Scorpio Page #3

Arrested in Moscow, 1939,

and sentenced to six years ham! labor.

Rehabilitated in 1943. Assignment, Balkans.

Little information

until his posting to Iraq in 1952.

Speaks fluent German, Arabic,

French, English, Hebrew.

Associated operatives. Karim,

Ludmann,

Zemetkin...

Replay operatives.

(TAPE REWINDING)

Associated operatives. Karim,

Ludmann,

Zemetkin...

Hold on Zemetkin.

(CHATTER ON AIRPORT PA)

Listen' when I came over,

you promised me asylum.

We also promised you questions.

Yes.

And I answered all your questions.

Why am I in the airport?

You're going back to Moscow, Zemetkin.

You gave us no more than we already knew.

You were cute and well-conditioned.

And all that stuff

about freedom had brass edges.

You ran because you were

playing pat-a-cake with state funds.

Okay, we let it ride.

But now we want

a little interest on our investment.

Zharkov.

When Zharkov isn't in the Middle East

and he isn't at home, where is he'?

Maybe a former picnic ground

not too east and not too west.

Somewhere the barriers are down.

I don't know such a place.

I would tell you if I knew.

McLEOD:
Your plane.

Aeroflot flight 379, direct to Moscow.

Al the other end,

you'll be well and truly met.

MAN 1 ON RADIO:

6481 to Ilyushin 009. Over.

You're murdering me.

MAN 2:
Federal protective

service officer 7463. Over.

MAN T. Ready to board

passenger Andrew Zemetkim Oven.

MAN 2:
Standing by. Over.

MAN T. Dropping lounge

boarding platform in five seconds Oven.

How about Vienna, huh'?

JEAN'S GIRLFRIEND; Vienna?

- JEAN:
I'm sorry.

- What about the police?

JEAN:
A mistake.

The man who had the room

before me forgot to pack everything.

GIRLFRIEND:
Some mistake.

How long will you be away'? Can I come?

Impossible. Anyway, you have to teach.

Is it going to be dangerous, Jean?

No. Why should it be?

We've already contacted

our people in Vienna.

You'll be given

every facility, total cooperation.

And you can draw expenses.

McLeod's depending on you, Scorpio.

(WHISTLING)

(WHISTLING CONTINUES)

Spain was a long time ago.

The best died there.

There's a house on the Kurrentgasse,

on the corner. Go there.

Where are we going?

Get in.

You don't talk very much.

I have nothing to say.

(BELL TOLLING)

I see you still have

a flair for the theater, Zharkov.

It adds color.

These drivers, your people?

Not official. Old comrades.

I hear you are running, Cross.

What else do you hear?

McLeod's ordered the wet stuff.

There's a gun out for you.

When did you know?

A week before you did.

Who have you got in your pocket?

Actually, I buy from a Bulgarian

who works for the Chinese.

Your place?

Yours, if you need it.

No one knows about it,

not my company, not your company.

Just friends, a few and trustworthy.

And the rent?

Take it on trust.

Thank you.

There will come a time, Cross,

when those who sit above me

will want you delivered.

They'll give me so much play

in the rope and then they'll pull it in.

And then?

Moscow is nice in the spring.

There's a long winter' I hear.

How are you going to get your wife out?

I'll get her out.

Come over. They'll get her out for you.

No, Sergei. No Moscow.

I want out, not just a change of sides.

Sit down, Cross.

The offer of the hide still goes.

And when the rope begins to wind in?

I'll tell you.

And you'll know where to find me.

In Vienna, I could find you anywhere.

Have you noticed, Cross,

that we are being replaced

by young men with bright, stupid faces,

a sense of fashion,

and a dedication to

nothing more than efficiency?

Keepers of machines, pushers of buttons,

hardware men with highly complex toys,

and, except for language,

not an iota of difference

between the American model

and the Soviet model.

(RUSSIAN MUSIC PLAYING)

To dinosaurs.

Maybe you can kill Cross alone, though I

wouldn't put my little yellow basket on it,

but you're not gonna find him alone,

not out there.

Am I wasting my breath?

No, I was listening.

And so far you've said

nothing that lit any candles in the dark.

You have no proof

that Cross and Zharkov are in Vienna.

You have no one on your staff

that knows Zharkov.

But you did get around

to checking customs,

and eight priests arrived by air

in the last three days,

two from North America, Mitchell.

It is Mitchell, isn't it'?

Well, Mitchell...

Which of the two was Cross?

The one on TWA from New York

or the one on Air Canada from Toronto?

No way of telling.

Father Wieland was Cross,

Air Canada from Toronto.

Yes, I know horse players that

play hunches and hot flushes.

Horse players die broke.

If Cross had flown

from Washington to New York,

he would have caught the Pan Am flight,

but there was no priest on that flight.

He wouldn't have waited

seven hours for a TWA flight.

Never stand still when you run

and never run in a straight line.

That's the first thing Cross taught me.

Cross is an organizer.

He plans down to the finest margin of error.

You can't follow his mistakes,

so you follow his skill.

Washington to Pittsburgh or Cleveland.

Two possibles.

Cleveland or Pittsburgh to Chicago.

Chicago to Toronto.

Toronto to Vienna.

Not more than 20 minutes in any one place,

and less than 12 hours in all.

Wieland fits.

All the majesty of Europe.

Have you ever been to the Hermitage?

Paintings there that seize your breath.

Stop being a guide, Sergei.

What have you got for me?

Arrivals.

Then they know you are here. I guessed.

You never guess.

A defector, Zemetkin, a petty thief.

McLeod had his thumbs on him.

He knew about Vienna.

And the hide?

Only those I trust know that.

I could have this one killed.

No.

I would offer you coffee, Cross,

but the sugar would attract too many flies.

(GUIDE SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Everyone Cross used to know in Vienna.

Everyone Cross used to know

that you know.

We're monitoring

telephone calls to America,

telegrams and radio telegrams.

I want the tapes brought here.

We've got a watch on all the embassies,

but if Cross doesn't move,

he'll be damn near invisible.

He'll move. He'll try to get his wife out.

He'll need funds and help.

Not if he goes over.

He won't.

McLeod thinks he might.

If he was going over,

he'd be in Moscow, not Vienna.

The trouble with McLeod

is that he thinks like McLeod.

You know what a dybbuk is, Mitchell?

Some son of Jewish sprite or ghost.

A spirit that invades another human form.

I'm the dybbuk of Cross's labyrinth mind.

I live inside him.

He'll move.

(KNOCKING)

He's in here.

I've assigned Novins and Dor to assist you.

They're both Viennese, both very good men.

(GREETS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Of course, as far

as the embassy is concerned,

you don't exist' so don't call for help.

Cross.

(BOTH LAUGH)

You have some time, Max'?

Until 3:
00. But longer if you want.

You hungry?

I can hold out if we hurry.

Come on!

MAX:
It's June.

Strauss and Strauss and Strauss.

A little Mozart, a little Brahms,

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