The woman smiled nervously.
'A chip in the unit continuously monitors the system of Global Positioning Satellites, and calculates the exact position and height above sea level to within a few metres. When the red button is depressed, that information is automatically encoded along with the distress call and forwarded to headquarters for the use of the designated back-up personnel. The installed cadmium battery lasts for up to seventy-two hours with average use. Ifs fully charged now, and can be recharged in under an hour with the adaptor pack included. And all this in a unit weighing less than three hundred grams!'
'Do you offer a quantity discount?'
'Pardon?’
'Never mind. So if the phone rings, I press the green button.'
'It doesn't ring, it vibrates.' 'Pardon? No, that's your line.'
'If you keep it in an inside pocket or on your hip, anywhere in contact with your body, you will feel a gentle tingling sensation.' 'That'll be the first time for a while.' 'Pardon?'
'Sorry. You were saying?'
'The reason for this feature is the operative may be in a situation where it is not expedient to reveal the fact that he is in communication with headquarters. In such a case, simply ignore the call and report back in when you are able by pressing the green button.'
She turned the unit off and replaced it in its box. 'Any other questions?'
'What happened to Tullio?' asked Zen, pocketing the box. 'Pardon?'
'Tullio Rastrelli. He used to run this place.' The woman's face almost imperceptibly glazed over. 'Ah, yes,' she said. 'He took early retirement.' 'When Dottor Brugnoli arrived.'
'That s right. It was probably a wise decision. Like a lot of the older members of staff, he didn't really fit into the new ethos here.'
'I can imagine.'
'Dottor Brugnoli's philosophy is that we should think as individuals but act as a team.' 'And Tullio wasn't a team player.' 'Not really, no.' Zen nodded.
'Brugnoli's full of new ideas, isn't he?' The woman's eyes glowed.
'Oh I know! He's just so inspirational. He's even having signs printed up for every workplace with phrases like that one, to help keep the staff motivated and focussed. I'm hoping to get one soon.'
Zen left the cardboard box on the counter and slipped the communication device and adaptor pack into his coat pocket.
'Don't get too motivated,' he said, turning towards the door. 'Brugnoli's ambitious, and this ministry is a political dead end.
Come the next cabinet reshuffle, he'll be gone. But those 'older members of staff' you mentioned will still be around.'
Ten minutes later, he walked into the Bar Gran Caffe dell'Opera. Giorgio De Angelis was sitting at a table by the window.
'Tell me all,' he said as Zen sat down, 'then let’s see if we can work out what it really means.'
'I don't think that will be too difficult’ Zen replied sourly.
He gave Giorgio a paraphrased version of what Brugnoli had said, inserting a few of the choicer lines verbatim for comic effect, and they were duly effective.
When he'd stopped laughing, De Angelis said, 'I see you're already fluent in the new dialect Aurelio.'
'There was just one phrase I didn't understand. Something about 'the Three I's'.'
That's their motto for the way forward in this country’ De Angelis retorted in a tone of disgust. ''Inglese, impresa, Internet'. This is the new Right, Aurelio. Statism with a human face. Well, with a business suit, anyway. No more canny old spiders like Andreotti spinning their intricate webs. Now if s all feel-good slogans and photo-ops carefully stage-managed by Publitalia. Christ, whoever would have thought that we'd miss the former regime so soon? Listen, if this new job doesn't work out, you're welcome to mine. When this retirement plan they've been threatening us with comes into effect, I'm going to cash in.'
'You don't understand, Giorgio. I can't have your job, or even my old one. That s the whole point.'
De Angelis looked at him, suddenly serious.
'How do you mean?'
‘I mean I'm being promoted out of harm's way.' 'They're kicking you upstairs?'
'Upstairs and to the left, all the way down the corridor to that little room at the end where no one ever goes. At least, that’s the way I read it'
'But why?'
‘I don't know.'
'What harm could you do them?'
'I have no idea. That s what's so worrying. If they simply wanted to get rid of me, they could have told me to take indefinite sick leave until this retirement deal comes through – the least we could do for un mutilato di guerra e del lavoro, etcetera, etcetera -and then handed me a cheque and kissed me goodbye. But for some reason I don't understand, they seem to want to keep me in the organization but not of it, if you see what I mean.'
'Out of touch but under control?'
Zen nodded.
'As I say, I have no idea why, but I can't read it any other way. Can you?'
De Angelis pondered this for some time. 'Maybe you're being too cynical,' he said at last. 'One can never be too cynical’
'That s pretty cynical. Try to be more positive. Maybe they really do respect your abilities and skills and want to put them to the best possible use’
Zen fixed him with a glassy eye.
''To facilitate positive interactions and innovative strategies fostering enhanced productivity in the crime issue resolution sector'? I don't think so, Giorgio’
He turned to the window beside them.
'Anyway, who cares?' exclaimed De Angelis. 'It sounds like a hell of a deal to me, whatever their motives may be. No staff meetings, no routine paperwork, no supervision and no bullshit? Anyone in Criminalpol would kill for an offer like.. ‘
'Giorgio.'
'What?'
'Look out there’
De Angelis followed Zen's gaze to the street outside. 'What?'
'How many people can you see?'
Giorgio De Angelis attempted a laugh, which did not come off. 'What kind of question is that?' he demanded. 'How many?' insisted Zen, not turning to look at him. De Angelis sighed.
'One, two, three, four, five. Now four. Now six. Now five again. No, now it's.. ‘
'Can you see someone leaning against the wall right opposite, between that blue Fiat and the scooter?'
'That young jerk in the green shirt? Yes, Aurelio, I can. My distance vision is still remarkably good, although I have some difficulty reading small print. Speaking of which, would you mind telling me what this is all about?'
For a moment Zen was tempted to try and explain, but by now he was sane enough to restrain himself.
'Oh, nothing. I just thought I recognized him, that's all.'
De Angelis regarded him with unmitigated perplexity.
'How am I supposed to know whether you recognized him? Anyway, that's not what you said. You asked if I could see him.'
'Yes, I suppose I did. Never mind. Let's just forget it'
Giorgio De Angelis gave a perfunctory nod.
'Very well. He's gone now anyway. So you're not off to America after all?'
'No. One of the two brothers I was supposed to testify against has apparently worked out a sistemazione with the prosecutors.'
'As a result of which they don't need you any more.'
'Exactly.'
