“Why didn’t you take one of us along?”
“For two reasons, I didn’t want to be influenced and I didn’t want to be distracted in any way. I wanted to focus on him fully; not only while we met, but also this morning prior to the meeting and this afternoon after the meeting.”
“This could have cost you your life?”
“Yes, although, and I know this may not sound convincing, I just had this very strong intuition that things would turn out all right.”
“Perhaps more importantly,” Sarah interrupted, “did he agree to release his hostages?”
“The short answer is, I don’t know. – But let me go back to our conversation while we had dessert. Assuming he told me the truth, he doesn’t remember anything that happened in his life prior to the age of thirty two. But that is not the only personal challenge he is confronted with. He also experiences personality changes. Sometimes he is Alberto and sometimes, he said, he is Gabriele, the man of god.”
“The man of god?”
“Yes, that’s what he said. Whatever personality phase he finds himself in, it usually lasts for a month or two, sometimes longer; especially his Gabriele phase, he pointed out, lasted between six to nine months several times.”
“What has this to do with our friends, his hostages?”
“A lot! Whatever he does in one personality, he can’t fully comprehend in the other personality. He remembers what he did, but he can’t make sense of it. He can’t figure out why he did it and he doesn’t know what’s behind it all; in other words, he doesn’t know what he wants to get out of it.”
“Shit!” Tony gasped.
“Yes. Shit describes it well,” Christina agreed.
“So … are you saying he doesn’t know why he kidnapped Mike’s mother, Mike, Vanessa, Steven and the elderly lady?” Nancy asked.
“That’s correct, he doesn’t know. I spoke to him about what had happened in New York, about the publisher who he had ordered to be killed, about the apartment his people had blown up, about his attempts to kill Mike, I told him about the three dead painters … I spoke to him about everything.”
“And?”
“He listened, he nodded, he said yes, he was aware of these events, but he does not know why he initiated these events.”
“Did you tell him?”
“I did. I told him that he is after a recipe for eternal life.”
“And?”
“This too, he said, he was aware of, but he had no clue why he was interested in this recipe. To live the kind of life that he has lived so far, he pointed out, was just about the last thing he would like to experience for all eternity.”
“Was he serious or was he pulling your leg?”
“I think he was serious, but I can’t be certain. Anyhow, I told him if he can’t remember why he had kidnapped our friends, he could just as well release them.”
“What was his answer?”
“He said that would be very stupid; it could mean that he has to kidnap them again once he has switched back into his Gabriele personality. It makes more sense to hold on to them and make a decision at some time in the future.”
“When he is Gabriele again?”
“Yes.”
“I hate to admit it,” Nancy commented, “but from his perspective this is a perfectly logical decision.”
47
“What kind of person is he?” Tony asked.
“He is seventy three,” Christina replied. “He looks younger, more like sixty, tall, fit and athletic. Most people would call him handsome. He definitely has charisma, is intelligent and has a good sense of humour. Although he is my enemy and I would kill him without hesitation if this would free our friends, I felt relaxed in his presence. This sounds crazy, I know.”
“You said you were disguised as an annoying old woman…”
“Ah yes. After we had ordered lunch I got rid of my wig, my old woman stuff and the bullet proof vests I had underneath and changed back into my real self. It was a nice day, we were sitting in the garden under a sun shade and if you had seen us you would probably have thought of us as couple. He was wearing a white shirt and blue trousers and I a white blouse and blue jeans.”
“This sounds so bizarre,” Sarah added.
“It is bizarre,” Christina agreed. “Very bizarre. There I am, sitting with a man who is thirty years my senior and whom I should kill, but instead I have lunch with him and listen to his personal life story.”
“You met Alberto. The bad guy seems to be Gabriele. Did Alberto feel any regrets about the crimes he committed as Gabriele?” Nancy enquired.
“I asked him the same question. He said no, no regrets and no emotions. Thinking about Gabriele, he said, was like thinking about a character he might have watched in a movie. If you think about a bad guy you saw in a movie, you don’t feel regrets about what the bad guy did, were his exact words.”
“What about his people? How can they cope with a boss who changes his personality every few months?”
“I don’t know how many people he has. He didn’t tell me much about this aspect of his life. But he indicated that people can be a problem. It sounded a bit like he has a few key people who can handle the situation with his changing personality and on whom he can rely; about the ones who can’t handle it he said he preferred not to talk. Which reminds me, at one time, just before he arrived, two of his people were sitting at my table; one of them was convinced that any moment we all would be shot dead.”
“How did that make you feel?”
“It made me ready to run, hoping that the bullets would hit my vests and not my head. But then, just when I was about to get up to demonstrate how fast a fat old woman can move, he arrived at the scene and within seconds I relaxed.”
“Could it be that everything he said was untrue? That he’s good at acting and playing games with us?”
“Could be. There is no way to be certain.”
“And he had absolutely no interest in the remaining part of the recipe for eternal life? I thought the whole idea of meeting him was to figure out how to arrange a swap.”
