“Hi, Yari, it’s Wade. Any news?”
“Yeah, I have some calls to report. I recorded a whole conversation. I think you should hear it — it’s between Condor and Stephan. Let me patch in the recording.”
Wade tilted the phone away from his ear so Max could listen in. A scratchy sound was followed by a beep.
“This is Stephan. I’m in Belize. I’m at the house, but Mashburn’s not here.”
“What do you mean he’s not there?”
“When I picked up the keys the rental agent said there had been a robbery. Apparently the maid found Mashburn tied to a chair and scared out of his wits.”
“What did they take?”
“Everything. The place was cleaned out. All the weapons, papers, maps — everything’s gone.”
“Are you sure it was a robbery?”
“Yeah, I interviewed the maid. Mashburn gave a police report. She said he was real shaken by the incident and was leaving the country. My guess is the robbers saw the weapons and maps and took everything they could. They’ll bring a good price on the black market. I’m guessing they might have gotten scared off by all the military stuff and didn’t want to take a chance on killing Mashburn.”
Condor replied, “Yeah, I guess that’s possible.”
Stephan continued his explanation. “I think Mashburn saw that his cover was blown with the police report, and probably thought the only way out was to get the hell out of the country.”
“That sounds like Mashburn. He hasn’t checked in with me. I’ll check to see if he’s used the return ticket to Panama. I don’t want that guy floating around. He knows too much. So what’s the plan now?”
“I think we go back to the original plan, but that means we’ll have to replace the equipment. I assume Mashburn made the drop in Belmopan before he left.”
“He told me he did, but who knows. You’ll have to check.”
“I’ll check that out first thing in the morning.”
Condor showed his frustration. “It will take me days to replace our supplies.”
Stephan wanted confirmation of the mission. “Listen, all I need to know is whether or not I still have a go from the top.”
“Yes, but check in with me on a regular basis. And don’t get robbed.”
“That would never happen to me, my friend. They would all be dead.”
Yari returned to the line. “What did you think of that?”
“That’s great intelligence work. Keep monitoring. We just got back from the Adam Roy house, and Stephan has been there. It doesn’t look like he’s staying there, but we’ll confirm that with a stakeout tomorrow. By the way, I need you to set up a double-secure patch from this line to someone at the Agency for me. But before we do that, someone here wants to say hello.”
Wade passed the receiver to Max. “Hi, Yari, it’s Max. Good to hear your voice.”
“Max! I can’t believe you two hooked up again. How are the tropics?”
“So far, so good. But I think things may get pretty intense before it’s over.”
“You couldn’t be with a better guy.”
“I can’t disagree with that.”
Max handed the phone back to Wade for the second call. He got out his pen and pad.
The call to Megan could be his last before he cut off all communication with the outside. He was still anxious and uncomfortable about revealing anything more about the mission, but he had to know what she had found out from her research. While he was waiting for Yari to confirm the patch, Wade suggested that Max go to the periodical section and jot down phone numbers for the American and British Embassies and see what the newspapers were saying about the upcoming war game ceremonies, before the library closed. The patched call went through, and Wade heard Megan’s voice.
“Hi, it’s me.”
Megan was quick to ask, “Are you on a secure line?”
“Yes. Thanks for asking.”
“I’ve got some research results I wanted to go over with you, but first I wanted to make sure we’re secure. Before we get into the research, I want you to know that ever since you made that comment about trusting the Agency, I’ve been more cautious and done a little snooping around on my own.”
“What did you find out?”
She gave an audible sigh. “There was an agent in Vietnam by the name of Daniel Spencer who reported to our New York office. He left the Agency and was killed in a hit-and-run accident just after he arrived home in North Carolina. Apparently there was a hush-hush investigation of what was going on in Vietnam before he was recalled. But I could find no mention of that investigation in any Agency documents. From what I can see, several senior people were involved including Spencer’s handler, and they all took early retirement or suddenly went on to become consultants with the Agency.”
“Be careful where you poke. It’s going to get very sensitive when it ties back to the Fort Benning incident. What about Belize?”
“We have one agent recently appointed to the American Embassy, by the name of Art Mellon. From what I can tell he’s more of an administrative type, processing documents and doing research projects. There’s also an MI-6 agent based in the U.K. Her name is Zara Wicks. Her cover is senior administrative staff to the consul general, and she seems to have some real field experience. She’s married to a Belize national who’s a surgeon on the hospital staff somewhere in the area. I’m still checking her background through some U.K. contacts.”
“Listen, I don’t want you to dig any further into this. Let me think about it. I’ll decide as we get further along.”
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“Close to me or close to Belize?”
“That’s all I can say right now.”
“I understand.”
He paused before speaking his mind. “Please be careful with your research. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Believe me, I’m careful, but I’m sensing that you might be in danger.”
“I’m fine. We’ll talk soon.”
Wade joined Max in the library, and they both read everything they could find in the local newspapers about the upcoming war game ceremonies. Articles under the peace headlines labeled the purpose of the games as “Building Ties with Friendly Neighbors.”
A large looming question continued to bother Wade. He shared his thoughts with Max. “The thing I still can’t get my head around is Condor, and whose authority he’s working under. If it’s the U.S., what’s the motive for disrupting Belize relations? If it’s another country, he’s a double agent. It doesn’t seem like a good use of U.S. assets.”
Max nodded. “That’s been sticking in my craw from the beginning. Who’s the enemy here?”
“It would seem that the Russians have the most to gain from disrupting the games.”
“That would mean that Condor is a double agent.”
“Or that’s what he wants everyone to think.”
Chapter 23
After watching the maid clean the empty safe house, Wade and Max were certain that Stephan was operating out of at least one other location. Stephan as an operative was obviously much better trained than Mashburn, and still a mystery. Yari couldn’t find any intel on the man, not even a picture or last name to go on — just “Stephan.”
Wade wanted Max to see Belmopan and get a sense of the layout. As Wade drove he explained the city to Max as his partner pored over several maps. Their first stop was the cemetery to check on the cases. As they rolled past the entry gate, the cemetery looked a little different to Wade. Bushes and weeds had been trimmed and the gravesites cleaned up — perhaps in preparation for visitors.