Jenna leaned into him and held his shoulders. "You must take bold of
yourself, my darling. You're not being rational;you're in some kind of
shock. Can you understand me?"
"No time," be said, removing her bands and reaching for the phone. "I'm
okay, and yoere right. I am in shock, but only because it's so incredible.
Incrediblef" He dialed, breathed deeply, and spoke: "I want to be connected
to the main switchboard of Andrews Air Force Base, and I want you to give
instructions to the duty officer to comply with any requests I make with
regard to information."
Jenna watched him, then backed away to the table with the decanters. She
poured him some brandy and banded it to him. "You're pale," she said. "I've
never seen you so pale."
Havelock waited, listening as the head of the White House Secret Service
gave his instructions to Andrews and, conversely, the electronic
verification check made by the colonel in charge of field communications.
The incredible was always
THE PARsiFAL MosAic615
rooted in the credible, he thought. For the most credible rea
sons on earth he had been on that beach at the Costa Brava
that night, observing the extraordinary, and a mere gust of
wind had blown a man I s cap away. Now he had to know if
there was substance in the observation. Both observations.
"There are calls from New York constantly," said the colonel in answer to
his question.
"I'm talking about those five to ten minutes," countered Michael.
"Transferred to a maintenance hangar on the south perimeter. It was less
than two hours ago; someone has to remember. Check every operator on the
boards. Nowr
"Christ, take it easy."
"You take it fastl"
No operator at Andrews Air Force Base had transferred a call to a
maintenance hangar on the south perimeter.
"There was a sergeant driving a jeep, ordered to pick up cargo labeled
Sterile Five, marine equipment. Are you with me?"
"I'm aware of the Sterile classification and of the flight. Helicopter,
north pad."
"What's his name?"
"The driver?"
'Yes."
The colonel paused, obviously concerned as he answered, 'We understand the
original driver was replaced. Another relieved him on verbal orders."
"Whose?"
"We haven't traced it.-
"What was the second driver's name?"
"We don't know."
"Thank you, Colonel."
Paminyatchikf
"Find me the dossier on Pierce," said Havelock, looking up a Jenna, his
hand on the telephone button.
"Arthur PierceP" asked Jenna, astonished.
"As quickly as you can." Michael dialed again, and said, "I can~t make a
mistake, I can't make a mistake. Not here, not now." Then: "Mr. President?
It's Havelock. I've been with Pierce and tried to help him.... Yes, sir,
he's bright, very bright and very good. We'd like a point clarified; it's
n-dnor but it would clear something up for both of us. He had a lot on his
mind, a lot to absorb. At the meeting this afternoon,
616 ROBERT LuDLum
after I called you, did you bring up the Apache operation at the Randolph
Medical Center? . . Then everyone's current. Thank vou, ~4r. President."
M;chael replaced the phone as Jenna handed him a dark-brown file folder.
"Here's Pierce's dossier."
Havelock opened it and immediately turned to the synopsis of personal
characteristics.
The &ubject drinks moderately at social occasions, and has never been knoum
to abuse alcohol. He does not use any form of tobacco.
The match, the open flame unprotected, extinguished by the wind . . . A
second flame, the flare of light prolonged, unmistakable. The sequence as
odd and unmistakable as the cigarette smoke emerging solely from the mouth
and mingling With the curling vapor of breath, a nonsmoker's exhalation.
A-signal. Followed moments later by an unknown driver delivering an urgent
message, using a name be was not supposed to know, angering the man be was
addressing. Every sequence bad been detailed, timed, reactions considered.
Arthur Pierce had not been called to the phone, he had been making a call.
Or had be? There could be no mistake, not now. Had an operator transferring
rapidly incoming calls throughout the vast expanse of an air force base
forgotten one among so many? And how often did soldiers take over innocuous
assignments for friends without informing their superiors? How frequently
did highly visible men appear to be on the side of the avenging medical
angels by never smoking in public but in a crisis pulling out a concealed
pack of cigarettes, a babit they were sincerely trying to kick, the act of
smoking actually awkward? . . . How many men had streaks of premature white
in their bair?
No mistakes. Once the accusation was made it could not be taken back, and
if it could not be sustained, trust at the highest level would be eroded,
possibly destroyed; the very people who had to communicate with one another
would be guarded, wary, commanders in silent conflict. Where was the
ultimate proof?
Moscow?
There is fiW the KGB; all else follows. A m4n may gravitate to the VKR, but
first he must have sprung from the KGB. Rostov. Athens.
THE PAnwAL MosAic 617
He says he is not your enemy ... but others are who may be his as well. A
Soviet agent. Kennedy Airport.
"I can see it in your eyes, Mikhail." jenna touched his shoulder, forcing
him to look at her. "Call the President."
