Blinky watched Alex at the rail for a few moments, then turned his attention to Sigrid while he had the chance.
“You’re afraid, aren’t you?” he said to her.
“Afraid? Hell, I’m terrified. I care for him, you know. A lot. Aren’t you?”
“Not terrified, no. Concerned, perhaps. And then only because I love him.”
“I care for him a lot, you know.”
“I can see that every time you’re together. Do you think you’ve fallen in love with him?”
“It sounds ridiculous, but I do. We’ve only been together six days, but our orbits are colliding and it feels like gravity is pulling our souls toward each other. We laugh about it all the time, falling in love so quickly. So, yes, I am terrified. It took me a lifetime to find a real man, a man I could love, and now he wants to kill himself.”
“Trust me, he’s the least suicidal man you’ll ever meet. Alex loves life too much to ever think of ending it.”
“So why the hell is he doing this?”
“Two reasons. First, duty. He’s vowed to protect his Queen and country, and he’ll damn well do it. And, second, a more personal reason. His grandfather is waiting for him up there at the top of Der Nadel.”
“What? He said something about that, but I didn’t understand it.”
“The old man’s bones are resting up there. Climbing has long been a Hawke family passion. Before his death, the earl was one of the most celebrated mountaineers in Europe. Alex tried once to return his remains to a shady little plot in Oxfordshire, but he himself had never made it to the summit.”
“And now he’s trying again?”
“Yes. As well as helping Wolfie solve the mystery surrounding Sorcerer.”
“Tell me the truth, Blinky. Does Alex have even a remote idea of what he’s doing up there?”
“Yes. He does.”
“And why would that be?”
“Sigrid, please understand this. You’ve been with him a very short time. You’re now seeing a side of Alex you have not seen. I’ve known him forever, and I’ve seen it all. I know what he’s capable of, believe me. And that is anything he sets his mind on doing, frankly.”
“You really think he’ll survive? Make it up there and back in one piece?”
“I certainly do.”
“Tell me why, Blinky. I need to know why you’re not terrified the way I am.”
“Very well. Alex first visited Switzerland in his early twenties with his grandfather. The Earl wished to see Der Nadel. He wanted a firsthand look at what he would be up against. Someone should have stopped the old gent. Alex made the first half of the climb alongside him. At around twelve thousand feet, a piton failed, and Alex was hurt. Too badly to continue, but not so bad as to be unable to return back to the base camp.
“His grandfather made his way down to his grandson at great possible risk to himself. He finally reached him in the midst of a sudden snowstorm and got his leg splinted. He made ready to haul him back down to camp. He insisted, but Alex flatly refused his help. He urged his grandfather to keep going. The old man was so close to victory then and—”
“Oh my God. So that’s it. Alex feels responsible for his grandfather’s death.”
“I’m afraid he does. Always has. Very sad, heartbreaking really, after losing both parents at such a tender age.”
“But he kept at it.”
“He was still in his early twenties. By age twenty-four he had conquered two of the most feared summits in the world, Everest and the Eiger.”
“So, he was good, wasn’t he?”
“Beyond good. Read the history of that era in the sport.”
“Why was he? So good up there in the clouds, I mean.”
“My dear. In this rarefied world, there are two types of athletes who choose to climb mountains. First, there is the kind of man who is particularly suited to rock work where the minute tactics of leverage and purchase fit his intellectual style. These men are given the nickname ‘Rapier.’ They strike, parry, and thrust with speed and precision, practically swinging across the face of the mountain, like Tarzan through the trees; in a kind of zone, with very little contact with the rock itself. They want as little to do with the mountain as possible.”
“That sounds like it must be beautiful to watch,” Sigrid said.
“Oh, it is. And then there is another man, let’s call him the ‘Mace.’ He wants to batter the mountain into submission with his bare hands, to simply overpower it as he climbs upward. And then, when he is on the ice and the treacherous snow, he pants and bulls his way through waist-high drifts, breasting a path upward like an inexorable engine of fate.”
“Fascinating, Blinky. And which type is Alex?”
“Both. He focuses on victory first and foremost, but he loves every step of the way up. It’s a joy, because he’s made the climb in his mind a hundred times before. Now he is living it and—hello, Alex!”
Hawke pulled out his chair and said, “You two weren’t talking about me, were you?”
“Why the hell would we do that, Alex? Blinky was just telling me about how easily men who are newly in love can be made to do what they’re told. It was fascinating.”
Hawke took a sip of his beer and said, “It’s looking quite pleasant up there at the top. Changing weather patterns, a warm front on the way. Push the cold one out of the way. It’s time for me to get serious.”
Sigrid placed her hand on top of his and said, “Surely you’re not going now?”
Hawke smiled. “Oh, no. There’s a tremendous amount of work to be done before that. Luc Bresson has arranged a small base camp for us up at the fifteen-thousand-foot elevation. It’s called the ‘Bivouac.’ He’s going up with me. Get me accustomed to the altitude. Do some down-and-dirty practice runs. He says he’s going to psyche me up until I’m ready to shoot up that bitch like a high-velocity projectile.”
“When will you two go up?” Blinky asked.
“One week from today. At dawn.”
“That gives us a whole week together before you leave,” Sigrid said. “Let’s make the best of it, Alex, can we? You will be back by Christmas Eve, won’t you?”
“Of course I will. And you have no idea what a time we’ll have!” he replied, smiling at her.
And what a time he hoped they would have.