“I wouldn’t say he had no interest at all. He certainly knew that this was the purpose of the meeting from my perspective. From his perspective, he said, the purpose of the meeting was to get to know me. He said he was intrigued by our phone conversations. As far as the remaining part of the recipe was concerned, he said that I could leave it with him if I wanted and whenever he switched back into his Gabriele personality he would decide about whether or not it was of sufficient interest to him for a swap. I told him that this was a crazy suggestion. He said that he expected me to say that and that he, if he was me, wouldn’t agree either; it was a crazy suggestion indeed, but it was the best he could think of under the circumstances. The other option was to wait until he was Gabriele again.”
“What did you reply?”
“I told him we’ll wait.”
“You didn’t really mean it, did you?” Tony asked Christina the next morning when they all had breakfast together.
“Mean what?”
“That we should wait.”
“No,” Christina replied. “I had another plan. I wanted to arrange another lunch or dinner meeting with him. Only this time, I planned that we would kidnap him. His people, I thought, are unlikely to harm the hostages while he is in our custody. We then could try to exchange him for our friends.”
“That sounds like a possibility.”
“As I told you, he is an intelligent man. When I asked him what he thought was going to happen between now and his next personality change, he knew exactly what I was driving at. He said that there can be no further contacts during that time. I asked why not. He asked if that wasn’t obvious. No, it’s not, I replied. Well, he explained, Alberto is a man who is friendly, who loves art, music and books and easily falls in love with beautiful women. Who knows what might happened if he meets you a second time. He may lose his head, he may accept an invitation for a cup of coffee in your ho
tel room. And then who knows where this may lead. I played stupid and said it might lead to a glass of wine and another glass of wine and yes, I said, I agreed with him, nobody knows where that might lead. He smiled and said if that would lead only to that, that would be okay. He emphasized the second that. However, he continued, that that could also lead to something from which he might not be able to escape.”
“Lots of thats …”
“Yes, we had a laugh about it too, although I had the feeling his laugh was a bit more sincere than mine.”
“So, if I understand this correctly, there is no way that we can contact him?” Nancy asked.
“He can contact me, but I can’t contact him.”
“There must be something we can do?”
“I have a cell phone which belongs to one of his men,” Christina continued. “I managed to get hold of it and didn’t return it. In the meantime I had a good look at it. It is set up so that it does not show any numbers, not numbers of calls received and not numbers of calls made. However, I am sure if we gave this cell phone to commissaire Daniel, there would be a good chance that he would find a way to get these numbers off the relevant phone company. Although we can’t access these numbers on the cell phone, I would be very surprised if they were not stored on a computer somewhere.”
“Is it a good idea to get the French commissaire involved?” Sarah asked. “In the end this could mean that our friends go from one prison to another.”
“From a gangster’s prison to a French prison,” Tony contemplated, “I am wondering which would be the more comfortable one?”
“At this stage probably the gangster’s prison,” Christina replied. “Alberto told me until he knows why he imprisoned our friends he will treat them well. They live in a guarded apartment, he said, they have good food, television, books, there is even a room with a gym. But, of course, he added, once he is Gabriele again, this may change.”
“We have to free them whilst he is Alberto,” Tony continued. As an afterthought he added, “Could you leave this cell phone with me?”
“Sure,” Christina replied and gave him the phone.
48
Three weeks passed. On the surface nothing seemed to happen. Tony, Nancy, Christina and Sarah found themselves in a peculiar situation, a bit like sitting on a time bomb. They didn’t know if they were being secretly observed and they had no idea when Alberto would become Gabriele. It could happen any moment. And when it happened, they had no idea what the immediate consequences would be.
Some of the last questions Christina had asked Alberto were, “What is going to happen when you change? Will you give me a call? Can we then negotiate?”
“I have to be perfectly honest here,” Alberto replied, “I have no idea what Gabriele’s reaction will be. From what my people tell me, he can be very impulsive, but he can also be very calculating.”
“Just one more question,” Christina said.
“Sure, ask as many as you like.”
“Wouldn’t you prefer to stay Alberto? Alberto seems to be the nicer one of you two.”
“Quite a few people have asked me this,” Alberto replied. “The answer is simple. When I am Alberto I’m Alberto and Gabriele and his life are irrelevant, and I guess it’s the same when I’m Gabriele; then Alberto and his life are irrelevant. It kind of doesn’t matter who I am.”
“This is so crazy.”
“To me it seems perfectly normal.”
“No, it’s crazy,” Christina insisted.
“I don’t think so,” Alberto replied. “Have you ever thought that it is crazy that you are Christina and not someone else?”
“Of course not! I am always Christina.”
“That’s what you think. And it’s the same with me. When I am Alberto I’m always Alberto and when I am Gabriele I guess I’m always Gabriele. That’s how I think.”
“How can you? You are always aware of the existence of the other one.”
“That’s not very different from your awareness of the existence of a girlfriend or a sister.”
Tony, Nancy, Christina and Sarah met every day at least twice. They had breakfast and dinner together, always room service.
