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“So?”
“The owner is one of Those People in Las Vegas.”
“And?”
“Frank, who was then working in Covert Operations at the Company, and had already started a relationship with Those People, went to them and told Hotelier he could put the place to good use, but it had to be kept quiet.”
“I think I know where you’re going,” Secretary Cohen said.
“It’s an ideal place to conduc
t interrogations of people we don’t want anybody to know we’re talking to. And to store things the Agency needs.”
“The Agency and Special Operations Command, you mean?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And by people you don’t want anyone to know you’re talking to, you mean people who didn’t want to talk to you in the first place, right? People who didn’t volunteer to come to the United States?”
McNab didn’t answer.
“Sometimes, Bruce, I think that you and Frank Lammelle are as dangerous as President Clendennen.”
“Well, just forget… please… that I even mentioned the hotel.”
“Is that what you call it, ‘the hotel’? Well, that sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it?”
Again McNab didn’t reply.
“The Lindbergh Act doesn’t give either you or Frank an exemption from anti-kidnapping laws. I presume both of you loose cannons know that.”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re aware of that.”
“Well, let’s hear your plan, Bruce.”
“Excuse me?”
“How are we going to get all these people to the hotel without letting anyone—especially the President—know?”
“May I infer, Madam Secretary…”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures. You may want to write that down.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Damn it, Bruce, now that we’re—at least so far—unindicted co-conspirators, the least you can do is stop calling me ‘ma’am.’”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said automatically.
They laughed.
“One more uncomfortable question, Bruce. What are you going to do about the others? If they go to your hotel, they will know about your hotel.”
“They don’t want to know about the hotel. General Naylor’s the only problem I see about that.”
“In other words, everybody knows—or at least suspects—about the hotel except General Naylor, right?”
“Now that you know, he’s the only one who doesn’t.”
