The Fugitive

Robert L. Fish

To Mame, Ruth, and Cathy

Introduction and Rondo Militaire

Chapter 1

The first time Erick von Roesler saw Brazil was in June, 1939. He crossed on a special summer cruise of the Hamburg Line, ostensibly the managing director of a large company manufacturing agricultural machinery. He dined at the captain’s table, contributing little to the stilted conversation, watched the swimming pool antics from the lonely height of the deck rail above, the evening dancing from a comfortable chair in one corner of the spacious salon, and spent most of his deck hours either calmly contemplating the pulsing sunlit waves, or jotting notes in his voluminous diary.

They docked at Rio de Janeiro on a cool misty morning, with the famed heights of the city lost in a bank of fog that blanketed the mountains and drifted down to muffle the waterfront sounds and clothe the tall buildings with eerie mystery. The ship was scheduled to spend a day in port, unloading machinery from Europe, wines from the Rhine and the Madeiras, tin plate from Spain, and all the miscellaneous welter of cases, casks, boxes and crates that make up the lifeblood flowing along the arteries of commerce. Von Roesler spent the greater part of the morning on deck, leaning curiously over the rail as disembarking passengers dashed back and forth, screaming to their friends on the dock below, or brusquely commanding blue-jacketed porters doubled under towering loads of luggage. His shipboard acquaintances would trot up for a hasty goodbye, a self-conscious handclasp, and immediately forgetting him, dash down the gangplank to be kissed by women and hugged fiercely by men clustered on the dock. Children indeed, he thought, with some satisfaction; children indeed.

The fog was burning away and the sun now glistened from the white buildings and lit the bay. The giant cranes creaked and groaned as they dipped their snouts into the hold, swaying gently under the tension of the rising loads, and laying them gracefully upon the cobblestones of the dock. People below ran back and forth, searching the railing for familiar faces; a vendor of pineapple had opened his stand at the foot of the gangplank, and was busily slicing his wares and spreading them out. The purser, a hulking blond man in his late twenties, leaned on the rail beside von Roesler, frowning.

“A circus!” he said bitterly. “What we load in Hamburg in four hours, we must fight in order to unload in a full day here!” He pointed below; a playful wrestling match had developed among the stevedores, laughter rose from the group. Some had gone to the pineapple stand and were eating and talking; the crane-load waited patiently for someone to unhitch the ropes. “Schnell!” the purser screamed, leaning over the rail perilously. No one paid any attention; the purser slapped the rail in disgust. “Brazilians!” he said bitingly, and stamped back to the hold cover shaking his head.

After lunch von Roesler carefully locked his diary away and left the ship to walk about the nearby streets. The tropical sun burned, even in the winter month of June. He was sorry he had come with vest and jacket, but reminded himself that a person in his position could scarcely appear otherwise. He also reflected that his regular uniform would have been even more uncomfortable. The beggars about the Praça Mauá instinctively withdrew their hands as he passed. They knew authority and coldness when they saw it, as well as the futility and danger of importuning such authority.

He crossed the bustling square and walked slowly along Avenida Rio Branco, staring curiously in shop windows at the myriad temptations for tourists there; the butterfly trays, the inlaid cigarette boxes, the badly tinted postal cards, the rough wood carvings, the colorful handkerchiefs printed with scenes of the beaches, of swaying palm trees, of Pão de Açúcar and Corcovado, of all gay Rio de Janeiro. The broad sidewalks were crowded; people pushed past him, jostling him as he stood and watched the scene. A man, speaking rapidly in Portuguese, waved a fountain pen in his face, obviously attempting to make a quick sale; he turned away, and immediately found himself beset by another with a string of lottery tickets. He shook his head coldly and continued his walk.

The excited chatter from a group at a sidewalk cafe caught his attention and he turned to watch them with interest. This was not the relaxed pause of Paris, an aperitif and a moment’s contemplation of the passing scene; nor was it the calculated minute’s rest with a cool drink of bustling Berlin, when past actions were studied and future ones planned. This had a feeling of now in it; the laughing group flung money on the table, hugged each other enthusiastically, and hurried apart, calling and shouting back over their shoulders. The complete divorce from Europe suddenly struck him; the patterned sidewalks, the predominance of black faces in the crowds about him, the shop windows filled with gay but useless bric-a-brac.

He turned back to the ship, walking slowly, pondering his thoughts. Children, true, and decadent children. But with a certain vitality; yes, a definite vitality. Which someday we shall turn to an advantage, he concluded. For children can be led, and we have the destiny to lead.

Chapter 2

He left the ship at Santos early the following morning. His bags, neatly labeled and stacked outside his stateroom door, were marked for storage at the residence of the German consul in São Paulo. He carried with him only a small bag with a change of clothing, and a briefcase with his diary and his papers. His passage through customs was accelerated by the presence of a rigid young man who presented himself on board with a note from the consulate, and who returned immediately aboard ship to handle the transfer of the other luggage.

A car was waiting outside the customs shed, and a chauffeur sprang down to take the bags and open the rear door. Von Roesler nodded to the silent figure within and, closing the door, leaned forward to slide shut the glass partition behind the driver’s seat. They pulled away from the docks, bumping over the rough pavement. It was not until they were through the city and speeding past the banana plantations at the foot of the mountains that von Roesler turned to the silent figure at his side.

“Well?” he asked coldly.

The elderly man beside him, muffled in an overcoat despite the growing heat of the day, smiled wryly. “Not even a ‘hello’ first, Erick?” he asked gently.

Von Roesler clamped his jaws on the first words that rose to his lips; this was no time for temper. To cover the silence that had fallen, he reached over and opened the window a crack. “I’m sorry,” he finally said, forcing humiliation into his voice. “But you know the situation, Uncle Ernst. Or you should. Time is running out, and I have a job to do.” He paused and stared out of the car window. They were climbing the winding road of the mountain, and the ocean was spread below them, a scene of incredible beauty, but he saw none of this. He tried to smile casually, hating the feeling of inferiority, of callowness, that he had always suffered as a child with his father’s brother. He’s a senile old fool, he thought, and I am Erick von Roesler of the SD. “How have you been, Uncle Ernst?”

The old man looked at him sideways, crouching in his overcoat. “Cold,” he answered grimly, honestly.

Von Roesler laughed. “After fifteen years in the tropics? In Brazil? Uncle, Uncle! You were born cold!”

There was a sudden rustling from the other, as if he were attempting to burrow deeper into his overcoat. “Yes,” said his uncle slowly. “You and I. We were both born cold.” He hastened his next words, as if to pass an unpleasant moment. “And how is your mother?”

“Fine. She is in Berlin, you know, visiting with Monica. You saw Monica’s last picture? No, I suppose not; not out here. But you knew that she had become an actress? Quite a good one, as a matter of fact, or at least so they say. She goes by another name, of course. Oh, things are going quite well, Uncle!”

“Are they?” The tone was querying, impersonal.

“Yes, they are.” Enough of this, von Roesler thought. “At home things are fine. How are they here?”

The old man thought before answering. They were high up on the serra by this time, and the scene below was one that he well remembered and had always loved. The island port of Santos hemmed in by rivers glistening in the sun, the lacelike beaches of São Vicente and Pria Grande to the right, the breakers visible as dancing white lines on deserted Guarujá to the left. Fifteen years in Brazil, and now what?

“What is going to happen, Erick?” The old man held his breath a moment, expelling it in his next question, as if it were forced from him. “Will there be a war?”

Erick shrugged. “You overestimate my place in the councils of the Reich, Uncle. But I should say, not necessarily. Only if it is forced upon us.” He looked over at his uncle. “Have you arranged the meeting?”

The old man shrank back into his corner, pulling the heavy coat about him. “At my chácara. Tomorrow.”

“Chácara?”

“My fazenda. The farm, Hartzlandia, you know. We should be there by evening.”

“By evening?” Almost instinctively, von Roesler glanced at his wrist watch. “My God! How far is it?”

The old man smiled. “Two hundred kilometers from here, and very close as they measure distances in Brazil. This is a big country, you know, Erick, and our roads aren’t the autobahns of Germany.”

Erick frowned. “Who will be at the meeting?”

“Everyone that I could think of. Or rather, that I could get. It was not easy, believe me,” the old man continued calmly. “There have been some bad frosts these past two weeks, and many of them did not want to leave their farms. But the majority finally agreed to come.”

“And they represent...?”

“The most influential of the German settlers here. You said not to bother with official representatives here...?” There was a question in his voice but the younger man disregarded it.

“Good.” They had passed the lip of the serra and the ocean was now hidden. The car had left the paved São Paulo highway and was following a winding dirt road; clouds of dust swirled behind them. There was a new sharpness in the air, and Erick rolled the window closed and leaned back. “Now exactly, who are they?”

The old man thought. “Well, first, there is Goetz. He comes from Blumenau. He makes wines; I came to Brazil with him fifteen years ago. And then there is Gunther, from Florianopolis. A schoolteacher, but quite influential. Head of the Turnverein, and the German club. Lange has a cattle ranch in Rio Grande do Sul, I don’t know how many head, but it’s a big one. Then there is Riepert from Paraná; he has a lumber business there, sawmill and cutting rights for large pine stands near his mill.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “Strauss comes from São Paulo, from the city, that is. He imports and exports, and is mixed up in local politics to some extent. And Gehrmann from the fazenda next to mine, also coffee. And a little sugar, but not much.” He paused, counting. “That’s the lot.”

“They are all rich?”

The old man smiled, “Rich? There are no rich men in Brazil today. You have to remember, we burned our coffee only three years ago. Land-rich, if you will; or better say land-poor.” He looked at the other sardonically. “Why? Did you come to ask them for contributions to the Winterhelf?”

The younger man disregarded this. “You told them the reason for the meeting?”

The old man shrugged. “How could I tell them what I don’t know? I simply wrote that you were coming on an official visit, and wanted to speak with them all together. I think they’ll come; I seldom ask favors.”

“Very good. Uncle Ernst.” Unconsciously the condescension had crept back into his voice. Erick leaned back, smiling at the older man, satisfied. “I think I’ll take a brief nap, if you don’t mind.”

He settled himself in one corner, closing his eyes. The old man sighed and stared broodingly out of the window. The scrubby bushes at the side of the road bowed beneath the heavy dust, shaking themselves slightly as the car swayed past. He pulled his overcoat tighter about him; even in the sun it seemed desperately cold.

Chapter 3

Chácara Hartzlandia covered an area of twelve thousand hectares, spread along the Rio Taquary, and running almost to the little village of Itapeva. It was principally a coffee fazenda, although it also raised its own necessities in beans, rice, potatoes, and corn. The rolling hills were lined with the neat rows of bushy covas, rising and falling over the undulating land to disappear in the green distance. The drying sheds and the workers’ shacks were located in a sprawling banana grove at the side of the river, well out of sight of the big house; the stables and barns had their area further back in a thick stand of pine. The house stood alone on a hummock; below it the gardens ran in riotous color past a rough-stone-edged pool down to the river.

It was a great chalet, the gently sloping roof overhanging balconies that encircled the building at each floor, joined by wooden stairways. Huge hand-hewn beams of dark wood supported the stained plank walls; leaded glass windows studded the high walls and winked in the afternoon sun. It might have been transplanted intact from Württemberg, or Ostmark, Erick thought; it could have fronted the icy Bodensee, or stared down on Innsbruck from the challenging rocks above. His eyes unconsciously swept the horizon for snow-tipped mountains, and the growing sense of displacement that he had felt since leaving the boat slowly seeped away. “Beautiful,” he said sincerely. His uncle smiled slightly, but it was difficult to tell if the smile indicated sympathy or amusement.

They dined by flickering candlelight, although the farm boasted a modern generator, and afterwards in the huge living room listened to phonograph records before a crackling fire. The night had turned cold, and the fire was cheerful and welcome. They talked of family and the past; the subject of the meeting and the reason for Erick’s trip was avoided as if by mutual unspoken consent. His uncle was bending over the ancient phonograph, changing a record, and Erick was preparing to offer excuses for an early bedtime, when headlights swung into the driveway from the river road, and they could hear the labored clanking of an old car pulling up before the house. The motor coughed itself apologetically into silence, a car door slammed.

“Von Roesler!” a deep voice bayed. “Gott im Himmel! Why doesn’t the old man put a light on this verdammt driveway? Von Roesler, you old swine! A light!”

The old man rushed to swing back the door, and yellow light poured over the balcony, spilling down to the huge blond figure standing beside a battered Ford. “Goetz!” he cried in delight. “Come up! Come up! How did you ever make it in that wheelbarrow? From Blumenau, yet!”

“Wheelbarrow, eh?” said Goetz, clumping up the stairway. “This wheelbarrow will be running when both you and your fancy hearse have long gone to the graveyard!” He paused at the top of the steps, a wild-looking giant wearing a leather jacket over a turtle-neck sweater, his curly hair rumpled, eyeing the two men calmly. “So this is little Erick, eh? For whom we make long trips when we have a million things to do! Hello, little Erick! How is the Vaterland?” Erick felt his face reddening. The big man pushed past him almost brusquely, his handshake an obvious thing in passing, quick and almost insolent, going to warm himself at the fireplace. “Von Roesler! Even in the uncivilized south we at least have a little common hospitality! What do you have to drink?”

“Goetz! So you came!” The old man bustled about, dragging glasses and bottles from a dark sideboard made darker by its place in the shadows. “And Lange? And Gunther?” He was obviously delighted with the other; the vitality of his huge visitor seemed a physical thing in the room, passing itself as animation to the old man, making the room gayer.

“I dropped them at Gehrmann’s. With pleasure. They’ll be over in the morning.” He shook his head comically, although his voice remained serious. “A day and a half in the car with them was more than enough!”

“Only a day and a half?” The old man paused with the glasses in his hand. “You made very good time.”

“With two flat tires, also. But it’s been dry down our way for some time now. And the road has been scraped.” He frowned at the old man fiercely. “I see it’s dry up here, too. Do we drink or do we spend the night chattering like old women?”

The old man giggled. “We drink, of course. And then play chess. Or are you too tired?”

“Asleep I could beat you. Set up the men.”

Erick stood forgotten to one side, the white heat of his temper solidifying into a hard core of hate. This one he would remember! Little Erick, eh? The feeling of strangeness was back in strength, the room and the house suddenly foreign; but the cold stab of hate swept aside all other emotions. “Uncle,” he said when his voice could once again be trusted. “I’ll see you in the morning.” “Of course, of course,” said the old man absently. He was setting the chess men up on an inlaid table before the fireplace.

Goetz nodded abruptly; he was filling a water glass with brandy. “Sleep well, little Erick!” He looked at the younger man humorously, quirking his massive eyebrows. “Pleasant dreams!”

Brandy and chess, giggling and horseplay! They have become soft and childish like the Brazilians, Erick thought bitterly as he went along the balcony to his room. Little Erick, eh? We shall see!

Chapter 4

They were standing about the room drinking coffee and speaking desultorily when Erick entered the next morning. His uncle introduced him to each in turn, and they all shook hands silently, wonderingly, diffident in the presence of a man they knew held office in the Third Reich of Hitler. The chairs and couch had been drawn up to form a rough semicircle about the fireplace, and Erick placed himself with his back to the mantel, waiting silently and aloofly while they quietly seated themselves. He stood erect and calm, sure of himself and watched them coldly as they seated themselves. Then, suddenly flinging his hand in their faces, he snapped, “Heil Hitler!”

There was a moment of startled silence, then “Heil Hitler!” loudly and enthusiastically from Gunther and Strauss; a further pause and a more subdued “Heil Hitler” from Gerhmann and Lange. A snort from Goetz. Silence from the old man von Roesler, and from Riepert, the lumberman from Paraná. Erick smiled grimly to himself as he filed the reaction of each in his sharp memory. He waited until the renewed shuffling had again subsided before beginning to speak.

“Gentlemen. Citizens of the Third Reich. You are all aware, I am sure, of the situation that exists today in the homeland. The Führer has made exceptional efforts to avoid war, and these efforts, so far, have been successful. But our enemies are not satisfied to allow this peaceful situation to endure.

“German nationals, who have played the greatest part in the development of every country in the world, are being persecuted and made to suffer today for no reason other than the fact that they are German! This is the truth, gentlemen; the international conspiracy of Jews and so-called Christian Democrats will not be satisfied until every man, woman, and child in the Reich is driven into starvation and despair!”

He paused and studied the faces before him. Goetz was eyeing him coldly, almost sardonically; his uncle sat huddled in one corner, blankly studying his veined hands. Gunther was leaning forward excitedly, drinking in the words; Strauss was vigorously nodding his head. The tension had disappeared from the faces of Lange and Gehrmann; they looked interested. Riepert was staring out of the window, his face disclosing nothing.

“Gentlemen. In this situation, to be blunt, the Fatherland calls upon all of its loyal sons and daughters in all parts of the world for support. These hostile elements that surround us on all sides have long taken advantage of our weakness, of our lack of organization, of our sincere desire for peace. As Germans we are beginning to once again raise our heads under the inspired leadership of our beloved Führer; we are throwing off the shame of the past, we are beginning once again to stand on our feet. But these elements will not leave us in peace! It is only a question of time until they change their attacks from verbal and economic ones to actual intervention in the internal affairs of the Reich!” He eyed them all coldly, conviction in every line of his taut body. “And when that time comes, they will be smashed down; taught that we Germans also have a right to live, and to grow, and to fulfill the destiny of the Third Reich!”

His voice had risen despite himself; he found himself pounding the stone mantelpiece for emphasis. A pity, an inner voice whispered, to waste this oratory in a farmhouse in this backward place, but then didn’t the Führer himself start in a Brauhaus in Munich? There was an embarrassed shifting of bodies, but no one spoke.

“Gentlemen. We cannot wait for the blow to fall before preparing ourselves for it. Even as I come today to Brazil, others have gone to Argentina, to Sweden, to Canada, to the United States; to all of the countries that owe so much to their German population, and who yet hold us down so much. What is the answer? The answer is that we must organize ourselves; organize into Bunds. Prepare ourselves for the day when the Reich will be forced to defend itself on the field of battle against these enemies!”

There was a sudden movement as Goetz heaved himself to his feet. He stood towering over the silent group, eyeing them with cold disgust; then his huge head swung toward Erick. “Enough is enough,” he said, his big fists clenching and unclenching. “You are mad! You and your crazy Schicklgruber! You come here to Brazil to tell us about Germans suffering in other countries. When have you ever seen Germans suffering in other countries? What do you know about how Germans live in other countries? When have you ever been out of Germany?” His face was reddening with his growing anger. “To take a bicycle trip to Vienna? To go visit the whorehouses of Paris?” He snorted. “You talk of suffering! Suffering!” He looked about the room. “Everyone in this room today can thank Brazil for everything he has!”

“Goetz, Goetz!” cried Gunther, his little body shaking with conviction as with an ague. “He’s right! It’s changing! He’s right! They are talking now of even forbidding the teaching of German in our schools in Santa Catarina!”

“It gets harder each day to import from the Fatherland,” interposed Strauss sullenly. “The verdammt Americans get preferential treatment.”

“Why?” Goetz roared, his patience snapping. “Why? What does Germany have to export? Guns? Airplanes? Tanks?” He turned fuming to the silent waiting figure of Erick, watching this display with icy calm from the fireplace. “Ask our young friend here, he was still wet behind the ears when I left Germany. Ask him what Germany has to export! Hate? Poison? Little men like this — this...” Words failed him. He pushed to the door, seething. “My God, but you are fools! Von Roesler, I go! You will pardon me if I do this to your hospitality, for you are an old friend and I do not hold this against you, but this is too much! For this idiocy I drove two days, yet!” They heard his feet go pounding down the stairway. Riepert rose to his feet.

“I think I also go,” he said quietly. “I am over twenty years in Brazil. I think maybe you exaggerate. However. Von Roesler, good day.” He nodded stiffly to the others and left the room. The grinding of the Ford’s starter came from below.

“And now,” said Erick softly in the shocked silence that had fallen, “are there more to leave? Does the Reich have more traitors in this room?” No one answered. He studied their faces, studiously avoiding his uncle’s look of misery, but somehow strengthened by it. “You are all sure? You have no doubts?” His eyes flashed from one to the other; they all stared back in waiting silence. “No? Then let us get to work!” He seated himself at the table and drew his briefcase toward him. “The plans are all drawn. We shall discuss them. Actually, the situation is not very different between the different countries...” The others moved around him as he spread his papers upon the table top and continued to talk.

This was the young Captain Erick von Roesler of the Sicherheitsdienst, provisionally assigned by the SD as Gauleiter-to-be for the country of Brazil, in South America, in the month of June, in the year of 1939.

Chapter 5

When the patience of the leaders of the Third Reich could no longer tolerate the constant attacks to which they were viciously and unfairly subjected, they established their first line of defense in Poland. This was in September of 1939. This proved so successful that further defense lines were later established even more to the east.

In those early days, the assignments given to Gauleiters-to-be in the countries-defended-as-yet-not were many and varied. Captain Erick von Roesler, his voluminous notes on Brazil largely unread and buried in the vast archives of some obscure bureau of the SD, was first assigned to Lithuania as assistant to the Gauleiter of Riga. His enthusiasm in this first opportunity to prove to the Führer as well as to his superiors his complete devotion to the sacred cause eventually led even the Gauleiter of Riga himself to complain directly to Rosenberg. “To have buried alive seriously wounded people,” ran the astonishing report, “who then worked their way out of the graves again, is such extreme beastliness that it should be reported to the Führer and Reichsmarschall...” Since the Gauleiter of Riga merely proved in this purposeless complaint to be either extremely naive or poorly indoctrinated, von Roesler earned no reprimand. Instead, he was awarded the Iron Cross and his military grade raised to major. However, in the interests of peace-the-family-in, which at that stage of the military effort was easily afforded, he was reassigned and told to report directly to Reichsminister Saukel in Paris.

His new post required him to concentrate on the recruitment of foreign workers into the slave labor program. In this new assignment, von Roesler was again swept with an excess of enthusiasm which bore no relationship to the purposes of the program; or possibly he felt that the impressing of labor was an end in itself. At any rate, the result was the same. Since dead slaves do no work, he found himself once again reassigned. This time there was no promotion attached.

His new position was more logical; he found himself posted to Dachau, where his activities, rather than causing unfavorable comment, aided his commendation record.

Von Roesler had finally found his forte. In quick succession, Auschwitz saw him, and Birkenau. To his surprise, he discovered that he had a certain talent for organization, combined to some extent with a technical ability almost bordering on engineering. Through his efforts he was able to increase the daily output of the cremation ovens spectacularly; even the technicians whose function it was to see to the proper operation of the ovens had to admit that von Roesler played no small part in the success of the extermination program.

But it was actually not until early in 1943 that he really felt settled. This was when his service was finally recognized, and he was transferred on a permanent basis to the long-established camp at Buchenwald. The years had given him maturity; victims capable of working were no longer whipped into the false showers; those who could walk and bend over were saved for the factories of Weimar, their place in the daily file to the ovens taken by the utterly decrepit, or the women too weak to contribute, or the useless children. His title in his new position was Assistant to the Obergrüppenführer, and it also carried a promotion to the level of colonel.

The mental development of Erick von Roesler in these years might be interesting to study, were it unfortunately not so standard. The vital necessity for furthering the destiny of the Third Reich, which had manifested itself in the excesses of Lithuania, had turned in his months with Reichsminister Saukel to bitter resentment at his victims for having forced these very excesses. From this resentment to a state of active hatred was a short step. Hatred being a reason in itself, no feeling of guilt could, or ever did, accrue to his activities.

His hatred had no particular focus. He hated all his enemies, but particularly he hated the Jews, because the ones he encountered at Buchenwald were German, and because they were not in the camp for sabotage or political acts against the Reich. He secretly considered du Waldeck and Koch weak and almost degenerate, for they seemed to kill and torture from pleasure, rather than from his more exalted hatred.

Brazil seemed far away in those days of daily tasks, but von Roesler never forgot it. He kept a map of the vast country on his desk and in free moments would pore over it, tracing with his finger the tiny path that led from Santos, winding erratically along the coast to cut in to Itapave. He never ceased being amazed at the insignificance of what had been a full day’s journey, when compared with the great reaches of the country that dwarfed this minute part.

The winning of the war having already been assured by the constant elimination of enemies, either in the bloody blitzkrieg battles to the east, or in the gas chambers, he often sat back at night and planned his future. Goetz! Without any doubt tainted by more than a little Jewish blood. And Riepert; not a common Jewish name, no; but certainly a Jew. Little Erick, eh? From his office he could see the huge prison yard, and the floodlights bathing the area in cold shadowlessness; he looked back in his memory to Dachau, and Ausehwitz, and Birkenau. Little Erick, eh? Hartzlandia would rise before him, the Berchtesgaden of his future. His foolish uncle was growing old, senile; imagine the old man inviting Jews to that meeting! And then, having invited them, imagine the old man feeling miserable because they left! Well, when the time came, the old man would pose no problem. Von Roesler’s fingers would stroke the warm wood of his pipe rhythmically, the sinuous twisting trails of smoke blending in the air with his lush dreams.

All this, of course, was before the bombings. It was only at Hamburg, on that fateful night of August 3, 1943, that the first maggots of doubt ever entered his mind. The order had come crisply to the apartment of the Obergrüppenführer and had been routinely transferred to his office. A swift call to Weimar started a priority train on its way to the camp; within thirty minutes three hundred inmates had been brutally routed out of their tiered shelves, certain that their final hour had arrived. Von Roesler supervised the loading of the cattle cars personally, saw the last frightened animal beaten into withdrawal from the doors, the panels slammed into place and latched. He nodded to the signalman, who waved his red lantern and scrambled aboard to join him in the small coach at the rear.

“What’s up?” asked the signalman cheerfully. He was not at all impressed by his companion’s uniform. In those days of the war, trainmen were as valuable as colonels.

Von Roesler silenced him with a look, but for the first time he felt a twinge of uneasiness. It was quite unusual, this. It was the first time that inmates had been removed so far from camp as a work party. Usually they either left as part of the daily working units that went into Weimar to the factories or they left the camp for their last trip to some mass grave beyond the walls. This was very unusual.

The sight of Hamburg, while the train was still fifteen miles away, was incredible. A wall of flame tapering upward into a twisting tower that reached higher than the eye could see, past the sky, farther than the mind could encompass; columns of smoke shot through with fiery red flares that appeared and disappeared, winding about fiercely through the black pillars, all and everything fighting madly to climb into that holocaust that raged higher and higher, wider and wider, over the city. As their train inched forward, they could hear the hungry roar of the firestorm; a rain of tiny debris pattered against the coach roof; through the window the wind could be heard, rushing insanely into that unbelievable vacuum. The train ground to a shuddering halt; von Roesler dropped to the ground and ran panting past the now silent cattle cars to stand by the engine, frozen with disbelief and horror.

There, to the left, where the docks had stood, nothing but a solid wall of searing flame! And Hohelft, Barsbeck, Elmsbüttel, one gigantic and growing pyre! Harburg and the Borstelmannsweg section shooting howling fire to the skies! This could not be Hamburg! This mass of crackling, snarling, howling fire crazily twisting into the sky could not be Hamburg! It was impossible; one could not encompass the disaster. What had happened to the Luftwaffe? What had gone wrong with the vaunted radar guns? Hamburg, best-protected city in the Reich, in the world; Hamburg, whose civil defense was so developed, so famed, as to serve as the model for all cities of the Reich facing air attacks! It was impossible! Impossible! Who had failed? Fear, for the first time, came to Colonel Erick von Roesler.

They worked in the smoking skeleton of what had once been Hamburg for one month. They damped down still-smoldering ash-choked blocks; they cleared rubble from streets that still smoked beneath their feet. Burned trucks and cars were pulled away and thrown into the growing rubbish piles that took the place of the once famed factories of Hamburg. The network of canals and waterways that spanned the city were dragged and cleared of the twisted bodies that choked them; shelters were opened and the ghastly melted things that had once been human bodies were shoveled into carts and taken to the long shallow mass graves dug by the inmates of Buchenwald. And through all the work and the horror and the sleepless nights, von Roesler’s hatred grew, satisfied by the gruesome sights that presented themselves daily for his inspection; but the fear grew, also, and the doubts.

In the latter part of September they were replaced by groups from other camps; they returned to Buchenwald. Seven inmates had died on the trip to Hamburg; forty-three from the fumes of opened shelters, or the gases trapped in the shambles of flooded basements and torn pipes. Eight had been shot while attempting to take advantage of the situation and escape; four had been shot when burns suffered in their duties prevented them from joining their working parties. Ten had died in the Hamburg barracks, reason unknown. One had fallen into a mass grave and stayed there. Twelve bodies had remained in the cattle cars upon their return. Erick von Roesler wrote up his report mechanically, his mind far away.

The famous Luftwaffe had failed; the impenetrable defense of Hamburg had failed. He sat that night in his quarters, unconsciously listening for the terrifying soft roar of approaching airplanes, numbed. The map of Brazil remained folded in its usual place on his desk, his fingers stroking it absently. A word born of his need to escape the horror he had seen, to explain the fear that crowded him, grew in his mind: Betrayal! His mind studied the word and found it good; it satisfied his doubts and fed his hatred. Germany had been betrayed! He turned off his desk lamp and sat staring in the darkness, his ears pitched for the whisper of propellers in the distance; his delicate fingers stroking his warm pipe, his mind savoring the marvelous escape of that wonderful word. Betrayal!

Chapter 6

On June 6, 1944, at five P.M. London time, Allied planes and gliders sweeping low over Normandy dropped the first contingent of paratroopers on Contentin Peninsula, and the invasion of the German stronghold of Europe had begun. On June 7 the British took Bayeux; Carentan fell on June 13. United States troops captured Cherbourg on June 27. British-Canadians took Caen July 9; Falaise fell to the Canadians August 17. On August 25 French troops, supported by the American forces, entered Paris.

With the breaching of the coast, and the recapture of Paris, the war was forever lost for Germany. The most fanatical could no longer dream of the invasion as being only an enlarged Commando landing force which might possibly be pushed back into the sea. Each day saw a greater number of Allied troops landed on the beaches and rushed to the ever-widening front. Everywhere the forces of the Reich were being pushed back, leaving behind valuable stores and further diminishing the dwindling stocks of ammunition, arms, and foodstuffs needed for successful defense. In the East, the fury of the Russian bear was being unleashed. The ring was slowly closing about the heart of the Reich.

There were, in those curtain-dropping days, many responsible Nazi officials and Wehrmacht officers of high rank who felt that an immediate petition for peace was necessary; surrender on any terms in order to at least salvage a possible base for future growth. Their requests were denied; the suicidal intent of the Führer permitted no deviation. Those who persisted in arguing died a few months before their time. Their coadjutors maintained intelligent silence. Those who fell back toward Berlin were resigned to die for their beliefs, or were merely postponing the inevitable, for the talk of War Crimes trials had already been heard in both London and Washington.

Erick von Roesler belonged to neither camp. After the shocking experience of the Hamburg holocaust, he had withdrawn into himself, living alone with his hate, which had widened to include both the betrayers and the betrayed. When Paris fell, he coldly accepted the fact of defeat and put into practice a plan that had been maturing since the latter days of 1943. The passports and identity cards were not merely correct in every detail; they were authentic. He had obtained them in Paris on leave in February of 1944. On August 26, 1944, he requisitioned a car from the motor pool at Weimar, stationed his own taciturn chauffeur at the wheel, and left Buchenwald for the last time. His sister Monica, laden with the other accounterment necessary for the plan, was met by arrangement in Frankfort, and they sped westward across Germany. Her presence was due less to family loyalty than to the feeling that she might be useful both to his escape and to his future plans.

The highways were crowded with troop carriers and trucks, but despite this they made fair time. The presence of a woman in an official car seemed to excite no undue notice. There were many official cars on the roads those nights, traveling in both directions, and no one was of a mood to question or pay particular attention to their occupants.

They crossed the border at Mulhouse and drove south through Besançon toward Creuzot. Monica had provided sandwiches and wine, and they ate as they drove, throwing their litter carelessly out of the window, as being almost symbolic of their nonreturn. At Montceaules-Mines they stopped to fill the tank with gasoline from cans they had carried in the luggage compartment, and immediately resumed their journey. Just beyond the outskirts of the little town they left the main highway and bumped over a winding road that twisted through the low hills leading toward the Loire. They had been driving eighteen hours when they finally pulled up at their destination.

