The Assassins by Alan Bardos (best novels in english txt) 📗

Nedjo Cabrinovic also told the investigators that he'd come from Belgrade with two other youths, which led them to deduce that he'd been working with Princip, and that there was a third person on the loose. At first they suspected that it might have been Ilic, but when Trifko Grabez was discovered trying to leave Bosnia without a permit, he was quickly identified as the third man.

When Breitner’s car pulled up at Sarajevo Station, he was immediately hit by a feeling of sorrow; the last time he'd been there it had been with the Royal couple, on the day of the outrage. He fought off his regrets, knowing that he still had work to do. He pulled Johnny to the ticket office and purchased two first class train tickets; it was going to be a long journey to Vienna and he needed to rest. The past week had been a very difficult time for Breitner. He hadn't approved of many of the methods used by his fellow investigators, but had been totally powerless to stop them, he reflected.

Over two hundred Serbs had been arrested in Sarajevo and many of them were placed under the cell windows of the conspirators, so that Princip and the rest could hear as the guards beat them. All of the known associates of the four were rounded up, including the staff at the Cabrinovics’ cafe. Eventually, the conspirators agreed to cooperate with the investigation to prevent any further innocents from being hurt.

As the conspirators gave up more information they corroborated what Breitner had been telling Pfeffer and he was eventually allowed to participate in the investigation fully, helping with the capture of Cvjetko Popovic and Vaso Cubrilovic. Mehmed Mehmedbasic managed to cross the border into Montenegro and remained the only conspirator to evade capture.

Breitner was less successful in preventing inflated reports of Belgrade's involvement in the plot from being sent to Vienna. The police had been keen to make a connection between the assassins and Belgrade from the start. Viktor Ivasjuk had even said that Nedjo had admitted to him that he and Princip had received their weapons from the General Secretary of Narodna Odbrana, a pan Slavic organisation which had largely abandoned para-military activity. This was something which Cabrinovic violently refuted when he was questioned by Breitner and the investigating judge.

More importantly, Princip and Cabrinovic revealed that they had planned the assassination in Belgrade and mentioned the involvement of a man named Milan Ciganovic, a government employee on the Serbian State Railway.

All of this was interpreted in Vienna as evidence of the Serbian Government’s participation in the assassination. The Serbian Government strenuously denied these claims and pointed out that the assassination had been carried out by citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

The noise of the trains brought Breitner out of his thoughts. Instinctively, he looked round for Johnny and saw him watching the train being shunted. He turned to Breitner. ‘Is it true that Kati Weisz’s father is an engineer and that he was working on the railway in Sarajevo?’

‘Is that what she told you?’ Breitner frowned at the lapse in security, but he didn’t suppose that it mattered now. ‘Yes, her father has worked on every railway from Transylvania to Cairo. She was brought up as wild as a gypsy - how do you think she learned to dance?’

Johnny smiled, apparently pleased that he’d managed to substantiate that much of her story, at least. Breitner moved forward, shepherding Johnny onto their platform.

‘So how do you know her?’ Johnny asked.

‘I knew Miss Weisz while I was stationed in Vienna. We recently became reacquainted at a local Chamber of Commerce function, which her father was giving. He needed a Hungarian translator, so I attended and had the privilege of seeing her perform an extraordinary interpretation of a classic Hungarian folk dance.’

Breitner remembered the intriguing, spiralling movements of her dance. ‘We have a similar interest in mathematical conundrums. Kati’s quite an accomplished mathematician. Her father would be lost without her and her sister, Esther. They’ve been checking his work for years.’

‘Kati’s a mathematician?’ Johnny asked with surprise. It was clearly the last thing he had expected to hear.

‘Yes, although it is Esther who is truly brilliant.’ Breitner gave him his most condescending smile. ‘When she dances you see the provocative movements of a sensual and accomplished woman. For Kati, she’s solving complex mathematical problems, mapping out patterns, searching the rhythms of the universe, the symmetry of a seashell, the spiral of the human ear.’

Johnny walked on in silence towards their train, taking in the information, then asked, ‘Does she work for you, Breitner?’

‘I'm not a spymaster, Johnny, I'm just a humble civil servant. I have to improvise and make use of whatever I can, as I did with you. I have a few informants who do me the odd favour, picking up coffee house gossip and such things. Kati wasn't a great deal of help until you came along.’

‘You planted her at the cafe?’ Johnny stopped and looked at Breitner.

‘I asked her to perform - it was easy enough to arrange. She is quite fearless and I thought I might need something to tempt you back into the fold.’ Breitner had been shocked by how well his plan had worked. ‘It hadn’t been my intention to get you sacked from your job, Johnny. She was only supposed to pass you a message. I hadn’t anticipated the strength of your attraction.’

‘No, that surprised me too,‘ Johnny smiled.

‘Haven't you got enough trouble with the ladies, without adding any further to it?’ Breitner asked as they clambered aboard the train.

Johnny looked downcast. He had a very mercurial temperament, Breitner noted. A porter showed them to their compartment on the train and Breitner tipped him and asked for a newspaper; he needed to keep abreast of the latest opinion in Vienna.

Ilic