“I like that. It’s good to start with something we know he’ll never give us. What else?”
“I don’t really care, except I think we need something to punish him with, if he reneges.”
“Let me give that some thought. I’ll call you when the meeting is over.”
“Where is the meeting being held?”
“Oh no, you don’t. You’re not going to harm a hair on anybody’s head while I’m in this, or you’ll have to get yourself a new lawyer. I’m not going to be an accessory to a killing.”
“Oh, all right, I won’t murder anybody for a while,” she said, like a child promising to be good.
“Good. Talk to you later.” He dictated some notes to Joan and read them as they came off the printer, then read them again. He was ready. He looked at his watch, impatient to get on with it.
42
Sir Edward and Carpenter were on time, and Stone showed them into the dining room. “Would you like some refreshment?” he asked.
“Perhaps later,” Sir Edward replied. “Let’s get on with it.”
Stone sat down. “Marie-Thérèse is willing to meet with you in a public place of her choosing, under stringent security requirements, which she will dictate.”
“Agreed,” Sir Edward replied. “Subject to my approval of her choice of place.”
“You offered to meet at a place of her choosing. You won’t know the place until you’re there. If you become concerned as you make your way there, you can always abort.”
“How will she arrange this?”
“You’ll go to a public place, then be contacted by cell phone and directed to another public place, then another, until she is satisfied you didn’t bring company. Then, and only then, will the meeting take place.”
“Agreed,” Sir Edward replied.
“She will require a written apology from you, personally, on your service’s letterhead, for the deaths of her parents.”
Sir Edward grew an inch. “Absolutely out of the question,” he said.
“And monetary damages,” Stone said.
“That is patently ridiculous,” Sir Edward replied hotly.
“Is it? Think about this for a moment, Sir Edward. On your instructions, members of your service lay in wait for her parents, deliberately destroyed their vehicle on a public street, killing her mother and father. That is, of course, a criminal act worthy of life in prison anyplace in the civilized world, but we’ll overlook that and keep this a civil matter.”
“It doesn’t sound very civil to me,” Sir Edward said.
“Civil as opposed to criminal. Marie-Thérèse, in return for your written acceptance of responsibility and apology, plus monetary damages, will forgo, in writing, her right to press criminal charges, and she will waive any further civil action.”
“Her parents were killed in a war,” Sir Edward said.
“Oh? Was there a declaration of war by Britain on Switzerland and its citizens?”
“Of course not.”
“Then, under international law, there was no war.”
Carpenter spoke up. “Stone, surely you can see that we cannot give her anything in writing. An apology, maybe, but not in writing. She might publish it.”
“That’s exactly what she intends to do, should you renege on the agreement.”
“Ridiculous,” Sir Edward said.