The ramshackle farmhouse was where he remembered it, abandoned and umninded as per his cabled instructions. Even in those terrifying and confused days the instructions of the SD were properly attended to. They changed clothes in the car and with the help of the driver dragged their stores of potatoes and turnips into the shallow vegetable cellar. When the car had turned about and sped away for the border, they cut small holes in some of the potatoes, secreted their small stock of cut diamonds inside, and replugged the holes. These potatoes they scratched for identification, and buried them at the bottom of the ragged jute sacks. After that they had only to wait for the front to pass them, which was much simpler than attempting to pass the front.

December saw them settled in a refugee camp outside of Paris: M. Jules Richereau and his wife Jeanne. There they stayed for over six months, waiting for papers permitting them to emigrate to Portugal. Erick read in the papers, in black headlines, that Buchenwald had been liberated, and some of the inmates had been transferred to hospitals and camps in the Paris area, but fortunately these were not assigned to the same camps that held rehabilitated French. Monica stayed close to camp; Erick went into the city on very rare occasions, and then only to check on their exit request. The other inmates of their camp considered the couple morose; the aura of hatred that surrounded Erick was visible for all to note. However, since everyone felt the hatred to be directed against the Germans, the strange couple were sympathetically left in peace by their neighbors.

In July of 1945 they were finally notified that their papers were ready, and directed to appear at an office which had been established by the Portuguese Embassy to handle such requests. The office was located in the center of the city, and they made their way there as quickly as possible. The papers were ready; they had only to sign them, get their copies, and leave. On their return to the camp, they passed a long line of ragged people standing forlornly before the Refugee Committee Headquarters; the same long line that had stood there in desperate hope every day for wearisome weeks. The sudden glimpse of a blue-eyed corpse staring blindly in their general direction sent von Roesler stumbling in sudden terrified fright around the corner, dragging Monica with him, expecting every moment to hear a scream of denunciation and the terrible threat of pounding feet. Of all the inmates of Buchenwald, the blue-eyed one was probably the only one that von Roesler could remember or recognize, possibly because of that startling contrast between the so-Aryan face perched precariously on top of that Jew-concentration-camp skeleton body. One of the survivors of the Hamburg trip, von Roesler also remembered as he hurried away, suddenly seeing again the flame-scarred wreckage of Hamburg and the tattered, blue-eyed prisoner lining up each morning to go out with the Decontamination Squad. How had that one ever survived? He pulled Monica along roughly, his terror communicating itself to her through the urgency of his sweating hands; the thought of falling into the claws of that mob filled him with nausea. But there was no outcry behind him; they returned to camp, frightened but safe.

They spent almost seven years in Portugal, at a small town called Trafaria, across the Tejo from Lisbon. It was a place where the presence of strangers was not so unusual as to excite constant surveillance. Still, it was safely away from the standard trail of refugees who constantly beat their bewildered way across the world through the portals of Lisbon. His trips to the capital were rare, and then mainly to exchange one of his dwindling stock of cut diamonds for money, an operation that caused neither surprise nor suspicion in that city of international barter.

In Trafaria, he read of the Nuremberg trials, and noted with calm indifference that Eichmann and Bormann had also managed to escape. The details of the depositions and sentences of the others did not interest him; whatever they got, they deserved; they had betrayed the Third Reich. He folded the paper to the sports section and sipped his aperitif as he read of the prowess of Real of Madrid. In February of 1952, they finally became citizens of Portugal, and in March of the same year they emigrated again, this time legally and safely, to Brazil.

The second time that Erick von Roesler saw Brazil was in April of 1952, from the second-class deck of a second-class steamer of the Companhia Sul Americana de Navigação. Monica was below in the stuffy cabin, tying their belongings into shabby bundles; he was alone on deck, peering ahead through the early dawn. They crept into Rio de Janeiro through a low fog, as on his first visit; the faint outlines of the tug pulling them appeared ghostly at the ship’s side. Brazil was always my destiny, he thought, his fist tightening against the smooth, damp railing. Here the betrayals shall be punished; here we shall build anew with no mistakes, for we shall base our building on the honest and sweet fact of hatred.

He stared ahead at the city he could faintly hear but not see. Brazil was the same; it had not changed, but Erick von Roesler was older, more bitter, the lines of his face etched in the acid of his thoughts, his hair sprinkled with streaks of white, his tall figure beginning to stoop. I shall never leave Brazil, he thought. Here I shall stay. Brazil has not changed, nor has my hatred on which I live, and on which I shall grow...

Preludio Sostenuto and Andante Carioca

Chapter 1

The small, dumpy man woke sharply, the ever-present trembling slowly subsiding, the deep throb of the plane’s huge motors returning through the frightening dreams to his consciousness. The tiny pillow had slipped from his shoulders, his head had fallen against the window frame; the briefcase chained to his wrist had twisted and the latch was cutting into the back of his hand. He pulled it back into a comfortable position and yawned deeply. Sunlight slotted the pulsing cabin, creeping in through the half-closed curtains, but the other passengers still slept soundly. A dead planet in orbit, high in the thin air; a satellite morgue, he thought, and glanced at his watch. Five A.M.; four hours to Rio de Janeiro.

Below, the jungle had disappeared during the night. The mottled stained green carpet that had shamed their noisy passage with mysterious silence was gone with his fleeting memory of it. Now there were splotched-brown oddly shaped hills, sewn to the endless plain with blue threads of winding watercourses. The reflection of the sun winked from one to the other; from twenty-five thousand feet up it was impossible to tell if they were small creeks or large rivers, or if the higher dull mounds were respectable hills or low hummocks.

Relativity, he thought, amazed as always at the odd fare his mind served up for inspection. Einstein always explained things horizontally; he should have explained them vertically. At least airplane passengers would have understood. His eye, searching the earth for diversion, caught and followed a beaten road twisting below, leading in the distance to a lonely house — a tiny block, a toy, lost in the vast isolation. And why, he began to wonder, would anyone live out here; and then suddenly smiled wryly. Let us assume a fugitive, he thought; one with either a flair for stupidity or a wonderful sense of humor, hiding in plain sight, safe from all dangers except the all-watching eye of passing planes, or the more punishing desolation of his endless solitude. A shadow crossed his mind; let us think of something else, he thought. There are many things I shall have to learn about fugitives and their ways, but all in good time.

The stewardess, noting his activity, was hovering over him, the usual professional smile for a fellow nonsleeper oddly missing from her pretty, vacuous face. It would never occur to her to wonder why some stubborn farmer might choose to sweat out his years on barren soil somewhere in the vast unknown beneath the steady wings. To her, the flight would be a familiar tunnel filled with night and small coffee cups, with Kleenex and whiskey-sodas, with Dramamine and unfolded blankets, which you entered quite normally at Port-of-Spain in Trinidad, and from which you routinely emerged at Galeão in Rio de Janeiro. The romances of her life, he thought, would draw their substance from the occasional presence aboard of a famous movie star, a flirtation with a handsome pilot or influential passenger, or the controlled, shared fear of a stuttering motor over the dark emptiness below, bringing from the subconscious that momentary doubt of eternity that always came with the unexpected.

“Are you all right, sir?”

“Quite all right, thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

He looked up at her sharply; this was not routine.

“Quite sure,” he said, uneasiness beginning to stir his stomach.

“Could I bring you some coffee?” It was an obvious retreat; the uneasiness grew.

“Please.”

He noted her eyes fixed upon the briefcase as she straightened up, as if it were slightly obscene and therefore exciting. Her breath caught unintentionally as she forced her glance away. A sudden terror gripped him. Ach, so? he thought; so soon? But it could not be; it was too early! No one should have known until tomorrow; it was to be held until he had passed customs and was safe in the hotel! What could have happened? The two-hour delay in Trinidad? But even so, it was only two hours, and they knew planes could be late. The difference in time? But they must have known there was a difference in time. Somebody slipped, somebody was precipitous, it was that simple; somebody moved too quickly!

To quell the rising panic, he forced a note of humor into his thoughts, disciplining them, thinking of the stewardess. Have I added one more small romance to your limited repertoire, my dear? Where do I stand in relation to Fred MacMurray, or Linda Christian, or even a sudden lurch in a tropical storm? He stared rigidly out of the window, attempting to lure his thoughts from the disaster they sensed in the involuntary gasp of the stewardess; in her eye fixed upon the briefcase, in her oversolicitousness; but it was all in vain. The panic remained.

In his imagination he could picture the startled looks on the faces of the crew bunched in the eerily lit nose as the message came clattering over the air; the discreetly flashing light calling the stewardess forward, her nonchalant air as she picked her way down the aisle, tucking in a blanket here, adjusting a pillow there, until she could disappear beyond the softly closing door leading to the pilot’s compartment without arousing suspicion. And just how had they told her? Did they say: “Hey, cutie, what’s the man in 6B like? Is he big? Hard? Gangster type?” In spite of his panic, he was forced to smile at this. Or did they say: “Take a good look at 6B, he has two million dollars in cold cash in that innocent-looking briefcase, stole it and left for Brazil one step ahead of the police”? Or possibly they may have said: “Look, honey, see that 6B gets all the service his little heart desires; he’s a famous man, we may have to borrow money some day and it never hurts to have friends”? The smile faded; how they had told her wasn’t too important. What was important was that both he and his briefcase were now well known to the plane’s crew, who meant nothing. But just as well known, without a doubt, to the Brazilian authorities in Rio de Janeiro four hours away. That was quite important.

In sudden resolve he slipped from his seat and walked hurriedly down the aisle to the rest room, the briefcase bumping against his legs in the confined space. He could feel the eyes of the stewardess upon him as he edged through the narrow door and slid the latch shut. In nervous haste he stripped off his jacket and shirt, removed his undershirt and stuffed it into the briefcase over the stacked blocks that lay within. After a moment’s thought he added his socks, putting his shoes back on over his bare feet. A paperback mystery from his jacket pocket went on top, and then, in desperation, his pocket handkerchief. He searched himself for other detritus to add to the cache; there was nothing. He considered and rejected the idea of stuffing towels from the lavatory into the offending emptiness.

That’s all I need, his sardonic humor whispered — to be caught for stealing!

He washed his face fiercely, and was in the process of scrubbing it dry when the pain struck. As always it gave little notice, welling up within him in a sudden wave. The towel fell from his stricken hand; his fingers gripped the edge of the small sink grindingly, as if in an attempt to transfer the shards of agony into the vibrating airplane. When the first spasm had passed, he took a small pill from his pocket and slipped it beneath his tongue. Always the pain and always the dreams, he thought. I will not die now; I must not die now. It has never killed me before, and it will not kill me now. He waited several more minutes until the pill took effect and the pain settled, the torture slowly easing. Then, unlocking the door with trembling fingers, he returned unsteadily to his seat.

The coffee arrived. He could feel the stewardess waiting silently at his elbow as he sipped it, but he continued to stare out of the window until she reluctantly left and padded quietly back to the galley. He finished the hot drink, placed the empty cup on the floor near the aisle, and hunched back into a sleeping position. There was nothing to be done until their arrival; the grim finality of this thought strangely calmed him. The briefcase nestled under his arm as he closed his eyes and attempted to doze for a few more hours.

Well, he thought bitterly, it didn’t start in New York. The nervousness there was wasted. Nor did it start in Rio de Janeiro, where it was supposed to start. Just for the record, should anyone ask you, or should you ever be in a position to answer, it started somewhere twenty-five thousand feet over northern Brazil, on a brilliant sunlit morning, high over a tiny toy house lost in the immensity of rolling brown hills and shiny twisting streams, when a radio message reached out and brought surprise to a tired DC-7 crew bored with flying. And brought romance to a dull stewardess with greedy eyes. That is where it started.

I only wish I knew where it ended, he thought; and slept.

Chapter 2

The airport buildings at Galeão glared blinding white, their black shadows empty caverns in the shimmering tarmac.

He shaded his eyes against the painful reflection and followed the silent file of tired passengers into the long low building, the sweat beginning to rise under his tight collar and run down inside his shirt. His ears still buzzed faintly from the hours of motor noise, and the briefcase suddenly seemed unbearably heavy to his wrist. In dismay he noted that he had forgotten to undo the chain; in haste he fished the key from his watch pocket and unlatched the tiny lock; no one seemed to notice.

They were halted by a rope slung across the corridor; beyond they could see the open window of the Health Office and Immigration, with uniformed figures inside shuffling papers endlessly and staring blankly at the incoming passengers. There is something fascinating about the similarity of customs procedures and officials in every country, he thought. True, the original instincts of self-preservation in all basic groupings probably have common roots, but it still seems rather startling that, stemming from different mores and habit patterns, following completely diverse paths of development, they all seemed to have arrived together at the same paper-shuffling, blank-faced bureaucracy, reflecting their mutual fear of strangers in identical rituals of pointless documents and illegible rubber stamps. They must have hidden antennae for secret communication, like ants, he thought. Or more terrifying, radio and television, like humans.

The rope dropped; the passengers edged forward, fumbling for passports and vaccination certificates, hampered by books and overcoats and overnight bags, the heat a blanket that muffled everything, making each action a chore in slow motion. He tensed as he presented his documents at the first counter, but the sweating police officials occasioned him no delay. Any radio accusation that had arrived apparently was not filtered down to these low echelons. A sudden, unfounded elation seized him. Maybe I imagined the whole thing, he thought. Maybe the stewardess was merely curious. Maybe the stewardess was only nearsighted. Stamps fell, cards passed back and forth; the line edged forward uncomfortably to the customs shed.

The customs benches were being filled; porters were slinging luggage haphazardly from the carts to the low barriers; passengers were beginning to awaken from the narcosis of the flight and were frantically attempting to attract the attention of a customs guard. A conference was in progress at the official desk; declarations were being examined and separated; the heat bore down relentlessly on everything.

He saw the flight crew come through, their squat leather bags bulging with papers, maps, dirty clothing, and possibly a contraband bottle of whiskey hidden somewhere in the depths. The stewardess whispered something to the others, inclining her head in his direction, and they all eyed him curiously, but only for a moment. He was a passing phenomenon who had lightened a dull flight with a few minutes of excited radio chatter, but that was last night and years ago. They could always read about it in the newspapers; their minds were already on a three-day holiday, and the smooth hot beach, and the noisy night clubs. He saw the small eyes of the stewardess linger hesitatingly on the briefcase cradled in his arms, and he suddenly knew very well that his panic in the plane had not been based upon imagination. Quite without knowing why, he forced his fears behind him and winked at her in a broad, friendly manner. She turned away flushing, and a few moments later stumped out after her companions. Ingratitude, he thought with a bitter smile; think of the hours of conversation I have provided you with.

“Senhor Hans?” A customs official was glancing up from a declaration, impatiently glaring about the group of passengers. His face, although young in years, was set in the bitter lines of ingrained officialdom; his flat eyes peered about in barely stifled animosity; the heavy features were shimmering with sweat. Nobody paid any attention; the struggle with baggage went on uninterruptedly. “Senhor Hans?” The voice was accusing now, and the official referred once again to the declaration in his hand. A sudden thought seemed to come to him. “Senhor Hans Busch?” He pronounced it “Pushy,” but the tone of accusation had completely disappeared, replaced by respect. My God! he thought with a start, that’s me! A fine beginning!

“I’m sorry,” he said, touching the official on the arm. “I’m afraid I didn’t...”

“Senhor Hans Busch?”

“Why, yes,” he said, beginning to reach for his documents, attempting to portray to the best of his ability Everytourist faced with Everycustoms.

“O senhor têm bagagem?”

“I beg your pardon? I don’t speak...”

“Lockage? Package?” The voice dropped suddenly to a hoarse whisper, accompanied by a barely perceptible nudge. “Haben Sie Koffer?”

The official indicated the suitcases being opened on the benches. He saw his new leather case standing alone to one side and reached for it, but the official politely picked it up and headed for a door at one side. “Please?” he said over his shoulder, “Please!” It was quite as if he were answering his own question. The other passengers eyed them sourly, certain that either influence or a well concealed bribe had smoothed the way to faster service.

He trailed along, his heart pounding. Well, he thought forlornly, here we go. Please, God, don’t let it fail before it even begins!

The room, windowless — an obvious afterthought in the airport construction — was formed by two roughly finished walls of cinder-block set in a corner of the customs shed. A halfhearted coat of whitewash attempted to disguise the provisional character of the construction, but only served to emphasize it. A badly vibrating fan rattled on a shelf, pushing the hot air about listlessly. A tall, saturnine man with a lean tanned face and an aggressive mustache arose from a desk and came forward. He took the declaration form from the customs official, who proceeded to seat himself unobtrusively on one corner of the desk, reaching over to shut the door almost apologetically. With the door closed the heat became unbearable, but the mustached man seemed almost cool as he turned about.

“Mr. Busch?” he asked gently.

“Yes.”

“I am Captain Jose Da Silva. May I see your passport, please?”

He fumbled in the side pocket of his jacket where he was certain he had placed his documents after Immigration, but his fingers closed only on a crumpled handkerchief. But I put that in the briefcase, he thought idiotically; I must have had two. He began to tremble, angry for the weakness, and for having misplaced his passport.

“Rather odd seeing a captain in civilian clothes,” he said, smiling foolishly, his hands patting his various breast pockets in desperation, hampered in his search by the awkward briefcase. He suddenly seemed to realize that this encumbrance was no longer a physical part of his person; he set it against the desk leg as unobtrusively as possible, continuing his search.

“Yes,” said the captain dryly. “Your passport, please?”

His hand closed in last resort on a heavily laden trouser pocket, and he drew out the missing passport, furious with himself for having placed it in so unusual a place. Stupid! he thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid! And even more stupid to allow it to upset you this much; relax and get yourself under control! But really, a trouser pocket — my God!

The tall man examined the document minutely, riffling through the pages and noting the various visas and stamped dates. He studied the personal data in the front and looked up impartially to compare the face before him with the photograph in his hand, after which he quietly closed the booklet and casually slipped it into his jacket pocket as if in a moment of forgetfulness.

“Would you care to open your bag, please?”

Da Silva’s thin fingers skimmed the contents, carefully judging the inside dimensions against the outside shape, barely disturbing the shirts and socks, but passing with great efficiency through the neatly arranged clothing.

Through the concrete block walls the smaller man heard the sudden acceleration of an airplane engine, and then the coughing start of another. In his mind’s eye he could see the puff of gray smoke, hear the snap of the cabin door being latched into place, feel the reassuring rough strength of the seat belt under his hand. Maybe I should have stayed aboard and gone on to Buenos Aires, and then back home, he thought wearily. Maybe I’m not the one for this. The suitcase was closed with a sigh, the latches snapped.

“Your briefcase?” The tone was a little sharper, a bit more thoughtful.

He hesitated one second, and the other stepped around the desk and lifted the case to the desk top. His skin was chafed where the chain had galled him, and he unconsciously rubbed his wrist as the other man snapped open the lock and peered within. The moment of truth, he thought, and tried to freeze the scene in time as a tableau: the heat, the wide-eyed, sweating customs official with the flat eyes, the gaunt figure bent over the tattered briefcase, the bare floor, the lumpy walls, the battered desk. Maybe it is a dream, he thought, and I can escape by awakening.

But he could not erase his own trembling figure from the picture he had created, and the sudden muffled roar of an airplane shattered the spell, leaving him tired and hot, a small, miserable man standing uncertainly in a crude room, his luggage being efficiently searched. With a sharp, quizzical sidelong glance, Captain Da Silva laid the pitiful camouflage of wrinkled clothing to one side and began withdrawing blocks of neatly tied newsprint from the depths of the briefcase. They looked foolish piled on the desk, like the accessories of some child’s game, leaning idiotically against the underwear and dirty socks. The clattering fan only served to emphasize the silence.

Da Silva straightened up and sighed, as if weary of the disappointments of constant dissimulation. “A personal search, Mr. Busch,” he said sadly. “I am afraid that I must ask you to submit to a personal search.”

“Isn’t that most unusual?” He tried to sound indignant, but only succeeded in sounding frightened. They were right, he thought bitterly, you’re too old for this sort of thing.

“Most unusual. As are the circumstances. Please.”

“No!” It was an animal cry; he clutched the ends of his coat sleeves with his fingers, straining. “I’m sorry.” He attempted to smile, but the grimace was pitiful. “I have... well, I have a thing about being undressed in public. ”

Da Silva’s eyebrows raised in honest surprise. “My dear Mr. Busch,” he said, “we certainly have no intention of undressing you. In any event, it would be quite purposeless. Please.” A gesture plus a few words of instruction in Portuguese and the customs official swung himself from the table and came over. He ran his fingers with impersonal speed over the cringing figure, sliding his hands down the rumpled trouser legs, crumpling the cloth of the suit to expose any papers hidden in the lining. He removed the contents of the pockets and handed them to Da Silva. He shook his head, his face a mask.

“Fora disso, nada.”

The mustached man examined the papers desultorily, leafed through the wallet with an air of complete disinterest, and handed them back. He returned to his swivel chair back of the desk and seated himself wearily.

“Tell me, Mr. Busch,” he said softly, conversationally, “who has the money?”

“Money?”

“Please. Let us not have any fencing. We know all about you. I am not, as you might have thought, of the customs. Our government is interested in you, Mr. Busch. We are interested in any man who brings two million dollars into our country.”

He felt a wave of hysteria bring sour laughter choking in his throat and desperately fought it down. I’m tired, he thought. It was a long trip. But don’t break now; you can’t break now. Actually, what can they do? What is the very worst they can do? Be glad this is Brazil and today, and not Europe and yesterday. Here they talk; they do not use castor oil and needles.

“Pardon me, Captain, but I’m afraid I don’t know what you are talking about. A million dollars? In cash? Carrying it with me? You must be joking; the thought is idiotic.”

“Two million, Mr. Busch, two million. And the thought of a man carrying a briefcase filled with newspaper blocks chained to his wrist for twenty-four hours might also be considered by some as being idiotic. Or at least, shall we say, slightly abnormal.”

“Chained to my wrist?”

“Chained to your wrist, Mr. Busch, until you got off the plane. Please, do not play with me. We are quite well informed. We know you left New York with this amount of money; we know this definitely and positively. Of this there can be no doubt at all. Tell me, Mr. Busch, where is it?”

“Is it illegal to bring money into Brazil? I understood that there are no currency regulations here for travelers.”

Da Silva shrugged, his eyes cold and somber. “Two million dollars is not money in the tourist sense, Mr. Busch. Two million dollars could be counterfeit, or could buy a lot of arms, or bribe enough officials. Or any one of many things. Particularly any one of many things. You are correct in thinking that there are no currency regulations here in Brazil, but you are completely wrong in feeling that this applies to you.” He leaned forward impressively, never removing his piercing eyes from the disheveled figure before him.

“Believe me, Mr. Busch, when I tell you that our government is extremely serious about your case. We are interested in this money and the purpose for which it is intended. We are quite certain that we know this purpose, and we fully expect to prevent it. Believe me.”

“But I tell you...”

The tall, thin man shook his finger coldly. “Mr. Busch. There is only one thing I want you to tell me, and that is where the money is. Please. Or bitte if you prefer. We know who you are and what you have been. You will not spend this money. You are making a grave mistake, Mr. Busch. A grave mistake.”

The other stood silent, the sweat rolling down his pale cheeks, his shirt and jacket soaked. Am I making a mistake? Quite possibly; it won’t be the first, nor the last.

But what could one do? Whom could one trust? In New York these past three years, it had seemed simple, necessary, even — my God! — romantic. But no, he thought with finality, I am not making a mistake; it would be too useless. He saw the captain’s eyes and knew the ordeal had run its course, but there was no feeling of exultation or even relief. He was only conscious of the oppressive heat and a slight feeling of nausea.

Da Silva suddenly swiveled about, staring at the noisy fan with distaste, as if it represented in its mechanical sickness the malaise of the world in which he was forced to work and struggle.

“All right, Mr. Busch. The money is not on your person nor in your luggage; that much is certain. Whoever you passed it to, either on the plane, or en route, or in the customs shed, will be found. It will not be passed back to you. Or we will be there when it is.” He paused in thought, shook his head sadly. “You would be well advised to turn the money in to us and return to New York, Mr. Busch.” He eyed the small man before him queryingly, shook his head again, and then nodded to the customs official.

“All right, Mr. Busch. You are free to go. But you would be making a sad error to feel that this case is over.”

Now the relief came, flooding him, immediately followed by doubt.

“But my passport?”

Da Silva did not lift his eyes from the scratched desk top before him. His fingers idly followed some of the ancient marks impressed upon the worn surface. “I am afraid I shall have to hold that for the time being.”

But really, this was too much! How could he hope to accomplish anything if he couldn’t even pass the simple test of getting through customs with his papers intact? And he might well need his passport for identification or travel. I’m tired, he thought, and sick and old. I’m really old. It was enough to make one cry.

“But I am an American citizen...”

“A naturalized American citizen, Mr. Busch, but still, I admit, under the protection of that embassy. However, I am afraid that we cannot permit you to leave our hospitality without due notice. The law, Mr. Busch, allows us to verify that travelers in our country owe no Brazilian taxes before giving them permission to leave.” Da Silva looked up coldly; there was no trace of sarcasm in his voice. “Are you quite certain your tax situation is clear?”

He shrugged dejectedly. This was one more problem that had not been considered, but at least one small barrier had been cleared. He could get out of customs and go to his hotel. Possibly the others could solve the problem of the withheld passport, that is, if there were any others and he wasn’t being a complete fool. Possibly with a little rest and a cold bath he could figure it out himself. He suddenly felt exhausted and very alone.

“Thank you, Captain. Goodbye.”

“Au revoir would be more appropriate, Mr. Busch. By the way, do you have hotel reservations? It is nearing Carnival, and hotels are a bit difficult to arrange.”

“At the Mirabelle.”

“Ah. Fine. We should not like to have you without a roof over your head, wandering the streets unaccompanied. It could be dangerous; this is a naughty city at times. I shall try and see that you are seldom subject to this peril. Goodbye, Mr. Busch.”

The customs official was at the door carrying the bag and the empty briefcase when Da Silva spoke again. “Your socks, Mr. Busch. And don’t forget your newspapers. You might have a lot of time to read down here, and our English publications are not up to the standards of The New York Times.” As he turned away the second time he thought he heard Da Silva chuckle, but it was a tired chuckle, a bit puzzled, and almost sad.

Chapter 3

The afternoon sun, reflected from a highly polished bureau in one corner of his room, fell across his face, and he slowly opened his eyes, coming back from the awful depths of his dreams, relaxing his tense muscles in little spasmodic shock waves. He lay without motion until the last twitching had passed, as one performing a familiar practice, boring but necessary. When his body finally released him, he slipped from the single sheet and padded to the open window, luxuriating in the cool breeze blowing in from the sea, scratching his neck, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Below, the broad beach was beginning to empty of the day’s crowds. The little umbrellas, like striped mushrooms, were beginning to be uprooted and furled. From the height of his window the waves seemed small and lazy, swiping playfully at the land with the withheld power of a lioness slapping her cub. Bounding the huge expanse of sand ran a gayly striped mosaic sidewalk, curving away in the distance, the wriggling design in black and white geometrically sharp when seen from above. Little awninged wagons sold ice cream; afternoon strollers passed arm in arm, squat figures foreshortened by the height, like puppets viewed by the puppet master. The screams of a group of youngsters playing volleyball came up softly, filtered by the distance, blending with the traffic sounds and the muted crash of surf. A sound track for peace, he thought. The beach is a buffer state, a neutral patch between the struggle of the land and the torment of the sea, and I suppose that is probably why people go there to escape. He smiled wryly. Why do I always reference things to war?

In the bathroom he locked the door and slowly stripped away the long-sleeved pajama tops with knit cuffs that never revealed his arms even during the most convoluted tossing of tortured sleep. The scar was old, poorly done in Paris by a man who had been more friend than surgeon, and the faint numerals could still be noted beneath the knotted skin. Well, he thought as always — a thought so ingrained as to be almost past bitterness — at any rate they knew how to make good aniline inks. I wonder if they still have a stock for the next batch.

The mirror had long since ceased to disappoint; now it only informed. He saw the pale, pudgy face, the wispy remains of the blond hair, the stringy neck and taut potbelly. The eyes were startlingly blue, huge in the small face. For no reason he smiled at his image, suddenly feeling pleased to be in Brazil, to be finally started, to be active once again. Who you are I can’t imagine, he said to the face in the mirror happily, and furthermore, I couldn’t care less.

When he emerged, having put on his shirt behind the locked door as always, the heat of the day was beginning to dissipate, the breeze from the ocean was strengthening, fluttering the curtains. He pulled on his pants, slipped his tie already knotted over his head and drew it up sharply, and was reaching for his shoes when the telephone rang stridently from the nightstand. The sudden shrill caused him to jump; the light mood disappeared.

“Yes?” he said tersely, his hand gripping the receiver tightly.

“Mr. Busch? Mr. Hans Busch?” The voice was quite impartial.

“Yes. I’m Mr. Busch.”

The voice paused imperceptibly. “This is the American Embassy, Mr. Busch. The assistant consul speaking. Your passport is in our possession.” The voice grew a bit chiding. “You are aware, I am sure, that the loss of a passport is supposed to be reported to the Embassy immediately? You are extremely fortunate that it was found as quickly as it was, and that it was turned in to the Embassy.”

“My passport? You have it?”

The voice became impatient. “If you would please come down to the Embassy at once? Any taxi can bring you, everyone is familiar with the American Embassy, it is quite a prominent building.” There was a pause, as if the speaker was thinking. “It is now four o’clock; we remain open until six. Please be sure and make it today. We do not recommend that American citizens go about in a foreign land without their identification, you know. Just ask for Mr. Murray.”

“I’ll be there.” A puzzle, this. But still, a relief.

“Thank you.” The voice did not thank him at all; it was quite disdainful, superior in all respects to people who lost passports within minutes of arrival, and then were so lacking in responsibility as to fail to report the loss immediately to Mr. Murray. The click of disconnection precluded any reply. He pressed the bar down thoughtfully, staring at the instrument. In sudden resolve he lifted his finger and pressed the receiver to his ear.

“Telefonista. Boa tarde.”

“Pardon me,” he said slowly, enunciating with maximum clarity. “Do you speak English?”

“But of certain.”

“Then I wonder if you would be so kind as to connect me with the American Embassy?”

“One moment only.”

He listened to the distant ringing, feeling all of the old satisfaction of having made a positive decision, his mind busily attempting to rationalize the reappearance of his passport. A receiver was lifted, and a voice of such pure boredom answered him as could only emanate from an official office. He asked for Mr. Murray and, after a series of clicks, heard the same voice as before. It really was the Embassy. He thought: I’m afraid I will give Mr. Murray ulcers, but I had to be sure. He considered hanging up quietly, but some spurt of pride, reborn with his decision to check the odd call, would not allow this.

“Mr. Murray? This is Mr. Busch again. I just wanted to be sure that I understood. You did say my passport had been recovered and that I could pick it up if I passed by?”

To his surprise the disdainful outburst he had anticipated did not materialize; the voice sounded almost amused, understanding.

“Yes, Mr. Busch,” it said. “I did say it. And I really meant it. Before six, Mr. Busch. Goodbye.”

He was pulling on his jacket when he noticed the newspaper lying under the door where some hotel employee had slipped it during his nap. It was a tabloidsized paper, printed in English, and a small printed form glued to one corner advised him that the management hoped he would enjoy reading the news in his own language. I hope so too, he thought and, tearing off the tab, dropped onto the bed to scan the headlines. There was nothing on the front page; he flipped the pages, a bit perturbed. Then it was staring out at him, a medium-sized article under the Stateside basketball scores. Folding the paper, he carried it to the brighter light at the window to read.

