Red Alert (18 page)

Conte lay motionless on the bed. His face was sallow, his bloodshot eyes watching their every move. He tried to speak, but his throat was dry. Sabrina poured some water from the jug on the bedside table into a tumbler and tilted his head forward so he could take a drink. He coughed as the water ran down his throat.

'Grazie,' he said in a barely audible whisper.

'Prego,' she replied, putting the tumbler back on the table.

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She was amazed at how young he looked. The UNACO dossier had given his age as twenty-two. He looked more like a schoolboy. Sixteen, seventeen at most. What had motivated him to join the Red Brigades when he had his whole life ahead of him? It seemed such a waste. Why couldn't he see that? Perhaps now he would realize the futility of it all. The dream had become a nightmare.

Graham peered around the door. 'Fabio, you'd better get out here.'

Paluzzi crossed to the door. 'What is it? Has Calvieri arrived?'

'Calvieri I can handle.' Graham stabbed a thumb over his shoulder. 'There's a doctor out there who's pretty pissed off with you. He says you were supposed to call him when you got here. Know anything about it?'

Paluzzi nodded and stepped out into the corridor.

The man was in his thirties with black hair and a neatly trimmed black beard.

'Doctor Marchetta?' Paluzzi asked.

'Si,' came the curt response.

Paluzzi introduced himself in English and held up his ID card.

'And who is he?' Marchetta gestured to Graham. 'I take offence to being bullied by some foreigner.'

'He's a security consultant with Neo-Chem Industries. He was sent over here from the United States to help with the investigation.'

Marchetta glared at Graham, then turned back to Paluzzi. 'We agreed over the phone that you would contact me when you arrived at the hospital,' he said, switching to Italian to exclude Graham from the conversation.

'I tried to contact you but you were unavailable at the time.'

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'Then you should have waited until I was available!' Marchetta snapped angrily.

'I'm conducting a serious criminal investigation, Doctor. I don't have time to wait about for you or anybody else. Surely you have an assistant? Why couldn't you have sent him to meet me?'

The reason why I wanted to speak to you personally was to tell you about Conte's condition. He's very weak right now. It's only to be expected after being in a coma for the past forty-eight hours. I can't let you talk to him for more than five minutes. You'll be able to question him further this afternoon, depending of course on his condition.'

'I don't have time to question him in instalments,' Paluzzi said sharply. 'I need answers now.'

'It's out of the question. He's in no condition to be interrogated. Five minutes, that's all.'

'I'm not asking you, Doctor, I'm telling you. I'm not leaving here until I have the answers I want.'

'Major, your jurisdiction's out there,' Marchetta said, gesturing towards the window with a sweep of his arm. 'But your authority ended when you entered the hospital. This is my jurisdiction. And what I say goes.'

'Four guards were killed during the breakin.' Paluzzi pointed to the door. 'He is one of the men responsible -- '

'I hate the Red Brigades just as much as the next man, Major, but I'd be failing in my duty as a doctor if I didn't do everything in my power to nurse him back to health. Then he can stand trial and I hope he spends the rest of his life in jail for what he's done. But in this hospital he's a patient, not a terrorist. And he'll be treated as such.'

'Ten minutes,' Paluzzi said. 'And before you launch into another speech, spare a thought for the victims' families.'

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'I can't risk it, Major. Not at this stage. The matron will be up in exactly five minutes' time to administer his medication.' Marchetta spun on his heels and strode to the lift.

'What was all that about?' Graham asked.

'I was buying some time for Sergei and Sabrina. I only hope they used it.'

Graham frowned, then took his seat again opposite the door.

Paluzzi went back into the ward. Kolchinsky, standing by the window, immediately put a finger to his lips and motioned to him to remain at the door. Paluzzi nodded then looked at Sabrina who was sitting by the bed, her back to him, a micro-cassette player in her hand. Kolchinsky tiptoed across to Paluzzi and indicated that they should leave the room.

'What's wrong?' Graham asked as they emerged into the corridor.

'Nothing,' Kolchinsky said, easing himself on to the chair beside Graham. 'Sabrina's managed to get him talking. I don't want them interrupted until she's finished.'

'She's got about four minutes left,' Paluzzi said, and recounted his conversation with Marchetta.

'And what if she's not through by the time the matron arrives?' Graham asked.

