With
the next interruption, this time from the other door, she breathed a
sigh of relief. She didn't give a damn about Harrison and his index
finger, but she was beginning to realize that the man leaning over
her was not exactly Harrison. Or maybe it was just that it was 100
percent him and he was no longer hiding anything. No artificial
sweeteners.
She
recognized the guy at the door immediately. Time had not marked his
stony face, had left no trace on the burly body he had managed to
stuff into an elegant suit. Elisa was relieved to see that at least
Carter was still Carter, "How did I know you couldn't be far
behind?" she sneered contemptuously.
"They
want to see her," Carter said to Harrison, without even
acknowledging her presence.
Harrison
smiled in return, his courteousness magically reappearing.
"Of
course. Professor, please accompany Mr. Carter. Your friends are all
waiting for you. Or at least the ones who could make it... I'm sure
you're looking forward to seeing them again." As she stood up,
he added, "You'll also be pleased to know that it was one of
your own who let us know about the meeting." She regarded him
incredulously. "Surprised? It seems not all of your friends are
of the same opinion..."
THE
next
room was a dark, L-shaped lounge. In it were dusty bookshelves, an
old TV, and a small reading lamp bent over a small table. The lamp
cast a soft beam of light like a mysterious robot searching for
something hidden in the wood grain. Elisa knew it wouldn't take long
for the darkness to get to her, but for the time being her
encroaching fear was nothing compared to the excitement she felt at
seeing everyone again.
When
she did, a lump formed in her throat.
The
man and woman were both sitting at the table but stood when she
walked in. Their greetings were just quick, light kisses on the
cheek. Still, Elisa couldn't contain her tears. She knew she was
finally back with the only people who really understood her terror.
Finally back with the damned.
"Where's
Reinhard?" she asked, her voice quivering.
"Right
now he should be taking off from Berlin," the man said. "They'll
pick him up at the airport and bring him here."
So
they'd cornered them all again.
Who
gave us away?
She
glanced at them again.
Who
was it?
It
had been years since she'd seen them and she was surprised at how
they'd changed, just as she had been last time. Not only had the
woman not lost her looks, but Elisa thought she was even more
attractive, despite the fact that she must be forty-something by now
and had lost a lot of weight. Still, her appearance was shocking. Her
long hair was dyed red and hung in a thick mane down her back, and
she'd powdered her face and tweezed her eyebrows. Her lips were
bright red. And her clothes were striking: a spaghetti-strap top,
fastened at the front, tight trousers, and high heels—all
black. She also wore a very ordinary cardigan, perhaps (Elisa
guessed) to tone down the mournful yet provocative air she gave off.
He, on the other hand, had gone completely bald, gained weight, and
wore a medium-length gray beard that matched his jacket and corduroy
trousers. He had aged a lot more than she had, although she seemed
wearier than him. He smiled; she did not. That was what was
immediately noticeable.
One
thing they had in common, though, was that their eyes both bore the
same haunted look as Elisa's. It was familiar to her.
The
family of the damned; we're a clan.
"Together
again," she said.
She
had her back to the door and heard the footsteps approaching before
the door opened. From behind his glasses, Victor had the look of a
scared rabbit. He appeared to be safe and sound, which relieved her,
even though she had been sure they weren't going to hurt him anyway.
"Elisa,
are you OK?"
"Yeah,
are you?"
"Yeah.
All I did was answer some questions..." Just then Victor noticed
the man and his face showed a glimmer of recognition. "Professor...
Professor Blanes?"
"This
is Victor Lopera, do you remember him?" Elisa asked Blanes. "He
was in your course at Alighieri. He's a good friend. I told him a lot
of things tonight..."
The
woman exhaled noisily as Victor and Blanes shook hands. Then Elisa
pointed to her.
"Let
me introduce you. This is Jacqueline Clissot. I've told you about
her."
"Pleased
to meet you," Victor said, Adam's apple bobbing.
Clissot
just nodded. Victor's blush and awkwardness on finding himself the
unintentional protagonist of the situation might have been comical,
but no one smiled.
Carter's
stony voice called out from the door.
"Do
you want anything to eat?"
"We
want to be left alone, if you don't mind," she retorted, making
no attempt to hide her disdain for the man. "You still have to
wait for Professor Silberg before you can make any decisions about
us, right? Besides, you can listen to everything we say with one of
the hundreds of mikes you've stashed in the room, so how about you
just back the hell off for a little while, and close the door behind
you?"
