From a couple of casual remarks, Hawn gathered that Pol’s place of residence was somewhat indeterminate. He had talked of a place overlooking Lac Leman in Switzerland, but it appeared that he had quarrelled with the Swiss authorities and had had to move. Hawn knew that it was difficult to quarrel with the Swiss, providing you had money, and it didn’t usually matter where the money came from. The most heinous crimes one could commit in that scrupulously immoral country were espionage and bankruptcy.
It is not easy to ask effectively whether a man is a spy. If he tells you he is, he is either lying, joking, or a spy of such humble calling that the information seems hardly worth knowing. And if he says he isn’t, you are none the wiser — except for the sure knowledge that he will think you an impertinent fool.
It was already evident that Pol knew quite a lot about Hawn — at least professionally — and was amused that they had shared the experience, although at very different levels, of the traumatic events in Algeria and Indo-China. Of Anna he had only made polite inquiries, and seemed well satisfied that she was a researcher, particularly in economic and political matters.
He now spread his fat little hands on the tablecloth and beamed at them both. ‘As you may have gathered, mes chèrs, I have had many interests in life. At the moment I am dabbling in the oil business. It is not a pretty business, I admit. The people who operate it are mercenaries and scoundrels. It was the great Gulbenkian who said that oil friendships are greasy. However, it is lucrative — and at my age I must have money, in order to indulge the few pleasures that are left to me.
‘But, my friends, I also have another interest — one that is rather less mundane. I hunt Nazi war criminals. There are quite a number of us — quite unofficially, you understand. And none of this must appear in print — or that will be the end of our relationship. I could add that it might even have unfortunate consequences for you.’ There was an edge of menace in his voice which belied his bright smiling eyes. ‘But I know that you are a man of discretion, Monsieur Hawn. No good journalist can afford not to be. So I can speak freely?’
‘You’ve been speaking fairly freely so far. Go on.’
‘This Strega is delicious. A vulgar liqueur, but one of the best ways I know with which to end a meal. Cognac is so often overrated. I was talking about war criminals. You are familiar, of course, with the Statute of Limitations? It was supposed to have expired at the end of last year. I and my colleagues, however, are not concerned with the niceties of international law. We have our own law. When we find these people, we punish them.’
‘You kill them?’ said Anna.
‘Put like that, Mademoiselle, it sounds so indelicate! Yes, if possible, we kill them. Like rats. But that is only incidental to what I want to talk about. I listened to your theory yesterday evening, Monsieur Hawn, with very great interest. You see, I have long entertained ideas along similar lines. We all know that international big business played a leading role in the Nazi war effort. You have only got to look at the structure of German industry before the war to see how intricately involved it was with some of the leading Western companies and corporations. No doubt the war came as a nasty shock to many of them, but that does not mean that all links were broken. I am thinking of the steel industry in particular. I am also thinking of oil.
‘The oil industry is the dirtiest of the lot. Where there’s a market they sell. There is absolutely no reason to believe that when the war came they were inhibited by morals or patriotic scruples. The Germans needed oil, and somehow they got it. I personally believe that the theory you expressed yesterday may well have more than a grain of truth in it. I do not know what oil companies were involved, but I would make an inspired guess that ABCO is the most likely candidate.
‘Even before the war they were by far the biggest organization, with a worldwide network. They had the contacts, the expertise, and above all, the ruthlessness. I go further. I would say that it was immaterial to ABCO whether the Germans or the Allies won. The important thing was that ABCO showed a profit at the end. And with the Germans they’d have had an almost exclusive market.’
Hawn said: ‘How would they have been paid?’
‘Gold. That was one commodity the Germans had plenty of — including many tons of melted down teeth. Most of it’s still sitting in Swiss vaults, gathering interest, and protected by the holy Swiss banking laws.’
‘I’m flattered you think my theory’s serious, Monsieur Pol. But where do we come in?’
‘You will help me. You have several ideal advantages. As you can imagine, I am a rather conspicuous man — not only physically, but by reputation. I need someone competent, experienced, someone I can trust.’
‘How do you know you can trust us?’
‘By my nose, mon chèr. I have a keen sense of smell. Besides, you would hardly be so foolish as to turn down a story like this. And if you follow me, and do exactly as I tell you, you will have a story that will shake the world. Journalists, in my experience, have
