The Miracle (6 page)

Pushing his teacup aside, he found his lighter and a fresh cigarette. The smoking seemed to calm him, and with calm came more hope. Certainly his future could not rest on two impossible choices. Certainly somewhere in the world there must be someone with the means, especially for a person of his stature, to arrest and subdue the fatal disease. Perhaps there was some scientist in the Soviet Union, with all its medical advances, who could help him. Yet, he instinctively knew that if he sought help in his homeland, even found a treatment to prolong his life, the word of his uncertain health would be out and his career and political advancement doomed. The old men of the Politburo would not want to bet on a premier who already had a blemish on his being. Secrecy overrode everything else. He would have to find help outside his home-

land, among strangers with no tie to his government, and be treated swiftly and soon. At the moment, the Swiss healer, this Dr. Motta, offered the only hope of salvaging his future.

Nearly twenty minutes had passed, and Tikhanov was wondering how Dr. Karp had made out with his call to Geneva, when Dr. Karp reappeared in the dining alcove. He sat down next to Tikhanov, a piece of scratch-pad paper in hand. Tikhanov was immediately alert.

"I reached Geneva," said Dr. Karp, "and woke Mrs. Motta and spoke with her at length. Dr. Motta left Geneva yesterday and will be gone for three weeks."

"Where?" asked Tikhanov sharply. "Can he be reached?"

"He's gone to Biarritz—you know, the beach resort in France—to treat a wealthy Indian patient from Calcutta with his cellular-therapy injections. Dr. Motta is combining this visit with a much-needed vacation. He expects to be at the Hotel du Palais in Biarritz for three weeks."

"But will he see me?" Tikhanov inquired anxiously.

"No problem. His wife arranges his schedule. She has written you in for a noon appointment in her husband's suite three days from now. She speaks to her husband daily and will report this. Is the time suitable?"

"Any time is suitable," said Tikhanov quickly. He felt a surge of relief, instantly followed by a stab of apprehension. "You didn't tell her who I was, did you?"

"No, no, of course not. I just made up whatever came to mind. I said you were a well-known American language professor who taught Russian, and I gave your name as Samuel Talley."

"Samuel Talley?"

"I just made it up on the spur of the moment, a name with your real initials in case you have any monograms on your luggage or clothes."

"Clever of you."

"It comes of reading espionage and detective novels," said Dr. Karp with a tinge of embarrassment. "I passed on to Mrs. Motta the nature of your illness. She will, in turn, relay it to Dr. Motta in their next conversation. He will be prepared for you. Now, if you will give me fifteen minutes more, I will type up a summary of my diagnosis for Dr. Motta, and you can present this, along with the results of your tests, to him in Biarritz." Dr. Karp stood up. "I repeat, it is a long shot. But it will give you a second opinion, and, if you are lucky, a possible chance. Maybe you will be lucky. Who knows? You can only try."

For a man of Tikhanov's renown and high station, it had not been easy to get to Biarritz in complete secrecy.

He had flown to Paris, settled into the Soviet Embassy briefly, and played his first day there by the rules. He had put a call through to General Kossoff in Moscow, and realized that the KGB director's tone was tinged with a special respect, as befitted conversation with the next premier. Tikhanov had learned that Premier Skryabin was still in a coma, and on a life-support system, but that his end was no more than a few weeks off at the most. With the new value placed on him, Tikhanov had found it easier to double-talk about his forthcoming schedule, his flexible plans, a secret mission and meeting with a subversive group gathering from the Middle East, a more prolonged stay in Portugal. He had promised to be in constant touch with Moscow along the way and to check in when he reached Yalta.

Then Tikhanov had used his remaining time in Paris to develop the identity that he would take to Biarritz. There had been no trouble contacting French Communist elements who could lead him to nonpolitical persons able to supply him with an American passport bearing the name Samuel Talley, along with the American social security and credit cards that should be possessed by Talley.

The last day in Paris, with Kossoff's reluctant approval, Tikhanov had rid himself of his KGB security guards by telling them that the Middle East subversives he was to meet with in private would supply their own protection for him.

By himself, using no one else, Tikhanov had booked the Air-Inter flight from Orly Field in Paris to Biarritz, and once safely in the sunny, windy southwestern French resort, he had taken an ordinary taxi to the spectacular old Hotel du Palais, at one time the summer residence of Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie.

