'Correct, sir.'
'Then he must have passed through the Class Five rapids above.'
'Yes, sir. '
'Without a guide?’
'Yes.'
'He's crazy! Several decades ago I rode those waters with two guides and I was frightened to death. Why would he do it?'
'He's been doing it for years—whenever he came back to the United States.'
'Came back?' Jacob Mandel leaned forward.
'Until about six years ago he was a construction engineer and developer. His work was centered on the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. That part of the world is as far removed from the mountains and the rivers as one can imagine. I think he simply found a certain relief with the change of scenery. He'd spend a week or so on business then head out to the Northwest.'
'Alone, you say,' said Eric Sundstrom.
'Not in those days, sir. He'd frequently take a female companion.'
'Then he's obviously not a homosexual,' observed the only female member of Inver Brass.
'I never meant to imply that he was.'
'Nor did you mention anything about a wife or a family, which I'd think would be an important consideration. You simply said he now travels alone on what are obviously holidays.'
'He's a bachelor, madame.'
'That could be a problem,' inserted Sundstrom.
'Not necessarily, sir. We have two years to address the situation, and given the probability factors, a marriage during an election year might have a certain appeal.'
'With the most popular President in history in attendance, no doubt,' said Gideon Logan, chuckling.
'It's not beyond possibility, sir.'
'My God, you're covering the bases, Milos.'
'A moment, please.' Mandel adjusted his steel-rimmed glasses. 'You say he worked in the Mediterranean six years ago.'
'He was in production then. He sold the company and left the Middle East.'
'Why was that?'
'A tragic accident occurred that took the lives of nearly all his employees and their entire families. The loss profoundly affected him.'
'Was he responsible?' continued the stockbroker.
'Not at all. Another firm was charged with using inferior equipment.'
'Did he in any way profit from the tragedy?' asked Mandel, his gentle eyes suddenly hard.
'On the contrary, sir, I checked that out thoroughly. He sold the company for less than half its market value. Even the attorneys for the conglomerate that bought him out were astonished. They were authorized to pay three times the price.'
The eyes of Inver Brass returned to the large screen and the photograph of a man and his craft careening around a wild bend in the rapids.
'Who took these?' asked Logan.
'I did, sir,' replied Varak. 'I tracked him. He never saw me.'
The slides continued, and suddenly there was an abrupt change. The 'prospect' was no longer seen in the rugged clothes of the white water rapids or in day's-end fatigues and T-shirts around a campfire, cooking alone over the flames. He was now photographed clean-shaven, his hair cut and combed, and dressed in a dark business suit, walking up a familiar street, an attache case in his hand.
'That's Washington,' said Eric Sundstrom.
