W Griffin - Hunters

Doherty met Castillo's eyes for a long moment before replying.

"How long are we going to be gone?" he asked, finally.

"Probably less than a week," Castillo said. "Thank you."

"What are we going to do about the blackboards?" Doherty asked.

"I was just thinking about that," Castillo said. "I'd like to have that data at the safe house in Buenos Aires. Is there some way we can photograph them and replicate them down there?"

"Not a problem," Doherty said.

"Okay, then. You start on that. I've got a couple of phone calls to make."

[ONE] Office of the Chief of Operational Analysis Department of Homeland Security Nebraska Avenue Complex Washington, D.C. 0935 12 August 2005 Castillo sat down in the leather-upholstered judge's chair behind his huge, ornate desk and looked uncomfortably around his luxuriously furnished office. He felt like an intruder. He shrugged and picked up the handset of what Billy Kocian had called his "science fiction radio."

"Neidermeyer," he ordered. "Put me through to Sergeant Major Davidson, please."

"Hold one, Colonel."

Five seconds later, Davidson's voice came over the circuit.

"Yes, sir?"

"Jack, there's reason to believe another attempt to kidnap or take out Eric Kocian is likely to happen."

"Really?"

"What's that phrase, 'Take all necessary precautions'?"

"Consider it done, Colonel."

"There's also good reason to think that the bad guys are ex-Stasi, which means you should keep that in mind when you're taking all necessary precautions. These guys are pros."

"That's interesting."

"Make sure everybody else knows."

"Including Kocian?"

"Especially Kocian."

"Done, Colonel. You don't have a time, do you?"

"Anywhere from four to twenty-four hours after they find out where he is. And, by now, they may already know."

"Kocian wants to go into Buenos Aires for lunch."

"That's off. He is not to leave Mayerling. I'd prefer that he not go outside the house."

"Well, you and I have sat on difficult people before. I'll deal with him."

"We'll be coming down there after a stop in Midland, Texas."

"To see Colonel Munz's family?"

"No. We found out there's a connection in Midland between the oil-for-food scam and the two million dollars the Philadelphia Muslims got for their bomb shelter. We're going to see what we can find out and then come down there."

"Got an ETA?"

"When there is one, I'll get it to you."

"I think we can handle things here, Colonel. Anything else?"

"I was about to ask you to patch me through to the embassy, but I just decided it'll be better if I make a perfectly ordinary call from here. I don't want to be responsible for tipping these bastards about Mayerling."

"Understood."

"Okay, Jack. Keep your eyes open and watch your back."

"You, too, Colonel."

"Break it down, Neidermeyer." Pevsner's phone numbers were in the cellular telephone Alex Darby had given him in Buenos Aires and Castillo had to go into his briefcase for it. When he turned it on, the screen read LOW BATTERY.

He pushed himself away from the desk and went into the outer-Mr. Agnes Forbison's-office, where, the moment Agnes saw him with the cellular in his hand, she put her hand out for it. Then she pulled open a drawer in her desk, where-predictably-she had a box full of assorted chargers and in a moment had fitted one of them to the phone.

"There's a socket in your banker's lamp on your desk," she said.

"Thanks."

"I gather you're going somewhere?" she asked.

"Midland, Texas, and then Buenos Aires," Castillo replied. "I think we've found the link between the oil-for-food scam and the nuclear suitcase bombs."

She didn't say anything but her eyes asked for clarification.

"If I tell you this, there will be a nuclear mushroom over Philadelphia before I finish the sentence," Castillo said. "But right now, I really don't think there is a suitcase bomb any nearer than Siberia."

"Thank God!" she said.

"That whole scenario was to pull our chain," Castillo said. "Or, at least, pulling our chain was part of it."

"Can Dick tell me about it?"

"Dick's going with me. Jake is in Charleston."

"Is that going to work? Dick's leg…"

"He'll navigate. I'll steer," Castillo said. "It'll work."

Again her eyes asked for clarification.

"This is what Edgar Delchamps has come up with," he said. "Let me know what you think…" "This may be the dumbest thing I've said all week," Agnes said when he had finished, "but it just may be the answer. I haven't heard anything that makes more sense."

"I really hope so," Castillo said.

"You really like Delchamps, don't you?" she asked.

"He's the one who should be sitting behind that desk," Castillo said, nodding toward his office. "He's the only one around here who really knows what he's doing."

"No, he's not," Agnes said. "And he doesn't enjoy the confidence of the President."

"That's because the President doesn't know him-yet."

"I wonder how Ambassador Montvale is going to take this," Agnes said and, when she saw the look on Castillo's face, added: "You weren't going to tell him, were you? Charley, you have to."

"No, I wasn't," Castillo said. "And, yeah, I do." "Correct me if I'm wrong, Colonel," Ambassador Charles W. Montvale, the director of National Intelligence, said, "but you are suggesting I go to the President and say, in effect, 'Not to worry, Mr. President. There is no threat of a nuclear detonation in Philadelphia. All the Russian suitcase nuclear devices are still in the Soviet Union. It seems President Putin has been playing a little joke on us.'"

"I'm not suggesting you do anything, Mr. Ambassador," Castillo said.

"'The source of this rather interesting theory is a veteran-some might even say 'burned-out'-CIA field officer by the name of Delchamps, who does not, I'm afraid, enjoy the full confidence of his superiors in Langley," Montvale went on.

"Why do I suspect the people you talked to at Langley cannot be counted among his legion of admirers?" Castillo asked. "For the record, I like him very much. You can find him in my dictionary under both 'highly competent' or 'widely experienced.'"

"Not for the record, the people I spoke with seem to feel that not only does he regret the Cold War is over, but that he is both a Francophobe and-am I coining a phrase?-a UNphobe."

"Maybe that's because he's been dealing with the French and the United Nations for a longtime."

"They asked me if he might be considering retirement when his temporary duty with me is concluded."

"With all respect, Mr. Ambassador, his temporary duty is with me. And if they ask that question, tell them not to hold their breath."

"You're fond of that expression, aren't you?" Montvale said, then finished his original comment: "'And no, Mr. President, there is no firm intelligence to confirm this fascinating theory. Colonel Castillo is going on a hunch.'"

Castillo said nothing.

"No comment, Colonel?"

"Mr. Ambassador, I told you I would keep you abreast of what I'm doing and plan to do. I've just done that."

"Does the FBI expert, Inspector Doherty, whom you told not to hold his breath when he said he expected you to tell him if you had any contact with Pevsner or former FBI agent Kennedy-"

"You knew about that, and still sent him to me?"

"You asked for their best man and that's who I sent you," Montvale replied. "Does Doherty know about this fascinating theory that Putin is playing games with us?"

"He does, and I'd say he shares your opinion of it, sir."

"Well, while you're off in Texas and Argentina would it be possible for him to come see me and tell me what he thinks of the situation?"

"I'm taking Inspector Doherty with me, sir."