Springboard

45

General Hadden sat at one end of the conference table, Thorn at the other, and along the sides were Jay Gridley, Abe Kent, General Roger Ellis, and a couple of Hadden’s men from the Pentagon, along with the Director of the CIA.

Kent finished his recitation. It had been clean, crisp, and to the point. He ended it with an apology for allowing Wu to commit suicide.

“Not at all, Colonel,” Hadden said. General Ellis nodded. “That old poisoned-button trick went out before Mao, nobody does that kind of thing anymore. No reason to expect it. Besides, whatever grand schemes Wu had died with him. That’s what we were really after.”

Kent nodded. “Yes, sir.”

The CIA Director, who had held the job less than a year, said, “The Chinese recovered most of the money from the thefts. Some of it was, ah, destroyed in an explosion, and a few hundred thousand dollars grabbed by looters at that location, but apparently somebody tipped off Beijing as to the whereabouts of the transport planes and they were stopped before they could take off.”

He looked around the table, his eyes coming to rest on Colonel Kent. “Although it seems at least one of the gang might have managed to escape,” he went on, “for there is an estimated six and a half million dollars that has been unaccounted for. There was a leased Chinese helicopter discovered on a beach in Taiwan only a day or so after the heist. No sign of the pilot or any passengers was found, but a local farmer says he saw a beautiful woman he didn’t know in the area shortly before the helicopter came to light. Taiwanese authorities have not been able to locate this woman — if she actually exists. Could be the farmer conked the pilot over the head and stole the money.”

Nobody had anything to say about that. It was not their problem in any event.

Thorn looked around. It was his meeting. “Anything else?”

Nobody said anything.

“Then I guess that wraps it up,” Thorn said.

“Oh, one other thing,” General Hadden said. “Roger?”

General Ellis reached into a pocket and came out with a small box. He grinned and slid it across the table toward Abe Kent.

Ellis said, “We know you have a closet full of ribbons and medals you seldom bother to wear, Abe, but we thought you might like these.”

Kent opened the box.

Inside was a pair of small silver stars.

“Congratulations, General,” Hadden said.

The stunned look on Abe Kent’s face was, Thorn thought, priceless.