As Hawk briefed the room I thought to myself what a concentration of high-powered espionage information was gathered here in this room in the White House. When Hawk finished, he picked up a sheet of notepaper.
"This was received by the President of the United States this morning," he said. He glanced at me for a moment. "It was postmarked in a small town in Iowa." I nodded and he returned to the letter.
"Mr. President," he read, "by now I hope you have contacted the leaders of every major power and told them that together you must destroy all stocks of bacteriological warfare. If you have not done so, you only have a short time before I will demonstrate the full effect of the horror you would inflict upon the world. I will expect action and I will listen to the public communication systems and the press for your answer. Joseph Carlsbad."
Hawk passed the letter around, handing it first to Manouchi, the Italian, standing nearest to him.
"Perhaps we ought to make a public show of doing what he says," Ardsley of British Intelligence volunteered. "All our governments announce that we're destroying our germ warfare branches and materials."
"He is no fool, this Carlsbad " Ostrov said. "He will want more than words."
"I'm afraid I agree with General Ostrov on that," Hawk said. "He's obviously planned carefully and with help. He can probably stay wherever he's holed up and wait for us to furnish proof."
"And showing him proof would be impossible for you gentlemen, eh?" Claude Mainon said, a sly smile on his face. "That would mean actually doing away with your bacteriological warfare weapons."
Nobody said anything, neither Hawk nor Ostrov. I couldn't help smiling inwardly. The Frenchman had touched on one of the tender spots.
"For the moment let us concentrate on recovering X–V77," Hawk said finally. He tossed the little round silver object with the ivory or bone set into it on the table.
"This is the one material lead Agent N3 has found," he said. "Can any of you help us with it?"
I watched the men move closer to the table and look at the piece. Ardsley, Mainon, the Italian and Ostrov shook their heads. Nutashi, the Japanese, picked it up and studied it closely. I saw Chung Li watching him through mere slits of eyes, a patient, almost amused expression on his face.
"It is an identification piece," Nutashi said. "Used by a small secret society, semireligious, practicing human sacrifices, we understand. The material in the center is human bone from a victim of the Hiroshima bombing, no doubt still slightly radioactive. The religious aspects of the society center around the Hiroshima catastrophe."
"Certainly the land of a group Carlsbad could get material help from," I said. "Such as a place to hide."
Nutashi laid the silver piece back on the table and Chung Li reached out and picked it up, dangling it from the few remaining links attached to it. "Major Nutashi is generally correct about this group," he said in his soft, sibilant voice. "We had contacted them once to evaluate their possible use for our own purposes."
I saw Nutashi's jaw muscles flex, but he maintained his outer calm. Chung Li went on, his soft, gentle tones clear in the silence of the room. "However we found them too few in number and badly disorganized. But during the past year we have heard that their numbers have increased and that they seem to have taken on a new strength. Strangely enough, this has resulted in their going deeper underground."
I saw all those check stubs of Carlsbad's in my mind. If this group had got themselves new strength, at least part of it was due to Carlsbad's funds.
"You say they've gone deeper underground?" I asked. "Do you mean you don't know where they are anymore?"
"Only that they are somewhere in the Kurile Islands," Chung Li answered. "In some ancient Buddhist temple»
"Then that's our next move," Hawk said. "Carter will go there and try to find them. Everything points to Carlsbad working with this group. Anyway, it's all we've got and so well run with it."
"We will make you into one of the Japanese fishermen who fish off the Kuriles every day," Nutashi volunteered. "That will ensure your entry without suspicion."
"And if I do get Carlsbad and need some backup muscle?" I asked.
Ostrov cleared his throat, and I could see it took some effort for him to say his piece. "We have a… er… number of undersea craft in that area," he admitted. "We could have them standing by for action upon instruction from you."
Hawk was actually beaming. "That sounds very good, gentlemen." He smiled. "Of course, we agree that everyone shall be given immediate reports of any and all developments. We shall work out procedural operations. Meanwhile, Nick, you'd best get over to Special Effects. Stewart is waiting for you."
I took them all in with a nod and paused for a moment to meet Chung Li's eyes. Perhaps he was thinking of the number of times I'd wrecked his schemes and destroyed his top men. Perhaps he was thinking of how he'd like to get rid of me right then and there. In any case, his small, dark eyes held an air of deadly amusement, and I knew that to Chung Li, this cooperation was no more than a passing moment. His eyes seemed to say that he was looking forward to a speedy resumption of our running battle. Anytime you're ready, I let my own eyes reply, and turned on my heel.
I looked back at the stately lines of the White House as I got outside. The venerable structure had seen many history-making meetings since 1800, but none more vital and unusual than the one I'd just left. At AXE offices, Stewart greeted me at the doorway of the cavernous laboratories of Special Effects. "Nothing terribly unusual for you this time, Nick" he said in his usual professorial monotone, "The Chief said that communications would be the problem."
"One of the problems," I corrected him. "Got anything in the line of germ repellants?"
Stewart ignored me, which is what he usually did. He was always like a mother hen, protectively fussing over his products of highly specialized destruction, and I knew he thought me irreverent I didn't really deprecate his fantastically clever concoctions. Hell, they'd saved my life more than once. I just thought he ought to be less holy about them, especially since they were as unholy as hell.
Stewart halted at one of the white-topped tables where a belt and a pair of socks were set neatly side by side.
"Something new in men's wear?" I asked and he permitted himself a fleeting smile. "I'd like to see a three-button jacket in a quiet check," I joked.
"Put this belt on " Stewart said. "Press the center of the buckle in the rear first." The buckle was thick silver with a scroll design in the front. As I pressed the rear, the back portion slid sideways and I found myself holding a square panel with a tiny grill in the center.
"Microelectronics," Stewart said. "It's a tiny sending set. No reception. Transmission only. The Chief said to fit it into something they wouldn't be apt to take away from you."
As I looked at the little device, he picked up a small package about the size of a pack of king-size cigarettes. "It goes with the belt," he explained. "There isn't enough power in the sending unit to carry any substantial distance. But this little pack carries plenty. Set it down anywhere within a mile of where you're going, flip up the switch at the side, and the unit will receive your signals from the belt sender. It will then relay them up to two hundred miles. It's waterproof, too."
I'd switched belts after sliding the rear panel of the buckle back in place when he handed me the socks. "No need to put these on now," he said. "Inside the decorative ribbing on the sides they contain explosive wire. Just put a match to the whole sock and you'll get enough for one good blast out of each."
I stuffed the socks in my pocket. "Send me a dozen in brown and a dozen in blue. I hope nobody gives me a hotfoot while I'm wearing them." Stewart's severe face remained expressionless, and I decided he'd never develop a sense of humor. I left and went upstairs to Hawk's office. There was a message for me to wait and wait I did. The pretty little thing in the outer office had a name and a telephone and an address where she lived alone. I got all three before Hawk came back. I followed him into the inner office.