The President’s face showed that he didn’t like this answer, but he turned to FBI Director Mark Schmidt and asked, “Well?”
Schmidt handed him a large manila envelope. The President opened it, withdrew its contents, then asked, “What am I looking at?”
“Photocopies of a UPS Next Day envelope and its contents, which were delivered early this morning to General McNab at Fort Bragg.”
“The address on here says ‘Sergeant Terry O’Toole,’ ” the President said.
“Major General Terrence O’Toole is General McNab’s deputy, sir,” Schmidt said. “In the belief that another message would be sent to General McNab, possibly using an address that would not attract attention but would nevertheless reach General McNab-the first message from these people was addressed to Lieutenant Colonel McNab-the FBI instituted a nationwide surveillance of both FedEx and UPS overnight packages. We found that one last night in El Paso.”
If Schmidt expected a compliment for the FBI’s success, he was to be disappointed.
“The FBI found this last night?” the President asked. “Then why am I getting it-why am I getting copies of it and not the original-now? Why wasn’t I informed of this last night? Why didn’t I have the whole damn thing a lot sooner than now?”
“Once we located the envelope, we notified General McNab and then put it back in the UPS delivery process.”
“And then?”
“General McNab notified General Naylor of the package’s arrival, and then turned it over to the FBI liaison officer at SPECOPSCOM. He notified FBI headquarters and we sent a plane to pick it up. As we speak, Mr. President, our forensic people at Quantico are examining it to see what can be learned. I ordered that a photocopy of everything be sent to me.”
“What your people in El Paso should have done is sent it directly to you. The less General McNab has to do with this, the better.”
“Sir, it was addressed to General McNab.”
The President slammed the envelope on his desk. “No. It was addressed to Sergeant Terry O’Toole. And if you had done that, I would be looking at it a lot sooner than just now. And I’ll tell you what I have learned from this, without the help of your forensic experts: These people want to swap Colonel Ferris for”-he paused and dropped his eyes to the message-“for Felix Abrego. Who the hell is he?”
“He’s a Mexican national, Mr. President,” FBI Director Schmidt said, “serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole at Florence ADMAX in Colorado.”
“What did he do?”
“DEA agents intercepted a movement of drugs near El Paso-in the United States, near El Paso-during which this fellow shot and killed three agents. The DEA believes he is one of the leaders of one of the major drug cartels.”
“I would suggest it’s a moot point, Mr. President,” Attorney General Crenshaw said.
“What?”
“The United States has a long-standing policy of not negotiating in situations like this, Mr. President.”
“Policies change, Mr. Attorney General. Lammelle, has the CIA got anything to add?”
“Sir, both the DEA people in Acapulco and my man there feel there is something odd about the murders and kidnapping. The relationship between the DEA and the Sinaloa drug cartel, which controls that area, is-for lack of a better word-amicable. Their compliance with the orders of the ambassador to cooperate with the Mexican authorities has meant that the cartel almost certainly has not felt threatened by the DEA in the area, or by the Special Forces. There is no reason for them to draw attention to themselves by doing something like this.”
“Except, of course, that they want this fellow Abrego back.”
“Mr. President, they could have kidnapped Colonel Ferris in Mexico City.”
“Get to your point, Lammelle,” the President said impatiently.
“Raw intelligence data, Mr. President, as I’m sure you know, is intelligence that has not been analyzed as to the source, and the reliability of that source. In short, it’s unreliable.”
“You do have a point, right?” the President asked.
“This does not mean that raw intelligence data is not accurate, Mr. President, just that we can’t determine whether it is or not.”
“Why do I suspect, Lammelle, that you’re going to tell me that you have some raw intelligence data, the accuracy of which you can’t determine?”
“My raw data suggests the possibility, Mr. President, that Putin-the Russians-are behind what happened in Acapulco.”
“What possible interest could Putin have in Whatsisname. . Felix Abrego?”
“My raw data suggests his interest is in Colonel Dmitri Berezovsky, Lieutenant Colonel Svetlana Alekseeva, and Lieutenant Colonel Castillo.”
“Ah-ha! Well, I can understand that. Nobody likes traitors.”
“Mr. President, I must object to your characterization of Colonel Castillo as a traitor,” Secretary Natalie Cohen said.
“That’s right,” the President said with a thin smile. “He’s a hero, isn’t he? A well-paid hero. The Vice President and Mr. Lammelle didn’t waste very much time before handing him a check for a hundred twenty-five million of taxpayers’ dollars, did they?”
“Mr. President,” Vice President Montvale said, “that reward for the delivery of a Tupelov was authorized by both your predecessor and by Senator Johns of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.”
The President ignored him.
“In your opinion, Mr. Ellsworth,” the President said, “presuming that Mr. Lammelle’s raw and unconfirmed intelligence that Mr. Putin’s wholly understandable interest in getting his hands on his two traitors is true, how is that going to affect our efforts to get Colonel Ferris back?”
“I have no idea,” Ellsworth replied. “It seems to me that we’re going to have to wait until we see what the Mexicans come up with. The ball, so to speak, is in their court.”
