She followed behind him. "You're also expected in the Chief's office as soon as possible. My coffee's better, but best you try Toni's for now. He's already called to see if you'd come in."
His call from Berlin might well have stirred a flurry of activity, he realized, but the flap should have been around Langley and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Not here. Why should it concern him? Maybe Evelyn was putting two and two together and getting five.
When he walked into Nate's stylish office suite down the hall, he was greeted by the wide, open smile of Toni Carlucci, a petite woman dressed conservatively in a simple outfit of navy blue. Toni was about as complicated as a rubber ball, and her step had every bit as much bounce to it. She was noted primarily for a fierce loyalty to her boss and an unflappable demeanor. If the hornet's nest had been stirred, it certainly didn't reflect in Toni's relaxed manner. How Nate Highsmith had managed to hold onto her through all of the various twists and turns of his career over the past twenty-five years, Burke wasn't sure.
She held out a steaming cup bearing the Worldwide logo. "Good morning, Mr. Hill. Evelyn said you'd like some coffee."
He accepted the cup with a shake of his head. "That woman is so efficient I can't even sneak up on anybody. I understand Nate wants to see me."
"He's waiting. Go on in."
Burke gave a single rap on the heavy wooden door and opened it. Nate was on the phone. The scrambler, in fact. He motioned Burke to take a seat. Outside the windows, a vast canopy of blue sheltered the Washington skyline.
"He just walked in, Kingsley. I'll bring him up to speed. Get back to you later."
Nate put down the phone, leaned back in his plush executive chair, locked his fingers behind his head and grinned across at Burke. "You really threw the White House into a swivet. General Thatcher's been burning up the line to Langley."
Burke caught the import of Nate's parting comment to Kingsley Marshall. "Is that what you're to bring me up to speed on?"
"Right. The President wants answers to three questions. First, are the South Koreans really working on a nuclear capability with Israel's help? And, if so, second, how far along are they? And third, what do they intend doing with that capability once it's acquired?"
"I trust all the spooks at Langley are hard at work on the answers," Burke said.
"Remember my description of that meeting in the Oval Office when I was asked to set up Worldwide? The President talked about the world being a terribly fluid place at present. Ideologies constantly shifting, a seemingly endless state of turmoil within and between various nations. He said the result was the CIA finds itself frequently caught with assets of uncertain reliability."
Burke took a sip from his cup, then flinched as the liquid scalded his tongue. "Damn! This stuff's hot enough to start World War III."
"Let's hope that doesn't apply to your mission to South Korea." Nate's tone made it plain he was not being entirely facetious.
"My mission? They're tossing this thing back to us?"
"Correct. With all the recent changes in Seoul, new government taking over, key people shifting about, a cooling attitude toward the United States, uncertain loyalties all around, the Agency isn't sure who they can trust."
Burke couldn't believe Ben Shallit's revelation was coming back to haunt him so soon. With only about two-and-a-half months to go on Lori's pregnancy, this hardly seemed the time to be flying off halfway around the world. "Where do we stand?"
"The Association and Technology groups are working to line up enough business to justify opening an office in Seoul," Nate said. "Marshall offered to cover the expenses until we can generate sufficient billings."
The company was organized around client groups, each headed by a senior vice president. The branch office managers held the title of vice president.
"What do you plan to do about a manager?"
"I've picked Jerry Chan," he said.
"He's Chinese, isn't he?"
"Right. And the only management-qualified person we have with any knowledge of Korean. I've got him in a crash course to improve his language proficiency. Since we don't have access to a Korean, he's the next best thing. Korea is something of an anomaly. They're probably the most ethnically-pure country in the world. A small minority of Chinese are virtually the only non-Koreans among the population. They get along better with Chinese than with Japanese."
"That figures," Burke said. He took another sip of coffee, being a bit more prudent this time. "How does the client situation look?"
Nate leaned over his desk and opened a blue-covered folder. The blue indicated it was a public relations file. An amber cover marked a file as classified. Besides giving the Amber Group its name, the colors were used around the office to reflect the status of anything from a phone call to a project to an employee.
"I used my good offices to get the ball rolling," Nate said, studying a page in the file. He had the diplomat's knack for steering people and events in the direction necessary to achieve his goals. "Hollis Wentworth, an old friend of mine, heads a company that's active in the Korean market. At my prodding, he contacted a few others like McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, a couple of airlines. We're working on organizing a new association of American companies doing business in Korea, particularly ones that deal with the public."
Nate outlined the plan. The new association, to be called the American Council for Business in Korea, would hire Worldwide Communications Consultants to represent it in Seoul. Worldwide would produce a public relations campaign geared to promote goodwill toward American interests among the Korean public. It was something the business community sorely needed, with the government of President Kwak putting the damper on what were euphemistically called "outside influences." It would give the Amber Group an excuse to make a wide range of contacts, including government and industry, where clues would be sought to what South Korea was doing in the field of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems.
"The White House has given it the code name HANGOVER."
Burke grinned. "I suppose that's what they expect if we don't come up with the right answers. Sounds like you have things well underway, though. I'll need to look into the staffing situation, work up some costs for personnel and facilities."
Nate nodded as he thumbed through the blue folder. "Accounting should have some preliminary figures for you. We'll start with an account executive, a media person, and one from research. As soon as we can wrap up this business council and get Jerry ready to take over, I want you to go with him and help get things established. You can handle the banking and financial arrangements. While Jerry's working on getting his office in operation, you should have time for some preliminary snooping into their governmental setup. We need to know where to start digging for a weapons project."
The kind of "snooping" Nate referred to was strictly out-in-the-open stuff. Innocuous questions. Carefully considered observations. As the President had pointed out in that first meeting, the company's personnel would operate on foreign soil without diplomatic immunity. In fact, they would be totally deniable by the United States Government. Anyway, Burke was primarily a desk man, not a field man. The trip would likely come in early November, he figured. Lori's due date was around Christmas. No doubt it would take several weeks to get everything into operation in Seoul. That would be cutting it pretty thin.
"You do realize the stockings on our mantel this Christmas will be booties?" Burke asked. "Lori and I have a date with the stork instead of Santa this year."
Nate leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Don't worry. We'll get you back in time." He added, as if an afterthought, "I've chosen Duane Elliston to be the account executive."