The Aegis Conspiracy

by Galen Winter

  As a child, Cullen Brewster was fascinated by stories of the World War II espionage. The failures of intelligence that led to Pearl Harbor, the breaking of codes that led to the success of the Battle of Midway, the work of the agents who parachuted into France and Yugoslavia, the clever manipulations that misled the Nazis prior to the invasion at Normandy - those were the stories he adored. In spite of family opposition, as soon as he finished his education, Cullen Brewster looked for and found a position in the CIA.

  In many ways, he was a typical product of his class. Educated at private schools, he received a degree from Yale and continued his studies at Eton. Unlike most of his classmates and all of his progenitors, Cullen Brewster was a Phi Beta Kappa. His college friends and the men he knew through family social and business associates connected him with some of the most powerful people in the country.

  Brewster made no compromise with present day dress practices. He was always impeccable dressed and never appeared in his CIA office without a boutonnière in the lapel of his invariably dark and carefully tailored suit. His only idiosyncrasy appeared to be his custom of wearing bow ties.

  The people in the Agency who referred to him as “that patrician son of a bitch” were those who disliked his accent, his dress and his soft-spoken, superior manner. They weren’t aware of the depth of his experience, his acute analytic capacity or his almost uncanny ability to accurately determine the “why” behind a growing problem, his ability to forecast the probable “what next” and the practicality of his proposals of “what to do about it”.

  Cullen Brewster carried more weight in the Agency than was suggested by his title - Deputy Director of the Directorate of Operations. His judgment and his advice were recognized and appreciated by those who were responsible for advising national security people. When Deputy Director Cullen Brewster spoke, the Director listened. Brewster took great satisfaction in accomplishing the tasks assigned to him. He was comfortable in the position he occupied. When offered opportunities to advance up the chain of command, he politely and consistently refused.

  Chapter 16

  As directed by Teddy, Jake contacted Abdul. The message told the Jordanian to come to Monterrey, pick up a package at the Fed-X office and wait for Jake to contact him at the Nuevo Mundo Hotel. Teddy’s instructions were given to Jake simultaneously with the announcement of his decision to terminate the search for Den Clark and the rejection of Jake’s offer to find him and kill him.

  Since the meeting in Teddy’s office occurred only as few days after Jake’s failed assassination attempt, all of these events were interrelated and it didn’t take a Ph.D. to figure out what they meant. In plain English, Teddy’s confidence in Jake took a back-step when he screwed up his attempted assassination.

  Teddy’s suspicion that Jake would lie to him if it helped get his approval for killing Den had been strengthened. He had growing doubts about whether Jake told him the truth when he reported Abdul’s agreement to take Den’s place.

  Jake fully understood Teddy’s state of mind. He knew his future in the CIA depended upon Abdul’s appearance in Monterrey. If Abdul rejected his proposition and elected to stay in Syria, Jake had to make a difficult decision. He could tell Teddy he failed in his Damascus mission and admit he had been double-crossed (again) by a terrorist who now had ten thousand dollars of CIA money or he could tell him Abdul was unable to go to Mexico because he had been killed in some Israeli operation.

  He leaned toward the second alternative, but it gave him little solace. Even if the lie couldn’t be disproved, it would probably fail to convince an already skeptical Teddy Smith. The lie would do nothing to rebuild Teddy’s opinion of his honesty. Teddy’s growing suspicions would be enough to destroy Jake’s future in the CIA. If Abdul stayed in Syria, Jake would have to choose between being considered either an incompetent or a liar. Perhaps, he would be considered to be both.

  In Mexico City, immigration officials didn’t raise an eyebrow when Abdul, using a Jordanian Passport, entered the country. A day later, in accordance with Jake’s instructions, he was in Monterrey. As directed, he went to the Hotel Nuevo Mundo where a room on the third floor had been reserved for him. The rooms on the first floor of that long ago constructed building catered to prostitutes. The second floor was reserved for transient guests and the top floor - the third - was high enough above the street to get away from some of the noise and smells. Its few occupants were longer-term residents, people with limited resources and no place else to go.

