Young bloods

Chapter 65

Two days after the massacre of the Swiss Guards, Saliceti sent for Napoleon. When he arrived at the deputy's office Napoleon was kept waiting for over an hour before Saliceti finally appeared, looking exhausted. He swept past Napoleon, beckoning to the lieutenant to follow him into the office, then he closed the door behind them and slumped in his seat behind the desk.

'Those fools at the Assembly want to suspend the King.'

'Suspend?' Napoleon looked astonished. 'How do they expect to do that?'

'By a rope ideally.' Saliceti laughed. 'If only! No, I mean they refuse to depose him. They still can't see that it's him or us at the end of the day. In any case, it's out of their hands now.'

'What do you mean?'

'The Paris Commune has taken charge of the King. The Assembly can say what it likes, but Louis is a prisoner of the Commune and they're not going to hand him over until they get what they want.'

Napoleon stirred uneasily. 'What's going to happen to the King?'

'He, and the rest of the royal family, are being held in one of the towers at the Temple. Until their fate is decided. If the Jacobins win the day, he'll be dethroned, tried as a traitor and then…' Saliceti waved his hands. 'And then, he'll be disposed of.'

Napoleon bit his lip. Despite the angry cries of denunciation he had heard in the streets since the massacre, there had been few demands for the King's death, just his removal from the throne. But that was wishful thinking. As long as he lived, Louis would pose a danger to the new order in France.

'Anyway,' Saliceti broke into his thoughts,'I didn't send for you to discuss the fate of kings. That'll be my job. It's time for you to repay my favour. I have a tricky mission for you.You won't like it, and it is dangerous. Both for you and your family. You must understand that before I explain anything else to you.' Saliceti's dark eyes bored into Napoleon. 'Despite our desperate need for professional officers in the army I'm not sending you back to your regiment.'

Napoleon opened his mouth to protest. He had been kept idle in Paris while his regiment had no doubt been called forward to fight in the defence of France, and he longed to join them. To prove himself as a soldier and – if he was honest with himself – to win himself some glory.

Saliceti raised a hand to forestall Napoleon's complaint. 'I've made up my mind. It has to be you. One artillery officer more or less is going to have little effect on the outcome on the war. But one Buona Parte in the right place is going to be invaluable to me, and to France.'

Napoleon looked at him warily. 'What exactly is it that you want me to do?'

'Your promotion to captain will be effective immediately. Then I want you to return to Corsica. I want you to find out what Paoli is up to. If you can, I want you to destabilise him by any means that come to hand.'

'You want me to be a spy?' Napoleon replied quietly.

'Is that so terrible?' Saliceti smiled faintly. 'Please put aside that look of distaste, young man. Whatever you may think of me, I have one attribute that is unquestionable: I am an excellent judge of character. After I read the report on your activities at Ajaccio, I sent for your records at the War Office.They make for interesting reading. Clearly you are an outstanding officer. But one other thing was very evident to me when I pieced together all the information about you.You are the kind of man who possesses a personal ambition that overrules his patriotism.That's the kind of man I need right now. What? Do you think I have misjudged you?'

Napoleon stared back at him. At first he felt insulted. Then he realised that Saliceti had seen through him and that the deputy was right. Napoleon had felt the touch of destiny on his shoulder and when a man had had that experience, the rules and values that tied the hands of normal men no longer applied.

'Very well. I'll return to Corsica. I'll be your spy.'

Saliceti slowly smiled. 'Of course you will.'