Robert Ludlum - The Parcifal Mosaic.txt

by The Parcifal Mosaic [lit]

  interested in them. This practice, in concert with Amendments IV, V and VI

  of the Bill of Rights, made it virtually hnpossible to trap a paminyatchik;

  he was a citizen and entitled to the protection of the Constitution of the

  United States. By the time probable cause eliminated unreasonable search,

  or a grand jury returned a presentment or an indictment, and the accused

  was informed of the nature and cause of his possible crime the traveler had

  long since departed, only to surface in weeks or months with another

  identity, a wholly original r&UM6, and not infrequently a new face,

  courtesy of surgeons in Moscow.

  However, as Rostov had pointed out in Athens, the irony

  536 ROBERT LuDLum

  of this long-range Soviet penetration was found in the practical results.

  Far too often the American "experience" served to undermine the Soviet

  commitment. During his rare but necessary trip to Moscow's Dzerzbinsky

  Square, the paminyatchik was made aware of the inevitable comparisons be-

  tween the two countries. In the flnal analysis, the travelers were far less

  productive than the KGB felt it had a right to expect in light of the money

  and the effort it expended. Yet to threaten one was to court exposure of the

  whole program.

  Futility was not always the province of those with God on their side,

  thought Havelock.

  Yet, again, there were the exceptions, and exposure would never come from

  them. A mole called Ambiguity, who roamed the sacrosanct corridors of the

  State Department, and a bright, persuasive pathologist named Colin

  Shippers, who could grassbop from laboratory to laboratory-bow often were

  these laboratories branches of United States intelligence?-these justifled

  the expense and whatever manpower Moscow allotted to the paminyatchik

  operation. Ambiguity was obviously Shipper's superior, the on-site control,

  and without doubt a respected satellite in the KGB firmamentbut he was not

  keeping his normal KGB channels informed of the present crisis. Costa

  Brava, and all the madness it represented, was not only disavowed by

  Dzerzbinsky Square, but what little they did know about it alarmed men like

  Pyotr Rostov.

  It had to; events bad taken place that could not have taken place without

  complicity in Moscow. A VKR officer had been trapped and wounded in Paris

  by the central flgure at Costa Brava, and it took little imagination to

  know that the orders the officer followed were obfuscated so as to be

  untraceable within the complex machinery of Russian intelligence. Of course

  Rostov was alarmed; the specter of the fanatical VKR was enough to frighten

  the most dedicated Marxist, just as it frightened Havelock. For the unknown

  Ambiguity obviously sent routine dispatches to his controls in the KGB but

  reserved his most explosive information for his masters in the Voermaya.

  Rostov sensed it, but be could not pin it down, much less expose it. It was

  the reason for his offer to a former counterpart in Consular Operations. He

  says Ws not your enemy any longer, but others are who may be his as welL

  THE PARsiFAL MosAic537

  If Rostov had any idea how valid his instincts were, he would risk a firing

  squad to make contact, thought Michael. But Rostov was wrong; the Russian

  was his enemy. Essentially neither could trust the other because neither

  Washington nor Moscow would permit such trust, and not even the horror of

  Parsffal could change that.

  Futility in a world gone mad-as mad as its former savior, Anthony Matthias.

  "How long do you think it will take?" asked Jerma, sitting across from

  Havelock in the small, sunlit alcove off the kitchen where they bad their

  morning coffee.

  "It's difficult to tell. It'll depend on bow convincing Randolph is and bow

  quickly Shippers suspects that an insurance company may be something else,

  something that alarms him. It could be today, tonight, tomorrow . . . the

  day after."

  "I'd think you'd want Randolph to force him to react irnmediately. Can you

  afford the time?"

  "I can't afford to lose him; be's the only link we've got. His name didn't

  appear in the laboratory report-which was easy for him to insist on in

  light of Randolph's decision to cover up what be thought was a suicide.

  Shippers knows the only way be could surface would be for Randolph to

  incriminate himself, which he'd never do. Beyond practical considerations,

  his ego wouldn't permit it."

  "But swiftness is everything, Mikhail," objected Jenna. 'I'm not sure I

  understand your strategy."

  Havelock looked into her eyes, his own eyes questioning. "I'm not sure I

  do, either. I've always known that to make things work in this

  business-tbis so-called profession of ours-was to think as your enemy

  thinks, to be him, then do what yoere convinced he doesn't expect. Now I'm

  asked to think like someone I can1 possibly relate to, a man who literally

  has to be two people." Michael,sipped his coffee, staring now at the rim of

  the cup. "rhink about it. An American childhood, adolescence-tbe Yankees,

  the Knicks, the Denver Broncos, the Lakers-friends at school and college;

  going out with girls, talking about yourself, conflding in people you

  really like. These are the years when secrets are for telling; ies against

  human nature to keep them to yourself-part of growing up is revealing

  yourself. So explain it to me. How does a man like this, a paminyatchik,

  keep the one secret he can never reveal so deep inside him"

  538 RoBEYtT LuDLum

  "I don't know, but yoeve just described someone I do know very well."

