Messages and ignored it. By the time they realized that his book was actually being written, it was too late.

I once suggested this version of events to Larry and he cut me off at the throat. He said that Alan was specifically told by Paul McGuinness that U2 did not want him to write the book and he went ahead and did it anyway. Now, I'd bet you my Romanian royalties that that call from McGuinness came after Alan had already signed a contract, accepted an advance, and started writing. By then he was bound to deliver his book. But everyone involved has a slightly different story. What matters to­night is that when U2 was asked to talk to the big American radio syndicate Westwood One, Bono requested that Carter Alan be the interviewer.

"I don't think Carter was being malicious," Larry says of the book that caused all the trouble. "Carter is a nice guy. But if he was getting conflicting reports that the band might go along with his book it was his responsibility to find out what was going on. I think he took a chance and made a mistake. There's no doubt that he knew the band was unhappy with the situation, but he thought he could do a really great book and we would be happy with it. I don't blame him for thinking that, but I blame him for blowing the friendship with U2.1 am genuinely sorry about that. And I hope that in the future we can fix that relationship."

Bono and Edge seat themselves across a wooden table from Alan in the grotto, creating a tableau like an Italian fresco: the penitent prostrat­ing himself at the shrine of Our Lady of the Rock Stars.

"I don't like flags," Bono tells Alan once the tape starts rolling. He is still full of Sarajevo. "I don't like any of them. I'm sick and tired of the idea of flags. Europe at the moment is completely disintegrating over this issue. We had some people today from Sarajevo. They took the boat across to Italy to see this rock & roll show, to see Zoo TV. He was telling me that in the middle of the war in the former Yugoslavia they go down three nights of the week into this shelter under the ground and they listen to rock & roll. They dance and they listen to rock & roll.

"Why? Because when rock & roll is playing they don't hear the shells exploding above them. Their nerves are shot, they're fucked up, and they're into rock & roll like a lifeline. . . .

"There's another instance of flags. What is it? What do people have with flags? It's like football teams. It's great if it's a game, but if you

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really believe in this shit, you're fucked up. You know, we need each other. We're not very different. Human beings are very similar."

Partway through the interview the hotel loses its electricity, shutting down the tape recorder. Alan, who is jet-lagged and fighting food poisoning, struggles to maintain his professional composure. The ech­oes in the grotto are distorting everyone's voice, which could make the tapes useless for broadcast. It would have been easier to wear a hair shirt, get a tonsure, and flagellate himself with a stick than it is to do penance for sins against U2.

Bill Carter and Jason Aplon, our Bosnian envoys, are looming over the pool party like the Red Death at Poe's masque, grim reminders of the misery outside these well-guarded walls. Not that they are behaving like grim reminders: Bill and Jason are gingerly enjoying the celebrity soiree like slightly guilty altar boys having a hot dog on Good Friday. Bono, though, is grim enough for both of them and most of Croatia too. When he and Edge rejoin the banquet, Bono is shamefully aware that while the models, rock stars, and media moguls will all be swinging at other soirees tomorrow, these two emissaries will be back to being starved and shot at. How can Bono justify this extravagance in the face of such bottomless brutality? Our hero is clearly cooking up a little penance of his own.

"Bill Carter asked me, 'Why do people do this?' " Bono says. "I didn't know what to say. I said the human heart is greedy, it will use religion or color or any other excuse to justify its greed. Blame the human heart."

It's after 2 in the morning and Bono can't get Bosnia out of his head. He approaches Larry, who's having a tough time negotiating the over­size (but small-pocketed) billiards table and whispers an insane idea. Carter said that he and his friends gather in a bunker and play U2 records to drown out the sound of the shelling. Bono thinks the band should go into Sarajevo and play in this bunker. Larry listens, thinks, and says all right. Then he goes back to his pool game.

"Larry's the most conservative," Bono whispers. "If I've got him there's a good chance I'll get the others." Bono's evangelical charisma is getting to me; I tell him I'll go too.

He goes and puts the arm on Adam, who is sitting like a sultan, supervising a Ping-Pong match between four fashion models. Bono pulls up a chair next to him, and while the models giggle, swat, and swing,

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whispers, "Larry and I think the band should go and play at this disco in Bosnia. Bill says he'll come too. What do you think?"

Adam continues to watch the table tennis match, absorbing Bono's proposal as casually as if it were a suggestion that they send out for Mexican food instead of Chinese. He draws on his cigarette, exhales, and says, "I think that's a good idea. If you believe in a cause you must be willing to put yourself on the line for that cause."

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