'Then we come back later,' Paluzzi answered.

'What?' Graham stared at Paluzzi in disbelief. This could be the breakthrough and you talk about coming back later? The deadline's tomorrow morning, in case you've forgotten.'

'I don't have any authority in here, Mike. If we start throwing our weight around we're going to be out on the street before we know what's hit us. And knowing the sort of person Marchetta is, he'll block any further visits

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until he's sure Conte's up to them. And he'd be perfectly in his rights to do so. We've got no option, we have to play it by the rules.'

Graham was about to speak but thought better of it. What was the use? Paluzzi was right.

'We've got company,' Paluzzi said as Calvieri emerged from the lift.

'Just what the doctor ordered,' Graham muttered.

'Morning,' Calvieri called out, then gestured towards the door. 'What have you got from Conte?'

'Nothing yet,' Kolchinsky said. 'Sabrina's still in there with him.'

'Let me speak to him," Calvieri said, making for the door. ",

Paluzzi blocked his path. 'Not until we know what j Sabrina's found out. You walk in there now and you could | blow any chance we have of cracking the case.' j

Calvieri moved to the window and watched a barge laden with crates of fresh produce negotiate its way under : the Vittorio Emanuele Bridge and disappear around a ; sharp bend in the river. .;

'What's the latest on the Pisani murder?' Kolchinsky asked. !j

Calvieri turned away from the window. 'Five dead. 1 Signore Pisani; Rocca, the man Sabrina and I saw last j night; and three Brigatisti who were guarding the house.' j

'Any clues, other than that one of the assailants was black?' Kolchinsky pressed. j

'None so far. It was obviously a professional hit. Even the number plates on the getaway car were blacked out with masking tape.'

'Who do you suspect?' Kolchinsky continued.

Calvieri shrugged. 'We have a lot of enemies but as I said, this was certainly a professional hit. That rules out

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the vast majority of fascist groups. Most of them wouldn't have the imagination to hire an outside man, let alone have the money to pay him.'

'So you think it was carried out by a contract killer?' Kolchinsky said.

'That's my guess, yes.' Calvieri bit his lower lip pensively. 'He probably flew in last night, did the job, then flew out again this morning. Our best lead is this black accomplice of his. If we can find him we could identify the hit man.'

Graham and Kolchinsky exchanged glances.

'So you think his accomplice is a local?' Graham asked.

That's the assumption we're working on at the moment. I'm confident we'll find him before the police do.'

'Then what? Thumbscrews and electric shocks?'

'We have our methods, Mr Graham, just like you.'

The door opened and Sabrina emerged into the corridor. 'I thought I heard your voice, Tony. Conte wants to see you.'

'I thought he might,' Calvieri said, smiling triumphantly at Paluzzi.

She grabbed Calvieri's arm when he tried to get past her. 'I'm Sabrina Trestelli, your assistant from Milan. It's the only way I could get him to talk.'

'Of course,' Calvieri said, and followed her into the ward.

'Have you had a chance to talk to your man, Whitlock, since the hit last night?' Paluzzi asked Kolchinsky.

'No, he hasn't contacted me.'

'And you've got no way of contacting him?'

Kolchinsky shook his head. 'It would be too dangerous. He'll call when he can.'

'We've got to warn him, Sergei,' Graham said. 'What chance has he got if Calvieri's thugs catch him unawares?'

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'We can't, Michael, you know that. We could blow his cover.*

'I can put a tail on him. No Brigatista will get near him.'

'And what if Young smells a rat? We're dealing with a professional, Fabio, not some two-bit Chicago hood.' Graham looked at Kolchinsky. 'We've got to warn him, Sergei.'

'Let's play it by ear, shall we?' Kolchinsky said defensively, knowing Graham was right. But it was neither the time nor the place to discuss it.

'It's throwing-out time,' Paluzzi said, indicating the matron at the end of the corridor.

Kolchinsky stood up. 'I hope Sabrina's got everything she can out of Conte. We can't be coming and going for snippets of information every few hours.'

The matron greeted them with a smile and disappeared into the ward. Calvieri and Sabrina emerged moments later.

'Well, what have you found out?' Kolchinsky asked anxiously.

Til tell you on the way back to the hotel,' Sabrina replied, holding up the micro-cassette player in her hand. 'It's all on here.'

