Deep Cover

“But Viktor still plans to set off his private war in less than forty-eight hours?”

“Yes.”

“Then we have reached the end.”

“Comrade First Secretary, I must repeat what I said at the outset when I first came to you. There are times when it pays to sit still and do nothing—it is possible to win out that way if your opponent’s position deteriorates faster than your own. I repeat that in your own interests. You know what happens to several key comrades if Viktor is deposed—they must go down with him. I have no access to the methods he has devised of destroying them in the event of his own downfall.”

“The downfall of a handful of old men is a very small thing by comparison with the downfall of the very planet, Andrei. It’s not even worth discussing.”

“But we still have time. I earnestly expect to obtain proof that the Chinese have mounted nothing more than a bluff. If I can obtain it within the next twenty-four hours I’m sure I can persuade Viktor to abort. He can give the countermand at any time up to half an hour before the assigned moment. But of course Viktor is the only one who can give that countermand—he alone knows the signal; he and Belsky agreed on it privately.”

“Of course. If that weren’t the case we could have put a stop to this nonsense the minute you brought word to me.”

“There isn’t time to break Viktor down and force the code out of him. He must be reasoned with and we need evidence to do that.”

Yashin said bitterly, “I’m not sure it would do any good at this late point in the game. You and I and all the others have changed as the world has changed but Viktor is still living in Stalin’s era and wishes to drag all of us back into it with him. He is at war with the inevitable and I’m not sure but what he’ll continue his operation regardless of what evidence he gets to prove the Chinese don’t really mean to go to war. Andrei, you are the only man in the world for whom he has affection. You must persuade him. You know what’s at stake.”

“I do. But he has always been the stronger of us. Always.”

“To him you are like a son. There is a time when a son must step out of his father’s shadow. You must prevail. Of course you recognize that once it is done you will take Viktor’s place; it goes without saying.”

“I don’t want his place. I have been his second for almost thirty years. When Viktor goes there’s nothing left that I want here. I’ll retire to a farm somewhere.”

“You are a good man, Andrei. I know how painful it is for you.”

“I shall do everything in my power.”

“Do more than that, Andrei.”

Chapter Sixteen

The garage behind Ludlum’s house had been converted into a plywood-paneled room containing a large round poker table with green felt topping. It was getting dark outside and they were grouped around the table under a ceiling lamp; the light was harsh, with smoke wheeling through it. The linoleum floor was littered with shoe-crushed cigarette butts and Styrofoam coffee cups.

Belsky was saying, “The reason should be obvious. You can’t have an effective committee if it numbers more than six or seven people; beyond that they always fragment into subgroups and the leader loses control. When circumstances force you to have a committee of fifteen or twenty, the best solution is to gather the six or seven top people into a sort of executive committee to make the basic decisions and pass them on to the others.”

Ludlúm said, “I see that. But we’ve got a hell of a lot of people to pass the word down to and not a hell of a lot of time to do it in. If I had a couple of my people here now, just to listen, it’d save a lot of time getting them aside to where I can talk to them.”

“You’ll just have to make the time, Captain.”

Ludlum opened the snap-ring top of a beer can. It spewed with a hiss. Ludlum was in his uniform, Air Force blues with railroad-track insignia. A huge gorilla torso on strangely spindly feminine legs. A pugilist, and other things as well: communications officer for the missile wing, Amergrad cell leader, expert in electronics.

Belsky said, “It shouldn’t be that bad. In theory the force numbers well over two hundred Illegals but in practice we’ve only got to work with about eighty-five—the people directly co

He was talking to fill silence; they had to wait, the group wasn’t complete. Restive, Nick Conrad got up and stood by the edge of the window, watching for the latecomers. His fingers toyed with the venetian-blind cord, tying and untying knots in it. A little less than forty-eight hours to go.

They heard the car coming. Ludlum stood up and went outside. The screen door closed behind him with a hiss and a slap. Belsky pulled the light string and they waited in darkness. He could feel their heat around him—Conrad, Hathaway, Adele Conrad, Fred Winslow. With Ludlum outside and the two new arrivals it made an ungainly group, seven of them not including Belsky, but he couldn’t pare it down any tighter.

Ludlum held the door for Nicole Lawrence and came in behind Ramsey Douglass. “Okay,” and Belsky switched on the light.

Nicole said, “Where’s the john, Leo?”

Ludlum said, “Christ. We haven’t got time for you to powder your nose.”

“If you don’t want to get your shoes wet you’d better point the way for me.”

“Over there.” Ludlum pointed to a door; Nicole went through it and closed it without even nodding at the rest of them.

Douglass pulled out a chair and sat down at the poker table and said dryly, “What are the stakes and who’s dealing?” He reached into his pocket with thumb and forefinger and brought out a heart-shaped tablet which he popped into his mouth.

Belsky said, “Take care with those amphetamines.”

“I’ve had no sleep in two days. I can handle them. I’m not a pill freak.”

Belsky said to Fred Winslow, “Taking things in order. You’re now in command of the missile wing?”

“Temporarily. Until they send in a replacement for Colonel Sims.” Winslow looked full of bile; he wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes.

Ramsey Douglass asked, “What happened to Colonel Sims?”

Winslow said very angrily, “His plane crashed on the way to Yuma. I understand they found indications that several sticks of explosive had been taped to the control cables of the plane. Altimeter-fused. I don’t like that, Dangerfield. You told me to get him out of the way temporarily and I did: we put some nonlethal poison in his wife’s coffee down in Yuma and he was on his way down there to hold her hand in the hospital. It wasn’t necessary to have him killed.”

“There was no way to be sure he wouldn’t return at the wrong moment,” Belsky said. “Don’t fight me, Vozshin, we haven’t time.” He turned to Hathaway. “What about Spode and that Senator?”

“Spode’s been seen here and there. The Senator hasn’t. He dropped out of sight after he left Professor Moskowitz at the university gate this morning. It looks like he’s gone to ground.”

Ramsey Douglass said, “I talked to Forrester’s girl friend and she hadn’t seen him. When I called her back later she’d gone.”

“Gone home?”

“Just gone. Maybe she’s with him. In any case she’s got instructions to keep him out of our hair. I talked to her brother but he doesn’t know much of anything, or didn’t a few hours ago. I can check back if you want.”

“Never mind,” Belsky said.

Hathaway said, “If Spode persuaded the Senator to go to ground it’s got to mean Spode made you, Dangerfield.”

“I know. Our cover is wearing thin but it can’t be helped.”

“You want us to take Spode out?”

“For the moment we’ve more important concerns. It’s just as well if the Senator has been scared off: he’ll be sure to stay away from the Air Base for a few days and that’s all we really require of him. As for Spode he can’t possibly know enough to interfere. At the worst he’s reported my presence to Washington and there are agents looking for me, but as long as I remain out of sight we’re in no danger. They have no way of knowing about the rest of you or the operation we’re executing. And if we ignore Spode they may begin to get the idea I’ve fled the area. No—leave them alone.”