epidemic does occur?' He paused. 'How old was Winkler?'
'In his early fifties.'
'So. Jerry was a carrier of the illness. He did not die of it directly. Winkler, who was thirty years older, died in a few days. Well ... there are those who think a selective pestilence is the most humane solution to overpopulation and the attendant impasses of pollution, inflation, and exhaustion of natural resources. A plague that kills the old and leaves the young, minus a reasonable percentage ... one might be tempted to let such an epidemic run its course even if one had the power to stop it.'
'Colonel I have a hunch that what we might find in the South American laboratories would make the story we heard from Adam North sound like a mild Gothic romance for old ladies and children.'
'Exactly what I am getting at, Mr. Snide. There are risks not worth taking. There are things better left unseen and unknown.'
'But somebody has to see and know them eventually. Otherwise there is no protection.'
'That somebody who has to see and know may not be you. Think of your own life, and that of your assistant. You may not be called upon to act in this matter.'
'You have a point.'
'He sure does,' said Jim.
'Mr. Snide, do you consider Hiroshima a crime?'
'Yes.'
'Were you ever tempted to go after the higher-ups?'
'No. It wasn't my business.'
'The same considerations may apply here. There is, however, one thing you can do: find the head and exorcise it. I have already done this with the body. Mr. Green agreed to burial here in the American cemetery.'
He walked across the room to a locked cabinet and returned with an amulet: runic lettering on what looked like parchment in an iron locket. 'Not parchment—human skin ...' he told me. 'The ceremony is quite simple: the head is placed in a magic circle on which you have marked the cardinal points. You repeat three times: 'Back to water. Back to fire. Back to air. Back to earth.' You then touch the crown of the head, the forehead, and the spot behind the right ear, in this case—he was left-handed—with the amulet.'
There was a knock at the door, and a middle-aged Greek woman with a mustache wheeled in the dinner of red mullet and Greek salad. After dinner and brandy we got up to take our leave.
'I have said you may not be called upon to act. On the other hand, you may be called upon. You will know if this happens, and you will need help. I can give you a contact in Mexico City ... 18 Callejon de la Esperanze.'
'Got it,' said Jim.
'My driver will take you back to the Hilton.'
'Nightcap?'
'No,' Jim said. 'I've got a headache. I'm going up to the room.'
'I'll check the bar. See you very shortly.' I had seen someone I knew from the American Embassy. Probably CIA. I could feel that he wanted to talk to me.
He looked up when I walked in, nodded and asked me to join him. He was young, thin, sandy-haired, glasses ... refined and rather academic-looking. He signaled the waiter and I ordered a beer.
After the waiter had brought the beer and gone back to the bar, the man leaned forward, speaking in a low precise voice.
'Shocking thing about the Green boy,' He tried to look concerned and sympathetic but his eyes were cold and probing. I would have to be very careful
