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"'I told you. I was merely walking through the city - '
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"'Alone?'
"'Yes, alone. I told you.'
"'Your starting point?"
""My hotel.'
"'And you have identification there?"
"'Certainly. My passport is there and all my belongings.'
"'The name of the hotel?'
"I winced at that. Even to myself my answer would seem too much to accept. 'I can't recall,' I
said in a low voice.
"'Its location?'
"'I don't know."
"Vee sighed. He looked at me in a nearsighted way and I thought his eyes seemed sad, but
perhaps it was only myopia.
"He said, 'The basic question is: What is your name? We must have some identification or
this becomes a serious matter. Let me explain your position to you, Mr. Blank. Nothing
compels me to do so, but I am not in love with every aspect of my work and I shall sleep
better if I make sure you understand that you are in great danger.'
"My heart began to race. I am not young. I am not a hero. I am not brave. I said, 'But why? I
am a wronged person. I have been drugged and robbed. I came voluntarily to the police,
sick and lost, looking for help - '
"Again, Vee held up his hand, 'Quietly! Quietly! Some speak a little English here and it is
better we keep this between ourselves for now. Things may be as you have described, or
they may not. You are an American national. My government has cause to fear Americans.
That, at least, is our official position. We are expecting an American agent of great ability to
penetrate our borders on a most dangerous mission.
"'That means that any strange American - any American encountered under suspicious
circumstances - has, for a week now, been referred instantly to my department. Your
circumstances were suspicious to begin with and have grown far more suspicious now that I
have questioned you.'
"I stared at him in horror. 'Do you think I'm a spy? If I were, would I come to the police like
this?'
"'You may not be the spy, but you may still be a spy. There are people who will think so at
once. Even I view it as a possibility.'
"'But no kind of spy would come to the police - '
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"'Please! It will do you good to listen. You may be a distraction. If you play chess, you will
know what I mean when I say you may be a sacrifice. You are sent in to confuse and distract
us, occupying our time and efforts, while the real work is done elsewhere.'
"I said, "But it hasn't worked, if that's what I'm supposed to be. You're not confused and
distracted. No one could be fooled by anything as silly as this. It's not a reasonable sacrifice
and so it's no sacrifice at all. It's nothing but the truth I've been telling you.'
"Vee sighed. 'Then what's your name?"
"'John Smith. Ask me a million times and it will stay my name.'
"'But you can't prove it. - See here,' he said, 'you have two alternatives. One is to convince
me in some reasonable way that you are telling the truth. Mere statements, however
eloquent, are insufficient. There must be evidence. Have you nothing with your name on it?
Nothing material you can show me?'
"'I told you,' I said, despairingly. 'I've been robbed.'
"'Failing that,' he said, as though he hadn't heard my remark, 'it will be assumed you are
here to fulfill some function for your country that will not be to the interest of my country, and
you will be interrogated with that in mind. It will not be my job, I am glad to say, but those who
interrogate will be most thorough and most patient. I wish it were not so, but where national
security is at stake - '
"I was in utter panic. I said, stuttering, 'But I can't tell what I don't know, no matter how you
interrogate.'
"'If so, they will finally be convinced, but you will not be well off by then. And you will be
imprisoned, for it will not then be politic to let you go free in your condition. If your country
succeeds in what it may be attempting, there will be anger in this country and you will surely
be the victim of that and will receive a long sentence. Your country will not be able to
intercede for you. It will not even try.'
"I screamed. 'That is unjust! That is unjust!'
"'Life is unjust," said Vee, sadly. 'Your own President Kennedy said that.'
"'But what am I to do?' I babbled.
"He said, 'Convince me your story is true. Show me something! Remember something!
Prove your name is John Smith. Take me to the tavern; better yet to the hotel. Present me
with your passport. Give me anything, however small, as a beginning, and I will have
sufficient faith in you to try for the rest - at some risk to myself, I might add.'
"'I appreciate that, but I cannot. I am helpless. I cannot." I was babbling. All I could think of
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