than good.
Instead, he worked behind the scenes to try and keep him as honest as possible.”
Augie tapped the bowl of his pipe on the tailgate and the spent tobacco fell to the ground in clumps. “Let’s not lose sight of something here. The other reason Arthur was tolerated was that he served a very valuable purpose. When things got ugly, he was called in to clean up. He handled all of the stuff that no one else wanted to.
He took care of the Agency’s dirty work.” Michael thought about it for a minute. “Can you be sure he’s responsible for this?”
“I can’t be one hundred percent sure.” Augie dumped some more tobacco into the bowl of the pipe and packed it down. “There are a lot of other reasons why I think Arthur killed Senator Olson and Congressman Turnquist …. I have my reasons for not wanting to discuss them, just like you have yours for not wanting to discuss your source.”
“Why don’t you go to the FBI with this?”
Augie lit his pipe and frowned. “The FBI can’t do anything.”
“Why not? All we have to do is tell them what you just said, and they’ll initiate an investigation.”
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Augie smiled. “And they’ll find nothing, and I’ll end up with a bullet in the back of my head. Michael, I don’t think you understand who we are talking about. Arthur is a very brilliant and ruthless person.
He’s assassinated people all over the world, and he hasn’t come close to getting caught. Not once Besides, I can’t tell the FBI anything.
I’m bound by the national secrecy act.”
“Well, I can.”
“Michael, I don’t think you understand. If you go to the FBI, Arthur will find out. He has sources everywhere. After he finds out it was you who went to the FBI, he will very subtly threaten your life or the life of someone close to you. Or maybe he’ll just have you killed. He is not a man to be toyed with.”
“Why are you telling me all of this if you don’t think I should do anything?”
“I expect you to do something, but before I get to that, I have to ask you some questions.” Augie sucked on his pipe for a while. “When Downs, Fitzgerald, Koslowski, and Basset were killed, I wasn’t real torn up. I hated everything they stood for, and I was glad to see them gone. I’ve thought for a long time that the crusty old windbags in
Washington needed to be shaken up.” Augie paused, contemplating how to phrase his next statement. “I have a good idea who was behind the first four assassinations.” Augie shifted his weight and put one foot on the ground. He looked at Seamus and said, “I could ask a more direct question, but I don’t want to be lied to, so I’ll skirt the issue slightly. If you really had to … could you get in touch with someone who is involved in the original assassinations?” After a moment of silence Seamus said, “Yes.” Michael’s face remained passive.
“Good.”
Augie stood and hobbled to the cab of the truck. “I’ve got something I’d like you to pass on to them for me.” He reached behind the seat, pulled out a large legal file, and walked back to the tailgate.
Sitting down with an owly look in his eye, he said, “I think I have everything figured out, but it’s probably better to leave certain things unsaid.”
Augie handed the file to Seamus. “Please pass this on to your revolutionary friends.”
“What’s in it?” asked Michael. “Remember how I told you when I was at the Agency I
was kind of a roving analyst? I was also a troubleshooter of sorts. Right before I left the
Agency, Director Stansfield asked me to draw up some contingency plans for a …
delicate operation.”
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Seamus looked at the file and then up at his old friend. “What kind of an operation?”
“One that no one other than Stansfield and I were to know about. и .
.
After Stansfield took over, Arthur became even more reclusive.
Stansfield knew that he would have to force Arthur to resign and became increasingly worried about how he would react. There were a lot of concerns that he might turn on us and sell information abroad or use things that he knew to blackmail Stansfield and the
Agency. He was a loose cannon, and no one knew which direction he would fire, so
Stansfield did the prudent thing and asked me to draw up a plan to neutralize him.”
“The folder contains the plan?” asked Michael. “Most of it. There’s detailed schematics of his house on the Chesapeake. It gives a rundown on his security system, where its strengths and weaknesses are, how many guards he has and what their rotation is. The plan is a year and a half old, so I’m not sure how much has changed. I do know that he still spends almost all of his time at the house. He has a lot of enemies, which has made him extremely paranoid over the years.”
“Why aren’t you going to Stansfield with this?”
“Arthur is still very well connected at the Agency. No one really knows how well for sure, but there is a chance he would be forewarned about any plans against him.”
“Is that the real reason or are you just looking for someone to do your dirty work?”
