Down the street, Yoshida could not identify the particular agent that assaulted his eyes and lungs, but he reacted to the shouts of gas'. He joined the fleeing crowd racing among the stalled cars and trucks towards fresh air.
Thursday morning Isaacs raced into the office. There was a cable. Something had happened in Nagasaki ! The reports were vague, fragmented. A gas leak. One person dead. He didn't know what he had expected, but not this tantalizing irrelevancy. It was the right time and place: it had to be connected. But what did a gas leak have to do with their strange signal? Was there some puncture, like the Novorossiisk? He stole some moments with Danielson, and they agreed they had to concoct some way to get more information on the specifics. What had leaked? How? He felt a rise of panic. He needed time to think, to assimilate this, to plan, but there was none.
He returned to the mass of data culled from the signal intercepts of the Russian laser and hunter-killer satellites. He was supposed to be thinking like a Russian, anticipating them, but his mind was swimming with thoughts of Nagasaki when Kathleen put through the call from the Director.
It froze him to his chair, an ice storm raging through him.
He had been found out!
They knew everything. QUAKER. Nagasaki. Somehow McMasters had got onto him.
He was to report to the Director's office at nine the following morning. His hand shook as he replaced the phone on the hook.
Isaacs fought to quell the churning in his bowels. He had 'not been so angry and frightened at one time since he'd been hauled before the principal in the third grade. He and a friend had been throwing rocks during recess, in violation of one of the strictest rules. His friend had broken the window, but he had run, leaving Isaacs to be caught with a stone in his hand. This was no schoolyard prank, however: this was the big time. He turned the knob and entered the room.
The Director of Central Intelligence motioned curtly for him -to take a seat across from his desk. Isaacs did so, avoiding the venomous green eyes of McMasters who was already stationed at the opposite corner of the desk.-
'Mr Isaacs,' Drefke began. 'I can't express how shocked I am at the charges that have accumulated against you.' He spread his hand on the folder on his desk. 'A man of your status and record. This is not petty malfeasance. I don't want to overreact, but some of your recent behaviour could be regarded as verging on treason.'
This word brought a wisp of a smile to McMasters's lips.
Drefke opened the file and scanned down it. 'Unauthorized use of restricted computer data. Unauthorized consultation with Jason. Unauthorized access to field agents. Unauthorized use of photoreconnaissance facilities.' He looked hard at Isaacs, then clenched his fist in frustration. He wanted to work with the President on global issues, not to be involved with awkward disciplinary questions. Why had McMasters let these internal affairs get out of hand? What the hell did Isaacs think he was doing?
'Good Lord, man,' he spoke aloud. 'Do you realize that on this basis alone I have virtually no choice but to ask for your resignation? And not just you, but Deputy Director Martinelli and this woman, uh, Danielson? They've conspired with you. Have you any idea of the turmoil in the Agency if I'm forced to let you all go?'
Isaacs started to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. 'What's that?' demanded Drefke.
Isaacs tried again. 'I said you can leave Martinelli and Danielson out of this. I coerced them.'
'You may want to leave them out now, but it's too late,' McMasters's voice was cool and smooth in his victory. Isaacs refused to look at him. 'They allowed themselves to become involved. They must suffer the consequences.'
Damn my eyes, thought Isaacs. Danielson was bad enough: her low status is some protection since I can say I ordered her. But I shouldn't have involved Martinelli. Photos from the U-2's altitude relayed from a special scanner by satellite link showed virtually nothing useful anyway.
Drefke had his hand over his eyes, looking inward to struggle with the enormity of the final issue.
'How could you,' he removed his hand to stare at Isaacs in pain and anger, 'how could you meet with them, the head of the Washington KGB, for chrissake, to reveal the President's tactics in the confrontation over the new laser in Cosmos 2231? What could possibly induce you to sell out? To put the whole future of our control and use of space in jeopardy? And in such an obvious way?'
'Have you been one of them all along?' McMasters asked calmly.
Drefke glared at him and Isaacs exploded. 'No! God— dammit! I'm not one of them! I've sold out nothing! You don't understand!'
'Understand?' asked McMasters quietly. 'We have the interchange with Zamyatin on tape. It's quite damning.'
Tape! So the bastard had me under surveillance, Isaacs thought. He continued to speak to Drefke. 'If you recorded that session in his limousine then you know that whole crazy episode was Zamyatin's idea.'
'The recordings are incomplete for technical reasons,' McMasters purred, 'but there was enough to show your perfidy. You failed to report the contact. There is nothing to suggest you were not a willing accomplice in this conspiracy. We have only your word for that.'
'But you have my word,' Isaacs shot the oath at McMasters, looking directly at him for the first time. McMasters stiffened, but could not summon the strength of mind to voice a contradiction.
Isaacs used the opening.
'Sir,' he addressed Drefke, 'you said yourself the meeting with Zamyatin was an absurd way to sell out. Surely it's obvious that if I were really cooperating with the Soviets, I wouldn't do so in so stupid a fashion?'
Drefke gave a small nod. He didn't understand, but he knew that if a man like Isaacs turned, he would be damned difficult to catch. He certainly would not be hitching rides with the local KGB to exchange tidbits.
Isaacs continued, 'I won't deny that my actions precipitated the meeting, but it was all Zamyatin's idea. He didn't think I could or would respond through official channels. Whether he thought or cared that I would be in hot water if he snatched me off the street, I don't know.
'If you will hear me out, I would like to try to explain. You recognize that my recent behaviour is not only at odds with Agency policy, but also with my own record and methods. We are all involved in some very odd circumstances. These peculiar circumstances have forced me to extreme lengths. I think the peril was confirmed two days ago in Nagasaki , but we still don't understand — that's the major problem.'
'Ah, Nagasaki ,' Drefke leaned back in his chair. 'Perhaps you can tell me what the hell went on there.'
'I can tell you the background. The details are in this memo.'
Isaacs extracted an envelope from his pocket and pushed it across the desk to Drefke.
'Mr McMasters has a previous version of it.'
'Oh? I wasn't informed of that.'
'In my considered opinion,' McMasters said uncomfortably, 'Mr Isaacs has constructed a tissue of fantasy. What little merit there was to the case was not Agency business. I did not and do not believe there was any rationale to violate Agency regulations in the manner summarized there.' He nodded at the file on Drefke's desk.
'I see,' said Drefke. He didn't, but he was beginning to.
'Mr Isaacs, may I ask why you did not proceed according to regulation if you had some concern?'
Isaacs looked him squarely in the eye.
'I was ordered not to.'
'By McMasters here.'
'That's correct.'