'What does she know?'
'Nothing.'
'You had to say something,' insisted Kendrick.
'She was told it was new and urgent instructions from her government, instructions that could be transmitted only in person over here.'
'She bought that nonsense?'
'She didn't have a choice. She was picked up at her flat in Cairo and has been in protective custody ever since. Have a lousy night, you bastard.'
'Thanks, Herbie.' Evan hung up the phone, both relieved and frightened by the prospect of tomorrow morning's confrontation with the woman he had known as Khalehla, a woman he had made love to in a frenzy of fear and exhaustion. That impulsive act and the desperation that led to it must be forgotten. He had to determine whether he was re-meeting an enemy or a friend. But at least there was now a schedule for the next twelve or fifteen hours. It was time to call Ann O'Reilly and, through her, contact Manny. It did not matter who knew where he was; he was the official guest of the President of the United States.
The Icarus Agenda
Chapter 23
Emmanuel Weingrass sat in the red plastic booth with the stocky, moustached owner of the Mesa Verde cafe. The past two hours had been stressful for Manny, somewhat reminiscent of those crazy days in Paris when he had worked with the Mossad. The current situation was nowhere near as melodramatic and his adversaries were hardly lethal, but still he was an elderly man who had to get from one place to another without being seen or stopped. In Paris he had to run a gauntlet of terrorist scouts without being noticed from. Sacre-Coeur to the Boulevard de la Madeleine. Here in Colorado he had to get from Evan's house to the town of Mesa Verde without being stopped and locked up by his team of nurses, all of whom were charging about because of the activity outside.
'How did you do it?' asked Gonzalez-Gonzalez, the cafe's owner, as he poured Weingrass a glass of whisky.
'Civilized man's second oldest need for privacy, Gee-Gee. The toilet. I went to the toilet and climbed out a window. Then I mingled with the crowd taking pictures with one of Evan's cameras, like a real photographer, you know, until I got a taxi here.'
'Hey, man,' interrupted Gonzalez-Gonzalez. 'Those cats are making dinero today!'
'Thieves, they are! I climbed in and the first thing the goniff said to me was “One hundred dollars to the airport, mister.” So I said to him, taking off my hat, “The State Taxi Commission will be interested to hear about the new Verde rates,” and he says to me, “Oh, it's you, Mr. Weingrass, just a joke, Mr. Weingrass,” and I then tell him, “Charge 'em two hundred and take me to Gee-Gee's!”'
Both men broke into loud laughter as the pay telephone on the wall beyond the booth erupted in a staccato ring. Gonzalez placed his hand on Manny's arm. 'Let Garcia get it,' he said.
'Why? You said my boy called twice before!'
'Garcia knows what to say. I just told him.'
'Tell me!'
'He'll give the Congressman the number of my office phone and tell him to call back in two minutes.'
'Gee-Gee, what the hell are you doing?'
'A couple of minutes after you came in, a gringo I don't know arrived.'
'So what? You get plenty of people in here you don't know.'
'He doesn't belong here, Manny. He ain't got no raincoat or no hat or no camera, but he still don't belong here. He's got on a suit—with a vest.' Weingrass started to turn his head. 'Don't,I ordered Gonzalez, now gripping Weingrass's arm. 'Every now and then he looks over here from his table. He's got you on his mind.'
'So what do we do?'
'Just wait and get up when I tell you to.'