I have to.be absolutely certain. Pierce said it would take at least three
hours for the vault to be opened, another two to sort out the documents.
Ive got some time. If be's Ambiguity, he's trapped."
"How can you be absolutely certain about a paminyatchik?-
"At the source. Moscow."
"Rostov?"
"I can try. He may be as desperate as I am, but if he ign't, IT tell him be
should be. We've got our maniacs, and be's got his." Havelock picked up the
phone and dialed the three digits for the White House switchboard. "Please
get me the Russian consulate in New York. I'm afraid I don't know the
number.... No, I'll hold on." Michael covered the mouthpiece, speaking to
jenna. "Go over Pierce's file. Look for something we can trace. Parents, if
theyre alive."
"A wife," said jenna.
"He's not married."
"Convenient. Lovers, then.*
"He's discreet."
"Naturally." jenna picked up the Me from the desk.
'Dobriy vyehchyer," said Havelock into the phone, his hand removed. "Ja
khochu govories nachar nikom, okhrany." Every operator at every Soviet
embassy and consulate understood when a caller asked to be connected to the
director of street security. A deep male voice got on the line, ac-
knowledging merely that he bad picked up the phone. Michael continued in
Russian: "My name is Havelock and I have to assume Im speaking to the right
person, the one who can put me in touch with the man rm trying to reach."
"Who might that be, sir?"
"I'm afraid I didn't get his
name, but be knows mine. As rm quite sure you
do."
"That's not much help, Mr. Havelock."
"I think it's enough. The man met me at Kennedy Airport and we had a
lengthy conversation, including the means I n-dght employ to reach him
again; a forty-eigbt-hour time span and the New York Public Library figured
prominently
618 ROBERT LuDLum
among them. There was also some discussion about a missIng Graz-Burya
automatic, a splendid weapon, I think youll agree. les urgent I speak with
that man-as urgent as his message was for me."
"Perhaps if you could recall the message, it might be more helpful, sir."
"An offer of sanctuary from the director of External Strategies, Pyotr
Rostov, KGB, Moscow. And I wouldn't say those words if I were taping this.
You can, but I can't afford it."
"There is always the possibility of a reverse order of events."
"Take the chance, comrade. You can't afford not to."
"Then why not talk with me ... comrade?"
"Because I don't know you." Michael looked down at the list of the direct,
unlisted numbers he had been assigned; be repeated one to the Russian. "III
be here for the next five minutes." He bung up and reached for the brandy.
"Will he call back, do you think?' asked Jenna, sitting in the chair in
front of the desk, the Pierce file in her hand.
7my not? He doesn't have to say anything, just listen.... Anything there we
can use?"
"The mother died in 1968. The father disappeared eight months later and has
never been seen since. He wrote his son in Vietnam that be 'didn't care to
go on without his.wife, that he'd join her with God! -
"Naturally. But no suicide, no body. just a Christian fadeout."
"Naturally. Paminyatchik. He bad too much to offer in Novgorod."
The telephone rang, the lighted button corresponding to the number be had
given the Soviet consulate in New York.
"You understand, Mr. Havelock," began the singsong voice in English
unmistakably belonging to the Soviet agent from Kennedy Airport, "that the
message delivered to you was offered in the spirit of compassion for the
great injustice done by those in your government who called for the
execution of a man of peace-"
"If you~re doing this," interrupted Havelock, "for the benefit of any
recording on this end, forget it. And if you're auditioning for the
consulate's, do it later. I haveet got time. rm accepting a part of Rostovs
offer."
"I was not aware that it was divided into parts."
Tim PARSIFAL MOSAIC619
'Irm assuming prior communication."
"I assume that's reasonable," said the Russian. "Under extremely limited
circumstances."
"Any circumstances you like, just use this telephone number and have him
get back to me within the hour." Michael looked at his watch. "It's not
quite seven o'clock in the morning in Moscow. Reach him."
"I don't believe those circumstances are acceptable."
"Theyve got to be. Tell him I may have found the enemy. Our enemy, the word
temporary, of course, assuming again there's a future for either of us."
"I really don't think-"
"Don't think. Reach him. Because if you don't, III try myself and that
could be acutely embarrassing-to you, comrade, not to me. I don't care
anymore. I'm the prize." Havelock replaced tbe,pbone, aware of the beads of
perspiration that bad broken out on his forehead.
"What can Rostov actually tell you?" jenna got up from the chair and placed
Pierce's dossier on the desk. "There's nothing here, incidentally. just a
brilliant, modest bero of the republic."
"Naturally." Michael wiped bis forehead with the back of his hand and
leaned forward, supporting himself on his elbows. "Rostov told me in Athens
that one of his sources for Costa Brava was a mole operating out of the
White House. I didn't believe him; it's the kind of shock treatment that
makes you listen harder. But suppose be was telling me the truth-a past
truth-because he knew the mole was out and untraceable. The perfect
traveler."
jenna raised her band, pointing to the dossier on the desk. "Pierce was
assigned to the National Security Council. He had'an office in the White
House for several months."