“No, the ball is in our court,” the President said. “They want to talk. So we’ll talk.”
“Mr. President,” Attorney General Crenshaw said, “you’re not thinking of entering into negotiations involving exchanging this fellow Abrego, are you?”
“Of course not,” the President said. “I wouldn’t think of violating long-standing policy. But one thought I’ve had running through my mind since I-finally-got a look at their message is that this fellow is a convicted murderer, not a terrorist. And I seem to recall that our policy speaks of not negotiating with terrorists. Correct me if I’m wrong.”
The attorney general thought for a split second, then said, “I believe you’re correct, Mr. President, but-”
“I also believe that it is within my power to show compassion. For example, if Senor Abrego were discovered to have developed a terminal illness, who could fault me for returning him to his native Mexico to live out what little remains of his life? He would then become the Mexicans’ problem. And if that somehow resulted in Colonel Ferris’s being released. .”
Crenshaw glanced out the windows as he composed his reply.
“Well?” the President said.
“If you did that, Mr. President, it would have the same effect. We have fifty people like Abrego in our prisons. Once these drug cartels get the message that all they have to do to get any of them released is to kidnap-”
“We will deal with that when and if it comes up,” the President said. “You don’t object to this to the point where you’re considering offering your resignation, are you, Mr. Attorney General?”
Crenshaw’s face tightened. It was a long moment before he replied, “Not at this time, Mr. President.”
“Good. It’s nice to see I have at least one loyal member of my Cabinet. I think the FBI would be the best agency to establish contact with these people, whoever they are. Do you agree?”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“Now, since Mr. Lammelle has brought up the possibility that this has something to do with these Russian traitors, it might be useful to know where they are. An
yone know? There are Interpol warrants out for them, I believe. In addition to being traitors, they’re accused of stealing large amounts of money from their government.”
“Those Interpol warrants have been withdrawn, Mr. President,” FBI Director Schmidt said. “I believe it was part of the armistice agreement Colonel Castillo made with Putin. The Russian embassy sent me a document stating that not only had a full investigation of those charges against Colonel Berezovsky and Lieutenant Colonel Alekseeva cleared them entirely, but also they had been granted permission to leave Russia, and were ‘no longer persons of any interest to the Russian Federation.’”
“‘The armistice agreement Colonel Castillo made with Putin’?” the President parroted. “I thought it was illegal for an American citizen to do something like that. Could he be prosecuted for doing so?”
Vice President Montvale said, “The, quote unquote, armistice was between Castillo and Putin, Mr. President, not between the respective governments. I don’t think it was even committed to paper.”
“It sounds as if my Vice President approves of this ‘armistice.’”
“I do,” Montvale said simply.
“As do I, Mr. President,” Natalie Cohen said.
“It would appear to some people that Colonel Castillo may be angling for your job, Madam Secretary. How do you feel about that?”
“I feel that’s preposterous, Mr. President.”
“Speaking of the colonel and the traitors, where are they?” the President asked. When no one immediately replied, he went on, “There has been no contact with him?”
“No official contact, Mr. President,” Lammelle said. “But Colonel Castillo and I are friends.”
“You don’t say?”
“He was recently in Cozumel, Mexico. I don’t know if he’s still there.”
“What was he doing there? Were the traitors with him?”
“I don’t know about the Russians,” Lammelle said, “but he mentioned that Mr. Parker was there. And Roscoe Danton.”
The President, whose face showed he didn’t like that, looked as if he was going to say something, but changed his mind, and then said, “Birds of a feather, they say, flock together.”
No one replied.
“Well, let me spell things out. I intend, with the cooperation of the Mexican government, to see that Colonel Ferris is released. I will do whatever I think is necessary to accomplish that, and I will not tolerate any interference from anyone, and I don’t want any assistance from Castillo or his Merry Band of Outlaws.
“Furthermore, Secretary Beiderman, I want you to personally inform General Naylor that he is not even to contemplate any military action of any kind whatsoever with regard to Colonel Ferris. And tell him I personally told you to make sure General McNab is aware of this order.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” Beiderman said.
“That’s it. I’ll see you all at the interment in Arlington. McCarthy will furnish the details, just as soon as he’s set them up.”
He suddenly stood and, with McCarthy and Mulligan following him, marched out of the Situation Room.
The Vice President turned to the attorney general.
“Don’t look so unhappy, Stan,” Montvale said. “He gave you the option of resigning.”
The attorney general looked at the Vice President for a moment and then gave him the finger.
“He does tend to bring out the worst in people, doesn’t he?” Secretary of State Cohen said to no one in particular.
V
ONE
The Mayflower Hotel 1127 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 1005 15 April 2007
Mr. and Mrs. J. Herbert Kramer and Mr. and Mrs. Robert V. Dabney came out of what Herb Kramer described as “the restaurant or coffee shop or whateverthehell it is off the lobby” and took seats on two couches in the lobby, from which they had a good view of both the entrance and the bank of elevators.
Herb Kramer was pleased with his breakfast of corned beef hash topped with poached eggs.
