Adrienne was uneasy. ‘How reliable is Franklin Richards?’
Davidson’s manner became severe. ‘He’s a patriot. This isn’t the first time we’ve worked with him. He and his wife dine at the White House frequently, you know. And,’ he added as a clinching argument, ‘he happens to be a close friend of the Director.’
Porter saw a loophole. ‘Is Mrs Richards safe? And how much does she know?’
Davidson shrugged. ‘We must assume her husband keeps no secrets from her. That’s a basic rule of thumb in our business.’
‘Precisely,’ Porter said. ‘She’s much younger than Richards—’
‘She’s thirty-two,’ Adrienne interjected.
‘—and she’s a foreigner. The French operate a clever little intelligence shop, so—’
‘The Director,’ Davidson said, becoming glacial, ‘has full confidence in Marie Richards.’
That ended the matter, and Porter shrugged.
‘The hiring of the crew is about to begin,’ Davidson said. ‘We’ll move in some of our own people, but there will be a lot of outsiders, too, and the FBI will investigate them for us. Naturally, we’ll have to do our own umbrella job. That’s where you come in. Miss Howard will be in charge of domestic counterintelligence for Neptune. Mr Porter will run foreign counterintelligence. Decide what you’ll need in the way of personnel, equipment, whatever, and you’ll have it. You’ll have to work together, of course.’
Porter slowly rolled a cigarette. ‘Is there any indication that the Russians know what we’re doing?’
‘Not specifically.’
‘Assume they’re wise, Davidson. Also assume we can pull off this stunt. The KGB knows a job like this is beyond their capacity. So what would we do in their position? Lie low, keep tabs on the operation and let the enemy salvage the submarine. Then you move in, fast and hard, and take it away from them. I’ll need at least twenty men, including people with solid Russian connections. I’ll want to select them myself, even if it means taking them off other assignments.’
‘You’ll have all the priorities you’ll need.’
‘The Chinese are a different problem,’ Porter said. ‘Nobody is in a class with them, and never has been. They’d go to any lengths to get hold of a Russian A-bomb and the Red Navy code, and if they learn of Project Neptune I’ll have to borrow a couple of Marine divisions to protect the operation.’
‘I may be able to help you,’ Adrienne said. ‘I know something about the way the Chinese work.’
Porter was curt. ‘Thanks.’ He refrained from telling her that he had spent half of his career in the Far East.
‘Make a preliminary estimate of your needs tonight,’ Davidson said. ‘I’m flying back to Washington this evening – I really can’t afford to spend time away from my desk – so you can call me early in the morning, before you go off to Richards’ island. I’ve ordered a cutter for you. He’ll tell you all you need to know, so I’ll expect your final requisitions early next week.’ He stood and nodded.
They knew they were dismissed, and left the suite.
‘I wonder if there’s a restaurant in this place,’ Porter said.
‘There is. Come along.’ Adrienne led him back down the stairs.
They selected an isolated dining-room table overlooking the water, and none of the other patrons were within earshot.
Adrienne ordered a Scotch, a steak, and a salad.
‘Ordinarily I don’t care for hard liquor,’ Porter said, Taut I need a double bourbon. What kind of pizza are you serving?’
‘You have a choice,’ the waitress told him. ‘Sausage, onion, mushroom, cheese—’
‘Put them all in one. A big one.’ When the waitress left he saw Adrienne looking at him. ‘Pizza is one of my weaknesses. I always gorge on them when I’m in America.’
When their drinks arrived she raised her glass. ‘To the biggest headache the Corporation has ever dreamed up,’
‘May we survive it,’ Porter said, and drank.
She was still studying him. ‘You’re cursing the luck that gave you a blonde for a partner.’
‘I can think of people I’d prefer.’
‘Apparently you haven’t heard of me.’
‘Should I?’
‘I was the agent in charge of the Budapest caper.’
He was impressed in spite of himself.
‘I was also responsible for cornering the Kubalov ring in Manila.’
Porter returned her stare. ‘You behaved like an amateur when you got rid of that masher in the bar.’
‘I had other things on my mind,’ Adrienne said, ‘so I was a bit careless.’
‘When you work with me,’ Porter said, his voice hard, ‘be good enough to exercise full precautions in all matters at all times,’
‘Am I expected to genuflect?’
‘Only if you feel compelled to,’ he said, rolling a cigarette and offering it to her as a peace gesture.
She recognized his intent, so she accepted it, but her first puff made her cough.;
Her discomfort improved his mood, and he grinned at her. ‘I’m already making out a list of the help I’ll need. My first choice is the Deacon.’
‘I want him,’ Adrienne said.
‘I dare say. But I mentioned him first.’
‘Suppose we give the Deacon his choice,’ she said.
He sighed. She was damnably attractive and knew it, which gave her a double advantage. ‘You get the Deacon,’ he said, ‘but Blackman is definitely mine.’
Adrienne accepted her victory with a smile as tight as his. Regardless of the mutual antipathies they might feel, their joint assignment was staggering, making it imperative that they work together.
Three
The cutter, one of a fleet owned by the Corporation, sliced through the calm waters of Long Island Sound en route to Franklin Richards’ private island. Adrienne Howard was stretched out on a deck chair near the fantail, her eyes closed and the straps of her sun dress lowered so she could work on her tan. But Porter remained in the shade, removing neither his jacket nor necktie, and made an occasional notation in a small, looseleaf notebook. He had already put in requisitions for some members of the team he was forming, but there were others he wanted, and he could afford to make no errors.
What little he had gleaned of his new assignment frightened him, and he was afraid it would become even more complicated when he learned additional details. That, of course, was all to the good. On his very first field job for British MI-6, when he had been new to the business, his Berlin section chief had taught him something he’d never forgotten: ‘Espionage and counter-espionage aren’t romantic or mysterious. The spy who does his homework always wins, except when he’s nabbed by the spy-catcher who has made even more thorough preparations.’ There was no substitute for hard work.
Certainly the KGB knew that the United States had been eager to find the missing Zoloto submarine. Whether they realized it had actually been located was anybody’s guess, and he disliked guessing games. Then it would be even more difficult, but essential, to discover whether Moscow was aware of Project Neptune. The job he had been doing in Hong Kong had been child’s play.
To admit the truth, he missed the Eurasian girl. Adrienne Howard was more attractive, with an even better figure, but long experience had taught him never to become involved with any woman employed by the Corporation. Without exception they were dedicated creatures, and the more reliable they might be on a caper, the less spontaneously would they react in bed. You can’t have everything, he reflected.
A heavily wooded island, its shores and heights completely covered by tall pines, stood directly ahead, a mile or two from the shore of Long Island, and the cutter reduced its speed. Porter noted that Adrienne needed no one to awaken her; she was endowed with the sixth sense of a veteran agent, and was ready to debark long before the cutter nosed through a narrow channel into an inner, hidden bay.