Stuart Campbell had sat down as Jay spoke. He stood suddenly.
“Sir?”
The magistrate’s face registered complete surprise. “Sir William? Whatever more can be said, sir?”
“I should appreciate the opportunity to answer, for the record, of course, the good Mr. Reinhart’s challenge to the evidentiary basis of this warrant.”
“Must you, Sir William?”
“Yes, sir, indeed I must.”
“I shall warn you again that this bears in no way on my ruling. You don’t need to answer his statement. What he said is immaterial to this case at this juncture. Need I remind you that this merely concerns the arrest warrant, not extradition?”
“I understand, sir, but this is a very serious case involving international legal precedent, and one which the world will be watching with great interest. It behooves us, I think, to make the record complete.”
“Oh, very well. Proceed,” the judge replied, sitting back and laying his gavel on the bench before him.
“Thank you,” Campbell began, turning to look at Jay as he picked up a thick sheaf of papers. “I shall provide a copy of this brief for the court, and for Mr. Reinhart, but let me summarize. Mr. Reinhart alleges that there is no connection between President Harris’s general orders to the CIA and the ultimate infliction of torture and death on the occupants of a rural building which, although serving as an illegal drug lab, also contained the wives and children of many of the workers… all of whom were tortured. In fact, in the torturous interrogation that proceeded over two days, some of the men, women, and even children were beheaded, many of the women and girls raped and brutalized, and ultimately all of them who were still living were then locked in the structure and burned to death. Only one person, a young girl, escaped to tell the tale. She was fifteen. She had been raped and maimed and left for dead with the others.”
Nigel White was on his feet. “Sir, I must object to this shameless recitation of horror stories in place of legal substance!”
“Sustained, indeed!” the magistrate snapped. “Sir William? No more of that.”
“Yes, sir. My point is this. The government of Peru has uncovered proof that on the nineteenth of November of that year, fourteen days before the raid began, President John Harris was briefed in the Oval Office of the White House by a CIA covert operations chief named Barry Reynolds, that there was a group of former ‘Shining Path’ guerrilla mercenaries who had agreed to conduct the raid and the destruction of the drug factory for the price of one million dollars, U.S. Mr. Reynolds left the Oval Office thirty minutes after he entered with the verbal approval of the President of the United States to conduct the raid and to pay for it from secret CIA funds. In that briefing, Mr. Reynolds had provided ample warning that the only force available to carry out such a raid were professional thugs, and that a high risk existed that they would be brutal and bloodthirsty in their work, and might well disregard their instructions and maim and torture the occupants of the factory before killing everyone. President Harris, having been informed of this and advised by Mr. Reynolds to disapprove the raid, nevertheless ordered the raid carried out because he was convinced that stopping the heavy supply of processed cocaine and heroin from that district was far more important than the lives of those involved. Of course, the President undoubtedly did not expect women and children to be involved, but he did expect human beings to be the victims of the raid he was authorizing. We have copies of the presidential appointment logs showing a gap of thirty minutes in his schedule that day. While there is no mention of Mr. Reynolds’s visit in those logs, Peru’s investigation has uncovered irrefutable evidence of that visit and has verified the details of what transpired, and it is this proof that forms the unshakable foundation of this warrant.”
Nigel White began to rise but Jay put a hand on his shoulder and stood instead.
“Judge, may I ask a question?”
“I can’t see why not, Mr. Reinhart,” the magistrate said sarcastically, “since we’re apparently making up a new criminal procedure here as we go along. By all means, proceed.”
“Sir William, what is the nature of this so-called irrefutable evidence?” Jay asked.
With a supremely confident expression that sent cold chills down Jay’s back, Stuart Campbell turned and faced him in silence for a few seconds.
“I’m very much afraid, Mr. Reinhart, that we have that information from the source himself. You see, Mr. Reynolds was sickened by what happened. He has had a long and distinguished career with Central Intelligence and is a man of conscience who was directed by his superiors to bring this onerous option to President Harris. He did so reluctantly, thinking that a President of the United States would never approve the use of thugs and the dangers such an act entailed. After the raid he was in an agony of conscience and felt personally responsible. The record will show that he resigned his CIA position and subsequently contacted the President of Peru personally to inform him of his own involvement and provide proof that the raid had been ordered from the Oval Office.”
Jay took a deep breath and tried to look unperturbed. “That’s simply a ‘he said, she said’ case, Sir William. You can’t base such a warrant on one man’s uncorroborated allegation, especially since we know nothing of this man Reynolds’s credibility.”
“Mr. Reinhart, I’m sorry you have had inadequate time to research this. Mr. Reynolds knew the orders he would receive from the President would be covered up and that the official line would be that the meeting never took place, and he knew his position was very perilous should anything go wrong. So he took a singular, if illegal and risky, precaution to preserve the record if he should be later accused of acting without authorization: he used a state-of-the-art electronic device to secretly videotape his meeting with the President. In other words, sir, we have the proof, and it’s in our possession and ready for the committal hearing.”
Jay sat down in confusion, trying not to look as stunned as he was. If there was a videotape, even one inadmissible in a U.S. court, the entire equation had changed.
But the John Harris he knew was incapable of approving such a thing! And even a videotape could be misinterpreted.
“Gentlemen, with your permission,” the judge began, “I should like to reclaim my humble court and issue my ruling now, which is as it was to begin with. I find this Interpol warrant to have met all the requirements necessary for granting it full faith and credit, and I am thus going to sign the provisional arrest warrant for the apprehension of one John B. Harris, formerly known as President of the United States, for the charge of multiple specified violations of the international Treaty Against Torture. The arrest may be effected at the earliest opportunity when Mr. Harris is found within the territorial jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. And I shall now call a ten-minute recess and try to recall why I took this magistrate appointment to begin with.”
The magistrate got to his feet as the assemblage stood and waited for him to disappear into his chambers. When he was gone, Stuart Campbell turned and laid a copy of his brief in front of Jay.
“I need a copy of that videotape,” Jay said, managing a reasonably normal voice.
“Well, that will take some time, of course, if we’re willing to release it at all at this stage. I shall make that determination and let you know. Where are you staying? If we release it, I’ll see it’s delivered to you.”
“I need the tape today.”
Stuart Campbell turned to one of the solicitors who had accompanied him. “Can we even physically provide the tape today, James, should we decide to?”
“Maybe,” the man answered.
Campbell turned back to Jay. “Provided I agree you should have it, and I make no guarantees about that, I shall honestly do my best to get it to you rapidly, Mr. Reinhart.”