'How serious is this?' the President asked.
'Potentially very serious,' Judge Moore answered. 'I want to bring some people over to brief you.'
'Don't you have Ryan doing the evaluation?'
'He'll be one of them. Another's this Major Gregory you've heard about.'
The President flipped open his desk calendar. 'I can give you forty-five minutes. Be here at eleven.'
'We'll be there, sir.' Moore hung up the phone. He buzzed his secretary next. 'Send Dr. Ryan in here.'
Jack came through the door a minute later. He didn't even have time to sit down.
'We're going in to see The Man at eleven. How ready is your material?'
'I'm the wrong guy to talk about the physics, but I guess Gregory can handle that end. He's talking to the Admiral and Mr. Ritter right now. General Parks coming, too?' Jack asked.
'Yeah.'
'Okay. How much imagery do you want me to get together?'
Judge Moore thought that one over for a moment. 'We don't want to razzle-dazzle him. A couple of background shots and a good diagram. You really think it's important, too?'
'It's not any immediate threat to us by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a development we could have done without. The effect on the arms-control talks is hard to gauge. I don't think there's a direct connec-'
'There isn't, we're certain of that.' The DCI paused for a grimace. 'Well, we think we're certain.'
'Judge, there is data on this issue floating around here that I haven't seen yet.'
Moore smiled benignly. 'And how do you know that, son?'
'I spent most of last Friday going over old files on the Soviet missile-defense program. Back in '81 they ran a major test out of the Sary Shagan site. We knew an awful lot about it-for example, we knew that the mission parameters had been changed from within the Defense Ministry. Those orders were sealed in Moscow and hand- delivered to the skipper of the missile sub that fired the birds-Marko Ramius. He told me the other side of the story. With that and a few other pieces I've come across, it makes me think that we have a man inside that place, and pretty high up.'
'What other pieces?' the Judge wanted to know.
Jack hesitated for a moment, but decided to go ahead with his guesses. 'When Red October defected, you showed me a report that had to come from deep inside, also from the Defense Ministry; the code name on the file was WILLOW, as I recall. I've only seen one other file with that name, on a different subject entirely, but also defense-related. That makes me think there's a source with a rapidly changing code-name cycle. You'd only do that with a very sensitive source, and if it's something I'm not cleared for, well, I can only conclude that it's something closely held. Just two weeks ago you told me that Gregory's assessment of the Dushanbe site was confirmed through 'other assets,' sir.' Jack smiled. 'You pay me to see connections, Judge. I don't mind being cut out of things I don't need to know, but I'm starting to think that there's something going on that's part of what I'm trying to do. If you want me to brief the President, sir, I should go in with the right information.'
'Sit down, Dr. Ryan.' Moore didn't bother asking if Jack had discussed this with anyone. Was it time to add a new member to the A fraternity? After a moment he delivered his own sly smile.
'You've met him.' The Judge went on for a couple of minutes.
Jack leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. After a moment's thought, he could see the face again. 'God. And he's getting us the information? But will we be able to use it?'
'He's gotten us technical data before. Most of it we've put to use.'
'Do we tell the President this?' Jack asked.
'No. That's his idea, not ours. He told us some time ago that he didn't want the details of covert operations, just the results. He's like most politicians-he talks too much. At least he's smart enough to know that. We've had agents lost because presidents talked too much. Not to mention the odd member of Congress.'
'So when do we expect this report to come in?'
'Soon. Maybe this week, maybe as long as three-'
'And if it works, we can take what they know and add it to what we know?' Ryan looked out the window at the bare limbs of trees. 'Ever since I've been here, Judge, I've asked myself at least once a day-what's most remarkable about this place, the things we know or the things we don't?'
Moore nodded agreement. 'The game's like that, Dr. Ryan. Get your briefing notes together. No reference to our friend, though. I'll handle that if I have to.'
Jack walked back to his office, shaking his head. He'd suspected a few times that he was cleared for things the President never saw. Now he was sure. He asked himself if this was a good idea and admitted that he didn't know. What filled his mind was the importance of this agent and his information. There were precedents. The brilliant agent Richard Sorge in Japan in 1941, whose warnings to Stalin were not believed. Oleg Penkovskiy, who'd given the West information on the Soviet military that might have prevented nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And now another. He didn't reflect on the fact that alone in CIA, he knew the agent's face but not his name or code name. It never occurred to him that Judge Moore didn't know CARDINAL'S face, had for years avoided looking at the photograph for reasons that he could never have explained even to his deputy directors.
The phone rang, and a hand reached out from under a blanket to grab it. 'H'lo.'
' 'Morning, Candi,' Al Gregory said in Langley.
Two thousand miles away, Dr. Candace Long twisted around in her bed and stared at the clock. 'You at the airport?'
'Still in Washington, honey. If I'm lucky, I'll fly back later today.' He sounded tired.
'What's happening anyway?' she asked.
'Oh, somebody ran a test, and I have to explain what it means to some people.'
'Okay. Let me know when you're coming in, Al. I'll come out to get you.' Candi Long was too groggy to realize that her fiance had bent a rule of security to answer her question.
'Sure. Love ya.'
'Love you, too, honey.' She replaced the phone and re-checked the clock. There was time for another hour's sleep. She made a mental note to ride into work with a friend. Al had left his car at the lab before flying east, and she'd ride that one out to pick him up.
Ryan got to drive Major Gregory again. Moore took General Parks in his Agency limo.
'I asked you before: what are the chances that we'll find out what Ivan is doing at Dushanbe?'
Jack hesitated before answering, then realized that Gregory would hear it all in the Oval Office. 'We have assets that are working to find out what they did to increase their power output.'
'I'd love to know how you do that,' the young Major observed.
'No, you don't. Trust me.' Ryan looked away from the traffic for a moment. 'If you know stuff like that, and you make a slip, you could kill people. It's happened before. The Russians come down pretty hard on spies. There's still a story floating around that they cremated one-I mean they slid him into a crematorium alive.'
'Aw, come on! Nobody's that-'
'Major, one of these days you ought to get out of your lab and find out just how nasty the world can really be. Five years ago, I had people try to kill my wife and kid. They had to fly three thousand miles to do it, but they came anyway.'
'Oh, right! You're the guy-'
'Ancient history, Major.' Jack was tired of telling the story.
'What's it like, sir? I mean, you've actually been in combat, the real thing, I mean-'
'It's not fun.' Ryan almost laughed at himself for putting it that way. 'You just have to perform, that's all. You either do it right or you lose it. If you're lucky, you don't panic until it's all over.'
'You said out at the lab that you used to be a Marine?'
'That helped some. At least somebody bothered to teach me a little about it, once upon a time.' Back when you were in high school or so, Jack didn't say. Enough of that. 'Ever meet the President?'
'No, sir.'
'The name's Jack, okay? He's a pretty good guy, pays attention and asks good questions. Don't let the sleepy look fool you. I think he does that to fool politicians.'
'They fool easy?' Gregory wondered.
That got a laugh. 'Some of them. The head arms-control guy'll be there, too. Uncle Ernie. Ernest Alien, old- time career diplomat, Dartmouth and Yale; he's smart.'
