Numbered Account

Nick opened the Argentinean passport. It was the same one used at International Fiduciary Trust in Zug on Friday, issued in the name of one Allen Malvinas, resident of Buenos Aires. Home to El Oro de los Andes. "Didn't you say that you had lived in Argentina?"

"Buenos Aires. Yes, but only briefly."

Nick handed the passport back without further comment. Soufi, Malvinas, Mevlevi. I know who you are.

Mevlevi slipped the passport into his jacket pocket. "Of course, it's not the only name I've ever used."

Nick unbuttoned his jacket, and his arm brushed against the forged steel blade. He smiled to himself. And you know I know.

***

An early-morning silence enveloped the car as it sped through the Tal Valley. The Pasha appeared to be sleeping. Nick kept one eye on his watch and the other on the passing scenery. The sky had faded from its earlier pale blue to a paler, watery gray. Still, no snow fell, and for that he was grateful.

The Mercedes hummed along nicely for another hour, its powerful engine sending a comforting vibrato through the chassis. The sleek automobile passed through the quaint lakeside village of Kussnacht before climbing onto a narrower road that followed the steep northern rim of the Vierwaldstatter See toward the St. Gotthard Pass. A few low-lying clouds blanketed the lake. From Nick's vantage point high above its misty surface, he had the impression of a schooner's mainsail torn by a hurricane wind into a thousand tattered strips. It made him think of a shipwreck. If he were a superstitious man, he would consider it a bad omen. Seconds later the car passed into the first of a series of isolated showers, and the lake was lost from view.

***

At the same time that Nick was passing through Kussnacht, Sylvia Schon tucked the telephone under her chin and dialed the Chairman's home number for the fourth time. The line connected immediately. The phone rang and rang and rang. Twenty-seven times she allowed it to sound before banging the receiver into its cradle. Tears of frustration streamed down her face. Twice during the night, she had crept from her bed to call. Neither time had there been an answer.

Where were you, Wolfgang Kaiser, at three o'clock on a Sunday morning?

Sylvia stalked into the kitchen and rummaged through her drawers for a cigarette. She found a crushed pack of Gauloises and pulled one from the wrinkled blue sheath.

She puffed madly on the harsh cigarette, desperate to rid her apartment of Nick's lingering scent. I'm not betraying you, she explained to his memory. I'm saving myself. I could have loved you. Can't you understand that? Or are you too wrapped up in your personal crusade to notice that I have one of my own? Don't you know what will happen if Kaiser is arrested? Rudolf Ott will take over. Ott- my rival for the Chairman's affection. Ott- who tried his best to deny me my chance to move up. It's him, Nick. He's the one responsible.

Sylvia acknowledged a pang of guilt but wasn't sure who it was for. For Nick. For herself. Anyway, it didn't matter. She had chosen her path a long time ago.

Sylvia stubbed out her cigarette and checked her watch. Another ten minutes until Rita Sutter arrived in the office. She was like a clock, Kaiser had said. In at 7:30 on the dot every day for the past twenty years. His most obedient servant. Rita Sutter would know where to find the Chairman. He didn't do anything without telling her.

Sylvia pinched the bridge of her nose and shuddered, suddenly nauseated from the unfiltered nicotine. She consulted her watch yet again. And though it was eight minutes too early, she picked up the phone and called the Emperor's Lair.

***

The road had assumed a gentler incline. It rose along the icy banks of the river Reuss and wandered up a majestic valley leading deep into the craggy heart of the Swiss Alps. Nick glanced out the window, numb to the beauty around him. He was keeping his fingers crossed it would not snow, wondering where Thorne was right now. He prayed that Kaiser had left Zurich on time to make his eleven o'clock meeting with the count. A sign for Altdorf flashed past and then ones for Amsteg and Wassen, these last small villages made up of a dozen stone houses sitting alongside the highway.

Approaching the village of Goschenen, Ali Mevlevi asked the chauffeur to leave the highway so that he might stretch his legs. The driver obliged, following the next exit off of the highway and driving into the center of a picturesque village, where he halted the automobile next to a gurgling water fountain. All three men climbed out.

"Look at the time," the Pasha said, making an elaborate show of examining his wristwatch. "At this rate we'll arrive an hour ahead of schedule. Tell me once again what time our meeting is set for."

"Ten-thirty," answered Nick, instantly on edge. He hadn't foreseen any stops. This was supposed to be the express train. Nonstop intercity.