The Scorpio Illusion Part 5

"You spread the word and had every a.s.set in your Amsterdam orbit swear under N.I. Code Twelve-severe anonymity-that Hawthornes wife, an interpreter with full clearance, was working for Moscow. Each was instilled with the exact words right down the line. 'Ingrid Hawthorne is a traitor to NATO; she makes constant contact with the Soviets. It was all like a broken record playing the same phrase over and over again." "It was true!"

"It was false, Captain. She was working for us." "Youre out of your mind-I dont believe you!" "Read our file.... As I piece it together, so your hands would appear clean, you pa.s.sed another lie that happened to be the truth, a fatal truth. You sent word through a selected a.s.set with KGB internals that Mrs. Hawthorne was a double agent, that her marriage was real, not a ceremony of convenience, as the Soviets believed it was. They eliminated her and dumped her body in the Heren Ca.n.a.l. We lost an extraordinary penetration and Hawthorne lost a wife."

"Oh, my G.o.d!" Stevens writhed in his chair, his body jerking nervously back and forth between the arms. "Why the h.e.l.l didnt anyone tell us?" Then abruptly, he stopped, his eyes riveted on the director. "Wait a minute! If what you say is true, why didnt she ever tell Hawthorne?"

"We can only speculate. They were in the same business; she knew about him, but he didnt know about her. If he had, he would have forced her to stop, obviously knowing the risks."

"How could she not tell him?" "Scandinavian sangfroid, perhaps. Watch their tennis players. She couldnt stop, you see. Her father died in a Siberian gulag as an anti-Soviet activist captured in Riga when she was quite young. She changed her name, built her own dossier, learned fluent Russian as well as French and English, and went to work for us in The Hague."

"We had none of that in our records!"

"You could have had it if youd picked up a telephone before making decisions. She was logged out of the system."

"Bulls.h.i.+t! Who the h.e.l.l can trust anybody?"

"Maybe thats why Im here, young man," said Gillette, his narrow, flesh-encased eyes conveying equal parts contempt and understanding. "Im a pretty old geezer out of G-2, Vietnam, where things were really screwed up, so messy that I emerged with a terrific reputation that I didnt deserve-to the contrary, I probably should have been court-martialed. So I know where youre coming from, Captain, which doesnt excuse you or me, but I think you should know the truth."

"If you felt that way, why did you take this job?"

"You called me a civilian, and youre right on the mark, a very rich civilian. I made a great deal of money, in part due to that undeserved reputation, so when I was tapped for this job, I decided it was payback time. Id like to try to make things a little better in this very necessary area of the government ... to make up for past mistakes, maybe."

"Considering your mistakes, what made you think youre qualified?"

"Because of those mistakes. Were so panic-p.r.o.ne over secrets, we all too frequently fail to communicate essentials-or seek them out. For instance, I dont think youll repeat the error of Ingrid Hawthorne."

"It wasnt my error! You just said it: She wasnt logged in the system!"

"Neither are eighty to a hundred others, what do you think of that?"

"I think it smells!"

"Including several dozen a.s.sets of your own."

"That was before I came on board," said the naval officer curtly. "A system doesnt work if its disregarded. There are fail-safe procedures in those computers."

"Dont tell that to the hackers who broke into the Pentagon machines. They might not believe you."

"One in a million chances!"

"Roughly the same as a specific sperm fertilizing an egg, yet nine months later a life is there. And you took one of those lives, Captain."

"G.o.dd.a.m.n you-"

"Spare me," said the CIA director, holding up his hands, his elbows on the arms of the chair. "That information remains in the confines of this room. For your edification, I made a similar mistake on the Ho Chi Minh trail-and that, too, will remain in this room."

"Are we finished?"

"Not yet. I cant order you, but Id suggest you reach Hawthorne and give him whatever oceangoing help he needs. Youre all over the Caribbean, and were stretched thin down there."

"He wont talk to me," said the captain slowly, quietly. "I tried several times. As soon as he realized who it was, he hung up without a word."

"Hes talked to someone on your staff, MI-6 confirmed it. He told their man, Cooke, in Virgin Gorda, that Hawthorne knew about the Bajaratt woman, that the Oval Office was under max-security, the President in a jacket. If you didnt tell him, who did?"

"I put it up for grabs," replied Stevens reluctantly. "After I couldnt get anywhere with that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I told a few men who knew him that if anyone felt he could make any progress with him, to go ahead and give Tye the scenario."

"Tye?"

"We knew each other, not well, but wed have drinks now and then. My wife worked at the emba.s.sy in Amsterdam; they were friends."

"He suspected you in his wifes murder?"

"h.e.l.l, I showed him the photographs but swore we had nothing to do with her death-which actually we didnt."

"But you did."

"Theres no way he could have known that; besides, the Soviets left their mark as a warning to others."

