Hotel Majestic is the Cannes hotel where The Jackal receives a crucial call from Valmy after the plot against Charles de Gaulle has begun to unravel. Its polished public spaces give him cover, but the call turns this anonymous stop into a place of sudden uncertainty: he learns that people have been trying to reach him for two days and is left weighing the danger surrounding Viktor Kowalski’s arrest.

Arrival and Cover

Just after eleven in the morning, The Jackal rolls into the centre of Cannes and chooses Hotel Majestic, following his usual practice of seeking one of the best hotels when he wants something done. After cruising for a few minutes, he pulls into the forecourt, combs his hair, and strides into the foyer. The hotel’s standing and his own appearance work together as camouflage: in an elegant light suit and with a confident manner, he is taken for an English gentleman and attracts no suspicion.

The hall is quiet because most guests are out. The Jackal asks a bell-hop where the telephone booths are, then approaches the woman at the counter between the switchboard and the cloakroom entrance and asks her to connect him to Paris. She directs him to a booth beside the switchboard. He closes its soundproof door, placing a barrier between the public hotel and the conversation that will disclose how much the conspiracy has changed.

The Call from Valmy

The exchange begins with the callers identifying themselves by their code-names: The Jackal as Chacal and Valmy as Valmy. Valmy says that they have been trying to contact The Jackal for two days. The Jackal stiffens and frowns as he listens; through most of the ten-minute call he says little, occasionally asking a short, terse question. The narrative shows his alarm through these small physical reactions rather than disclosing the whole conversation.

The hotel’s ordinary routines continue around the call. No one looks through the glass panel in the booth door, and the switchboard operator is absorbed in a romantic novel. When The Jackal emerges, she reads the call’s charge from the meter and is paid. The unobtrusive transaction lets him leave without drawing attention, even as the call itself has brought news he cannot dismiss.

Aftermath on the Terrace

The Jackal takes coffee on the terrace overlooking the Croisette and the sea. There, smoking heavily and deep in thought, he considers what he has heard. He can understand the information about Viktor Kowalski, whom he remembers as the hulking Pole at the hotel in Vienna. What he cannot explain is how the bodyguard outside the door knew his code-name, or how that man knew what he had been hired to do.

He considers two possibilities: the French police may have worked out the purpose of the operation, or Viktor Kowalski may have recognized him as a fellow killer. The recollection of Kowalski as oafish and clumsy does not resolve the question. Hotel Majestic thus marks a shift from anonymous transit to active reassessment: The Jackal has made contact, but the call leaves the extent of the exposure—and the source of the leak—uncertain.