Shoot Him If He Runs by Stuart Woods

Author:Stuart Woods
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2007-01-03T05:00:00+00:00

33

Lance Cabot was waiting in the director’s reception area when she arrived at work at 8 A.M. He felt awful, having been up all night, and he was anxious about this meeting.

Kate Lee regarded him closely. “Something wrong, Lance?” she asked.

“May I speak with you in your office, Director?”

“Of course; come in.” She led the way into her inner office and hung her coat in a closet. “Have a seat.” She waved him toward her desk.

Lance took a chair across the desk from her, noting the difference from other meetings, when they sat in the more informal cluster of sofas and chairs across the room. “Sometime yesterday, probably in the afternoon, Bill Pepper was taken from his office by the police on St. Marks. Later in the day, police also took his wife, who is also our operative, from their home.”

“Is there anything in either Bill’s office or home that might compromise his situation?”

“I very much doubt it; he would have followed procedure.”

“Where is he now?”

“Apparently, still in the Markstown jail. The legendary Colonel Croft is also there, and I think we must presume that he has questioned or is questioning Bill and Annie.”

“And, as I recall, his interrogation techniques were learned and refined in latter-day Haiti.”

“That is correct.”

“Do we know the reason for their detention?”

“Not yet. We were fortunate that our man in the embassy there was also the duty officer last night, so we have not yet involved the ambassador.” He glanced at his watch. “That will become necessary later this morning.”

“Do we know if Colonel Croft has made any connection between Pepper and Holly Barker’s group?”

“No, but I very much doubt it.”

“I should have thought that Colonel Croft’s interrogation practices might have produced that information by now.”

“Jim Tiptree, the Agency man at the embassy, first telephoned Colonel Croft, then visited the jail, demanding to see him. He is still there, waiting. I think his presence might have had a dampening effect on the colonel’s urges.”

“You must have some idea why the Peppers were detained. What was Bill’s most recent assignment? From you, I mean; not from Hugh English.”

“He was to go into the St. Marks government computers and get copies of the applications to purchase a residence of three men we suspect of possibly being Teddy Fay-Robertson, Pemberton and Weatherby.”

“You suspect three men of being Teddy?”

“Possibly.”

“As I recall, Bill has made St. Marks government computers his playground over the past few months. How would he get caught now?”

“Croft has been working at upgrading all of St. Marks’s security procedures. At some point, he would turn his attention to computer security, and we may be at that point.”

“And what is our next step?”

“When the ambassador arrives at his office, Jim Tiptree is going to have to involve him in the effort to secure the release of the Peppers. That, of course, will mean the involvement of State, since the ambassador will certainly inform the Caribbean Desk, as a matter of routine.”

“And we don’t want that, do we?”

“No, Director.”

“And how do you propose that we prevent that from happening?”

“The ambassador to St.

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