  Abdul followed Jake’s instructions. He went to the Fed Ex office and retrieved the package that awaited him. He wondered if the package was a disguised bomb. Abdul had not dismissed the possibility of a CIA plot to kill him or perform some other act of perfidy. In the municipal park across the street from the Nuevo Mundo, he gave a boy ten Pesos and told him to open the package. Watching from a safe distance, Abdul was relieved when there was no explosion. The package contained the book entitled: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It was bound in plastic that looked quite a bit like quality leather. Abdul’s interest in Shakespearian plays and sonnets was limited to the point of being non-existent, but he was pleased to receive the volume. Back in his room in the Nuevo Mundo, Abdul removed the one hundred dollar bills interspersed between the book’s pages. He counted them twice. As promised, there were one hundred of them.

  When the Fed-X office confirmed the delivery of the package containing the book, Jake was relieved. At least, Abdul was in Mexico and hadn’t disappeared with the money given him in Damascus. Now it remained to be seen if he would run after taking the second ten thousand dollar payment.

  Jake reported Abdul’s arrival in Monterrey and Teddy dampened his suspicions. He only dampened them. They remained in the back of his mind. Teddy had been comfortable with Den. He was smart and tough and capable and, equally important, he was dependable. The only knowledge Teddy had about Abdul was the sketchy information Jake provided and Teddy wasn’t sure Jake’s information was reliable. Working with an Arab terrorist didn’t inspire much confidence.

  Teddy wished he could rely on the accuracy of Jake’s reports as much as he had been able to rely upon the ones he received from Den. The best way to test Abdul’s reliability was to give him a job and see how he performed. Teddy wasted no time.

  He told Jake to go to Monterrey, give Abdul an assignment and stay with him until he had finished it. Then he wanted a complete report of the terrorist’s competence. As far as a target was concerned, Teddy told Jake to pick someone - a drug smuggler, a corrupt Mexican policeman, anyone. The target was not important. The way Abdul behaved was important.

  Jake was in a pleasant mood when he sent a coded message to Abdul announcing his arrival in Monterrey. He had already selected a target. It was Gigi Grant. In Damascus, Jake had asked her to keep him out of her report of Mick McCarthy’s death. He even promised to pay her. She refused, called him a detestable scoundrel and hoped he got burned. Now that bitch would pay for her insolence

  Jake remembered Den was in Langley when Grant was recalled for re-assignment. Within days, Clark gave him that humiliating beating. Jake felt those nearly simultaneous events had to be connected. He suspected Grant might have told Clark of his involvement in Mick McCarthy’s death. Whether or not his suspicions were correct wasn’t important. It would be prudent to permanently close G. G. Grant’s mouth. Soon it would be pay-back time.

  In marking Gigi for assassination, Jake considered the potential of creating a serious rift between Teddy and himself. Teddy might not be comfortable with the killing of a one-time CIA agent. Teddy would probably correctly assume the purpose of selecting G. G. Grant as Abdul’s victim was to further conceal Jake’s involvement in the death of Agent McCarthy. When Jake reported back to Teddy with the results of Abdul’s work, Teddy might ask him to justify his decision to make her the target.

  Teddy agreed to kill Den Clark in Guatemala only after he had been convinced Den was a danger to Aegis. That gave Jake the key
to the way he would convince Teddy of the advisability of Grant’s elimination. Jake was prepared for Teddy’s questioning.

  He would remind Teddy of Grant’s assignment to the Damascus Station. She had to be acquainted with Abdul’s activities in Syria. “She probably would be able to identify Abdul and tie him to me. Grant had no reason to be sympathetic to me, to you, or to the CIA. She knew enough to cause trouble and the kind of trouble that could easily become a threat to Aegis.” Those were good reasons for her elimination.

  “Besides,” Jake thought, “Teddy said I could select the target. And suppose he does object. It will be a fait accompli. What can he do about it? He can’t hurt me. I’ve got too much on him.”

