Hood did not interrupt or comment. Bob Herbert frequently raged at something. It was in his hot Mississippi blood to do so. This time, though, Hood had to agree that Herbert had a good reason to boil. • ''*
340
OP-CENTER
Herbert reached an automated switchboard. The intelligence chief had no idea whose office Kline was using. He waited for an operator. The operator did not know anyone by the name of Edgar Kline. Exasperated, Herbert hung up and redialed the main number. When the voice menu came up, he punched the extention of the Path to Peace Foundation Bookstore.
'Can I help you?' asked the youthful-sounding man who answered the telephone.
'Yes,' Herbert said. 'What's your name?'
'Mr. Hotchkiss,' said the clerk. 'Can I help you?'
'Yes, Mr. Hotchkiss,' Herbert told him. 'Do you carry a copy of the last rites?'
'We do,' replied the clerk. 'It's in several books. The most popular is the Concordance of Catholic Liturgy-'
'I'll take it,' Herbert said. 'And I want a bookmark placed on that page.'
'Any particular style of bookmark?'
'No,' Herbert replied. 'I'll need the book delivered to someone in your building.'
'In our building?' the man said.
'That's right,' Herbert replied. 'Mr. Hotchkiss, is there anyone else working in your shop?'
'Yes-'
'Please ask him to deliver the book while I give you the credit card information,' Herbert said. 'Oh, and I want an inscription on the title page.'
'Certainly, sir.'
'It should read, 'Answer your cell phone, or you'll need this,' ' Herbert told him. 'Sign it Bob H.'
'Excuse me?' the young man said.
'Just do it,' Herbert said. 'Lives depend on you.'
Hood was impressed by the concern and conviction Herbert put in that one statement. The man was the best.
'I'll do it right away, sir,' the clerk replied. 'To whom is the concordance being delivered?'
'Man named Edgar Kline,' Herbert said. 'Ask around in the diplomatic corridors. Someone will know him.'
'/ know him,' the man said.
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341
'You do?' Herbert asked.
'He was in here before, buying a travel guide,' the man said.
'To southern Africa?' Herbert asked.
'That's right,' replied the clerk.
'Did he want to see maps?' Herbert asked.
'He did!' Hotchkiss replied. 'How did you know?'
'Lucky guess,' Herbert told him. 'Mr. Hotchkiss, can I count on you to do this?'
'You can,' Hotchkiss said. 'Since I know what he looks like, I'll deliver it myself.'
'Thanks,' Herbert replied.
The clerk turned the phone over to his associate, and Herbert gave him the credit card information. While he did, Hood hung up. He consulted a computer map of northern Botswana. The rendezvous point for Maria, Aideen, and Battat was thirty miles from the swamp. He did not give Kline any information that could have led the Botswanan military to that region. The target had to have come to him some other way. But who would have known to contact him? The VSO was a highly secretive organization. They did not maintain ties with very many international intelligence groups. Only the Spanish, the Americans-and then it hit him. The intelligence did not come from the outside. They had missed the obvious source.
Mike Rodgers walked in. 'What do you think, Paul?' the general asked Hood.
'I think it was Father Bradbury,' he said.
Rodgers was puzzled. 'What about him?'
'He's the only one who knows exactly where Dhamballa is,' Hood said. 'Either the VSO pinpointed the last call he made or, maybe more likely, he found a way to signal them.'
'Radio equipment or a phone,' Rodgers said. 'Dhamballa has to have them. It's possible.'
'Gentlemen, this is not good,' Hood said. 'We have to stop our people from going in.'
'You're getting ahead of me,' Rodgers said.
