by Geoff Wolak
* * *
Colonel Golon, DGSE Paris, read the report, his deputy stood waiting.
Finally he looked up. ‘This man Beesely makes a phone call … and the Americans and Israelis land in Zug?’
‘Yes, sir,’ the aid pointedly agreed.
‘And no attempt by the British to search for the treasure?’
‘None, sir. No mention, no interest.’
Colonel Golon placed down the report. ‘It is early days yet.’
‘Sir, intelligence suggests that they are planning attacks on right wing and Nazi groups, revenge for the nerve gas attack. Do we … do anything?’
‘Not without risking our sources.’
‘Another matter, sir. We have noticed the CIA making contact with several criminal gangs … here, in Paris. They are preparing an action, which seems to be directed towards K2.’
Golon eased back, a perplexed gaze on his face. ‘They go to assist K2, then they attack them? That makes little sense, Pascal.’
‘Could the Americans know about the list?’
Golon stood, his concern clearly evident. He was about to say something, then checked himself. Turning to his office window he looked down at the enclosed courtyard. ‘If … K2’s castle was attacked, then that would not be a bad thing, if the result was that the castle was vacated, or that the newspapers exposed K2. Having K2 in place in the centre of Europe is a concern. After all, it is a privately run criminal organisation, strangely tolerated by the Swiss.’
‘We both know that the Swiss Government is weak. The banks own the government there.’
Golon turned, nodding his agreement, a slight shrug.
‘Do we do anything … if the Americans attack?’
‘No, is the simple answer. We watch and wait, our long term goal to see the castle in someone else’s hands, then searched thoroughly.’