restaurant. Seeing them together struck some distant memory, brought it to life. Of the four men at that table, he may be the most dangerous... Yes, they are terrorists, for they are the arrangers. They are as guilty as the men who bomb, and kill, and destroy. I believe they are more guilty; because it is their planning, and their money, that can turn vicious impulses into a concerted pattern of violence. They have the means, and purpose. In the most cowardly sense of the word, these four men are terrorists. Do I make myself clear?”
“Quite clear.” And I apologise: it was I who was wandering off the beam. Only, Fenner thought, only—
“Yes?” Vaugiroud had sensed his puzzlement.
“I suppose they couldn’t be arrested, or questioned by the police?”
“On what grounds? For having luncheon together? For having political connections? They’ve hidden themselves well, Mr. Fenner. My friends and I have had to dig deeply to find out what I have just told you. Even I, until a few days ago, was merely puzzled, interested, worried. It was only when the man Jacques was identified as the source of anti-American propaganda last April that the warning bell sounded for me. I knew then that the threat was real. And I knew the purpose of the threat. But until I know its actual shape, all I can do is to gather facts about these men, analyse, suggest.” He passed a hand over his eyes. He added wearily, “And hope that my warning is taken seriously.”
“Well, they’re not lunching together to finance a new movie, that’s certain,” Fenner said bitterly. There was a real threat in their meetings. But what? Their objectives must be far apart. What could have brought them together? A fascist and anextreme nationalist sitting down with a hard-shell Stalinist and a hidden Communist propagandist. An unholy alliance. But it had happened before. They’d use each other. Their ends justified any means.
Vaugiroud was looking at him, a little startled. “You know, that is exactly the reason they give for lunching together. Whenever Henri or one of his waiters is near their table, the talk is all about the costs of film making.”
Could that be the reason, after all? No, Fenner decided slowly. “A very smooth act,” he said. Too damned smooth.
“Like the meeting between Jacques and his old comrade,” Vaugiroud said. “They pretended they were strangers. It was the retired industrialist who introduced them, invited Jacques to have lunch with them.” That amused Vaugiroud briefly. “Very smooth, as you say, Mr. Fenner. As smooth as the lie that Jacques is now preparing against your country.”
“We are again their target?”
“Again and again, until America is eliminated from Europe. I have shown you what could have happened if that last lie had succeeded. America would have been isolated, pilloried. Properly fanned, that fire could have burned out NATO. Or do I exaggerate?”
Fenner shook his head. Distrust, dissensions, denunciations. Bitterness, anger, complete disillusionment with all those who had taken so much help from America, and yet, when we needed friends, had been so willing and eager to believe the worst about us. “We would have been pushed back into isolationism,” he said. “NATO would have had its back broken.”
“And without NATO, who protects Western Europe? Without a peaceful Western Europe, what protects the growthof the Common Market? And without the Common Market, how could a United States of Free Europe ever develop? And that, Mr. Fenner, is their ultimate target. The Communists think far ahead. The dream of a United States of Europe is the nightmare of the Communist world. They have preached that Western capitalism is doomed, ready for burial; a system breeding wars and economic cannibalism. A collection of prosperous and peaceful nations in Western Europe would be the complete rebuttal to all Communist theories. Who would believe them then?”
Well, thought Fenner, here is a definite
“Quite clear.” And I apologise: it was I who was wandering off the beam. Only, Fenner thought, only—
“Yes?” Vaugiroud had sensed his puzzlement.
“I suppose they couldn’t be arrested, or questioned by the police?”
“On what grounds? For having luncheon together? For having political connections? They’ve hidden themselves well, Mr. Fenner. My friends and I have had to dig deeply to find out what I have just told you. Even I, until a few days ago, was merely puzzled, interested, worried. It was only when the man Jacques was identified as the source of anti-American propaganda last April that the warning bell sounded for me. I knew then that the threat was real. And I knew the purpose of the threat. But until I know its actual shape, all I can do is to gather facts about these men, analyse, suggest.” He passed a hand over his eyes. He added wearily, “And hope that my warning is taken seriously.”
“Well, they’re not lunching together to finance a new movie, that’s certain,” Fenner said bitterly. There was a real threat in their meetings. But what? Their objectives must be far apart. What could have brought them together? A fascist and anextreme nationalist sitting down with a hard-shell Stalinist and a hidden Communist propagandist. An unholy alliance. But it had happened before. They’d use each other. Their ends justified any means.
Vaugiroud was looking at him, a little startled. “You know, that is exactly the reason they give for lunching together. Whenever Henri or one of his waiters is near their table, the talk is all about the costs of film making.”
Could that be the reason, after all? No, Fenner decided slowly. “A very smooth act,” he said. Too damned smooth.
“Like the meeting between Jacques and his old comrade,” Vaugiroud said. “They pretended they were strangers. It was the retired industrialist who introduced them, invited Jacques to have lunch with them.” That amused Vaugiroud briefly. “Very smooth, as you say, Mr. Fenner. As smooth as the lie that Jacques is now preparing against your country.”
“We are again their target?”
“Again and again, until America is eliminated from Europe. I have shown you what could have happened if that last lie had succeeded. America would have been isolated, pilloried. Properly fanned, that fire could have burned out NATO. Or do I exaggerate?”
Fenner shook his head. Distrust, dissensions, denunciations. Bitterness, anger, complete disillusionment with all those who had taken so much help from America, and yet, when we needed friends, had been so willing and eager to believe the worst about us. “We would have been pushed back into isolationism,” he said. “NATO would have had its back broken.”
“And without NATO, who protects Western Europe? Without a peaceful Western Europe, what protects the growthof the Common Market? And without the Common Market, how could a United States of Free Europe ever develop? And that, Mr. Fenner, is their ultimate target. The Communists think far ahead. The dream of a United States of Europe is the nightmare of the Communist world. They have preached that Western capitalism is doomed, ready for burial; a system breeding wars and economic cannibalism. A collection of prosperous and peaceful nations in Western Europe would be the complete rebuttal to all Communist theories. Who would believe them then?”
Well, thought Fenner, here is a definite
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