The Icarus Agenda

Varak, however, very much wanted to see that stretch of road the locals referred to as Mesa Verde, or just plain Verde, as Emmanuel Weingrass called it. He wanted to see how the men dressed, how they walked, what the stresses of field work had done to their bodies, their muscles, their posture. For the next twenty-four, or at most forty-eight, hours he would have to blend in. Milos had a job to do that in one sense saddened him beyond measuring the pain, but it was something he had to do. If there was a traitor to Inver Brass, within Inver Brass, Varak had to find him… or her.

After an hour and thirty-five minutes of driving, he found the cafe named Gee-Gee's. He could not go inside dressed as he was, so he parked the car, removed his jacket, and strolled into the general store across the street.

'Ain't seen you before,' said the elderly owner, turning his head as he stacked bags of rice on a shelf. 'Always nice to see a new face. You headin' for New Mex? I'll put you on the right road, no need to buy anythin'. I keep tellin' people that, but they always feel they got to part with cash when all they want is directions.'

'You're most kind, sir,' said Milos, 'but I'm afraid I must part with cash—not mine of course, my employer's. I'm to purchase several bags of rice. It was omitted from the delivery from Denver.'

'Oh, one of the biggies in the hills. Take what you like, son—for cash, of course. At my age I don't carry out.'

'I wouldn't think of it, sir.'

'Hey, you're a foreign fella', ain't cha?'

'Scandinavian,' replied Varak. 'I'm just temporary, filling in while the chauffeur is ill.' Milos picked up three bags of rice and carried them to the counter; the owner followed towards the cash register.

'Who you work for?'

'The Kendrick house, but he doesn't know me—’

'Hey, isn't that somethin' about young Evan? Our own congressman the heero of Oman! I tell ya, makes a man stand tall, like the President says! He come in here a couple a' times—three, four maybe. Nicest fella you'd want to meet; real down-to-earth, you know what I mean?'

'I'm afraid I've never met him.'

'Yeah, but if you're out there at the house, you know ol' Manny, that's for sure! A real pistol, ain't he? I tell ya, that crazy Jewish fella is somethin' else!'

'He certainly is.'

That'll be six dollars and thirty-one cents, son. Skip the penny if you ain't got it.'

'I'm sure I have—' Varak reached into his pocket, 'Does Mr… Manny come in here often?'

'Some. Maybe two, three times a month. Drives in with one of them nurses of his, then as soon as she turns her back, he splits over to Gee-Gee's. He's some fella. Here's your change, son.'

'Thank you.' Milos picked up the bags of rice and turned towards the door, but was suddenly stopped by the owner's next words.

'I figure those girls snitched on him, though, 'cause Evan must be gettin' a little stricter lookin' after his ol' pal, but I guess you know that.'

'Yes, of course,' said Varak, looking back at the man and smiling. 'How did you find out?'

'Yesterday,' replied the owner. 'What with all the fuss out at the house Manny got Jake's cab to bring him down to Gee-Gee's. I saw him so I went to the door and shouted to him about how great the news was, y'know. He yelled back something like “my sugar” or something, and went inside. That's when I saw this other car comin' real slow down the street with a guy talkin' on a telephone—you know, one of them car telephones. He parked across from Gee-Gee's and just stayed there watchin' the door. Then later he was on that telephone again and a few minutes after that he got out and went into Gonzalez's place. No one else had gone in, so that's when I figured he was keepin' tabs on Manny.'

'I'll tell them to be more careful,' said Milos, still smiling. 'But just to make sure we're talking about the same man, or one of them, what did he look like?'

'Oh, he was city, all right. Fancy duds and slick-down hair.'

'Dark hair, then?'

'No, sorta' reddish.'

'Oh, him?’ said Varak convincingly. 'Approximately my size.'

'Nope, I'd say a mite taller, maybe more than a mite.'

'Yes, of course,' agreed the Czech. 'I imagine we often think of ourselves as taller than we are. He's somewhat slender, or perhaps it's his height—’

'That's him,' broke in the owner. 'Not much meat on his bones, not like you, no sirree.'

'Then he was driving the brown Lincoln.'

'Looked blue to me, and big, but I don't know one car from another these days. All look the same, like unhappy bugs.'

'Well, thank you, sir. I'll certainly tell the team to be more discreet. We wouldn't want Manny upset.'

'Oh, don't worry about me tellin' him. Manny had a big operation and if young Evan thinks he needs closer watchin', I'm for it. I mean, ol' Manny, he's a pistol—Gee-Gee even waters his whisky when he can get away with it.'

'Thank you again. I'll inform the congressman of your splendid co-operation.'

'Thought you didn't know him.'

'When I meet him, sir. Goodbye.'

Milos Varak started the hired car and drove down the stretch of road, leaving behind the general store, the barber shop and Gee-Gee's cafe. A tall, slender man with neatly combed reddish hair and driving a large blue car. The hunt had begun.

'I don't believe it!' whispered Mitchell Jarvis Payton.

'Believe, MJ,' said Adrienne Rashad over the red-checked tablecloth at the rear of the Italian restaurant in Arlington. 'What did you really know about Oman?'

'It was a Four-Zero operation run by State and liaisoned by Lester Crawford, who wanted a list of our best people with the widest range of contacts in the southwest basin. That's all I knew. There may be others more qualified than you, but not where contacts are concerned.'

'You must have assumed the operation involved the hostages.'

'Of course, we all did, and to tell you the truth I was torn. Your friendship with Ahmat and his wife was no secret to me, and I had to assume that others also knew. You see, I didn't want to submit your name to Les, but your past work with Projects called for it and your ties to the royal family demanded it. Also, I realized that if I left you out for personal reasons and you ever learned about it, you'd have my head.'

'I certainly would have.'

'I'll confess to a minor sin, however,' said Payton, smiling a sad smile. 'When it was all over I walked into Crawford's office and made it clear that I understood the rules, but I must know that you were all right. He looked up at me with those fish eyes of his and said you were back in Cairo. I think it bothered him even to tell me that… And now you tell me that the whole damned operation was blown open by one of us! A Four-Zero strategy can't be unsealed for years, often decades! There are records going back to World War Two that won't see the light of day until the middle of the next century, if then.'