At the end of the fourth week Tony announced a new development. They knew that he had mailed the entire cell phone Christina had given him to friends in New York. His friends were computer hackers and his request was simple: A) Find out the last number that was dialled on this phone. B) Once this has been done, find out where the cell phone that belongs to this last number is located.
“I received a call an hour ago,” he said. “They told me the last number that was dialled on the cell phone Christina gave me. It took them a long time to work it out. In the end they had to mail the SIM card to a guy in India who had the expertise to do the job.”
“That must have cost a bit,” Sarah couldn’t help saying.
“Yes, it has. But that’s a good use of money,” Tony replied.
“What about the location of the phone the number belongs to?”
“This is something they have not been able to work out. However, they gave me a contact here in Paris, who may have a better chance than they have. Apparently the number, when you dial it, is coded and converted into something like several thousand random numbers before it actually connects to the number that belongs to Alberto’s cell phone. But even the number that belongs to Alberto’s cell phone, they suspect, may change once or twice a day.”
“Have you ever heard of such a sophisticated security system before?” Christina asked.
“Yes, actually I have. Apparently the CIA was working on something like this a few years ago.”
“Have you contacted the people in Paris who may be able to help?”
“Yes. I left a message with a password which my friend in New York gave me. Ten minutes later a man called back and arranged that two of us will meet him after dinner in a Bistro around the corner. His name is Eddie, he said, like Eddie Constantine.”
“Who do you think should come along?”Sarah asked.
“I don’t really mind, but since Christina managed to get things started and since Mike is amongst the hostages, I think Christina should be given first choice. What do you think?”
Everybody agreed that Christina should accompany Tony to his meeting with Eddie.
An hour later Tony and Christina met Eddie. He was a man whose age was hard to guess. He was very obese, anywhere between two hundred and ninety and three hundred and thirty pounds, Tony thought. Even expressed in kilograms, that’s a lot of weight, between one hundred and thirty and one hundred and fifty. He was dressed meticulously in an expensive looking grey suit, white shirt, red tie and dark brown shoes. Neither Christina nor Tony would have picked him as the man they were meant to meet. This is not what hackers are meant to look like. Maybe French hackers are different, Tony marvelled silently. He was already in the Bistro when they arrived. He approached them and introduced himself as Eddie. He said, “Eddie, like Eddie Constantine.” Tony replied, “Eddie Constantine like Lemmy Caution?” “Very good,” he said, “that’s the one. If this had been a test you would have passed.”
Eddie then came straight to the point. “Your mate in NY,” he said, “gave me the number of the cell phone. I entered the number in one of my systems and have a result. The question is, how much is it worth for you?”
“You tell us your price and we pay it,” Christina replied.
“The price is fifty thousand euros.”
Christina didn’t blink and said, “Okay. We pay cash of course. All we need is a less busy location where the transaction can take place.”
Eddie looked perplexed. “That was a joke. The price is five hundred euros. But since you are in such a generous mood I shall be equally generous and give you a discount of two hundred and fifty euros.”
“Let’s make it then one thousand euros. How about that?” Tony suggested.
Eddie thought about it for a moment before he replied, “Okay, one thousand euros it s
hall be. I don’t want to offend your obvious addiction to philanthropy, but allow me to pay for the beer.” Walking towards the bar he yelled, “Luc, three beers, same as always.” He pulled a piece of paper with an address out of his shirt pocket and gave it to Christina. He said, “It’s a farm at the outskirts of Paris.”
PART 4
49
By the time Tony and Christina left the Bistro it was nearly midnight. Eddie turned out to be a heavy drinker. Whilst Tony and Christina had two beers each he consumed six, together with six calvados. The alcohol he consumed did not change his behaviour the slightest bit. He was an articulate, intelligent and humorous man. Once inside the bar, it took less than ten minutes and he, Christina and Tony were joined by another four or five people and during the next couple of hours discussed what seemed like a thousand topics ranging from books, art and philosophy to the global financial crisis, politics and sex. He possessed an unusual ability to draw out of people what they really thought. In his presence there seemed to be no need to be guarded. The only topic which he didn’t touch on was his professional life. This, obviously, was taboo and Tony and Christina wondered if anybody in the bar apart from them knew about it.
When they left the Bistro, Eddie said to them, “Judging by the various other phone calls that were made during the past three weeks from the address I gave you, I would estimate there are at least eight people at that location.”
“How have you been able to establish this?” Tony asked surprised.
“Simply by the number of individual cell phones that were used to make and receive calls from that location during the past three weeks. It is logical then to assume that each cell phone represents one person.”
“Amazing. You must have access to the most confidential systems of the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure.”
“Monsieur, with all respect,” Eddie replied, “to answer this question, which of course, I realize wasn’t meant as a question, I would have to charge you at least five hundred thousand euros.”
“This doesn’t sound too expensive,” Christina laughed, “but since this information would only satisfy our curiosity, we unfortunately have to decline your offer.”
An Almighty Conspiracy – A novel, a thriller, four people doing the unexpected Page 19