As Samuel Talley, American citizen, Tikhanov had registered in the hotel and been shown to a spacious ornately furnished double bedroom much too luxurious for his taste.

An hour later, carrying the packet that Dr. Karp had sent along, and wearing as a disguise not only thick clear nonprescription glasses but a bushy false mustache obtained in Paris to cover the well-known wart above his upper lip, he rang the doorbell to suite 310-311. He was surprised when one of the double doors opened to reveal a petite, serious young nurse garbed in white. But then, Tikhanov reminded himself. Dr. Motta was here in Biarritz to give injections to a wealthy Indian and would naturally have brought along his Swiss nurse, although Tikhanov decided that she was much too young and pretty to serve her employer merely as a nurse.

Tikhanov followed her up a stretch of interior hallway that opened into the largest sitting room Tikhanov had ever seen in a Western hotel.

"Mr. Talley," the nurse said, "if you will be seated, Dr. Motta will join you in a few seconds."

Tikhanov walked slowly, unsteadily—reminding himself of his ailment -- beneath the ornate chandeher to an antique desk that stood in front of a window. From the window, he could see that this was a comer room overlooking both an outdoor swimming pool and a restaurant, perched above a sandy beach that was dotted with umbrellas, lounges, and cabanas. And beyond that was the wavy Atlantic running out to the pure blue horizon.

Turning his back on the view, Tikhanov inspected the sitting room's furnishings, a three-cushion gold sofa, two deep gold armchairs around a glass-topped coffee table, two silver satin-covered pull-up chairs. Obviously, Dr. Motta was rich and successful, which Tikhanov equated with being in the best hands, and therefore offering the promise of hope.

As he considered where to sit, Tikhanov was startled by a booming Germanic voice. "Mr. Talley. Glad to have you. Let's sit on the sofa."

The speaker entering from the bedroom was an ebullient, heavyset older man wrapped in a purple silk bathrobe that revealed the lower portion of his hairy naked legs. His auburn hair was combed in a pompadour, the eyes small and narrow, the nose prominent, the freshly shaved face florid. "I'm Dr. Motta. Forgive my attire. Just came straight up from the Grande Plage. Wonderful place. You been here before?"

"No, sir."

"You'll like it. Give yourself a few extra days. Yes, you'll like it." Dr. Motta sank down into the sofa with a wheeze, summoning Tikhanov to sit beside him, and Tikhanov complied.

"I knew you'd be here at lunch time," Dr. Motta continued, "and I expect you're ravenously hungry. I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of ordering a light lunch for each of us before we settle down to business. Give us an opportunity to become acquainted."

"Very kind of you," said Tikhanov stiffly. He wanted only to get to what mattered, the consultation, his life, but he also wished to show his appreciation of the physician's hospitahty, wanting to be in his good graces, wanting the other's goodwill and best mood.

Dr. Motta was packing tobacco into his straight-stemmed briar pipe. "You don't mind if I smoke, do you? I don't allow my patients to smoke during therapy, but we're not in the clinic and we can relax a bit."

"I'll have a cigarette," said Tikhanov, finding and lighting one.

The doorbell rang, and then the room-service waiter appeared, rolling in the cart carrying their lunch. As the waiter laid out the dishes on the coffee table, Dr. Motta eyed them greedily. Puffing his pipe, he identified each dish. 'To start with, Salade d I'Oiseau. Then, for the two of us, Carre d'Agneau Roti. Toast, as you can see, and French coffee. I did not order a dessert, but if you wish one, I would recommend their Crime du Chocolat."

"No, thank you, there's quite enough already."

The waiter had finished. "If anything is not to your wishes, please ring room service. When you are through, let us know and I'll remove the service pieces and cart."

After the waiter had gone. Dr. Motta knocked the ashes out of his pipe and sat up. "Let's dine now, and we can talk."

"Very well," said Tikhanov, stubbing out his cigarette and starting to pick at the salad.

"I have only a clue as to your ailment, the reason you are here," said Dr. Motta, eating. "I know the problem is muscular dystrophy. But that need not be a death sentence. Some cases have been treated successfully. It all depends. We shall see, we shall see."

Tikhanov enjoyed a wave of relief, and began to look upon the Swiss doctor as a savior.