It was headed quite simply, EMBEZZLEMENT SUSPECT IN RIO and read:

New York, Feb. 12 (UPI): Hans Busch, well known in the United States for his frequent anti-Semitic articles and pamphlets, and wanted at present by the New York District Attorney’s office for questioning in connection with the recent failure of several importing companies with which he was alleged to be connected, is reported to have left International Airport at Idlewild last night by Pan-American Airways with destination listed on the passenger list as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Busch, a naturalized American citizen, is suspected of absconding with funds of the Germanic-Atlantic Trading Co. and the Hamburg-Atlantic Import Co., both of New York. While the exact nature of the embezzlement charge has not as yet been revealed, it is rumored that Busch fled with nearly two million dollars in cash.

A high official of the New York Police Department stated last night that Busch is also wanted by Federal authorities for questioning in regard to the recent wave of swastika-painting and synagogue-burning that has swept the eastern part of the United States, as well as cities of both Europe and South America.

It is not known as yet what action can be taken by American authorities should Busch decide, as other American fugitives have recently done, to adopt Brazil as his new home, since as yet there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.

He read the article through twice, carefully. It was more or less what they had decided on, but he still wondered at the precipitous release. Ah, well, he thought, maybe it wasn’t too bad after all. If he could get his passport from the American Embassy, it simply meant that he could get started sooner. Started, that is, if anyone took the bait. He left the paper face up on the dresser and left the room.

In the lobby he changed some dollars for cruzeiros and asked the doorman to call a taxi and give the driver directions. As he waited he looked about him, wondering a bit at the lack of attention; he had expected somehow crowds, reporters, the curious, possibly even the police, but other than a ragged shoeshine boy who studied his shoes judiciously and then straggled on, the scene was peaceful. Too early, he thought, and much better this way. With my passport in my pocket, I’ll be able to face them. The doorman finished giving explicit directions to the driver who had sat stolidly through the lecture, his boredom complete at this unrequested and unneeded help. As always in a land whose language was foreign to him, the little man resented the need for outside help, but Portuguese was not among his repertoire of European tongues. English, be thought; they say you can get by anywhere in the world if you speak English. That is, of course, if you never leave your hotel. Or if you stop eating.

The taxi shot through the traffic of Copacabana with practiced ease, barely avoiding the home-going bathers who dashed between the moving cars with loudly voiced but cheerful animosity for all vehicles, moving or parked. Seen from street level the ocean breakers were huge, towering over the beach to crash and roll almost to the patterned sidewalk. In the distance, rounded rocky islands poked their heads above the incredibly blue sea; a white sliver of a steamship ran jauntily for the harbor. Lovely, he thought, oh, lovely!

They cut through a series of tunnels to the open Guanabara Bay, and the full impact of the city was revealed in a breathtaking panorama. From the sky that morning, while circling to land, the tangled pattern of hills and sparkling water had held the latent promise of fulfillment of tourist-agency-poster beauty, but he had been too tired and despondent coming in from the airport to pay proper heed to his surroundings. He faintly recalled the tattered upholstery of the cab, and the fact that the rear seat ash tray was overflowing; other than that the trip from Galeao to the Mirabelle was one blank, a persistent jostling through which his drugged mind had attempted to encompass the tragedy of the lost passport. Now, a few moments away, his passport waited; he refused to consider the strange circumstances of the Embassy call, but gave himself over completely to the view.

To the left and above all, mastering and dominating the sweeping hills that fell in mottled green folds away from it, rose the majestic, sheer face of Corcovado, crowned with the hovering white figure of the Cristo Redemptor guarding in perpetual benevolence the lush vitality of the city below, watching in impersonal piety over the near saints and closer sinners that struggled through life in the sea-fringed valley at his feet. In the clear light of the lowering sun, each gaunt striation of the rocky tower could be distinguished; the mountain seemed to have been thrust out of the sea in some ancient age just for the purpose of eventually holding this calm statue.

And there, across a narrow spit of bay to the right, hovering over the yawning yachts moored in its lengthening shadows, loomed the famous Pão de Açúcar — Sugar Loaf — a huge Gulliver tethered to the land by the puny cables that led to its peak. Even as he watched, a small buglike car detached itself from the summit and slowly inched its way downward. Flocks of birds, tiny check marks silhouetted against the fading sky, dipped and swirled over the harbor. In the extreme distance across the wide water, tiny white blocks of apartment buildings marked Niteroi on the far shore, the heavy blue hills rising behind them, dwarfing them. My God! he thought. Who would have ever imagined that I would eventually actually see Rio de Janeiro! What fantastic beauty! Someday I shall have to return here as a simple tourist, go through customs with a clear conscience, and step out on the street with no problems, no worries. And one thing is definite — not as Hans Busch. Let us hope that these next few weeks will see the end of Mr. Hans Busch!

The drive led along the water’s edge. Across the tree-lined avenue luxury apartments marched in solid phalanx to the city’s downtown skyline, blocked against the afternoon sky in the distance in sweeping rectangles and squares. Royal palms towered above the checkered sidewalk, the warm breeze ruffling their broad leaves. A traffic light halted their progress; across the road from them as they waited he idly watched a gang of barebacked workers unloading sand from a battered truck parked beneath the planked façade of a construction job. Their muscled black backs shone as they rhythmically dipped and swayed with each shovelful thrown to the ground. And all of you there, he thought suddenly; what are you doing? Why aren’t you out on the beach sleeping or kicking a ball about, or else off in the shadows of these wonderfully wooded mountains, making soft love? Why do you sweat in the hot sun, building the archaeological discoveries of some future age, the ruins of a hundred or a thousand years hence? What is this vast urgency to construct tomorrow’s rubble today? The time capsule is endless, he thought sadly; it is we who are so terribly finite.

Maybe, he thought, as the taxi pulled away from the traffic light, maybe they do what they do for the same reason I do what I do. We have all been conditioned to believe that what we do is important. Is what I’m doing important? He frowned and leaned back in the swaying cab. Beauty is intoxicating, he thought. I’d better be very careful in Rio.

Chapter 4

The taxi drew up before an imposing white building with solid glass doors set beneath modern aluminum block lettering. A neat fern-filled garden at one corner broke the stern austerity of its simple lines. Even against the clean beauty of the other Brazilian architecture about it, the edifice announced dignity and a lofty disregard for cost. It was the American Embassy, and he paid the taxi and went inside. The cool dusk of the high-vaulted entrance calmed the strange restlessness that had overcome him in the taxi, and he approached the desk with a return to normality.

The mention of Mr. Murray’s name brought neither accusing glances nor shocked surprise; he was directed quite routinely to a room on the eighth floor. Let it go quickly, he prayed; let him give me my passport and show me the door. Let him be too disgusted with my stupidity even to repeat his form lecture. He paused. Let him even give me the lecture, be thought, just so long as he also gives me my passport.

The elevator swallowed him soundlessly and deposited him with no sensation of motion in a corridor lined with black and white marble. At the far end he saw the number he wanted, but the anteroom was empty and he sat down to wait for someone to appear, too impressed by the massive inner door and heavy silence to think of knocking. Magazines were neatly stacked on a small table beside his chair, and he was considering whether or not to disturb their precise geometry when the door swung open, and he looked up to find a medium-sized, nondescript man studying him in calm appraisal.

“Mr. Busch?”

“Yes.” He pried himself out of the deep chair, his prayers repeating themselves in his mind. “Are you Mr. Murray?”

The nondescript man shook his head slowly, a faint touch of wonderment in his manner. “You had better come in, I think. My name is Wilson, and it appears that it is time we all had a talk. Please come in.”

He passed ahead of Wilson, sinking deep into the lush carpet, confused by the luxury of the room, but also made a bit alert. The large office desk set beneath the draped windows was dwarfed by the size of the office, but the profusion of chairs and couches scattered about in studied deference to hominess somehow balanced the room. He was vaguely aware of an array of pictures on the richly-paneled walls, but he did not bring himself to look at them. The quiet hum of an air conditioner was the only sound, and he was suddenly conscious of the coolness. He flattered himself that he was actually not very surprised to see Captain Da Silva sitting in one corner, negligently swinging one leg over the other, and smiling gently.

“I suppose,” he said carefully, almost cautiously, standing very still, feeling the cold touch of panic returning, “that you couldn’t be Mr. Murray?”

“Why, no,” Da Silva said pleasantly. “I am Captain Jose Da Silva. At your service. I thought we had gotten that all clear this morning.”

“But I had a telephone call... at the information desk they said...”

“Exactly what they were told to say,” Mr. Wilson finished smoothly.

He suddenly felt weary again, conscious of the ridiculous figure he made, standing rigid and short and fat in the center of the room, apparently to be the continuing butt of Captain Da Silva’s sardonic humor. He hated to satisfy the requirements for his baiting; he knew he should march out of the room coldly angry, but the words were out before he could stop them, forced from the depths of his disappointment. “Then there is no Mr. Murray? And I do not get my passport?”

Da Silva laughed. “Sit down, Mr... ah, Mr. Busch. Of course you get your passport. And of course there is a Mr. Murray, and of course he is the assistant consul here.” He considered the swinging toe of his polished boot, as if suddenly pleased to be its owner. When he looked up his smile was a bit rueful, as if he had been unfairly accused of a breach of manners. “My dear fellow, we would certainly not slip up on a thing like that, particularly in a telephone conversation with the Mirabelle Hotel. After all, we could scarcely use Mr. Wilson’s name, because very few people know that he is attached to this eminent office. And Mr. Wilson, I gather, prefers it just that way. And of course we couldn’t use my name, since I am a visitor here like yourself.” He shrugged as if to say. What could we do? “It may be true that Mr. Murray has had his name taken in vain, at least in the sense that he has no idea your passport was taken away, nor that it is being returned. But then, this is probably the only service to which Mr. Murray has been put in his two years in Brazil.” He rolled his eyes drolly toward a shelf that contained an even row of chromed cups. “Other, possibly, than earning the Embassy several cups in bridge, and advancing the interests of your government in the field of golf.”

Mr. Wilson smiled faintly. “After all, Zé,” he said, “you are in the American Embassy. A bit of respect for the residents might be in order.”

“It is enough to respect an idea or an ideal,” Da Silva returned, still smiling idly, although a certain tone of seriousness had entered his voice. “Sometimes it is not good to study the manifestations too closely, for all too often they have a tendency to assume the form of your Mr. Murray.” He looked up in friendly fashion at the short figure still standing tense in the middle of the room, listening in suspicious bewilderment to this exchange. “You do not know Mr. Murray, I assume, Mr. Busch. He was not told because it was felt that he would not understand. Mr. Murray, my friend, is the type who, even if he understood, would not understand. However, let us forget Mr. Murray. Let us concentrate on you, Mr. Busch. Tell me, 2657782 — how did you ever get involved in a complicated business like this?”

The shock was terrible. He had listened to the soporific voice, waiting for a blow, but not this! He felt his heart swell and then fade to nothing, leaving only the sharp stabbing pain. The rush of blood from his head canted it to one side, giving him an idiot look; the muscles of his legs cramped, pulling him to the floor, jerking them up against his stomach in an almost fetal position. No! No, no! Not after the years of planning, not after the suffering, the antagonisms, the friendlessness! Not after the sun on the bay, and the promise of the mountains; not after the warm headiness of the breeze! No! He felt hands lifting him, the dribble of water against his stiffened tongue, a pillow being pushed against his neck.

“My God, Zé! What in hell did you say?”

But Da Silva was too busy with the man on the couch to answer. For the first time in their long acquaintance, Wilson saw the tall man shocked out of his usual air of detachment; he was desperately attempting to resuscitate the tortured figure twisting on the couch.

“Look! Please! My God, I’m with you, I’m on your side, don’t you understand? I was only talking, it’s my way, do you understand? Can you hear me? I’m here to help you, can’t you see that? Try to understand what I’m saying; I’m here to help you. Wilson, call a doctor — no, we can’t! Listen to me, you are in the American Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, you are perfectly safe, you are with friends. Friends, do you hear? Don’t you understand? Wilson, do something! Why the devil did they have to pick a two-hundred-year-old with a bad heart! Meu Deus, me salve de minha bôca! Take it easy, relax, calm down; you’re all right. We are friends!”

The trembling began to slowly subside, more in response to time than to the words of the frantic man working over him, although the sense of those words registered faintly. The fight to hold onto the vague shadows of the finite room about him, and not to sink into the dark horror of unconsciousness slowly sharpened his will to recover. Treat it as only a more severe presentation of the dream, he thought; and even as a hidden corner of his brain clamped onto the thought, his recovery began. At the moment, at least, this man over him was trying to help. Had it been the others, the enemy, they would have merely waited for sufficient recovery to continue the torture. And besides, he knows. What nobody knows or could know, he knows!

Also, they wouldn’t be here in the American Embassy, nor would they have waited so long, nor kept so quiet, nor allowed him to reach this point. This man is telling the truth, his brain whispered, and I am a fool. He is here to help me, he is the one. I am truly a fool!

He tried to roll to an erect position and felt hands aiding him. His fingers, fumbling for his pocket, brought immediate response from Da Silva. He felt the pillbox being removed, the pill being slipped into his mouth. Wilson held a glass of water to his trembling lips, but he waved it away, sucking fiercely on the pill beneath his tongue. The fixed solidity of the objects about him served as an anchor of reality in the nightmare; the placid hum of the air conditioner seemed to demonstrate the civilized nature of his surroundings. The dizziness and pain slowly passed.

“My God!” Da Silva said wonderingly, almost to himself. “He really does have a bad heart!”

“I’m sorry,” the small man said haltingly, catching his breath, aware that the shock he had suffered was much more severe than any in the past, secretly surprised at his own rapid recovery. “I’m truly sorry, but I thought...” He looked at them blankly, shrugged, began again. “It was the shock. You see, even in New York, our own people... They knew about the camp, of course, but nobody knew the number...”

Da Silva straightened, heaving a massive sigh of relief. His lean, athletic figure stretched, easing the tension of his body; his dark expressive eyes were honest and serious.

“I am on your side, you know,” he said quietly, his voice attempting to convince and soothe at the same time. “You would do me a very great favor by accepting my word for it, because I cannot stand many scenes like this if we are going to work together. I have always prided myself on my complete lack of fear, my mustache, and my family name, but you frightened me as I have never been frightened before!” A twinkle came into the steady eyes. “Please do not do it again, or I may begin losing faith in the other two!”

The man on the couch attempted a weak smile. “I haven’t been too well lately,” he said haltingly, confidingly, “and the trip was very tiring. But I insisted on going through with it. The others weren’t too sure, but I insisted. After all, three years is a long time, and we had done a lot of work... And it was too late to try to develop a new man, a...” He paused, searching for a name. “A Fritz Mueller, let us say, or a Karl Schmidt...” His voice trailed off.

Da Silva nodded sympathetically, apparently understanding this ambiguous statement. Wilson had retired to the desk and was watching the scene with half-closed eyes, his face as impassive as ever. The old man sighed. “I still don’t understand about the number...”

“Yes.” Da Silva lit a cigarette, and he paused after tossing the dead match into an ash tray. “The number. Yes. Well, when I decided to work with you, I made it my business to find out everything about you. As well as about many of your friends. And, naturally, as much about our enemies as possible, although I have a fair file on them as it is. The number... well, I have the contacts, I have the patience, and if you will, I also have the curiosity.”

“You found out everything about me?” The old man’s voice was curious, and also tinged with wistfulness.

“Just about everything, I think.” He seated himself beside the older man, his hand reaching out and almost touching the other’s knee, as if in sympathy. “You, my friend, are Ari Schoenberg, age sixty-one, number 2657782, released from the Buchenwald concentration camp in April of 1945 by the American Army.” He inhaled deeply and watched the curls of smoke swirl sinuously toward the air conditioner.

“You spent three months in an American Army hospital outside of Paris. You spent another four months in a camp outside of Paris while you attempted to locate your family, or the remnants, through the Refugee Committee. My information regarding this particular period is a trifle vague, but apparently you found enough of them to manage entrance into the United States about the end of 1945.”

The old man stirred. “Not relatives,” he said, as if to himself. “Friends. Or maybe a better word is ‘contacts.’”

“Friends, then. Or contacts. Let me see, what else?” The dark head leaned back, reading the dossier printed in his memory. “Yes. In the United States, you disappeared for some years.” There was a slight tone of frustration in his voice as if vaguely ashamed of this hole in the dossier. “We do know that an Ari Schoenberg took out his final citizenship papers in the city of Denver, in the State of Colorado, in 1953...” He looked at the old man questioningly.

“Yes,” said the other.

There was a sigh, almost of pleasure, at this confirmation. “Then, about three years ago, Ari Schoenberg disappeared. In his place, or rather not in his place, appeared a certain Hans Busch. In the name of Hans Busch you have authored anti-Semitic pamphlets and statements. In the name of Hans Busch you have been accused by the newspapers of being active in the reorganization of Nazi activities in the United States, and financing, if not actually participating in, the burning of synagogues and the wave of swastika paintings that we are all familiar with.” He eyed the other man sideways, a faint smile creasing his face. “But the interesting thing is that nobody has ever seen this famous Hans Busch. He is only known by name...” He seemed to be awaiting a comment, but the old man sat listening, his hands locked between his legs. “We also know that in the name of Hans Busch you became the owner of the two trading companies which you are now accused of robbing.” The thin, tanned head suddenly came down. “By the way, off the record — and just to satisfy this devilish curiosity of mine — how did you ever manage to be accused of embezzling from yourself?”

The old man smiled, an almost elfin grimace that transformed the pale face. “I took in a partner, a wonderful bookkeeper. Our group have their talents, you know, even if keeping secrets does not seem to be one of them. Any more on that list in your head?”

Da Silva laughed. With the laugh, everyone seemed to relax, recognizing that the crisis was over. “Not too much. Your group has been after Interpol to pay more attention to the rounding up of suspected Nazis here in Brazil, because you felt the main attempt at a rebirth was not in Germany, or in the United States, but here in this country.” He paused, frowning, snuffing out his cigarette. “I agree with you on that, by the way. I have certain information that makes me certain of it; as a matter of fact, that is how I became involved in this. At any rate, Interpol turned you down. Sympathetically, sadly, remorsefully; but definitely. Not their problem, no proof, other organizations more proper for the apprehension of — and so forth, and so forth. Am I right?”

“You are quite right.” Ari was thinking now; the shock had passed and his brain was free to study this development. The pain in his chest had dulled and his mind was clear. He studied the man before him carefully. “You are frighteningly right. If you could gather all of the facts that I have worked so hard to hide these past three years, what is to prevent the others from gathering them just as easily?”

Da Silva shook his head slowly. “To begin with, it was not easy,” he said. “It was not easy at all. But that is not the point. Why should they doubt you? What motive would they have? I am with Interpol, and I am familiar with all of the correspondence. When it was officially decided to refuse help to your group, I asked for leave of absence to work with you as an individual, because I am sure you and your group are right. Of course I investigated. But why should they?”

“Why shouldn’t they?”

“No, no! Why should they? My dear Ari, the Nazi group here are more than anxious to believe that a certain Mr. Hans Busch, known for his sympathy to their great cause, is loose in Brazil with two million dollars. Two million dollars, I might point out, which he cannot take home again without embarrassing questions being raised. They will feel sure that they can prevail upon him to share the wealth, either through the force of their common convictions, or through any other means they feel necessary to use. Why should they doubt Mr. Busch? They know who he is; among other things, he is the answer to their constant prayers. Who questions the existence of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve? In July, possibly, but on Christmas Eve?”

He paused and looked at Ari. “No,” be went on slowly, “they will not check on Mr. Busch as a person; his cover is safe. However, they will most certainly check in great detail on his two million dollars, you may be sure of that! Although I hope that our meeting this morning helped to convince them on that score.”

“Our meeting this morning?” Ari sat up slowly, many things clarifying. “Then that was why, at the airport, this morning...?” “That was why indeed.” Da Silva smiled delightedly, his eyes twinkling, his thumb unconsciously stroking his mustache. “I hope you fully appreciate the artistry you witnessed this morning. Yes, the stage lost a great actor when I turned to police work!” His smile faded as he recalled their previous encounter. “Did you pay any particular attention to the customs official who brought you in and searched you? You should have. He doesn’t know it, but he is an old friend of mine, that miserável! His name is Gunther, born in Santa Catarina in the South. His father was a schoolteacher there, very pro-Hitler, and I have quite a file on the entire family! Personally, I doubt if the son knows what a Nazi is, but there is no doubt that he is one of their little boys!”

He shrugged and smiled. “Yes, that impromptu scene was played all for his benefit. My God! The way he searched you! You could have been carrying a twenty-eight-inch television set under your coat and he would have managed to overlook it! By now you may be sure that the story of Mr. Busch and his two million dollars is going through channels!”

“But we spoke in English,” Ari objected. “Does he speak—?”

Da Silva snorted. “Don’t worry about that one! He knew what we were speaking about! Ten seconds after he had you in a taxi, I would bet anything he was on the telephone. Mr. Busch and his millions will bring sweet dreams to many foolish people tonight!”

Silence fell while Ari considered this information. His glance traveled from the musing expression on Da Silva’s face to the quiet watchfulness of the nondescript man. He cleared his throat diffidently. “And Mr. Wilson?”

Da Silva shrugged elaborately. “Mr. Wilson? Mr. Wilson is assigned by Interpol to the American Embassy here, where, among his other activities — or nonactivities — he serves as security officer as well. Mr. Wilson is a very good friend of mine for many years. We have gotten into our share of trouble together in the past, and probably will again in the future, but I’m afraid not on this case. On this case, his interest simply seems to be seeing that you do not embarrass the American government. He will be of absolutely no help, but on the other hand, knowing him, I should say that he also will not hinder too much.”

The nondescript man smiled at this. “Now, one moment, Zé...”

“I know.” Da Silva raised one hand languidly. “I know. I understand your position perfectly, as well as the position of your government. You put Nazis in the same category as griffins and unicorns. Once a terrible threat, but fortunately no longer existent.”

Wilson’s smile faded. He studied them both for several seconds, framing his reply. “Mr. Schoenberg holds an American passport issued in a name other than his own.” He lifted his hand, forestalling Da Silva’s protest. “I know that by itself this is neither too serious nor too unusual. But we have to remember, Zé, that Mr. Schoenberg is not in Brazil for pleasure. Our government certainly does not intend to have a duplication of the Eichmann mess if it can help it. Or if we can prevent it.” He thought a moment, looking at Da Silva calmly. “By not hindering you, as you put it, I am actually helping you considerably, and doing it more as a favor to you, Zé, than for any other reason. After all, we are also a part of Interpol, and there is a proper organization for handling war criminals.”

And for peace criminals? An thought wearily. For the war criminals of the future? Nobody wants to see a duplication of the Eichmann mess, but which Eichmann mess? Argentina? Or Poland: Auschwitz, Maidanek, Treblinka? They say: Remember that the war is long over, let the dead bury the dead, let bygones be bygones. They say: Forget Buchenwald and Dachau and Gneisenau; remember that the Dusseldorf bourse is all new veined marble trimmed in bright chrome, and the Konigsallee all crystal and silver between the gay awnings and the colorful canal; and where will you find funnier comedy acts in all Europe? They say: Forget Belsen and Natzweiler; remember the autobahns rushing with sturdy Volkswagens and majestic Mercedeses, happy tours earned by earnest hard-working people, guided by pleasant police in bright new uniforms. They say: Forget Ravensbruch...

If we all sweep our memories under the rug of history, will they really disappear? We hid for two thousand years, he thought, but they always found us. Now they want us to hide again. It’s a stupid game.

“I appreciate what Mr. Wilson is doing,” he said wearily, forcing his thoughts back to the comfortable room. “I assure you both that I am not here to kidnap anyone. I have no desire or intention of embarrassing either the American or the Brazilian government. I am here quite alone, as Captain Da Silva must know. I am here only to try and get some proof that the Nazis are building a new organization, and that the center of that organization is here in Brazil.”

He looked at them both coldly, the strength of his purpose flowing into his body and his voice. “This new wave of anti-Semitism is no accident. It is organized and directed. From here, we believe. I am here to try to get names, figures, facts. I am here to try and get enough ammunition to interest some government, or some agency. Some group other than our own.”

He clasped his hands tightly. “In the three years that Mr. Hans Busch has existed, there have been letters; many of them, but mostly from cranks. I heard vaguely of Brazil, always Brazil, but nobody from Brazil ever contacted me directly. So we dreamed up this scheme. We reasoned that a sum of two million dollars in the hands of a Nazi sympathizer in Brazil illegally would be tempting enough to eventually lead to the top people here.” He stared at the two silent men who were watching him. “You may think: that I am imagining all this; that any wave of anti-Semitism that exists is nothing compared to what existed a short time ago. But this is not true; it is here, waiting for an impetus to break loose.” He shrugged. “The impetus may be money. If it is, that’s why I’m here.” He looked at Da Silva questioningly. “I believe that Captain Da Silva must have known this.”

The tall man rose and wandered to the windows overlooking the Avenida Wilson. He pulled aside the heavy drapes and stared in silence at the buglike cars passing below, and the blue bay beyond. “Yes,” he said finally, turning back to the darkening room. “I knew it. It is not a bad idea. It may work.” He leaned on the back of a chair, frowning. “I have always been puzzled that they never contacted you seriously in the States. After all, you had a reputation from your pamphlets. But I imagine they had no idea that your trading companies were so lucrative.” He shook his head. “I even thought at one time that possibly they knew who you really were.”

Ari raised his eyebrows. “When you called me by that number,” he said, “I thought you were one of them, and that you were playing with me.”

“My confounded sense of the dramatic,” Da Silva said, flashing a swift smile that immediately faded. “You’ll have to forgive me for that. No; I’m convinced they don’t know who you are. They are an odd organization, that’s all. In fact, at times it seems they aren’t organized at all, but just splash signs on walls, or set their bombs, out of blind hatred. I shouldn’t imagine they are overwealthy, so if anything has a chance of bringing them out in the open, you and your illegal millions ought to do it.” He sighed. “Plus, of course, the fact that they will have to get me out of the picture. Between one thing and another, we may be able to piece something together that makes sense.”

“Get you out of me picture?” Wilson asked.

“Certainly. After all, I promised — or threatened, if you will — to keep Mr. Hans Busch under very close surveillance. You can scarcely expect them to lead him by the hand up to the head man if they think I may be about three feet behind with a minicamera.” He smiled. “No; besides courting our friend Ari here, they are going to have to face the problem of what to do about Da Silva, nosy scourge of evildoers.

The combination of problems may well confuse the little men, and we shall try to be there to pick up the pieces.” He paused and took out a cigarette, but instead of lighting it he studied it absently, his mind elsewhere.

“Just one thing puzzles me.” He turned to the small figure hunched on the couch. “Tell me something,” he said gently, his eyes warm with compassion. “How did a person like you ever get involved in a cloak-and-dagger deal like this?”

Ari stared at his clasped hands, as if the answer lay imprisoned between the veined trembling fingers. “How?” He looked up at the gaunt form above him. “I am a Jew,” he said simply. “I am also German; I have the language. I am also completely alone and unknown. I am old now, and fat, and comical, maybe; but in 1931 I was already on my way to becoming one of the leading criminal lawyers of Germany, only thirty-one years old. I had a great career, they said.” He tried to find the memory amusing, but his eyes were flat as he looked at the other two. “I was not always old, you know. Or comical-looking. Or fat. Especially I was not always fat...” The dull eyes turned inward, dark and unfathomable.

“What should I do, stay home and play with my grandchildren?” He looked at them without seeing them. “That was in 1931. We were a large family, a happy family. I had my wife, two sons, my father, two uncles on his side — his brothers, you know. I had an aunt and an uncle on my mother’s side, plus I don’t know how many cousins. How many is that? I don’t know... Anyway; three dead in the streets...” He was staring at the past, alone. “No. I was not always fat. For years I couldn’t eat enough. I ate everything; everything... But I could work, I was strong. I was little but I was strong; I could work. Six years. Six years in the Zwangsarbeitslager! But I was strong, or I’d have gone up the chimney long ago...” His eyes slowly cleared, returning to the room from the haze of the past; he looked at Da Silva almost blindly. “You think you know my dossier? Someday I will tell you...”

He fought the bitterness and won, sighing and rubbing his face. “Well, anyway, I am involved. We spent the last three years and a good deal of money developing this Mr. Hans Busch. He is quite real to many people, at least by name. Only his face is unknown; that was necessary. Maybe it is all for nothing, I don’t know. But we did... This Mr. Busch is a Nazi through and through, and if he had not escaped to Brazil when he did, he might very well have been deported to Germany for his sins...”

He paused and stared grimly at the other two. “And you?” he asked, directing his question to Da Silva. “How did you ever get involved in a cloak-and-dagger affair like this? You are not a Jew.”

Da Silva stared down at the hunched, bitter man on the couch. “I could answer as you answered,” he said quietly. “I could simply say, ‘I am a Brazilian.’ But it wouldn’t make sense to anyone except another Brazilian. My dear friend Ari, you don’t know Brazil, but when you do you win know why I am involved.” He became aware of the unlit cigarette in his hand and flung it into the wastebasket, seating himself at Ari’s side in almost the same motion.

“Let me tell you something about Brazilians,” he said. “We have never been in concentration camps, and we have never put others in them. And with God’s help, we never will.” He paused, selecting his words with care. “We Brazilians are foolish, playful, happy, improvident, reckless, gay; what you will. But we are not intolerant.” He turned his head to me silent listening man beside him, suddenly feeling strongly the need to be understood. “You see, most of us can’t afford to be. My family has been here in Brazil for over two hundred years. My first ancestor who came here, came from Portugal, and went into the interior. Our family started there. It was a long time until these first settlers began bringing their women with them from home. So how much Indian blood do I have? How much Negro, or Dutch? I may be part Jewish for all I know. I haven’t the faintest idea!

“Today my family is a known family in Brazil; if you will pardon my lack of modesty, we are a very well-known family, a great family. But can those of us who have the honor to belong to this great family be anti-Indian, for example? Or anti-Negro? Or anti-Dutch?” He laughed shortly. “We Brazilians are in no position to be anti-anyone! We might very well be cutting our own throats! Do you understand what I am trying to say?”

Ari looked up at him wonderingly. “I think I understand.”

“You will understand better when you have been here longer.” Da Silva rose, smiling down on the other in compassion. A twinkle appeared in his eyes. “Though I confess,” he added slowly, “that my sister would die before she admitted anything but the purest of Portuguese blood in her veins. But even she would never be able to understand discrimination against anyone for race, or color, or religion.” He sighed deeply, and changed the subject with that rapidity that never ceased to confuse even his most intimate colleagues. “Well,” he said, “that’s that! Now let us see where we stand. An, you return to your hotel. It should not be too long before they begin falling over your feet. And I shall be Big Brother, but not to such a degree as to frighten the little men away. We shall see what we shall see!”

“And how will we be able to contact one another?”

Da Silva frowned. “No confidential phone calls from the Mirabelle, my friend Ari! You were put there because an unusual number of their guests seem to come from either Santa Catarina or Rio Grande do Sul. And because if you ask for whiskey in German, you always seem to get the legitimate stuff.” He smiled broadly. “I suppose, in the best tradition of cloak-and-dagger, we should have a password.

Something dramatic and unintelligible, like the name Wilson.”

Ari got to his feet, smiling, getting into the mood of the game. “Why not the name Murray?”

Da Silva grinned. “Wonderful! It would be the perfect example that they also serve who only sit and do nothing. However, much as I should like to give Mr. Murray two opportunities in his life to be useful, I’m afraid I shall have to let this one slide.” He frowned in sudden seriousness. “I think the best idea would be for me to bring you in for questioning every now and then. I won’t be able to do it very often, but I hope that we won’t have to.”

He walked Ari to the door, his hand on the shorter man’s shoulder in a gesture of intimacy. “Well,” he said, “that’s that, then. Good luck.”

Ari paused, his hand on the knob. “And my passport?”

Da Silva laughed. He took the document from his pocket and passed it over with a slight bow. “All in perfect order, Mr. Busch. Goodbye and good luck.”

“Thank you,” Ari said, his fingers tightening on the knob, reluctant to leave the warm friendliness of the room. He turned to the silent nondescript man seated at the enormous desk. “Goodbye, Mr. Wilson.”

“Before you leave, Mr. Schoenberg,” said the quiet man, twisting a pencil in his fingers, “I wonder if I might ask you a few questions.” He raised a hand hurriedly. “Nothing official. Simply out of curiosity.”

