"A man's been standing outside for the past five minutes. He looks cold in the rain."

"I'll try to get back to you by tonight." The phone went dead. Saul stepped from the booth. A grayhaired man stood close to a building, trying to avoid the rain. "You like flowers?" Saul asked.

"Roses."

"Know any good hotels?"

"Oh, indeed!" the man said. Erika drove around the corner.

"Ouch! It's too hot!"

"We have to sweat the cold out of you."

"I liked it better the way you got me warm last night."

"How'd you guess my backup plan? Now take off the rest of your clothes and get in the tub." He stripped and sank slowly into the steaming water. She scrubbed his back. He couldn't help smiling when she toweled him dry. "Now about that backup plan of yours." She shook her head. "We'll have company soon." He made a face. "Besides, you need your strength," she said. "You have to eat." It was evening. They'd already called for room service. By the time Saul dressed--there'd been clothes in various sizes in the hotel room's closet--they heard a knock on the door. Saul confirmed that the knock was from room service. He opened the door. Tie waiter who wheeled a cart into the room had a pockmarked face. "I hope you don't mind," Pockmark said and closed the door. "I ordered for three. I haven't had anything since breakfast."

"It's all on the company's tab," Saul said. "Exactly. And all of us hope what you're offering is worth our hospitality."

"I wouldn't have called if I didn't think it was worth more than that"

Five minutes earlier, Saul had been hungry. Now he barely glanced at the dishes on the cart. "And this must be Erika," Pockmark said. "I've never had the pleasure." He shook hands with her and poured three cups of coffee. Neither Saul nor Erika picked theirs up. Pockmark tasted his. "So. Let's review the situation. Rules were established. We ignored your violation of the exile we agreed upon. In exchange, you promised us a favor. But to get the maximum effect from your favor, we wanted you to keep a distance from us... and from every other network.

You had to appear to be disaffiliated. Would you say that your call this afternoon was in keeping with that promise? We constantly monitor our communication system, on guard against eavesdroppers. But no safeguards are foolproof. It's possible other networks know about your call. You identified yourself by your cryptonym. There's a chance... slim but of concern... that unfriendly ears overheard. You've jeopardized the nature of the favor we wanted from you."

"I think I've already done you the favor." Pockmark sipped again.

"That's hard to imagine."

"By gaining information you don't have."

"So you said on the phone. Be specific. What kind of information?"

"Are you wired?"

"Our conversation is completely one-to-one."

"Of course. But are you wired?" Pockmark shrugged. "I suppose the next thing you'll search me." He pulled a small tape recorder from a pocket of his white jacket and set it on a bedside table. Even from a distance, Saul could see the tiny reels turning. "That's the whole of it?" Saul asked. "No radio transmitter?" He stepped toward the cart.

"All right," Pockmark said. "Just leave it alone. You'll screw up the transmission." He gently lifted the white linen on the cart, revealing a microphone and a power unit on a shelf underneath. "Happy now?"

"I want this official. I want your directors to know. I want to avoid misunderstandings."

"More than anything, believe me, we want to understand."

"Three men tried to kill me."

"Yes. In Vienna. I was there, remember."

"Not just in Vienna." Pockmark lowered his cup in surprise. "Here in

Switzerland," Saul said. "In the mountains. South of Zurich. I assume the same three men. This time I discouraged them." Too bad for them."

"I've got their rings."

"Say that again?"

"Rings. You can have them if we reach an agreement. They're my favor to the network. In exchange for fulfillment of our bargain." Pockmark blinked. "Wait just a second. Let me understand this. You're saying you'll show us some rings, and that fulfills your obligation?"

"Along with automatic weapons, plastic explosives, and bogus CDs. You're going to love it. There's a network no one knows about." Pockmark laughed. "Don't be absurd."

"Fine. Then shut off your tape recorder, wheel your cart out, and give us five minutes to get away."

"Five minutes? You'd never make it. But just because I said 'absurd' doesn't mean I won't listen."

"More than that, you have to agree. I give you the rings. I tell you where to find the car the men drove. Maybe you find this other network, maybe you don't. But our agreement has to be fulfilled. I don't want shadows behind me." Pockmark hesitated. "I'll need to discuss this with

..." The phone rang. Saul had expected the call, but Pockmark jerked in surprise. "That'll be our faithful listeners," Saul said. "Let's find out what our ratings are."

Pockmark picked up the phone. He listened, nodding as if eager to please. "Yes, sir. Of course. If that's what you want, sir." He set down the phone. "All right then, Romulus, damn you. Tell us what you have. If it checks out, if it's as new as you claim, you've done your favor. I emphasize the if. Don't try to jerk us around. And remember, we could have used chemicals to get the same information."

"But chemicals only get answers from questions, and you don't know what questions to ask." Saul was aware of Erika sitting on the bed, one of the gunmen's pistols beneath a blanket on her lap. "Besides, I've got too much to lose."

"The rings." Pockmark thrust out his hand. Saul took them from his pocket and dropped them into Pockmark's hand. "A sword and cross?"

"Religion and violence," Saul said. "There's a clasp on the side of each ring. Tilt the ruby up." Pockmark lifted the stone. His eyes narrowed when he saw the yellow capsule. "Poison?"

"Ever seen a ring like that?"

"Sure. every day."

"Like hell. The men who wore these rings were extremely well trained killers." Pockmark shook his head. "But that's not enough to fulfill your obligation. It still doesn't prove they belonged to a new network."

"Did I say it was new? Look at the design on those rings. Medieval. I think the network's very old."

"But nobody's ever heard of it? Ridiculous."

"I'll give you the chance to find out." Saul wrote down the license number he'd memorized and handed the note to Pockmark. "Their car's a black Renault Last year's model. It's at the parking lot near the railway station. You'll find the automatic weapons, plastic explosives, and bogus IDs. And maybe fingerprints, though I doubt it. These men were fond of gloves. But to rent a car, they had to leave a paper trail."

"With bogus IDs, the paper trail won't take us far." Saul hadn't expected to lose control. "Quit being deliberately stupid. To rent a car, they had to use a credit card. Even if the card's made out to an alias, somebody has to pay the bill. The money has to come from somewhere." 'Take it easy."

"I didn't promise answers! I told you what I said I would! Do we have a deal or not? Is our bargain finished? Tell your bosses to make a decision! Put it on the record! Abide by it! / want to find Erika's father and see my son again?" 9

One floor down, in a room directly under Saul's, Gallagher sat at a long narrow table, watching the reels turn on a tape recorder connected to a radio receiver. The Agency station chief for Austria, he glanced down the table toward his counterpart, a short man with soft pale manicured hands, the station chief for Switzerland. Gallagher's suit was rumpled from his hurried flight with Pockmark from Vienna. Strictly speaking, he didn't have authority here. But Romulus had insisted on dealing with the Vienna bakery, not (he Zurich flower shop, and the bargain for a favor from Romulus had been made in Vienna, so that involved Gallagher regardless of whether his counterpart objected to his being here, though

Zurich in fact didn't seem to mind at all. "What do you think?"

Gallagher asked, pretending deference to his host.