“Yes,” Stone replied, hoping his curiosity would stop there.
“You did some work for Felicity Devonshire at MI6 not very long ago, didn’t you?”
“If I had, I certainly couldn’t comment, could I?”
“No, I expect she asked you to sign the Official Secrets Act.”
The secretary reentered the room before Stone could reply and handed the form to Freeman, who looked it over, signed it, and handed it to Lance.
Lance looked it over, too. “May I use your fax machine?” he asked.
“Of course,” Mike replied. He led Lance over to a bookcase and opened a panel for him, revealing the machine. Lance pressed a couple of buttons and dialed a number. “Will it send both sides of the document?” he asked.
“Yes,” Freeman said, “if you select that option.”
Lance sent the document, then returned to his chair and put the form into his briefcase. “We’ll have a response shortly,” Lance said.
“Don’t you have to conduct an investigation?” Stone asked.
“Yes, but for the moment we will compare the information on the form electronically with what we already know about Mike, to be sure there are no discrepancies.”
This did not seem to worry Mike.
Lance’s cell phone rang. “Excuse me,” he said. He held the phone to his ear. “Yes?” He listened for a moment. “Thank you,” he said, and hung up. “Well, that’s done. Now we can proceed, I think.”
TEN
Lance leaned forward in his chair. “Mike, let me outline a not altogether hypothetical situation in which you might be very helpful to the Agency and to your adopted country.”
Freeman said nothing, just nodded.
“Let us say that there exists in a fairly large city of this country a financial institution which we have reason to believe has been funneling funds to an Al Qaeda subsidiary in Indonesia.”
Mike nodded again.
“This institution has a virtually foolproof safeguard against outside intrusions into its computer network.”
“I would be very interested to hear about those safeguards,”
Freeman said.
“Essentially,” Lance replied, “while they use outside connections to send data, they do not receive data except on a single connection, which has not only the latest in firewall protections, but on which every incoming request for data is vetted by a human operator before it is passed on to the central computer.”
Freeman frowned. “That sounds almost too simple,” he said.
“Yes, it does, doesn’t it? Oh, their ordinary office computer system accesses and downloads from the Internet, but their system for transmitting and receiving secure data is discrete from that.”
“You want us to supply you with people who can hack into their computers?” Freeman asked. “I should think the National Security Agency could better handle that.”
“Of course,” Lance replied. “Unfortunately, the bulk of their personnel are not available to us . . . on-site, let us say.”
“You mean they won’t do a black bag job for you?” Stone asked.
“To put it crudely,” Lance said drily.
Freeman spoke up. “Am I to understand that you want us to put our people inside this institution for the purpose of sacking their computer system?”
“At our present level of expertise, that is the fastest way for us to gain access to their secure data.”
Freeman had not stopped frowning. “You want us to carry out an illegal entry into their offices and steal their data.”
“We would, of course, provide umbrella protection from prosecution to your people,” Lance said.
Stone spoke up. “I’m sure that Richard Nixon offered the same protection to the Watergate burglars.”
Lance blinked. “Well, perhaps so.”
“I’m sure I could find personnel in our organization who would be enthusiastic about such an operation,” Freeman said, “but I am not sure I could furnish someone with a sufficient level of computer expertise to break into a secure system within a matter of a few hours, which is what you are talking about.”
“I understand,” Lance said. “That is why your people would take an NSA operative along with them.”
“I think that would make a great movie,” Stone said, “but a bad business story in the Wall Street Journal. I have to tell you, Mike, that you would be putting your company at great risk at a level all out of proportion to the reward to be gained.”
Lance bristled. “The reward, as you put it, Stone, is to destroy the enemies of your country.”
“By breaking the laws of my country,” Stone pointed out.
“I think I sense your position on this, Stone,” Freeman said. “Lance, I will have to discuss this matter with some of our people, then get back to you with a decision in principle, not having details of the actual operation.”
“Perfectly understandable, Mike,” Lance replied. “I’m at the Lowell, and here’s my cell number.” He handed Freeman a card.
Freeman stood up. “Thank you for coming to see us, Lance.” They shook hands and Lance left.
Stone and Freeman sat down again.
“Well, Stone, what do you really think?”
Stone laughed. “I think that Lance Cabot is someone who can never be completely trusted, and I would not want to see the reputation of Strategic Services in his hands.”
“Is that the only reason you’re against it? I mean, dealing Al Qaeda a serious blow is an attractive goal.”
“Mike, if this job were as easy as Lance makes it sound, he’d have his own people do it. The Agency is not short of people with the requisite skills for such an operation, so why doesn’t he use them? And I very much doubt that the president would ever put his signature to a finding on such an operation. That might very well be grounds for impeachment.”
“Good points, all,” Freeman said.
“Mike, I can see you’re attracted to this. Why?”
“For personal reasons, I suppose. I’ve always believed that the greatest benefits derive from operations with the greatest risks.”
“Then, if you were a poker player,” Stone said, “you’d always try to fill an inside straight.”
“Not always,” Freeman replied, “but sometimes.”
“If you gamble for thrills, that’s a good position to take,” Stone said. “But if you have to make a living playing poker, you’d soon find yourself on the street, broke and hungry.”
“What you say about poker is true,” Freeman replied. “But in this kind of operation you make your own odds.”
“You’d need to know everything to make your own odds, and with an operation like this you can never know everything; you’ll only know what Lance wants you to know. Also, Mike, if you undertake this, you’d be dabbling in politics, and that’s a dangerous arena for a business.”
“All valid arguments,” Freeman said, “and I’ll take them all into consideration.” He smiled. “I wouldn’t mind having Lance Cabot in my debt; that might come in useful sometime.”
“Mike, I’ve had considerable dealings with Lance, and I can tell you it can be profitable to deal with him. But you must remember that, in any situation, the safety of Lance’s ass is Lance’s most important priority, and any benefits from dealing with him will come only after Lance has first benefited, if then.”
Freeman took an envelope from his desk and handed it to Stone. “Here’s the check for your old airplane,” he said. “I trust it’s correct.”
Stone glanced at the check. “Entirely acceptable,” he said.
Freeman handed him another envelope. “These are the sales documents and the request to the FAA to keep your old tail number. The process will take a few weeks.”