W. Griffin - The Hostage

"Do it," Castillo ordered, and handed him the handset.

"Encrypted speakerphone green, sir," Kranz announced a moment later.

"Dick?" Castillo asked conversationally.

Castillo's voice was then converted to digital electronic pulses, encrypted, reduced to a message lasting just a few milliseconds, transmitted to satellite 22,300 miles above the earth, relayed to another satellite, and then relayed to the dish sitting on the roof at the Nebraska Avenue Complex. There, the "burst" was expanded, decrypted, and fed to the handset Major H. Richard Miller, Jr., was holding to his ear.

A just-perceptible delayed moment later, Miller's voice-having gone through the same series of events- came over the loudspeaker next to the stable near Bad Hersfeld: "Hey, Charley!"

"Where the hell have you been? We've been calling you for hours."

"You went up twelve seconds ago," Miller said.

"Anybody there with you?"

"Secretary Hall, Agnes, and Tom."

"Have you got signal strength for speakerphone?"

A moment later, another male voice said, "Encrypted speakerphone green," and a moment after that came the voice of Secretary of Homeland Security Hall. "How's that, Charley?"

"Loud and clear, sir."

"Tell me what you've got, Charley, and then I'll give you the good news," Hall said.

"Lorimer was a bagman in the oil-for-food thing," Castillo said. "A whole lot of people want him dead, both for what he knows and for skimming a lot of money-maybe sixteen million U.S.-from the players."

"You're saying he's dead?"

"The CIA guy in Paris thinks he is. I'm not at all sure. I'm going looking for him."

"Where?"

"There's a man in Budapest I want to talk to. He may have some ideas."

"Where are you?"

"In Bad Hersfeld. We're going to Budapest first thing in the morning."

"I knew you weren't in Paris," Hall said. "Ambassador Montvale told me. That's the good news."

"What?"

"He said he had some information for you, and wondered where you were. I told him."

"What's the information?"

"He seemed a little reluctant to share that with me," Hall said dryly. "And I thought it would probably be easier for him to give it to you-perhaps you would share it with me-than for me to go to the President."

"When is he going to share it with me?" Castillo asked. His eyes met Torine's. Torine disgustedly threw up his hands in a "what now?" gesture.

"When he called to tell me you were not at the Crillon, he asked me to put him in touch with you whenever you checked in. I told him I would. You want to talk to him?"

"What choice do I have?"

"Not much, Charley. But it's your call."

"How do I do that?"

"We're wired into the White House net. Just say the word."

"I wish you could eavesdrop, sir."

"If you don't tell me to get off the speakerphone…"

"Thank you."

Miller's voice went into the heavens and back: "Bring the White House switchboard into the loop." "Switchboard."

"C. G. Castillo for Ambassador Montvale. I will need a secure line."

"One moment, please." "Director Montvale's office."

"I have Mr. C. G. Castillo on a secure line for Director Montvale."

"One moment, please." "Charles Montvale here. Is that you, Major?"

"Yes, sir. Good morning, sir."

"This line is secure, right?"

"So I have been informed, sir."

"I have made inquiries vis-a-vis the FBI agent Yung, in Montevideo, Major."

"Thank you, sir."

"An interesting situation, Major. The attorney general tells me that Yung has been seconded to the State Department on a mission with the highest possible security clearance. What he's doing is so secret, I am informed, that neither the director of the FBI nor the attorney general knows what he is doing."

"That's very interesting, sir."

"And there is more, Major. When I asked the director of the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research, he told me that he was unable to discuss Agent Yung's activities with me without the specific permission of the secretary of state."

"Even more interesting, sir."

"Apparently Secretary Cohen neglected to inform the appropriate people of the President's finding."

"Have you had the opportunity to discuss this with Secretary Cohen, sir?"

"This is where this situation becomes really interesting, Major. Yes, I have. She says that she has no knowledge whatever of Agent Yung beyond what she heard in our conversation aboard Air Force One. She assures me, however, that as soon as she gets to Singapore, she will take the appropriate steps to get to the root of the matter."

"She's on her way to Singapore, sir?"

"Apparently. And she did not choose to share with me her reasons for not making use of the communications system aboard her aircraft."

"Sometimes it doesn't work, sir."

"I suppose that's true. In any event, Major, I regret not being able to be of greater service."

"I understand the problem, sir. Thank you for your effort."

"This will, I am sure, be resolved shortly. When it is, Major, I will get back to you. As you might imagine, my own curiosity is now aroused."

"Thank you, sir."

There was a very clear click, and Castillo realized he was no longer speaking with the director of national intelligence.

And then Secretary Hall's voice came back from space.

"Charley, I have absolutely no idea what's going on. I suggest we wait until we see what Montvale can get out of Natalie."

"Yes, sir."

"Let me know what you find out in Budapest."

"Yes, sir, I will."

"Anything else we can do for you?"

"Dick, you still there?"

"Yes, sir, Chief."

"Will you send some flowers to the hospital for me, please?"

"That's a done deed, Chief," Agnes Forbison said. "She should have them by now."

"Thank you very much, Agnes."

"I like her, too, Charley."

"Is that about it?" Miller asked. "Break it down, Mr. Secretary?"

"Break it down," Hall ordered. As he watched Kranz close the laptop, Goerner asked, "Who are you sending flowers to, Karl?"

"One of my agents was shot in Buenos Aires," Castillo said.

"That's bullshit, Otto," Fernando said. "One of his agents was shot, but it's anything but the professionally platonic relationship he's trying to foist off on you."

"You sonofabitch!" Castillo said.

"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," Fernando responded. "Her name is Betty Schneider, Otto, and the two of them are like lovesick teenagers."

"Wunderbar!" Otto said.

[ONE] Danubius Hotel Gellert Szent Gellert ter 1 Budapest, Hungary 0930 28 July 2005 When they walked up to the registration desk of the hotel, the manager on duty said that Herr Goerner had a call, and led him around the corner of the marble desk to a bank of house telephones.

Castillo watched him impatiently.

Goerner returned after a minute wearing a wide smile.

"That was Eric Kocian," he announced, "and what we're going to do now is go to our rooms, put on our robes, and visit the baths."

"I don't have time for a swim or a steam bath," Castillo said. "I came here to see this man Kocian."

"To accomplish the latter, Karl, I'm afraid you must do the former."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"In a way I'm looking forward to this," Goerner said, smiling. "What is that line, 'What happens when the irresistible force meets the unmovable object'? I think we are about to see."

"Are you going to explain that? Or keep talking in riddles with a smug smile on your face?"

"Eric has the habit at this time of day of visiting the baths," Goerner said. "He suggested that we could talk there. The alternative is to meet him for lunch at the Karpatia at half past one. That's on Ferenciek tere, in the-"