eating, unable to swallow. "You are going to use that animal on her?"
"He will produce the necessary effect - fury on the part of Beaurain. This may well cause him to make a mistake. Terrify those you can. Those you can't: upset their balance."
"And are we going back to Bruges?"
"For a short time, yes. Until Litov returns with the location of Telescope's base. After all, I have to attend to my rare book business if we are to make a living!"
"So this woman threatened you?" Beaurain said as he paced round his living-room. It was ten o'clock: as usual, Voisin's meeting had gone on for hours. Beau-rain was very disturbed by the fact that the caller had been able to obtain his phone number; by the fact that it was Louise who had been threatened; above all by the bizarre incident at police headquarters.
"She gabbled on about having my legs and hands broken," Louise said calmly, 'as well as cutting my face. A regular little madam. I'd like five minutes alone with her. Oh, and none of this would take place if I caught the first plane back to England. She was trying to rattle you , Jules."
"I wonder who the hell it was," he said.
"The Syndicate, of course. They're stepping up the pressure."
"They're certainly doing that - to get into the meeting this evening I had to push aside a guard who had been put on the door to keep me out. That can only have come from the Syndicate."
She sat up straight. "Surely you don't think Commissioner Voisin could have been got at?"
"That does seem unlikely but someone at that
"Like you, she is tough, ruthless - and well-trained. A pity she has to be the sacrificial goat."
Sonia Karnell, dark-haired, five feet six tall, and thirty-two years old, was Swedish by birth, a native of Stockholm and fluent in six languages, including English. Despite the heat of the evening, Berlin wore his normal black suit across his ample form. As he spoke he looked frequently at Karnell across the table to gauge her reactions. He was always watching the people around him, especially those closest and none was closer than Sonia Karnell like a man whose greatest fear in life is betrayal.
"We flew here today just so I could phone her?" she asked.
"Eat your melon - it helps replace moisture. Yes, we flew here partly to make a phone call. Had Beaurain answered, you would have made the same menacing noises about Hamilton - but this may be more effective. When he hears what happened."
"A sacrificial goat. What does that mean, Otto?"
"Let me eat. The plan is based on the fact that the first complete meeting of the Syndicate takes place near Sweden in two weeks' time. We have a problem because Telescope has as its objective our destruction."
"How does my phone call fit in? I don't understand."
"Patience!" The eyes behind the thick pebble glasses studied her. "I have contacts inside the European police - high-level informers. There is a discreet understanding between Beaurain and certain of his old colleagues who agree with his methods. It was a police contact who informed me Beaurain is Telescope's chief, and determined to wipe out the Stockholm Syndicate. So we must destroy them first before the meeting, otherwise there could be a catastrophe. Beaurain is getting too close."
Sonia Karnell, her white face framed by her close-cut hair, started eating her melon to please Berlin. The heat was appalling! "Why threaten Beaurain's tart?"
To distract him. One thing is needed before our soldiers can attack – we must know the location of Telescope's main base, which we should learn soon from Serge Litov."
"What's going to happen to her?"
"Gunther Baum will deal with her. That will shake Beaurain's nerve."
She stopped eating, unable to swallow. "You are going to use that animal on her?"
"He will produce the necessary effect - fury on the part of Beaurain. This may well cause him to make a mistake. Terrify those you can. Those you can't: upset their balance."
"And are we going back to Bruges?"
"For a short time, yes. Until Litov returns with the location of Telescope's base. After all, I have to attend to my rare book business if we are to make a living!"
"So this woman threatened you?" Beaurain said as he paced round his living-room. It was ten o'clock: as usual, Voisin's meeting had gone on for hours. Beau-rain was very disturbed by the fact that the caller had been able to obtain his phone number; by the fact that it was Louise who had been threatened; above all by the bizarre incident at police headquarters.
"She gabbled on about having my legs and hands broken," Louise said calmly, 'as well as cutting my face. A regular little madam. I'd like five minutes alone with her. Oh, and none of this would take place if I caught the first plane back to England. She was trying to rattle you , Jules."
"I wonder who the hell it was," he said.
"The Syndicate, of course. They're stepping up the pressure."
"They're certainly doing that - to get into the meeting this evening I had to push aside a guard who had been put on the door to keep me out. That can only have come from the Syndicate."
She sat up straight. "Surely you don't think Commissioner Voisin could have been got at?"
"That does seem unlikely but someone at that
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