Джон Болл - The First Team

Major Pappas was already there. Stanley Cumberland came in, his usual long, lean composed self, and sat down with the general air of a man who listens to a problem and then routinely disposes of it. Walter Wagner and Colonel Prichard arrived together, closely followed by General Gifford with a thick folio under his arm. The last to come in was Ed Higbee, who took his place silently and prepared to listen with the ears of a trained reporter before he would have anything to say. Backing them up there were others of the support framework who also headquartered at the underground complex. Dr. Heise, who had prepared the supposed corpse of Admiral Haymarket, was present, as was the helicopter pilot who passed so well as a hunting guide.

The admiral was handed two more messages which he read before he convened the meeting. “Gentlemen,” he began, “up to now things have been running so smoothly I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop — something had to go haywire somewhere. Well, it has.” Then he told the news and filled them in with the details he had just learned.

“What are his chances of survival?” Colonel Prichard asked.

“Dr. Heise?”

The white-haired physician answered without hesitation. “Barring complications of which I am not aware, very good. He is very much overweight, but in this situation that shouldn’t be too material. There is an element of risk, if he has surgery, but I would assess it at less than ten per cent at this juncture.”

“But he will be out of circulation for a while.”

“Yes, admiral, for the next week count him out of everything. After that he will still be recuperating, but he will be able to make some decisions — if he is still in a position to.”

“Precisely.” The admiral looked around the table. “All of the intelligence that we have been getting indicates that Rostovitch has been closing in on him; if I know that man he will lose no time whatever in taking over in Zalinsky’s place. As of right now, I would guess that Feodor Zalinsky has a damn sight better chance of recovering his health than his job.”

General Gifford responded. “I’ll support that fully, especially in view of the information flow we’ve been getting from the White House. Zalinsky isn’t hacking it, no one man could, and this is undoubtedly his out. The question now is: how can we exploit this to our advantage?” He looked at Ed Higbee for an answer.

Higbee took his time. “As of this moment that will be hard to do — finding an advantage, I mean. I believe it would be a safe assumption to go on the basis that the ball has passed to Rostovitch as of right now. I’ve been over this with Ted Pappas and we have a plan ready; it was drafted to meet the unlikely event that Zalinsky was assassinated, clobbered in traffic, or otherwise taken out of the picture. That is just what has happened now. You tell them, Ted.” Major Pappas was as inhumanly efficient as always. “Assuming that Colonel Rostovitch is in the driver’s seat, then the whole formula of attack must be changed to fit his known characteristics and personality. First, we must have confirmation; I don’t see much room for doubt, but I don’t want to shoot in the dark.”

“I agree with that completely,” the admiral said.

“Thank you, sir. To continue: as soon as we are certain that Rostovitch has taken over the show we will immediately tighten the security around our White House people; depending on the exact circumstances, we may want to take some of them out of there. When that has been done, then I propose that we mount Operation Counterweight at once. It will be rough and we may lose some people, but it will send the colonel a message in language he can understand.”

“Can we do Counterweight?” the admiral asked. “Does the situation still permit?”

“Yes, sir, as of two days ago it does and there is a very high probability that there has been no change. The operational team can be positioned very rapidly. They have been keeping current on any developments and they have reported none.”

“They are fully prepared as to exact targets?”

“Chapter and verse.”

“Go ahead, Ted.”

“Sir, if I could be excused for a moment, I’d like to get my file on this. I don’t want to trust to memory.” As he turned in his chair a member of his staff handed him the wanted folder.

Pappas opened it and wasted no time on unnecessary comments. “To handle Rostovitch we will have to bear down. In the case of Zalinsky, the potential that the Magsaysay represents was judged to be enough. With Rostovitch it is a different matter; he will know immediately that if we succeed he will have had it and he will therefore gamble with everything that he’s got and go the limit.” “She may have to fire, then.”

“I would be prepared for that, sir; it may be the only means we have of putting enough pressure on him to make him yield. He takes to defeat very unkindly; Walt can tell you about that.”

Walter Wagner nodded his head in agreement.

The major continued, as coldly factual as before. “Now as to the White House: w£ have two units operating on the inside, each entirely independent and neither aware of the other. They report through different channels, and if one is blown the other has a good chance of remaining intact.”

“Is Mark aware of all this?” General Gifford asked.

“Yes, sir, he is. You know the level of confidence we have in him and there was no question of his need to know. He is in the field and will direct any operations that we may have to stage.”

“I have some ideas on that,” the admiral interjected, “but go ahead.”

“Yes, sir. Now as to the people in the primary or A cell within the White House. It is headed by Captain Barbara Stoneham of the Air Force, who has top marks for discretion and a Cattell Scale IQ of 146. She has been attached to intelligence for some time. In addition, she is reported as unusually attractive and quite spectacular in her physical assets.”

There was a general murmur of appreciation at that; few of the men present had seen their wives, or other female associates, for some time.

The major continued. “Captain Stoneham is backed by Captain Mary Mulligan, Army Intelligence, who for some time has been on TDY with the Agency. Her outward personality is quiet and self-effacing; she passes as the typical government virgin in her early thirties. She has a brain, too, and knows how to use it.

“The third critical individual in the group is Raleigh Hewlitt, originally a language specialist who is now acting more or less as Zalinsky’s appointment secretary. He has a top rating for the careful handling and translation of classified material. We don’t have an IQ readout on him, but Captain Stoneham has had him under close observation for some time and she reports that he has been underrated. Which is good to know. When our safe house that this cell has been using was raided, he covered by leaping into bed with Barbara and conducted himself admirably.”

“In line of duty of course,” Admiral Haymarket quipped.

Pappas actually allowed himself to smile. “Someday, sir, I’d like one of these desirable field assignments. The relationship between those two is continuing, and I can understand that too.”

The joking over, he became serious once more. “In the case of Zalinsky, an independent report from the other cell we have operating in the White House proper confirms that fact that Hewlitt has a certain working relationship with him, a rapport which could have been very useful to us. With Rostovitch that’s entirely out the window — far out.”

“Wait a minute,” General Gifford cut in, “if Rostovitch does take over and Hewlitt tries to carry on as directed with him, he won’t last ten minutes. I mean that literally.”