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“Nothing firm. Some rumblings and rumors here and there, but we haven’t been able to nail him down.”
“Which one are we talking about? The Iraqi or the Palestinian?”
“I have heard nothing back about the Iraqi, but I have several sources who are claiming they have seen the eighteen-year-old Palestinian within the last four days.”
“Hmm,” pondered Kennedy.
“Let me caution you, though. We have not been able to track him down.”
“I know, but we are definitely leaning closer to one than the other.”
“My contacts in Iraq are not as deep, Irene. The man could be there, but I need more time to track him down.”
Kennedy looked back at Stansfield and let him know that she needed to talk to him. Into the phone, she said, “Ben, I have to run. Thank you for the info, and please let me know the second you find out anything else.”
“Before you go,” said Fine loudly, “I have something I wish to discuss.” Fine paused and then continued. “There are people in my government who are threatening to tear apart the entire peace accord if your country persists with this position of negotiation. We have a very good idea what Aziz’s last demand will be, and we are prepared to occupy the territories with troops if it comes to that.”
Kennedy stopped everything she was doing. She dissected the colonel’s words carefully. Israel was prepared to go to war. “Has your ambassador been informed of this?”
“I do not know.”
“Has your prime minister informed our vice president?”
“I do not know.”
Kennedy paused momentarily. “Ben, Director Stansfield has the interests of Israel very high on his list, but he is only one man. Now is not a time to play games through back channels. I would suggest that certain people in your government start banging the drum and bang it loudly. They know who to talk to.” Kennedy stopped for a moment and added, “Don’t worry about your support from Langley. We have never wavered on this issue, and are not about to.”
There was a moment of silence and then, “Good. I will pass that along.”
“And I appreciate the information, Ben. Please let me know the second you find anything more.”
Kennedy hung up the phone and swiveled her chair around. Brown was still talking to Stansfield. Kennedy was not sure about the new deputy director. It wasn’t due to a lack of confidence in his skills. He was intelligent and professional. Her issue with Brown lay more in where his bread was buttered. Brown was not an insider at Langley. He had been with the Agency for less than a year. In his early fifties, he was a former federal prosecutor and judge who, after leaving the bench, went to work for one of Washington’s poshest law firms, making close to a million dollars a year. After pressing the flesh with all of the bigwigs in Congress for a half dozen years, he had obtained a nomination for the deputy director slot and was confirmed.
It was a safe bet that his allegiance was more with the senators who had confirmed him than with the man he was now talking to. It was that simple fact that kept Kennedy from speaking in front of the man. She waited for several minutes until Brown left, then rose and approached the elevated desk behind her.
Stansfield leaned forward and asked, “What is it?”
General Flood also leaned forward, sensing that Kennedy might have obtained a valuable piece of information.
“I just spoke to Colonel Fine. He’s gotten nowhere in terms of the Yassin from Iraq, and with the young Palestinian, they have several contacts who have claimed to have seen him in the last four days.”
Flood shook his head and said, “That’s it, Thomas. We have to tell him.”
Stansfield’s face remained passive, and Flood persisted. “It’s our duty. Iron Man hasn’t come up with anything definitive, but it sure does look like something is going on down in that basement. Aziz doesn’t have enough men to tie up one of them down there.”
“What about the ventilation duct?” asked Kennedy. “Maybe he’s afraid we’ll try and use it again.”
“Bullshit,” grumbled Flood. “All he has to do is booby-trap the only stairwell that leads up from the basement, and he has us boxed in.”
Kennedy agreed.
Flood leaned toward Stansfield and said, “We have to tell him, Thomas. We should have told him this morning.”
Stansfield looked at the large general. He knew Flood was right but also knew how Vice President Baxter would react. He would wiggle. He would question the validity of their conclusion. He would put off making any decision until he absolutely had to. Despite all of that, Flood was right. They had to tell him.
DALLAS KING SAT across from his boss and watched him talk on the phone. The afternoon sun spilled through the windows of the vice president’s study at the Naval Observatory. King was still obsessing over his roll in aiding the terrorists. He had decided only one thing thus far, that he would keep his mouth shut. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that he would volunteer what he had done to the FBI. It would do no good. They couldn’t turn back the clocks. What he had to do right now was damage control. Who else knew about the late-night excursion? There were the two women of course, but they were bombed. There was Joe, the Secret Service officer who had let them in. King thought about checking up on Joe, but that might make things look worse if the story came out. No. For now, he would sit and do nothing and hope that no one would ever link him to the terrorist.
