The Children's War (200 page)

He shook his head. “No, it’s not that.” He felt horrendously confused. “Don’t worry. I won’t ever stop loving you. But . . .”

“But?” she asked worriedly.

“But it’s not the answer.”

“To which question?” she asked. He was staring down the hallway and she turned to look at what had caught his attention, but nothing was there.

The door to the Council chamber opened and Tomek motioned them back into the room. Zosia recovered Irena from Tadek just as she was beginning to fuss. Zosia returned to her seat, offering Irena the other breast, and waited to hear the Council’s decision.

Marysia called for order. “We have come to our decision, Captain,” she said quite formally.“If you can present us with everything you have promised, we will put your name forward for a seat on the Council with all the appropriate support.” She glanced around at several of the gloomier faces. “It was not unanimous, but you have a majority. Until final approval comes through, you’ll be awarded a temporary seat on my authority. As a member, you will have all the rights of a member including access to Communications. Your rights of entry and exit will have exactly the same restrictions as any other member of the Council. We’ll award you the portfolios you asked for as well as several other committees that will be decided at a future date. As for the commission, that must go through channels. We’ll apply for and recommend a promotion to major. Nothing more.”

Peter paused as if considering the offer. Zosia mouthed encouragement at him, and finally he answered, “All right. I have your word?”

“You have our word,” Marysia replied, then added, “If, and only if, the information you have offered us is all that you have claimed.”

“Fair enough. I’ll get it to you in a few hours.”

“You don’t have it with you?” Marysia asked.

“No. I . . .” He hesitated to elaborate.

“You thought we might forcibly take it from you?” Konrad asked, astonished.

Peter glanced at the four who had voted against him—it was easy to tell from their sour expressions: Tomek, Bogdan, Wojciech, and Wanda. The same crew as had voted for his death, except that, interestingly, Tadek was not among them. “Don’t tell me,” Peter responded to Konrad’s indignation, “that it didn’t at least occur to you.”

The look of uncomfortable guilt on several of their faces was sufficient answer.

Marysia interrupted the uneasy silence and continued in a formal tone, “Now, on to Colonel Król’s suggestion.”

“Zosiu,” Tadek took over from Marysia, appealing to his friend,“we’ve elected Peter to the Council independent of your offer of resignation. Nothing we’ve
given him is contingent upon your leaving us. Please reconsider. My comment about royal families was uncalled for. Please stay.”

Zosia shook her head.“No, I need a break.”

“We need you,” Hania added her voice to Tadek’s appeal.

“No, no one is indispensable. I’ll be around, but I just can’t handle all the . . . I want some personal time. To see to my family.” Zosia looked down and stroked her daughter’s head. “To spend some time being a human”—her eyes strayed to Peter—“like someone dear to me has taught me. I’ll sit through the rest of our business today, but I’d like my resignation to be effective immediately upon the close of this meeting.”

“What about your other duties?” Marysia asked. She had not argued with Zosia, perhaps knowing better than anyone else the source of Zosia’s decision.

“I’ll still do assassinations—at my discretion, as per usual—and perhaps handle-an advisory role for the new generation of computer experts we’re training. Will that suffice?”

“Yes,” Marysia answered without even bothering to consult the others. “Yes, that will be quite satisfactory.” Marysia motioned to Peter to sit down. Peter started toward the stack of folding chairs, but Tadek preempted him, grabbing one and placing it between his chair and Zosia’s. Peter thanked him for this simple gesture of welcome, and Marysia then continued,“Now, on to the other business at hand: we have a special request for an assassination. And soon.”

“You mean a judicial execution?” Tadek asked.

“Not quite. That’s why it’s a special request forwarded to us from Warszawa. They received it late last night and passed it directly on to us. They’re loath to handle it and they wondered if we might have any ideas.”

“Who’s it from?” Zosia asked as Irena kneaded and pulled and slurped noisily.

“Ryszard Przewalewski,” Marysia answered. “As you know, he arranged for that Vogel fellow to be the government spokesman on everything to do with the repercussions of that video that was smuggled into the NAU—the one with . . .” She gestured helplessly toward Peter.

He greeted her questioning, sympathetic glance with one of wary confusion.

“You were aware of that, weren’t you?” she asked. “That the film of you was played on American television?”

He shook his head slowly.

“Oh, I am sorry,” she groaned, and rubbed her forehead, then somewhat nervously she began to shuffle some papers.

Tadek leaned over and explained the situation quickly and quietly into Peter’s ear. He nodded as Tadek explained. Yes, it all made sense; yes, that must be why there had been that second surge of equipment; yes, that explained Ryszard’s comment to him. A favor indeed! It had been an unadulterated exploitation of a terrible and tragic event; he ought to be offended that his suffering and Joanna’s death had been prostituted so cynically. It was sacrilege, and that no one had told him about it indicated that they knew that was so.

He did not want to say any of these things though, and to keep silent, he imagined Joanna’s smiling face. She was so brave! Such a strong spirit! Would she have been offended? He saw her laughing response. Of course not! Let the bastards pay for their crime! Let her death serve a purpose—better than having her life wasted for nothing at all. Yes, she would be laughing at her murderers; she would have her revenge.

