‘But Milos said that whatever story you had in mind wasn’t the one he was going to tell us,’ said Margaret Lowell. ‘Isn’t that right?’ she added, looking at Varak.
‘Yes, madame. The remark made to Professor Sundstrom undoubtedly concerned the nature of Kendrick’s election. He literally bought it in anger, burying his opponent under an avalanche of local advertising and a series of expensive rallies that were more public circuses than political assemblies. It was said that when the incumbent complained that the election laws were being violated, Kendrick confronted him with his attorneys—not to discuss the campaign but, instead, his opponent’s performance in office. The complaints instantly stopped and Kendrick won handily.’
‘One could say he puts his money where his indignation is,’ remarked Winters quietly. ‘However, you have a far more fascinating bit of information for us, Mr. Varak, and since I’ve heard it, I’ll repeat what I said before. It’s extraordinary. Please go on.’
‘Yes, sir.’ The Czech pressed the remote control and with a muted slap the next photograph appeared on the screen. Kendrick and the Rotunda steps disappeared, replaced by an overview of hysterical crowds racing down a narrow street flanked by buildings of obviously Islamic character, past shops with signs in Arabic above them.
‘Oman,’ said Eric Sundstrom, glancing at Winters. ‘A year ago.’ The historian-spokesman nodded.
The slides followed quickly, one after the other, depicting scenes of chaos and carnage. There were bullet-ridden corpses and shell-pocked walls, torn down embassy gates and rows of kneeling terrified hostages behind a rooftop screen of latticework; there were close-ups of shrieking young people brandishing weapons, their mouths gaping in triumph, their zealous eyes wild. Suddenly the rushing slides stopped and the attention of Inver Brass was abruptly riveted on a slide that seemed to have little relevance. It showed a tall, dark-skinned man in long white robes, his head covered by a ghotra, his face in profile, walking out of a hotel; then the screen was split, a second photograph showing the same man rushing across an Arab bazaar in front of a fountain. The photographs remained on the screen; the bewildered silence was broken by Milos Varak.
‘That man is Evan Kendrick,’ he said simply.
Bewilderment gave way to astonishment. Except for Samuel Winters, the others leaned forward, beyond the glare of the brass lamps, to study the magnified figure on the screen. Varak continued. ‘These photographs were taken by a case officer of the CIA with a Four-Zero clearance whose assignment was to keep Kendrick under surveillance wherever possible. She did a remarkable job.’
‘She?’ Margaret Lowell arched her brows in approval.
‘A Middle East specialist. Her father’s Egyptian, herm other an American from California. She speaks Arabic fluently and is used extensively by the Agency in crisis situations over there.’
‘Over there?’ whispered Mandel, stunned. ‘What was he doing over there?’
‘Just a minute,’ said Logan, his dark eyes boring into Varak’s. ‘Stop me if I’m wrong, young man, but if I remember correctly, there was an article in the Washington Post last year suggesting that an unknown American had interceded in Masqat at the time. A number of people thought that it might have been the Texan Ross Perot, but the story never appeared again. It was dropped.’
‘You’re not wrong, sir. The American was Evan Kendrick and with pressure from the White House the story was killed.’
‘Why? He could have made enormous political mileage out of it—if indeed his contribution led to the settlement.’
‘His contribution was the settlement.’
‘Then I certainly don’t understand,’ remarked Logan quietly as he looked at Samuel Winters.
‘No one does,’ said the historian. ‘There’s no explanation, just a buried file in the archives that Milos managed to obtain. Apart from that document, there’s nothing anywhere to indicate a connection between Kendrick and the events in Masqat.’
‘There’s even a memo to the Secretary of State disavowing any such connection,’ interrupted Varak. ‘It does not reflect well on the congressman. In essence, it suggests that he was a self-serving opportunist, a politician who wished to further himself by way of the hostage crisis because he had worked in the Arab Emirates and especially Oman, and was trying to insert himself for publicity purposes. The recommendation was not to touch him for the safety of the hostages.’
‘But they obviously did touch him!’ exclaimed Sundstrom. ‘Touch him and use him! He couldn’t have got in there if they hadn’t; all commercial flights were suspended. Good Lord, he must have been flown over under cover.’
