Brad was vehement, “It wasn’t! I didn’t even know Thayer was still alive. Lia said…” Brad stopped.
“Go on, what did Lia say? Neil urged leaning forward looking squarely into Brad’s eyes. “So you talked with her about Thayer?”
“No! Nothing, nothing,” Brad stated getting to his feet. “And that’s what you’ve got, Klein, nothing. And now, I am leaving. I’m bored with your conspiratorial theories and that’s all that they are. We’ve about covered all the past, present and the future I can handle for one night.”
Neil looked at him and said quietly, “The information George Kelshaw carried reached its destination, Brad, and shortly there will be much more to talk about. As soon as all of it is examined I will be meeting with a key Senator who has worked with us on the prisoner of war and MIA investigations. There is more here than conspiratorial theories, General; your career is about to undergo a significant examination.”
His face contorted with rage, Coleman spun on his heel and strode out of the bar into the night.
Klein remained at the table soberly finishing his drink; he knew he had struck a nerve and said under his breath, “That’s one for you, George.”
After his meeting with Neil Klein, Fred Wellman had spent the better part of Monday afternoon revisiting the Red Riding Hood story that Neil felt was the key to the strange coded message in the Kelshaw packet. “What else could Kelshaw be trying to tell us?” he said to himself.
He took up the task again late Tuesday afternoon.
Dismissing the two computer technicians in the code room who had assisted them with the first dissection of the story, he settled in to tear the Little Red Riding Hood story apart again.
Out loud to himself he said, “Let’s see, first the line up of characters in order of appearance, there’s Mother, Red Riding Hood, Big Bad Wolf and Grandma and finally the Hunter.” Fred was drawing lines and writing names on a large work board.
“Okay,” he muttered, “What else do we have? Locations… and objects; mmhmm, first the woods, no, that’s not right,” he erased ‘woods’ as he verbally corrected, “It’s the ‘village’. Red comes from the village and it’s a half an hour distant to the woods/forest and to Grandma’s house.” Fred was thinking rapidly now. “That means that when Red was in the village and she was surrounded by ‘friendlies’… there was no danger there; the danger lay ahead in the woods. That was where Red would encounter the Big Bad Wolf.
“Then there’s the basket of goodies, the path and three big oak trees.”
Fred quickly looked at the notes that he had made with Neil tentatively identifying Little Red Riding Hood LRRH as a possible designation for Paul Thayer. “In the story Red is described as ‘innocent’, meaning she was a good and trustworthy person. That would fit Paul Thayer.
“She is sent off by Mother to take a basket of wine and cakes as nourishment to Grandma who is sick and ‘Vulnerable’. That would definitely describe Chernakov, who would be vulnerable as a defector. As soon as Red RH leaves the village to go into the forest where Grandma lives, she is in enemy territory.
“Red RH is met by Big Bad Wolf in enemy territory—in the woods. He pretends to be friendly-wants to know what she is carrying under her apron. Could be he’s looking for information about her mission. What does the wolf say? That he has to be crafty in order to catch both Red and Grandma. He creates a distraction—pointing out the flowers along the path etcetera— and then the wolf goes on ahead and deceives Grandma by using a disguise that he also uses with Red.”
Fred scratched his head and looked at the story saying, “I think this is the right track with Thayer as LRRH and Chernakov as Grandma, but I don’t think Big Bad Wolf can be Coleman… Coleman would qualify as being in the village, as a ‘friendly’. The wolf is headquartered in the woods or enemy territory and he uses distractions and disguises to get at Red and Grandma—- he is someone in disguise! Someone who is not who he pretends to be!”
Now Fred sat back and looked at the rest of the coded message which was a biblical reference; Proverbs 26: 24-26. Fred reached for a Bible lying on the shelf above his head, opening it to Proverbs 26, he read, ‘A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.’
Fred looked in another translation of the same Proverb. The second one read much as the first, ‘Where hatred is there are dissembling lips, but deep within lies treachery; do not trust him if the man be fair of speech, since in his heart lurk seven abominations. Hatred may well disguise itself with guile, only to unmask its spite before the community’. “BBW is someone who is not who he pretends to be!” Fred repeated out loud.
Although it was after 11:00 PM, Fred picked up the telephone and dialed the Klein residence; “I think I’ve had a gestalt, Neil. I’m booking a flight to Phoenix to talk with T. R. Perkins… I’d like you to come along.”
“After George’s service tomorrow, Fred, remember 1:00 PM… I think he’d like you to be there,” Neil iterated gently.
“Of course I will be there; how about Thursday?” Fred persisted.
“Yes, I’ll clear my calendar. I’m very interested in this breakthrough; what do you expect to get from T. R.?”
“He may be able to answer a couple of questions that some information in the packet raised,” Fred explained. I think some pieces that are beginning to make sense. In the meantime I’m going to run a couple names through Interpol.
I’ll see you tomorrow, Neil,” Fred said soberly.
Seattle, Tuesday Evening
Jack and Andrew had finished dinner and as Andrew began to clear the table, Jack offered pleasantly, “Let me help Andy, I’m pretty good at the scullery ‘stuff’.”
Commenting, Andrew said, “I note that you’re obviously feeling better since your time with Ben. Sorry, I’m not trying to pry…”
Jack cut him off saying, “It’s okay, Andy. You were right about Father Ben. He and I did have a good session; I’m ready now to tell you the rest of the story about my time with George Kelshaw.
Jack began, “When we met with Vang Pao the information George got about the rogue agent answered a lot of the questions he had about what had happened to Thayer and Chernakov.
“Kelshaw was determined to stay on the trail of this guy and decided that I should go back to Vientiane to write about our time with Vang Pao and let Klein know what was going on.
“We started out with two Meo guides and twenty four hours later were about to part company when we were captured by the Pathet Lao. This time there was nobody around to help us. The two Meo guides got away fortunately; they were able to let the General know what had happened. I won’t go into the details of my time as a prisoner, Father Ben can fill you in on that; I guess I was held for about six months. I kind of lost track of time—until I was rescued by Vang Pao’s people.
“After I was rescued I found out that George was still alive; the Hmongs were keeping track of him and reporting his condition and location to Vang Pao. Occasionally, there would be information for me to pass on to Klein.”
Andrew was staring at Jack in amazement, “Captured! You were a prisoner? My God, Jack, why didn’t you tell me? You poor guy! I never dreamed…” Andrew was shaken.
“Its okay, Andy,” Jack stated simply, “I’m all right; well almost… it’ll just take some time.”
“Yeah, that’s what they say, time heals all…,” he mumbled half cynically. Then appraising his friend said, “I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Jack; it’s all right if you don’t want to go on with the story.”