“You haven’t had the messenger shot yet,” Murphy said, setting down his coffee cup.
He took a leather-covered folder from his briefcase and handed it to the President.
“This is the latest from Paris.”
“Have a seat,” the President said, putting down his coffee and sitting in his rocking chair. Murphy settled onto the leather couch across the coffee table.
“My chief of Paris Station met this morning with a colonel in the SDECE’s Action Service, and was given some information. What I would call startling information.”
“You’ve not pussyfooted before, General, don’t start now,” the President said, not yet opening the report. “Spell it out for me.”
“The terrorist attack on the Swissair flight out of Orly on Friday may have some deeper, more ominous significance than we first suspected. The French intelligence service has identified the attacker as a man by the name of Karl Boorsch. An officer in the old East German intelligence service. We have him in our files as missing, and presumed still at large somewhere in Europe.”
“You don’t think he went to the Soviet Union?”
“No, sir,” Murphy said. “But he wasn’t working alone. The French found a walkie-talkie of an unusually advanced design in the van Boorsch used to penetrate Orly security.”
“Go on.”
“We haven’t been able to figure out exactly how it works yet, but we know that it encrypts the signal, compresses it into an incredibly brief duration, and sends it out. Virtually undetectable by any equipment we currently have in the field.”
“Who built it?”
Murphy shook his head. “There are no manufacturing plates or marks anywhere on the device.”
“German?”
“Possibly. But it means that Boorsch had help.” “Which tends to verify the Swiss engineer’s story,” the President said.
“The French believe that an organization of ex-STASI members has been formed, presumably somewhere in Europe, perhaps even Switzerland, which tends to confirm the reports we’ve been hearing.”
“Just what we need.” The President shook his head and looked away for a moment. His presidency had been a successful one to date, but definitely anything but quiet.
Someone in the media had begun calling him “America’s crisis president,” and the moniker seemed to be catching on.
“Apparently they’re organized well enough to maintain at least two bank accounts; one in Zurich, and the other in Bern.”
“What do they think they’re trying to do? Retake East Germany? What’s their purpose?”
“It’s unknown at this point, Mr. President,” Murphy said, “Where are they getting their money? Who is supplying it?” “Also unknown,” Murphy said, girding himself.
“But the French Action Service officer told my Chief of Station that they had identified the currency in which payments had been made into at least one of the STASI organization’s accounts.”
The President’s left eyebrow rose. “Is this fact significant?” Murphy sighed. “Well, Mr. President, if it is, I think we’re in big trouble.”
“As I said, spell it out.”
“The payments were made in yen. Japanese yen.” “It’s a stable currency,” the President said. “I’m told that there’s a small but growing movement to suspend trade on the international marketplace in dollars. The yen might be the next logical choice.”
“Japan may be the country of origin for the payments into the STASI accounts.”
“Could also be a ploy to throw off the investigation.” “I don’t believe so, Mr. President, although it’s a possibility.” “Because, Roland, God help us if what I think you’re suggesting has even the slightest grain of truth.”
Murphy said nothing, allowing the President to come to the same conclusions he’d come to earlier.
“If this group of ex-STASI officers is the same group who went after the engineers at ModTec, and from what you’re telling me it looks as if that’s the case, and if they’re being funded by the Japanese, possibly the government …
“I’m sorry, Mr. President, but there’s no evidence to that effect.” “If that’s the case, Roland, then it could mean that the Japanese are in the market for nuclear weapons technology.”
Murphy sighed deeply and sat back. “I simply don’t know.”
The President had another thought. It was clear from his expression that he was still on the same path Murphy had gone down.
“Could this walkie-talkie the French found have been designed and manufactured by a Japanese company?”
“It’s possible.”
“Is it likely?” the President pressed.
“I can’t answer that, sir,” Murphy said. There was more to come.
The President’s eyes narrowed. “What was Jim Shirley involved with when he was assassinated in Tokyo?”
“He was meeting with a man who claimed to be a Belgian banking adviser to a consortium of businesses in Japan. But he was an imposter, and there is no such consortium.”
“Coincidence?”
“On the surface one would have to say no. But only on the surface. There is absolutely no solid connection between Japan and this STASI group. Nor has there been the slightest hint that the Japanese, that anyone in Japan, has the slightest interest in nuclear weapons technology.”
“Give me a reading on this, Roland,” the President said.
Murphy shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. President, but I can’t do that.”
“What is being done?”
“We’re investigating ModTec to see if anyone else has been approached, and to see if the technology has already changed hands. We’re also looking into the French assertion that the STASI accounts exist and that they’ve received Japanese currency payments.”
“And in Japan?”
“We’re investigating Jim Shirley’s murder, of course. But beyond that… I’ll need your authorization. Considering the pending trade agreement between our countries, if it were to come out that the CIA is spying against Japan it would go badly.”
“You have my authorization, Roland,” the President said. He sat forward. “Let me make myself perfectly clear. You are to take this investigation to its logical conclusion.
No matter what resources you have to use to do it, and no matter which nation you’re led to scrutinize.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“I want results, Roland. Soon.”
Carrara came up as soon as Murphy returned from the White House. The DDO has harried.
He’d been on the job, or at least in the building, for more than seventy-two hours.
Ever since 145 had been shot down.
“We’ve got the green light to step up the investigation in Tokyo,” Murphy said.
“How far can we go?” Carrara asked.
“All the way, Phil. You’ve got carte blanche on this one.”
“If we’re caught there’ll be a lot of political trouble, not only from the Japanese, but from the Swiss as well.”
“This is your operation… Murphy said, but Carrara interrupted, which in itself was a mark of his tiredness.
“Yes, it is, sir. But I just wanted to make sure that everyone understands exactly what we’re up against. Lynch thinks that the Action Service is playing us both ends against the middle, and although Kelley Fuller is going back over, she’s going to be hard to control.”
Murphy was impatient.
“What I’m getting at, Mr. Director, is that so far as I see it, either operation could blow up in our faces.”
“We’ll take the risk,” Murphy said. “Now, where the hell is McGarvey? Is he here in Washington or isn’t he?”
“He came through Dulles last night, but then he disappeared.”