“Of course, Colonel,” Pepper said pleasantly. “Everyone knows who you are. How do you do?”
“I do very well, thank you, which is more than I can say for you, Mr. Pepper. You have committed very serious crimes against the people of St. Marks.”
“If you’re referring to the several speeding tickets I’ve been given over the past year, I assure you they have all been paid, and I have adjusted my driving habits so that I am always within the speed limits.”
“You know very well what I am referring to,” Croft said.
“I’m afraid I don’t, Colonel. Where is my wife? May I see her?”
“I haven’t decided,” Croft said.
“I assure you my wife is entirely a law-abiding resident of St. Marks.”
“Does your wife have computer skills, too, Mr. Pepper?”
“She can just barely handle e-mail, I’m afraid.”
“But you—you are an absolute whiz with computers, aren’t you?”
“I’m the chief technology officer for the casino,” Pepper replied. “Computers are an important part of my job.”
“Describe your duties, please.”
“As chief technology officer, I write or supervise the writing of computer software which allows people all over the world to participate in online gaming, thus injecting many millions in tax dollars into the economy of St. Marks. May I call my boss, the chief executive officer of my company, please?”
“No, you may not,” Croft replied. “What is your interest in Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Weatherby and Mr. Robertson?”
“I’m sorry, I’m not acquainted with anyone of those names.”
“Then why were you attempting to obtain information about them from the computers at the Department of the Interior?”
“Colonel, it is a legitimate part of my work to obtain information about clients and prospective clients, but the only reason I would have to obtain any information at all about anyone would be a perfectly normal check of employment and credit records, before establishing a line of credit for a new customer. In the event that the applicant was a St. Marks citizen or resident, one of my staff would seek confirmation of the contents of the credit application. I expect that must be what you are referring to.”
“And would that search for information include attempting to download applications for permission to purchase a residence on St. Marks?”
“It might. Since the credit bureau on St. Marks is fairly limited in its operation, my staff might look for other sources to confirm the address and credit-worthiness of an applicant. The ownership of property is always desirable when we are extending credit to a new customer.”
“And do you have signed applications for credit from those three gentlemen?”
“All our transactions with our customers and with applicants are conducted online, so we don’t have paper records.”
“But you could produce printouts of online applications from Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Weatherby?”
“I’m afraid that our company policies prevent the disclosure of any information about any of our customers or applicants, Colonel. The home office was made aware of our policies and procedures when our business was first established in St. Marks, and so were the home secretary and, of course, the prime minister. Sir Winston takes a very great interest in companies wishing to do business on St. Marks.” Pepper was aware that both of these gentlemen took very great bribes, as well.
“Mr. Pepper, do you see the door immediately to your right?”
Pepper looked and found the door. “Yes, Colonel.”
“Go and open the door and look into the next room.”
“As you wish, Colonel.” Pepper got up, walked to the door and opened it. A trickle of fear ran down his bowels. The room was smaller than the office in which he had been sitting, but it was better equipped; it contained a heavy wooden chair bolted to the floor and equipped with thick leather straps for restricting the movement of whoever might sit in it.
Next to the chair was a large table on which were arrayed a variety of knives, pliers and other hardware that might be used for other than their original purpose.
On the other side of the chair, resting on two sawhorses, was a freshly constructed wooden coffin, with its lid lying on the floor next to it.
Pepper closed the door and returned to his chair.
“Now,” Colonel Croft said, “let us begin again.”
33
Lance Cabot was waiting in the director’s reception area when she arrived at work at 8 A.M. He felt awful, having been up all night, and he was anxious about this meeting.
Kate Lee regarded him closely. “Something wrong, Lance?” she asked.
“May I speak with you in your office, Director?”
“Of course; come in.” She led the way into her inner office and hung her coat in a closet. “Have a seat.” She waved him toward her desk.
Lance took a chair across the desk from her, noting the difference from other meetings, when they sat in the more informal cluster of sofas and chairs across the room. “Sometime yesterday, probably in the afternoon, Bill Pepper was taken from his office by the police on St. Marks. Later in the day, police also took his wife, who is also our operative, from their home.”
“Is there anything in either Bill’s office or home that might compromise his situation?”
“I very much doubt it; he would have followed procedure.”
“Where is he now?”
“Apparently, still in the Markstown jail. The legendary Colonel Croft is also there, and I think we must presume that he has questioned or is questioning Bill and Annie.”
“And, as I recall, his interrogation techniques were learned and refined in latter-day Haiti.”
“That is correct.”
“Do we know the reason for their detention?”
“Not yet. We were fortunate that our man in the embassy there was also the duty officer last night, so we have not yet involved the ambassador.” He glanced at his watch. “That will become necessary later this morning.”
“Do we know if Colonel Croft has made any connection between Pepper and Holly Barker’s group?”
“No, but I very much doubt it.”
“I should have thought that Colonel Croft’s interrogation practices might have produced that information by now.”
