Carlos was looking over Pedro’s shoulder as they both read the cryptic message on the computer screen: “Missed rail connection north. Will follow to next stop.”
“How do they know where he is going?” Carlos wanted to know.
“Simple enough. Where else would he be headed? Remember, the British Institute of Science and Climatology is in Durham, several hours north of London by train. They are the ones who hired the man we took care of in Iceland. It is likely Peters is going to meet Dr. Cravas. We follow the professor and Peters will fall into our net.”
Carlos cracked his knuckles as he stretched. “The Dr. Cravas. Why not eliminate him too?”
“Too risky. Something happens to one of the main cogs of the Institute, something suspicious, and we have a criminal investigation. Plus, it is far better to discredit the man than make him a martyr.”
“How do we know taking care of Peters will silence everyone else who knows about the grapevine? The two people he consulted in Washington, for instance… .”
“Once we have Peters, he will tell us where the grapevine and the photos showing it in the glacier are. Without those, grapes in Iceland become just one more lie told by those who do not believe in human-induced global warming.”
“But what makes us more believable than them?”
Pedro took a box of Russian cigarettes from his shirt pocket. With one between his lips, he rasped a wooden match across the sole of his shoe. “The essential gullibility of those who hate the American rich. Anything that harms the big corporations is desirable to them and therefore true. That is the marvelous thing about the global-warming cause: It pits the industrialized countries, particularly America, against the environment. No one wants to admit they don’t care about the environment.”
“But both China and India originate much more CO2 than America. Why do our members not protest?”
Pedro showed teeth the color of old piano keys in a smile as he exhaled a jet of smoke. “You have done what the Americans call ‘your homework.’ Both China and India are ‘developing’ nations. Would you deny them their chance to become fully modernized? That is hardly the social and economic justice so loved by our friends in America and Western Europe.”
Carlos fanned the smoke away from his face. “But the corporations are owned by American capitalists. And retirement funds, pension plans …”
“The American politicians have done a marvelous job of making the very beneficiaries of the capitalist system forget that fact. They vilify the corporations as though the companies exist on their own instead of being comprised of millions of stockholders, many of whom are retired teachers, steelworkers, policemen. That is one more reason we shall prevail.”
“And we will prevail?”
The question hung in the air like the cigarette’s smoke before Pedro nodded. “Of course.”