Джон Болл - The First Team

Almost on the minute of seven-thirty Hewlitt’s doorbell rang. When he answered it Landers was there in civilian clothes with two girls, both of whom Hewlitt recognized as being on the White House staff. “Hi,” the major said, “you didn’t forget, did you?”

“Of course not.” Hewlitt picked up his cue smoothly this time while he evaluated his two unexpected guests. One of them was a Barbara somebody who was probably Landers’ date, since she was considerably the more attractive of the two. She was a raven brunette who had sense enough to wear her striking hair long, something which accentuated the ripe, rich promise of her body.

As she walked in, her motions were quietly potent, and Hewlitt appreciated them to the full.

The other girl he knew by sight, but if he had heard her name, he could not remember it now. She was somewhat smaller, auburnhaired and built along less dramatic lines. But she had a sense of possession about her and also a visible aura of restraint. She was attractive enough, Hewlitt decided, and she probably danced very well.

“I’ve got the car outside,” Landers said. “So far, at least, we can have all the gas we want, so we might as well take a drive.”

“I’d like that,” Barbara said. She would probably like a lot of things, Hewlitt thought, and Landers was a man to be envied.

He excused himself long enough to put on a sports coat and check that his wallet was adequately filled, then joined the others. Not for a moment did he believe that this was intended purely as a social engagement; Landers’ opening remark had established that. The girls would be cleared in the normal sense, but whether they were qualified to play in the dangerous game that Landers had proposed was open to serious question. Until he knew a great deal more than he did at the moment, the only course open to him was to keep his mouth firmly shut.

Landers’ car was a sleek convertible of precisely the right caliber to fit with his job, as well as his reputation acquired when he had been a totally efficient, almost nerveless test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mohave Desert. Hewlitt was the last to climb in; he was surprised, and pleased, to find that the place reserved for him was in the back seat next to Barbara. He settled himself, smiled agreeably at his companion, and then tried his best to suggest that he had nothing on his mind but the pleasures of the evening that lay ahead.

They crossed the Potomac into Virginia and then headed westward toward the low mountains which were still faintly visible. The conversation was limited; once they were more or less by themselves there was no attempt on the part of any of them to pretend a relaxation that they did not feel.

When the twilight had gathered halfway into night, Landers pulled the car over to the side of the road. He stopped the engine and then turned around in his seat so that he could talk to the others without raising his voice.

“First of all,” he said without preamble, “if anyone comes by and wants to know what we’re doing here, we’re deciding where we’d like to go to dinner. We can talk safely here. I went over the car very carefully after work tonight with a bug detector. Even if it were wired in some way, we’re well beyond the range of the best equipment we have and I don’t believe that theirs is any better. In fact, I know it isn’t. Do you girls know Mr. Hewlitt and what he does?”

“Yes, of course,” Barbara said. Her voice was calm and very businesslike. Hewlitt understood that she spoke for them both.

“Hew,” Landers said, “both of these girls hold top secret and beyond. They’re not civilians; Barbara is in the Air Force, Mary is in the Army but works for the Agency. They’ve been handling highly sensitive material for some time and you can trust them absolutely.”

“Good,” Hewlitt said. He was not able to rid himself entirely of a feeling that as a breed, females had trouble keeping their mouths shut, but he knew that there were exceptions and that some of the best agents that the CIA had were women.

As Landers continued, his voice too became quiet and unemotional, but there was no questioning his seriousness. “We are organizing ourselves according to their system — because it works. It was all set up some time ago, and we know what we are going to do. I’ve been assigned to be the leader of our cell. You know how it works: I’ll be your one and only contact with the rest of the organization. If anything happens to me, then you will be contacted by someone else, who will identify himself. Clear so far?”

Silence answered his words, which Hewlitt highly approved.

“You understand that the cell system doesn’t mean that you aren’t totally trusted. But when we get going on a larger scale there will be a lot of people involved and we could take in a bad apple. If we do, he or she can blow the cell, but no more; the rest of the organization will be protected.”

“That’s only sensible,” the girl in front said. “I think every intelligence organization uses some variation of the same plan.”

“Thanks, Mary. I’ve been instructed to go over certain rules with you, although you know them already. First, whatever you pick up you feed to me only; in turn I’ll keep you informed as much as I can about what’s going on — you’ll just have to trust me in this.

Try never to write anything down. I had to break that rule today, which reminds me — you got rid of that note, I take it?” He looked at Hewlitt.

“Of course.”

“This is elementary, but don’t trust anyone, no matter who it is, without checking with me first. If I need to, I can check with the person who is controlling me and so on as far as is necessary. For example, I won’t send you any messages by persons you don’t know personally to be with us.”

Barbara leaned forward a little. “I think we’re wasting time, Bob,” she said. “We all know this very well.”

Landers changed the tone of his voice. “Of course you do. I’m following my orders and I believe in them, because this is damn serious business. Now I want to tell you something else: the three of you were all preselected some time ago when our planners saw possible trouble ahead and set up the organization at that time. I didn’t just pick you up off the top of my head. You’ve been checked in ways that you wouldn’t believe, with the result that we feel that we can trust you completely and that you can trust each other. They’ve been particularly careful because this will be one of the key cells in the country.”

“Will we have meetings?” Hewlitt asked.

“I think so, but that’s something that hasn’t been worked out yet. Perhaps you might undertake to teach us their language. That might be an effective cover.”

“I don’t think so,” Hewlitt answered. “These people know that we hate their guts and despise them for what they’ve done to us. For us to pretend to be learning their language now would be too cooperative to be believed. It would imply that we expect them to be here a long time and no American, no real one, that is, will admit to that right now.”

“He’s right,” Mary said. She did not elaborate.

Landers agreed. “I haven’t anything else in mind, but I’ll think about it and check with my controller. You think too, unless someone has an idea right now.”

There was no response.

“Then that’s that. I’ll find a way to get in touch with each of you after something has been decided. One more item: if anything happens to me, the person who will take over will be identified by the name Asher. It could be a man or a woman. If that person is eliminated, the code name is known at the top levels and someone else will be assigned to take his place. He will use the same ID. Now let’s go through the motions of getting something to eat.”