  In Monterrey, Abdul had twenty thousand American dollars. Abdul presumed the announcement of Jake’s arrival in Monterrey meant the CIA had work for him to do. It meant Jake would give him more money. It would be half of the cost of an assassination. Of course, he could fly back to Damascus right now, but why should he leave Mexico? So far, his casual association with the CIA had been a very profitable business.

  Certainly, none of his compatriots in Syria could fault him for getting as much money as possible from the CIA, especially if he killed the Agent who delivered it. Abdul decided he would wait for Jake. Whether or not he had more dollars to give him didn’t matter.

  Abdul would complete the plan he made in Damascus. He would kill Jacobson and return to Syria. Abdul enjoyed a pleasant morning seated in the sun in the middle of the municipal park where he could watch the entrance to the Nuevo Mundo Hotel. He sat and waited for the arrival of Jake Jacobson. In the warm sun, he thought about the naivety of the proposition he had received.

  He had spent his life fighting for the creation of his Palestinian homeland and the eradication of the Jews. Jacobson expected him to move half way across the world and work for the Americans. They were the ones who helped the Jews throw the Palestinians out of their homeland. They were the ones who armed and protected them.

  On the other hand, life in Mexico, he conceded, was peaceful, certainly more peaceful than life in the Near East. Political murders were relatively rare. There were no armed battles between religious sects - no suicide bombers - no Israeli airplanes dropping missiles on automobiles or homes - no exploding rockets. He thought about the goal of driving the Israelis into the sea. It had been a bloody fight for decades and decades. That fight would continue, but each of the past prospects for success had ended in frustration.

  Abdul could see an advantage in disappearing into the New World and leaving the endless Near East struggles behind him. Perhaps, after all, Jacobson’s naive proposition had some merit.

  The flight from Dallas to Monterrey arrived in mid-morning. Jake deplaned and passed through Mexican customs. He went directly to the Nuevo Mundo Hotel and was disturbed when Abdul was not in the room reserved for him. Jake hoped Abdul was having lunch. He would have to wait for him to return. Jake left the Nuevo Mundo and, for a few minutes, stood on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. He crossed the street, to the park and found a conveniently placed bench. He sat and waited for Abdul.

  From his place in the center of the municipal park, Abdul saw Jake Jacobson enter the Nuevo Mundo hotel and re-emerge a few minutes later. He watched Jake wait in front of the building and then cross the street and sit on the park bench facing the hotel.

  From his position behind him, Abdul watched for some hint of a trap. Jacobson appeared to be alone. At times he appeared to be nervous, glancing at his wristwatch and, from time to time, standing and looking around. Obviously, he was waiting for Abdul.

  It was a temperate and sunny afternoon in Monterrey. Jake’s frame of mind did not reflect temperate or sunny speculations. He was not happy. The longer he sat on that bench, the more his unhappiness grew. He had reason to be unhappy. He promised Teddy Smith he would secure the services of a capable assassin. Abdul could not be found in the Nuevo Mundo.

  If he had returned to Syria it would be hell to pay. It would be crystal clear he had misled Teddy. Jake preferred the term “mislead,” but he knew Teddy would use the word “lied” It would also mean twenty thousand dollar of CIA funds had vanished. There would be no way Jake could disguise those gloomy disasters

  The growing possibility of their occurrence occupied his thoughts. “You can’t trust these goddamned Arab rag heads.” Abdul double-crossed him in Damascus. He could easily double-cross him again. If Abdul took the latest payment of ten thousand dollars and returned to Damascus, Jake would have to face some very loud and disturbing music.

  It would, at the very least, destroy his relationship with the man who protected him. The people who were his competition for advancement within the CIA would no longer fear him. Teddy would probably demote him. Worse, Teddy might can him. The possibility of being fired led Jake to recall his other failures.

  Teddy wanted to scrap the second ambush hidden within Operation Ocelot. Jake talked him out of it. He convinced Teddy the death of Clark afforded important protection of Aegis, but Den survived Ocelot. Now there was another instance of him being present in a place where an assassination occurred. It was another “coincidence” to attract the attention of some CIA internal security analyst. The protection Jake had planned for Aegis evaporated and was replaced by a newer danger. It became necessary to remove Clark before he talked.

