Somewhere in the late afternoon, he gave his shadow the slip, and immediately headed for Buda. He crossed the Danube, left the signal, and hiked up onto the Bastion. There he promenaded for an hour, until just before dusk. He saw Tomasz coming a long way off, and he went forward to him. They shook hands and then together watched the sun set. Not a word was spoken for a few minutes.
"Some good news," Curioso said finally.
"You are always bringing me bad news, my friend, and calling it good."
"Lise Meitner is now in London, and will soon be in Sweden."
"No? That is good news. "
"And some bad news. Villeneuve was killed last night on the Express. They have started operating far earlier than we had hoped."
"Ah," said Tomasz, "And Annette, she is -- well?"
"Oh, hell, Tomasz, she can take care of herself."
"You are so transparent, my opaque friend."
Curioso thought of a retort, but stifled it. Instead he said: "In any case, you have to warn Istanbul. The notes are safe, but there may be some delay, a day or two at most."
Tomasz nodded. "There is one thing I would like to know, my friend. How can you be sure of what is in those notes?"
Curioso looked around. It was getting very dark. "Did you ever hear of a woman named Ida Noddack?"
Tomasz shook his head.
"She worked with Otto Hahn. And Annette was her protege. Brilliant, scary. They are the three Fates who are spinning the future - Ida, Lise, Annette -- they will not get the recognition, but they will be the ones. "
"But do you think it can be?"
"Lise and Annette had a conversation 3 weeks ago that I caught only a fraction of, and after a while they both said yes. They were excited by it -- and frightened."
"Ah" said Tomasz, "Lenard thinks maybe yes, maybe no."
"Lenard is a fool and a Nazi."
"Well," said Tomasz, "It is too deep for me. Come and we will have a drink or many drinks. Then I will contact Istanbul."
They moved down into the narrow streets, and the night swallowed them up.