“Not them. Here in France there are very old and secret Masonic orders. They are a kind of hidden thread that runs through French life. They recruit people who want to share in the secret power—people who are ambitious, outgoing, want to make connections. People who are prepared to ignore public laws for the sake of the private network. There is a security brotherhood, for example, in which you will find senior members of French intelligence and the police. There are left-wing Masonic orders that began as a kind of anti-Catholic underground. The members of these orders aren’t in it simply for money. They see themselves as part of the secret order that holds society together against the forces of disorder—the barbarians, the Americans, the forces that would destroy France.

“And that is especially true of Maurice Costa. He is the only one who knows all the secrets. He is an austere man, tall and thin like de Gaulle, who for many years lived with his mother in a simple apartment near the Luxembourg Gardens. Though he has gathered many billions of dollars in bribes over the years, he has no personal interest in money. He has been a Socialist Party member all his life, and his only personal extravagance has been a private airplane, to fly him on weekends to his family farm near Toulouse. The money is all for his network. Costa has contacts in every city and town in France. His people are in every ministry, in every big corporation, in the intelligence agencies. They are the power behind the power.”

He leaned toward me. “Do you begin to see what I’m talking about here, Eric? Mmmmm? Do you?” His eyes were radiating light and energy. Listening to him was like hearing a tale by Scheherazade. It was so intriguing, it cast its own spell. But I needed to focus on the facts that could go into a newspaper article.

“Let me see if I understand,” I said. “The French network in Africa was part of this loose affinity group you’re calling La Puissance Occulte. Is that right?”

“Correct.” He nodded.

“So when the Africans got upset and wanted more money, the various elements of the network came together to find a way out—the security brotherhood, the oil-company brotherhood, the nuclear-weapons brotherhood, and all the intermediaries and dealmakers. And they all agreed to change the payoff formulas for Africa and rejiggered the secret accounts. Do I have it right?”

“Correct,” he said again.

“And then they sent in the police to free the hostages—and more important, free the hostage takers. And it was all blessed by Maurice Costa.”

“You have it, illustrissimo!” He was smiling from ear to ear, like a naughty boy who has just built something diabolical with his chemistry set.