to talk right away; it was urgent. Yet you put me out for damn near six hours. Some urgency, pal.”
“Our measures were not designed for you or your friend the bartender,” said Ardisonne. “To be frank, they were designed for other people.”
“What other people?”
“Oh, come on, Tyrell, you’re not naive. The Baaka Valley is not without connections everywhere, and only the most innocent believe our services do not have corrupted personnel in one department or another. Twenty thousand pounds can turn a bureaucrat’s head.”
“You thought you might be intercepted?”
“We couldn’t dismiss the possibility, old boy, therefore we’ve carried only what’s in our heads, nothing in writing about Bajaratt, no photographs, no dossiers, no background material whatsoever. However, should anyone have been tipped off and tried to stop us, either in Paris, London, or Antigua, we could stop them.”
“So you’re back in your trench coats, prowling the dark alleys.”
“Why dismiss secrecy and hidden weapons? They saved your life more than once during the cold war, is it not so?”
“Maybe once or twice, no more than that, and I tried like hell not to become paranoid. Until Amsterdam it was pretty cut-and-dried. Who can you turn and how much will it cost?”
“It’s a different world now, Commander, we no longer have the luxury of known enemies. There’s another breed, and they’re neither agents nor double agents, or moles on one side or the other to be unearthed—those times are gone. Someday we may look back on them and realize how simple they were, for our root mentalities were not that different. It’s all changednow; we’re no longer dealing with people who think anything like the way we used to think. We’re dealing with hate, not power or geopolitical influence, but pure, raw hatred. The whipped of the world are turning, their age-old frustrations exploding, blind vengeance paramount.”
“That’s dramatic, Geoff, but I think you’re blowing it out of proportion. Washington knows about the woman, and until she’s taken out, the President won’t be put in vulnerable situations. I assume it’ll be the same in London, Paris, and Jerusalem.”
“Who is truly invulnerable, Tyrell?”
“No one, of course, but she’d have to be a goddamned illusionist to get by armies of guards and the most sophisticated security equipment in the world. From what I’ve been told by Washington, the Oval Office’s every move is controlled. No exteriors, no crowds, everything in-house and totally isolated. So, I repeat for the umpteenth time, what the hell do you need me for?”
“Because she is an
illusionniste
!” said Ardisonne. “She has eluded the Deuxième, MI-6, the Mossad, Interpol, and every special branch of intelligence and counterintelligence you can name. But, at last, we know she is in a specific area, a sector we can cross and crisscross with all the technological devices we can employ, along with the most vital component we have at our disposal. The human equation: a dragnet, the search led by experienced hunters who know the quarry’s current territory, back alleys, waterfronts, and all.”
Hawthorne studied both men in silence, his eyes roving from one to the other. “Suppose under certain conditions I agreed to help you,” he said finally. “Where would we begin?”
“With the technology you hold in such exalted esteem,” answered Cooke. “Every NATO intelligence station and all police authorities throughout the Caribbean are being wired composite descriptions of Bajaratt and the young man she’s traveling with.”
“Oh, that’s bright!” said Tyrell, laughing sarcastically. “You send out a blanket alert all over the islands and expect responses? You shock me, gentlemen, I thought you knew all the back alleys and waterfronts.”
“What is your point?” asked Ardisonne, not amused.
“My point is that you’ve got barely a thirty percent chance of hearing anything from
“Our measures were not designed for you or your friend the bartender,” said Ardisonne. “To be frank, they were designed for other people.”
“What other people?”
“Oh, come on, Tyrell, you’re not naive. The Baaka Valley is not without connections everywhere, and only the most innocent believe our services do not have corrupted personnel in one department or another. Twenty thousand pounds can turn a bureaucrat’s head.”
“You thought you might be intercepted?”
“We couldn’t dismiss the possibility, old boy, therefore we’ve carried only what’s in our heads, nothing in writing about Bajaratt, no photographs, no dossiers, no background material whatsoever. However, should anyone have been tipped off and tried to stop us, either in Paris, London, or Antigua, we could stop them.”
“So you’re back in your trench coats, prowling the dark alleys.”
“Why dismiss secrecy and hidden weapons? They saved your life more than once during the cold war, is it not so?”
“Maybe once or twice, no more than that, and I tried like hell not to become paranoid. Until Amsterdam it was pretty cut-and-dried. Who can you turn and how much will it cost?”
“It’s a different world now, Commander, we no longer have the luxury of known enemies. There’s another breed, and they’re neither agents nor double agents, or moles on one side or the other to be unearthed—those times are gone. Someday we may look back on them and realize how simple they were, for our root mentalities were not that different. It’s all changednow; we’re no longer dealing with people who think anything like the way we used to think. We’re dealing with hate, not power or geopolitical influence, but pure, raw hatred. The whipped of the world are turning, their age-old frustrations exploding, blind vengeance paramount.”
“That’s dramatic, Geoff, but I think you’re blowing it out of proportion. Washington knows about the woman, and until she’s taken out, the President won’t be put in vulnerable situations. I assume it’ll be the same in London, Paris, and Jerusalem.”
“Who is truly invulnerable, Tyrell?”
“No one, of course, but she’d have to be a goddamned illusionist to get by armies of guards and the most sophisticated security equipment in the world. From what I’ve been told by Washington, the Oval Office’s every move is controlled. No exteriors, no crowds, everything in-house and totally isolated. So, I repeat for the umpteenth time, what the hell do you need me for?”
“Because she is an
illusionniste
!” said Ardisonne. “She has eluded the Deuxième, MI-6, the Mossad, Interpol, and every special branch of intelligence and counterintelligence you can name. But, at last, we know she is in a specific area, a sector we can cross and crisscross with all the technological devices we can employ, along with the most vital component we have at our disposal. The human equation: a dragnet, the search led by experienced hunters who know the quarry’s current territory, back alleys, waterfronts, and all.”
Hawthorne studied both men in silence, his eyes roving from one to the other. “Suppose under certain conditions I agreed to help you,” he said finally. “Where would we begin?”
“With the technology you hold in such exalted esteem,” answered Cooke. “Every NATO intelligence station and all police authorities throughout the Caribbean are being wired composite descriptions of Bajaratt and the young man she’s traveling with.”
“Oh, that’s bright!” said Tyrell, laughing sarcastically. “You send out a blanket alert all over the islands and expect responses? You shock me, gentlemen, I thought you knew all the back alleys and waterfronts.”
“What is your point?” asked Ardisonne, not amused.
“My point is that you’ve got barely a thirty percent chance of hearing anything from
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