“Most of the time you get corned beef, it’s hash fresh from a can,” Herb observed. “That was homemade, from real corned beef.” Then he observed, “But they didn’t give it away, did they?”
“What the hell, it’s deductible,” Bob Dabney said. “Live it up!”
Herb and Bob were in Washington to attend the annual convention of the National Association of Wholesale Hardware Dealers. Both were in that business in Missouri, Herb in St. Louis and Bob in Kansas City. They had been pals since their days at the University of Missouri, where Bob married Kate the day after they graduated. Herb had married his Delores some years later.
They were staying at the Mayflower because of Delores. Someone had told her that the best place in Washington to see the big shots was in the lobby of the Mayflower, and Delores generally got what she wanted. She was far more interested in seeing the big shots up close than she was in seeing a bunch of old airplanes at the National Aerospace Museum, which was high on Herb and Bob’s agenda for their free time while in the nation’s capital.
They didn’t have to wait long to learn that what Delores had been told was true.
“Look!” Delores whispered loudly as a group of ten men came down the lobby to the elevator bank. “There’s Whatsisname!”
“Who?” Herb asked in a normal voice.
“The guy we see on Wolf News all the time,” Delores said impatiently.
“Roger Danton,” Kate furnished.
“Roscoe Danton,” Bob corrected her. “And there’s the President’s press secretary.”
“Ex-press secretary,” Herb said. “He got canned last week.”
“That’s right, isn’t it? What did he do?”
Bob shrugged. “Or didn’t do. It sounded like incompetence.”
“Well, I will be damned,” Herb said. “That was them, sure as Christ made little apples.”
“I wonder who the other ones are,” Delores said as the men disappeared into an elevator.
Bob and Herb shrugged.
“I wonder what they’re doing here?” Delores went on.
“They probably came to see Monica Lewinsky,” Herb said with a straight face.
“That’s right!” Delores said. “This is that place, isn’t it?”
“That’s how they get away with charging so much for the rooms,” Herb said.
What happened next, three minutes later, was even more exciting.
Four large and muscular men strode purposefully into the lobby, looked around suspiciously-including at Herb, Bob, Kate, and Delores-and then took up positions along the corridor. One of them stood in the door of an elevator so that the door would remain open.
Then another five men entered the lobby from the street and headed for the elevators, two in front of and two behind the Vice President of the United States. They all got in the open elevator.
“I will be damned,” Herb said. “Vice President Montvale.”
“He probably wants to see ol’ Monica, too,” Bob said, grinning at his own joke.
“Will you stop that?” Delores said. “That’s the Vice President.”
And the parade of bigwigs was not over.
Four people-two of them women-strode purposefully into the lobby and did just about what the members of the Vice President’s protection detail had done.
After looking carefully at Delores, Kate, Bob, and Herb, the men and one of the women took up positions in the lobby, beside the protection detail men already there. The second woman stood in an elevator door and kept it from closing.
Next, five people marched into the lobby, two men and two women surrounding a third, much smaller woman. They marched to the elevator and got on.
“My God, that was the secretary of State!” Kate said. “What’s her name?”
“Something Cohen,” Bob furnished, and then added, “Natalie Cohen. That’s her name, Natalie Cohen.”
“I’d really love to know what’s going on up there,” Delores said.
TWO
Suite 1002-which consisted of a sitting room, two bedrooms, and a small kitchen-was registered to Herr Karl Wilhelm von und zu Gossinger, the Washington correspondent of the Tages Zeitung newspaper chain, and billed on a monthly basis to Gossinger Beteiligungsgesellschaft, G.m.b.H., of Fulda, Germany, which owned the Tages Zeitung chain and a good deal more.
When Herr Gossinger-who was also known as Carlos Guillermo Castillo, Lieutenant Colonel, Special Forces, U.S. Army, Retired-had called the general manager of the Mayflower the day before to announce that he not only would be checking in later that day but would require in-room late-afternoon cocktails with finger food for probably fifteen or twenty people, and possibly in-room dinner for that many people later, the GM had told Herr von und zu Gossinger not to worry, that he personally would take care of everything.
When Castillo, Lester Bradley, and Major Dick Miller arrived at about 1700, they found that the general manager-who appreciated guests who not only did not question prices but also paid promptly-had obligingly made the suite adjacent to 1002 available. The suites were identical. Hotel staff had opened the double door between the two suites and converted the sitting room of 1004 into a dining room with bar.
When the door chimes bonged, Castillo pulled the door open.
A large, middle-aged Irishman stood there.
“You’re welcome here, Tom, even if I suspect you’re here officially,” Castillo greeted him. “Come on in. You want some coffee?”
“The Vice President’s sixty seconds behind me, Charley,” Supervisory Secret Service Special Agent Thomas McGuire, chief of the Vice Presidential Protection Detail, said.
“Why do I suspect I’m not going to like what he wants to tell me?” Castillo asked.
McGuire did not reply directly, instead saying: “When we heard you were in Washington, we went to the house in Alexandria. They told us you were here.”
“Did you ask personally, Tom? Or in your official capacity?”
McGuire looked uncomfortable.
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