  "Who?"

  "You, my darling."

  "That's crazy." Havelock put his cup down. He was anxfous to leave the

  table; that, too, was in his eyes.

  "Is it?" jenna reached over, putting her hand briefly over his. "How many

  friends at school and in college, how many girls and people you really

  liked did you tell about Mikhail Havlf6ek, and Lidice? How many knew about

  the agonies of Prague and a child who hid in the forests and carried secret

  messages and explosives strapped to his person? Tell me, how many?"

  "It was pointless. It was history."

  "I would never have known-we would never have known-except that our leaders

  insisted on a thorough background check. Your intelligence services have

  not always sent the best people into our part of Europe and we paid for the

  mistakes. But when the dossier of Havli6ek and the Havlf6ek family was

  brought to us-all easily verified-it came sealed with a man from the

  highest office of your State Department, who took it away with him. It was

  apparent that your immediate superiors-our normal contacts-were not aware

  of your early days. For some reason they were concealed; for some

  reason-you were two people. Why, Mikhail?"

  "I just told you. Matthias and I agreed; it was history."

  ~You didn't care to live with it, then. You wanted that part of your life

  to remain hidden, out of sight."

  'nat'll do."

  "I was with you so many times when older people spoke of those days and you

  never said anything, never let on that you were there. Because if you had, />
  it could have led to your secret, the years you didn't care to talk about."

  'rbafs consistent."

  "Like this Shippers, you'd been there and you were staying out of sight.

  You were there but your signature didn't appear anywhere."

  "It's a farfetched parallel."

  "Different, perhaps; not farfetched," insisted jenna. "You can't make even

  the usual inquiries about Shippers because informants might alert him and

  he'd disappear, protecting his

  THE PARsiFAL MosATc539

  secret. You're waiting for him to consider Randolph's call; finally,

  perbaps-you bope-bell decide that be should find out whether or not this

  insurance company is really-How do you say it?"

  "Balking," offered Michael. "Asking last questions before agreeing to the

  final settlement on MacKenzie's policy. les standard; they hate like bell

  paying money."

  "Yes, you believe he'll do this. And when he discovers there are no

  questions, he'll be alarmed, then make his move to contact his control,

  again you hope, Ambiguity."

  "I think that's the way he will behave. It's the best and the safest way I

  can come up with. Anything else would send him underground."

  "And each hour he Jenna shook her head, searching

  for words.

  "Thinks about it,- said Havelock. "Concentrates."

  "Yes, concentrates. Every moment is a lost moment, giving him time to spot

  his surveillance, the men who worry you because you don't know them and you

  can~t give them the true background material on their subject."

  "I don't like it, but it's been done before."

  "Hardly under these conditions, never with such terrible consequences for

  error. Swiftness is everything, Mikhail."

  "You're trying to tell me something and I don't know what it is.".

  "You're afraid of alarming Shippers, afraid he might disappear."

  "'Terrified' is a better word."

  "Then don't go after him. Go after the man who was silent, who was at the

  Medical Center when MacKenzie died, but whose signature did not appear. As

  you were two men in Prague, he is two men here. Go after the one you see

  because you have no reason to believe he is two men, or has a secret to

  conceal."

  Havelock touched his cup, his eyes fixed on Jenna's eyes. "Go after a

  laboratory pathologist," be said quietly. "On the assumption that someone

  had to be there with Randolph. . . . Corroboration. The insurance company

  insists on a corroborating physician."

  "In my country five signatures are barely adequate for any one document."

  "Hell refuse, of course."

  540 RoBETIT LuDLum

  'Can he? He was there."

  "Hell tell Randolph he can't support him, can't agree openly to the

  diagnosis of aneurysm leading to aortal hemorrhage. .

  "Then I think the doctor should be quite firm. If thaes Shippers's medical

  position, why didn't he take it before?"

  Michael smiled. "That's very good. Blackmail an extortion. ist with his own

  material."

  "Why not? Randolph has-how do you say 0-the leverage. Age, reputation,

  wealth; who is this Shippers to oppose him?"

  "And none of it makes a damn bit of difference, anyway. We're simply

  forcing him to move quickly. For his own protection-not as a traveler, but

  as a doctor-he'll have to determine how serious the insurance people are.

  Whether it*s a routine measure or whether they mean it. Then he finds out

  there's nothing; he's got to move again."

  "Whaes today's schedule?" asked Jenna.

  "Initial surveillance will pick up Shippers when he leaves his apartment

  this morning. Secondary will take over inside the Regency buildings."

  "How? . . . I'm sorry, I wasn't listening last night when you were on the

  phone."

  "I know you weren't, I was watching you. Are you going to have something

  for me?"

  "Later, perhaps. How did your men get inside the buildings?"

