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My, my. I also see by your resume that you re a licensed pilot qualified to fly a wide assortment of
both jet and prop driven airplanes as well as helicopters. Tell me& how did you come to learn all this?
During my two years in the Swiss Air Force.
Yes, Fuquois spoke slowly as if with great caution, that is also confirmed by our researchers& and a
demolition, weapons, and electronic surveillance expert, too. Very impressive, especially since you also
state that you re skilled with codes and cryptography.
Skills learned in the Swiss Army Reserve& all Swiss men must belong.
Ah yes, yes. I suppose such skills can be useful in the right hands.
Kafard proudly declared, We Swiss are a resourceful people.
Yes, so you are& you ve had quite an interesting career. Fuquois ruffled back and forth through the
papers in Kafard s folder. Tell me, what brings a man of your background to apply for this particular job?
It would bring great honor to my family to serve that most pious and righteous of men, His Holiness
the Pope.
Fuquois leaned forward in his chair and spoke in very low, even tones as would a lawyer laying out his
case, Well& your papers are all in perfect order, and I must say your record is quite impressive. And
every item checks out completely. But you look more like a Turk than a proper Christian& you can see
why such an observation might seem noteworthy to a person in my position. I am, after all, responsible
for the continued national integrity of this unit. The Swiss Guard has provided for the close personal
protection of His Holiness since 1506. Fuquois stopped talking sure that Kafard would reveal some of
the deeper underpinning to his story.
Kafard sat ramrod straight as he looked the Cardinal right in the eyes and said, Please allow me to
explain this seeming incongruity...in 1683 the besieging Ottoman army was smashed at the gates of
Vienna by King Jan Sobieski III of Poland, who had come to the rescue of the defenders. Like stalks of
wheat before the scythe, the Turks were dying beneath the lances of the Polish Cavalry. My ancestor,
Baltizar Kafard, was one of the few Ottoman soldiers to avoid death or capture.
He had been malingering in the camp with the baggage train when the army of the Sultan went
down to defeat. Not being a foolish man, he undertook a quick looting of the camp and fled from the field
with a brace of camp followers and three packhorses loaded with treasure. Baltizar made a fine haul of
jewels, coin, and plate from the booty that the Ottoman army had amassed when it had swept across the
Balkans. He and his entourage fled through northern Italy and finally gained the Swiss frontier. After
proper inducement, the Swiss burghers offered them sanctuary and citizenship if they d convert to
Christianity. The Kafard line has prospered in the canton of Unterwalden ever since. You ve seen my
baptismal certificate in my dossier.
Fuquois cross-examination resumed with an accusatory tone, Yes, very thorough and maybe even
plausible. Every aspect of your cover has been completely, perfectly, backed up in the public and private
records, but I think that s what your whole resume is& part of a cover. I have a nose for sniffing out the
lie, and I am not so shielded from the world that I would begin to believe this fantastic, though
well-constructed, fallacy.
Your Eminence, I give you my personal guarantee that every word of this is true.
Fuquois now switched to a more amicable delivery, My good man. I am duly impressed by the
professionalism of your deception, and I admire the stony countenance you maintain while I denounce you.
I am not just the Pope s gatekeeper. I have been responsible for the security of the various Popes since the
days when the Facisti and Nazis roamed the land. I ve fenced with the Gestapo, the Mafia, the OSS, the
CIA, and the KGB& now please, as one professional to another& tell me now the real story of how you
happen to come by these qualifications and what brings you to apply for this post?
Kafard shrugged, knowing he d been found out. You are correct; I am neither Christian nor Swiss.
My former employer has gone through a major reorganization, and I find myself a victim of downsizing.
I m here for the money and because I wish to continue in the security business. My relatives in my home
village have come to depend on my financial support, and I would rather die than to let them down.
And where was your former employer located?
Moscow, Kafard stated nonchalantly.
Ah-ha! Fuquois was pleased with himself for having guessed correctly. Then your training is from
the KGB then?
Spetznaz.
The KGB s strike force. My, but you are qualified. And how did you manage all the deep cover?
It has been in place for over twenty years& all arranged by the KGB to enable me to work under
cover in Switzerland when required.
So you figured, why let a perfectly good identity go to waste?
Kafard nodded. Yes. After the fall of the Soviets, my native republic, Kakastan, became independent
and I was separated from the service and left without any real means. I kept the identity in lieu of the
pension I would never receive& there were so few in the KGB who knew of my cover that I m sure that
the new masters in Moscow are unaware of its existence. And, now, I am in need of a position.
So you are more of a mercenary than a guard, are you not?
Mercenaries make excellent guards.
The Church is not unfamiliar with mercenaries. Fuquois held up a fine cedar lined humidor filled
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