Payback

78

“You should have stopped him,” Rubens told Telach as they stood under the large screen at the front of the Art Room.

“I don’t have a magic wand,” snapped Telach. “Frankly, he’ll be of considerable help scouting the camp.”

“I don’t wish to argue that point, Ms. Telach. It’s the principle of who is running the mission.”

“Which is more important? Principle or results?”

Rubens took a step back. “Well put. But we must be mindful of both.”

“Mr. Rubens, Marie — you want to listen in to Tommy Karr,” interrupted Sandy Chafetz. “He found a housekeeper at the site where the Russian phone was used. She’s telling him about large crates she saw, and mechanical equipment.”

“Switch it on,” said Rubens.

A brittle voice filled the room, its words a mixture of Spanish and another tongue Rubens wasn’t familiar with. Rubens heard her describe large crates that had once been stacked at the side of the barn. One of the Art Room translators repeated what the woman had said in English. He was interrupted by Tommy Karr, asking for another piece of “whatever this great stuff is I’m eating.”

“She works for a general,” Chafetz said.

“Túcume?” asked Rubens. The area here was under his command.

“Tommy hasn’t had a chance to ask her specifically, but it has to be. She thinks he works for him.”

“So what happened to these crates?” Karr asked in English. The translator gave him the words in Spanish, and Karr repeated them.

“Perhaps Senor Stephan took them with him. He left a note saying the general sent a car for him Thursday night.”

“Señor Stephan?” asked Karr.

“Sí.”

“Did he have a last name?”

The woman began explaining that he didn’t use one.

“Tell Mr. Karr a last name isn’t crucial,” Rubens told Chafetz, guessing this had to be Stephan Babin — Sholk — regardless of what name he might or might not be using. “But a physical description would be most useful.”