  If that wasn’t enough, Jake botched the attempt to kill him. He thought he had Clark in the crosshairs when he squeezed the trigger, but the bullet destroyed nothing more than a window and Jake’s own beliefs that he was a capable killer. Jake’s missed shot moved Clark into a position where he became an even larger threat of Aegis exposure.

  Clark certainly knew it was Teddy Smith and Jake Jacobson who were behind the attempt on his life. That added another dimension to Jake’s concern. Den Clark might look for revenge and decide to come after him. The thought of it was more than merely disquieting. To make matters still worse, Teddy no longer gave any indication of interest in actively pursuing Clark. He showed no interest in wanting to kill him.

  Jake had no cause for joy. Things were not going well for him. If, as he suspected, Abdul was on his way back to Damascus, Jake’s future looked bleak, indeed. In spite of the beautiful day, Jake sat on the bench in the Monterrey municipal park in a somber and dejected mood. He again looked at his wristwatch. He’d been watching the entrance to the Nuevo Mundo for nearly an hour. “How much longer?” he wondered.

  Trying to lift his own spirits and grasping at straws, Jake created convenient explanations for Abdul’s absence. The hotel and Abdul’s room are not attractive places to spend the day. Abdul could be expected to spend as much time as possible away from it. He could be sight-seeing, or doing something else. Maybe he mis-read my message. Maybe he thinks I’ll arrive tomorrow. Maybe he is taking a long lunch. But Jake could not erase the thought that he had been deceived again.

  In desperation, he decided to wait until midnight. If Abdul didn’t appear by that time, he didn’t know what he was going to do. Jake was roused from his brown study when, from close behind him, someone spoke. “It is good to see you again.”

  Chapter 17

  Jake’s muscles involuntarily tightened and his head snapped in the direction of the words whispered into his ear. He saw Abdul standing behind him. After his initial surprise, Jake regained his composure and felt only relief. Again, the world was good. “You are a cautious man, Abdul,” he said. “That speaks well of you. Prudence is an essential element of our business.”

  Abdul and Jake exchanged perfunctory and brief pleasantries. They left the bench and walked toward the center of the park where there was less pedestrian traffic and they could talk without being overheard. Abdul said nothing. Jake began the conversation.

  “We both know you will never trust the CIA and we both know the CIA will never trust you. Still, we have mutual interests making it possible for us to work together.”

  He looked at Abdul who nodded. This was a disarming
statement. It spoke a clear and obvious truth. There was no attempt at subterfuge, no obviously misleading flowery comment. It was a simple statement of fact.

  Abdul broke his silence. “It is nice when, as you Americans often say, ‘the cards are on the table’. You want me to kill your adversaries. You have already invested many dollars without asking anything of me. This tells me how much you need me. I have taken your money and come to your hemisphere. This tells you I am interested. It also tells you I am motivated by the money you will pay.”

  Now it was Jake who nodded. “It is not necessary for us to throw our arms around each other and cover one another with warm, moist kisses. As long as we perform services for each other, we can work together. I will be your conduit to the Agency and I hope you will always speak as openly and frankly as now.”

  “I hope you will treat me with the same candor,” Abdul answered and then added, “and I share your skepticism.” They looked at each other for a second. Then they both smiled. Then they both nodded.

  “A good beginning,” Jake observed. “We have found common ground. Now it is time to take the next step.”

  “You are telling me you have an assignment.” It was a statement, not a question.

  Jake told Abdul it was more than an assignment. It was an Agency test. He would be asked to enter the United States illegally, find his target, make the kill and then return to Mexico. Abdul was surprised when Jake told him he expected the assassination to take place within 72 hours. He was accustomed to spending days and sometimes weeks in watching a target while he planned the time and place for his death. The CIA was not going to give him that luxury. He would enter no objection. It was an opportunity for him to prove his worth.

  Abdul asked Jake for a description of the intended victim. He wanted to know how he would identify him. What was his name?What was his business? Where did he work? Where did he live? Did he have bodyguards? Did he have a daily pattern to his life?