“Certainly,” Ari said, puzzled. He stepped back from the door.

The nondescript man played with the pencil in his hand as he spoke. “Exactly what was the reason for that briefcase chained to your wrist, Mr. Schoenberg? You Blight have known it was bound to arouse suspicion.”

“But it was meant to,” Ari said. “Not suspicion, exactly, but curiosity. I wanted them to remember me and my briefcase, but only, of course, after I had cleared customs and gone to the hotel. When they read about the embezzlement, I wanted everyone to remember the man with the briefcase chained to his wrist.” He almost sounded apologetic. “The news release was not supposed to be made until this afternoon; somebody slipped up.”

“When I heard about it,” Da Silva said, “I had to work fast I thought it odd that you would want to be searched, and that is the only conclusion I could come to at first when the release came. But when I saw you...” He laughed.

“Another question, Mr. Schoenberg,” the quiet man continued, almost as if nobody had spoken. “When Zé’s friend Mr. Gunther searched you, were you wearing a money belt? Or anything under your clothes that might have served to hold money?”

He was puzzled. “A money belt? No.”

“And one more question, possibly a foolish one. Was there ever two million dollars? Was there ever, in fact, any money at all?”

Da Silva laughed. “Wilson is a fan of the late Mr. Belasco,” he said to Ari. “He seems to feel, and I am forced to agree, that an actual two million dollars would have added a nice touch of reality to the situation.”

“No,” Ari said, wondering where the questioning was leading. “No, there was never any money at all.”

“Then where is it?” Wilson asked.

“Where is what?” Da Silva said, looking at his friend with astonishment. “Where is money that never existed?”

“Exactly.” Wilson laid the pencil down carefully. “Look, Zé; I don’t know how intelligent your friend Mr. Gunther is, but it would be pretty hard for a customs guard to search a man and overlook two million dollars. It makes quite a bundle, you know, even in big notes. Now; you say that if it had been there, Mr. Gunther would have overlooked it. What I say is that, not being there, it would be impossible to overlook.”

Da Silva struck himself on his forehead with his clenched fist. “You’re right, of course! I was too clever.”

Ari looked from one to the other. “But I don’t understand.”

“Quite simple,” Da Silva said, disgusted with himself. He reseated himself. “Wilson is saying that we have convinced them, at least for the time being, that the money left New York. But it wasn’t in your bag, and it wasn’t in your briefcase. And Gunther knows it wasn’t on your person. Had you been wearing a money belt, our customs friend may have thought he was helping you whisk it away under my nose, but since there was nothing under your jacket except you, they know that this isn’t the case.”

He shook his head. “They probably think your thing with the briefcase was a blind, and merely meant that you had an alternate and better way to get the money into the country. Mr. Wilson is saying, in his quiet but accurate manner, that if we really want to convince them that you have this two million dollars, we shall have to do more than show them where it isn’t.”

Ari came further into the room, worried. “But how?”

“I have no idea,” Da Silva said glumly, staring at his shoes, but no longer with the air of being their proud owner. There was a few moments’ silence. Then Da Silva sat up straight, a wicked gleam in his eye. “Or maybe I do. But it means night work. Overtime, without pay.”

The others watched him as he leaned forward, his hands on his knees. “How does this sound? Imagine you are listening to this on the Radio Nacional.” He let his voice drop to the unemotional tone of a newscaster. “Sometime last night,” he said gravely, “a mysterious figure was seen lugging a heavy bundle from the darkened hangars of Pan American Airways at Galeão Airport. Despite the best efforts of the customs and the airport police, who fired — no, make that, who shouted — at the thief, he effected his escape to a car in which an accomplice was waiting. As of this hour, the police have no clue as to the identity of the thief. Pan American officials who were called immediately to the scene of the daring robbery made a complete search of their premises, but state that nothing belonging to the company is missing. Police feel that possibly the thief was disturbed before he could open the company safe, but are unable to explain the bulky package he was seen to be carrying.” He looked at Wilson, his eyes twinkling. “How does it read, accomplice?”

“Now wait a minute, Zé! You are not going to pull me into this thing!”

“Listen to him,” Da Silva said in simulated disgust. “If it hadn’t been for him we would have all been home hours ago!”

“Now look, Zé. This is no affair of mine. Count me out.”

“I would suggest your car,” Da Silva said thoughtfully. “Mine has been giving me trouble lately. Something with the transmission, I think.”

“No car and no Wilson,” Wilson said shortly, getting to his feet. “I’m leaving right now for dinner.”

“An excellent idea,” Da Silva said agreeably. “We can discuss the details much better over some good food.” He opened the door and ushered the other two out. “I’ll show you another exit to the street,” he said to Ari, grasping the smaller man’s arm in friendship. “They may have followed you from the hotel, and your long delay here would get them wondering. Let them think they missed you.” He turned back to Wilson as they walked to the elevator.

“Where would you like to eat?”

“I’m eating alone.”

“Practically alone. In fact, if you like, I’ll even do all the talking.” He winked at Ari, and in a sotto voce that carried clearly, added, “I told you he wouldn’t hinder us too much!”

Chapter 5

The reporters were waiting, cold drinks in hand, when Ari returned from the Embassy. They glanced at the unprepossessing figure incuriously, and he might easily have escaped their attention except that one, more enterprising or less thirsty than the others, was waiting at the desk when he asked for his room key. In an instant he was surrounded by a group talking excitedly in three languages; none of it made sense to him. He noticed a photographer hurriedly adjust his lens and raise his camera with the air of a hunter making a snapshot; he flung his arm before his face just as the light exploded. He felt very tired and nervous, confused by the babble; his heart seemed to be pumping in a peculiar fashion, and he only wanted to reach his room quickly. The noise of the crowd about him made him dizzy; he tried to push through, blinding himself to the pressure of bodies bearing against him and fingers clawing at his jacket.

There was a sudden burst of outraged Portuguese, a firm hand on his elbow, and he found himself being piloted through the crowd to the elevator. Another flash of light from a hastily raised camera only succeeded in recording the nape of his neck. The elevator door shut, cutting away the noise of the lobby, the open protesting mouths of the reporters, the startled gaze of the other guests. His arm was released, and he stared in wonder at the tall man beside him.

“Your pardon, Herr Busch,” said the other apologetically in German. “I am the manager of the hotel.” Ari noted the reddish brush of hair fringing a bald head, the heavy, almost theatrical eyebrows, the square white porcelain blocks of teeth. “I realize that you have had a hard day. I am here to help you. If you wish, I shall make some excuse to the newspaper people.” He paused questioningly, his eyebrows shooting up onto his forehead; Ari could only nod. “Then,” began the manager, but the elevator came to a smooth halt and the doors slid back. They left the wide-eyed operator and turned down the hall. “Then,” continued the other suavely, “if you wish I can have your telephone calls held until tomorrow.”

He leaned forward and inserted a master key in the lock, swinging the door wide for Ari to enter. The light switch was pressed; Ari sank to the bed gratefully. The manager blocked the doorway, looking solicitous. “I realize there will be many who might wish to disturb your, ah... your vacation,” he said, much as if the words had been forced from him by circumstances unfortunately beyond his control. “I assure you that we will do everything in our power to see that you are not bothered. If you wish it, that is, if you wish it,” he added hastily.

“I would certainly appreciate it,” Ari said, wishing the man would take his teeth and his eyebrows elsewhere so he could lie back against the inviting pillow.

“The dining room now,” said the manager, out of nowhere, rubbing his cheek with one finger and staring at the ceiling in contemplation. “I’m afraid...” He came to sudden resolution, clarifying his non sequitur. “If the Herr might care to dine with me in my private apartment...?”

“I would really prefer...” Ari began desperately, and then paused in sudden thought. One had to begin sometime. After all, it was why he was here. And also, one had to eat. He looked at the manager with the faint smile of deprecation reserved for small kindnesses. “Or possibly the Herr Manager might care to dine with me, here, in this apartment?”

“Of course! The halls and elevators!” The voice admitted its stupidity in not recognizing this obvious fact. “But...” Embarrassment crept into his tone. “I had invited a friend, yes? An official.”

“Perhaps another time, then,” Ari said, beginning to feel better, and also beginning to enjoy the match. He saw the doubtful hesitation, waited until the exact moment, and then added dubiously, “Or perhaps your friend would care to join us?”

“Excellent!” cried the manager, raising his eyebrows in delight. “Excellent! I can assure the Herr that my friend is not of the police...” He frowned as if he had inadvertently said something in poor taste, and then hurried on, solicitous once more. “But the Herr will undoubtedly wish to rest first! At ten, then? Ten o’clock is all right? And of course, for the account of the hotel!” This last was said so fiercely that Ari almost smiled. The door slowly closed behind the bowing figure, the face disappearing last into the gloom of the corridor, like the gradual fading of the Cheshire Cat with a mouthful of sugar cubes.

Ari slid the bolt and fell back on the bed. It had been a very busy day, a very busy day indeed, and he was exhausted. Nor was he through; the thought of the dinner ahead was tiring, even though he was sure it would be of interest as well as use to their overall plan. I wonder who this official, not of the police, might be, he thought. Well, we shall soon see. At least we are on our way; the three years of preparation will soon prove themselves to have been useful, or they shall soon prove their tragic waste. He was pleasantly reassured by the thought of Da Silva and Wilson; one thing, he was no longer alone. He smiled at the thought and closed his eyes. A faint breeze whispered through the room; he slept.

Chapter 6

He woke at nine-thirty, automatically, somehow pleased that this inexplicable mechanism still functioned, and also pleased that there had been no dreams. It was a good sign. He went into the bathroom and washed his face in the tepid water that ran from the cold-water tap, shook his head to clear it of the last remnants of sleep, and returned to the bedroom. Considering changing his shirt, he opened his bag and stood staring at the contents in thoughtful satisfaction. The evidences of search were slight but unmistakable. I suppose they didn’t know how soon I would get back, he thought with a sigh that was half pleased, half annoyed. At any rate, you might think they would have tried to be neater.

There was a discreet knock at the door. He closed the bag and went over to admit a white-jacketed waiter wheeling in a table set for three. “O gerente vêm logo,” the waiter said, and dodged back into the hallway to reappear with three folding chairs carried awkwardly in one arm, and an ice bucket clutched manfully in the other. From the bucket, champagne bottles lolled, their necks neatly swathed in white napkins. “Com licença.” The waiter swallowed the words, well aware he was speaking a nonunderstood tongue, and disappeared, closing the door carefully behind himself. Another rap succeeded this exit immediately.

Grand Central Station, Ari thought, and opened the door once again.

This time it was the manager, who bowed himself in, teeth flashing brilliantly. Bowing oneself out is relatively simple, Ari could not help but think as he acknowledged the greeting, but bowing oneself in requires talent, if you don’t wish to appear like a carpenter’s rule being awkwardly folded. He does it very well.

“Ah, good evening, Herr Busch,” said the manager in a tone of voice that indicated both surprise and appreciation that Ari had not completely disappeared since their last meeting. He went over and examined the table expertly, silently moved a fork a fraction of an inch, and then proceeded to withdraw a bottle of champagne from the ice bucket. “A drink while we wait, yes?” he said with forced joviality. “My friend should be here very soon.” He twisted the wire free as he spoke and gently manipulated the cork with practiced fingers. There was a sharp plop and the cork, expertly directed, flew out of the window. The manager quickly filled two glasses; a tiny puff of smoky vapor from the bottle dampened his fingers.

“Local champagne,” he said, carefully wiping his fingers on a napkin, his face falling tragically. Then he brightened. “But really, not so bad.” He offered one of the glasses to Ari with a flourish. This man has a face of rubber, Ari thought, accepting the glass. I wonder what he looks like when he is asleep.

“Your health,” said Ari pleasantly.

“To a long and happy stay in Brazil,” replied the manager sententiously. He sipped and set his glass down, automatically placing it upon the glass dresser top to avoid marking the furniture. “By the way, I’m afraid I never even introduced myself.” His chuckle was self-insulting. “My name is Mathais. Herbert Mathais. If there is anything I can do for you during your stay here, I am yours to command!”

“You are very kind,” Ari began, when another knock came at the door. Mathais waved Ari aside grandly and opened it. A broad smile creased his face.

“My friend, Herr Gunther,” he said, ushering another man into the room. Ari moved over slowly to shake hands.

“Herr Gunther?” he said with a surprise he did not actually feel. “But we have met!”

“Herr Busch?” said Gunther. He turned to Mathais reproachfully. “But you did not tell me that we were dining with Herr Busch!”

“You know each other?” The attempt to inject a tone of puzzlement came close to being successful.

“But of course! Herr Busch passed through customs while I was on duty.” He turned apologetically to Ari. “You must please forgive us, Herr Busch, for the embarrassment you were caused. Believe me when I say it is not our habit to treat visitors so poorly.”

Mathais was pouring champagne and at this statement his eyebrows went out of sight. “They treated Herr Busch poorly?” he asked in a voice that pictured thumbscrews and the Iron Maiden. “Why did they do that?”

I suppose they had little time for rehearsal, Ari thought; but even so, it is really such Schmaltz. He almost giggled at the thought of the word, and spoke quickly to recover. “A misunderstanding,” he said lightly. He took his glass and seated himself negligently in the largest chair in the room, as if it were his right. He raised his glass slightly in Gunther’s direction. “This Captain Da Silva. Just who is he?” This time Gunther’s sneer was genuine. “Da Silva?” he said sourly. “He’s in Interpol. International Police. A busybody. As if we need his help to do our job!” He was sincerely annoyed. He turned to Mathais. “He also removed Herr Busch’s passport!”

“But this will never do!” Mathais cried. He had seated himself on one corner of a folding chair, and he jumped to his feet as if ready to rush rights out and rectify this terrible error at once.

“No, no!” Ari laughed. “It was returned.” He patted his breast pocket a bit boastfully. “A misunderstanding, I really assure you.” The nap had refreshed him, and the wine was relaxing. This was promising to be fun.

“Returned?” Gunther sounded surprised. “Captain Da Silva returned it? Your passport?”

“Not Captain Da Silva,” Ari explained, as if the matter were of no importance. “The American Embassy returned it.” He finished his champagne with a final sip and stared at the little bubbles that still clung to the sides of the glass. “I should judge this Da Silva finally realized he had no actual authority for holding it; or more likely his superiors knew he had overstepped himself and wanted no trouble.” He held out his glass to Mathais, who rushed to refill it. Well, well, Ari thought, watching the bubbles pulse upwards in his glass. I am positive they knew I went to the Embassy today; I wonder why all these histrionics.

“A pity I did not know of this,” the manager said unctuously. “I have a little influence and I might have been of some help.” He set the empty bottle to one side and at once selected another and began to open it. “I imagine the American Embassy also made some difficulties. You were gone so long...” He allowed the words to fade into his sudden concentration on dislodging the cork. There was another loud plop and he filled Gunther’s glass and his own.

Ach, so? Ari thought. “Oh, no,” he said calmly. “There was no delay. As a matter of fact, I imagine I was there less than ten minutes.” Inspiration struck him. “Afterwards, I had some rather important arrangements to make...” He sipped his wine slowly and then, obviously, changed the subject. “One must give credit where it is due,” he said magnanimously. “In the matter of passports, we must admit the Americans are quite efficient.”

“Important arrangements?” Mathais began to ask, and then changed his mind. “You are not a stranger to Brazil, then? You know people here, yes?”

“A few. One always needs to know a few.”

“Yes,” Mathais said helplessly. The manager was saved the necessity of thinking of the next question, for at this moment there was a rap at the door, and two waiters came wheeling in their dinner. “Ah,” cried Mathais, bounding to his feet in relief, once more mine host. He turned to his guest, his enthusiasm immediately fading. “You like avocado?” he asked anxiously. Ari assured him that he did. The manager’s voice became more sepulchral. “And shrimp?” Ari nodded. “The duck I can positively guarantee,” said the manager with more confidence. Fernandel could take lessons from this one, Ari thought.

The waiters were directed peremptorily; they sat down to eat. The meal was excellent; Ari discovered that he was very hungry. The others seemed to pluck at their food uninterestedly, but Ari ate steadily and with obvious enjoyment. With coffee came liqueurs, and after this, cigars. They relaxed in chairs while the waiters piled everything on the carts and wheeled them away. It has been years since food tasted so good, Ari thought, puffing gently on his cigar. It must be the satisfaction that comes from starting a new and important job, he thought; or possibly appetite is enriched by the thought of successful embezzling. Taking money from others without being caught seems to be the formula for a healthy hunger; embezzling has its points. He knocked his ashes into his ash tray and burped politely. I wonder, he thought, what comes now.

“You plan to stay long in Brazil?” Mathais asked, his manner that of one who makes polite conversation.

Ari puffed on his cigar, savoring it. “I honestly have no idea. This is my first visit to Brazil, you know. The little I have seen of it seems very beautiful. I think I might enjoy spending some time here.”

“Your first visit?” Mathais said, almost objecting. “But you said you knew some people...”

“You would enjoy the South,” Gunther interposed positively. “It is much more simpático.”

“Simpático?”

“It is a word we use very much here in Brazil,” Mathais explained, relieved, his teeth flashing. “You would say gemütlich. And any place is simpático if one has enough money.” He added this last with all the authority of one making an original statement.

“But is Rio always as hot as it was today?” Ari objected, idly watching the smoke curl negligently from his cigar. “Beautiful, yes. But today...” He shook his head. “Today was hot!”

“In the South it is never hot,” Gunther said stubbornly. “In Santa Catarina, for example, it...” “Yes,” Mathais said, answering Ari and paying no attention to the sudden flush that appeared on Gunther’s face at this interruption, “Rio is beautiful, but it is also hot. São Paulo, now.” He puffed majestically; Gunther subsided sullenly. “Do you know São Paulo? A pity. Now, should you be thinking of going to São Paulo, perhaps I can be of assistance. Hotels, for example...”

“I have been thinking possibly of getting an apartment,” Ari said idly. He smiled at Mathais. “No criticism of hotels, you understand, but... You see, it is possible that I may stay in Brazil for a while.” He took them into his confidence with a diffident smile; they nodded.

“In Rio?” Gunther asked.

Ari shrugged. “If it is always this hot, maybe São Paulo...”

“On this I can definitely help you,” Mathais said positively, “I happen to have a friend in São Paulo, a man of much substance. Actually, he is—” Gunther shot him a glance — “a man of great importance. I am sure he could be most useful to you.”

Ari nodded thankfully. So São Paulo seemed to be the headquarters; it was good to know. One step forward, at the least. “You are most kind,” he said, wiping his ashes into the tray at his elbow with precision. “When I am ready to go I shall let you know, yes? However—” he shrugged — “for the next few days I believe I shall relax and enjoy your Rio de Janeiro. It is beautiful; I should like to see all of it.”

The telephone rang as he finished speaking; he looked askance at Mathais. “It must be for me,” the manager said worriedly, lifting the receiver. “I left definite instructions...” He listened to the voice at the other end with a faint frown on his face. “For you,” he said, handing the instrument to Gunther with a touch of surprise. Ari watched them both; they seemed quite honestly perturbed by the call.

Gunther was listening intently. A faint buzz at the other end could be heard clearly as the caller spoke. The customs official replied rapidly in Portuguese and then listened with concentration to the answer his words had invoked. He nodded to the instrument as if the caller were there in person, spoke a few words more in tense interrogation, listened, and slowly replaced the receiver on the hook.

“I’m afraid I must go,” he said, eying Ari with a strange mixture of caution and respect. “There has been some trouble at the airport.”

“Trouble?” Mathais cried. “What trouble? An accident?”

“No; a robbery.”

“A robbery? The, ah... the thieves escaped?”

For seconds Gunther withheld his reply, looking at Ari with smiling speculation. Then with no inflection at all, he said, “Yes. They escaped.”

“A shame,” Ari said, arising and smiling with relief. “A shame. I am most sorry that you must go, but I understand...”

“I will go down with you,” the manager said to Gunther, also rising and straightening the creases in his trousers carefully. “Besides, it is very late, yes? I am sure that Herr Busch must be most tired of our company by this time.” His toothy smile robbed his words of either offense or meaning.

Ari bowed slightly from the waist. “It was a wonderful meal,” he said, happy to be honest. “I thank you very much. You must be my guest another time.” He puffed smoke rapidly from his cigar to demonstrate both his enjoyment and his sincerity.

“I will have the chambermaid arrange the Herr’s apartment,” Mathais said, looking about the room anxiously. Ari assured him that the morning would be fine; that the room would do until then.

“If the Herr says so,” Mathais said dubiously, and led the way into the hall. They all shook hands again at parting, that stiff one-up-and-one-down of the European, and Ari closed the door softly behind him.

Well, it did not go too badly, he thought with satisfaction, undressing slowly for bed. Da Silva would have been proud of me tonight. As I am proud of him, he thought, remembering the telephone call. That had been pure luck. He felt relaxed and pleasantly full of good food as he peeled back the covers and slipped thankfully into bed. It had been a complicated day, a long day; but all in all a very good day. Maybe the dreams will not come tonight, he thought hopefully. Maybe they were just my punishment before for not having done anything. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep happily. Tonight he was suddenly sure that the dreams would not come.

Chapter 7

In the manager’s apartment on the second floor of the hotel, Mathais and Gunther sipped cognac.

“So he got it in,” Mathais said shortly. He was a far different man from the scraping, bowing, smiling-Buddha manager with the trick eyebrows.

“Yes,” Gunther answered.

“Very clever.” He sipped.

Gunther shrugged indifferently.

“And with no help from you.”

At this, Gunther bridled. “There was nothing I could do. What could I have done? Even if he had had it with him? With Da Silva there and all!” The unfairness of the accusation stung him. “I had no idea of how he intended to bring it in. If you knew, you should have told me!”

“Ah,” Mathais said, almost with satisfaction. “That’s where the man is clever!” He lifted his glass slightly, as if in toast to Busch’s cleverness. “I didn’t know. Nor did anybody.”

“So don’t blame me,” Gunther said crossly.

“I’m not blaming you,” Mathais said soothingly. “In any event it’s not important. At least we know the money is here in Brazil.”

“I still don’t know how he managed to arrange it,” Gunther said thoughtfully. “Pan American...” He reviewed the people he knew at Pan American, the office people, the hangar crew. He shook his head. “He must be far sharper than he looks.”

“Well,” Mathais said. “Of course.”

“I know,” Gunther said stubbornly. “But still. It must have been exceptionally well organized.”

“He must have a lot of faith in the people he works with,” Mathais said dryly. “I am sure that I wouldn’t trust you with two million dollars.”

“He probably pays them better than I get paid,” Gunther said sourly, absently. “Another thing. I wonder how he got away from Da Silva’s watchdogs long enough to arrange the thing.”

“I shouldn’t imagine that would be too hard,” Mathais said, twirling the brandy glass in his fingers. “There has been a man across the side street from the hotel all afternoon who has ‘policeman’ written all over him. He doesn’t look like the type it would be difficult to slip.” Gunther shook his head stubbornly in disagreement. “Don’t underestimate Da Silva.”

Mathais smiled, a cold smile. “I don’t underestimate anybody. And particularly, I do not underestimate Mr. Busch.” He looked across at the other sardonically. “After all, he gave the slip to the entire New York police department.”

“That’s true,” Gunther admitted grudgingly.

“And the fact is,” Mathais added negligently, “Busch did get the money into Brazil. Which was not as easy as people might think.”

Gunther nodded. “That is also true. But exactly where is it?”

Mathais shrugged. “At the moment, that is not important.” He got to his feet and replenished the glasses. He raised his in a toast. “To two million dollars!” He shook his head in profound admiration and drank. He set his glass down and turned to Gunther. “You will let the people in São Paulo know?”

“I’ll call them tomorrow. I don’t know if the boss is there; I think he is traveling in the South. But in any event he should be back by the end of the week.” He sipped his glass. “I’ll call tomorrow.” He paused, wondering. “Do you think he’ll stay in Brazil?”

“Who, Busch? Of course he’ll stay in Brazil,” Mathais said positively. “Where else would he go? There aren’t many places left with no extradition these days. And also, he can’t keep taking his money in and out of countries. He was lucky this time. No; hell stay. He came to stay; I’m sure of that.”

“In Rio?”

“Or São Paulo. It really makes no difference. Two million dollars! It is what we have needed!” He looked across at Gunther. “You will call São Paulo?”

“I said I would.” There was resentment in the tone; the resentment of the unappreciated.

“Just don’t forget to,” Mathais said rudely. He stood up, yawning deeply, his entire attitude indicating that the discussion was at an end. “Well,” he said, seeing the other still sitting and drinking, “Drink up!” Gunther swallowed his brandy hastily and got to his feet, barely suppressing his indignation. Mathais waited impatiently until the other had left, still muttering; then he closed the door softly behind the departing man. “Two million dollars,” he said to himself with a smile as he went into his bedroom. “Two million dollars...!”

Chapter 8

In Wilson’s small bachelor apartment overlooking the quiet Lagoa de Freitas, the nondescript man and Da Silva were also sipping cognac.

“My dear Wilson,” Da Silva was saying, squinting at his brandy glass from the depths of the couch. “You would do me a very great favor by having a good mechanic go over your car. When I came through that fence and heard that starter grinding endlessly, I thought I would have heart failure. I thought we were finished.”

“My dear Zé,” Wilson retorted, stung out of his normal calm. “You would do me an even greater favor by leaving me completely out of your crazy schemes!” He snorted. “In all honesty, do you really believe that robbing, or pretending to rob, an airport, is the best way to convince people that this Schoenberg actually brought that money into Brazil?”

“I don’t know if it was the best way,” Da Silva said calmly, “but I’m certain that it was the quickest. We saw Mr. Schoenberg a little better than six hours ago; I would be willing to bet that a report of our little escapade is all over Rio at this very moment.”

“Well, possibly,” Wilson conceded reluctantly. “But...”

“No but; and no possibly. Definitely,” Da Silva said lazily. He studied his cognac glass once again, holding it to the light. “My dear Wilson,” he said, “you would think that, with PX privileges, you could afford to drink a better brand of brandy than this.”

“Zé,” Wilson said, paying no attention to Da Silva’s remark, “are you honestly convinced that there is a real conspiracy here in Brazil to rebuild the Nazi party?”

“Wilson,” Da Silva said, raising his eyebrows in mock surprise, “you are changing the subject.” He studied his glass again. “Now, with PX privileges, if I had been so lucky as to be born an American, I would get Remy Martin. Or, if they were out of it.”

“Zé!” Wilson said in a dangerous tone.

“My dear Wilson,” Da Silva said, pretending amazement. “The unicorns, you recall? The griffins? Just this afternoon, you wanted no part of this operation.”

“That’s right,” Wilson said, his voice slightly tinged with bitterness. “I didn’t want any part of it. But who dragged me in? You did! So now at least answer my question. And seriously. Are you honestly convinced that there is a conspiracy in this country to rebuild the Nazi party?”

“All right.” Da Silva sat up. “You want an honest answer, here it is. Yes, I am. I am convinced. Completely.” He thought a moment before continuing. “Let me put it to you this way: I won’t say that the rebuilding could be termed a rebirth of the Nazi party, in the sense that the Nazi party is the same National Socialist German Worker’s party of years ago. But as far as I am concerned, it comes to the same thing. This group has the same aims, the same methods, and therefore to me they represent the same danger.” He put his glass down almost violently; Wilson recognized the signs of his friend’s conviction. He leaned back in silence, waiting for the revelations he knew would come.

“Let me tell you a little story,” Da Silva said, leaning forward and staring at Wilson intently. “This is a story that happened a long, long time ago. Long before you came to Brazil.” He lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. Wilson waited patiently for him to continue.

“About eight years ago,” Da Silva said finally, “I received a very interesting visit from a man named Goetz. I hadn’t been in the service too long at that time, and maybe I took things a bit too seriously. Anyway, I took what this man told me seriously, and I haven’t gotten over it yet.” He inhaled again, letting the smoke drift from his nose as he spoke.

“This Goetz was a giant of a man, twice as big as me; he came in looking like a laborer, older than God and three times as tough. My first reaction was to throw him out of the office — if I could — until he started to talk. After he talked for five minutes, I knew I had a job, for as long as it lasted; until it was cleaned up.

“This Goetz was German-born, living in the south of Brazil, which is where most of the Germans emigrated back in the twenties. Anyway, he told me of a meeting that had been held in a chácara — a coffee fazenda near Itapeva in the State of São Paulo, away back in 1939. Before the war. The chácara was owned by an old friend of his, a man named von Roesler.” He smiled at Wilson’s start. “Interesting, eh? You recognize the name?”

“I was an observer at Nuremberg,” Wilson said, almost stiffly. “Of course I recognize the name. But it could hardly be the same.”

“Of course it couldn’t be the same. But wait. Let me tell you. It was actually an uncle.” He arose, filled his glass, and reseated himself. “The meeting, however, was held by the nephew. By Captain Erick von Roesler himself, speaking, apparently, in the name of the SD.”

“Colonel,” Wilson interrupted, almost automatically.

“In 1939, captain. In any event, it appears that this Goetz was not much in favor of either the program or the personalities of the Third Reich, and he stormed out of the meeting. And later he told me all about it, as well as telling me who was present at the time.”

Wilson stirred in his chair. “And just when did he tell you all this?”

“In 1952.”

“And why had he waited so long?”

“I can only tell you what he told me. He said that old von Roesler was his oldest friend; that he was sure that the old man had nothing to do with the meeting, other than providing the meeting place, and he was sure that even this had been forced on him. The two of them, Goetz and the old von Roesler, had come to Brazil together from Germany in the early twenties, he said. When the old man died, he came up to Rio and told me the whole story. He had simply waited until there could be no repercussions against his friend.”

“And what was the meeting about?”

Da Silva set his glass down slowly, and then looked Wilson directly in the eye. “The meeting,” he said slowly, “was to form a Nazi party group in Brazil.”

Wilson threw up his hands involuntarily. “My dear Zé,” he said, controlling a smile with an effort. “You have to remember that this was far from uncommon in those days. They did the same thing in almost every country in the world.”

Da Silva nodded his head. “I know. But most of the groups they formed in those days were quickly broken up. Or were broken up later, either during or after the war.” He looked at Wilson speculatively. “This group never was. Remember that. But let me tell you the rest of the story.” He lit another cigarette from the end of the first, and continued.

“I made inquiries, of course, but thirteen years is a long time. There was no indication that the nephew had ever returned to Brazil; when the old man finally died in 1952 the property was sold to the neighbor who had the next farm, and joined to that fazenda. A neighbor, by the way, who was also present at that meeting.”

Wilson interrupted. “What happened to the money from the sale? Who got it?”

“It was banked in Switzerland in the name of a niece, Monica von Roesler.”

“And has the money ever been taken out?”

Da Silva shook his head. “That we have never been able to find out. The bank wouldn’t say, and we can’t force them to tell us. But it really isn’t important; the farm didn’t bring any great price, and with the depreciation in the cruzeiro since then, nobody will ever get rich on it. However, let me tell you why I think this meeting in Brazil was different from the meetings that we both know were held in many countries at that time for the same purpose.”

Wilson raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“It was some of the people who were at the meeting. And remember what I said before; this is one group that was never broken up.” He sat up straighter, ticking the names off on the fingers of one hand.

“One. Goetz, of course. He died, by the way, in ’55, a fact I only learned much later. And of course, von Roesler, the old man, I’m not counting them.

“Two. The neighbor who later bought the farm, when the old man died. His name is Gehrmann. He’s pretty old now; still lives on the fazenda. To tell you the truth, as far as we know he is pretty inactive in everything, including politics.

“Three. A man named Riepert, from Paraná, Goetz told me that Riepert left this famous meeting together with him, also in discord. I later spoke with Riepert himself, and he told me he never saw any of the others again except the old man, and then they only played chess and never discussed the meeting. We think he was telling the truth.” He paused to get up and refresh his glass.

“So far,” Wilson said as he waited, “you haven’t made out much of a case. Two who are dead, one who was in disagreement with the group, and one who, by your own opinion, is and was inactive.”

“Wait,” Da Silva said, reseating himself. “I haven’t finished.” He suddenly smiled. “Dessert always comes last, you know.” He resumed his count.

