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“You are both warned,” Cronley said, as the elevator door opened, “when we get to the room, not to get between me and the bathroom door. My back teeth are floating.”
—
Cronley came out of the bathroom and was just about to lower himself into an armchair near the telephone when the door chimes sounded. When he saw that Zielinski and Niedermeyer were in the kitchenette of the suite, he went to the door and opened it.
Seven-K was standing there, holding the puppy in her arms.
“Let me in quickly,” she said, as she pushed past him.
Cronley looked down the corridor to see if anyone was in it, and when he saw no one, closed the door.
“Otto,” Seven-K called.
Niedermeyer appeared in the kitchenette door.
“Rahil?”
“As quickly as you can, have General Gehlen call off the operation,” she said. “It’s too late.”
“What do you mean, ‘too late’?”
“They knew it was coming. You have a mole, Otto.”
“How do you know it’s too late?” Niedermeyer asked.
Seven-K handed him a small envelope.
“I’m really sorry, Otto,” she said.
She walked to the door.
“Young man,” she ordered, “check the corridor.”
Cronley did so.
“Clear,” he reported.
Seven-K pushed past him and went quickly down it to the stairwell.
Cronley saw that Niedermeyer had taken photographs from the envelope Seven-K had given him.
“Ach, Gott im Himmel,” Niedermeyer said, and threw the photographs to the ground.
Zielinski picked them up, looked quickly at them, and then handed them to Cronley.
“Ach, Gott im Himmel,” N
iedermeyer said again, softly. “Mein Károly. Mein Schätzchen, mein Liebling!”
Cronley looked at the photographs. One of them showed a man hanging from some simple indoor gallows. He was obviously dead, but from strangulation, not a broken neck. The second showed a woman hanging from the same gallows, obviously strangled by her noose. The third showed the man and the woman hanging side by side from the gallows.
Cronley looked at Niedermeyer. His head was bent and he was obviously trying and failing to suppress sobbing.
Without thinking about it, Cronley went to him and wrapped his arms around him. After a moment, Zielinski crossed himself and then went to Cronley and Niedermeyer and wrapped his massive arms around both of them.
XIV
[ONE]