"But we all develop instincts, dont we?"

"What do you want from me, Mr. Director? Im out of conversation."

"Since the British recruited him, hold an immediate staff meeting and figure out what you can do to help." The DCI leaned over his desk and wrote on a memo pad. "Coordinate with MI-6 and the Deuxieme; here are the two men you should contact, and only them and only on scrambler." The director held out the paper.

"Right to the top," remarked the officer from naval intelligence, reading the names. "Whats the code?"

"Little Girl Blood. Thats when you go on scrambler."

"You know," said Stevens, getting up from the chair and putting the note in his pocket, "I have an idea that we all may really be overreacting. Weve lived through dozens of alerts like this-hit teams being sent out from the Middle East, psychos waiting to take a shot at the big man in airports, nuts rounded up whove written crazy letters-and ninety-nine percent of the time they turned out to be vapors. Suddenly, a lone woman traveling with a kid shows up on our subcellar screens, and the alarms rattle cages from Jerusalem to D.C. with loud bells in Paris and London. Doesnt that strike you as a little heavy?"

"How thoroughly did you read the information I got from London and forwarded to you?" asked the DCI.

"Very. Shes a psychotic for all the reasons the Freudians expound on, and, without doubt, obsession-oriented. That doesnt make her super Amazon."

"Because she isnt. A larger-than-life subject is an easier target; he or she stands out. Bajaratt could be the girl next door in Centerville, U.S.A., or the vacuous fas.h.i.+on model on Pariss Saint-Honore, or a shy sabra private in the Israeli Army. She doesnt lead charges, Captain, she orchestrates them, thats her genius. She creates events, then moves the princ.i.p.als within them toward the predetermined objectives. If she were an American and of a different mentality, shed probably be sitting where I am."

"May I ask ...?" The naval officer s.h.i.+fted his feet, breathing deeply, his face growing red as the blood rose to his head. "What I did-oh, G.o.d, what I did-you said it would remain in this room."

"It will."

"Christ, why did I do it?" The officers eyes were clouded as his body shook. "I killed Tyes wife ...!"

"Its over, Captain Stevens. Unfortunately, youll live with it for the rest of your life-as I have for over thirty years since the Ho Chi Minh. Thats our punishment."

Tyrells brother, Marc Anthony Hawthorne-"Marc-Boy" in the Caribbeans lingua franca-had flown to Virgin Gorda to take over his siblings charter. Marc Hawthorne was in several respects the eternal younger brother, slightly taller than the tall Tyrell, quite a bit more slender-very thin to be precise-and with a face similar in appearance but without the crows-feet or the neutral eyes of his older, more experienced brother. He was seven years younger, and although it was apparent that he held the first Hawthorne son in great affection, it was also obvious that he frequently questioned his brothers intellect.

"Come on, Tye!" he said emphatically as they stood on the deserted dock at sundown. "You quit all that c.r.a.p! You cant go back, I wont let you!"

"I wish you could stop me, bro, but you cant."

"What the h.e.l.l is this?" Marc lowered his voice to a guttural incantation. "Once a navy man, always navy! Is that what youre saying?"

"Not at all. Its just that I can do what they cant do. Cooke and Ardisonne flew around these islands; Ive sailed them. I know every inlet, every land ma.s.s, mapped and unmapped, and there arent too many 'autoritees I havent bribed with a dollar or fifty."

"But why, for Christs sake?"

"Im not sure, Marc, but maybe its something Cooke said. He said they were the 'whipped of the world, not the enemies we knew before, but a new breed, raging fanatics who just want to destroy everything they believe has kept them in the garbage dumps."

"Thats probably socioeconomically true. But, I repeat, why are you getting involved?"

"I just told you, I can do what they cant do."

"Thats not a why, thats an egotistical quasi-justification."

"All right, brother-academic, Ill try to explain. Ingrid was killed-for one reason or another, perhaps Ill never find out which-but you cant live with a woman like her without knowing that she wanted the violence to stop-one way or another. At this point I honestly dont know which side she was on, but I do know she wanted peace. Id hold her in my arms and out of nowhere shed cry, 'Why cant it stop? Why cant the brutality stop?... Later, when they told me she was a Soviet mole ... well, I still cant believe it, but if she was, it was for the right reasons. She did want peace; she was my wife, and I loved her, and she couldnt lie to me when she was in my arms."

Silence. Finally Marc spoke softly. "I wont even pretend to understand that world you lived in. G.o.d knows, I couldnt handle it. Still, I have to ask you again, why are you really going back?"

"Because theres someone out there who represents something more powerful than we can understand that has to be stopped, and if I can help stop that psychopath because I know a few dirty games, maybe someday Ill feel better about Ingrid. It was the filthy games that killed her."

"Youre persuasive, Tye," Marc said.

