“Non inglese, Ermanno, non inglese,” Marco corrected him. The game was on—who could show more intensity. By noon, the teacher was exhausted and ready for a break, and they were both relieved to hear the knock on
the door and the voice of Luigi outside in the hallway. He entered and saw the two of them squared off across the small, littered table, as if they’d been arm wrestling for several hours.
“Come va?” Luigi asked. How’s it going?
Ermanno gave him a weary look and said, “Molto intenso.” Very intense.
“Vorrei pranzare,” Marco announced, slowly rising to his feet. I’d like some lunch.
Marco was hoping for a nice lunch with some English thrown in to make things easier and perhaps relieve the mental strain of trying to translate every word he heard. However, after Ermanno’s glowing summary of the morning session, Luigi was inspired to continue the immersion through the meal, or at least the first part of it. The menu contained not a word of English, and after Luigi explained each dish in incomprehensible Italian, Marco threw up his hands and said, “That’s it. I’m not speaking or listening to Italian for the next hour.”
“What about your lunch?”
“I’ll eat yours.” He gulped the red wine and tried to relax.
“Okay then. I suppose we can do English for one hour.”
“Grazie,” Marco said before he caught himself.
9
MIDWAY THROUGH THE MORNING SESSION THE FOLLOWING
day, Marco abruptly changed direction. In the middle of a particularly tedious piece of dialogue he ditched the Italian and said, “You’re not a student.”
Ermanno looked up from the study guide, paused for a moment, then said, “Non inglese, Marco. Soltanto Italiano.” Only Italian.
“I’m tired of Italian right now, okay? You’re not a student.”
Deceit was difficult for Ermanno, and he paused a bit too long. “I am,” he said, without much conviction.
“No, I don’t think so. You’re obviously not taking classes, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to spend all day teaching me.”
“Maybe I have classes at night. Why does it matter?”
“You’re not taking classes anywhere. There are no books here, no student newspaper, none of the usual crap that students leave lying around everywhere.”
“Perhaps it’s in the other room.”
“Let me see.”
“Why? Why is it important?”
“Because I think you work for the same people Luigi works for.”
“And what if I do?”
“I want to know who they are.”
“Suppose I don’t know? Why should you be concerned? Your task is to learn the language.”
“How long have you lived here, in this apartment?”
“I don’t have to answer your questions.”
“See, I think you got here last week; that this is a safe house of some sort; that you’re not really who you say you are.”
“Then that would make two of us.” Ermanno suddenly stood and walked through the tiny kitchen to the rear of the apartment. He returned with some papers, which he slid in front of Marco. It was a registration packet from the University of Bologna, with a mailing label listing the name of Ermanno Rosconi, at the address where they were now sitting.
“I resume classes soon,” Ermanno said. “Would you like some more coffee?”
Marco was scanning the forms, comprehending just enough to get the message. “Yes, please,” he said. It was just paperwork—easily faked. But if it was a forgery, it was a very good one. Ermanno disappeared into the kitchen and began running water.
Marco shoved his chair back and said, “I’m going for a walk around the block. I need to clear my head.”
______
THE
routine changed at dinner. Luigi met him in front of a tobacco shop facing the Piazza dei Signori, and
they strolled along a busy alley as shopkeepers were closing up. It was already dark and very cold, and smartly bundled businessmen hurried home, their heads covered with hats and scarves.
Luigi had his gloved hands buried deep in the wool pockets of his knee-length rough fabric duster, one that could’ve been handed down by his grandfather or purchased last week in Milan at some hideously expensive designer shop. Regardless, he wore it stylishly, and once again Marco was envious of the casual elegance of his handler.
Luigi was in no hurry and seemed to enjoy the cold. He offered a few comments in Italian, but Marco refused to play along. “English, Luigi,” he said twice. “I need English.”
“All right. How was your second day of class?”
“Good. Ermanno’s okay. No sense of humor, but an adequate teacher.”
“You’re making progress?”
“How could I not make progress?”
“Ermanno tells me you have an ear for the language.”
