Removal (30 page)

Half a minute elapsed. Kelly’s line remained quiet.

‘Vernon? What in the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you have any idea what this could mean?…’

An agent from the Portland field office came on the line, and Kelly heard no more of Lazenby’s verbal assault on the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

‘Director…?’

‘Mike? It’s me, Kelly. The Director’s on another call. What gives?’

Mike sighed into the telephone.

‘No luck, Kelly. We’ve been trying to reach Phil to warn him about the
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breaking the story. But it seems he spent the weekend inside the compound, and he hasn’t come out. Before he went in, he told us he was scheduled to be there through Thursday, and there’s no way to reach him while he’s inside.’

‘Fuck,’ Kelly said.

‘We’re hoping Phil will pick up the story himself. He says they’re pretty dedicated to keeping up with the news in there. He has access to all the net sources, plus CNN and the main papers. Of course, so does everyone else in there. Hopefully, Phil will realize what’s going on and find a way to get himself out of there before they have time to figure it out.’

‘God, I hope you’re right,’ Kelly replied.

‘Kelly, how did this happen? I thought the Oregon connection was supposed to be under wraps.’

‘So did we. We don’t know yet, Mike. The Director’s talking to the Chairman now. Look, keep trying, and let me know the moment you hear anything, OK?’

‘Will do.’

Mike hung up. Kelly turned her attention back to Lazenby, who was still in full flow.

‘Well, the first thing you can do is drag Mary Sullivan’s ass in front of your Committee in closed session and make her tell you where she got the story… What?… I don’t give a rat’s ass about protecting her sources. You didn’t have any problem throwing a Secret Service Agent in jail. Do the same with her… I don’t want to hear it, Vernon. If any harm comes of this, heads will roll. You have no idea what I might do. Trust me.’

Without another word, Lazenby slammed down the receiver and cut off the call. He drew both hands through his hair, and looked questioningly at Kelly. She shook her head.

‘Nothing. He’s in the compound, and they have no way to talk to him while he’s in. Unless he realizes the danger, he’ll be there until Thursday.’

‘Thursday? Jesus Christ. That gives them four days to…’

‘Phil’s a smart agent. And we’ve always told him to run if there was any sign of his cover being blown. He just has to find a way out.’

‘Jesus Christ.’

‘What did the Chairman say?’

Lazenby pursed his lips, the fury still consuming him.

‘He says the leak didn’t come from the Committee, but he’ll look into it, just in case.’

‘And you don’t believe him?’

‘Well, where the fuck else could it have come from?’ Lazenby demanded.

‘I don’t know. But I can’t see what reason there would be for anyone on the Committee to leak it. Who else knew about it?’

Lazenby made a huge effort to calm himself. He walked over to his coffee machine and poured two cups. They both sat down at his desk and Lazenby thought for a while.

‘According to Vernon, only his senior aide plus, of course, the entire intelligence community. It’s my fault, Kelly. I should have pulled Phil out. I should have known there was no way to keep the lid on it.’

Kelly shook her head.

‘Director, there was no way to anticipate this. The intelligence people have no interest in blowing our cover. We had every reason to think they would give us notice if anyone was going to get into it.’

‘Then, where did it come from, Kelly?’

‘I don’t know. It doesn’t mention our involvement. All it does is…’

‘All it does is cut a trail a mile wide from Hamid Marfrela to Middle and Near East, to the Sons of the Flag, to the President.’

‘Yes, Sir. All I’m saying is that Mary Sullivan probably sees this as an official corruption story. There’s no reason to think she has any angle involving the Bureau. If she does, she hasn’t said anything. She hasn’t asked us to comment.’

‘I’ve a good mind to pull her in for questioning.’

‘I can’t advise that, Director.’

For the first time that morning, Lazenby gave the hint of a smile.

‘I guess you’re right.’

‘Not that it wouldn’t be satisfying,’ Kelly said. ‘Do you want me to fly out to Oregon? Maybe there’s something I can do…’

‘No. The office there can do whatever there is to do. I need you here. Stay by the phone, Kelly. Let’s hope for some good news.’

‘I don’t want to go through it again,’ the President shouted. ‘I’ve already told you I don’t know anything about these people or what they do. I don’t know anything about any goddamned Hamid whatever-his-name-is.’