"Im glad you agree." Hawthorne looked at his younger brother and flicked his hand against Marcs shoulder. "Because for the next week or so youre running the business, which includes looking around for two new sloops, cla.s.s A, large sail, fore and aft. If you find one suddenly on the market at a good price and Im not available, put a binder on it."

"With what? Paper we cant back up?"

"The money will be at our bank in Saint T. tomorrow morning, courtesy of my temporary employers."

"Im glad you mix idealism with reality."

"They owe me, more than they could ever pay."

"In the meantime, what do I do about another charter captain? Weve got two bookings next Monday."

"I called Barbie in Red Hook; sh.e.l.l come on board. Her boat still isnt repaired from the hurricane."

"Tye, you know charters dont feel comfortable with women skippers!"

"Just tell her to do what she does with her own charters when they find out that B. Pace isnt Bruce or Ben but Barbara. She punches out her steward as soon as everyones on board."

"She also pays him for taking the shot."

"So pay, were rich."

Suddenly, the roar of an automobile engine, followed by screeching tires, filled the twilight from the nearby parking area beyond the dock. Within seconds the m.u.f.fled voices of Cooke and Ardisonne were heard shouting at Marty and Mickey in the yacht clubs repair shop. Moments later the Englishman and the Frenchman came rus.h.i.+ng across the walkway.

"Somethings happened," said Tyrell quietly.

"Somethings happened!" exclaimed Geoffrey Cooke as both men turned and ran up the pier, breathless. "Weve just come from Government House.... h.e.l.lo, Marc, Im afraid we have to talk to your brother privately." The MI-Sixer pulled Hawthorne to the far left of the pier, code name Richelieu following.

"Take it easy," said Hawthorne. "Catch your breath and slow down."

"Theres no time!" Ardisonne said. "Weve received four reports, each claiming to have seen the woman and the young man."

"Same island?"

"No, three, d.a.m.n it!" said Cooke. "But each has an international bank."

"That means two reports came from one-"

"St. Croix, Christiansted. A planes waiting for us at the airfield. Ill take St. Croix."

"Why?" countered Hawthorne angrily. "I dont want to hurt you, Geoff, but Im younger and pretty obviously in better shape than you. Give me St. Croix."

"You havent seen the photographs!"

"From what you told me, theyre three different people, so what good are they?"

"You forget so easily, Tyrell. Its a far chance, but one of them may be the right one. We certainly cant dismiss them."

"Get them to me."

"They have to come by courier; Virgin Gordas out of our secure routing. The Deuxieme is flying them in from Martinique by diplomatic pouch first thing tomorrow."

"We cannot waste the time," insisted Ardisonne.

"Ill give you the names of our sources, Tyrell," said Cooke. "Youll take St. Barthelemy. Jacques will cover Anguilla."

Hawthorne woke up on the narrow bed in the hotel on the island of St. Barts, still angry at Geoffrey Cooke for having sent him into a no-win situation. The native source he had reached through the chief of island security was a known drug informant, a hustler overreaching himself for the prize of three million American dollars. He had seen an elderly German lady, escorted by her adolescent grandson, disembark from the St. Martin hydrofoil. With that flimsy evidence, he had gone for the prize. The grandmother in question, however, proved to be an overly made-up, very Germanic mother who disapproved of her daughters plebeian life-style, and had offered to take her grandson on a grand tour of the islands.

"G.o.dd.a.m.n it!" exploded Hawthorne, reaching for the telephone to order whatever breakfast the hotel had available.

Tyrell walked the streets of St. Barts, pa.s.sing the time until he flagged a taxi to the airport, where a plane would take him back to British Gorda. There was nothing else to do but walk around; he hated being in hotel rooms alone. They were like solitary prison cells, where a person rapidly became angry with his own company.

And then it happened. Fifty feet away, walking across the street toward the entrance of the Bank of Scotland, was the woman who had saved his sanity, if not his life. She was, if possible, even more beautiful. Her long, dark hair framing the lovely features of her suntanned face, the way she walked, the sure glide of the cosmopolitan Parisienne who was never above being courteous to strangers. It all came back to him, the glorious sight of her almost more than he could bear.

"Dominique!" he shouted, parting the bodies in front of him and racing into the street toward the woman he had not seen for so long, too long. She turned on the curb, her face lighting up, her smile filled with joy. He pulled her across the pavement to a storefront, and they embraced, holding one another in quickly remembered warmth and affection. "They told me you went back to Paris!"

"I did, my darling. I had to get my life together."

"Not a word, not a letter, even a call. I went out of my mind!"

"I could never replace Ingrid, I knew that."

"Didnt you know how much I wanted you to try?"

"We come from different worlds, my dearest. Your life is here; mine is in Europe. I have responsibilities you dont have, Tye, I tried to tell you that."

"I remember only too well. Save the Children, Relief for Somalia-two or three other initials I could never figure out."