“Four. A man named Gunther. A Santa Catarina schoolteacher, a rabid fan of Adolf Hitler, and the father of our friend from customs.

“Five. A man who was, at the time, an importer and exporter, but who later found politics more interesting. Named Wilhelm Strauss...” He smiled at Wilson’s barely concealed start. “Yes, my dear Wilson, the very same. Now our notorious Deputado Strauss from the State of São Paulo. You probably recall his campaign to limit immigration, particularly from Europe. From certain countries in Europe, specifically. Let us be honest; it was meant to bar Jews, and it failed. You may also recall his support for the various shirt groups that have sprung up over the years. A man making an honest mistake?” He smiled bitterly. “Well, possibly. I won’t say no. But I also won’t forget that he was at that meeting back in 1939.” He switched hands and continued counting as Wilson looked thoughtful.

“Six. A man named Johann Lange, from Rio Grande do Sul...” He smiled again. “Familiar? You remember his name? That’s right; he was the one who supported Stroessner not so long ago. His ranch comes right up against the Paraguayan border. We’ve had an eye on him for a long time. Not all of his house guests come equipped with entry visas for Brazil.” He dropped his hands. “True, one thing may not have anything to do with the other, but the fact remains that he was another one at that meeting. Plus, of course, Captain Erick von Roesler himself, in person.” He looked up suddenly, his eye gleaming. “Not an imitation. Anyway, that’s the lot. What do you think?”

Wilson sipped his cognac, his brow furrowed. “You never mentioned this before,” he said.

“We never discussed it before. If you want to see the complete dossier on each and every one of them, I have it in my office safe. But for what I need, I also have it here.” He tapped his forehead significantly.

“Well, there is no doubt that it is interesting,” Wilson said slowly, “but scarcely conclusive. The fact that people were at a meeting over twenty years ago doesn’t prove to me that they are organized for a conspiracy today.”

“In looking for an organization that is functioning in Brazil today,” Da Silva said, leaning forward in utter seriousness, “we can scarcely overlook the fact that an organization existed before dedicated to the same ends, even if it did exist over twenty years ago. Particularly when some of the people involved are the same. No, I am sure that the organization never changed, that it continued to exist always. What I am wondering is if the organizer of the group is the same.”

“The organizer? But you say that von Roesler organized the group.”

“Exactly.”

Wilson held up his hand in protest. “Now wait, Zé. Von Roesler disappeared in August of 1944. There is no evidence at all that he is still alive, let alone in Brazil. In those closing days of the war, many people disappeared and were presumed dead.”

“Presumed.”

Wilson shook his head. “Many were killed in those days, unidentified. It was complete confusion; people disappeared, changed their identities, died under different names. In some places in those days at the end, officers were even killed by their own troops. Many SD men tried to escape by changing uniforms, and died without any identification whatsoever.”

“And a lot more lived than died! Look, Wilson; I don’t state it as an irrefutable fact, only as a possibility. This group was organized shortly before the outbreak of war by von Roesler himself, and during the war they were quite active. After the war they quieted down — they didn’t disappear, or go out of business, they merely quieted down. Then, a few years later, they began activity again. And nobody knows where von Roesler is, or if he is alive or dead. I only state it as a possibility that he may be here.”

“Do you mean to say,” Wilson asked slowly, “that, assuming von Roesler is still alive and in Brazil — and there is no proof whatsoever that this is true, or even possible — that he waited all these years to start a new movement?”

Da Silva frowned stubbornly. “It is not a new movement; it is an old movement! With the same people. And I only said it was a possibility, not a fact!” He looked at Wilson almost morosely. “And even if von Roesler is dead, or in China, or posing as a security officer in the U. S. Embassy under the name of Wilson, the fact remains that a rebirth of Nazism is taking place in this country! That is a fact; and while we know a lot of the little wriggling arms that crawl about, we don’t know the head that joins them.” He looked at his wrist watch. “One thing I’m sure we will both agree on: it is late. We’ve had a big day.” He rose to his feet. “In any event, we shall see.”

Wilson rose with him, moving toward the door. “Zé, do you honestly believe there is any possibility that this story of Hans Busch and two million dollars could bring out the head man? Whoever he is?”

Da Silva shrugged. “At least it is a hope. I don’t imagine they are rolling in money. In fact, it is probably this lack of funds that has kept their development as slow as it has been. It’s a hope.”

“You have someone watching Schoenberg?”

“Three.” Da Silva laughed. “One very obvious. Two less obvious, I hope.” He looked at Wilson, smiling. “I’ll talk to you about that, too, one of these days.”

“When do you expect to see him again?”

Da Silva lifted his shoulders in a typically Latin gesture. “Not until I have to,” he said. “We’ll wait and see what develops from our shocking attack on the airport and Pan American.” He looked at his wrist watch again and stifled a yawn.

“Well; I enjoyed a very nice evening. We must do it again soon.”

Wilson grinned. “Not too soon, I hope,” he said, starting to close the door. Da Silva’s hand caught it in a last-minute gesture, holding it back for a moment.

“About your car,” he said seriously. “You really ought to have somebody look at that carburetor of yours.”

Wilson laughed. “You know I love Brazil,” he said, “but one thing we must all admit. There isn’t a mechanic in this whole country who could be trusted to properly change a tire.”

“I know a good one,” Da Silva said. “Works for a stolen-car ring. If he can’t fix your carburetor, at least he’ll change it for one from another car.”

“I’ll let you know,” Wilson said, smiling. He swung the door closed, hearing Da Silva’s chuckle from the other side.

Chapter 9

Four days had passed, and Ari was dining with the hotel manager, Herr Mathais, in the sedate restaurant of the hotel. It was a quiet evening with few guests present, and the ones who were there paid no attention to the two men in the corner alcove caught between the main room and the curve of the balcony.

The restaurant was on the first floor of the hotel, overhanging the veranda, and giving out on a magnificent view of the moonlight-sprinkled bay spread beneath their window. The food was excellent; Ari had found his appetite again and was getting, if anything, fatter than ever. His little blue eyes were beginning to hide behind rolls of fat, but their sharpness never diminished.

They lingered over their coffee, watching the play of moonbeam on wave, pleasantly relaxed in the magic of the warm evening breeze. “No,” the manager was saying, “I don’t believe Brazil is so different in this respect. When you arrived, of course, you were of interest to all the reporters, but that is only natural. And that was four days ago. Reporters are only interested in the things that happen at the moment; there is nothing deader than yesterday’s news.” He laughed, and as always when he uttered one of his vast repertoire of clichés, his face stretched in all directions. “I doubt if they will bother you now.”

Ari nodded politely, but his mind was elsewhere. It was time that something happened, time for contacts to be made, further contacts beyond this boring manager and the stupid customs man. If they had been waiting for the novelty to wear off so that contact could be made without exciting the notice of reporters, or the curious, then that time had arrived.

“Rio is a very lovely city,” he said slowly, choosing each word carefully, “but I’ve seen most of the things of interest. And it continues to be hot.” He stared out of the open window in a bored fashion. “I think I may possibly do some traveling...”

“Traveling?” The manager’s voice was almost alarmed.

He continued to look out over the water, hesitating, dangling the bait. “You mentioned São Paulo. Do you think...?”

“São Paulo? You would love it!” the manager said in positive relief. “And there I am definitely in a position to help you! I have a very good friend there; he is not without influence.” He smiled elastically. “Definitely not without influence. When are you thinking of going?”

“Soon,” Ari said, overwhelmed by the effusive response to his simple statement, but also extremely satisfied. They seemed anxious for him to meet this person in São Paulo; he was equally anxious. With the reporters leaving him alone, it seemed that the time was ripe to move on to the next step.

Mathais leaned forward confidentially; they had become good friends in the past few days. “You know,” he said, lowering his voice, “you are not unknown here.” Ari’s raised eyebrows brought an immediate definition of this statement. “No, no!” the manager said in a whisper that was almost vehement. “I was not referring to... I was referring to your feelings about—” he looked around him — “about, ah... Jews!” He surveyed the room again, his rubber face running a gamut of secretive expressions. “Nor,” he added explosively, “does everyone disagree with you!” He apparently reconsidered this statement and found it weak, or at least indecisive. “I mean,” he said, quiet once again, looking Ari in the eye, “there are many who agree with you.”

“Of course many people agree with me,” Ari said disdainfully.

“I mean,” said the manager, attempting to put significance into his tone, “here in Brazil!”

Ari looked at him searchingly. “Just what are you trying to say?”

The manager once again looked about him before leaning closer. “There is an organization here that I think you should meet,” he said. “I think it would be to your mutual benefit to talk with them. In São Paulo. This friend I told you about...” His voice trailed off; his eyes quickly darted over his shoulder.

I wish he wouldn’t steal glances over his shoulder in an empty restaurant, Ari thought with some irritation; he’s like a little child. However, I come not to judge Caesar, but to bury him. He nodded his head, indicating unabated interest.

“When are you thinking of going?” Mathais asked, straightening up in his chair, and sounding more normal.

“In a few days,” Ari said in an offhand manner. “I have a few things to arrange yet, but nothing that should take more than a day or so. When I go I shall be very happy to meet your friend.”

“Fine!” the manager cried, and immediately dropped his voice as if he had breached the rules of secrecy. “I will give you a letter of presentation, and also his telephone number. You must call him as soon as you arrive.” He arose, glancing at his wrist watch. “It is much later than I thought. You go now to sleep?”

“A short walk along the beach first, I think,” Ari said, also arising. “It is a very hot night, and a walk in the breeze from the beach should be good.”

“Fine!” Mathais said. “If you would care for a brandy before retiring, please drop into my apartment when you get back.”

“I may do that,” Ari said with a smile. “In any event, I shan’t be long.” They parted at the steps, and Ari walked down the steps and out into the night. He crossed the Avenida Atlantica to the ocean side, dodging the heavy automobile traffic, and fell into step with the other strollers taking the air. It was a warm muggy evening, and the walk was crowded. Couples filled the stone benches that lined the shallow sea wall, others plodded below through the rough sand. The tide was out; the whisper of the small breakers was lost in the noise of the traffic sounds, the happy talk, the laughter. He was aware that the shadow Da Silva had set upon him had crossed behind him and was trailing along. What he was not aware of was that he was heading a procession.

About two blocks from the hotel, facing the city, the curve of the beach brought into sharp silhouette the tip of Pão de Açúcar, glittering in the distant dark of night with a myriad glow of tiny lights. Before I leave, Ari thought idly, I shall have to visit that rock. I remember it the day I came, and after four days here, I really have no excuse for not having visited it. He strolled along easily, the top of Sugar Loaf lifting itself from behind the nearer hills as he walked. They say that the view from Sugar Loaf is even better than from Corcovado, he thought. And they say that it is at its best at night, on a clear night, with no clouds. He paused in sudden thought. Why not go right now? I’m not sleepy; it is a beautifully clear night; it should be wonderful. His decision so quickly made, he edged to the curb, raising his hand for a taxi.

“Luck,” said the driver of the cab that had been trailing him slowly in the heavy traffic since he had left the hotel.

“About time,” said his passenger.

“But still luck,” the driver insisted.

“Bad luck,” said his passenger grimly. “For him.”

The taxi swung to the curb, cutting sharply in front of an open roadster loaded with young children. Ari opened the door and was halfway in before he noticed that the cab was occupied. He started to back out, apologizing, when a hard hand grasped his arm and he found himself dragged brutally into the back seat. The door was viciously slammed; they shot out into traffic.

“What—” Ari began, too startled at first to be frightened.

“Shut up!” said his fellow passenger in grim determination in English. “Just shut up, Mr. Busch!” He tightened his grip on Ari’s arm, suddenly squeezing with tremendous force. The pain was excruciating; Ari felt faint and nauseated. The grip relaxed a bit. “One sound,” said the other threateningly, “one sound and you can have it here and now!” He leaned toward the driver, retaining his fierce grip on Art’s arm. “Davi will be waiting on the corner of Rainha Elizabeth. Turn around as soon as you can and head back.”

The driver nodded his head in casual agreement and pulled to the left, cutting directly across traffic, his hand out, waiting for a break in the long line of cars to enable him to enter a side street and double back. Horns blared raucously behind him; he fluttered the fingers of his outstretched hand negligently, and then gracefully shot through an opening into a cross street. The pressure was renewed on Ari’s arm, enough to constitute an unspoken warning. “Just sit still, Mr. Busch,” the hard-faced man said quietly. They pulled around the block and once again eased into the stream of traffic on Avenida Atlantica, this time heading south.

At the corner of Rainha Elizabeth the cab pulled abruptly to the right, slowing down until it was almost stopped. A waiting figure tore open the rear door and shoved his way into the back seat, crowding Ari and his captor to one side. The driver swung around a cab that had started to slow down ahead of them, and picking up speed, headed down Rainha Elizabeth in the direction of Arpoador and the wide beach road leading south out of the city.

“Well, well,” said the newcomer, twisting around in his seat to get a good look at Ari. “So you finally got him, eh?” He was a husky, deeply tanned young man in his late twenties; an open sport shirt with sleeves rolled up to the shoulders revealed massive arms.

“Finally is right,” said the other grimly. “Four days we waited!”

Ari squirmed in his seat, feeling it was time to assert himself, to discover what was going on. “Now see here...” he began, attempting to sound more assured than he felt; but a sudden increase in the pressure made him swallow his words in a gulp of pain.

“When we want you to talk, you’ll talk,” said the hard-faced man beside him viciously. He leaned forward to the driver again, never relinquishing Ari’s arm. “Out toward Gavea, Avram,” he said. “The beach road to Leblon, and then the Avenida Niemeyer. When we get to Gavea I’ll tell you where to turn off. I know just the place.” He turned back to Ari. They were rolling along the broad palm-lined highway, well within the speed limit. The driver, Avram, was humming a little tune; to any passing car they must have presented a picture of three friends out to take the air on a hot night, or on their way to a beach bar for a late drink.

“Hans Busch!” The hard-faced man savored the pleasant wonder of having this man in his hands. “Mr. Hans Busch! You know, Mr. Busch, there used to be a story I heard some time ago when I was much younger; a story you probably know and laughed at years ago. About an old Jew with a big nose and a long beard, named Goldberg. This Goldberg goes to a judge and wants to change his name to O’Brien. The judge agrees and changes the old man’s name from Goldberg to O’Brien. Then, a week later, the old man is back to see the judge. This time he wants to change his name from O’Brien to Kelly. And the judge asks him why, and the old Jew says, ‘Well, every time people ask me my name and I say it’s O’Brien, they look at me funny and say, “What was it before?” ’ ” His tone was quite conversational, but the grip on Ari’s arm tightened slightly. “Let me ask you the same question, Mr. Busch. What was your name before it was Busch?”

The cold feeling of panic that Ari had forcefully contained during the first confused moments of the ride suddenly came flooding back. What was this? Who were these people? What did they want with him? How could they have known that Hans Busch was not his real name? Was everything to be lost again, now, at this point, when it was going so well? Why, he cried to himself in silent despair, why did I ever get so far ahead of Da Silva’s man who was following me?

“We’re talking to you, Mr. Busch,” Davi said gently, although there was nothing gentle about the heavy arm he placed over the back of the seat and about Ari’s thin neck. “It’s only polite to answer.”

“Who are you...?” Ari had trouble getting the words out; his voice broke, he forced the words again past the obstruction in his throat. “Who are you... and what do you want of me?”

Davi laughed. “Us? Who are we? We have lots of names. Which one would you want?” The smile faded, he looked at Ari coolly. “As far as you are concerned, you can think of us as the Bad Guys.”

Moises, the heavy-handed man holding Ari’s arm in the same tight grip, chuckled unpleasantly. “Who are we?

We’re some of the remnants you people failed to stuff into an oven some years ago. We’re a few that you overlooked. That was your mistake, and I’m afraid you’re going to pay for it!”

The driver leaned backwards, speaking over his shoulder. “You want to know who we are? I’ll tell you. We’re what you people call terrorists. But don’t worry about it. Some of our own people call us terrorists, too.” He laughed. “So if we are terrorists, prepare yourself for some terror, Mr. Busch!” He swung his attention back to his driving, chuckling at his own humor.

“We are going to kill you, Mr. Hans Busch,” Davi said quietly, conversationally. “We are going to take you out of the city, away from everything, and in the dark we are going to kill you. In the dark, out of the sight of people; in the dark, where things like you should be lulled, we are going to kill you!”

“But before we kill you, Mr. Busch,” said Moises, in the tone of one who insists on keeping to the agenda, “you are going to answer the question I asked you a while ago. Who are you, Mr. Busch?” He tightened his grip again, and turned to the others. “We can’t very well kill an absolute stranger, can we? It wouldn’t be polite.”

“Who are you people?” Ari whispered hoarsely, trying to see past the blank faces into the hidden identity of their minds and souls, his terror replaced by a nameless horror that this should be happening to him of all people.

“You may have heard of us by name,” Davi said lightly. “We call ourselves Maccabees, after another who got tired of being stepped upon. We are through being stepped upon, Mr. Busch; now we do the stepping. Tonight, we are going to step upon you.” He stared out of the car window as he spoke; they were rounding a curve above the ocean, dropping down toward the beach again. The rush of waves could be heard clearly.

“Avram,” Moises said, leaning forward again. “After we leave the Niemeyer, keep to the left. Then the first side road to the left after the golf club.” He turned to Ari, smiling grimly. “A nice quiet place; a lovers’ lane. Nobody will disturb us while we talk, because you see, Mr. Busch, before we kill you, we are going to find out exactly whom we are killing.”

Ari remained sunk in shocked silence, his mind numb. It could not possibly be! What frightful joke was this? What mad, impossible, macabre joke was this? His eyes blurred with tears; he wanted to speak but words would not come.

The car rolled on, the driver once again humming softly to himself. They left the highway and rocked slowly along a dirt road, turning to the right at the end to follow a mere path along the side of the ocean. The wheels squeaked quietly in the sand-filled tracks; darkened cars stood parked in the shadows on either side, their occupants locked in tight embrace. They drove slowly past the last of these; the car was nosed slightly off the path onto the sand of the beach; the lights flicked off, the motor sobbed once and stopped. There was a moment’s complete silence.

“All right, Busch,” Moises said, and his voice was the cold voice of doom, all expression withdrawn, the voice of the executioner. “Who are you? What was your name and position in the Nazi party? Who were you before you escaped the War Crimes trials?” His grip tightened inexorably, with the impersonal force of machine-jaws closing. Ari screamed, a thin scream that was cut off by Davi’s hand clamped quickly across his mouth. The pressure on his arm eased; the hand was withdrawn but held close, ready for instant application.

“Make no mistake, Busch,” Davi said in a low, fierce voice. “You are going to die whether you tell us or not; but first you will tell us!” His voice turned bitter. “We located Eichmann, and they made us turn him over! And we located you, Busch, but all we will turn over of you is your dead body! And your real name!” He looked at Ari with dead eyes, no emotion showing at all. “Who were you in Germany,

Busch?”

Avram spoke quietly from the front seat. “There’s a car coming along the beach.”

“Lovers.” Moises saw the two shadowy heads in the darkened car as it passed them. “They’ll park somewhere beyond us. They’ll be no problem.”

“They’re turning around.”

“So they’ll park back up the beach. They’ll still be no problem.”

The other car rumbled slowly back in their direction, hesitatingly, as if looking for a secluded spot. Moises returned his attention to the frozen figure at his side. His fingers reached inside his shirt and came out holding a sharp knife that glittered faintly in the moonlight.

“All right, Mr. Busch,” he said softly. “This is the last time we ask you...”

Chapter 10

When the taxi that picked Ari up swung across traffic, a battered cab behind it made the same turn. The driver of this second cab was busy talking to himself; from the street it must have appeared that he was repeating the retorts he should have thought of when he argued with his last passenger. Happier people on the street may have thought he was only singing to himself. Actually, he was speaking into a small microphone mounted in the horn ring of the car.

“A 1948 Chevrolet taxi, black,” he was saying. “Commercial license number 108-02-44. State of Guanabara. It has one taillight out. That’s for identification if I should lose them.” A small red light glowed on the dashboard; he flipped a switch.

“Don’t lose them,” said a harsh voice, distorted by the apparatus. “Which way are they going?” The red light disappeared.

“They went around the block. We’re back on Atlantica again, now, heading south. They’re about three cars ahead.” The red light glowed.

“Don’t let them spot you.” There was a few moments’ silence, then the distorted voice came back on. “I’ll make it to Jardim de Allah; I should be there in about five minutes. Pick me up at the corner of the ocean road and the canal.” The light disappeared.

“But what if they turn off before then? Or stop someplace?” He flicked the switch.

“Stay with them. Call me again in five minutes, in that case. I’ll wait in the car at the Jardim either for you to pick me up, or call.”

“Right.”

The driver flicked the switch for the last time and concentrated on the car ahead. In the heavy traffic of people taking the evening air there was little chance of being spotted, but he took no chances, always keeping several cars between them. They passed a hotel and a doorman ran frantically into the street, blowing his whistle, waving wildly with his free hand; the driver shrugged, rolled up his eyes and held his hand palm upwards, all time-honored indications that his cab was engaged for other service.

At the corner of Rainha Elizabeth, the first car suddenly turned into the avenue, swinging sharply to the curb; the driver of the second found himself almost on top of it. With a muttered curse he swung around the first and headed into the street looking for a place to park. But then he saw in his rear-view mirror that the first car had only paused to pick up an additional passenger and was once again under way. It was pointed down Rainha Elizabeth toward the ocean road, accelerating rapidly in the thinning traffic. It passed him, gathering speed, and he dropped back and followed.

They came into the ocean road at Arpoador, heading south toward Leblon and Gávea. The wide four-laned thoroughfare was relatively deserted, and he allowed a greater distance to separate them in order to avoid suspicion. The breakers came close to the roadway here; moonlight flickered through the royal palms that flashed past. The car ahead was traveling at slightly more than normal speed, but not to any extent that would excite the notice of traffic police; it was easy to keep in sight.

At the bridge that spanned the canal at the Jardim de Allah he slowed down, and a figure dashed from a parked car and jumped in beside him while he was still in motion. The driver shifted gears and roared back into high, making up the lost distance.

“Up ahead,” Wilson said briefly, his hands firm on the steering wheel.

“I know,” Da Silva said grimly. “I think I saw them pass.” He leaned forward, peering through the windshield intently. “Don’t lose them.”

Wilson nodded. “Who are they, do you know?”

Da Silva frowned. “I have no idea; that’s what worries me.” “The organization?”

“I doubt it. Why? Why in God’s name would they grab him like that?” He shook his head. “Don’t lose them!”

They rolled along through Leblon, the bulking shadow of the mountains at the end of the road looming larger every minute. At the foot of the huge rock that terminated the ocean road, the tail lights ahead swung off to the left into the Avenida Niemeyer, that skirted the mountain on a winding ledge cut brutally into the sheer rock. It disappeared as a curve took it beyond a shoulder of the rock and out of sight. Wilson cut around the bend and into the Avenida Niemeyer behind it without a pause.

The road wound crazily along the man-made ledge, with the sheer cliffs of the mountain towering above it, and the boiling ocean on the left below. From one curve to the next they could see the tail lights of the other car swaying ahead of them; Wilson handled the wheel expertly. “Just don’t lose them,” Da Silva muttered, almost to himself.

“I won’t lose them,” Wilson said; but he spoke too soon. They came around a sharp bend in the road to find their way blocked by a large bus discharging passengers; traffic in the other direction prevented their squeezing past. Their brakes squealed as they plowed to a stop; they sat in fuming silence as passengers slowly descended, burdened by age, children and bundles. The driver was in conversation with a passenger who had gotten off, but who maintained his grip on the hand rail as he talked. Wilson blasted his horn; the bus driver glanced back impersonally and continued talking. Another more vicious blast caused the driver to say something to his friend; they both looked back and laughed. Da Silva was opening the door when the driver of the bus waved goodbye to his friend casually and slowly put his machine into motion. With a curse, Wilson shot around him, stamping on the accelerator.

The road ahead was clear of traffic. They swung around the curves, weaving dangerously, but the tail lights they had been following were no longer in sight. Da Silva sat in grim silence, gripping the door handle with a hand of iron, staring rigidly ahead into the empty darkness.

There was a fork at the bottom of the hill where the Avenida Niemeyer came spiraling down from the rock. The leg to the right swung off in a wide curve that followed the foot of the mountain away from the ocean; the left fork followed the beach, then swung away, coming back once again to parallel the ocean. “Left,” Da Silva said briefly, scanning the road ahead. And as Wilson swung the wheel, he added, “The other just goes back over the pass into town. They wouldn’t take that.”

They came around a curve past the Gávea Golf Club, the tires whining, shooting between the high hedges that lined the road. The club was dark except for a watchman’s light; high on the mountains above, lights glimmered from a ledge where the Canoas Night Club perched. Wilson slowed down as they rolled into the Praça São Conrado, and Da Silva, seeing a moving light on the road above, came to a sudden decision. “Up towards Canoas,” he said quickly; Wilson turned up the hill without stopping, accelerating hard.

Ahead of them the tail lights grew brighter; they were gaining rapidly. Suddenly Wilson slammed on the brakes, squealing to a halt. “That’s a new car, double tail lights,” he said briefly. He swung the car about, braked, reversed, and headed down the hill again. “Those aren’t our boys.”

“Damn!” Da Silva said with feeling. They paused at the Praça again, the engine panting as if anxious to be off on the chase again. Da Silva stared thoughtfully at the road that wound off and disappeared toward Joa and the Barra de Tijuca; and then back again to the darkened highway leading back to Rio. Wilson waited patiently, his hands poised alertly on the steering wheel.

“One chance!” Da Silva said suddenly. “Start back toward town. But go slowly.” Wilson put the car into gear, turned left around the traffic island of the Praça, and began retracing their path. “The next right,” Da Silva said suddenly, and Wilson swung the wheel easily. They left the highway, following a dirt road that led to the beach. They bumped along slowly; at the end the road curved right, bordering the sand of the beach. The shadows of parked cars well spaced could be seen in the dusky moonlight. “Lovers’ lane,” Da Silva said shortly. He stared ahead. “Just one chance that they may have pulled in here.” He looked ahead through the tunnel of their headlights. “Drop down to your parking lights. Drive along slowly, as if you were looking for a place to neck.” Wilson leaned forward and pushed a button. Da Silva eased his revolver from a shoulder holster and slipped it into his jacket pocket. He opened the glove compartment and withdrew a flashlight which he quickly flipped on and off to test. They slowly passed several cars whose occupants paid no attention to the invasion of their privacy. The road was ending. Then, beyond the other cars, and at a considerable distance, one more car stood, its nose pointed toward the sand. It was a black Chevrolet, and even in the weak glow of their parking lights they could see the silhouettes of more heads inside than was customary for lovers’ lane parkers.

“Luck!” Da Silva said with deep satisfaction. “Don’t slow down; not more than you are now. Pull past them and turn around and come back slowly. When we are just opposite them, cut the lights altogether and stop. Quickly!” He took the revolver from his pocket, gripping it loosely; his other hand held the flashlight. Wilson maneuvered the car about expertly, and started back. “Now!” Da Silva said almost viciously, and in one motion he was out of the car and had swung open the rear door of the other.

“Police,” he said briefly, coldly, flashing the light over the startled faces inside, in no way indicating the satisfaction he felt at seeing the white face of Ari wedged between the other two in the back seat. His revolver was conspicuous in his other hand; his voice was the hard voice of authority. “What’s going on here?”

There was a frozen silence. “Well?” Da Silva flicked the revolver up ominously.

“We were just talking,” said a heavy-set man sitting to Ari’s left, his hand still gripping Ari’s arm tightly. His voice was sullen; he tried to pull his head back from the glare of the flashlight, but Da Silva swung it up to follow the heavy face. “We were just talking. What’s wrong with that?”

“Talking about what?” Da Silva asked coldly. “The next bar you intend to hold up? Your next stick-up?” He waved his gun. “Out. All of you. Out. And don’t try to get cute.” He stepped back to allow the others to alight; in the widening area of his flashlight they could see Wilson sitting negligently in the seat of the other car, a revolver draped across the sill. They came out quietly, pushing Ari with them.

“All right,” Da Silva said. “Turn and lean against the car. And don’t move.” There was the sudden whining of a starter; lights flashed up as a pair of lovers decided that there was too much activity in these parts for proper concentration; Da Silva paid no attention.

“How do we know you’re police?” one of his captives began.

“Because I say so,” Da Silva said. He waved his revolver in their faces; they all hastily leaned against the side of the car, except Ari, who had not understood a word of the exchange but sensed that this was no time for talking. “You too,” Da Silva said, slamming Ari back against the fender.

He leaned over against the car side like the others, feeling Da Silva’s hands parting his pockets, running down his legs, his heart pounding. Over his shoulder he saw the same operation being repeated with the others. Another motor sprang into life as others in the vicinity decided to find more peaceful surroundings for their rendezvous. The headlights of the departing car swung briefly over the astounding scene of four men leaning over the side of a car while another with a revolver searched them, but there was no outcry, nor voiced complaint. There was only the sudden gunning of a motor as its driver decided to leave hurriedly.

Da Silva took a revolver from one man before him, and a large hunting knife from another. Stepping to the deserted car, he swung his flashlight about the interior, and then, leaning down, he picked a sharp dagger-type knife from its place of concealment between the floor mat and the base of the rear seat. He slipped the weapons into his jacket pocket and stepped back, breathing heavily.

“Just talking, eh?” he said in deep sarcasm. “Well, we’re all going back to town, back to the delegacia. Just to convince you all that I’m really a police officer! And there you’ll get all the chance you want to talk, I promise you!” He paused, staring at them coldly. “And just to see that there is no funny business, suppose we split you big talkers up!” He grasped Ari roughly by the arm, tossing him toward the car in which Wilson sat watching with interest. “The rest of you get into your car and drive ahead of us. Slow. Remember, I said slow! There will be a gun on you all the way. When we get to Leblon, stop your car and stay inside. The first time the door opens, somebody gets shot.” He looked at them icily. “Understand? All right; let’s go!”

He threw Ari roughly into the back seat of his car and climbed in behind. Wilson’s gun remained fixed on the others while they climbed back into their car with angry faces, turned the car about, and began the bumpy ride back to the highway. There was no attempt on the part of the leading car to speed or escape. At the highway they turned right, creeping toward the entrance to the Avenida Niemeyer. Where the road led up the spiraled rise to the Niemeyer, cut in rock. Da Silva leaned forward close to Wilson’s ear; he slowed momentarily, and the first car, still moving slowly, disappeared around the first curve of the ledged road. With a sharp swing, Wilson turned his car toward the fork that led over the pass and stamped heavily on the accelerator. In a minute they had sped into the hills.

Da Silva returned his revolver to the shoulder holster and threw the flashlight onto the front seat. “And now,” he said, leaning back comfortably and lighting a cigarette. “Just what in the devil was that?” He turned toward Ari, whose face was drained of color, and whose hands were trembling uncontrollably.

“They were going to kill me,” Ari whispered in a voice wound tight with hysteria; a crazy light flickered in his eyes. “They were going to kill me!”

“I doubt that,” Da Silva said calmly, attempting by his relaxed manner to ease the terror that lay so openly on the other’s face. He inhaled deeply and let the smoke waft gently from his nostrils. “I doubt that.”

“No. No! They were really going to kill me!” Ari looked numbed, as if he were going to cry without knowing exactly why. He looked down at his twisted hands, almost whispering to himself. “They were going to kill me!”

“Relax,” Da Silva said kindly. “Why should they want to kill you?”

Ari looked at him, his face twitching with emotion. “They were Jews,” he said miserably. “They were Jews! Israeli Jews.”

“What?”

Ari nodded. “Israeli Jews. They were going to kill me. Jews...!” His voice died away in the unfairness of it all.

Da Silva looked thoughtful. “That’s one thing we hadn’t counted on. You didn’t say anything?”

Hysteria took over. “What could I say? Do you think they would have believed anything I said? Me? They would believe me?” He twisted his fingers tightly together in shock, shaking his head drearily. “They wouldn’t believe me. They were going to kill me.”