Martha Graylor reached into her purse and extracted her fifth and sixth aspirin tablets of the morning. Mutely, she looked across at Ellen Trevathan for help. They were the only three people in the Oval Office. The President had cancelled his press conference and his other engagements for the morning. Martha was trying to put together a press release, but her efforts to find out what the President wanted to say had achieved little except to provoke him to anger. Sensing Martha’s desperation, Ellen nodded her understanding, and decided to try her own hand.

‘Steve, I know this is frustrating for you. But we have to give them some kind of answer. This story has gone way beyond whether or not you had an affair with Lucia Benoni, which is all the Committee has really proved so far. This story links you directly to some Lebanese involvement with the Sons of the Flag. The implications are that you were doing some kind of deal under the counter on the foreign policy front in return for contributions, or being set up with Lucia, or God knows what. Maybe worse than that, maybe fooling around with national security. We can’t just say we don’t know anything.’

‘Those bastards at the
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ambushed me. Ambushed me in broad daylight. They call Martha at home on a Saturday morning, for God’s sake. What sort of response are we supposed to make to that?’

‘I agree,’ the Vice President replied. ‘It was an ambush. And no one can criticize you for putting up the shutters over the weekend. But now, we have to do more.’

Wade shook his head, and continued pacing up and down behind his desk.

Martha picked up the
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. Her hand was shaking.

‘Let’s try and make sense of this, Mr. President,’ she suggested tentatively. ‘First of all, are you sure you have never heard of these Western Geophysical people?’

‘No,’ Wade said. ‘I have not.’

‘Because, apparently, they’ve been making some pretty hefty contributions to the Party.’

‘Many people make hefty contributions to the Party, Martha. That’s not my department. I am the President of the United States. I don’t personally solicit every contribution that comes in to every campaign. Especially not from the White House. In case you didn’t know, that would be illegal.’

‘Take it easy, Steve,’ Ellen said quietly.

‘I’m trying. But this is driving me crazy… All right, Martha, I’m sorry. Next question.’

Martha ran her hand across her brow. Her head was still pounding. She could hardly focus on the newspaper any more.

‘What about the Middle and Near East Company, Mr. President? They seem to be one of the main supporters of Western Geophysical. They are also the link to Hamid Marfrela. He was one of their directors.’

‘No. Nothing there either.’

Martha shook her head.

‘Let me try,’ Ellen said, after a few moments of silence. ‘Steve, when you and Lucia talked, would she ever speak about Lebanon, or anything political, for that matter?’

Wade paused in his pacing.

‘Look, I can’t…’

‘Steve, please, that’s water under the bridge. The whole world knows you were sleeping with her. Frankly, that hardly matters any more. So, just cast your mind back and tell me what you used to talk about.’

For a long time, the President gazed, apparently absently, out of the window. Finally, he turned back towards Ellen.

‘I never talked about politics with her. Never. I never discussed my work. She always seemed more interested in talking about the plays she saw in New York, or the people she met at parties, or where she went shopping in Paris or Milan. It was always just light conversation. That’s why it was fun to be with her. I live politics every hour of every day. It was good to get away from it for a while.’

‘Did she ever talk about herself, where she came from, her family, anything like that?’

Wade considered the question.

‘Yes. She did talk about her life growing up, how hard it was constantly moving around, never settling down. She used to say she was a gypsy at heart.’

‘But she didn’t go on to say how hard life might be for people in Lebanon generally? She wasn’t trying to get your sympathy for them, maybe?’

‘Not as far as I could tell. If she was, she didn’t do a very good job of it.’

‘And she never, even indirectly, tried to talk about your foreign policy. Think, Steve, please.’

Wade exhaled audibly.

‘No. I never recall anything like that coming up.’

‘OK. How did you first meet?’

Wade walked back to his desk and sat down heavily.

‘Oh, God. It was at some function here. I don’t even remember what function. She was obviously trying to get me to notice her. I got her number and invited her here while Julia was away some place.’

‘What was her attitude at that time?’

The President laughed.

‘We both knew what it was about. I think she was naked within five minutes of walking in the door. It was about sex, from first to last. All this other stuff… I have no idea where that came from.’