“Ermanno is a bad con man and you know it. I’m working hard because a lot depends on it. I’m drilled by him six hours a day, then I spend three hours at night cramming. Progress is inevitable.”
“You work very hard,” Luigi repeated. He suddenly stopped and looked at what appeared to be a small deli. “This, Marco, is dinner.”
Marco stared with disapproval. The storefront was no more than fifteen feet across. Three tables were
crammed in the window and the place appeared to be packed. “Are you sure?” Marco asked.
“Yes, it’s very good. Lighter food, sandwiches and stuff. You’re eating by yourself. I’m not going in.”
Marco looked at him and started to protest, then he caught himself and smiled as if he gladly accepted the challenge.
“The menu is on a chalkboard above the cashier, no English. Order first, pay, then pick up your food at the far end of the counter, which is not a bad to place to sit if you can get a stool. Tip is included.”
Marco asked, “What’s the specialty of the house?”
“The ham and artichoke pizza is delicious. So are the panini. I’ll meet you over there, by the fountain, in one hour.”
Marco gritted his teeth and entered the café, very alone. As he waited behind two young ladies he desperately searched the chalkboard for something he could pronounce. Forget taste. What was important was the ordering and paying. Fortunately, the cashier was a middle-aged lady who enjoyed smiling. Marco gave her a friendly “Buona sera,” and before she could shoot something back he ordered a “panino prosciutto e formaggio”—ham and cheese sandwich—and a Coca-Cola.
Good ol’ Coca-Cola. The same in any language.
The register rattled and she offered a blur of words that he did not understand. But he kept smiling and said, “Sì,” then handed over a twenty-euro bill, certainly enough to cover things and bring back some change. It worked. With the change was a ticket. “Numero sessantasette,” she said. Number sixty-seven.
He held the ticket and moved slowly along the
counter toward the kitchen. No one gawked at him, no one seemed to notice. Was he actually passing himself off as an Italian, a real local? Or was it so obvious that he was an alien that the locals didn’t bother to look? He had quickly developed the habit of evaluating how other men were dressed, and he judged himself to be in the game. As Luigi had told him, the men of northern Italy were much more concerned with style and appearance than Americans. There were more jackets and tailored slacks, more sweaters and ties. Much less denim, and virtually no sweatshirts or other signs of indifference to appearance.
Luigi, or whoever had put together his wardrobe, one no doubt paid for by the American taxpayers, had done a fine job. For a man who’d worn the same prison garb for six years, Marco was quickly adjusting to things Italian.
He watched the plates of food as they popped up along the counter near the grill. After about ten minutes, a thick sandwich appeared. A server grabbed it, snatched off a ticket, and yelled, “Numero sessantasette.” Marco stepped forward without a word and produced his ticket. The soft drink came next. He found a seat at a small corner table and thoroughly enjoyed the solitude of his dinner. The deli was loud and crowded, a neighborhood place where many of the customers knew each other. Their greetings involved hugs and kisses and long hellos, even longer goodbyes. Waiting in line to order caused no problems, though the Italians seemed to struggle with the basic concept of one standing behind the other. Back home there would’ve been sharp words from the customers and perhaps swearing from the cashier.
In a country where a three-hundred-year-old house
is considered new, time has a different meaning. Food is to be enjoyed, even in a small deli with few tables. Those seated close to Joel seemed poised to take hours to digest their pizza and sandwiches. There was simply too much talking to do!
The brain-dead pace of prison life had flattened all his edges. He’d kept his sanity by reading eight books a week, but even that exercise had been for escape and not necessarily for learning. Two days of intensive memorizing, conjugating, pronouncing, and listening like he’d never listened before left him mentally exhausted.
So he absorbed the roar of Italian without trying to understand any of it. He enjoyed its rhythm and cadence and laughter. He caught a word every now and then, especially in the greetings and farewells, and considered this to be progress of some sort. Watching the families and friends made him lonely, though he refused to dwell on it. Loneliness was twenty-three hours a day in a small cell with little mail and nothing but a cheap paperback to keep him company. He’d seen loneliness; this was a day at the beach.