“Well, they didn’t kill you,” Da Silva said, brutally trying to bring the little man out of his crisis of nerves. “And I doubt if they will try again!” He puffed calmly on the cigarette. “Did they ask any questions?”

“They wanted to know who I was.” He was almost sobbing. “They seemed to think I was somebody else... oh, not Ari Schoenberg, but somebody in the Nazi party. They were going to make me tell...” He looked up at Da Silva in blank-eyed wonder. “What could I have told them?”

Da Silva reached over and patted his shoulder tenderly. “It’s all over,” he said, smiling in a friendly fashion. “It’s all over. Don’t think about it. You’re safe. But,” he added slowly, watching Ari out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge the proper subject to relieve the terror that lay waiting to explode in the other’s eyes, “it does look as if we had better move faster than we have. Mr. Busch seems to have more enemies than we counted on.” He looked at the little man shrewdly. “No contacts as yet?”

The startling blue eyes looked at him dumbly. “No what?”

“Contacts.” The tall, saturnine man smiled at him quickly, as if sharing a secret. He leaned forward again, patting the trembling leg. “Talk about it. What’s happened this past week? Tell me. You’ll feel better.”

Ari looked at the tanned face before him, pulling his thoughts together. In a daze he began to describe his activities during the past four days. As he talked, he found to his surprise that the tension seemed to ease; he actually found himself considering their problem rather than the cold horror he had felt at the possibility of facing death at the hands of his own people. “In São Paulo,” he heard himself say. “They want me to meet somebody in São Paulo. I was planning on going there in a few days.”

“They were probably waiting until you became less of a celebrity,” Da Silva said shrewdly. “Or possibly waiting until somebody returned who was away traveling.” He thought a while and then turned to the driver. “Better drop me off at my car,” he said. “Well try to speed things up.” He turned to Ari. “Do you feel all right for more action tonight?”

Ari nodded dumbly. “I feel better.”

“Good. We’ll speed things up, then. I’ll take you to your hotel personally. When we get there, let me do the talking.” He turned back to their driver. “Jardim de Allah, then.”

For the first time, Ari noticed that their driver was the nondescript man he had met at the American Embassy.

“Mr. Wilson,” he said in surprise. “I can’t thank you enough—”

“Thank Zé,” Wilson said, but there was a compassion in his voice that surprised the old man. Wilson turned past the Jockey Club and headed for the Jardim de Allah, his eyes smiling kindly at Ari in the rear-view mirror.

Chapter 11

It was after midnight when they finally came into the Mirabelle Hotel. Da Silva was holding Ari’s arm almost as if the old man were under arrest. The lobby was deserted; Mr. Mathais, the manager, was standing at the porter’s desk, speaking on the telephone. As soon as he saw them he dropped the phone on the hook and hurried forward.

“Herr Busch!” he cried with relief, his eyebrows twisting ferociously. “You are all right?” He looked up at Da Silva and his manner changed; stiffened. “What is the matter?” he asked coldly.

Da Silva smiled negligently, dropping Ari’s arm in the manner of one releasing something contaminated. He looked at the two of them with faint contempt. “When Mr. Busch first arrived in Rio,” he said quietly, “I explained to him that at times this could be a naughty city. Apparently he forgot my advice.” He turned to Ari, a look of disgust on his face. “You may not always be so lucky, Mr. Busch.

Someday I may not be around to save your neck. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to leave Brazil?” He paused and added significantly, “After paying your taxes, of course?”

“But what happened?” Mathais cried frantically.

“I was kidnapped,” Ari said dully. “Captain Da Silva rescued me.”

“Kidnapped?” Mathais was almost jumping. “Who? Why?”

“Some of Mr. Busch’s Jewish friends apparently decided to become irritated with him,” Da Silva said sarcastically.

“They do not seem to share everyone’s enthusiasm for his politics.”

“Jews?”

“They were Jews,” Ari said, his face white as he recalled the terrifying ride, the brutal hand on his arm, the glitter of the knife in the moonlight. “They were going to kill me.”

“I doubt that,” Da Silva said to the two of them with the tone one takes with a child awakening in the night with tales of dragons. “They were probably only going to reason with you.” He looked at Ari and Mathais with scarcely-concealed loathing. “I’m not sure that I shouldn’t have let them go ahead! For your own good, Mr. Busch, I suggest that you seriously consider my first proposition. Why don’t you leave Brazil? There seem to be people here who don’t want you around.” He glanced at his wrist watch, frowning at the late hour. “On our terms, of course. Telling us where the money is. Think it over.” He waved a hand at them almost flippantly and sauntered toward the door.

A sudden flame seemed to burn through the little man standing nervously at the porter’s desk. “You can’t frighten me!” Ari called after him in a burst of temper. “I’m not afraid of you! And I’m not afraid of Jews!” Da Silva stopped and looked back at the little man almost curiously. “I’m not!” Ari cried hysterically. “I’m not afraid of you!”

Da Silva watched this exhibition with a half-smile. “The story of my life,” he said with a shake of his head. “Nobody is afraid of me!” He started to chuckle, and let it grow into a loud laugh. The porter stood at his desk watching everything with open mouth. Mathais grasped Ari’s arm and tried to draw him away, but the little man seemed wound up, shaking; his voice trembled. “Ill leave Brazil when I want! Leave me alone! I’m not afraid of you!”

Da Silva started forward, worried by this sign of hysteria; then, shrugging his shoulders, he pushed through the heavy glass doors of the hotel and disappeared into the night. Mathais led the still-muttering Ari to a chair in one corner of the lounge and called hastily for brandy.

“What happened, for God’s sake!”

Ari sighed, and told him everything, starting with their conversation at dinner. For the effect he wished to create, the exact truth was perfect; in his nervous state it was impossible to doubt the truth of his story. “Jews!” he ended viciously. “They were going to kill me!”

Mathais nodded sympathetically, shaking his head. “You must leave Rio,” he said decisively. “You must go to São Paulo. You will be safe there.” He drank his glass of brandy in one gulp. “And something must be done about this Da Silva. He is too curious.”

Ari looked at him apathetically. “At least he saved my life.”

“Not because he wanted to,” Mathais pointed out. “Only because he wanted to know where.” He changed the subject. There was no need to bother Herr Busch with the problem of Captain Da Silva; the poor man had enough on his mind. Da Silva would be taken care of without the necessity of Herr Busch even knowing.

“Tomorrow,” Mathais suggested, “or better yet, the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow you must rest. I shall arrange plane passage and hotel space for you tonight, yet. And write you a letter of presentation to my friend.” He glanced at the wall clock; there were telephone calls to make. The suave consideration of mine host returned. “You had better go to bed. You have had a terrible time. But in São Paulo there will be nothing to worry about.” His eyebrows assumed terrible proportions. “I guarantee it!” Even in all of his weariness Ari could not help but look at the manager curiously. How Deutschland can you get? Ari thought. He arose slowly.

“I agree it would be best.” He sighed deeply, and also looked at the clock. “You have been most kind. The plane you arrange — not too early in the morning, yes?”

They shook hands before departing, again the tight saw-like motion, and Ari walked slowly to the elevator, his head beginning to pound. Behind him he left a very pleased hotel manager hurriedly dialing a telephone.

Caprice Paulista

Chapter 1

The long low car swung into the gasoline station, radio blaring stridently. The man curled comfortably in the corner of the front seat seemed to sleep blissfully despite the blast of music issuing from the dashboard. The driver, a tall, deeply tanned, smooth-shaven Brazilian, slid from behind the wheel, ordered the attendant to fill the tank and check the oil, and then went about the car gently kicking the tires. His brilliantly flowered shirt excited no attention; what had once been the distinctive badge of the American tourist had become, through the persistent medium of Hollywood and Technicolor, the standard uniform of mediocre informality throughout the world. The same, unfortunately, was true of his aviation-type dark sunglasses.

While his car was being serviced the tall man went to a Coca-Cola machine, withdrew a bottle and tilted it to his lips, idly watching the traffic whizz by as he drank. If he patted his lips in the fashion of one accustomed to drying a mustache after partaking of liquids, it was not such a movement as excited either curiosity or notice from the busy attendant.

When the car was finally ready, the tall man paid his bill, swung back behind the wheel with athletic ease, and roared off down the highway. The sun had been up and at work for several hours, and the day was beginning to show the result of this effort in mounting heat. The driver swung the small side window to an angle that allowed the warm breeze to play briskly across his face, and stepped up his speed. A huge signboard advertising motor oil flashed past; beneath a picture of a grinning automobile thirstily drinking from a golden can, an arrow pointed in the direction he was traveling. “São Paulo,” said the arrow, “400 kilometers.” The driver nudged his companion sharply and the other slowly opened his eyes.

“My dear Zé,” said Wilson, straightening with a deep yawn and eying Da Silva with undisguised rancor. “You drag me out of a comfortable bed at some ungodly hour, frighten me half to death by having shaved off your mustache, throw me in your car with no explanation whatsoever, and then you don’t even have the decency to let me catch up a bit on my sleep!”

“There is a time for everything,” Da Silva said brightly. Without his mustache he appeared years younger; his strong white teeth flashed in a sudden smile. “When I picked you up, Wilson, my son, I was in the midst of a dramatic escape. Even you will admit that that is certainly no time for fancy speeches and lengthy explanations. Now, however, that we have foiled the dastardly intentions of the minions of law and order, and are well free of their foul clutches, other times have come!”

“Like the time for explanations?” Wilson asked curiously.

Da Silva laughed gayly, shaking his head. “Like the time to appreciate nature. Look at the sunlight glistening on the waves below; notice the beautiful cloud banks ahead of our brave airplane! Think of the drink we shall take together at Belem, think of the wonders we shall see tonight in Dakar, and the food we shall eat tomorrow in Paris! Wilson, my friend, there is no place in the world to appreciate nature like Paris!”

Wilson hunched back into his corner, closing his eyes. “When the mood passes, Zé, please wake me again. There’s no point in both of us dreaming with our eyes open.”

“Up, up!” Da Silva cried happily. “The lark’s on the wing; God’s in His heaven; all’s right, more or less, with the world!”

Wilson sat back up, looking at his friend in disgust. “You have no idea how obnoxious you can be when you get all boyish and exuberant. And that shirt! Are you trying to look American? And without your mustache.” He examined his companion critically, his head cocked to one side. “You know, in this light, you look like an aging juvenile delinquent. Is that supposed to be a disguise?”

“Not supposed to be. Is. Is. And very effective, too. You have to admit it completely fooled you.”

“ ‘Fooled’ isn’t exactly the word. ‘Frightened’ would be closer. Or maybe ‘horrified.’ ” Wilson lit a cigarette and gazed at Da Silva calmly. “Would it be a breach of palace security to ask just where we are going?”

“I told you.” Da Silva sounded hurt. “Belem, Dakar, Paris. In the order named. With a one-hour stopover in each airport. For gasoline, I imagine, since they must have W.C.’s aboard.” He swung the wheel, hurtling the car recklessly around a truck that had pulled half off the pavement with a flat tire; he smiled wickedly. “Also watch out for air pockets!”

“Belem, Dakar, Paris?” Wilson asked, quietly.

“Exactly! You finally got it!”

“By way of São Paulo?”

Da Silva looked at him suspiciously. “Don’t mention that place, or I’ll know you’ve been peeking!”

Wilson sighed. “All right, Zé,” he said patiently. “When you get playful I know something has broken. What?”

Da Silva smiled at him gently, his eyes dancing behind the dark glasses. “I’ve been trying to tell you. My leave has been canceled. I have drawn the fascinating assignment of checking up on several cases of completely unimportant people who are thought to have illegally immigrated from France to Brazil.” He winked broadly. “This is rather interesting, especially when you consider that immigration into Brazil is practically open. Except for two-headed giraffes.” He sighed deeply. “At any rate, I have orders to report to Paris immediately to work with the French branch of Interpol on this grave breach of law.”

Wilson sat up straight. “When do you leave?”

Da Silva suddenly blasted his horn at a slow-moving furniture van and passed it in a screaming burst of speed. “You really haven’t been listening to a word,” he said reproachfully. “I left early this morning. By now I imagine I should be coming into Belém de Pará.” He grinned. “I mean, by now I am coming into Belém de Pará.”

Wilson studied the strong face of his companion, now smiling faintly at the windshield, his large hands firm on the wheel. “Do you think you can get away with it?” he asked quietly.

Da Silva grinned again. “This is one sure way to find out.”

“You think that someone is trying to get you transferred off the Busch case?”

Da Silva took his eyes from the road a moment and glanced at Wilson blandly. “I should consider it a possibility.” He returned his attention to the highway winding beneath them. “You must admit it is interesting that the assignment happened to come at this particular moment. And that it should just happen to deal with immigration. Now, I wonder who could possibly have arranged that?”

Wilson looked at him speculatively. “You think it was Strauss.”

The restraint was too much for Da Silva’s explosive nature. He snorted, dropping his sarcasm. “I’m sure it was Strauss;

I know it was! With all of the usual Teutonic subtlety!” He curved the car around a bus laboring up a hill. “Immigration is one of his pet projects; it would be no problem for him to arrange a transfer like this.” He looked across at Wilson seriously. “Do you still doubt my theory?”

“Your theory?”

“The meeting back in 1939, remember?”

Wilson shrugged this subject off; his mind was on things more important to him at the moment. “But, Zé, won’t they know you didn’t go to Paris?”

“Not for a while. I have friends too, you know. Reports, cables, and all of the paper work we all love so well will come through on schedule, at least for the time being.” He sighed. “Let’s hope we can clear this Busch affair up before then.”

Wilson stared at the firm set of his friend’s face. “Zé,” he said quietly, “why do you do it? You’re a policeman, under orders, ducking out on an assignment given you by your superiors.”

“My superiors haven’t the faintest idea of why they were asked to assign me to Paris,” Da Silva replied stubbornly.

“That’s not the point,” Wilson said, “and you know it.”

Da Silva looked at him, his face a mask, a brown granite block with flat eyes that looked at Wilson and through him, far beyond. “I don’t care,” he said flatly. “I’m a man, too. Under more important orders. From much higher up. That’s the assignment I can’t leave.”

He turned back to the wheel abruptly, concentrating on his driving. They stopped once again for gasoline at São José dos Campos, in the State of São Paulo, caught a quick sandwich while the car was being serviced, and left as soon as it was ready. The sun was high now, past the meridian, and there was no longer a breeze; the area was sweltering. Wilson had thrown his jacket into the rear seat of the car, and now loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt collar.

“You might at least have let me take along a clean shirt,” he said resentfully.

“They sell shirts in São Paulo,” Da Silva said dryly. Then he smiled. “Or you might stop by and visit the Deputado Strauss. He ought to have quite a collection of shirts. All colors.”

He leaned back and accelerated the car. They roared on toward São Paulo.

Chapter 2

The sleek Convair leaned gently into the cross winds rising from the Santos range, slipping easily into the landing pattern for the São Paulo airport. Huge factories on neatly landscaped grounds swept beneath the descending wings; the geometrically blocked skyline of the city, reflecting the eastern rays of the morning sun, suddenly tilted sharply, and then straightened. Now a residential area flowed beneath the lowered wheels, small square houses on brown dirt lots with tiny people discernible. The nasal whining of a motor within the plane startled Ari; he glanced out to see the flaps scooping downwards, felt the checked rush in the air. Stained concrete swirled madly beneath, fleeing wildly; he felt a soft lurch as the plane touched down. They were at Congonhas Airport, in São Paulo.

He assumed his place in the taxi queue, remembering clearly the line-up for Immigration when he had arrived in Rio. Just one week ago, he thought; one short week. Is it possible? The hollow voice echoing its litany of arrivals and departures in the main hall behind him served as background to his feeling of belonging. I’m growing up, he thought, that’s what it is. And quite a thing, too, at my age. I am becoming what I might have been, had I not lost thirty years. His bag suddenly appeared in the hands of a porter who scarcely seemed physically capable of handling it. A tip changed hands, a cab door opened in his face, his bag was taken from him and deposited within, a hand on his arm, a car door slammed. They were rolling toward the city. He leaned back, relaxing, certain now of his capacity to handle whatever came up.

Herr Mathais had arranged rooms for him at the Hotel Clemente, a modern residential hotel on the Avenida Angelica. There he was greeted with pleasant but cold efficiency by a desk clerk who obviously was not familiar with either his name or reputation. His fear of encountering the same effusive attention he had suffered at the Mirabelle proved to be unfounded; Herr Mathais, despite his dramatic appearance, was no fool.

Once his bag had been placed in his room, and the bellboy had quietly withdrawn, Ari took up the telephone and put through a call to the number neatly printed on the back of the envelope Mathais had given him. As he waited for the call to be completed, he reached down and slipped off his shoes. It was extremely warm and he wriggled his toes appreciatively.

“Sim?” It was a woman’s voice, obviously a secretary.

He leaned forward, speaking quickly in German. “This is Herr Busch calling. I have a letter for Deputado Strauss, to be delivered in person. From a mutual friend in Rio. I wonder if it might be possible to speak with the Deputado himself?”

The voice answered smoothly in German. “Herr Busch? One moment while I see if the Deputado is in. Please hold the line.” There was a moment’s silence; Ari took advantage of the pause to wriggle his toes some more. He was feeling very good. A deep voice suddenly boomed in his ear.

“Herr Busch! This is a very great pleasure!”

“Herr Strauss? Likewise. Herr Mathais was kind enough to give me a letter of introduction—”

The voice waved this aside with grandiose disdain. “There was no need for a letter, really. While I have not had the pleasure of meeting the Herr Busch in person, I am more than familiar with the Herr in the ways that count! You must have lunch with me. Today, yes?” There was a pause. “I shall come by your hotel in thirty minutes, yes? It is all right?”

“You are most kind, but really, I could meet you—”

“Nonsense! It is my pleasure to pass your hotel.”

“If you wish it, then it is my pleasure, too.”

“I do wish it. Thirty minutes, then, yes? Auf wiedersehen.”

“Auf wiedersehen.”

It occurred to Ari as he hung up and started for the bathroom that he had forgotten to mention the name of his hotel to the Deputado, and for an instant he started back toward the telephone. Then he stopped, smiling grimly. The Deputado, he was suddenly sure, not only knew his hotel and room number, but probably the size of his hat. He turned back to the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later he was standing at the large glass window of the lobby when a long Cadillac drew up at the entrance. He walked to the front of the marquee as a chauffeur sprang down to open the rear door. A heavy-set blond giant, of indeterminate age, leaned forward from the back seat, waving him in. “Herr Busch?”

He smiled and entered the car. They shook hands as the driver put the Cadillac into gear and smoothly entered traffic. Ari reached into the breast pocket of his jacket, producing his letter of presentation, handing it to his companion. Strauss stuffed the envelope into his pocket negligently, smiling.

“Well, well,” he said happily. “This is your first trip to Brazil?”

Ari assured him it was.

“And you like it?”

“Very much,” Ari said. He glanced about him, noting the luxurious appointments of the Cadillac.

“This is a very beautiful car.”

“For my use as a Deputado,” Strauss said immediately. “Government.” He smiled deprecatingly. “Unfortunately, not my own.” He looked at his wrist watch. “You are anxious to eat at once?”

“Not particularly,” Ari said. “Why?”

“A stop I must make first, if you honestly do not mind.”

“It is perfectly all right.”

“You are most kind.” Strauss leaned forward, speaking to the driver in Portuguese, and then leaned back again. Despite his bulk, there was a certain grace about him, the grace of controlled power. There is nothing effusive about this one, Ari thought; and very little that is subtle. He can be brusque, and also very tough. But somehow he lacks something that I would sense, or that I would recognize, if he were the leader of the group. I wonder what it is?

They drew up before a small factory building in a rundown neighborhood. The buildings here were low and ramshackle, running almost to the rutted roadway; bare patches of brick under the broken and dirty cement facing showed great age and poor care. At one side of the building in front of which they had stopped, an oily driveway led through tottering wooden gates to an unloading platform piled with debris. A faint clacking noise came from within, monotonous and depressing. Strauss descended and held the door back for Ari.

“Please,” he said. “I should like you to come too, if you do not mind.” Ari got down, wondering, and followed the large man into the building.

In the gloom of the interior he could see several flatbed presses, two hand-operated card presses, and the usual clutter of the small job-printing shop. Seen from the inside the building seemed even smaller; the ancient and battered machinery filled it. Rickety cabinets holding type leaned drunkenly against one wall; tables for pulling proofs and pounding forms were placed haphazardly about. The shop looked as if it had not been swept for weeks; rubbish lay under the tables and around the machines.

A young boy in a filthy apron stood feeding a hand press under the single bulb that gleamed faintly in the room. His eyes were half closed against the fumes of a cigarette pasted in one corner of his mouth, and his arms swayed in automatic rhythm to the slapping of the platen. He paid no attention to his visitors. They stood in silence watching this operation for a moment, then Strauss touched Ari on the arm and they turned aside into a small office set under a stairway.

Strauss reached up to the wall and switched on a light; a naked bulb dangling from a twisted cord lit the messy room with brutal clarity. It was a tiny office with barely room to move about in. A roll-top desk covered with papers filled one corner; another table littered with more papers and magazines took up most of the remaining space. The calendars on the wall were stained and crooked; an old typewriter leaning askew with one corner caught on a pile of catalogues completed the inventory of debris; it was all indescribably shabby.

Strauss sat down heavily in a plain chair and motioned Ari to the wobbly armchair before the desk. He waved his arms about in disgust, watching Ari under firm eyebrows. “You see it,” he said quietly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said, ‘You see it.’ Our propaganda center. We are supposed to work with this; to produce results with this.” He shook his leonine head fiercely. “If it were not so tragic, it would be a joke.”

Ari sat silent, afraid of not knowing what to say. His eyes passed over the pitiful confusion of the room and returned to the other. Strauss leaned forward impressively.

“Herr Busch, I am not like the others,” he said, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on the small, elderly man balanced precariously on the edge of the swivel armchair. “I speak out with what I have on my mind. I know who you are and the work you have done. I am proud of the work you have done. And I am also envious of the work you have done. But, Herr Busch—” a thick finger sprang in the air for emphasis — “if you had been forced to work as we have, you could not have accomplished what you did!”

Ari gazed about him. “It is not much, it is true.”

“Not much? It is nothing! It is worse than nothing!” The thick hands scrabbled through the papers that cluttered the table until they unearthed a trade magazine for the graphic arts. He picked it up, rimed through the pages to an advertisement offering a complete, modern printing plant for sale and slapped the folded page down in front of Ari. “Do you see this? This is what we were promised!” He jerked his hand contemptuously toward the clacking press outside. “This is what we have! And have had for ten years! It is not possible!”

Ari studied the beautifully illustrated cuts in the advertisement. “How much would a factory like this cost?” he asked quietly.

Strauss shrugged. “I have the quotation around somewhere, but it is an old one. It would probably cost much more today. But that is not the point; that is the least. No; that is not true, it is not the least. But it is only a part.” His eyes fixed the man before him. “Herr Busch, we must be frank with each other. We need money if we are to do the work that must be done; and much money.”

Ari studied the man before him dispassionately. “Everyone needs money, Herr Strauss. And everything needs money. And the work goes on in many places. Not just in Brazil.”

Strauss looked at the little man before him. The icy blue of the eyes showed a strength belied by the narrow shoulders, the potbelly. “Yes,” the Deputado admitted politely. “But you are in Brazil. And you have money.”

The blue eyes showed no emotion. “I fail to see...”

The heavy hand was raised in conciliation. “Herr Busch, if you will pardon me, your efforts in the United States were well done, although, to be honest, it is difficult for us here to determine just how effective they were.”

“They were effective.” Ari stared about the office with disdain. “Much more so than anything I have seen since coming here.”

“Without doubt. I did not mean to deride, believe me. But, Herr Busch, if we had the necessary money, we could do much more. And this is the country from which the work must be directed. Note what I say, Herr Busch: not could be, or might be, but must be.”

“Ach, so? And why must it be directed from here?”

“Because...” For the first time Strauss seemed at a slight loss for words. He came to a decision. “Because here, Herr Busch, we have the nucleus of a real rebirth of our glorious party!”

“What do you mean by nucleus?”

But Strauss had said all that he was willing to say at the moment. He stood up, smiling. “We shall discuss it again some other time, yes? And now, lunch?”

Ari looked up at the huge figure towering over him. “Please sit down, Herr Strauss. We are in the midst of a discussion; let us carry it forward a bit. Lunch can wait.” The other looked at him with a touch of surprise and more than a touch of respect, and then reseated himself. No, Ari thought with certainty, he is definitely not the head of the group. He lacks authority; the poor soul also lacks ruthlessness.

“Herr Strauss,” he said coldly, “you speak of wanting to discuss this thing frankly. I agree. I happen to be in a position where I have some money; and I am sure that you realize that my interest in rebuilding the party is as great as anyone’s interest. However, Herr Strauss, do you have any idea of how many people try to get their hands on money, using any excuse that comes to mind?” He shook his head sadly. Strauss sat listening quietly.

“No, Herr Strauss. My sympathies are well known. How easy it must appear to simply appeal to these sympathies and presto! — money! I am not a fool. My money is available for the work I believe in, but not on anybody’s say-so. I am not attempting to be insulting, please believe me, but you must be able to understand exactly where I stand.”

Strauss studied the little man judiciously. The blue eyes stared into his steadily. Finally the big man shrugged.

“Herr Busch,” he said slowly, “I understand exactly what you mean. I also am no fool. I do not know what you would require in the way of proof...” He thought a bit. “Herr Busch. You recall a certain Captain Da Silva?”

“Yes, of course I remember Captain Da Silva. Too well.”

Strauss smiled. “Well, at this moment he is on his way to Paris. He was too curious; and also he was becoming a nuisance. With my influence, I was able to arrange another assignment for him. Do you believe me?”

Ari sighed. “I’m afraid you do not understand me, Herr Strauss. If you say you arranged a transfer for this Captain Da Silva, of course I believe you.” He paused. So Da Silva had been taken out of the game! A cold feeling of being alone swept him momentarily, but he forced it away.

“However, I must continue to be frank. You have told me nothing so far that would lead me to give any money to you or to whatever group you represent. Please believe me. I am not trying to be either stubborn or insulting. I am only being careful. And honest.”

Strauss sat with his big head bowed in deep thought. Finally he looked up. “Herr Busch, I must discuss this with others, you understand.”

“As you wish.” Ari rose slowly, brushing his lapel. “And now, lunch?”

Strauss lumbered to his feet, bulking in the tiny office. He leaned over and picked up the trade magazine, still folded to the beautiful advertisement of the modern printing plant. “Should I bring this along?” he asked, looking at Ari questioningly.

“I don’t think so,” Ari said, smiling coldly. “No, I really don’t think so.”

Chapter 3

The intimate little cocktail party given by the Jules Richereaus in their small apartment on the Rua Augusta was coming to a close. There had been only four couples present, plus the Deputado Strauss, who had just dropped in for a moment. The Deputado had mingled freely with the guests, all of whom he knew, and at the moment was speaking with an old acquaintance who bought and sold coffee; they stood in the middle of the floor, uttering the standard clichés about the influx of Colombian and African beans in the world market. The general drift for the door had begun; Madame Richereau was fluttering about, seeing that the final details of the leave-taking were properly handled, explaining to all with a sad shake of her shoulders that it was a pity her husband had been unexpectedly called away and could not have been there to enjoy their company.

The guests, representing the best elements of liberal Brazilian society, were standing in the hallway, pecking dutifully at the cheek of their hostess. Strauss and his companion moved slowly toward the door, still talking; the coffee broker bowed politely to Madame Richereau. Strauss suddenly muttered something unintelligible, smiled self-consciously, and moved down the hallway in the direction of the bathroom. The hall door closed on the last of the guests, and Strauss stepped quickly to a closed door around a bend in the hallway, and tapped upon it in a particular way.

The key turned in the lock and the door opened. Von Roesler, after once again closing it, returned and seated himself imperiously behind a desk. These rare cocktail parties, from which M. Jules Richereau unfortunately always seemed to be called away by the sudden pressure of business, were the only means by which he and Strauss could manage to meet without exciting notice. This, at least, was von Roesler’s idea; in the past months he had developed a mania for secrecy that had, Strauss felt, complicated their work unnecessarily.

There was another special knock on the door and Strauss opened it to admit Monica. She slipped in and locked the door behind her. She seated herself unobtrusively as Strauss returned to his corner chair and lit a huge cigar.

“Well?” von Roesler said impatiently.

“I don’t think it went badly,” Strauss said, eying his cigar with the appreciation of a connoisseur. “He has the money, which is the important thing. And he intends it for our program. It is only...”

“Only what?”

Strauss studied his cigar carefully, choosing his words. “Well, it is only that he. what shall I say? He is very cautious.”

“Cautious? In what way?”

The Deputado laid down his cigar and told them of his meeting with Ari. “But there is really no problem,” he finished. “If you meet with him, there is no doubt but that he will provide the money for us.”

“Meet with him? You must be crazy! No!”

Strauss looked at von Roesler in amazement, then transferred his gaze to Monica with a question in his eyes; she turned her head, staring at the floor.

“No?” Strauss asked in disbelief.

“No! I meet with no one!”

“But—”

Von Roesler slammed the desk with his open hand. “It is final. I meet with no one!”

“But, Colonel—” Once, in a fit of comradeship engendered by a particularly friendly meeting, plus the effects of several shared cocktails, Strauss had made the mistake of calling von Roesler “Erick.” He would not quickly forget the tirade that followed.

Von Roesler looked at him coldly. “We will not discuss it further. If he has money and we need it, arrange that we get it. That is all.”

“But how, Colonel?”

The mad eyes stared at him with no expression. “That is your problem.”

Strauss shook his head as if to clear it. The meeting was certainly not going as he had imagined it would go. “Does the Colonel at least have some suggestion...?”

“Take it from him. If he will not give it, take it!”

“Take it from him? Pardon me, Colonel, but you do not understand. He is a friend. He is one of us.”

“He is not one of us. We have no friends. This Busch, what did he do during the war?” The holocaust of Hamburg spread before his inner eye. They are all enemies, all betrayers. Only I, only I...

Strauss looked at Monica helplessly; she kept her eyes averted. “I have no idea, but... Take it from him? How?”

The eyes facing him lost their madness momentarily, but not their hardness. The voice almost sneered. “It is a shame you spent the war years in Brazil. If you had been in the Fatherland, you would not have to ask. You would know!”

“I wasn’t in the Fatherland; I was here. Following your orders.” The resentment in his voice was apparent. He looked at von Roesler blankly. “I still don’t know what you want. I know him, and he knows me. How do you suggest we get the money away from him? Kidnap him?”

The tinge of sarcasm was lost on von Roesler; the madness was back. “I do not care how. Kidnap him if you wish. Hold him for ransom.” He paused, thinking, then nodded. “It is really an excellent suggestion. It is precisely what you shall do. Kidnap him. Hold him for ransom.”

Strauss almost threw his hands up in hopelessness. “I was only—”

“An excellent suggestion.” The eyes studied him dispassionately. “You can arrange the necessary people? They must not be anyone connected with our movement.”

Strauss sat up straight. “I was not speaking seriously.”

There was a sudden vicious gleam of humor in the eyes of the other. “But I am. It was your idea, and I am agreeing with it. You will kidnap him and hold him for ransom. For two million dollars.”

“But—”

“It is an order. You can arrange necessary people?”

Strauss sighed. “I can arrange thugs,” he said with distaste, “but this is not the way to handle this. If you would only consent to meet with this Herr Busch...”

“No!” The slam of the heavy hand on the desk was absolutely final. “I have told you before: I meet with nobody!” He stood up abruptly, indicating that the meeting was over. Strauss also stood up, staring at his cigar hopelessly. With a brief nod he opened the door and walked out; Monica followed, leading him toward the front door of the apartment.

“He is mad!” Strauss muttered. He turned to Monica in appeal. “Busch is our friend. He has done more in the last few years than any of us, than all of us together. Is this how we should treat him?” He shook his head in bewilderment.

“He is mad!”

“He is frightened,” Monica said sadly. “Ever since Eichmann was picked up, he sits there, refusing to leave the house, refusing to meet anyone.”

