The Assassination Bureau Page #7

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should lie here.

Whatever the signora desires.

We salvaged the gondola, signora.

But alas, there is as yet

no sign of the gondolier.

Poor Angelo.

Poor Angelo's clothes

fit you perfectly.

A little tight, perhaps,

because you are more muscular.

I prefer that.

Go to the undertakers.

I want this gruesome thing removed

as soon as my guests

have paid their respects.

Well, come along, Piero.

Get on with it.

I hope you're not going

to take liberties.

Miss Winter?

Miss Winter,

I hardly recognized you.

- My congratulations.

- Lord Bostwick.

I came as soon as I received

your telegram announcing his death.

May I introduce an associate of mine,

Baron Muntzov.

Well, my dear young lady,

the press has once again shown itself

to be the conscience of the nation.

Your story will be syndicated

all over the world.

Come, we will go directly

to Spado's house,

and pay our respects

to the dead.

At Spado's house?

But his body is at the morgue.

As I so often find, my information

is more up-to-date than my reporters'.

Signora Spado's had the coffin

taken to her palazzo.

My lord. My lord.

I've just arrived from Berlin,

the news is grave.

Dragomiloff has gone

just in time.

Miss Winter, may I introduce

General von Pinck.

Collect the luggage

and bring Miss Winter.

The general and I will go on ahead.

We have important matters to discuss.

There's mobilization.

I must return tonight.

Will there be war?

Not yet, the kaiser's proposing

a secret peace conference.

- Indeed.

- He goes to Ruthenia for the funeral,

and that's where

the conference will take place.

They will all be there:

The English king. Tsar Nicholas.

The president of France.

The Austrian emperor. The...

Spare me this catalog

of mediocrity.

All this may suit me very well.

Signora Spado, my greetings

and congratulations.

My colleague, General von Pinck.

My husband is away.

I had to act on his behalf.

It's hard to believe a beautiful lady

succeeds where many men failed.

We should invite you

onto the board.

Thank you, Lord Bostwick.

But I don't think it is suitable

for an Italian lady to

practice murder professionally.

I will be content with the reward

you have so kindly offered.

And you shall have it, dear lady.

So there he lies.

Poor lvan.

He was too young to see

the potentialities of his inheritance.

Requiescat in pace.

Ivan killed by a woman, that's droll.

I believe Spado's house

is quite beautiful.

As with so many things,

first impressions are the worst.

This way, signorina.

And so you see,

my dear signora,

this young lady has served

her purpose and must be disposed of.

Miss Winter, Muntzov has been

monopolizing you.

Signora Spado, this is Miss Winter,

whose commission you executed

on behalf of your husband.

If you'll excuse me, I'll make a room

ready for the discussion.

No, no, no.

This will do splendidly.

The presence of our ex-chairman

will be a spur to our deliberations.

You openly admit you are a member

of the Bureau?

A member?

Thanks to you and Signora Spado,

I am now the chairman.

What a journalist

you would have made.

In at the death of the old Bureau

and the birth of the new.

Unfortunately, you must also be

its first victim.

Dispose of her, Muntzov.

It's time you did something useful.

This way.

Take her below.

There are steps to the canal.

Don't make any false moves.

I'm a dangerous man.

Go to that wall, please,

Miss Winter.

If you would please face

the wall, my dear.

We Slavs are so temperamental.

Somehow, I don't feel like it

at all today.

So you're a coward as well

as a murderer.

I don't seem really to care

for killing people anymore.

Keep quite still, Miss Winter.

It's best to make a clean job of it.

Ivan.

What on earth?

- I'm in mourning.

- For your lost principles, I presume?

You look like you're got up

to seduce an archbishop.

- Don't you like it?

- Oh, I'm turning in my grave.

Will you at least get rid

of that preposterous hat.

- How dare you!

- That's better.

At any rate, you played

your part admirably.

See what results the report

of my death produced.

- It nearly produced mine.

- It's brought them here,

as I knew it would.

Now we see whether

I can learn more dead than alive.

But the coffin in the room upstairs,

who's in it?

The man you identified as me,

of course, her gondolier.

- Muntzov!

- Come on.

Muntzov, where are you?

- Where could that idiot go?

- He'd be here.

The secret stairs from my apartments

lead down to that landing.

A girl, even Muntzov

couldn't fail.

He evidently did.

And the girl's hat.

- If he killed her, then...

- Then who killed him?

- I want to see inside that coffin.

- Oh, no.

- And why not, signora?

- You're not squeamish, surely?

Take off the lid.

- Please, don't disturb the dead.

- Be silent.

Replace the lid.

My apologies, signora.

You've done your job well.

Don't worry, signora.

He can't get away.

General, I will return to Germany.

Where will your headquarters be?

At my hunting lodge at Rothenburg.

The peace conference will take place

across the frontier in the Castle Minsk.

Convenient. I'll summon the Bureau

members to meet us at Rothenburg.

- But my staff will be there, officers.

- Of course, and they'll be very useful.

So goodbye, lvan.

You're going to miss

our greatest assignment of all.

At my commission,

the assassination of Europe.

They have come to take him away.

Make sure the screws are tight.

We'll have a glass of wine, and then

we can complete our business.

Of course, the reward.

I suppose it was rather tactless

of Cesare

to tell me so much about

your secret business.

Who can quarrel with

such an excellent result?

Surely it is worth more

than a mere 10,000 pounds?

Of course.

How much would you suggest?

Naturally, you would not like

your affairs made public.

Shall we say 100,000?

Oh, alas, signora,

we are not a rich organization.

But you have such great plans

now that I have given you control.

Surely that is worth

special consideration?

Indeed.

Von Pinck, see that signora gets the

most special consideration we offer.

Well done, Miss Winter.

On the spot as usual.

As Europe's heads of state travel

to Ruthenia for the funeral of its ruler,

the Archduke Ferdinand's tragic death

threatens to set Europe ablaze.

Throughout Germany

and the Austro-Hungarian Empire,

troops of the Grand Alliance are

moving toward the Ruthenian frontier.

In Russia, Tsar Nicholas assumes

personal command of his forces,

as his Balkan allies call impatiently

for action.

In the Republic of France, military

preparations are already afoot.

Great Britain puts her armed forces

in a state of instant readiness.

After the funeral, the heads of state

will proceed to the royal castle at Minsk.

Here, close to the Ruthenian border

with Germany.

Just across the valley at Rothenburg

is a German army...

...commanded by

General von Pinck.

- What do you make of it?

- The kaiser is at the conference.

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