‘And just as obviously he’s no self-serving opportunist,’ added Margaret Lowell. ‘We see him here in front of our eyes and Milos tells us he was instrumental in bringing the crisis to an end, yet he’s never uttered a word about his involvement. We’d all know about it if he had.’
‘And there’s no explanation?’ asked Gideon Logan, addressing Varak.
‘None acceptable, sir, and I’ve gone to the source.’
‘The White House?’ said Mandel.
‘No, the man who had to be aware of his recruitment, the one who ran the nerve centre here in Washington. His name is Frank Swann.’
‘How did you find him?’
‘I didn’t, sir. Kendrick did.’
‘But how did you find Kendrick?’ pressed Margaret Lowell.
‘Like Mr. Logan, I, too, remembered that story of an American in Masqat that was so abruptly dropped by the media. For reasons I can’t really explain I decided to trace it—probably thinking it might involve someone highly placed, someone we should consider if there was any credence to the story.” Varak paused, a slight, uncharacteristic smile creasing his lips. ‘Frequently, the most obvious security measures trip up those wishing to be secure. In this case it was the Department of State’s entrance logs. Since the killings several years ago, all visitors without exception must sign in and sign out, passing through metal detectors. Among the thousands who did so during the time of the hostage crisis was the unlikely name of a freshman congressman from Colorado seeing a Mr. Swann. Neither meant anything to me, of course, but our computers were better informed. Mr. Swann was the State Department’s foremost expert on Southwest Asia, and the congressman was a man who had made his wealth in the Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In the panic of the crisis, someone had forgotten to remove Kendrick’s name from the logs.’
‘So you went to see this Swann,’ said Mandel, removing his steel-rimmed glasses.
‘I did, sir.’
‘What did he tell you?’
‘That I was completely mistaken. That they had rejected
Kendrick’s offer to help because he had nothing to contribute. He added that Kendrick was only one of dozens of people—people who had worked in the Arab Emirates—who had made similar offers.’
‘But you didn’t believe him,’ broke in Margaret Lowell.
‘I had a very good reason not to. Congressman Kendrick never signed out after his visit to the State Department that afternoon. It was Wednesday, 11 August and his name is nowhere in the departure logs. He was obviously taken out by special arrangement, which normally signifies the start of a cover, usually a deep cover.’
‘Consular Operations,’ said Sundstrom. ‘State’s covert link to the CIA.’
‘A reluctant but necessary compromise,’ added Winters. ‘Toes get stepped on in the dark. Needless to say, Mr. Varak pursued his inquiries at both State and Langley.’
‘The hero of Oman revealed,’ said Gideon Logan softly, staring at the figure on the screen. ‘My God, what a hook!’
‘A crusading congressman above reproach,’ chimed in Mandel. ‘A proven foe of corruption.’
‘A man of courage,’ said Mrs. Lowell, ‘who risked his life for two hundred Americans he couldn’t have known and sought nothing for himself-‘
‘When he could have had anything he wanted,’ completed Sundstrom. ‘Certainly anything in politics.’
‘Tell us everything you’ve learned about Evan Kendrick, if you will, Mr. Varak,’ said Winters as he and the others reached for their lined yellow pads.
‘Before I do so,’ replied the Czech, a slight hesitancy in his voice, ‘I must tell you that I flew out to Colorado last week and encountered a situation I can’t fully explain at this time. I’d rather say so now. An elderly man is living in Kendrick’s house on the outskirts of Mesa Verde. I’ve learned that his name is Emmanuel Weingrass, an architect with dual citizenship in both Israel and the United States, and that he had major surgery a number of months ago. Since then he has been convalescing as the congressman’s guest.’
‘What’s the significance?’ asked Eric Sundstrom.
‘I’m not sure there is any, but three facts are worth noting. First, as nearly as I can determine, this Weingrass appeared out of nowhere shortly after Kendrick’s return from Oman. Second, there’s obviously a close relationship between the two of them, and third—somewhat disturbing—the old man’s identity, as well as his presence in Mesa Verde, is a closely guarded but poorly kept secret. Weingrass himself is the offender here; whether through age or by nature he’s quite gregarious among the workmen, especially the Hispanics.’