"I think a lot of people would find it useful to know what happened vis-a-vis the Congo."
"On Christmas Eve, Mr. President, there were several assassinations and attempted assassinations all over the world-"
"By Major Castillo? On Christmas Eve? Unbelievable!"
"No, sir. Directed against people with a connection to Lieutenant Colonel-by then he had been promoted-Castillo. A newspaper reporter in Germany, for one. An Argentine gendarmeria officer, for another. A Secret Service agent on the vice presidential detail-"
"Which one?" the President again interrupted.
"His name is John M. Britton, if memory serves, Mr. President."
"Black guy," the former Vice President recalled. "Smart as hell. Funny, too. I liked him. I wondered what happened to him."
"Well, sir, immediately after the attempt on his life, he was of course taken off your protection detail."
"Why?"
"Sir, if someone was trying to kill Special Agent Britton and he was guarding you, standing beside you…"
The President stopped him with a gesture. He had the picture.
"What was Jack Britton's connection to Castillo?"
"Britton was a Philadelphia Police Department detective, working undercover in the Counterterrorism Bureau, when Castillo was running down the Philadelphia connection to the stolen airliner. Castillo recruited him for OOA."
"Then how did he wind up in the Secret Service on my protection detail?"
"I believe you know Supervisory Special Agent Tom McGuire, Mr. President?"
"He used to run the President's protection detail? Yeah, sure I know Tom. Don't tell me he has a connection with Castillo."
"The President assigned McGuire to OOA to act as liaison between the Secret Service and Castillo. He was impressed with Britton, and when Britton was no longer needed by Castillo and couldn't return to Philadelphia-his identity was now known to the terrorist community-McGuire recruited him for your protection detail."
"And?"
"Apparently, Special Agent Britton could not understand why an attempt on his life justified his being relieved from your protection detail and being assigned to a desk in Saint Louis. He said some inappropriate things to his supervisors. McGuire decided the best thing to do under the circumstances was send him back to OOA, and he did."
"Why did they-and who is 'they'?-try to kill Britton?"
"Castillo believed the assassinations and assassination attempts on all the people I mentioned were retaliatory actions ordered by Putin himself."
"I find it hard to accept that Vladimir Putin would order assassinations any more than I would," the President said. "But on the other hand, once we start murdering people, I think we would have to be very naive or very stupid-how about 'stupidly naive'?-to think the other side would not retaliate."
"Yes, sir. Well, Castillo was apparently delighted to have Britton back. He put him on an airplane and sent him and Mrs. Britton to Argentina to get them out of sight and then loaded some-most-of the others on his Gulfstream and flew to Europe."
"On his Gulfstream? He had access to an Air Force Gulfstream? Jesus Christ!"
"Yes, sir. He had access to an Air Force Gulfstream-and he had a document signed by the President that ordered any government agency to give him whatever assets he asked for."
The President shook his head in disbelief.
"But the Gulfstream on which he flew to Europe was a civilian aircraft, leased by OOA," Montvale said. "He kept it at Baltimore/Washington."
"Where did the money for that come from?"
"Mr. President, I wasn't in the loop. I just know he had the airplane."
The President exhaled audibly.
"And?" he asked.
"Well, according to Castillo, shortly after he arrived in Germany he was approached by two very senior SVR officers-"
"What's that?" the President interrupted.
"Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service," Montvale explained. "The two officers were Colonel Dmitri Berezovsky, the SVR rezident in Berlin, and Lieutenant Colonel Svetlana Alekseeva, the SVR rezident in Copenhagen. They said they wanted to defect."
Montvale paused, and then went on. "I have to go off at a tangent here, Mr. President. At this time, our CIA station chief in Vienna, Miss Eleanor Dillworth, a highly respected longtime Clandestine Service officer, and her staff had for some time, and at considerable effort and expense, been working on the defection of Lieutenant Colonel Alekseeva and Colonel Berezovsky. These arrangements had gone so far as the preparation of a safe house in Maryland to house them while they were being debriefed."
"So why did they contact Castillo?"
"According to Castillo, they didn't trust Miss Dillworth. Castillo said when they came to him, they offered to defect to him in exchange for two million dollars and immediate transportation to Argentina on his plane. This whole transaction apparently took place on a train headed for Vienna. So he made the deal."
"Shouldn't he have gone to the nearest CIA officer, either this Miss Dillworth or some other CIA officer? Was he authorized to make a deal like that?"
"No, sir, he wasn't, and yes, sir, he should have immediately contacted either me or someone in the CIA."
"Incredible!"
"Yes, sir, it is," Montvale agreed. "When this came to my attention-Miss Dillworth reported to CIA Director Powell that the defection of Colonel Berezovsky and Lieutenant Colonel Alekseeva had blown up in her face and that she suspected the presence in Vienna of Castillo had something to do with it-"
"She knew about Castillo? Who he was?"
"By then, Mr. President, the existence of the OOA and the identity of its chief was not much of a secret within the intelligence community."
President Clendennen nodded and motioned for Montvale to go on.
"DCI Powell reported the situation to me. I immediately realized that something had to be done."
"So you went to the President?"
"At that stage, Mr. President, Colonel Castillo was the President's fair-haired boy. I decided the best thing to do was go to General Naylor."
"Naylor is a very good man," the President said. "Please don't tell me Naylor was involved with the OOA."
"Only in the sense that Castillo was a serving Army officer, and that General Naylor had recommended Castillo to the secretary of Homeland Security. There was a legality involved, too, Mr. President. So far as the Army was concerned, Castillo was on temporary duty with the OOA from his regular assignment to the Special Operations Command. The Special Operations Command is under General Naylor's Central Command."
The President's face showed that he could easily have done without the clarification.
"And?" he said impatiently.
"Well, General Naylor, on being apprised of the situation, agreed with me that the situation had to be brought under control."
"By 'the situation,' you mean Castillo?"
"Yes, sir. And General Naylor and I were agreed that our first priority was to spare the President any embarrassment that Castillo's actions might cause. And the second priority was to get the two Russians into the hands of the CIA.
"After some thought, it was decided that the best thing to do with Castillo-and incidentally, the best thing for Castillo personally-was to have him retired honorably from the service. A board of officers was quickly convened at Walter Reed. After an examination of his record, it was decided that he was suffering as a result of his extensive combat service-his chest is covered with medals for valor in action-with post-traumatic stress disorder that has rendered him permanently psychologically unfit for continued active service and therefore he should be medically retired. The board awarded him a disability pension of twenty-five percent of his base pay.
"General Naylor appointed an officer, a full colonel, to present Lieutenant Colonel Castillo with the findings of the board. Taking him with me, I went to Argentina in a Gulfstream with the intention of bringing Castillo home and to place the defected Russians into the hands of the CIA. I took with me two members of my protection detail to guard the Russians, and, frankly, in case Castillo proved obstreperous."