He tried hard to linger over his ham and cheese, but he could only stretch it so far. He reminded himself to order fries the next time because fries can be toyed with until long after they’re cold, thus extending the meal far beyond what would be considered normal back home. Reluctantly, he surrendered his table. Almost an hour after he entered the café, he left the warmth of it and walked to the fountain where the water had been turned off so it wouldn’t freeze. Luigi strolled up a few minutes later, as if he’d been loitering in the shadows, waiting. He had the nerve to suggest a gelato, an ice cream, but Marco was
already shivering. They walked to the hotel and said good night.
______
LUIGI’S
field supervisor had diplomatic cover at the U.S. consulate in Milan. His name was Whitaker, and Backman was the least of his priorities. Backman was not involved in intelligence, or counterintelligence, and Whitaker had a full load in those arenas without having to worry about an ex–Washington power broker who’d been stashed away in Italy. But he dutifully prepared his daily summaries and sent them to Langley. There they were received and reviewed by Julia Javier, the veteran with access to Mr. Maynard himself. It was because of Ms. Javier’s watchful eye that Whitaker was so diligent in Milan. Otherwise, the daily summaries may not have been so prompt.
Teddy wanted a briefing.
Ms. Javier was summoned to his office on the seventh floor, to the “Teddy Wing,” as it was known throughout Langley. She entered his “station,” as he preferred it to be called, and once again found him parked at the end of a long wide conference table, sitting high in his jacked-up wheelchair, bundled in blankets from the chest down, wearing his standard black suit, peering over stacks of summaries, with Hoby hovering nearby ready to fetch another cup of the wretched green tea that Teddy was convinced was keeping him alive.
He was barely alive, but then Julia Javier had been thinking that for years now.
Since she didn’t drink coffee and wouldn’t touch the tea, nothing was offered. She took her customary seat to
his right, sort of the witness chair that all visitors were expected to take—his right ear caught much more than his left—and he managed a very tired “Hello, Julia.”
Hoby, as always, sat across from her and prepared to take notes. Every sound in the “station” was being captured by some of the most sophisticated recording devices modern technology had created, but Hoby nonetheless went through the charade of writing it all down.
“Brief me on Backman,” Teddy said. A verbal report such as this was expected to be concise, to the point, with not a single unnecessary word thrown in.
Julia looked at her notes, cleared her throat, and began speaking for the hidden recorders. “He’s in place in Treviso, a nice little town in northern Italy. Been there for three full days, seems to be making the adjustment quite well. Our agent is in complete contact, and the language tutor is a local who’s doing a nice job. Backman has no money and no passport, and so far has been quite willing to stick close to the agent. He has not used the phone in his hotel room, nor has he tried to use his cell phone for anything other than to call our agent. He has shown no desire to explore or to wander about. Evidently, the habits learned in prison are hard to break. He’s staying close to his hotel. When he’s not being tutored or eating, he stays in his room and studies Italian.”
“How is his language?”
“Not bad. He’s fifty-two years old, so it won’t be quick.”
“I learned Arabic when I was sixty,” Teddy said proudly, as if sixty was a century ago.
“Yes, I know,” she said. Everyone at Langley knew
it. “He is studying extremely hard and making progress, but it’s only been three days. The tutor is impressed.”
“What does he talk about?”
“Not the past, not old friends and old enemies. Nothing that would interest us. He’s closed that off, for now anyway. Idle conversation tends to be about his new home, the culture and language.”
“His mood?”
“He just walked out of prison fourteen years early and he’s having long meals and good wine. He’s quite happy. Doesn’t appear to be homesick, but of course he doesn’t really have a home. Never talks about his family.”
“His health?”
“Seems fine. The cough is gone. Appears to be sleeping. No complaints.”
“How much does he drink?”
“He’s careful. Enjoys wine at lunch and dinner and a beer in a nearby bar, but nothing excessive.”
“Let’s try and crank up the booze, okay? See if he’ll talk more.”
“That’s our plan.”
“How secure is he?”
“Everything’s bugged—phones, room, language lessons, lunches, dinners. Even his shoes have mikes. Both pairs. His overcoat has a Peak 30 sewn into the lining. We can track him virtually anywhere.”