"Are you going to examine me?" inquired Tikhanov.

"If necessary," said Dr. Motta, absorbed in his food.

Tikhanov touched the package on the sofa beside him. "Dr. Karp sent along the results of all his tests for you to see."

"Very good. I shall study them with care. Then we will know what can be done." He raised his head. "You know, I have had several successes with this disease."

Tikhanov nodded. "That is why Dr. Karp sent me to see you. He told me of your successes, and mentioned two failures."

"Failures, of course. It depends on the stage of the disease, the degree of deterioration." He wiped his mouth with a linen napkin. "Treating dystrophy is not my specialty, but it is often an inevitable adjunct of my main work. Do you know anything about my work?"

"Very little, I'm ashamed to say," said Tikhanov apologetically. "I had no time to learn. I know only what Dr. Karp told me, no more. Basically, that you treat the aging, apply regenerative therapy to your patients."

"Ah, so you do have an idea," said Dr. Motta, pleased. "Yes, I was one of several proteges of the celebrated Dr. Paul Niehans at his chalet in Clarens on Lake Geneva. Dr. Niehans pioneered cellular therapy—a

simple therapy. He prepared solutions from freshly ground-up organs of a fetal lamb, one taken from the womb of a black sheep by Caesarian section, and injected them into the buttocks of his patient. If the patient suffered from an underactive thyroid, he was injected with thyroid cells. In menopausal disturbances, the patient was injected with ovarian cells. And so forth. The basic thrust of cellular therapy is to hold off old age, extend life by rejuvenation or revitalizing despite the illnesses of aging. Naturally, this meant treating many diseases ranging from anemia to serious ulcers. When I took over from Dr. Niehans, dystrophy was just one of the many diseases I had to contend with."

Tikhanov was intrigued. "And Dr. Niehans had successes?"

"I am certain. He treated Pope Pius XII. He treated King Ibn Said, the Duke of Windsor, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, the British author W. Somerset Maugham, the actress Gloria Swanson, even your former American Vice-President Henry A. Wallace. On the other hand, when he was given the opportunity to treat Igor Stravinsky, he refused, because the composer was ill with polycythemia, a chronically high red-blood-cell count, and Dr. Niehans felt that he could not cure him. I, too, have had many well-known patients, and I have treated them if I believed I could help them. Others I resisted treating because I felt that they would not respond to the injections. They were, in my view, incurable. But in most cases there are favorable opportunities."

Dr. Motta had completed his lunch, and was wiping his mouth once more.

"Now, Mr. Talley," he resumed, "let us see what can be done for you. Let me review your tests." He reached out, and Tikhanov quickly handed him Dr. Karp's package. "You finish your meal," Dr. Motta said. "I will retire to the desk in the bedroom where I can concentrate. I don't expect to be too long."

He rose, and briskly left the sitting room, tearing open the package as he went into the adjacent bedroom.

Alone, Tikhanov puttered with the rest of the food, but his stomach was in his throat and he had no appetite. He attempted to occupy himself with the bitter coffee, but finally gave up. He forced himself to sit back, smoking incessantly, and tried not to think.

After almost a half hour. Dr. Motta reappeared, stuffing the test findings back into the manila envelope. This time he took his place in an armchair, facing Tikhanov. His broad face was grave.

"I am sorry, Mr. Talley, but I am afraid I cannot help you," intoned Dr. Motta. "You suffer the mixed type of dystrophy, affecting the voluntary muscles, and the deterioration is advanced. The muscle

biopsy reports are conclusive. I can do no more than confirm Dr. Karp's opinion and his timetable, and support his suggestions. I am truly sorry."

"You mean -- you mean there is nothing that can be done?"

"Nothing short of a miracle," said Dr. Motta.

An hour later, Sergei Tikhanov finally left his own room.

Depressed, certain of his death sentence, he had tried to make up his mind which course to take. To announce his illness and enforced retirement dramatically, and gain ten or twelve years of miserable life, sitting by in the shadows while a more vigorous and healthy colleague took over the reins of the Soviet Union. Or to keep his illness a secret, and plunge into the top level of Soviet rule, and have the satisfaction of two or three years of power and activity before an early extinction. Since he could come to no decision, not yet, he had decided to continue with his schedule and proceed to Lisbon, and from there return to Yalta.