Again, as it was his holiday home, Benson was hosting the meeting. But this time Benson was also undoubtedly the man in charge. Opening the discussion, he said: “Gentlemen, we are in trouble. Not just simple, plain trouble, but enormous trouble that could bring us all down. It stems from two facts—we underestimated Lord Worth’s extraordinary power and we overestimated Cronkite’s ability to handle the situation with a suitable degree of discretion and tact. I admit I was responsible for introducing Cronkite to you, but on the other hand, you were unani-
202
Sea witch
mous in your belief that Cronkite was the only man to handle the job. And we were not aware that Cronkite’s detestation of Lord Worth ran to the extent of a virulent and irresponsible hatred.
“I have friends in the Pentagon, not important ones but ones that matter. The Pentagon, normally, like any other department of government, leaks secrets like a broken sieve. This time I had to pay twenty thousand dollars to a stenographer and the same to a cipher clerk which, for a pair of comparatively lowly paid government employees, represents a pretty fair return for a few hours’ work.
“First, everything is known about our previous meeting here, every word and sentiment that was expressed and the identities of all of us.” Benson paused and looked round the room, partly to allow time for the damning enormity of this information to sink in, partly to make it clear that he expected to be recompensed for his very considerable outlay.
Mr. A, one of the vastly powerful Arabian Gulf potentates, said: “I thought our security was one hundred per cent. How could anyone have known of our presence?”
“No external agency was involved, I have good friends in California intelligence. Their interest in us is zero. Nor was the FBI involved. For that to have happened we’d have had to commit some crime and then cross state lines.
293
Allstuir M acl^ean
Neither of those have we done. And before we met last time I had an electronics expert in to check not only this room but the entire house for bugs. There were none.”
Mr. A said: ‘Terhaps he planted a bug?”
“Impossible. Apart from the fact that he’s an old friend of immaculate reputation, I was with him all the time, a fact that did not prevent me from calling in a second expert.”
Patinos, the Venezuelan, said: “We give you full marks for security. That leaves only one possibility. One of us here is a traitor.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I have no idea. We shall probably never know.”
Mr. A stroked his beard. “Mr. Corral here lives very close to Lord Worth, no?”
Corral said: “Thank you very much.**
Benson said: “Intelligent men don’t make so obvious a link.”
“As you said at our previous meeting, Fm the only person who had no declared interest in being here.” Borosoff seemed quietly relaxed. “I could be your man.”
“It’s a point, but one which I don’t accept. Whether you are here to stir up trouble between the United States and Russia may or may not be the case. Again it comes down to the factor of intelligence.” Benson was being disarmingly frank. “You could be, and probably are, a Soviet agent
204
Seawiteh
But top agents are never caught in the role of agent provocateur. I am not complimenting you on your unquestioned intelligence. I prefer to rely on simple common sense.” Benson, who appeared to have developed a new maturity and authority, looked around the company. “Every word spoken here will doubtless be relayed to either Lord Worth or the State Department, It no longer matters. We are here to set right any wrongs for which we may have been—however unwittingly, I may say—responsible.
“We know that a Russian missile naval craft and a Russian-built Cuban submarine are closing in on the Seawitch. We also know that a Venezuelan destroyer is doing the same. What you don’t know is that countermeasures are being taken. My information—and the source is impeccable—is that Lord Worth was today closeted with Benton, the Secretary of State, in Washington. My further information is that Benton was only partially convinced by Lord Worth’s suspicions. He was, unfortunately, wholly convinced when the news came through of Cron-kite’s irresponsible folly in kidnaping Lord Worth’s two daughters. As a result, a United States cruiser and destroyer, both armed with the most sophisticated weaponry, have moved out into the Gulf of Mexico. An American nuclear submarine is already patrolling those waters. Another American vessel is already shadowing your destroyer, Mr. Patinos: your destroyer, with its
2O5
Alistalr MacLean
vastly inferior detecting equipment, is wholly unaware of this. Additionally, at a Louisiana air base, a squadron of supersonic fighter-bombers is on instant alert.
“The Americans are no longer in any mood to play around. My information is that they are prepared for a showdown and are prepared for the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation which John Kennedy had with Khrushchev over Cuba. The Russians, clearly, would never risk a local nuclear confrontation where the home-territory advantages are so overwhelmingly American. Neither side would dream of mounting a pre-emptive strike over the issue of a few pennies on a barrel of oil. But if the hot line between Washington and Moscow begins to burn, national prestige will make it difficult for either side to back down until they arrive at a face-saving formula, which could take quite some time and would, much worse, generate overwhelming worldwide publicity. This would inevitably involve us. So I would advise you, Mr. Borosoff and Mr. Patinos, to call off your dogs of war before that hot line starts burning. That way, and only in that way, can we survive with our good names left un-besmirched. I blame neither of you gentlemen. You may have given the nod to Cronkite, but you did not reckon on the possibility that Cronkite would carry matters to such ridiculous lengths. Please, please believe me that the Ameri-
206
Seawiteh
cans will not hesitate to blast your ships out of the water.”
Oil ministers do not become oil ministers because they are mentally retarded. Patinos smiled a smile of wry resignation. “I do not relish the thought of personal ruin. Nor do I relish the thought of becoming a scapegoat for my government.” He looked across at Borosoff. “We call off the dogs of war?”
Borosoff nodded. “Back to their kennels and no alas. I wish to return to my Russia and this will give me great face, for they will not have to lose face in the world.”
Mr. A leaned back in his chair. His relief was manifest. “Well, that would seem to cover that.”
“It covers most of it,” Benson said. “But not all. Another very unpleasant and potentially terrifying crime occurred this afternoon. I heard of it only an hour ago and it will be the hottest topic in the nation tonight. I only hope to God that, although we were in no way responsible for it, we won’t be implicated in it A place called Netley Rowan Arsenal was broken into this afternoon. It’s supposed to be just another arms depot insofar as the public is concerned— and so, mainly, it is. But it’s also a TNW arsenal. TNW means ‘tactical nuclear weapons.* Two of them were stolen in the break-in and appear to have vanished without trace.”
“God above!” The expression and tone of the
2O7
MacLean
man from Honduras accurately reflected the shocked feelings of all around the table. “Cron-kite?”
“I’d bet on it. No proof, naturally, but who the hell else?”
Henderson said: “No disrespect to Mr. Boro-soff here, but couldn’t the Russians, say, have been seeking a prototype?”
Benson looked as weary as his voice sounded. “The Russians already have God knows how many of those things. It’s public knowledge that they have thousands of them deployed along the border between the Warsaw pact and NATO countries—many of them, it is suspected, more sophisticated than ours. The Russians need our TNWs the way they need bows and arrows.” Borosoff, despite the anxiety he shared with the others, permitted himself the ghost of a smile of complacency, “Cronkite. The man’s running wild.”
Mr. A said: “You think he’s so totally crazy as to use a nuclear device against the Seawitch?”
“I do not profess to understand the workings of an obviously diseased mind,” Benson said. “He’s capable of anything.”
Patinos said: “What’s this weapon like?”
“I don’t know. I phoned the Pentagon, a very senior official there, but although he’s an old friend of mine, he refused to release highly classified information. All I know is that it can be used as a land-based time bomb—I suppose that in-
268
Seawitch
eludes the sea as well—or as an aircraft bomb. It can only be used in a limited number of supersonic fighter-bombers, which will already, I suppose, be under the heaviest security guard ever, which would strike me as a superfluous precaution as there is no chance that Cronkite, even with his obviously wide range of contacts, could know anyone who could fly one of those planes.”