Free The Last Compromise by Carl Reevik Page B

problems.
    ‘So
you go meet the German,’ Tienhoven said. ‘And you just chat, informally, see
what he wants from us. If it is related to this nuclear business, maybe he can
add something to help you. If it’s something else, you can explain a little how
we work, in general. If you start feeling uncomfortable, say you have to check
with your superiors. If it’s harmless, you solve it right there.’
    You
dog, Hans thought. How can it be harmless if Commissioner Schuster-Zoll makes a
call from up high? From the gigantic metallic-looking building that one could
see from the conference room window, and that was basically the Mount Olympus
of the Commission? Tienhoven just didn’t want to find himself in the first line
of defence, that had to be it. He wanted to be the reserve line, the backup, he
wanted to be prepared for what was coming his way.
    ‘Relax,’
Tienhoven said, as if sensing that Hans needed more assurance. ‘This has to be
low-profile, no big story. They somehow persuaded her to help the process along,
but she couldn’t start anything really official just because she’s German.’
    Hans
thought about it. Commissioners were not meant to represent their home country,
that was true. Instead they had portfolios on subject-matters, like cabinet
ministers. Schuster-Zoll was Commissioner for internal affairs and good
administration, overseeing anti-fraud among other things. The fact that she was
also German was more or less coincidental. She could not authorise, let alone
order, any action on that basis alone.
    Maybe
Tienhoven just wanted to give Hans some freedom. After all, if some
whistle-blower inside the Commission turned to anti-fraud, it was not unusual
for them to first meet informally and chat. Without any senior staff present.
Hans had already done such meetings before, in bars or cafés.
    ‘You
don’t speak German, right?’, Tienhoven asked.
    ‘No,
I’m trying to improve my French.’
    ‘No
problem, so you’ll speak English. And don’t let them come here,’ Tienhoven added.
‘These people are trained in manipulating other people. It’s all mind games. If
they need us, they can’t expect us to invite them right over, like we have
nothing else to do. Clarke said the guy’s in Cologne right now. You don’t have
a car, right? Borrow one of ours then, and meet with him halfway.’
    ‘What,
like in Aachen?’
    ‘No,
not Aachen, that’s in Germany. Take Liège or Maastricht. But don’t drink any
beer. They’re trained in that as well. They swallow a cup of oil before, and
then they get you drunk. Gabriela?’
    His
secretary opened the door and peered inside. Tienhoven said to her, ‘I’ll now
forward you an e-mail from Clarke, please call the number that’s mentioned
there and agree on a meeting between Hans and this Frank Hoffmann. In
Maastricht, this afternoon.’
     
    Luxembourg
     
    ‘Have
you thought about Easter?’, Viktor asked. ‘It’s at the end of next week
already.’
    He
had just finished buttoning his shirt. Anneli knew he always put on the shirt
first, the trousers second, so they would cover the shirt’s bottom edge neatly.
Otherwise he’d have to stuff the shirt into the already fixed trousers.
    ‘I’m
sorry Viktor,’ she said, buttoning up her blouse. ‘I really need to go. Stavros
is doing his holy rotation ceremony again. He loves it, it’s the highlight of
our calendar.’
    ‘Nothing
big, not a whole weekend, just something like we did in February,’ Viktor said.
‘And not during Easter, obviously. After that.’
    Of
course not during Easter. Those were the school holidays.
    ‘I
know,’ Anneli said. ‘And I’m not against it. I just didn’t have the time to
think of something. And maybe we shouldn’t overdo it, either. But right now I
have to run.’
    She
finished the blouse and gave him a kiss on the lips.
    ‘I
liked that,’ Viktor said.
    ‘Me
too.’ Anneli made a point of smiling, and hurried to the door. ‘Your turn to
pay!’, she sang as