Six Seconds

65

Great Falls, Montana

That night, beyond the pool, across the motel’s mani cured courtyard, the crack splitting the drawn curtains of the silent room moved ever so slightly.

Binoculars were trained on the units used by Graham and Maggie. The tranquility was deceptive. The watcher’s breathing had quickened.

Stay calm, Sid told himself.

Crickets chirped as he rolled the focus wheel. Sid and Faker had taken shifts in their intense sur veillance, for they’d reached a critical point in the operation; one underscored by the headlines of the newspapers neatly arrayed on the desk.

The pope would arrive in Montana in the morning. The network’s operation was advanced and proceeding. However, since Graham, the Alberta RCMP officer, had emerged in the U.S., Sid and Faker had been urging ter mination action. They knew there had been operational activity in Canada.

They could not permit anything to put the greater mission at risk.

A few days ago, after Sid and Faker had urged ter mination, they were ordered not to take any action, other than to observe and report.

But now, the stakes were higher. The threat was closer and gaining. They were running out of time and continued to press for termination action.

Faker was talking softly on the satellite phone. His voice was so low, Sid had to struggle to hear. At times, Faker would pull the phone away to whisper updates.

“Some of them are getting nervous,” he told Sid, “because the threat is getting close to the messenger.”

Of course, Sid nodded, the risk of the mission being shut down was huge.

“Some want us to remove the threat now. Others say it would jeopardize the operation, draw attention and lead to a cancellation, or more tougher security, or possible exposure of the network.”

Sid couldn’t bear the debate.

All of his life, from the day his teenaged mother had abandoned him in the pew of a Brooklyn church, he’d yearned to be part of something greater than himself. Ached to make his mark in history.

As Faker returned to the phone, Sid’s thoughts rolled back to all the work that had gone into this operation. Risks had been eliminated to get them to this stage. The termination operations in Virginia and Canada proved that threats to its success could be eliminated with efficiency.

“That’s it.” Faker finished the call. “Our orders are to take no action. We are to observe and report.”

Sid shook his head.

“Don’t they realize how close the Canadian cop is,” he said. “They are making a grave error.”

“I agree.” Faker joined Sid at the window with his own binoculars. “I’ve told the clerk at the desk that we’re investigating an infidelity case. I’ve bribed him to alert us to any movement.”

“Good, then contrary to orders, we’ll take action.”

“We will do whatever it takes to ensure success, my brother.”

Sid did not pull his eyes from his binoculars.