"Please,
Carter, she's right," Blanes said. "Just leave us for a
while."
Carter
regarded them blankly, as though he was hundreds of miles away and
their words had a time delay before reaching him. Then he turned to
his men.
After
the door closed, the four of them sat at the table. Elisa was struck
by a simile. We're
going
to lay all our cards on the table.
Jacqueline
went first.
"You
made a big mistake, Elisa." She glanced sidelong at Victor, who
seemed fascinated by her. Jacqueline Clissot's voice and appearance
were
both
very seductive, but Elisa couldn't help thinking, as she regarded the
woman, that she must be trapped in a living hell.
Maybe
worse than mine.
"You
shouldn't have gotten anyone else involved in ... in our business."
Jacqueline
wasn't holding back any punches. Elisa had a few of her own to
deliver, but she wanted to clear something up first.
"Victor
can still make up his own mind. All he knows is what happened on New
Nelson, and they'll leave him alone if he agrees not to talk."
"I
think you're right," Blanes concurred. "The last thing
Harrison wants is to complicate matters."
"What
about you?" Elisa inquired, suddenly cruel. "Haven't you
ever tried to get help, Jacqueline?"
She
regretted the question the second it was out of her mouth. The woman
averted her eyes. She knew that not looking directly at anyone had
just become habit.
"I've
dealt with my life on my own for quite some time," Clissot
declared.
Elisa
made no reply. She didn't want to argue, especially with Jacqueline,
but she couldn't stand to hear the Frenchwoman act like the only
martyr in the room.
"Be
that as it may," Blanes said, "Elisa brought Victor here
and we should accept it. I accept it, anyway."
"It
should be
him
doing
the accepting, David," Clissot replied. "We should tell him
the rest and let him decide if he wants to stay or not."
"Fine
by me." Blanes pressed his temples, as if to clear a new path
for his thoughts. Elisa perceived a change in him, too, but it was
harder to put a finger on exactly what it was. He seemed more ...
confident? Stronger? Or did she just want him to be that way? "What
do you think, Elisa?"
"Let's
tell him and let him make up his mind." Elisa turned to Victor
and held out a hand, cautious but firm. "I don't want to force
you past the point of no return, Victor. I know I should never have
gotten you mixed up in all this, but I needed you... I wanted you to
come. I wanted someone from the outside to see what's happening to
us."
"Elisa,
I—"
"Listen."
She squeezed his hands. "I know it's not an excuse. I thought
things would turn out differently, that this meeting would somehow be
different... I'm not trying to excuse my actions," she repeated
emphatically. "I needed you, and I came to you. I'd do it again,
in these circumstances. I'm just so scared, Victor. We're all so
scared. You still can't understand it. But we need all the help we
can get... and right now
you
are
all
the help we can get..."
Though
one of you doesn't think so,
she
added to herself. She looked at them all intentionally, wondering
who'd given them away. Or had Harrison just lied to cause a rift?
Divide and conquer.
Suddenly,
the curly-haired doll with intellectual glasses (modest physics
professor frames, no longer the John Lennon wire rims) came to life.
"Hold
on a sec. I got this far myself. Not because you wanted me to, Elisa,
but because
I
wanted to. Hold on. Hold on." He gesticulated awkwardly, as if
trying to force a large box inside another one just a couple of
inches larger, testing his dexterity. Elisa was surprised at how firm
his voice was. "Everyone ... everyone I know always says the
same thing. 'I made you do it, Victor.' 'I'm sorry, Victor.' But it's
not like that. I'm the one who decides. I might be shy, but I
do
make
my own decisions. And I
wanted
to
come here tonight, I
wanted
to
help you ... help all of you, in whatever way I can. It was
my
decision.
I don't know what I'll be able to do for you, but here I am, count me
in. Yes, it scares me, I'm not good at taking risks, and I'm scared
of how scared you are. But I want to be here, with you, and I want to
hear... everything."
"Thank
you," Elisa murmured.
"Well
in any case, we should wait for Reinhard and find out what he
thinks," Jacqueline Clissot insisted. Blanes shook his head.
"Victor's
already here. We may as well tell him the rest." He glanced at
Elisa. "You want to be the one?"
Now
came the hard part, and she knew it. It would be awful later, finding
out who had betrayed them. But for now, the idea of recounting
everything she'd been hiding over the past several years (the most
terrible years) seemed like an insurmountable test. Still, she knew
that she was the best person to do it.