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“Castillo’s Russian?” the president chuckled.
“Yes, sir. I regret the choice of words.”
“I shouldn’t have interrupted you,” the president said. “Please go on.”
“The Russian national sometimes known as Aleksandr Pevsner,” Miller began again, this time more formally, “who made contact with Major Castillo in Vienna told Major Castillo he believed there was a Philadelphia connection, although he gave no reason.
“But as one item of intel after another Castillo got from Pevsner—that the airplane was in Chad, for example, that it had been repainted with Suriname registry numbers— proved to be accurate, Castillo began to place more credence in the Philadelphia connection theory.
“It was there, but at first we didn’t know where to look for it . . .”
“You’re saying, Major, that the information this man Pevsner has provided has been both accurate and valuable?” Beiderman interrupted.
“Yes, sir. Everything he’s told us so far has been right on the money. There is just no reason not to believe the latest intel he’s given us.”
“Which is?” Natalie Cohen asked, softly.
“That’s right, you came in after the movie started, didn’t you?” the president said. “The last tidbit from Castillo’s Russian is that we are about to violate the sovereign territory and airspace of Suriname and neutralize the wrong airplane. ”
“My God!” Cohen said. “Where’s the one we’re looking for, if it’s not in Suriname?”
“Somewhere in Costa Rica, ma’am,” Miller said. “With a new identity.”
“Wow!” Dr. Cohen said.
Sergeant Betty Schneider came into the room.
“I’m very sorry,” she said. “And more than a little embarrassed. ”
“Don’t be silly,” the president said. “That happens all the time to Matt Hall. Every time he suspects that I’m displeased with him . . .”
“Jesus!” Hall said.
Dr. Cohen looked at the president in disbelief, shook her head, then smiled, and finally giggled.
Betty Schneider looked at her and then the president with enormous relief.
“The major was about to tell us . . . all right if I call you ‘Betty’?” Cohen asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Betty, the major was about to tell us what you think these people are going to do with the airplane and exactly how they plan to do it,” Cohen said. “Why don’t you give it a shot?”
Betty gathered her thoughts—not as completely as she thought she had—and began, “Well, when Charley called from Mexico . . .”
“ ‘Charley’ being Major Castillo?” the president interrupted.
“Yes, sir.”
“And what’s he doing in Mexico?” the president asked, almost rhetorically.
“He was in Cozumel, Mr. President,” Hall said. “At the moment, he’s on his way to Costa Rica. Same purpose: Finding and neutralizing the airplane.”
“Dumb question,” the president said.
“How’s he moving around?” Cohen asked. “I’m concerned about airspace, territorial violations.”
“His family has an airplane, a Lear 45XR,” Hall said. “He borrowed that.”
