M. Forsythe - While Rome Was Sleeping

Neil sidestepped Coleman’s ploy to put him on the defensive, “She knows that Paul Thayer was on a special ops mission to get Chernakov; there was no set-up or cover-up. It was a wartime assignment and you well know that families are never given the details of such missions.”

A twinge of guilt hit Neil; it was true that families were not given details of black missions; on the other hand he remembered the March night in 1970 that he, Kelshaw and Thayer had rendezvoused before Kelshaw and Paul had left for Udorn to wait for the last instructions to get Chernakov. When Kelshaw and Thayer were given the details of the mission and were told that it could take as long as six months and that there would be no contact with family, Paul protested being incommunicado for an extended length of time. Neil convinced Paul that the defection itself held priority and assured him that it might not be that long.

He remembered how the car bombing of which Paul was ignorant had played into the mission plans. Neil also remembered thinking that in a few short months Charlene Thayer would be thrilled to learn that her husband was not only alive, but had a heroic part in a major political rescue.

It angered Neil that Coleman now knew and had used that knowledge to inflict his conscience. With renewed ire he continued, “The plan to get Chernakov would have worked and one of the most important defections of the Cold War would have occurred, but someone sold them out! Someone leaked information and the arrow points straight at you, Coleman. We both know you were having an affair with a known Soviet Agent.”

Brad turned pale, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Lia Duprè” Neil answered. “Even when you were warned, you continued to see her… and now the cat’s out of the bag and it’s all coming home to you.”

Angrily Brad said, “It sounds as though you are accusing me of treason, Klein. Be very careful in your accusations. Lia Duprè got no information about anything or anyone from me. Not after…” he stumbled, “I didn’t know anything about Chernakov.”

“If the shoe fits, Coleman; Duprè got information from someone she was sleeping with in the intelligence community,” Neil replied.

Brad drew a sharp breath, “It had to be Perkins,” he said.

“No, Coleman, you know it wasn’t Perkins; he had been shut out of the loop. None of the information regarding the Chernakov defection came close to Perkins. That leaves you,” Neil told him emphatically.

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.”