“Jim Tiptree, the Agency man at the embassy, first telephoned Colonel Croft, then visited the jail, demanding to see him. He is still there, waiting. I think his presence might have had a dampening effect on the colonel’s urges.”
“You must have some idea why the Peppers were detained. What was Bill’s most recent assignment? From you, I mean; not from Hugh English.”
“He was to go into the St. Marks government computers and get copies of the applications to purchase a residence of three men we suspect of possibly being Teddy Fay—Robertson, Pemberton and Weatherby.”
“You suspect three men of being Teddy?”
“Possibly.”
“As I recall, Bill has made St. Marks government computers his playground over the past few months. How would he get caught now?”
“Croft has been working at upgrading all of St. Marks’s security procedures. At some point, he would turn his attention to computer security, and we may be at that point.”
“And what is our next step?”
“When the ambassador arrives at his office, Jim Tiptree is going to have to involve him in the effort to secure the release of the Peppers. That, of course, will mean the involvement of State, since the ambassador will certainly inform the Caribbean Desk, as a matter of routine.”
“And we don’t want that, do we?”
“No, Director.”
“And how do you propose that we prevent that from happening?”
“The ambassador to St. Marks, Warren Holden, is a personal friend of the president, I believe.”
“Yes, they were both Senate staffers on the Select Committee on Intelligence when they were younger. Are you suggesting
that the president call Holden and prevent him from reporting this incident to State?”
“Nothing quite as formal as that,” Lance said. “If he could just ask him to give us time to get the Peppers released and off the island.”
“And when they’re gone, then report to State?”
“Well, a delay in reporting might make it awkward to report it at a later date.”
“So you want the president to call in a favor from an old friend?”
“It was a pretty big favor, on the part of the president, to appoint his old friend to a cushy Caribbean ambassadorship. I should think Mr. Holden would be anxious to repay that.”
“I suppose he might, but if this should turn into an international incident, then…”
“I believe this will end with the release and repatriation of the Peppers.”
“What, exactly, do you want Warren Holden to do?”
“I’d like him to call the prime minister, Sir Winston Sutherland, tell him that the Peppers are personal friends of his—they play bridge every Thursday, or something like that—and ask him to call Colonel Croft and have them released at once.”
“Are you at all concerned about the security of Holly Barker’s group? Should we get them out of there now?”
“An airplane had already been scheduled to pick them up at noon tomorrow and bring them home. I think to rush that might be counterproductive.”
“Would there be room on that airplane for the Peppers?”
“There would be, if I send a larger airplane.”
“How large?”
“The presently scheduled airplane is quite small; something mid-sized, like a Hawker, would be sufficient.”
“All right, I’ll ask the president to make the call. If we can get the Peppers off the island tomorrow, and without a fuss, then Holden can just forget any of this ever happened. I want you to take every conceivable step to see that a fuss does not occur.”
“Certainly, Director.”
“Because that is what I’m going to tell the president, and you’d better not make a liar of me.”
“I’ll get this done, Director.”
“All right, I’ll make the call now; go back to your office, and I’ll call you when it’s in the works.”
“Ah, there is one other thing, Director.”
“What thing?”
“Hugh English.”
Kate Lee emitted a small groan.
“There was no way I could ask Jim Tiptree not to report this to him. I’m sure he’ll be on the phone to me within minutes.”
The Director sighed. “Hugh English is going to be more trouble than the ambassador,” she said.
“I know. Unless you speak to him before he speaks to me, there will be an eruption, and I don’t think we want that.”
The director picked up the phone. “Get me Hugh English, please; if he’s not in, try his cell or his car phone.” She pressed the speaker button and waited.
Lance tried not to squirm in his seat.
“Hello?” Hugh English might have been in the room with them, his voice was so clear.
“Good morning, Hugh.”
“Not really, Director; I have a problem.”
“The situation in St. Marks?”
There was what seemed a stunned silence, then: “I’m very surprised that you should know about this so quickly, Director; I’m not sure it rises to your level.”
“Hugh, we’re not sure about this yet, but the Peppers may have been detained because Bill was trying to extract some information from St. Marks government computers at my request.”
“I received no such request from you, Director.”
“No, it was made through another Agency officer who is also present on St. Marks at the moment. It’s my understanding that Bill Pepper has been extracting all sorts of information from those computers for months, so I believed that my request would be routine for him, and he did not indicate otherwise.”
“Director, I’m sure this could have all been avoided, if you had had the courtesy to go through my office, as prescribed by the operational procedures which you yourself instituted.”
“Perhaps, but we don’t know that yet. He may well have been detained for something you yourself asked him to do.”
Lance loved that.
“In any case, Hugh, I am personally working to have the Peppers released and returned to the U.S., perhaps as early as tomorrow, so please take no steps in that regard without consulting me first.”
“As you wish, Director.”
“I think we can resolve this quickly and without a fuss, so just give me some time. In the meantime, you might be thinking about a replacement for the Peppers on St. Marks.”
