shell and examined it carefully. She knew it might appear in one of the paintings her father had been producing on and off since he was required to find himself a convincing cover during World War II in the Pyrenees. Herricks were now more sought after than ever; they fetched thousands of dollars in America and on the continent, although his work was generally disdained by art critics for the simple reason that they missed the point of minutely recorded still lifes. One said that they were just ‘quotations’ from nature.
He peered at the shell again. ‘It’s the surface of things that’s usually important. Most people don’t understand that everything is staring them in the face. They just have to look a little harder than they are accustomed to. Here, have a squint at this.’ He handed her the shell and a magnifying glass. ‘You’ll see that there’s a yellowish varnish that’s been worn away in some parts by the sun, and beneath that there are little ripples made as the snail secretes the substances that make the shell. From the top you can see the black stripe achieves a more or less perfect spiral, yet there are flaws in the design that remind you of the miracle of its creation. Here you have all you need to know about the snail, but it’s remarkable how few people are willing to spend time looking closely at anything.’
She had heard the lecture before. She handed the shell back to him. ‘It’s lovely. But what do you think about this operation?’
The old man looked across the hills, and she wondered whether she should be bothering him with it. ‘Intelligence work contradicts my view about the surface of things,’ he said, ‘I think your operation is probably destined to failure because of that.’
‘How?’
‘Because you can’t get an idea what these people are planning from simply watching them. Before the attacks on America in 2001, I understand various security agencies had those characters in their sights. The cell in Germany was under surveillance and I believe someone in the FBI had noticed that they were taking flying lessons. They were looking but they didn’t see.’
‘That was a failure of the system - people not putting it together with other data.’
‘Data! How I do hate that word.’
‘You know what I mean, Dad - intelligence. They weren’t analysing it properly.’
‘The only way to deal with these bastards is to penetrate their organisation and that’s going to take a long time, unless you’re lucky enough to have one of them drop into your lap. None of it’s going to mean much until you’ve got the man on the inside telling you what’s going to happen.’
She told him about the murder of Youssef Rahe.
‘That’s a bad sign,’ he said. ‘It means they know you tried and are now aware of the process which led him to become your man, the recruitment and so on.’
‘Yes, he was tortured.’
‘But not by the characters who have flown into Europe for their big party. Some other part of their organisation determined that he was working for you and got hold of him.’ He coughed and felt for a pipe that wasn’t in his pocket. He had given up tobacco four months before. ‘In that case I think this is a very dangerous affair. These people have already proved exceptionally adept at carrying on their business while being observed. I’d take the view that there’s very little useful intelligence to be had from watching them. Arrest the whole lot and throw them into jail on whatever charges keep them in there longest - or worse.’
‘You mean kill them?’
‘Yes, these men have no fear of suicide. They’ve moved to a certain level. You can’t reason with men like that or seduce them from the cause because self-interest in the normal sense has been rejected.’ He paused and raised his eyebrows. ‘And Teckman is apparently out of the picture?’
She nodded.
‘And that bloody little tick Vigo is back -
He peered at the shell again. ‘It’s the surface of things that’s usually important. Most people don’t understand that everything is staring them in the face. They just have to look a little harder than they are accustomed to. Here, have a squint at this.’ He handed her the shell and a magnifying glass. ‘You’ll see that there’s a yellowish varnish that’s been worn away in some parts by the sun, and beneath that there are little ripples made as the snail secretes the substances that make the shell. From the top you can see the black stripe achieves a more or less perfect spiral, yet there are flaws in the design that remind you of the miracle of its creation. Here you have all you need to know about the snail, but it’s remarkable how few people are willing to spend time looking closely at anything.’
She had heard the lecture before. She handed the shell back to him. ‘It’s lovely. But what do you think about this operation?’
The old man looked across the hills, and she wondered whether she should be bothering him with it. ‘Intelligence work contradicts my view about the surface of things,’ he said, ‘I think your operation is probably destined to failure because of that.’
‘How?’
‘Because you can’t get an idea what these people are planning from simply watching them. Before the attacks on America in 2001, I understand various security agencies had those characters in their sights. The cell in Germany was under surveillance and I believe someone in the FBI had noticed that they were taking flying lessons. They were looking but they didn’t see.’
‘That was a failure of the system - people not putting it together with other data.’
‘Data! How I do hate that word.’
‘You know what I mean, Dad - intelligence. They weren’t analysing it properly.’
‘The only way to deal with these bastards is to penetrate their organisation and that’s going to take a long time, unless you’re lucky enough to have one of them drop into your lap. None of it’s going to mean much until you’ve got the man on the inside telling you what’s going to happen.’
She told him about the murder of Youssef Rahe.
‘That’s a bad sign,’ he said. ‘It means they know you tried and are now aware of the process which led him to become your man, the recruitment and so on.’
‘Yes, he was tortured.’
‘But not by the characters who have flown into Europe for their big party. Some other part of their organisation determined that he was working for you and got hold of him.’ He coughed and felt for a pipe that wasn’t in his pocket. He had given up tobacco four months before. ‘In that case I think this is a very dangerous affair. These people have already proved exceptionally adept at carrying on their business while being observed. I’d take the view that there’s very little useful intelligence to be had from watching them. Arrest the whole lot and throw them into jail on whatever charges keep them in there longest - or worse.’
‘You mean kill them?’
‘Yes, these men have no fear of suicide. They’ve moved to a certain level. You can’t reason with men like that or seduce them from the cause because self-interest in the normal sense has been rejected.’ He paused and raised his eyebrows. ‘And Teckman is apparently out of the picture?’
She nodded.
‘And that bloody little tick Vigo is back -
Similar Books
