“Mossad”
“No, AMAN. The question is, what the hell are they doing here at this hour of the morning” It could be because of McGarvey, Kurshin thought.
The moment they’d been informed that he was here in Tel Aviv, he had flown directly from his hotel in Rome where he’d been waiting for further word from Baranov. “There can only be one reason for him to be in Israel at this point” Baranov had explained. “It’s because of the Pershing. They know we were going after En Gedi. He’s come to find out for himself”
“Either that or tell the Israelis”
“I don’t think so” Baranov had replied. “But it gives you the easy opportunity to take him out. Don’t miss”
“Here they come” Piotrovsky said. Kurshin raised his binoculars in time to see the four AMAN plainclothes officers emerge from the hotel. They had brought the blond woman with them, her hands held curiously stiff behind her back. It took him several seconds to realize that she was handcuffed. They had arrested her. He lowered the binoculars again. What had they stumbled across here? And where was McGarvey? “I want to know who that woman is, within the hour” he said. Piotrovsky glanced over at him and swallowed.
This was one man, he thought, who was to be placated at all costs. “Yes, Comrade” he said.
Roland Murphy had been in plenty of tough spots in his life, but he’d never been known to walk away from a fight, or hang his head in submission no matter how he had conducted the battle. This was the day, however, when the shit was very likely to hit the fan. He had taken a calculated risk, and it was about to come back and bite him. It was just seven-thirty. The president had agreed to see him in his study.
He rose from behind his desk when Murphy came in. He was a large man, who like the general preferred rolled-up shirtsleeves and loosened ties and had some years ago served a brief term as director of the CIA. He was a no-nonsense man. “Harry S told his people that the buck stopped at his desk. I tell mine that this is where the bullshit stops”
“We have a developing problem on our hands, Mr. President, that could turn into something very political”
“You wouldn’t be here at this hour of the evening if it wasn’t serious, General” the president said wryly. “Coffee”
“I’d prefer something a little stronger this time” The president’s thick eyebrows rose. “This is serious” he said. He poured them both a good measure of Jack Daniel’s. Murphy knocked his back, set the glass down, and then extracted a group of satellite reconnaissance photographs from his briefcase and laid them out on the desk. The president set his whiskey aside, picked up a large magnifying glass, and hunched over the photographs, studying each one carefully. “En Gedi” he asked. Yes, sir.
These were taken shortly after midnight, local time. They showed up on my desk an hour ago”
“They’re having another alert over there”
“Someone may have been injured. That’s an ambulance at the main gate in the first frames. It headed for the dispensary, but then made a turn and went back across the facility, entering what we have been identifying to this point as a warehouse”
“To this point” the president asked. “We now believe that the building may contain something else. Something that might point to another purpose for the facility’s existence”
“Namely as a weapons depot”
“We now believe that is very likely”
“The Russians know about it, as well, otherwise they wouldn’t have pulled that jackass missile stunt” the president said, shaking his head.
“You know, General, I’ve been behind this desk for one hundred sixty-three days, but it only took half that long for me to lose my capacity for surprise” He glanced down at the photographs. “This ‘ is no coincidence.
“No, sir, it is not” Murphy said. “But I’m afraid I’ve made a mistake that could cost us”
“Welcome to the club” the president said not unkindly. “What sort of a mess have we gotten ourselves into this time”
Murphy extracted a thin, buff-colored file folder from his briefcase. It was stamped top and bottom Top Secret, a pair of orange stripes diagonally across the cover, beneath which was stamped the legend: STANDHOPE. He passed it across to the president, who made no immediate move to open it. “We believe that the previous En Gedi incident may have involved a penetration of the facility by the Russians, which led them to hijack the Pershing”
“Yes, we’ve gone over that”
“We also have very good reason to believe that the Russians have a knowledgeable source within the Pentagon. Someone who would have had the data about the Pershing’s Radar Area Guidance system”
“The one you are calling Feliks”
“Yes, sir” Murphy said, girding himself. “But the impetus for our investigation is and always has been whether or not the Israelis are in actuality maintaining a stockpile of battleready nuclear weapons. At En Gedi, or anywhere else for that matter”
“Your rationale for believing that Valentin Baranov is personally involved”
“Yes, Mr. President”
“He brought down your predecessor. Is this a vendetta”
“No, Mr. President, it certainly is not” Murphy said, careful to keep his voice as inflectionless as possible, letting the meaning of his words convey his anger. “Sorry, Roland” the president said. “But get on with it”
“We need to know what is going on at En Gedi. “You have sent someone there” the president asked sharply. “And you think he has been arrested”
He glanced again at the photographs.
“It’s most likely that he has been arrested, yes, Mr. President. The president stared long and hard at him. But when Murphy started to say something, the president shook his head. “Wait” He put on his glasses, opened the STANDHOPE file, and began reading. It took him less than five minutes; like Jack Kennedy, he was a speed reader. When he looked up and took off his glasses, there was an angry set to his mouth. “Yes, General” he said. “You definitely have made a mistake. I would never have authorized this”
“Then we would have been stopped in our tracks. Baranov is almost certainly going to try again” Murphy had decided that no matter what happened he was not going to back down. Presidents came and went, the problems remained. If he wanted the resignation of his DCI, he would have it, but Murphy was not going to cower. “I could have your ass for this” the president said coldly. “But I’m probably just as guilty. I should have telephoned Peres and told him about the Pershing. So you see, General, you are not the only one to make a mistake” No answer was expected. “What do we do about it, Roland”
“I need your authority to call Isser Shamir and tell him what we know”
Murphy said. “The timing is off, he’ll know that”
“I’ll lie. We weren’t certain until this moment”
“You want him to release McGarvey, a lone ranger who is in possession of Israel’s most vital state secret”
“Yes, sir”
“Why should he do that for us”
“Because of Baranov’s continued threat.
We mean to set McGarvey after Feliks with the hope that it will force Baranov’s hand and pull Arkady Kurshin out of hiding. At the very least it may delay another strike against En Gedi, possibly giving the Israelis enough time to move their weapons”
“You’ll invite the Mossad to participate in this investigation” the president asked.
“Naturally” Murphy said, although until this moment the thought hadn’t occurred to him. “We have our sensitive secrets as well, Roland” the president said with a dangerous edge to his voice. “It will be a tightly controlled operation” The president closed the STANDHOPE file and sat back in his chair. He finished his drink. “McGarvey was involved with Baranov the last time, wasn’t he”