“This is a mistake,” Strauss said with sudden conviction. “I feel it; I know it. This is a very bad mistake!”

“But he is our leader,” Monica said simply.

“But really!” Strauss almost cried aloud in his disappointment. “Kidnap him! It’s ridiculous! How? Not only why do we do this silly thing, but how? In a crowded city, how?” He almost struck his head in frustration. “If only he would see him, only for a minute...”

Monica hesitated, then drew him into the living room, still disheveled from the recent party. She pulled him down onto a couch, holding his arm possessively, speaking with conviction. “He will not see anyone,” she said. “It is useless to think along those lines. But as far as kidnapping is concerned, I think I know how.” She spoke breathlessly, not releasing his arm, pulling it firmly against the warm curve of her full breast. He leaned back passively; she began to explain her idea rapidly.

Chapter 4

Carnival was here; it was only the first afternoon of the insane, gay festival, but already all formality had gone by the board; a wild madness invaded the heavy air, a sense of complete relaxation and to-hell-with-it-allness. Ari sat wedged at a small table in the noisy hotel bar, enjoying an aperitif, completely at ease, smiling broadly at nothing at all, feeling himself to be a part of the swirling mob that engulfed him. Girls in little abbreviated skirts blew confetti in his face; young men with grotesquely painted mustaches and all manner of comic costumes sprayed ether from small pressurized bottles in all directions; from the street outside the open window came the sound of rhythmic syncopated bands, and the shuffling of people dancing, the cry of people singing. Ari sat there in pure enjoyment; what a wonderful people, what a wonderfully mad holiday!

A couple came lumbering happily through the crowded bar; the man was gigantic and dressed in a tight Tyrolean costume of patterned shirt, short breeches, stockings and a small feathered cap; the woman, large herself, was dressed in typical French peasant style, her tilted-eared cap rising high over her golden hair, her blouse pleasantly filled, her full skirts falling in ruffled folds to her sabots. She was pulling the man along behind her boisterously; they bumped through the tables, heading for the bar. They were squeezing past Ari’s table when the man suddenly pulled up short, causing the woman to stagger.

“Strauss!” she cried in a half-drunken giggle. “Come on! I want a drink!”

“Herr Busch!” Strauss cried, tightening his grip on the woman’s hand and dragging her back to the table. “What a pleasure!” His eyes were already bright with the effects of drink, and the effects of Carnival spirit. Ari attempted to pull himself to his feet, but the pressure of the crowd was too great. “Jeanne!” Strauss cried. “I want you to meet an old friend of mine!” He looked about. “Here. Take this chair; I will get another!”

The woman sat down at once, immediately reaching over for Ari’s aperitif and drinking it down in one gulp. Strauss swung a chair neatly from beneath the noses of the occupants of the next table and fell into it before they could complain. He enfolded Ari in a great bear hug, calling loudly to the waiter at the same time. Ari was overwhelmed.

“Carnival, Carnival!” Strauss cried in a gay voice. “It is wonderful, no? Yes?” He paused, considering which had been correct, then dismissed the whole thing, remembering his duty. “Herr Busch, this is Madame Richereau. Jeanne, an old friend, Herr Busch.” He spoke in French; they fell into the same tongue. In the cacophony of sound that arose like a wave from all sides, every language of the civilized world could be heard.

“I want a drink!” Madame Richereau’s sudden announcement was made in a belligerent tone. She stared at Ari archly. “You wonder, perhaps, where is M.

Richereau? I will tell you; during Carnival, my sweet, we go our separate ways. It is the custom.” She hiccuped gently, then stared at Ari blankly and continued vaguely, “Yes, during Carnival it is the accepted custom...” Then she turned, waving wildly at a waiter and returning her attention to Ari all in one gesture. “Monsieur Busch, you are cute. Strauss, my sweet, Monsieur Busch must come to my party tonight. I insist. It is an order!”

Strauss lolled back in his tiny chair happily. “Your orders, Madame, are my commands!” He suddenly laughed at the idiocy of this, turning in his chair to Ari for appreciation of the mot.

Ari laughed delightedly. “I should love to come, Madame, but I am afraid that I have no costume.”

“No costume? It is of the least!” She dismissed this excuse with a negligent wave of her jeweled hands. “It is nothing! I have at least three left over!” She hiccuped while considering her arithmetic. “No, four. No, no! Three.” She turned swiftly even as she spoke, catching the arm of a waiter with predatory skill, and ordered three drinks.

Turning back, she blinked at Ari carefully. “Where was I? Oh yes, you want a costume. What would you like to be?” Her head perched to one side, looking at Ari birdlike. “A sultan?” She shook her head. “But I’m afraid that one would be too big; you would drown in it. I know! A woman! A beautiful, sexy, rounded woman!” She collapsed with laughter, clapping her hands. “I have a delicious can-can for you; you will be a riot!”

Ari laughed with her; her sudden guffaw was infectious, booming through the bar. “Please, not as a woman,” he said, giggling helplessly. “Anything but that!”

“But you would be lovely as a woman,” she said, pouting prettily. “I’m sure you must have beautiful legs.” She bent over, peeking beneath the table. Ari continued to giggle.

“I’ll take the third,” he said, “whatever it is!”

Madame considered this statement and found it puzzling. “The third what?” she said. Enlightenment suddenly came. “The third costume!” She clapped her hands at her own cleverness, and then her face fell. “But it is a comic prisoner,” she explained sadly, “all striped, like in the penitentiary. Last year everybody had one; this year they may be a trifle déclassé.”

“It will do fine. I shall be a comic prisoner,” Ari said, happy for her that the problem had been finally resolved.

Madame Richereau suddenly climbed to her feet, and then mounted her chair, supporting herself with one hand against the chair back, her other hand pointing wildly. “Strauss!” she cried. “Our waiter gave our drinks to that table over there! Call him over! Make him give us our drinks!” She suddenly stepped down from the chair and started plowing her way through the crowd. “If you won’t, I will!” she called back determinedly over her shoulder. Strauss rolled with laughter.

“A character, no?” he said, gasping, wiping his eyes. “Yes?” He thought about it and resolved not to get in that trap again. “And her parties are famous; you will love it!”

“She won’t forget the costume?” Ari asked with an anxious smile.

“She forgets nothing!” Strauss cried. “Except her husband!” He laughed so hard at this that he was forced to bold onto the table for support. Madame fought her way back, gripping a waiter firmly by the arm. “I don’t know what you would do without me,” she said archly as the waiter set their drinks upon the table. She turned to Ari with forced gaiety. “Now don’t forget! Nine o’clock at the Fasano Roof! You must ask for my table!” She swallowed her drink in one gulp without sitting down, leaning on Strauss in a possessive fashion, smiling brightly at Ari. “You’ll have your costume delivered tonight, so don’t worry,” she said. She eyed him pensively. “Although I still think you would make a delicious can-can girl!”

“No, no! A prisoner will be fine,” Ari said, laughing.

“One thing,” she said, eying him critically, “at least it will fit you better.” She turned to Strauss impatiently. “Drink up! We have lots of bars to visit yet.” She waved goodbye to Ari and began leading Strauss away, bellowing with laughter, waving weakly behind him.

Chapter 5

The costume was delivered at eight o’clock that night; Ari had almost given up hope of its arrival. He stood in the bedroom with the door locked and undressed slowly. The long tight sleeves of the costume covered his scarred tattoo mark adequately, but the cuffs were a trifle short and for some reason suddenly worried him. He stripped off the blouse and put on a long-sleeved undershirt with tight cuffs beneath the gaudily striped prison jacket; it was warm, and the ends of the undershirt sleeves extended a bit beyond the uniform, but he felt safer. The rest of the costume followed rapidly; when he was all dressed with the little striped beanie on his head, he stepped before the mirror and reviewed himself critically. He slipped on the small domino mask and studied himself again, suddenly doubling over with laughter. For one night at least, he thought, I shall forget this terrible business and have myself a good time. This time, he said to his image in mock severity, I really don’t know who you are. He tapped the striped beanie, firming it at an outrageous angle on his head with comic authority.

He made sure that his wallet was in the rear trouser pocket of the uniform, and then stepped outside into the corridor, locking the door behind himself carefully. He was sure that he would excite no comment in the elevator; going up to his room from the bar he had found himself in the company of a bosomy Pierrot, a chorus girl complete with cigar and mustache, a squat Indian whose accouterments included tennis shoes as well as bow and arrow, and a heavily made-up Chinese. Even the elevator operator had bowed to the spirit of the occasion by wearing a little organ-grinder-monkey’s cap, held beneath his chin by a wispy elastic which he snapped back and forth at each floor.

The elevator door slid open and he stepped within. The little operator smiled happily and snapped his cap quickly up and down. He grinned under his domino and leaned comfortably back against the car wall. Tonight was going to be fun; tonight was a vacation, a welcome respite from the terrible necessity of his assignment. Tonight was Carnival! Carnival in Brazil! He clenched his hands in tense enjoyment, eager to be out of the moving car, eager to get to the party.

They came to a slithering halt somewhere below the first floor; the operator inexpertly jockeyed his car into an approximation of the level and shoved down on the lever that opened the door. Ari started to hurry across the crowded and colorful lobby toward the taxi rank, when he found his way barred by three outlandish figures of varying size.

They were dressed as Keystone cops; under their high bucket helmets, tight rubber masks grimaced in distorted expressions. The smallest had an idiot look, with rubber tongue lolling insanely from one corner of the mouth, the bulging eyes hanging out of their pouched sockets at odd angles; the middle-sized one had a mask that frowned in deep perpetual anger, with thick curving eyebrows that framed the glaring eyes; the tallest looked brightly alert, with a happy smile, rosy cheeks, and full lips. Their dark blue uniforms were all much too large, hanging on them like tents; the badges that announced their authority were located somewhere in the vicinity of their stomachs and were the size of soup plates. On their feet they wore huge shoes in a particularly clashing shade of grayish green, and their hands were covered with oversized white work gloves that splayed out spastically.

At the sight of the prisoner-striped figure hurrying across the lobby, they drew themselves up in a burlesque attitude of cops-and-robbers. Every move they made, each motion they undertook, was in outrageous pantomime, but the interpretation of their antics was obvious to all of the people who had suddenly paused in the lobby to watch this comedy.

What have we here? the smallest could be seen to cry in shocked surprise, his idiot face drooling at the lobby crowd, his rubber tongue bobbing elastically.

The rubber face of the middle-sized policeman was fixed in an expression of righteous anger, but the attitude of the expressive body was one of mock horror. An escaped prisoner! But this will never do! He threw his gloved hands over his ears and doubled over in pretended shock. He peeked at Ari from beneath his legs. Everyone in the lobby had stopped to watch; they were all laughing delightedly.

And then the hand of the largest flew up, resolving the problem. I will handle it! was clear in his attitude. He stepped forward in a strutting imitation of police authority the world over. His head turned drolly, the rubber mask grimacing happily at the crowd that had formed to watch the horseplay. The people in the lobby roared; Ari tried to push past, irritated at the thought of being late for the party.

A long arm detained him while a gloved band suddenly curved and descended in an indescribably comical gesture to scratch in bewilderment on a solid helmet. But do we have a warrant? could be clearly understood from the puzzled hesitation of the blue-uniformed figure. He paused anxiously, rolling his eyes as his strong hand continued to grip Ari, halting him.

The others flung their hands in the air in gestures of dismay, their gloves flaying the bright atmosphere of the lobby with motions of tragic failure. No warrant? There was an ineffable sadness in their manner, but then the tallest brightened. His figure even seemed to enlarge with a happy solution he had discovered. He dragged a pair of handcuffs from his voluminous pocket and swung Ari toward him, appearing to advance on him with little dancing steps. He rolled his eyes; it was plain that he had discovered something even better than a warrant. His companions clasped their gloved hands to their hearts in the profoundest admiration; their masked faces bobbed madly. The sobbing laughter of one spectator overcome by the performance haw-hawed loudly through the giggles, causing even more laughter from the people watching this playful insanity.

The handcuffs were firmly snapped. The tallest of the policemen rose to full height, coming up onto the tips of his slapstick shoes, and flung his white-gloved hand dramatically toward the door. His fellow Keystone cops obeyed him instantly, slinking in a bent-kneed walk to the door and holding it open. The largest of the policemen turned at the door, his happy face rubberly pleased with their reception, his gloved hand still tightly gripping his striped prisoner. He paused and bowed deeply to the watching crowd in the lobby.

The people inside doubled over with hilarity; a few beat their hands together in frantic applause. A pistoled and bearded pirate, accompanied by a rather husky harem girl, pushed past the three comic police as they stood with their captive taking bows in the doorway; the three all stood alertly to one side and then, as a team, gave deep clown-type curtsies to the exiting couple, dragging their unwilling prisoner through the routine. Then, with a final bow to the applauding audience in the hotel lobby, they pulled their comic prisoner to the street.

Once outside, they led him quickly but firmly to a waiting roadster with the top down, and thrust him into the back seat. “No tricks, Mr. Busch,” said the tall policeman into his ear in a deep voice that carried no tone of burlesque. “You can scream or yell all you want, but nobody will pay the slightest attention.” He unlocked the handcuffs and slid into the back seat of the car beside Ari while the two lessersized Keystone cops got into the front, the idiotically-masked junior member driving. With a final wave to the remnants of their audience who had come out under the hotel marquee to bid them adieu, they pulled away from the hotel and out into the slow-moving traffic.

Behind them another open car pulled away from the curb, a fiercely frowning pirate at the wheel. At his side a rather bulky harem girl slid a hand into a well-concealed pocket of her voluminous trousers, managed, with much maneuvering, to extract a package of cigarettes, and lit one with an air of relief. The pirate drove casually, seemingly watching with interest the shuffling crowd that marched on the sidewalk or chanted in the middle of the streetcar tracks alongside of their car.

“Cute?” Da Silva asked out of the side of his bearded mouth.

The harem girl at his side lifted aside his veil and neatly spat a shred of tobacco between two groups of dancing Carnival celebrants, and then eyed the frayed end of the cigarette critically. He dropped the veil back in place and turned to the pirate. “Extremely neat,” he said equably. “A masterful piece of artistry. The gangsters in your country are endowed with many talents.”

“Gangsters?” Da Silva laughed abruptly. Traffic had slowed in their front, and his bumper was almost touching the back of the car ahead. He could even see Ari turning his head frantically, and the firm grip on the little man’s arm still maintained by the tall Keystone cop with the happy face. “That, my dear Wilson, is none other than the famous Andreas Moraes and Company. I’ve seen their pantomime before.”

“Andreas Moraes?”

Da Silva scratched at his heavy beard in irritation before answering. “Andreas Moraes. He could have been a top star of the Companhia Nacional de Comedia if he didn’t always have such a lot of larceny in his soul.”

Wilson turned to him, puzzled, shifting his ample bosom to accompany the movement. “You mean it is really only a gag?”

Da Silva shook his head. “No. I don’t believe it is only a gag. Not when they picked on Ari. I don’t believe that much in coincidence.” He looked at Wilson seriously. “I’ve heard a lot of odd stories about this Moraes and his morals and his politics; and a lot more about his constant need for money.” He shrugged. “I give him the benefit of the doubt; I think he’s only doing a job. What I want to know is, who is he doing the job for?” He put the car into gear again and edged forward, once more coming to rest a bit behind the car ahead. A group of snake-dancing Indians representing one of the clubs had swept through traffic, hips rolling in all directions, stopping all movement of cars.

Wilson smiled behind his veil. “This is, without the faintest doubt, the screwiest tailing job I’ve ever seen,” he said, smiling at Da Silva. “Not much chance of their getting away. Our only problem is to avoid running over them.” He looked ahead at the car in front, saw Ari suddenly rise and a strong hand slam him back into his seat. The raucous noise of a three-piece band composed of drum, cymbal and trumpet made it impossible to hear the hot words he could see being exchanged in the car ahead. “We can even practically hear every word they say.”

“I can imagine what they are saying,” Da Silva said, also smiling. He sat at the wheel of the idling car, staring across the five or six feet that separated him from his quarry. “I imagine that our friend Ari is getting a bit weary of being snatched every time he goes out of doors.”

Wilson suddenly puffed forcefully, and his veil wafted up over his face. He scratched his nose contentedly. “I can’t understand how these harem girls stand their life,” he said reflectively. “Everything else I can understand, but not this veil thing.” He tugged the flimsy piece of cloth back into place as the car edged forward a few more feet. “You know,” he said idly, “this fellow Schoenberg is really kidnap-prone. Somebody ought to hang a bell on him.”

“Somebody ought to hang a bell on the people who keep trying to kidnap him,” Da Silva said reasonably. “It would make it easier for us.” He scratched at his beard again. The car ahead inched forward a few feet and then stopped. He grasped Wilson’s arm. “Well, well, well,” he said with a chuckle. “Look at that! Maybe we won’t have to make like heroic Marines dashing to the rescue after all!”

Wilson sat erect and pushed his veil aside, peering ahead. A dancing group from one of the Carnival clubs, all attired in brightly striped prison uniforms, had been winding their way down the street when they noticed one of their fellows in the car ahead. He seemed to be arguing with his fellow passengers, all of whom were attired as police. The dancing group immediately stopped their jingling rhythm and swarmed about the parked car enthusiastically.

The first mistake the driver of the roadster made was to attempt to press through the crowded street, for this was manifestly impossible. His second mistake was even worse; he began to beat at the surrounding crowd with his white-gloved hands. Ari immediately stood up and tried to step over the side of the car, but his companion jerked him down again. A roar came from the striped crowd, a roar composed equally of pleasure at the thought of tumbling even pseudo-policemen into the gutter, and the satisfying thought of rescuing one of their members from a spot where he obviously didn’t wish to remain. The tall Keystone cop in the back seat with An suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation and, rising to his feet, began his pantomime performance, but he was too late. The striped mob about the car were displeased by the slapping hands and in no mood to be placated by histrionics.

“My, my,” Da Silva murmured, slipping the car into neutral and setting the hand brake. “This is a change!” He grinned at his unveiled companion. “This is one of the times when I’m proud to be a Brazilian,” he said. “Brazil! Carnival! I love you!”

Wilson, who had intelligently left his package of cigarettes on the seat beside him instead of reburying it in the multiple pleats of his harem pants, now lit one and leaned forward, watching the activity in their front with glee. “There should be a charge for this,” he said happily, “Best show I’ve seen since the old Mack Sennett days!”

The crowd of prison-uniformed Carnival dancers now surrounded the car in front, and were beginning to get out of hand. Anger, that delicate emotion that always lies so close to the surface of jangled nerves, even though those nerves be jangled with joy, now swept the crowd. Enraged by the pushing and slapping hands, the mob suddenly decided to overturn the car and see what came out. But their loyalty required that their fellow prisoner be freed first; one of the larger dancers swung himself into the back seat and calmly lifted Ari, depositing him in the forest of arms that were raised to receive him. This done, he jumped back to the street and joined with his fellows in destroying this car that had insulted them.

The little potbellied figure in the prisoner suit did not wait to see the final act of his rescue; as soon as the helping hands dropped from his arms, he darted off through the crowd and was soon lost to sight.

Da Silva turned to Wilson, smiling happily. “And so,” he said with a wicked gleam in his eye, “as the sun sinks slowly in the west, and our Jaguar pulls silently, more or less, away from the curb, we say, ‘Farewell to the entertaining Keystone Cops.’ And their open roadster!” He put the car into reverse, looking back over his shoulder. “This seems to be no place for a peace-loving man,” he added. “Shall we go?”

Chapter 6

It was a grim-faced group that had gathered in the locked room of the Richereau apartment in the small hours of the following morning. A sudden request by Madame Richereau to some of her guests to stop by after the party at the Fasano Roof for a nightcap — a request whispered in their ears while dancing — had somehow managed to include Strauss, and somehow managed to exclude Ari. He, having enjoyed himself immensely, had taken a cab back to his hotel, after having regaled everyone with a story of his ludicrous capture and even more ludicrous release. His eyes had sparkled as he told of his adventure, but they had swept the faces of the guests very carefully, also.

Now the last celebrant of the apparently inexhaustible crowd had finally filed reluctantly to the elevator, still singing drunkenly; now Deputado Strauss had somehow managed to remain behind, escaping this exodus in his search for the bathroom; now they were once more seated across from von Roesler. The room also contained a visitor from Rio de Janeiro; a large clown whose mask had been pushed up and out of the way to reveal the heavily eye-browed and whitely toothed Herr Mathais. Von Roesler sat glowering at the three of them, his hands pressed violently into the pockets of his bathrobe, as if to contain by force his displeasure.

“It was a mistake,” Strauss was saying defensively. His big fingers rolled his little feathered cap about with faint nervousness. “I knew at the time it was a mistake. I said it was a mistake.”

“It was bad luck,” Monica said quietly, “running into a club with the same costumes.”

Mathais sat quietly. Not having been involved in the fiasco, he sat back and watched the others with an expressionless face.

Von Roesler sneered, eying them all with impartial disgust. “There is no such thing as bad luck,” he said, his eyes marching steadily from one to the other, a professor on a lectern propounding basics to poorly prepared students. “There is only bad planning. It was a stupid idea from the beginning, trying to take him in front of a roomful of people!”

Strauss could not help himself. “It was a stupid idea from the beginning,” he muttered under his breath.

Von Roesler looked up at this interruption. “What? Did you say something?”

The big man looked up from his feathered cap. “You should have met with him,” he said doggedly. “None of this would have happened if you had met with him.”

Von Roesler dismissed this as pure negativism. “And now what do you intend to do?” It was a statement more than a question, but Strauss chose to interpret it as a query.

“Well, one thing I don’t think we should do,” he said, “is to attempt any more kidnappings!”

“No?” von Roesler said sarcastically.

“I agree with Strauss,” Mathais suddenly said from his chair in the corner. He spoke in a firm, positive voice. Of the three of them, he seemed the least afraid of, or impressed by the bathrobed man behind the desk. “He was picked up twice, once in Rio and once here in São Paulo. The one in Rio can be explained; actually it helped us. But it will be very hard to explain the one in São Paulo.” He shrugged. “This Herr Busch is no fool. One day Strauss asks him for money and he refuses; the next day he is kidnapped. What do you imagine he is going to think?”

“I was against it from the beginning,” Strauss began, but Monica broke into me conversation.

“There is no point in repeating that stupid statement endlessly,” she said with irritation. “It was an idea and it didn’t work. Let’s not talk about it any more.”

“I just want to make sure that we don’t decide to try it again,” Strauss insisted stubbornly.

“Again I agree with Strauss,” Mathais said. “If there should be any more of these attempts, the only thing we will accomplish is to frighten him away from Brazil. He’ll simply leave.”

“And leave the money?” von Roesler sneered.

“He brought the money in, right under our nose, and we don’t know how,” Mathais said boldly, looking von Roesler in the eye. “I’m sure he can take it out again, probably also under our nose, and we still won’t know how he managed.” His glance never wavered. “You all continue to think that Herr Busch is a fool. I know him, and I tell you that he is far from a fool.”

Strauss nodded his head emphatically. “I also know him and I agree. I tried to tell everybody...” His voice trailed into silence under the withering contempt of Monica’s sideways look.

“All right!” Von Roesler was beginning to lose his temper. The madness that ebbed and flowed in him seemed to be at a standstill at the moment. His voice was firm. “So he isn’t a fool! All right!” His voice became gently sarcastic. “You gentlemen seem to know what shouldn’t be done; possibly you might care to express your suggestions as to what should be done!”

Strauss stared stubbornly at the little feathered hat he continued to twist between his fingers. It was clear that he had his ideas but was hesitant to present them. Mathais was not so bashful.

“Certainly,” he said coolly. “It is very simple. We go back to Strauss’s original idea. Which, of course, was the reason I arranged for Herr Busch to come to São Paulo in the first place.” He spread out his hands. “You merely meet with him.”

The explosion they had all been tentatively expecting did not materialize. Von Roesler sat silent, looking from one to the other. Even as they watched he seemed to age a bit, to become a bit smaller, even to shrink a bit into the folds of his bathrobe. When he finally spoke his voice seemed to have even become a bit querulous. They watched this change with amazement.

“It is very easy for you all to talk,” he said, his face beginning to twitch as the madness crept warily back to the edges of his mind. “Meet him! Meet him! But where?” He looked at them craftily. “They are waiting for me to come out of this apartment; don’t you know? They have been waiting for years; I know they have! They almost got Busch, and who is Busch? Nobody! What was Busch ever? Nothing! And yet they almost got Busch.”

“Meet him here,” Mathais said soothingly. “Meet him in this apartment. Then you won’t have to go out.”

“Meet him here?” The crazed voice was scandalized. “Here? Bring him here, when they must be following him every minute, watching every move he makes? Bring him here? Let him lead them to this apartment?”

“If you agree to meet him,” Strauss said in a quiet, reasonable tone, “a meeting place that is safe can easily be arranged.”

The mad eyes swung blindly away from them, wandering tragically along the walls, past the heavily draped windows, over the locked door. “I thought my destiny was always Brazil,” he said, speaking in a soft crooning tone to some hidden corner of his brain, the past beginning to swirl like his pipe smoke through the gossamer web of his thoughts. He giggled. “Safe? What is safe?” The insane laughter faded and he looked at them blankly, through them, beyond them. “You know,” he said conversationally, “I had a map on my desk at Buchenwald, a map of Brazil. I looked at it every day, studied it, pored over it. I thought my destiny was here in Brazil. Here. I was sure that my destiny was here.” He sighed, suddenly weary of it all. “And now I find myself locked in a small room, worse than a prisoner...”

“Your destiny is in Brazil,” Monica said swiftly, quietly, attempting to bring the wandering mind back into focus. “Here in Brazil. Maybe meeting with Herr Busch is that destiny, Erick.”

“And the meeting place is no problem,” Mathais interposed smoothly without a break, not wishing to allow time for the attention of the other to escape back into the nebulous past. “If you don’t want to meet him here in the apartment, I can easily arrange a suite at one of the hotels here in São Paulo.” A gleam of sanity briefly returned. The voice hardened. “Not in São Paulo. I will not meet him in São Paulo.” He leaned forward, appealing to the intelligence of them all. “Don’t you see? They are here in São Paulo. Now. Can’t you understand?”

“A suite at the Mirabelle in Rio, then,” Mathais said equably, calmly. “You will be safe there.”

The gleam once again faded, he seemed to shrink again. “Locked rooms,” he murmured faintly. “Always locked rooms...” He looked up pathetically. “Must I meet with. him?”

“We need the money,” Mathais said quietly.

“We promise you we will arrange a place that is safe from... from... from them,” Strauss added with embarrassment. Monica sat silent, her fingers twisting, her eyes filling with tears.

“Then I will meet with him!” The figure behind the desk seemed to draw strength from the decision. He looked at them all fiercely. “But not in São Paulo. In Rio!” He stood up abruptly; the weak figure that had sat in his place but a moment before had disappeared to be replaced in an instant by the old Erick von Roesler, Colonel in the justly famed and justly feared SD. They watched this metamorphosis in astonished silence.

He turned to Mathais, the old tone of command strong in his voice. “You will arrange it. Consider yourself in command. You will arrange a place that is safe; not indoors, not in any locked room. I leave it to you to arrange.” He turned sharply toward the others, continuing to speak to Mathais. “When all arrangements are completed, you will communicate with Herr Strauss; he will manage to let me know.” He looked at them coldly; it was dismissal. The meeting was over.

Monica saw them out of the apartment, her eyes bright with tears, her thoughts far away. In the automatic elevator, descending slowly, Strauss finally found words. “You know, of course,” he said absently, “the man is mad. Completely mad.” He turned to Mathais as if seeking support.

Mathais smiled at him icily. “Of course.”

“But...”

“But we need the money.” The door opened mechanically, depositing them in a deserted lobby. They stepped out.

“But do you think—” Strauss hesitated for words — “do you think that if he meets with Busch he will... he won’t... that he’ll act all right?” he finished in a rush.

Mathais looked at him. “Von Roesler is the only one who can convince Busch to part with that money. He’ll act all right. He’ll have to!” He turned toward the door, but Strauss caught his arm.

“How will you get Busch to go back to Rio?”

Mathais smiled grimly. “That will be no problem. Leave it to me. We have all wasted too much time trying to be subtle in this entire affair; I’ll simply tell him the man he wants to contact will meet him in Rio on such-and-such a day.”

Strauss still did not seem to be satisfied. “But a meeting place... If it isn’t just right, von Roesler may refuse to go.”

Mathais patted him on the arm reassuringly. “Don’t worry about the meeting place,” he said. “I know just the spot. It will be perfect.”

They pushed through the heavy doors and stepped out into the deserted street. In the distance the faint sounds of continuing Carnival revelers came beating softly on the early morning air.

“At least,” Strauss said vaguely, “Da Silva won’t be around to complicate things.”

“You handled that very well.” Mathais dismissed the subject abruptly, looking at his wrist watch. Strauss caught the hint.

They shook hands briefly. “Auf wiedersehen.”

“Auf wiedersehen,” Mathais replied. And added, “And don’t worry about the meeting. I know just the place for it. It will be perfect.”

Finale Agitato

Chapter 1

The intoxicating view from the high window of the suite in the Mirabelle Hotel overlooking the ruffled expanse of the ocean front did not seem to have changed at all in his absence. In the far distance the tiny rock islands still broke the even, calm surface of the sea with their pleasantly rounded protuberances; the same bobbing fishing boats seemed to weave on the same hypnotic, undulating waves that washed the beach in front of the hotel veranda. The somnambulant peddlers of ice cream with their gayly striped wagons could have been taken intact from the scene of the week before, pushing the same rickety wagons before them at the same retarded pace along the patterned mosaic sidewalk.

Even the tiny striped umbrellas planted in staggered rows among the daily crop of sun bathers scattered like prop bodies after a battle scene looked as if they had not changed since the last morning he had gazed down upon them. Across the smokeless roofs of the apartment buildings that lined the sand expanse like stilted pickets on a curving fence, the rocky tower of Pão de Açúcar could be seen standing stark against the faded blue sky. Even the tiny cable strands that led to its majestic top seemed to be definable in the clear air of the hot afternoon.

Ari returned to his unpacking. He studied the neatly arranged contents of his leather bag and sighed deeply. Two weeks had passed since his arrival in Brazil; two marvelously dreamless weeks even free of the terrifying heart palpitations; two weeks into which had been crowded more adventure and more excitement than he had known in his life. He stood staring blankly at the challenge of his packed bag. In two weeks he had been kidnapped twice, had seen the sights of Rio, had enjoyed Carnival in São Paulo. What could you know of these things? he asked the waiting bag irritably. All you do is sit there demanding to be emptied.

His restlessness finally overcame him; he left the silent bag and returned to the more satisfying window. But the two weeks were not fruitless, he reflected, searching his mind for some fount of satisfaction to ease his tightened nerves.

In these two weeks you have uncovered the principal limbs of this rotting tree; it is only necessary to identify the main root stem to complete the job. So why be nervous? Why be restless? The time for nervousness was two weeks ago, now is almost the time for triumph. And that soon, very soon. The changeable hotel manager, Herr Mathais — no longer the elastic-faced mine host, but suddenly transformed into a sharp, positive personality — had informed him only that day, in a brisk, businesslike manner, that his meeting with the head of the Brazilian organization was in the immediate process of being realized, and that he would be informed as soon as the details were arranged.

He stared across the blue-green of the ocean before him, analyzing his restlessness.

Can it be nostalgia? he wondered. Is it possible to feel nostalgia for a place where you are? Because you know you must soon leave it? Is this possible? His eyes swept the horizon, coming to rest on the hazy summit of Sugar Loaf. One thing, though, I promise, he said to himself. Before I leave Brazil, I shall manage in some manner to see the view from your summit; that will be my farewell to this lovely place. There on your top, before I leave, I shall cleanse myself of the unhappiness that somehow has followed me throughout this masquerade. When this is finished, it is there that I shall properly say goodbye to the lush grandeur and peaceful beauty of this city.

He sighed and stared back over his shoulder at his still-unpacked bag. Stay there, he said in sudden resolution to his shirts and socks and underwear, to his handkerchiefs and ties, to his extra suit and extra shoes. Stay there and keep yourself company. You are somehow something out of the past, and I’ll unpack you when I’m good and ready.

