“Oh, Casper. . . .”
“It probably won’t take a minute. Run along and wash Tammy’s back.” Laura knew better than to argue further and disappeared. Toddrel patched the call through to the desk unit. The screen showed the face of Francis Denham, a British investment banker whom Toddrel had talked to during a recent European visit. The effect on world prices gave Denham his own reasons for wanting to curb the Hyadean mining operations in Bolivia. Before Toddrel departed, they had agreed on the need for a face-to-face meeting with representatives of like-minded Hyadeans. With Senator Farden out of the way, the time was ripe for coordinating further action.
“Good day, Casper—or whatever time it is wherever you are,” Denham began. “I trust you had a pleasant trip back?”
“Good enough. What’s the news?”
“I’ve heard back from our friends.” He meant Hyadeans who were raising Terran currency by marketing Terran skills back home rather than undercutting Terran industry. “We seem agreed in principle. The official agenda will be on armaments movements.” Toddrel had suggested that as the ostensible reason for getting together. Preventing Hyadean and foreign-manufactured Terran weapons from reaching subversive groups was a concern both in the U.S. and Europe. In the latter case, overland movement from Asia was becoming a major problem, and closing of the Canadian and Mexican borders was being considered on the other side of the Atlantic. Another potentially controversial measure that had been proposed was the stopping and searching of ships bound for U.S. or European waters.
But that would be a smokescreen. Denham went on, “One thing that we have to give due consideration to beforehand, I think, would be the question of, how would we say? . . . extending the principle exemplified by Echelon to more general operations.”
Toddrel smiled. Even over a secure line, the Englishman couldn’t bring himself to state a delicate matter directly. Echelon was code for the action taken to eliminate Farden and Meakes. What Denham meant was engineering ways of not only concealing but publicly blaming the other side for actions that could not be admitted to. “We’d both like to see the scale of activity in Bolivia cut back,” Toddrel supplied. “And there’s a guerrilla war going on down there. What I’m hearing is that some destabilization in that part of the world would work to our advantage.”
“Er, yes. . . . I think we are on the same wavelength,” Denham agreed.
“I’ll get proposals from our experts in that department,” Toddrel said. “I assume that’s what this meeting is for.” He bit his lip as he spoke. He still wasn’t happy about the security situation concerning Echelon. The ISS’s confirmation that Reyvek had been among those killed in the Chattanooga raid had come as some relief; on the other hand, the loss of their undercover operative in the motel meant that nobody knew how much information the two who had escaped might have taken with them. He didn’t want to divulge any of that now.
“Yes. . . . Exactly,” Denham said.
“Where will this meeting be? Do we know yet?” Toddrel inquired.
“Not for sure. I thought we might go to them this time, and make it somewhere in South America. That sounds like an interesting trip, and to be honest I’ve never been there. What would you say?”
Peals of laughter accompanied by splashing noises came from along the passageway beyond the door. “Well, New York does have its attractions, but there are times when I could use a change too,” Toddrel said. “Sure. Put me down as seconding it.”
* * *?
Vrel reappeared intermittently for two days, during which Cade and Marie remained out of sight in the hotel. Gradually, they opened up, talking more about their lives in the years since they had gone separate ways—he having nothing to conceal; she, more circumspect for obvious reasons. They had drifted apart into different worlds. Now, suddenly and unexpectedly, they were thrown together in the same world. Cade began to remember Marie again as he had known her—living life with an intensity that made each day a unique experience. The difference now was that he was sharing it in a way that he would never have thought possible. Marie, for her part, had to accept that her world hadn’t protected them, and their security now stemmed from Cade’s world which she had once contemned.