“Don’t you think that might be precipitous, Director? I mean, until we know the meaning of their detention, we won’t know if they’ve been compromised.”
“Hugh, they were compromised the moment they came to the personal attention of the infamous Colonel Croft.”
“Quite,” Hugh English said. “I’ll begin working on a replacement. Is that all, Director?”
“For the moment, Hugh.”
“Good-bye.” He hung up.
“If he calls you, Lance,” the director said, “stonewall him, but as politely as possible. Now, get to work on getting an airplane there tomorrow.”
Lance stood up. “Thank you, Director.” She was asking for the White House when he left her office.
34
Bill Pepper still sat in the uncomfortable wooden chair, and the light coming through the closed shutters on the window told him that the sun was well up; his stomach was telling him it was near lunchtime. Colonel Croft kept leaving the room and returning and asking the same questions all over again.
Colonel Croft now returned again and took his seat at the desk. “Mr. Pepper,” he said, “I am growing weary of your intransigence.”
“Colonel Croft,” Pepper said, “I have repeatedly answered every question you have put to me; there is no intransigence on my part.”
“Mr. Pepper, go to the door there and open it.”
“Colonel, I have already seen your display.”
“Do as I say immediately.”
Pepper got up wearily, went to the door and opened it. Everything was as before, except that Annie Pepper was seated in the torture chair, blindfolded.
“Return to your chair and sit down,” the colonel said.
“Annie,” Pepper said, “don’t worry, honey; everything is going to be all right.” He closed the door and returned to his chair, this time frightened, but furious.
“Now, Mr. Pepper…” the colonel began.
“No, Colonel,” Pepper replied, cutting him off. “Not now, not ever. I demand to see an official of the American Embassy at once, and if you so much as touch a hair on the head of my wife, I will take it upon myself to see that you will spend the rest of your days regretting it. And if you don’t think I have the juice to do that, you are very much mistaken. This interrogation is at an end.”
The colonel rose from his chair, opened a desk drawer and removed what appeared to be a riding crop. He strode around the desk and stopped in front of Pepper. “Now, Mr. Pepper, we will see how much influence you have.” He drew the crop back so far it was over his shoulder.
Irene Foster was pushing her grocery cart down an aisle at her favorite supermarket in Markstown, thumping melons and sniffing cheeses, when her basket collided with that of another woman.
“Oh, I’m so sorry; I…”
“Irene?”
Irene peered at the other woman. “Margaret Tiptree? I don’t believe it.”
“I don’t believe it, either,” Mrs. Tiptree said. “What on earth are you doing in St. Marks?”
“I retired here earlier this year,” Irene replied. “Is Jim based here?”
“He’s the cultural attaché at the embassy,” Margaret replied, winking.
“Of course he is. What a plum assignment!”
“It’s a great way to ride
out the three years until his retirement,” Margaret said. “We like it here so much, we’re thinking of staying.”
“Well, you must come to dinner, soon. It would be good to see Jim again; it’s been years. His work must be boring, though.”
Margaret came closer and lowered her voice. “Not today, it isn’t. Colonel Croft has got Bill and Annie Pepper in his jail, and Jim is worried sick. He’s over there now.”
“I remember Bill Pepper,” Irene said, “but I don’t know his wife.”
“He’s undercover in one of the offshore casinos, and we don’t even know why he was picked up.”
“That’s bad news,” Irene said. “That Colonel Croft is a throwback to the Middle Ages; there’s no telling what he will do.”
“Well, Jim’s all over it, so I’m hoping for a good result.”
The two women chatted a bit longer and made a dinner date for the following week. As soon as they had parted, Irene went to an isolated corner of the supermarket and dialed a cell phone number.
“Yes?”
“Teddy, it’s Irene.”
“What’s up?”
“I just ran into Margaret Tiptree at the supermarket.”
“Jim Tiptree’s wife?”
“Yes; he’s based at the embassy here.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Do you remember a young officer named Bill Pepper?”
“Yes, I outfitted him on his first mission for the Agency.”
“He’s here, too, undercover, in one of the offshore casinos, and that awful Colonel Croft has arrested him.”
“Oh, shit,” Teddy said.
“Jim is on the job, but I’m afraid Bill is going to be hurt before they can get him out. They arrested his wife, too.”
“Christ, I hate hearing that.”
“You’ve had dealings with Croft; is there anything you can do?”
Teddy was quiet for a moment. “Yes, there is, and I should have done it sooner,” he said. “I’ll speak to you later.”
Teddy hung up, remembering where Colonel Croft liked to have his lunch every day. He went to a shelf in his workshop and removed a slightly battered briefcase that was heavier than it appeared. He checked the contents, then closed it and headed for his car. He drove to Markstown, to a hilltop overlooking the town and, in particular, the Markstown jail. He drove up an overgrown dirt trail to a spot he knew: an old tower that had once been used for firespotting, dating to a time when there were more trees on the island.
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