'Do the local police have his description?'
'Yes - Colonel Hide gave it out.'
'Where's he hiding?'
- 'In my motel room. He'll stay there until dark.' She drove out of the base onto the highway and turned north. 'What about you? Will the CIA give out your description to the police?'
'I don't think so.'
'So you can move around fairly freely. That's good, because you'll need to buy a car.'
'The Agency likes to solve its own problems. Right now, they think I've gone rogue, and their only concern is to take me out of circulation before I embarrass them. Once they start listening to Luke, they'll realize they've been harbouring a double agent for years - but that may make them even more concerned to hush up the whole thing. I can't be sure, but my guess is there will be no high-profile search for me.'
'And no shadow of suspicion has fallen on me. So all three of us are still in play. That gives us a good chance. We can still pull this thing off.'
'Luke doesn't suspect you?'
'He has no reason to.'
'Where is he now?'
'On a train, according to Marigold,' A note of bitterness entered her voice. 'With Billie.'
'When will he get here?'
'I'm not sure. The overnight train takes him to Jacksonville, but from there he has to get a slow train down the coast Some time this afternoon, I guess.
They drove in silence for a while. Anthony tried to make himself calm. In twenty-four hours, it would be all over. They would have struck a historic blow for the cause to which they had devoted their lives, and they would go down in history - or they would have failed, and the space race would once again be a two-horse contest.
Elspeth glanced across at him. 'What will you do after tonight?'
'Leave the country.' He tapped the small case in his lap. 'I have everything I need - passports, cash, a few simple items of disguise.'
'And then?'
'Moscow.' He had spent much of the flight thinking about this. 'The Washington desk at the RGB, I imagine.' Anthony was a major in the KGB. Elspeth had been an agent longer - had, in fact, recruited Anthony, back at Harvard - and she was a colonel. 'They'll give me some kind of senior advisory-consultative role,' he went on. 'After all, I'll know more about the CIA than anyone else in the Soviet bloc.'
'How will you like life in the USSR?'
'In the workers' paradise, you mean?' He gave her a wry grin. 'You've read George Orwell. Some animals are more equal than others. I guess a lot will depend on what happens tonight If we pull this off, we'll be heroes. And if not....
You're not nervous?'
'Sure I am. I'll be lonely at first - no friends, no family, and I don't speak Russian. But maybe I'll get married and raise a brood of little comrades.' His flip answers disguised the depth of his anxiety. 'I decided, a long time ago, to sacrifice my personal life to something more important.'
'I made the same decision, but I'd still be frightened by the thought of moving to Moscow.'
'It's not going to happen to you.'
'No. They want me to stay in place, at all costs.'
She had obviously talked to her controller, whoever that was. Anthony was not surprised by the decision to leave Elspeth in place. For the last four years, Russian scientists had known everything about the US space programme. They saw every important report, all the test results, each blueprint produced by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency - thanks to Elspeth. It was as good as having die Redstone team working for the Soviet programme. Elspeth was die reason die Soviets had beaten the Americans into space. She was easily the most important spy of the Cold War.
Her work had been done at enormous personal sacrifice, Anthony knew. She had married Luke in order to spy on the space programme. But her love for him was genuine, and it had broken her heart to betray him. However, her triumph was the Soviet victory in the space race, which would be sealed tonight That would make everything worthwhile.
Anthony's own triumphs were second only to Elspeth's. A Soviet agent, he had penetrated to the highest levels of the CIA. The tunnel he had been responsible for in Berlin, which had tapped into Soviet communications, had in fact been a channel for disinformation. The KGB had used it to mislead the CIA into wasting millions shadowing men who were not spies, penetrating organizations that were never communist fronts, and discrediting Third World politicians who were in fact pro-American. If he was lonely in his Moscow flat, he would think of what he had achieved, and it would warm his heart.
Among the palm trees on the roadside ahead, he saw a huge model of a space rocket above a sign that read- 'Starlite Motel'. Elspeth slowed the car and pulled in. The office was in a low building with angular buttresses that gave it a futuristic look. Elspeth parked as far as possible from the road. The rooms were in a two-storey building around a large pool where a few early birds were already sunbathing. Beyond the pool, Anthony could see the beach.
Despite the assurances he had given Elspeth, he wanted to be seen by as few people as possible, so he pulled his hat low and walked quickly as they went from the car to her upstairs room.
The motel was making the most of the space-programme connection. The lamps were shaped like rockets, and there were pictures of stylized planets and stars on the walls. Theo was standing at the window, looking out over the ocean. Elspeth introduced the two men and ordered coffee and doughnuts from room service. Theo said to Anthony: 'How did Luke find me out - did he explain that to you?'
Anthony nodded. 'He was using the Xerox machine in Hangar R. There's a security log book beside the machine. You have to note 'the date and time and the number of copies you made, and sign the log. Luke noticed that twelve copies had been signed for by 'WvB', meaning Wernher von Braun.'
Elspeth said: 'I always used von Braun's name, because no one would dare to question the boss about the Xerox copies he needed.'
Anthony went on: 'But Luke knew something you and everyone else didn't know - that von Braun was in Washington that day. Luke's instinct rang an alarm bell. He went to the mail room and found the copies in an envelope addressed to you. But he had no clue as to who had sent the package. He decided he. couldn't trust anyone down here, so he flew to Washington. Fortunately, Elspeth called me and I was able to intercept Luke before he could tell anyone.'
Elspeth said: 'But now we're right back where we were on Monday. Luke has rediscovered what we made him forget'
Anthony asked hen 'What do you think the army will do now?'
'They could launch the rocket with the self-destruct mechanism disabled. But if it got out that they had done so, there would be hell to pay, and the fuss might spoil the triumph. So my guess is they'll change the code, so that a different signal is required to digger the explosion.'
'How would they do that?'
'I don't know.'
There was a knock at the door. Anthony tensed, but Elspeth said: 'I ordered coffee.' Theo went into the bathroom. Anthony turned his back to the door. To look natural, he opened the closet and pretended to study the clothes inside. There was a suit of Luke's hanging there, a light grey herringbone, and a stack of blue shirts. Instead of letting the waiter in, Elspeth stood in the doorway to sign the bill, tipped the man, then took the tray from him and closed the door.
Theo came out of the bathroom and Anthony sat down again.
Anthony said: 'What can we do? If they change the code we can't make the rocket self-destruct.'
Elspeth put down the coffee tray. 'I have to find out what their plan is, and figure out a way around it' She picked up her handbag and slung her jacket over her shoulders. 'Buy a car. Drive to the beach as soon as it's dark. Park as near as you can to the Cape Canaveral fence. I'll meet you there. Enjoy your coffee.' She went out After a moment, Theo said: 'You have to give her credit, she's got a cool nerve.'
Anthony nodded. 'It's what she needs.'
