Time of the Assassins

'Especially as the CIA don't even know we've got it,' Sabrina added.

'And knowing the antagonism that exists between / the Colonel and Langley, you can bet your life he's going to keep it that way.'

'We'll have to return it to them, of course,' Philpott said, taking the disc from Graham.

'Return it to them?' Graham said in disbelief. 'I don't understand, sir. We could monitor all the operations on this disc for years to come without Langley's ever knowing about it.'

'We will,' Philpott replied. 'These covert operations are obviously very important to the company so it's highly unlikely that they'll be terminated after Bailey's gone. They'll just be assigned to a new controller, possibly Bailey's successor. But if Langley know we're monitoring these operations, they'll want to make sure that none of their agents are compromised. And that's where we can turn it to our advantage. Our silence will have a price. I think you'll find that they'll be a lot more co-operative in the future. And let's face it, that can't be a bad thing, can it?'

'No, sir,' Graham replied with a knowing smile.

Philpott slipped the disc into his pocket. 'Now, about this little escapade of yours.'

'It was my idea, sir,' Graham said.

'Strange, those were C.W.'s exact words as well. Whose idea it was is irrelevant. What does bother me is that neither of you said anything before you sloped off. I thought you'd have both learned your lesson by now about keeping things from Sergei and me. Obviously you haven't.'

'You wouldn't have sanctioned it anyway, sir.'

'That's not the point, Michael,' Kolchinsky said sharply. 'We're your superiors. Not that that seems to have made much impression on any of you these past few days, especially you. It's because of your maverick tendencies that Strike Force Three is the subject of this internal investigation.'

'Bernard killed my family, Sergei — my wife and my five-year-old son. What the hell was I supposed to do when I heard he'd been seen in Beirut?' Graham held up his hand before Kolchinsky could answer. 'Yeah, I know, tell you. Then you could have made the necessary arrangements to have him taken into custody. Then what? Would they have extradited him to face charges over here? You know they wouldn't. He'd probably have been put on a plane bound for Libya and been given a hero's welcome when he got there. I don't expect you to understand the torment I've been through these last two years.

'Hell, I'm not going to stand here and explain myself to you, Sergei. I did what I thought was right not only for the memory of my family but also for my own piece of mind. My only regret is that I had to drag Sabrina and C.W. into it as well. That's why I resigned — to spare them any further trouble. And if you've got any sense you'll accept my resignation and put an end to the matter.' '

'Your resignation is on my desk,' Philpott said, holding Graham's stare. 'And it'll be considered more carefully when the results of the investigations are known. Until then, you're still part of this organization. And that means co-operating fully with the investigation. You'll each be interviewed individually this afternoon. The panel will use my office as a base. So be there at two o'clock sharp.'

'When will the results be known?' Sabrina asked.

'Late this afternoon. I'm dining with the Secretary-General tonight. We'll discuss the findings then.'

Sabrina glanced at her watch. Three forty-seven a.m. She stifled a yawn. 'Can we get some sleep now, sir?'

'Yes, go on. I won't see you this afternoon. I'll be in Washington talking to Morgan Chilvers, the CIA Director. But Sergei will be at the UN. We'll all meet again in my office at nine o'clock tomorrow morning to discuss the implications of the findings. By then I'll also know how the Secretary-General stands on the issue. Sabrina, will you give Mike a lift back to his hotel?'

'Sure,' she replied. 'Does C.W. know about the meeting tomorrow morning?'

'Yes, I told him before he took Rosie home.' Philpott's eyes flickered towards Graham. 'You did well tonight, Mike.'

'Rosie's safe, that's all that matters now,' Graham looked at Sabrina. 'Ready?'

She nodded then said good night to Philpott and Kolchinsky before hurrying after him.

'You got a tape deck in your car?' Graham asked.

'No, only a CD player. Why?'

He took the cassette from his pocket and showed it to her. 'Bernard gave this to Rosie before they left the house. It's for me. It has to be something about Carrie and Mikey.'

'I've got a tape deck at the apartment. You can listen to it there.'

He looked at his watch. 'You sure you don't mind?'

'Don't be silly,' she replied, unlocking the driver's door.

'Thanks, I appreciate it.'

She climbed into the car and opened the passenger door for him. He slipped the cassette back into his shirt pocket then got in beside her. She drove back up the approach road and rejoined the highway.

'Thanks,' Graham said, taking the cup of hot chocolate from Sabrina and placing it on the table beside him. 'It's a nice place you've got here.'

'Liar,' she said with a grin.

'Sure, it's a bit arty for my taste but it's still a lot better than I thought it would be — seriously. I'll tell what does impress me, though: your CD collection. You've got some good jazz there.'

'You know how much I love jazz music,' she said, glancing down at the row of compact discs on the shelf beside the player. Her eyes shot to the cassette on the table. Til leave you alone to listen to the tape. I'll be in the kitchen when you're through.'

'Yeah, thanks,' he replied then waited until she had left the room before pressing the 'play' button. He sat down, his arms resting on his knees, his eyes riveted on the cassette as it turned slowly on the spools.

'When you receive this tape, Graham, I'll have already left the country with the intention of starting up a new life in some distant corner of the world. I know you'll never stop looking for me and, frankly, I can't say I blame you. I know you've always held me personally responsible for what happened to your wife, Carol, and your son, Michael. This tape isn't an attempt to try and exonerate myself. I can't. I'll always be partly responsible for their deaths, I know that. But you have the right to know what really happened that afternoon outside your apartment in New York.

'I was in Libya at the time on the orders of the CIA — or Robert Bailey, to be more specific. As you no doubt know by now, he's been my handler ever since I first started working for the company. The reason I was there was because Salim Al-Makesh, who was then a senior advisor in Abu Nidal's Black June movement, had come up with a plan to mount a bombing operation across the United States. The idea was to hit, amongst others, shopping malls, sports stadiums and school buildings — in other words, a soft target campaign. The CIA found out about it through a mole they had in the Black June movement but he was killed under mysterious circumstances before he could pass on all the information to them. Whether he was murdered, or whether he died accidently, was never established. But the CIA were worried because they still didn't know exactly where and when the bombs were due to go off. That's why I was sent to meet with Al-Makesh — to fill in the missing dates so ù that the bombers could be arrested when they arrived in the United States.

'We'd been talking for about forty minutes, without much success I might add, when we first heard that you, and your men, had surrounded the base camp. But at the time we had no idea who you were or where you'd come from. So I called Bailey in Washington and told him what was happening. He knew that if Al-Makesh were killed, the CIA would have lost their last chance to prevent the bombing campaign. I don't know how he found out but it wasn't five minutes later when he rang back to say that it was a unit of the US anti-terrorist squad, Delta. Then I knew we were in trouble. Apart from the two of us, there were another eight men at the base-no match for a crack Delta unit. Bailey said he would "arrange something". Those were his exact words. He called back a few minutes later to say that the Delta unit would be pulled out. That was great news — until you attacked. Al-Makesh ordered his men to stand and fight then he took me to an underground tunnel and we managed to get out only minutes before your unit overran the camp.