They were approaching the suburbs of Naples. Old apartment houses lined the narrow streets, with laundry hanging out of almost every window,making the buildings look like concrete mountains flying colorful flags.Pier asked, “Have you ever been to Naples?”“Once.” Robert’s voice was tight. Susan was sitting beside him, giggling. I heard Naples is a wicked city. Can we do a lot of wicked things here,darling?We’re going to invent some new things, Robert promised.Pier was watching him. “Are you all right?”Robert brought his mind back to the present. “I’m fine.”They were driving along the bay of the Castel Dell’ Ovo, the old abandoned castle near the water.When they arrived at Via Toledo, Pier said, excitedly, “Turn here.”They were approaching Spaccanapoli, the old section of Naples.Pier said, “It’s just up ahead. Turn left onto Via Benedetto Croce.”Robert made the turn. The traffic here was heavier, and the noise of horns deafening. He had forgotten how noisy Naples could be. He

The more Carlo Valli thought about it, the more certain he was that he was about to make a big score. Pier’s fairy tale about the American runningaway from his wife was a joke. Mr Jones was on the run, all right, but he was running from the police. There was probably a reward out for the man.Maybe a big reward. This had to be handled very delicately. Carlo decided to discuss it with Mario Lucca, the leader of the Diavoli Rossi.Early in the morning, Carlo got on his Vespa motor scooter and headed for Via Sorcella, behind the Piazza Garibaldi. He stopped in front of a rundown apartment building, and pressed the bell on a broken mailbox marked “Lucca”.A minute later a voice yelled out, “Who the fuck is it?”“Carlo. I have to talk to you, Mario.”“It better be good at this hour of the morning. Come on up.”The door buzzer sounded, and Carlo went upstairs.Mario Lucca was standing at an open door, naked. At the end of the room Carlo could see a girl in his bed.“Che cosa? What the hell

At the fairgrounds, five miles outside of Civitavecchia, were a dozen large, colourful balloons spread across the field, looking like round rainbows.They were moored to trucks while ground crews were busily filling their envelopes with cold air. Half a dozen chase cars stood by, ready to track theballoons, two men in each car, the driver and the spotter.Robert walked up to a man who seemed to be in charge. “It looks like you’re getting ready for the big race,” Robert said.“That’s right. Ever been in a balloon?”“No.”They were skimming over Lake Como and he dropped the balloon down until it touched the water. “We’re going to crash,”Susan screamed. Hesmiled. “No, we’re not.”The bottom of the balloon was dancing on the waves. He threwout a sandbag and the balloon began to lift again. Susanlaughed and hugged him and said …The man was speaking. “You should try it sometime. It’s a great sport.”“Yeah. Where is the race heading?”“Yugoslavia. We have a nice easterly wind. We’ll be ta

He stole a car in Marseilles. It was a Fiat 1800 Spider convertible, parked on a dimly lit side street. It was locked and there was no key in theignition. No problem. Looking around to make sure he was not observed, Robert made a rip in the canvas top and shoved his hand inside tounlock the door. He slid inside the car, reached under the dashboard, and pulled out all the wires of the ignition switch. He held the thick red wire inone hand while, one by one, he touched the other wires to it until the dashboard lit up. He hooked two wires together and touched the remainingones to the two wires hooked together until the engine began to turn over. He pulled out the choke and the engine roared to life. A moment later,Robert was on his way to ParisHis priority was to get hold of Li Po. When he reached the Paris suburbs, he stopped at a phone booth. He telephoned Li’s apartment andheard the familiar voice on the answering machine: Zao, mes amis … Je regrette que je ne sois pas chezmoi m

Day Twenty-ThreeParis, FranceHe telephoned Admiral Whittaker from the doctor’s office.“Admiral. Robert.”“Robert! What’s going on? They told me …”“Never mind that now. I need your help, Admiral. Have you ever heard of the name Janus?”Admiral Whittaker said slowly, “Janus? No. I never heard of him.”Robert said, “I’ve found out he’s heading some kind of secret organization that’s killing innocent people, and now he’s trying to kill me. We have tostop him.”“How can I help?”“I need to get to the President. Can you arrange a meeting?”There was a moment of silence. “I’m certain I can.”“There’s more. General Hilliard is involved.”“What? How …?”“And there are others. Most of the intelligence agencies in Europe are in it, too. I can’t explain anymore now. I want you to call Hilliard. Tell him I’vefound an eleventh witness.”“I don’t understand. An eleventh witness to what?”“I’m sorry, Admiral, but I can’t tell you. Hilliard will know. I want him to meet me in Switzerland.”“Swit