Chapter 2 Chapter One

January of 197x. At the train station, a loudspeaker was broadcasting: "Passengers, please note that the train for Zurich will leave from platform 12 at seven o'clock." A tall American man in a dark blue raincoat looked up and down the deep cupola of the Geneva train station, trying to find out where the loudspeakers for the broadcast were located.On his sharp and angular face, there was a look of doubt.The announcements at the station are in French.He can't speak French well, let alone understand it.But at least he heard the place name "Zurich", which he was waiting for to be broadcast.He brushed the light brown hair that fell loosely on his forehead and walked towards the north end of the station.

The crowd was very crowded, people from all directions brushed past him, flocked to the various exits of the station, and went their separate ways.In the high-rise hall of the station building, the monotonous and harsh voice from the loudspeaker echoed.However, no one seems to mind the screeching radio.Passengers dressed in Geneva-style train travel clothes have their own plans in mind.Today is just in time for the weekend, there has just been a snowfall in the mountains, and the air outside the city is fresh and cold.There are so many places to visit, so many things to do, so many dates to go to.Not seizing your own time is tantamount to letting others steal your life.So, everyone is in a hurry.

The American was also on his way, because he also had something to do and an appointment to attend.He had heard long before the announcement at the station that the train for Zurich would depart from platform 12.According to the plan in advance, he should go down the ramp and enter the platform; start from the rear car and count forward to the seventh car.Then get on the car through the first door of that car.After getting in the car, count to the door of the fifth compartment in the car and knock twice on the door.If things were all right, then a director of a major Geneva bank would answer the door and invite him in; if so, it would mean that all the preparatory work of the last twelve weeks had paid off.The so-called preparatory work includes: several intentionally vague submarine telegrams, phone calls between the two sides across the Atlantic Ocean, and mutual promises to absolutely keep secrets, etc.For a time the Swiss banker thought all this preparation was in vain.

The American did not know why the director of the big Geneva bank had asked him to meet; but he felt that the precautions taken were understandable.The American's name was Noelle Heycroft.In fact, his surname was not Heckcroft since he was a child. He was born in Berlin in the summer of 1939.The hospital where he was born registered his surname as "Crosson". His biological father was Heinrich Crossen, the chief strategist of the Third Reich and an outstanding financial expert.It was he who screwed together the various economic forces in Germany at the time, thereby ensuring Hitler's dominant position.

Heinrich won a Germany but lost a wife.His wife's name is Aixin, who is American.To be more precise, she is a headstrong American woman.She has her own set of moral and ethical concepts.She saw through the National Socialists as immoral and unethical; they were a gang of megalomaniacs led by a lunatic and fed by a gang of bankrupt financiers. On a warm August afternoon, she gave her husband an ultimatum: Ask him to rein in the brink and turn his guns on this madman and his gang of megalomaniacs before the future is too late.The Nazi leader listened to their words with disapproval, laughed, and dismissed his wife's Edmitten book as the nonsense of a newly mothered woman.Aixin grew up under the weak and discredited social system in post-World War I Germany.However, that social system will soon be transformed into a new social order.In his view, Aixin's ultimatum meant he had to choose: either follow her surly idea, or be a victim of this new order.

That night she packed herself and her newborn baby, and left on the last flight from Berlin to London.She was going to settle in London first and then return to New York.A week after she was gone, Hitler launched a blitzkrieg into Poland.His empire, which wanted to last forever, started its own course in this way; and this course, counting from the day when the empire fired the first invasion cannon, only lasted about 1,500 days. Hecroft walked through the station entrance, down the ramp, and onto the long concrete platform.He counted along the train: four, five, six, seven; under the left-hand window of the open door of the seventh car, there was a small blue circle stamped with a perforated template.This is a sign that the equipment in this car is more exquisite than that of the first class car-the individual compartments are larger in size, and the equipment inside can be used for some kind of traveling conference, or as a more non-official one. A secret meeting place, guaranteed not to be spied on by any outsiders.When the train travels far, the small doors at both ends of the carriage are monitored by armed railway bodyguards.

Knoller Heckcroft entered the carriage, walked along the passage of closed compartments, and when he came to the fifth door, he knocked twice on the fifth door. A calm and composed voice sounded from inside the door: "Is it Mr. Hecroft?" This is a question, but there is no taste of questioning in the tone, but it seems to be saying one thing. Knoller replied, "Is that Mr. Manfradi?" He suddenly noticed that there was a small peephole in the center of the door leaf.One eye was looking at him through the hole.This gave him a strange feeling; but he thought it was a little amusing, so he didn't feel uncomfortable.He couldn't help smiling, and wondered if this Mr. Manfradi would look like a villainous character named Conrad Witt in a British film of the thirties?

The chain on the door clicked twice, and then the latch was pulled.The door opened, but it was not the image of Conrad Witt that emerged.Ernst Manfradi was about sixty-seven or eight years old, short and chubby, completely bald.His face was kind and pleasant.His blue eyes grew beyond the lenses of his metal-rimmed glasses.These eyes were very shallow and very cold. Manfradi greeted with a smile: "Please come in, Mr. Heckcroft." As soon as he finished speaking, his expression changed suddenly, and the smile disappeared.He added: "Excuse me. I should have called you in English. It may be against you to call you by your first name in German. I apologize."