Ellen sat back in her chair. ‘Bottom line, you were set up,’ she said.

Wade nodded. ‘Looks like. But by whom, for God’s sake? All along, we’ve been blaming the opposition.’

‘Yes,’ Ellen replied. ‘And there’s no question they’re fanning the flames. But I don’t think they’re behind it. Somehow, they found out about it, and they are making capital out of it. But they couldn’t have put all this in place themselves.’

‘So, what do you think?’

‘My money’s on some kind of clandestine operation by the Lebanese.’

‘They used Lucia to get to me?’

‘That’s the way it looks to me. That way, there would be no need for you to know anything about Marfrela or those other people, or what was going on in Oregon. They were probably hoping you would compromise yourself at some point, and then they would move in for the kill. Blackmail, threats, who knows? Whatever it took to get you off their back, soften your policy a little, approve some aid, whatever.’

Wade sat silently, nodding, for some time.

‘All right, that makes sense. But why kill her, for God’s sake? I don’t understand. Why did they have to do that?’

Wade’s voice faltered, and for the first time, Ellen thought she saw a hint of regret and pain in the President’s eyes. She nodded.

‘It does seem strange. My guess would be that Lucia wasn’t willing to play ball any more. Or maybe she thought she was in too deep and got scared and wanted to quit. Or maybe she had actually come to like you. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.’

Wade smiled thinly. ‘Thanks a lot.’

‘All we do know is that, for some reason, they couldn’t trust her any more.’

It was some time before anyone spoke again.

‘I’m sorry, Martha,’ Ellen said eventually, ‘I’m not sure I’ve been much help. I’m sure the President doesn’t want to go on record as being the victim of a Lebanese plot. At least, not yet.’

‘What do you mean, “not yet”?’ Wade asked.

‘I mean, not until it becomes the best of several bad alternatives. Unfortunately, by the time the Committee has finished its work, that may be the case. Obviously, they will be running down this rabbit trail as fast as their little legs will carry them, as of this morning.’

Wade nodded. ‘I’m sure Helen de Vries is eating raw steak for breakfast to get herself in the mood,’ he observed sourly.

‘Count on it,’ Ellen said.

The intercom buzzed. The President hit a button.

‘I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. President,’ Steffie Walinsky said. ‘I have one of your agents in my office, Gary Mills. He wants to see you. He says it’s important.’

‘Steffie, I said I didn’t want to be disturbed this morning.’

‘I told him that, Mr. President. He says it’s really important.’

‘What do you think?’

‘I think you should see him.’

Steve Wade shrugged wearily. ‘All right. Send him in.’

Gary Mills looked tense and nervous, as he walked slowly into the Oval Office. He nodded to Martha.

‘Good morning, Mr. President, Madam Vice President.’

‘This better be good, Agent Mills,’ Wade said. ‘It’s a very busy morning. Do we have some security problem? Not another code red, I hope.’

‘No, Mr. President,’ Gary said hesitantly. He seemed unwilling to continue.

‘Well, come on. I haven’t got all day.’

‘Actually, Sir, it’s about the First Lady…’

All three of the other occupants of the room leapt to their feet.

‘What about the First Lady?’ Ellen demanded. ‘Has something happened?’

‘No, Ma’am,’ Gary replied, holding up his arms defensively. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. It’s just that… well, the fact is, Mr. President, we felt you ought to know that she’s not in residence…’

Ellen sat back down abruptly, glancing at Martha, who was standing rigidly at attention with her eyes and mouth wide open. Steve Wade was the last to catch on.

‘Not in residence? What do you mean? Her next trip isn’t till next month. She’s going out to California. I don’t know of anything else until then.’

Gary Mills looked down at his shoes.

‘Mr. President, what I’m trying to say is that… that the First Lady left this morning with a full complement of clothes and personal effects. She told her assigned agents she was going to New York, and declined their protection.’

‘Oh, God,’ Ellen breathed.

‘Declined… what do you mean, declined? They’re supposed to…’

‘The First Lady insisted, Sir. They didn’t… well, the agents didn’t feel they could physically restrain her, Sir. They didn’t know what to do. So they followed her. At least, that is, until she got to National Airport…’