Shoot Him If He Runs

33

Lance Cabot was waiting in the director’s reception area when she arrived at work at 8 A.M. He felt awful, having been up all night, and he was anxious about this meeting.

Kate Lee regarded him closely. “Something wrong, Lance?” she asked.

“May I speak with you in your office, Director?”

“Of course; come in.” She led the way into her inner office and hung her coat in a closet. “Have a seat.” She waved him toward her desk.

Lance took a chair across the desk from her, noting the difference from other meetings, when they sat in the more informal cluster of sofas and chairs across the room. “Sometime yesterday, probably in the afternoon, Bill Pepper was taken from his office by the police on St. Marks. Later in the day, police also took his wife, who is also our operative, from their home.”

“Is there anything in either Bill’s office or home that might compromise his situation?”

“I very much doubt it; he would have followed procedure.”

“Where is he now?”

“Apparently, still in the Markstown jail. The legendary Colonel Croft is also there, and I think we must presume that he has questioned or is questioning Bill and Annie.”

“And, as I recall, his interrogation techniques were learned and refined in latter-day Haiti.”

“That is correct.”

“Do we know the reason for their detention?”

“Not yet. We were fortunate that our man in the embassy there was also the duty officer last night, so we have not yet involved the ambassador.” He glanced at his watch. “That will become necessary later this morning.”

“Do we know if Colonel Croft has made any connection between Pepper and Holly Barker’s group?”

“No, but I very much doubt it.”

“I should have thought that Colonel Croft’s interrogation practices might have produced that information by now.”

“Jim Tiptree, the Agency man at the embassy, first telephoned Colonel Croft, then visited the jail, demanding to see him. He is still there, waiting. I think his presence might have had a dampening effect on the colonel’s urges.”

“You must have some idea why the Peppers were detained. What was Bill’s most recent assignment? From you, I mean; not from Hugh English.”

“He was to go into the St. Marks government computers and get copies of the applications to purchase a residence of three men we suspect of possibly being Teddy Fay-Robertson, Pemberton and Weatherby.”

“You suspect three men of being Teddy?”

“Possibly.”

“As I recall, Bill has made St. Marks government computers his playground over the past few months. How would he get caught now?”

“Croft has been working at upgrading all of St. Marks’s security procedures. At some point, he would turn his attention to computer security, and we may be at that point.”

“And what is our next step?”

“When the ambassador arrives at his office, Jim Tiptree is going to have to involve him in the effort to secure the release of the Peppers. That, of course, will mean the involvement of State, since the ambassador will certainly inform the Caribbean Desk, as a matter of routine.”

“And we don’t want that, do we?”

“No, Director.”

“And how do you propose that we prevent that from happening?”

“The ambassador to St. Marks, Warren Holden, is a personal friend of the president, I believe.”

“Yes, they were both Senate staffers on the Select Committee on Intelligence when they were younger. Are you suggesting that the president call Holden and prevent him from reporting this incident to State?”

“Nothing quite as formal as that,” Lance said. “If he could just ask him to give us time to get the Peppers released and off the island.”

“And when they’re gone, then report to State?”

“Well, a delay in reporting might make it awkward to report it at a later date.”

“So you want the president to call in a favor from an old friend?”

“It was a pretty big favor, on the part of the president, to appoint his old friend to a cushy Caribbean ambassadorship. I should think Mr. Holden would be anxious to repay that.”

“I suppose he might, but if this should turn into an international incident, then…”

“I believe this will end with the release and repatriation of the Peppers.”

“What, exactly, do you want Warren Holden to do?”

“I’d like him to call the prime minister, Sir Winston Sutherland, tell him that the Peppers are personal friends of his-they play bridge every Thursday, or something like that-and ask him to call Colonel Croft and have them released at once.”

“Are you at all concerned about the security of Holly Barker’s group? Should we get them out of there now?”

“An airplane had already been scheduled to pick them up at noon tomorrow and bring them home. I think to rush that might be counterproductive.”

“Would there be room on that airplane for the Peppers?”

“There would be, if I send a larger airplane.”

“How large?”

“The presently scheduled airplane is quite small; something mid-sized, like a Hawker, would be sufficient.”

“All right, I’ll ask the president to make the call. If we can get the Peppers off the island tomorrow, and without a fuss, then Holden can just forget any of this ever happened. I want you to take every conceivable step to see that a fuss does not occur.”

“Certainly, Director.”

“Because that is what I’m going to tell the president, and you’d better not make a liar of me.”

“I’ll get this done, Director.”

“All right, I’ll make the call now; go back to your office, and I’ll call you when it’s in the works.”

“Ah, there is one other thing, Director.”

“What thing?”

“Hugh English.”

Kate Lee emitted a small groan.

“There was no way I could ask Jim Tiptree not to report this to him. I’m sure he’ll be on the phone to me within minutes.”

The Director sighed. “Hugh English is going to be more trouble than the ambassador,” she said.

“I know. Unless you speak to him before he speaks to me, there will be an eruption, and I don’t think we want that.”

The director picked up the phone. “Get me Hugh English, please; if he’s not in, try his cell or his car phone.” She pressed the speaker button and waited.

Lance tried not to squirm in his seat.

“Hello?” Hugh English might have been in the room with them, his voice was so clear.

“Good morning, Hugh.”

“Not really, Director; I have a problem.”

“The situation in St. Marks?”

There was what seemed a stunned silence, then: “I’m very surprised that you should know about this so quickly, Director; I’m not sure it rises to your level.”

“Hugh, we’re not sure about this yet, but the Peppers may have been detained because Bill was trying to extract some information from St. Marks government computers at my request.”

“I received no such request from you, Director.”

“No, it was made through another Agency officer who is also present on St. Marks at the moment. It’s my understanding that Bill Pepper has been extracting all sorts of information from those computers for months, so I believed that my request would be routine for him, and he did not indicate otherwise.”

“Director, I’m sure this could have all been avoided, if you had had the courtesy to go through my office, as prescribed by the operational procedures which you yourself instituted.”

“Perhaps, but we don’t know that yet. He may well have been detained for something you yourself asked him to do.”

Lance loved that.

“In any case, Hugh, I am personally working to have the Peppers released and returned to the U.S., perhaps as early as tomorrow, so please take no steps in that regard without consulting me first.”

“As you wish, Director.”

“I think we can resolve this quickly and without a fuss, so just give me some time. In the meantime, you might be thinking about a replacement for the Peppers on St. Marks.”

“Don’t you think that might be precipitous, Director? I mean, until we know the meaning of their detention, we won’t know if they’ve been compromised.”

“Hugh, they were compromised the moment they came to the personal attention of the infamous Colonel Croft.”

“Quite,” Hugh English said. “I’ll begin working on a replacement. Is that all, Director?”

“For the moment, Hugh.”

“Good-bye.” He hung up.

“If he calls you, Lance,” the director said, “stonewall him, but as politely as possible. Now, get to work on getting an airplane there tomorrow.”

Lance stood up. “Thank you, Director.” She was asking for the White House when he left her office.