"No need," replied Heckcroft, and entered the well-appointed cubicle. There is a table and two lotuses inside, but no beds.Compartments are separated from compartments with paneled walls.There are two layers of black and red velvet curtains on the windows, which dampen the noise of passers-by outside the car.On the table is a lamp with a tassel shade. The banker added: "There are about twenty-five minutes before we leave the car. That's plenty of time. And we'll be there to watch over us before we leave. You don't have to think about the time. The train won't leave until you get off; it won't took you to Zurich."

"I've never had the chance to be in Zurich." The banker gestured for Hecroft to sit down opposite him, and said mysteriously, "I don't think you will have no chance in the future." Heckeloft sat down and said, "That's not necessarily the case." He only unbuttoned the buckle of the raincoat without taking it off. Manfradi sat down himself, leaned back in his chair and said, "I was so rude just now, I'm really sorry, I can only apologize to you again. I would take the liberty to see your identity card, let me May I have a look at your passport? And your international driver's license. If you have any other papers that you carry with you, anything that bears your special marks on your body, vaccinia scars and whatnot If you agree, you can take them out and show them to me.”

Heckcroft couldn't help feeling angry.Not to mention that the other party's request was causing trouble for him, he was disgusted by Manfradi's arrogant style alone.He said: "Why do you want to see my ID? You know who I am. If you didn't know, you wouldn't have opened the door for me. I'm afraid you have more information about me and photos than the U.S. State Department." Woolen cloth." The banker shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just let me sell my old man once. You'll know why I did it later." The old man was trying his best. Knowler reluctantly reached into his coat pocket and pulled a wallet.It contained his passport, health certificate, international general motor vehicle driver's license, and two letters from the American Institute of Architects certifying that he was an architect.He handed the wallet to Manfradi and said, "It's all here, please go ahead." The banker pretended to be more reluctant than Knoller, reached for the wallet, opened it, and said, "I'm just prying into someone's privacy, but well, I think..." Knoller interrupted him. "Isn't it? I didn't ask for a meeting with you myself. Frankly, the timing of this meeting was very inappropriate. I was trying to get back to New York as soon as possible." While looking at the certificate, the Swiss banker replied calmly, "Yes, I understand that. Now please tell me, what kind of project did you contract for the first time abroad?" Nuole suppressed his anger, thinking that since the communication had reached this point, he had to answer the banker's question.He replied: "To build a hotel affiliated with the Alfraz Company, north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico." "What about the second project?" "In Costa Rica in 1973. Construction of postal complex for their government." "If you don't count several price adjustments, what was the total revenue of your New York construction company last year?" "And what does it have to do with you?" "Then I might as well tell you that we know that." Knoller was very unhappy. He shook his head helplessly and said, "It's not a fraction, but the whole number is $173,000." Manfradi did not raise his eyes, still looking at the certificate in his hand, and asked again: "From the total of 170,000 yuan, after deducting your company's office rent, staff salaries, equipment fees and other expenses, what is left is a sum of money?" Insignificant number, right?" "I started this company by myself, and I didn't employ many employees. I don't have any partners to share my dividends, I don't have a wife, and I don't have any heavy debts. Otherwise, my situation would be worse than this." .” The banker looked up at Heckcroft and said: "You could be better off than this, especially with a man of your talents." "My situation could have been better." "Yeah, I think so too," said the Swiss, putting the papers back in his wallet and handing them back to Knoller.He leaned forward and asked Noelle, "Do you know who your deceased father was?" "I know who my surviving father is. Legally, he is my mother's husband. He is still alive, a New Yorker named Heckcroft." Manfradi added for him: "He's retired. A banker like me, isn't he? But probably not in the Swiss tradition." "He was and is very respected." "Is he respected because of his wealth, or because of his ability to manage money?" "I think it's a combination of both. I respect and adore him myself; Your Excellency doesn't think so, and we'll stop here." "You were loyal to him, and I admire that quality in you. Your present father married your mother when she was desperate. Your mother, by the way, is incredible. We don't see eye to eye, so Keep it to yourself. Mr. Heckcroft is nothing compared to you. I am comparing him to your natural father." "That's true." "Thirty years ago, your biological father, Heinrich Crossen, had an arrangement. He used to travel frequently between Berlin, Zurich and Geneva; it was not, of course, for official inspections. He had an appointment with our bank. An agreement has been signed, and we, as..." At this point, Manfradi paused, smiled, and then continued: "And we, as not impartial intermediaries, are not satisfied with his proposal to conclude such an agreement. No dissent is possible. Attached to this agreement is a letter of his own hand written in April, 1945. It is addressed to his son, which is to you." The banker reached for the table. It was a thick manila paper envelope. Knoller interjected, "Wait a minute. Is this arrangement my biological father has to do with money?" "right." "I'm not interested in money. Go to charity with it. He's in debt for that." "If I told you the amount of this money, you would think otherwise." "What is its number?" "Seven hundred and eighty million dollars."