'That's it,' Sabrina said, switching off the micro-cassette player. She got up from the armchair in Kolchinsky's room and helped herself to a roll from the breakfast tray which he had ordered.

'Good God,' Kolchinsky muttered, then placed his empty cup and saucer on the table beside him, his mind still reeling from Sabrina's translation of the dialogue on the tape.

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'Let me get this straight,' Graham said, looking at Sabrina. 'Ubrino intends to open the vial at ten o'clock tomorrow morning at the Offenbach Centre in Berne, Switzerland, to coincide with the start of the summit of European leaders being held there, unless he sees a live telecast of Zocchi being put aboard an aeroplane bound for Cuba within the next twenty-five hours.'

That's it,' she replied grimly.

'And he's got no idea where Ubrino might be hiding out until then,' Kolchinsky added. 'Calvieri, you know him better than the rest of us. Where do you think he is?'

'I don't know him that well. I would say he was still in Rome. It's what I'd do if I were in his position. Stick with the people I can trust.'

'But you haven't had one positive sighting of him here in Rome since the breakin,' Graham said. 'He could already be in Switzerland.'

'Of course he could,' Calvieri replied. 'But I still think he'd want to stay in an area where he knew he would be safe. And that has to be Rome. We do have sympathizers in Switzerland but very few of them share the radical views of the Rome cell. I'm sure if Paluzzi and I put our heads together we could come up with a list of names of Swiss sympathizers who could be hiding him. But I still say he's in Rome.'

'Fabio, I want you and Calvieri to put that list together,' Kolchinsky said.

'We can get on to it right away.'

'Give me an hour,' Calvieri said, getting to his feet. 'Bettinga's coming down from Genoa to take charge of the investigation at Signore Pisani's house. He should be there by now. Once I've briefed him I'll be completely at your disposal.'

'Well, the sooner you go, the sooner you'll be back,'

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Kolchinsky said, then jabbed his finger towards the door. 'Go on. And for God's sake, hurry up.'

'You can count on it.'

'Do you go along with his Rome theory?' Graham asked Paluzzi after Calvieri had closed the door.

'It makes sense, let's put it that way. And if he's right, we've got more chance of finding Lord Lucan here in Rome than we do of finding Ubrino. Even as the acting leader of the Red Brigades, Calvieri still won't hold much sway here. Pisani didn't, and he was more radical than Calvieri. As I've told you before, the Rome cell is a law unto itself.'

'So what's our best bet?' Kolchinsky asked. 'To try and catch him at the Offenbach Centre?'

'I wish it were,' Paluzzi replied. 'He was a make-up artist at the Teatro dell'Opera some years back. And a damn good one by all accounts. He's used a variety of disguises in the past and you can be sure he'll use another one to get into the Offenbach Centre.'

Kolchinsky rubbed his hands wearily over his face. 'Some breakthrough this is turning out to be.'

The telephone rang.

'That could be C.W.,' Sabrina said, jumping up to answer it.

'Sabrina?'

She immediately recognized Philpott's voice.

'Morning, sir,' she replied in surprise and glanced at her watch. It would be just past 4 a.m. in New York.

'Is Sergei there?'

'Yes sir,' she replied, handing the receiver to Kolchinsky who was already standing at her side.

'Morning, Malcolm,' Kolchinsky said, gesturing to Sabrina to pass him his cigarettes and matches. 'I wasn't expecting to hear from you until this afternoon.'

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'Bad news, I'm afraid,' Philpott answered. 'I've just had a call from Major Lonsdale of Scotland Yard's antiterrorist squad. Alexander's escaped.'

Kolchinsky sat on the edge of the bed and dropped his unlit cigarette into the ashtray. 'That's all we need.'

'Lonsdale's confident that he'll be rearrested if he tries to leave the country but I still think C.W. should be told in case he does manage to slip through the net.'

Til get a message to him as soon as possible.'

'Any new developments since I last spoke to you?'

Kolchinsky told him briefly what Sabrina had found out from Conte earlier that morning.

'I'll call Reinhardt Kuhlmann, the Swiss police commissioner. We go back a long way. I'll tell him to expect a call from you this morning. You can fill him in on the details when you talk to him. I know he'll give you his full cooperation. And you better get hold of Jacques in Zurich and tell him the news as well. He can always liaise with Reinhardt until you get to Switzerland.'