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Somewhere in London, Ossipon was sitting in a beer hall, across the table from an ugly little man with large ears and a thick pair of glasses. The sound of loud piano music filled their ears, making conversation difficult.
Ossipon, who was a very large and strong man, always felt very small and unimportant when he talked with this little fellow across from him.He often did not know what to say to the man, and would ask him stupid questions in order to fill the silence between them.
“Have you been here long?” Ossipon asked.
“About an hour,” the man said, picking up his beer and taking a drink.
“I suppose that you haven’t heard the news.”
The man said that he had not heard. His face did not show any desire to hear the news, either.Ossipon, who was quite excited about what he had just read in the newspapers, decided to try and cool his excitement, in order not to look stupid in front of the man.
“Do you sell your bombs to anybody who wants them?” he asked the little man.
“Of course. I never refuse anybody.”
“But isn’t that a bit unsafe? I mean, what if the police were to send someone to buy something. You could easily get caught.”
“The police and I have an understanding. They know that I will not allow myself to be arrested and that I always have a bomb in my hands. If they were ever to try to catch me, they would die in the attempt . See?” He opened his coat and showed Ossipon the bomb he was carrying.
“And if anyone were to try and surprise me,I would always be ready, because this button here never leaves my right hand. Never. All that I have to do is press it and everyone within sixty meters of me will die. If I were to press it now, not a single person in this room would survive .”
Ossipon thought about this for a moment and then asked, “I suppose that the explosion happens immediately after you press the button.”
“Actually, no. It would explode twenty seconds later.”
“My God! Twenty seconds? How could you stand it? I would go crazy having to wait that long for my death to arrive!”
“Yes, that’s the main problem with this bomb.I want, one day, to perfect it, so that it will explode immediately. That is my one goal in life. My purpose.” He then looked around the room with his cold eyes and said, “You see, what makes me so dangerous is the fact that I am outside of society. I have very little connection to it. You and your men,however, you are a part of society, whether you want to be or not. You are as much a part of society as the police are. You are trying to change things and they are trying to prevent change. That’s the only difference between you and them. Every decision that you make is influenced by your place in society,by your family, by your friends, by the police, by the government, and so on. I, however, live alone and work alone. All that I ’m concerned about is making the perfect bomb. I am the true revolutionary.”
“Well, let’s not discuss this any longer,” Ossi pon interrupted. “I have some news to share with you. A man blew himself up in Greenwich Park today. This kind of behavior is going to make people like us look bad. I’m telling you this because I believe that you’re giving your bombs to idiots who don’t know how to use them.”
The little man said nothing, but took another drink of his beer.
“Ah, so it was you!” Ossipon whispered angrily.
“Yes, and I will continue to do so,” the little man said without any feeling. “I am a man of action,while you and your men do nothing but write meaningless words on paper.”
“And the man who died today? What about him?”
“He was a way for me to test my new bombs. I have to see if they work, after all.”
“Who was the man? What did he look like?”
“I can tell you exactly who he was... Mr. Verloc.”
Ossipon could not believe his ears. “Verloc? I saw him a month ago! He was quite a common man.Not at all a great thinker. Kept himself married... I guess that it was his woman’s money that allowed him to pay for our letters. I wonder what will happen to her now. Did he tell you why he wanted the bomb?”
“He said it was meant to destroy a building,” the little man said, getting the waiter’s attention. “That was all. I designed it so that the person would have twenty minutes to get away before it exploded. I guess that he must have forgotten about the time.”He was now buttoning his coat to leave.
“I’m worried,” Ossipon said with an unhappy expression on his face. “Verloc’s dead, Karl Yundt has become very ill, and Michaelis has disappeared into the countryside with his woman’s money.What’s happening to my organization? I have no money to keep it going!”
“If I were you, I would make every effort to tell the world that your organization had nothing to do with that idiot’s death. And then, I would visit Verloc’s lonely wife. It seems she might be useful to you.”
Ossipon was surprised by this last piece of advice. A few minutes later, after the little man had already gone, Ossipon stood up, paid his bill, and entered the dark and filthy London night.