“Where is he now?”
“Can this be off the record?”
“No. Why should it be?”
“We can’t just let those bastards creep back to the States like nothing has ever happened. We should inform somebody over there.”
“Who?”
“Congress, the Senate, the President even. They should know what the CIA are doing for God’s sake. The one I’ve got hypnotized Oswald, and the other one hypnotized Sirhan Sirhan, these two goons programmed them to assassinate the President of the United States and the US Attorney-General, a presidential candidate.”
“And you’re suggesting that the CIA arranged it?”
“Not the top brass maybe. But a group like Carter’s people. Killers. Thugs. Working with the Mafia.”
Cartwright didn’t hurry to respond. If you’ve spent half your life in MI6 you know things, and have heard things, that often seem incredible, that may be the figment of some over-heated operator’s imagination. And almost always they’re true. But this was too much. It didn’t hang together, and it had a cast like Birth of a Nation with guest stars. The President, his brother, the CIA and the Mafia. And two men who could programme hypnotized people to commit murder and not know what they had done. Even half of it would have been too much. He should have kept better contact with Boyd and then he would have seen those first tell-tale signs of a man who was coming apart from worry or exhaustion, or both.
“How long have you been at this hotel, James?”
“I got here about four o’clock.”
“How long have you slept?”
“A couple of hours.”
“You look worn out. Why don’t you get a good night’s rest and then we’ll sort this thing out together. One more day won’t make any difference.”
“I can’t leave him there. He might get away.”
“Let me come with you. You can sleep in that place. You need some sleep, James. You really do.”
Boyd shook his head. “I need to know that we aren’t going to cover up for those bastards.”
“That’ll be for other people to decide. Not you and me.”
“I can’t go along with that, Ken. If our people let these two off the hook there’s something terribly wrong with what we’ve all been doing.”
“This has got nothing to do with what you and I do.”
“It has for me.”
“Tell me.”
“I’ve done things … all sorts of things, that I didn’t like doing. Pressuring people until they couldn’t take any more … threatening to harm a man’s wife … killing people … but to me it was in a just cause. The end really did justify the means. They were people who wanted to destroy us … our way of life … democracy. But I always thought there was a point … a line … beyond which we’d never go … not even as a last resort. They were always people in the business … agents, subversives … they knew what they were doing. Knew the risks they were taking if we caught them. But these are innocent people. A girl about the same age as my Katie. A pretty girl. These two bastards have turned her into a zombie. She’s killed men in cold blood and she hasn’t the vaguest idea that she’s done it.” He paused and his voice shook as he went on. “Do you know what the last thing was in her programming?”
“No.”
“Guess.”
“I’ve no idea, James. Tell me.”
“When somebody recites five numbers to her. Anywhere. Anytime. She kills herself. Wherever she is she goes to Beachy Head and jumps.” There were tears on Boyd’s cheeks. “That could be my Katie, Ken.”
“Where is the girl now?”
“In London. Held in a mental hospital on Carter’s say-so. She runs a theatrical agency. She’s successful. Every now and then she takes a few days’ break and then she’s back at her desk. And in those few days she’s killed somebody and she doesn’t know a damn thing about it.”
“We can give her protection.”
“How?”
“We can explain what’s happened. Get her treatment. Keep her under surveillance.”
“And all that bastard has to do is phone her and say those five numbers and she’s on her way to Eastbourne, and nothing and nobody can stop her. She won’t just do it, she’ll want to do it. Because she’s been fed some rational reason for doing it. She’s three different people and she might just as well be dead. Her brain is like a real can of worms.”
“Why did you ask me to come up to see you?”
Boyd sighed. “Now you’re here I’m not sure. I think I had some vague feeling that you could tell me that none of it was true. That you knew all about it and it was just a cover scenario.”
“And if it wasn’t, what did you expect me to do?”
“I thought you might agree with me that it has to be exposed.”
“I can’t believe you really expected that.”
“Maybe not expected … just hoped. I thought you’d be on my side.”
“I am on your side. You’re one of my officers, and apart from that I like you. And I respect your judgement. But if half of what you’ve told me is provable, then deciding what action to take is not in my hands. You must know that. I’ve got an advantage over you. Several advantages. I’ve not been involved in all this, and I’m not tired out as you are. You’re still in the woods and I’m outside. There isn’t any choice for me, and that means there isn’t any choice for you. It’s for others to decide. From the sound of it the decision may have to be made by the Prime Minister. Meantime, you get some sleep. I’m in Room 21, let’s have breakfast together about nine o’clock. OK?”
Boyd stood up slowly. “What the hell are we going to do?”
Cartwright smiled. “We’re both going to get a good night’s sleep.”
Cartwright drove the few miles up to Bamburgh and phoned a London number. He said very little beyond asking for an early meeting with the Deputy Under-Secretary. The problem he faced now was political
