Spy Who Read Latin: And Other Stories (12 page)

“But what about the letter and phone calls from Taz?”

“Cornelius realized the meaning of the dying message at once, naturally, but when the people in Moscow mistook it for a reference to the dead Taz he strengthened the theory by writing that letter. The phone calls, carefully placed to people not familiar with Taz’s voice, did the same. As long as they were thinking about Taz, they weren’t looking for another meaning to TA3.”

“He would have killed me too.”

“Yes, he would have. Both of us. Actually what puzzled me from the beginning was how Taz could know the cities these old agents were working in. And even more puzzling, how he could get close enough to cut their throats even after they’d been warned. Cornelius held an important Moscow post, with access to that information. And even men on their guard against Taz relaxed when they saw it was him—their old comrade from the Tsar Network. He even got to Nicholas, who was armed and expecting an attack.”

Catherine thought of something. “What did you do with my Beretta?”

“Left it in Nicholas’ hand. If the police think they killed each other, so much the better.”

“Why did Cornelius do it?”

“Moscow sent him to make contact with me, so he was high up in the chain of command. I suspect he was in line for an even bigger position, and he felt the need to remove any trace of a past indiscretion. I think Cornelius betrayed Paul to the West Germans fifteen years ago. Either that or some bungle of his caused Paul’s arrest. In any case, he had to silence the witnesses, the members of the old Tsar Network, before he’d be safe in his new position.”

“And you came into it only because of Taz? Because you wanted a chance to battle him again?”

“No,” Rand answered, remembering the old Russian’s face the last time they’d met. “I wanted a chance to prove him innocent of these murders.”

At Holyhead they shook hands rather formally before parting, and Catherine the Great said, “Perhaps we’ll meet again.”

Rand answered with a smile. “But if we do, we’ll probably be enemies.”

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1970, 1976, 1980 by Edward D. Hoch

Cover design by Jason Gabbert

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