He looked back out of the window, surprised once again at the depth of his restlessness. Am I nervous? he thought. I should actually be happy; the conclusion of this farce is near, we are coming close to the answer that induced this idiotic imposture, this crazy adventure. Am I afraid? He thought of Da Silva off in a foreign country and felt a pang of loneliness sweep him, a faint shock of panic. Yes, he thought, almost with satisfaction at the revelation; yes, I am afraid. But of what I do not know. But I am afraid!

The thought, oddly enough, seemed to calm him instantly, and he returned at once to his bag, dipping into it resolutely. Without an indication of his previous perturbed state of mind, he carefully placed each item in its place in the dresser drawers, and hung his suit neatly on a hanger in the narrow closet.

Chapter 2

Eight floors below, in his private apartment on the second floor, Herr Mathais was desperately attempting to come to some arrangements with two people who seemed intent upon purposefully misunderstanding him. His temper, normally under the good control so necessary to hotel managers, was wearing a bit thin, but he seemed to realize that this was no time to explode.

“It will be only for one hour,” he repeated, certain in his mind that he had made the same statement at least forty times before. “One hour. At the most.”

The little man facing him, dressed in a blue uniform that had long since seen its best years, continued to hug the edge of his seat in the manner of one who had dropped in for a brief visit and should have been on his way long before. He also seemed doubtful as to whether or not his interlocutor was capable of understanding simple Portuguese. “But the Senhor does not comprehend. It is a public place. Private parties there are forbidden.”

“But you close,” Mathais said patiently. “You close sometime. Sometime you have to close. We only wish to go there after you close.”

“Ah!” said the man across from him, who at this point might properly have been called his opponent, if not his adversary. He had immediately noted the obvious flaw in this argument and had pounced upon it at once. “But afterwards, you see, you cannot go. Because afterwards, we are closed.”

Mathais ground his huge teeth together, but maintained an outward calm, albeit a trifle shaky. He thought a moment and decided to try another tack.

“You open at what time?” he asked slowly, speaking with extreme clarity.

The other considered this carefully, and apparently finding nothing incriminating in answering, nodded thoughtfully.

“Quite early,” he said, but added sadly, “of course before we open, no one is allowed.”

“I understand,” Mathais said heavily. “Now; what time do you close?”

“Quite late.”

“The time,” Mathais said, almost gritting his teeth. “What time do you close? The exact hour?”

The second man, who had sat throughout this duel in silence, now decided to come to his partner’s aid. “We close at midnight,” he said.

Mathais gave a vast sigh of relief. “You close at midnight. Then, if I wished to come there with my friends after midnight, there would be no one there.” He quickly raised his hand to forestall the inevitable. “Yes. I know it is closed after midnight. But we would only require someone to run the mechanism — the car. And we would pay for this. We would pay money for someone to stay after hours to run the car.”

The magic word “money” seemed to have the necessary effect; or at least it had some effect. The two fell into a huddled conference, jabbering softly to each other. Mathais waited patiently, convinced that he was on the right track. One might have imagined that his years in Brazil would have taught him better, but he had always been of a basically optimistic nature. The conference finally ended; the first turned back to him with a tragic face. “Senhor. It is not possible. After midnight we are closed.”

A lesser man might have broken; Strauss, Mathais reflected, would have stalked from the room, or lain down upon the floor and shed tears. He, however, was made of stronger stuff. It suddenly occurred to him where he had been making his mistake, and he immediately took steps to rectify it.

“Fifty conto,” he said, staring hypnotically into the eyes of the man seated so precariously before him.

“I beg your pardon?” It was startled, but definitely interested.

“Fifty conto. Fifty thousand cruzeiros.” His eyes flickered across to the other, and he nodded his head slightly in recognition of the presence of the second. “Fifty conto each, that is, of course. A total of one hundred conto. One hundred thousand cruzeiros.”

There was silence. The second turned to the first and then paused. This obviously did not even require a conference. “Senhor,” he said, “exactly what do you want us to do?”

Mathais smiled successfully and leaned forward. “Listen closely,” he said, “I will explain everything. On next Wednesday...”

“I beg your pardon?”

Mathais’ expression did not change. “I said, ‘On next Wednesday.’ And please, just remember as you are listening, one hundred conto. One hundred thousand cruzeiros. Will you remember that?”

“Yes, Senhor, we will remember that.”

“Fine,” Mathais said with satisfaction. “Now see if you can remember this...”

Chapter 3

The brightly lit facade of the Mirabelle Hotel threw its reflected glow upon the empty pavement of the Avenida Atlantica, now damp from the faint sea fog that was slowly rolling in from the rustling ocean lost in darkness beyond the barrier of the sandy beach. It was past midnight, and the traffic had slowed down to a few well-spaced cars hurrying by, seeking to reach home before the full force of the fog swept down and closed off vision. Their tires sucked at the wet pavement hungrily, sounding sticky in the quiet night. The sharp clacking of an occasional pair of high heels patrolling the darkness were the only other sounds.

Parked a block above the Mirabelle and facing north in the direction of the city stood the battered taxi with the mechanically interesting horn ring. Two blocks below the hotel, facing south, a gaily dressed Brazilian lounged at the wheel of a long, low Jaguar. To pass the time the drivers of these two parked cars were talking to each other by radio.

“This is boring,” Wilson said, and his voice reflected his words. His finger toyed with the dashboard switch. “This is the second night in a row; I’m about ready to leave you to your own devices and call it quits.” He paused, and when his voice came back on the air again its tone had livened. “Or possibly I’ll take this taxi racket seriously. I’ve turned down about eight fares so far tonight, but there are three girls coming along now that I think...” “Relax, boy.” Da Silva’s voice came through roughly, distorted as usual by the instrument, but Wilson could hear the chuckle behind the words. “I can see every move you make. Be patient; just be patient. When this is all over, I promise you can use the cab for a week. Everything you earn will be yours. Including tips.”

“Including women?”

“Including everything. I’ll even buy the gas.”

Wilson yawned. “How much longer do we hold down the fort tonight?”

“One more hour and we’ll call it off. If they are going to make a move, they ought to make it at a reasonable hour. If they want us to be around, that is.” The voice became more serious. “One more hour and we’ll call it a night.”

“And for just how many more nights do we keep up this let’s-wait-for-curfew-to-ring routine?”

The seriousness in the other’s voice became more profound. “I wish I knew. I don’t imagine it will be long, but I honestly wish I knew. This is Wednesday; they pulled that cute little stunt with Moraes in São Paulo a week ago tonight. Don’t worry; something has to break soon.”

“I should hope so. I’m getting calluses on my you-know-what.” The voice of Wilson suddenly tensed. “Hold it. A couple of king-sized cars just pulled up to the side-street entrance of the hotel.”

Da Silva’s voice remained calm, but there was an undercurrent of excitement in his tone. “I see them.

Packards. Who drives Packards these days?”

“Undertakers,” Wilson said. “Two men in the front seat of each. It’s too dark to make out anything else at this distance. By the way, nobody seems to want to get out. They must have heard that the beds are hard.”

“I think this is it!” Da Silva said, excitement creeping into his voice. “Just a minute! I’m sure of it now; here come the leading characters!”

Mathais and Ari were coming down the steps of the hotel entrance; Mathais handed Ari carefully into the rear seat of the first car, and then looked quickly up and down the street. He hesitated, went back to talk to the driver of the second car for a moment, and then returned, spoke softly to his driver, and entered, taking his place beside Ari. The man beside the driver reached back through the open window and swung the door shut.

The cars took off in tandem, turned into Avenida Atlantica in the direction of the city, and gained speed. Wilson threw his car into gear and cut in behind the second Packard. His radio suddenly crackled.

“I’ll turn around and come up behind you,” Da Silva’s voice said, firm and authoritative. “I think this is really it! This time, for the love of God, don’t lose them!”

“Roger, Wilco, Joseph and Mary,” said Wilson succinctly, and reached forward to switch off the radio. He settled determinedly behind the wheel, concentrating on his driving.

The fog was increasing in intensity; the street arcs along the Avenida wore sparkling halos. They passed wedge-shaped shafts of light thrown out from hotels and bars and apartment entrances; Wilson flashed a quick glance in the rearview mirror, but it was impossible to say whether or not Da Silva had come up with him. On the other hand, he thought with some compensating satisfaction, it should be difficult for those in front to know they had a tail!

At the Avenida Princesca Isabel the procession turned left, swinging away from the ocean, heading for the twin tunnels, each of which gave one-directional traffic between Copacabana and Botafogo and the city. The glow of fluorescent lights in the downtown side gleamed ghostly in front of Wilson as he approached the arched mouth through the fog. In front of him the tail lights of the trailing Packard blinked into brilliance as the driver slowed for the entrance. Wilson gently applied pressure to his brake pedal, and they entered the tunnel at a moderate speed.

A bus suddenly rocketed by at Wilson’s side, glistening with drops of water, its driver intent upon finishing his run and getting home as quickly as possible. In the flickering lights of the tunnel, the yellow sides of the swaying bus loomed ominously; Wilson pulled to one side, braking slightly. In that instant the car ahead seemed to leap forward in a sudden burst of speed, and without conscious thought, Wilson stamped fiercely on the accelerator. Without warning, the Packard then sharply braked and began to twist, as if in difficulty, weaving back and forth across the narrow tunnel. The yellow bus screamed past, its driver visibly cursing as he shot into the night and disappeared. The wet tires of the battered taxi behind tried their best to hold the pavement, squealing bravely in the attempt, but in the narrow passage there was just not enough room. As if in slow motion he saw his skidding car sliding toward the Packard; the rear fender of the other loomed larger and larger before him; he felt the sickening shock of contact as he pulled the wheel fiercely to one side. The impact threw him against the tiled wall; the entire side of the car scraped along, shrilling wildly. One tire, finally gripping a dry spot in the roadway, completed the disaster; the cab swung about in a wide arc, bounced off the wall with a shattering crash, and rocked to a shuddering stop, blocking the passage of the tunnel completely. From the interior of the crumpled hood a jet of hot water and steam sprayed against the cracked windshield.

Da Silva, coming up fast behind, saw both the intention and the accident, but without stopping to investigate he braked to a stop, thrust his Jaguar brutally into reverse, and shot backwards out of the tunnel. A car coming up behind skidded wildly to miss him, and entered the tunnel with its driver looking over his shoulder screaming imprecations. Da Silva paid no attention.

Once clear of the entrance, he swung the wheel sharply to the left and went bouncing over the center strip, coming down heavily over the curb to enter the uptown side of the tunnel with his superchargers roaring. He was fortunate in facing but one lone car hurrying home to Copacabana; this fled to one side with lights flashing and horn echoing hollowly in the enclosed space. Da Silva kept to one side, shooting through the narrow tunnel with his hand pressed steadily on the horn, his foot madly flickering the floor switch for his headlights.

At the exit of the tunnel he slowed momentarily as he bumped back across the center strip to his own lane. He cast one quick glance back at the steaming wreck piled across the mouth of the tunnel and then, without hesitation, swung once again in the direction of the city, stamping on the gas pedal.

But the road ahead was clear. The fog here had lifted enough to see the glaring cyclop eye winking down impersonally from each light pole; they illuminated a deserted pavement. With a vicious muttered curse, Da Silva tightened his grip on the steering wheel, increasing his speed. But he knew with a sinking feeling, even as he shot past the empty shining sea wall and the silent dripping palms, that he had lost his quarry.

Chapter 4

Within the leading Packard Ari attempted to relax at Mathais’ side; his fingers drummed tensely on the center armrest that had been drawn down to form a comfortable barrier between the two men. There had been no conversation. The fear that had been gnawing relentlessly at Ari for the past few days seemed to mount in the heavy air of the closed car; his hands were damp with perspiration. It seemed incredible to him that the other should not be able to sense his fear, to feel it, almost to smell it; but Mathais sat looking through the rolled-up window with seemingly complete unconcern. It will go away, Ari thought desperately; this will go away. It is only because I am finally going to meet the head of their organization; it is only nervousness; because we are coming to the final moment; it is only natural. Despite the coolness of the night his forehead was beaded with tiny drops of sweat; his heart began its old pounding rhythm, the irregular beat adding to his fright. The old feeling of nausea returned, and he desperately wished for a window to be opened, wondering if he might possibly request it without his fear becoming visible for all to see. He wished he had taken a pill before leaving, and suddenly wondered if he were about to turn his great adventure into farce by becoming sick.

They left the beach and turned north toward the tunnel leading to the city. With the car windows closed, the sound of their tires was reduced to a faint purr on the damp roadway; there seemed to be something sinister in the smooth manner in which they appeared to float through the foggy night, as if they rode in some hideous bubble that seemed to shrink, getting smaller and smaller every moment. Maybe it is only another form of my old dream, Ari thought, swallowing forcefully, my old nightmare from Tier 3, Row 4, Barracks 4; the frightening dream of being suffocated, clamped down upon, stifled. He drew in a deep breath, freeing his lungs shudderingly, and forced himself to lean back, attempting calmness.

The tunnel swallowed them; the hum of the tires subtly changed tone. Mathais seemed to suddenly acquire a certain air of tenseness. As the car rolled smoothly beneath the glinting battery of fluorescent lights, he sat straighter, as if quietly awaiting something. Now the tires were sucking the roadway with their old whine; the arched mouth of the tunnel had spewed them out once again into the night. And then, behind them, Ari heard the dampened protest of brakes, the muffled, tortured screaming of metal rasping angrily against concrete, and then the final pounding crash. Their driver did not falter but drove smoothly on. Ari turned his head swiftly, staring back through the tiny rear window, but their car had competently swerved away from the main roadway, and the tunnel was now hidden. In the shimmering reflections cast waveringly up from the wet pavement, he could see the second Packard hurrying to catch up with them, swaying slightly on the uneven street. He turned back to see Mathais once again relaxing in his seat, his huge blocks of teeth shining white in a satisfied smile.

“An overly curious cab driver,” said the hotel manager unctuously. “I had noticed him parked a bit above the hotel when we left; he started to follow us.” His voice hardened; there was something familiar about the hardness, something remembered from the past. “That one will bother us no more!”

It was his shocked recognition of the tone of voice that swept all fear from Ari, and with the fear, all of the nervousness and tenseness. He could physically feel these emotions drain away to be replaced with implacable anger and firm resolution. This was the voice he had never forgotten, the voice that he could never forget. This was the voice that represented all he had ever hated and fought against, the voice from which he had suffered and endured such deep losses.

This was the voice of the Storm Trooper, beating his aged and bearded prisoner through the streets; the voice of the camp clerk sneeringly calling out the names of the next batch to leave the frightful insecurity of the vermin-ridden shelves for the terrible certainty of the gas ovens. This was the high, piercing, righteous voice of the Hitler Jugend calmly denouncing their parents to the Gestapo; the voice of the Führer demanding the wave of the future and receiving the shrill “Sieg heil!” of the screaming mob. This was the voice of the Third Reich fifteen years after the cleansing flames of the Berlin bunkers; but the voice of Nazi Germany intact, and Ari knew it well.

He settled back in his seat in sudden relaxation, his blue eyes turning icy. It was this voice and all voices like it that he could help still by his meeting tonight. The opportunity he had feared, he now welcomed. He nodded stiffly to Mathais as if in praise for the neatness displayed in eliminating their pursuer, and then turned his face once again to the window to avoid the other’s smirk.

They were in a part of the city he did not know. In the fog it was difficult to recognize landmarks, but the street along which they drove, and the facades of the buildings which they passed, did not look familiar. This was a section he had not previously visited. Before them a wall suddenly loomed, topped by a string of lights glistening through the fog. They turned to the right without slowing, and continued driving.

“Yacht Club,” Mathais said briefly, and also turned his attention to the thickening night outside. The Yacht Club faded into the darkness behind them, the car began to slow down. Another curve and a second cluster of lights began to approach. This I should know, Ari thought. It is not so far from the drive; I should be able to orient myself. He shrugged in indifference; it was really quite unimportant.

The Packard eased to the hidden curb; Mathais got down heavily and helped Ari to get out. The fog here was thicker, a pocket that had swirled down into the depression formed by two huge rocky towers. Certainly I should know this place, Ari mused with a touch of irritation. Have I lost my sense of direction altogether? He shrugged again as they walked toward the light cluster; the driver and his silent companion bracketed the two as they went. The sound of the second car pulling up could be heard; a car door slammed and the other feet walked hurriedly up behind them. They arrived at the source of the lights in a tight group. Ari stared in amazement.

Before him was a boxlike car, resembling a short street trolley, but hung from a set of oily wheels mounted clumsily above. He swung his eyes up; the heavy cables passed in a sagging dip over his head and faded in a rising curve into the wall of fog. He turned to Mathais, who was smiling, unable to hide his pride in his arrangements.

“Yes,” Mathais said. “Pão de Açúcar — Sugar Loaf. Our leader will meet you on top of Sugar Loaf.” He was almost grinning in his self-satisfaction at his own cleverness. “It is the perfect place, yes?”

But, Ari almost cried, it is foggy, we shall not be able to see the beautiful view! Even as the thought crossed his mind, he realized how unimportant to his mission it was; but the feeling of loss somehow persisted. What a shame to visit Pão de Açúcar on a night of such fog! What a waste!

He turned to Mathais, his face exhibiting the proper appreciation for the other’s brilliance. “Do we wait for him here?”

“No; he prefers to meet on the summit.” Mathais chuckled comfortably. “A summit meeting.” He took Ari’s arm, guiding him to the car. A little uniformed Brazilian sat inside, eyes downcast, waiting for them to enter. The silent men with them stood to one side until Mathais handed Ari in; then they followed. Mathais stepped back. “I’ll see you on top in a few minutes,” he said, and added almost jovially, “Boa viagem. Good trip.”

They started at once with a jerk, swaying fearfully. Ari grabbed for the supporting rod above his head, and then lowered himself gingerly onto a seat. The silent Storm Troop types about him seated themselves on either side; no word was spoken. Ari turned, looking down over his shoulder through the open window; the glow of the lights on the ground was slowly fading. Their car seemed to be suspended in a yellowish liquid, washing in it, rocking gently from side to side. His eyes automatically turned back to study the interior of the little wooden car; it seemed to be terribly fragile, scarcely built to ride to such heights. Ahead of them the cables swept silently out of the fog and then disappeared once again behind. The little blue-jacketed conductor sat with his eyes fixed blankly upon the floor. A sudden rift in the fog bank gave a momentary glimpse of the city, a flashing view of tiny streets and foreshortened apartment buildings dropping steeply away, but before Ari could fix it in his sight, the curtain of mist swept between them and they were once again back in their silent medium, swaying ever higher.

The faces about him were expressionless. What would you say if you knew you were taking a Jew up to meet your leader? he said to them silently, bitterly. What would you do? Would your cowlike faces at least assume some expression, even if it were only of anger? Would you look shocked, surprised? Amused? You would look the same, he thought with cold disgust; you are automatons, robots, and you would look the same. You have looked the same for a thousand years; you would not change now. Up and up they went; time seemed to stand still for their silent ascent into the mysterious emptiness of the blind sky. The hum of the huge wheels rolling quietly on the cables washed them all in weariness; the figures of his bodyguards, slumped in the wooden seats along the wall of the swaying car, seemed steeped in hypnosis, watching him as if drugged. The yellow fog beyond the glistening window swirled about sluggishly, casting back the weak light from the climbing car in spectral lights and shadows.

The ride seemed endless. As they rose the fog became cooler; the drop in temperature was quite apparent. Ari welcomed the sudden cold, laying his head against the wooden window frame, enjoying the dampness on his cheek. And then a sudden squealing of the cables jerked his head up; they were decelerating. The swaying became less pronounced, the invisible pull upward was being reduced. There was a sharp scraping sound as they dragged against something, coming to rest with one final tug. They were on top; the door opened.

He stepped out into a world apart from any he had ever known. The fog was thinner here; above him the faint glow of the moon could be seen, forcing itself through the spreading webs of mist. The cloudlike blanket of fog flowed below on all sides, curling folds that boiled in the air only a few feet beneath his precarious perch. The movement of the car seemed to remain with him, as if the mountain itself were shifting slightly; he took a few steps and the earth miraculously firmed. The four men who had ridden with him formed a file that led him to a flight of steps set in one corner of this aerie.

“On the platform,” one said harshly. “He will meet you alone on the platform above.” Ari stared at them blankly; a thumb jerked abruptly upward, and with a nod he began to climb.

The rounded railing was damp under his fingers, the concrete steps slippery beneath his feet; he seemed to be mounting into the heights of the sky itself. Below he heard the scraping sound and the thin whining of the cables as the little car hesitatingly took off on its descent to the earth so far below. Then the silence about him was complete.

The upper platform was lit only by the growing brilliance of the now triumphant moon, and by a red airplane-warning beacon mounted on a slim steel pole high above. He stepped into the red puddle of light that the beacon cast and watched his skin take on a bloody tinge. With a faint shudder he stepped away to the soft clean moonlight, leaning on the railing, turning his back on the cynical red eye, peering down into the ocean of fog that flowed beneath. From the distant hidden rocks far below, the tiny sounds of surf came up in weak crashes, fighting their way through the thick insulating layers of yellow mist; he tried to remember the foot of the cliff as he had seen it many times in brilliant sunlight, but the picture refused to form. He could only see the waves beating against the black rocks in endless darkness, tragically tearing at the giant, wearing upon it, trying to drag it down under the murky sea.

His eyes swept the fog bank below; lighter spots came and went, reflecting the lights of the city in thinner layers. Somewhere below this cloud mass lay the beauty he had come to know and love, the winding beaches, the swaying palms. A sudden puff of breeze cleared a spot for an instant; the glittering curve of Copacabana sprang into view and then was lost again as the mist rolled back. At least I’ve been to Sugar Loaf, he thought in sudden sardonic bitterness. And then, surprisingly, his feelings changed to thankfulness. Yes, he thought, at least I’ve been to Sugar Loaf! I promised myself to come, and I am here! Even though it is dark and foggy, even though I came through no volition of my own, I am here! I shall take my satisfaction from this; we must take our satisfaction where we can!

Time passed slowly; then the creaking of the car wheels straining against the taut cable came clearly again through the night, gradually increasing in sound. The tiny car was once again approaching. He listened intently. There was the familiar scraping sound again, the car dragging slowly against the ledge, and then silence. A few minutes passed as he waited, suddenly tense, feeling the fog at his back. Then hesitant footsteps could be heard as they came across the lower walk and started slowly up the steps, dragging, as if their owner were feeling his way. A figure began to emerge from the lower level, rising from the stairwell; the heavy hat first, then the shadowed face, and finally the tall, slightly stooped body. It paused at the top of the stairway, as if in contemplation or seeking rest, and then came slowly across the platform to Ari’s side.

They faced each other in silence. The taller man had a rough scarf wound about his mouth and nose, as if for protection against the fog, and with a brief nod of his head in Ari’s direction, he began to remove it, glancing contemptuously about as he did so. The scarf came off slowly, like a mummy’s bandage; Ari found himself studying the glittering eyes during the unwinding operation. This man is mad, he suddenly thought; and his heart began to accelerate, rumbling in his ears.

The cowl was finally disengaged, the grizzled head shook itself in freedom, casting aside the narrow band of cloth; he turned abruptly to Ari.

“Herr Busch?”

Ari said nothing; the face before him wavered and then took shape again; it was lined and aged, the hair beneath the brim of the huge hat was sprinkled with white. There was something familiar in the voice, in the cast of the face.

“Herr Busch?” The repetition was demanding.

Where had he seen this face before? His mind fled through the past, down the years of the horror that had been his homeland, and came automatically to Buchenwald; and there he found the answer. The shock of recognition struck Ari brutally; his voice caught in his throat. The mad features before him dimmed as dizziness swept him and then faded, but a nameless joy also swept him at his discovery. The harsh face stood waiting impatiently.

“Von Roesler.” The words were forced from his throat in a burst of vengeful happiness; his heart increased its dreaded tempo, drumming wildly in his breast, physically shaking him.

The face before him suddenly smiled, congenial. “You know me? You are familiar with me?” The stoop disappeared as he stood militarily erect. “Then we can clear up this unfortunate misunderstanding quickly.” He paused in reflection, turning to stare into the gleaming blue eyes with imperiousness. “You know me? From where?”

“Von Roesler! Colonel von Roesler!” Ari chuckled, a frightful sound in the whispering night; a sound to turn a more sane man in querying doubt.

“From the Fatherland? From the war?” The crazed eyes turned inward in glorious memory. “I’m sure that we have met; you know me, and you seem to be most familiar. Most familiar. Possibly I was a bit hasty in my first reaction to your visit, my dear Herr Busch.” The eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“Colonel von Roesler!”

“From Poland, perhaps? Or Riga? Or possibly Paris. Was it Paris?”

Ari stared at him in mounting joy; a vicious smile twisted his lips. The other peered at him curiously.

“Or one of the camps. Did we meet in one of the camps? I was in many, you know.” There was an unconscious pride in his tone. “I was at Auschwitz, and Maidanek. And Dachau. And Buchenwald, of course...”

Ari listened to this fearful litany in grinning hate. At the sound of this name he chuckled aloud, almost sobbing. The crazed eyes swung around at the sound.

“Buchenwald? You were at Buchenwald? Of course!” He stared into the glittering blue eyes in grimacing concentration. “You were a guard there, I remember... or a clerk... Or were you one of the attendants at the ovens...?” The voice faltered, becoming querulous. “You do not wish to say? To tell me? But I know... I know!” He suddenly giggled in infantile triumph; how could this one expect not to be remembered with those startling blue eyes? “It was Hamburg! On the train — the brakeman...” He shook his head in sad bewilderment. “No; you were not the brakeman. But it was Hamburg — one of the guards there? The barracks, perhaps...?” His mind wandered off, slipping back into that awful nightmare. “The fire — you remember? You remember the fire?” The twisted face jutted forward, the voice became petulant. Those deep blue eyes, those terribly blue eyes! “You do not want to tell me? But I know! I remember! It was — Buchenwald! It was Hamburg—!” The triumph suddenly returned; he almost crowed. “No, no! I know! It was Paris! Of course; it was Paris! I knew I would remember! It was Paris! We were coming around a corner, I was with Monica, you know; and we were coming around this corner, we had been to the Portuguese Embassy...!”

And then recognition struck him like a huge fist, slamming through him, battering him, tearing away his reserves. He lurched back against the railing, his mouth opening in shocked horror.

Ari laughed. He reached for the shaking arm drawing away from him in desperation, gripping it tightly, speaking from an inspiration or direction he could not recognize. “You must not make a sound!” he said quietly, staring with almost equal madness into the crazed eyes before him, his heart beating in a frenzied tempo, his body beginning to tremble. Von Roesler tried to pull away, cringing, his blanched lips opening in terror.

“No, no!” Ari whispered as one would to a frightened child, some corner of his brain sniggering at the insanity of the scene, the unreality of it, the hopelessness of it. “You must be perfectly quiet!”

A faint cry broke from the terrified madman, a pitiful mewling sound. The silence on the deck below was broken by the uncertain shuffling of feet.

“Ah, no!” Ari whispered fiercely. The pain was sweeping him now, washing over him in terrible waves, choking his words deep in his chest. Von Roesler’s cries grew in intensity, sobbing as they forced their way through the paralyzed throat. A wild scream burst from the drooling lips. The footsteps below, no longer hesitant, pounded up the stairway.

Ari smiled quietly. With superhuman strength he grasped the shrieking figure in his thin arms and leaned backward as far as he could over the broad railing, pulling the struggling body of the other with him. The pain almost paralyzed him, robbing him of the power of his arms, but he forced himself ever backward, panting, fighting. With a violent arch of his back he rolled sideways, never loosening his grip on the other, dragging the squirming body with him; a low growling sound came from his throat, from the exertion and the terrible stabbing pain.

The footsteps came clattering across the concrete of the platform; hands reached out desperately. He felt the fingers clawing at him, the fingernails scraping urgently across the cloth of his sleeve. The pain in his body swelled to a climax; a star-burst exploded before him, releasing a beautiful brilliance in his eyes; and then released him to final peace and freedom as they dropped away from the dragging hands into the void below.

They fell through the night, a dead man still clasping a screaming maniac in his rigid, locked grasp. The sea reached out with calm arms to greet them...

Encore — A Tempo

Chapter 1

Da Silva and Wilson stood on the broad marble steps of the Instituto Medico-Legal in the hot afternoon sun, staring silently at each other. Wilson’s head carried a wide bandage; his left arm swung stiffly from a silken sling.

“It’s von Roesler, all right,” Wilson said quietly. “I’ll send his fingerprints off this afternoon, but I don’t think there is any doubt.” He stared at his companion’s rigid face. “You were right, of course, all along.”

“I was late, of course, all along,” Da Silva said bitterly. He stared back over his shoulder at the tall bronze doors of the Instituto. “It was Ari who was right all along. Even at the end...”

Wilson touched the tall man’s shoulder with his free hand, in compassion. “You cannot take a thing like this personally. You did everything you could have done.”

Da Silva sighed, forcing his mind away from the battered, smiling body that he had so recently left behind, lying in peaceful oblivion in his narrow tier in the Medico-Legal. A thought that had lain dormant below the surface of his mind for some time now arose. He turned to Wilson somberly. “And the report? How will it go?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll have to put in a report, you know. He was an American citizen. And what will your report say? Will it be another case of endless revenge by a Jew against a Nazi? Must we end up, after all this, with what would amount, in the eyes of so many blind people, to another Eichmann case after all?”

Wilson looked surprised. “Another Eichmann case? They were both Nazis, don’t you remember?” His voice was gentle. “As far as I am concerned, Herr Busch and Colonel Von Roesler had a terrible accident. Or possibly they committed suicide.” He looked calmly into Da Silva’s eyes.

“It could be that their consciences bothered them.”

Da Silva looked down at the bandaged man beside him, his warm eyes full of thankful appreciativeness. “Very good.”

He turned away again, sighing deeply, shrugging. “Little Ari Schoenberg took care of the beast’s head; I’ll take care of the wriggling fingers and toes that were left behind!” There was grim promise in his tone of voice.

“How?” Wilson asked curiously.

Da Silva smiled, a hard smile. “I don’t know. Maybe they will all be bothered by consciences. Possibly they will all commit suicide.” He laughed angrily, slapping Wilson on the back. “Don’t look so shocked.” He patted Wilson more gently this time. “Don’t be worried. I said I don’t know. I don’t know what I will do. But it will be taken care of; that I promise!”

They left the wide steps, beginning to walk slowly down the street, accommodating their pace to Wilson’s slight limp. At the corner they paused and Da Silva looked back at the Instituto, the morgue, where the tattered remains of Ari’s body lay. “When this is all over and forgotten,” he said softly, “I’ll take his body from wherever they put it and have it buried in the Jewish Cemetery here in Rio. I think that is what he would have wanted.”

They turned the corner into the Avenida. Ahead of them, across the little spit of bay with tumbling waves, the sheer cone of Sugar Loaf rose in the bright sunlight. A tiny car pulled its way along the fine cables, struggling toward the summit.

Da Silva tore his eyes away from it and turned to Wilson, suddenly smiling in his old carefree style.

“There is one punishment that Mathais, Strauss, Gunther, and all of the others will suffer,” he said almost happily, “a punishment that is worse than any I could possibly inflict upon them!”

Wilson looked at him with raised eyebrows, questioningly.

“The money!” Da Silva said with a bitter chuckle. “The money! The two million dollars! Here it is, in Brazil, somewhere; here it is with no owner, theirs for the taking! But where? You see, now that Herr Busch is dead, nobody knows!”

He put his hand under Wilson’s arm, helping him to cross a side street. They paused as traffic swept by them; then, with the street clear, they crossed and continued down the avenue, basking in the afternoon sun and the warm satisfaction of their friendship. In the distance, Sugar Loaf looked calmly down, endless and eternal, its peak fronting the sky majestically.

Content

The Fugitive
Robert L. Fish

Introduction and Rondo Militaire

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Preludio Sostenuto and Andante Carioca

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Caprice Paulista

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Finale Agitato

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Encore — A Tempo

Chapter 1