  "The Regency Foundation's a private firm with its share of classified

  government contracts. That's obviously the reason Shippers went there; a

  lot of those contracts are defense-oriented. Regency was the company that

  first projected the radius bum-level of napalm. it's common for government

  technocrats and GAO personnel to be around there, shuffling papers and

  looking official. Starting this morning, there are two more."

  "I hope no one asks them questions."

  "They wouldn't answer if anyone did; that's standard. Also they've got

  briefcases and plastic ID's on their lapels that identify them. Theyre

  covered if anyone checks." Havelock looked at his watch as he got up from

  the table. "Randolph's making his call between ten and ten-thirty. Lees go.

  III reach him and give him the new word."

  THE PARsiFAL MosAic541

  "If Shippers reacts," said Jenna, following Michael down the hall toward

  the paneled study, "he won't use his office phone."

  "There are three mobile units in the streets, separated by blocks, everyone

  in radio contact, wrist cameras activated by Arm movements. They can move

  out on foot or by car-cars alternating in traffic. If they're any good,

  they wonI lose ljdm..

  "They do worry you, don't they?"

  "They worry me." Havelock opened the door of the study, holding it for

  jenna. "They'd worry me more if it wasn't for a fellow named Charley who

  wanted to put a bullet in my head down on Poole's Island."

  "The one from Consular Operations?"

  Michael nodded, going to the desk. "He flew up last night-my personal

  request, which didn't exactly thrill him. But he's good, he's thorough, and

  be knows that Shippers is involved with the Matthias crisis. Thaes enough

  to make him better than he ever was. He's in charge, and if he doesn't

  choke on the mobile phone he1l keep me posted, let me know if anything

  breaks."

  jenna had gone to her own desk-tbe couch; on the coffee table in front of

  it there were neat, narrow stacks of papers and several pages of

  handwritten notes. She sat down and picked up a bound typewritten report

  from the pile on the left. She spoke while reading, her voice indefinite,

  her concentration split. "Have you gotten in touch with the insurance

  company?"

  "No, that's a risk I don't want to take," replied Havelock, sitting down at

  the desk and watching jenna, but his interest was diverted. "MacKenzie's

  policy might be flagged."

  "You're probably right."

  "What have you got there? Ies the same thing you were looking at last

  night."

  "Ies the report from your Central Intelligence Agency. The list of

  potential Soviet defectors over the past ten years, none of whom

  materialized."

  "Look for a nuclear scientist or an armaments strategist who disappeared."

  "Others disappeared too, Mikhail," said jenna, reading and reaching for a

  pencil. ~

  Havelock kept his eyes on her for several moments, then

  U2Roi3E:IIT LUDLUM

  looked down at a sheet of paper on which were scribbled various telephone

  numbers. He checked one, picked up the phone, and dialed.

  "He's a cold son of a bitch, I can tell you," snapped Dr. Matthew Randolph.

  "O
nce I laid it out for him, be clammed up, asked a couple of questions like

  a mortician settling with a family lawyer and said he'd get back to me."

  "How did y~u lay it out, and what were his questions?'

  asked Michael, putting down the page of Pentagon stationery

  on which were written the identities of the senior officers on

  the Nuclear Co ' ntingency Committees. He had circled a

  name. "Try to be as accurate as possible."

  , III be completely accurate," objected the surgeon testily.

  "I only meant in terms of the words, the phrases be used."

  "It won't be hard; they were damned few and damned short... Like you

  figured, he said I had no right to involve him, that was our understanding.

  He simply brought me his findings and how I altered them was my

  responsibility, not his. So I said I wasn't a goddamned lawyer, but if my

  memory for trivia served me, he was an accessory and there was no way

  around it and I was going to be fried in bell before Midge MacKenzie and

  those kids got screwed out of what was coming to them."

  "So far very good. What was his response?"

  "He didn't have any, so I blasted along. I told him he was a damned fool if

  he thought he was invisible around here four months ago and a bigger fool

  if he thought anyone of the staff would believe I'd spend hours in a

  pathology laboratory over the body of a friend all by myself."

  Very good."

  "He had an answer to that. Like a talking piece of dry ice, he asked who

  specifically knew."

  Havelock felt a sudden spasm in his chest, the specter of unnecessary

  executions rising. "What did you say? Did you mention anybody?"

  "Hell, I said probably everybodyl"

  Michael relaxed. 'Tou can get on the payroll, Doctor.*

  'You couldn't afford me, son."

  "Please, go on."

  "I backed down a bit told him he was getting all worked up over nothing. I

  said the fella who came to see me from

  THE PAmFAL MosAic 543

  the Insurance company said it was just a formality, that they required a

  second signature on the path report before sending the check. I even

  suggested he call Ben Jackson over at Talbot Insurance if he was worried,

  that Ben was an old friend--r

  'You gave him a natneP"

  "Sure. Ben is an old friend; he set up Mac's policy. I flgured if anyone