That’s the second habit of a lifetime you’ve managed to change, little one, he thought to her ghost. I’ve learned from you how not to immediately assume the worst of people’s motives. And maybe somewhere therein
was
the answer. Trust in humanity. Or at least some of humanity.

When Tadek had finished his explanation, he ended with, “I’m sorry. You should have been consulted or at least told.”

“It’s all right,” Peter whispered in response, and for once he meant it. He glanced up at Marysia and indicated that she should continue.

Marysia took a moment to recover the thread of her thoughts, then continued, “Ryszard, of course, advised Vogel and was very efficient at getting him to place the government in one embarrassing and difficult position after another. Naturally, after such a series of fiascoes and bad luck such as they have recently suffered, they felt the need to look tough. One of the results of that was the recent attempt at an invasion here. Another result is that Herr Vogel is certain to be investigated and removed. Almost certainly they’ll find a reason to induce his suicide or to execute him.

“Now, we have no concern for this patsy’s life or career in the normal sense, but Ryszard is afraid Vogel will point the finger at him during any investigation. They haven’t got around to questioning him on where he got his inspiration from, and no one else is aware that Ryszard has been advising him, so if he can quickly be removed from the scene, before his own people get to him, then Ryszard stands a good chance of coming out in the clear.”

“But if his death is anything other than accidental,” Tadek interjected, “then we’ll have violated the protocols and there will be massive retaliation.”

“As well as a great deal of suspicion as to why we wanted to remove him,” Marysia agreed. “If suspicion falls on us and if there is even the tiniest link between Vogel and Ryszard, it might be worse than doing nothing at all, both for us and for Ryszard.”

“Has he done anything we can condemn him for?” Zosia asked.

“No. Nothing more than the usual. None of his actions have been directed against us. He’s been based in Berlin for most of his career. It would look odd if we were to pick a quarrel with this man.”

“Would any other group have a reason to assassinate him?” Konrad asked.

Marysia spread her hands. “Not that we know of. We could murder him and hint that it was someone else, but that would still lead to the death of hostages, though of course, not our own.”

“What about his role as a spokesman? Defending the murder of one of our citizens?” Hania asked.

“Being a spokesman is not a capital offense!” Marysia replied, somewhat exasperated.

“How about contact through a prostitute?” Tomek asked. They all turned toward Peter for advice, but he seemed lost in thought.

“Peter?” Marysia prompted.

He looked up as if wrenching his thoughts back into the present. “Only on business trips, as far as I could tell. I think he had a regular mistress in Berlin, but if so, he didn’t see her all that often.”

“Street crime?” Konrad offered.

Peter shook his head.“He just didn’t go out all that often. You’d have to wait a long time for a good opportunity.”

“Can’t we arrange an accident?” Wojciech asked.

“As you know, believable accidents, especially at that distance, are exceedingly difficult to arrange,” Marysia answered. “It could be a last resort, but we were hoping for something less suspicious and quicker.”

“Why not have him murdered by someone who has an even better motive than you do? You know, a simple criminal homicide. Would there be repercussions from that?” Peter asked.

“I don’t think so,” Marysia responded. “A criminal homicide in Berlin should not affect us. But what are you suggesting? A burglary gone bad?”

“Better.” Peter smiled. “Let me kill him. I have a strong personal motive. Hatred and revenge are motives his superiors will understand. They won’t even think of any other remote reasons.”

“That’s a good idea!” Konrad remarked.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Wojciech commented sourly. “They might associate you with us through Joanna,” Hania observed.

Peter shook his head. “The story is I met Joanna’s mother in America and her ties to this area are quite loose. Even if they do connect me with you, I can make it clear I’m acting from personal motives. They’ll believe that, given all that’s gone on in my life. You can disown any of my actions if necessary; they’ll believe you since there is no obvious reason for you to bother with Vogel. After all, you guys should actually give him a medal for all that he’s accidentally done for your cause.”

“And what about you?” Konrad asked with concern.

“There’s nothing they can do to me. They already have such a bit of nastiness lined up in my name that they can hardly improve on it for the murder of one idiot official. If they arrest me, I’m dead in any case. In fact, when I make it clear that I’m doing it all for personal reasons, I can add that in as well. I have nothing to lose and so I have a free hand. They’ll understand that philosophy.”

“It might work,” Bogdan agreed.

“Oh, it will work,” Peter assured them all. “I’m sure of that. I know the way they think. Ask Ryszard—he’ll tell you it will work. They want to get rid of Vogel, but they’re not sure how. Here comes his ex-slave and murders him for revenge.

I’ll tell his wife why and she’ll repeat it, and they’ll believe it because it will be so damn convenient for them.”

After a short discussion of the pros and cons, they agreed on the plan and turned to the details of how it could be carried out. Once that was decided, Marysia said, “We’ll pass this on to Warszawa immediately. I’m sure they’ll clear it and you’ll be able to leave this afternoon.”

“There is one request I wish to make,” Peter added.