M. Forsythe - While Rome Was Sleeping

“Fine; Olivia, please… my dear, let’s not have this kind of unpleasantness when I arrive home,” he pleaded. “Please.”

She sighed, “I’m sorry, but sadly too much has happened that must be addressed before the ‘unpleasantness’ will end, Brad. When we get home we have to talk. There are serious questions that must be answered.”

“Yes, Olivia, you’re right; we do have to talk and I promise you all of the questions will be answered to your satisfaction. But it will have to wait. An urgent matter has come up and I must take care of it. I will have John take you home and I will drive myself to the office and be home as soon as possible. This should not take long. I promise we’ll talk just as soon as I get there and for as long as you want.” He kissed her cheek and instructed Carswell to escort Mrs. Coleman to their home.

Brad’s attempt to exude the old self-confidence he often used in dealing with Olivia’s doubts or concerns felt hollow. He was having trouble convincing himself. The message his aide had handed him was from Dolliver reporting conversations picked up in Andrew Kincaid’s apartment between Kincaid and Jack Hubbard the night before and earlier in the day.

In his office Brad quickly returned Dolliver’s call. His anxiety level rose hearing the content of the recorded conversation. His own name connected with Lia Duprè had been a major topic in their talk together.

He listened to the information about Kelshaw and Thayer and the plan to get Chernakov. Kelshaw had told Hubbard what had happened to Chernakov and Thayer. Brad learned that Neil Klein was still a player in the Kelshaw matter. He was now certain that whoever Evan Scott was, that he must be connected to Neil Klein.

Brad intensely disliked Neil Klein and those of the State Department hierarchy who had continued to declare a “cover-up” regarding the Southeast Asia prisoner exchanges and MIAs. The controversy with Klein over POWs continued even now. His investigations and probing had caused a major problem with key senators in voting money to help rebuild North Vietnam.

Brad’s apprehensions were further raised knowing that now Neil Klein was in contact with Andrew Kincaid. This knowledge heightened the fear that Kincaid along with Charlene Thayer would continue to probe into matters that could ultimately be disastrous for him. How much they already knew was unsettling.

Ramsey had been badly mistaken. Kincaid had interacted with Kelshaw at some point before he died. Although not mentioned, the information that Kelshaw carried must have found its way through Kincaid or Charlene Thayer to Evan Scott and most probably to Neil Klein.

Brad couldn’t afford to allow Kincaid’s and Charlene’s probing to continue. It had now involved Olivia. It would be next to impossible to control a nosey Seattle newspaper columnist and a woman determined to uncover a ten year old mistake. He knew it wouldn’t stop there. The potential of discovery could cost him everything.

“Dolliver, we don’t need any more information. I want this taken care of immediately and finally. You know what has to be done.”

“What about Hubbard, Sir?”

“Not yet—just the first two.”

“Yes Sir, it will be done as soon as possible, Sir”

“I’m counting on it,” Brad said confidently.

It was late when Brad left his office in the Pentagon and he was tired as he started home to Alexandria. He dreaded facing Olivia. He hoped she would be in bed.

On the drive, remembrance of Vietnam was once again magnified in his mind. The headlights of the car caught an object on the edge of the roadway, startling him. He quickly recognized it as a rolled piece of plastic and cardboard that probably fell from some passing vehicle but it caused an image to flash into Brad’s mind of a body, that of Lia lying on the road to Bien Hoa. He swerved and missed hitting it, but it threw the memory front and center before his eyes and it sickened him. “I was a fool,” he said to himself.

Brad had been sexually addicted to Lia Duprè he couldn’t help himself. Her artistic and rapacious love-making totally controlled him. When he was away from her he couldn’t think of anything else. By the time Brad found out that Lia was heavily involved in the Communist Peoples Liberation Party in Saigon it was almost too late to extricate himself from the affair. She had used her influence with CIA Station Chief T. R. Perkins and Brad to learn much about American operations in the area.

At first he told himself that Lia might have been innocently duped by misplaced loyalties, but as subtle bits of information shared while in bed with Lia became known to the Viet Cong, he realized that this was a dangerous liaison.

He remembered a meeting with George Kelshaw and T. R. Perkins discussing security breaches and an unofficial CIA watch list that had included Lia’s name. The list was the topic of a heated argument. T. R. adamantly insisted that Lia wa s not a security threat; that she was his right hand and he would trust her ‘with his life’. Kelshaw argued that too much evidence clearly proved otherwise. Brad had remained uncomfortably quiet, commenting only that further information had to be gathered before the list could be acted upon.

The last straw was the discovery of a Viet Cong listening post outside Army Headquarters at Than Son Nhut Airport. Its discovery was discussed at a briefing with T. R. Perkins, Brad and George Kelshaw. Kelshaw made it clear that he believed Lia and her cohorts were behind its placement, in spite of T. R.’s objections. Kelshaw and Brad now knew that Lia had been passing damaging information to the enemy on a regular basis.

Brad knew he had to disengage from Lia. She would get no more information from him, but she was still the most sexually desirable woman he had ever known. He was determined that he could control the relationship; and when it had to end that it would be solely on his terms. He was to learn much later the depth of her Communist ties would make it impossible for him to escape from her unscathed

Respite from the immediacy of a decision came in July of 1968 when Lia left for Paris to attend a gala birthday celebration of Pablo Picasso. She would not return to Saigon before Brad left in August on a temporary duty assignment to Blackhorse the 11 thArmored Cavalry Regiment for several months.

In July of 1968 the Regiment had come under the command of Colonel George S. Patton, Jr. It excited Brad to be assigned even temporarily to a regiment known for its expert action against the enemy. And to serve with a man whose own reputation like that of his well known father was respected throughout the United States Army was an opportunity that Brad relished.

He smiled as he thought back to the months he had been attached to the Blackhorse and of the battles in which they had been involved. Names of missions, operations and places he had once forgotten flew into his mind; villages like Lai Khe, Tan Binh, Binh Co, and Bien Hoa surfaced in his memory.

He had loved the challenge of combat. It excited and tested him. He would like to have remained the Armored Cavalry Regiment, but was ordered to return to Saigon in mid December.

Arriving at Headquarters he reported to General Abrams. Brad was relieved to find out that Lt. Colonel Thayer had been called to Washington; he had little interest as to why. He could now focus on handling the problem of Lia. That would take some skill and not having Paul around took the pressure off.

He had thought about her and his physical desire for her and imagined their first encounter after being away from her for months.

He was pleasantly surprised by an invitation from Lia to a party to be given by her father at their home to introduce T. R. Perkins’ newly recruited information specialist, Australian born Phillip Durkan.