“I told him that a man from the State Department had claimed the body and I gave him Evan Scott’s name. That was the end of it. Though it was peculiar I thought, he said that one of his altruistic clients had offered to pay for a decent burial.
“Over the years we have had a lot of John Does anonymously buried. It’s the first time Ramsey’s Good Samaritan clients have offered. Yes, Jim, I think it is very interesting. What is even more interesting is why and how Monte Maxwell would have access to Lyle Ramsey’s private line.”
“Thank you, Captain you have posed the same questions that we are wrestling with. I’ll get back to you on this. C’mon, Ed. Captain’s got work to do and so do we.”
CIA Headquarters
Wednesday morning
At Langley, Fred Wellman pondered the clues in the packet and then decided to search files for the names of Agency personnel in Saigon from 1960 through 1970.
He knew most of the names and their current locations. There was one exception and his name did not appear in any of the Agency files…, Phillip Durkan. Fred remembered Durkan from Saigon and his own negative reaction to the man when T. R. Perkins introduced him as a new member of his team.
Contacting Interpol was the next step. Wellman wired Durkan’s physical description and his origin as a possible Australian or British subject or an American operating in Southeast Asia in the 1960’s and 70’s time-frames.
The reply to his inquiry from Interpol showed no record of a Phillip Durkan, Australian, British or American. However, the description fit a well known KGB agent, Yanov Zemenek. Zemenek had escaped capture in Laos while posing as a CIA agent. He was last reported there in 1975 and reappeared in Moscow in 1976. Interpol was wiring a picture.
When the picture arrived, Fred looked at it and said, “No surprise…, hello, Mr. Durkan. Now I think we’ll go see your former employer.”
Fred checked the time, straightened his tie and prepared to depart for the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where he would say goodbye to an old friend.
General Brad Coleman was furious when he left the meeting with Neil Klein at the Watergate on Tuesday night and he was alarmed. What had seemed an easy solution to a potentially large problem had gone completely awry. Yes, Kelshaw was dead, but the information that he carried had reached its mark and unless he was bluffing, Klein had it. Coleman could only speculate on what the packet contained.
As he drove home he went over the meeting with Klein. He had been caught completely off guard by Klein’s accusation connecting him with the betrayal of Paul Thayer and Pyotr Chernakov.
So it was in fact, General Pyotr Chernakov that was the “big shot” defector that Lia had goaded him about. It all began to make sense; somehow word had gotten to her pals in Moscow and they must have tracked Chernakov. Brad’s mind was racing, “Why would Klein think that I had betrayed Paul Thayer… because of Lia? Had Kelshaw believed it? What was Klein threatening… my exposure of having an affair with a known Soviet agent? After all, Klein had known about Lia, why would he wait until now to expose an affair that had ended more than ten years ago? No, there had to be something else. Klein didn’t mention GCI.
It was ten years since Brad left Vietnam following which, he and Olivia had enjoyed nearly two years in Germany. Brad had been assigned to US Army Support Group at Heidelberg and though his schedule was pressured, he and Olivia took advantage of the proximity to Switzerland, France and Italy, traveling as much as his time would allow.
Brad was scheduled to return to the United States
to a new job in the Pentagon that carried with it a promotion to Brigadier. Before leaving, Mr. and Mrs. Laird, Olivia’s father and mother had combined a visit to see Brad and Olivia with Clyde Laird’s banking business. Clyde was on his way to a meeting of international bankers in Zurich.
The Lairds invited Brad and Olivia to join them in Switzerland for a few days. The visit was climaxed by the Colemans accompanying the Laird’s to a lavish party for the bankers and their guests hosted by Global Construction International in the lush lobby of the GCI headquarters building in Zurich.
In the center of the lobby was a remarkably beautiful fountain bubbling around a large rotating globe that rested on the top of a graceful tower. Colored lights on the globe marked cities of the world where GCI maintained satellite offices.
Brad and Olivia noted besides headquarters in Zurich, there were satellites in Valencia, Spain; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bangkok, Thailand and Cairo, Egypt. They were both awe struck at the display and the immensity of Global International.
At the party Olivia’s father proudly introduced Brad to Karel Schneiderman, GCI’s CEO, telling Schneiderman that his son-in-law would soon be General Bradley Coleman assigned to the Pentagon.
Schneiderman and Coleman spent a major portion of the evening discussing Vietnam and Brad’s time there. The GCI executive was impressed with Brad and before the evening ended gave Brad his card saying, “We’re always looking for outstanding people to join us. What are your plans for the future…?”
Brad was flattered by Schneiderman’s interest and was careful in his response offering pleasantly, “At the moment my military career is on track with my plans, but thank you for your interest. If there is any way that I can be of help to you from my office in the Pentagon, please call me. You can always reach me through my father-in-law, Clyde Laird.”
As they shook hands Schneiderman studied Brad a moment before saying, “It may well be that you can be of help to our company as a military contact, perhaps even a consultant. Goodnight General.”
1973 found Bradley Coleman settled in the Department of Defense with the Defense Intelligence Agency. Now thirteen years old, the DIA had established its presence and Brad was moving up in the organization.
The Vietnam War was ending and the POW/MIA issue was the major consideration in the minds of the many government officials and law makers as it applied to the Peace Negotiations.
Rumors of a secret letter from the administration to North Vietnam offering financial aid for post war rebuilding in exchange for a full accounting of American POW’s and Mia’s was circulating; at the same time word reached the Senate of the inhumane treatment and the abuse and torture of American prisoners.
Wrangling on the hill dragged on, but there would be no agreement on reparations.
When the prisoner exchange finally occurred and not all of the POW’s and MIAs were accounted for, an immediate shock wave was felt throughout the community of families of those who were listed as missing. Only 586 prisoners were returned.
Coleman hadn’t thought about George Kelshaw since leaving Saigon in 1970 until he saw his name on a list of MIAs that were identified as being captured by the Pathet Lao as late as 1974 and held in Laos; Kelshaw was among those not repatriated and unaccounted for. He estimated that Kelshaw had no doubt been identified as CIA and had probably been killed after capture.
The DIA listed over 350 US personnel as missing or captured in Laos alone. As the inquiries of the fate of the unreturned MIAs increased and reports from some of those who were repatriated of prisoners left behind, a meeting of Department of Defense, State Department and CIA personnel was called along with congressmen in attendance whose constituents were pressing them for answers.
Brad’s office had been tasked with the follow-up and investigation of reports of live sightings of Americans who might still be held in enemy prison camps.