"Yes. And Rostov meant what he said; be couldn't understand, and what you
can't understand in this business is cause for alarm. Everything he had
learned about Costa Brava-which I confirmed-told him it couldn't have taken
place without the cooperation of someone in Moscow. But who? These
operations are under his direct control, but he didn't have ' anything to
do with it, knew nothing about it. So he tested me, thinking I could tell
him something, bringing in the mole for credibility, knowing that we both
accepted a
620 ROBERT LunLum
mole's information as being reliable. The truth-as he was told the
truth-except it was a lie."
"Told by a KGB officer, a paminyatchik mole, who had transferred his
allegiance from the KGB to the Voennaya," said Jenna. "He throws off his
former superiors for his new ones."
"Then proceeds to intercept and take over Costa Brava. If be was at Costa
Brava. If . . . if."
"How will you handle Rostov? He'll be taped; bell be monitored."
"ItT be light. He is, after all, director of External Strategies. I'll play
on the power struggle. KCB versus VKR. He'll understand."
"He won't talk about the paminyatchik operation over the telephone, you
know that. He can't."
"I won't ask him to. Ill name the name and listen. Hell tell me somehow.
We've both been around a long time-too long-and the words we use have never
been written to mean what we say they mean, the silences we use never
understood except by people like us. He wants what I have-if I have it-as
much as I want what be can confirm. Tenwork. Somebow. Hell tell me if
Arthur Pierce is the mole-if be's convinced the mole has gone around his
back and joined the maniacs."
Jenna walked to the coffee table, picked up a note pad, and sat down in the
leather armchair. "While you're waiting, do you want to talk about
Commander Decker?"
'ChrWl" Havelocles right hand shot out for the phone, his left centering
the list of numbers in front of him. He dialed as he spoke, his voice
strained: "I mentioned him to Pierce. Oh, God, did I mention himl ... Raise
the Decker escort, please. Hurry."
"Naval escort. In position."
The words over the radiophone were clear, and the sudden throbbing in
Michaers temples began to subside. "This is Sterile Five. We have reason to
believe there could be hostile activity in your area."
"No signs of it" was the reply. "Everything's quiet, and the street's well
lighted."
"Nevertheless, I'd like additional personnel."
"We're stretched pretty thin at Sixteen Hundred, Sterile
TIIE PARSIFAL MOSAIC621
Five. Why not call in the locals? They don't have to know any more than we
do, and we don't know a damn thing."
"Can you do it?"
"Sure. We'll label it diplomatic and theyll get overtime. By the w
ay, how
do you read the activity?"
"Abduction. Neutering you first, then taking Decker."
"Thanks for the warning. We'll get right on it. Out."
Havelock leaned back in the chair, his neck stretched over the back, and
stared at the ceiling. "Now that we know -there still is a Commander
Decker, what did he tell you?"
"Where did you leave off? I went back over everything."
Michael closed his eyes, remembering. "A phone call," he said slowly. "It
was later, after their Sunday meetings at the lodge. He tried for days,
weeks, to get in touch with Matthias, but Anton wouldift talk to him. Then
someone called him ... with an explanation. That was it, he said it was an
explanation."
jenna flipped through her notes, stopping at a page, then going back two.
"A man with a strange voice, an odd accent-2clipped and rushe& was the way
Decker described it. I asked him to recall as thoroughly as possible every
word the man said. Fortunately, that call was very important to him; he
remembered nearly everything, I think. I wrote it down."
"Read it, will you?'
Jenna rolled the page over. "The man identifled himself as a colleague of
the Secretary of State, and asked Decker several questions about his naval
career, obviously to make sure it was Decker. . . . Then here it begins -I
tried to write it down as though I'd heard it myself. 'Secretary Mattbias
appreciates everything you've done, and wants you to know that you will be
mentioned prominently and frequently in his memoirs. But you must
understand the rules, the rules cai;t be broken. For the SecretaWs global
strategy to be effective, it must be developed in total secrecy; the
element of surprise is paramount; no one in or out of govermnent-2" jenna
paused. "The emphases were Decker's," she added.
-zn or our of government aware that a master plan has been created.'" Again
jenna stopped and looked up. "Here Decker wasn't precise; the man's reasons
for excluding people in government were apparently based on the assumption
that there were too many who couldn't be trusted, who might divulge secrets
regardless of their clearance."
622 RoBERT LuDLum
"Of course he wasn't precise. He was talking about himself and it was a
painful reference."
"I agree.... This last part I'm sure was accurate, probably word for word.
Robert Ludlum - The Parcifal Mosaic.txt Page 78
