COVERT WRITERS TAKEDOWN by Joe Bergeron (best beach reads txt) 📕

or was it? Was
defense worse?
“What do you want - you know we need to
debrief you.”
“Debrief? What the hell is this? I don’t work
for you.” 382
“You know damn well you do.”
“Well, I’m sure you know by now I’ve cancelled
my contract.”
“I’ve heard - I still…”
“Listen, David, I’m going to save both you and
me a lot of time and trouble. It was Tollman, our
former Secretary of Commerce. He was acting with
Belize, Bellcamp, and someone else in either the CIA or
NSA. I doubt if the last guy could or would hurt you.
He’s probably scared as hell right now and covering all
his tracks. You’re probably never going to find him. If
you want to look for him, that’s up to you. I’m not
interested.”
“What are you telling me?”
“I’m telling you Yankee Echo is safe - unless
Dan Bellcamp decides to come back and blackmail you.
But I’m sure you’re working on that. I don’t know if
you’re surprised about Tollman, but you’re a lucky man
and so is the President because he got himself
eliminated. Your breach is closed and you can resume
your game.”
“I’m…it’s not a game…we need to meet with
you and St. Croix”
“You will, David…soon.”
He replaced the cellular phone in its holder.
St. Croix had heard one end of the
conversation.
“Ah don’t believe he’s too happy with Y’all right
now.”
Courtney cracked a smile.
“I just gave him the truth. If he’s having a
hard time with that, it’s only because he’s unfamiliar
with the concept.”
“What’s next, Mick?”
“I guess we go to Old Saybrook and say hello to
everyone.”
383
The only reunion he was worried about was the
one with the woman he’d taught, and had come to love.
Was it love? He’d know - She’d know - They’d know.
Tuesday, May 30, 4:20 p.m.
The last meeting of the day was just concluding
for the CIA Director - a strategy session on the
development of an expanded field operation in Turkey.
The blinking light on his phone indicated the caller.
“David?”
“Scott - Michael Courtney called me fifteen
minutes ago.”
“What did he have to say?”
“He said George Tollman was responsible for
the breach in Yankee Echo, and that he had a partner
in either the CIA, or NSA. He thinks this guy will be
going into a closet, and I agree with him.”
He continued with everything he knew, or had
been told.
“…Scott, with the exception of the last man,
and like I said, I think Courtney’s right - he won’t be a
problem - this issue is closed. Once Courtney and St.
Croix surface, we can finish this up. We’re hoping
they’ll be reasonable. Something I’ve been thinking
about, and its been recommended to my by others, is
that we offer them jobs in Special Ops positions in the
Agency. We can control them that way. What do you
think?”
“I’ve already had a brief conversation on that
matter at a very high level. Yes, I’m hoping that’ll
work. I have some things to do on my part right now.
Call me back with any developments.”
“I will.”
The Director immediately hit two numbers.
There was a quick answer.
“Yes, Scotty?”
“Mister President, I need to see you right
away.” 384
Tuesday, May 30, 5:31 p.m.
Scott Orefice was probably more familiar with
the Oval Office than anyone else who worked in the
Benson Administration, with the possible exception of
Pete Radler.
Entering the egg-shaped room, he
acknowledged the man with whom he’d conspired to
dispose of the body of their Secretary of Commerce
while eliminating another man who’d terrorized G.I.s
years earlier.
“Mister President.”
“Scotty, come in - please, sit,”
He wasted no time.
“Michael Courtney has contacted my Deputy
Director. He told him it was George Tollman who
breached Yankee Echo, and that he was involved with
Miguel Belize and his mistress in a plot to use that
organization to dismantle support for your Cuban
Economic Reform Plan. I don’t know why I’m not more
surprised than I am.”
There was more to say, but he waited for a
response.
It was short.
“Go on.”
“This means the breach is closed with the
exception of two people. Someone in the CIA, or the
NSA was working with Tollman - probably as a bag
man. We believe this man will be hiding, and we don’t
feel he’d be worth the effort to track down.”
“And the other one?”
“Belcamp - that’s where this whole thing began.
He gave the information to Belize’s mistress, and it
grew from there. He disappeared with two million
dollars from the Cuban Treasury, but Eisenberg and his
people recently caught up to him. David is excellent at
taking care of situations like that, and I’m sure he won’t
be a problem either.”
385
Randall Benson didn’t care about Bellcamp, or
the CIA or NSA connection. Tollman was finally
validated for what he was.
“I’m not surprised it was Tollman. He was
bound to end up like this.
“We’re not finished with all of this yet, Sir.”
The same short reply to his statement came
next. “Go on.”
He shifted in his chair, arranging his thoughts.
“Eisenberg still has to bring in Courtney and
St. Croix - to debrief them. I know we talked about this
before - we may be offering them jobs in Special
Operations.”
“I think that might be a good idea, Scotty - but
don’t you think they’ll see through it? Don’t you think
they’ll know why they’re getting jobs with the CIA?”
“Yes, Sir - but we can also give them the option
to leave in a year if they want to. They should know
they’ll have to be controlled for at least that long.”
“I suppose in your type of business - for that
matter in their’s too - you expect these things.”
The Director’s response was appropriate for the
remark.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Do you think Courtney’s going to tie us in with
Tollman and Kushima?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. One other think he
said to Eisenberg was that he and you were both lucky
because of what happened to Tollman. I also know
Kathleen McKenzie will tell him all about the incident
with Tollman at his house.. But we can’t forget - George
Tollman did a lot of damage to the McKenzie family,
and we believe Courtney’s in love with Pat McKenzie’s
daughter. He’s going to want things to settle down.”
“Scotty - when you locate him, or he locates
you, I want to meet with him. I’m very interested in
this young man, and his partner. There may be other
places for them besides Special Operations at your
Agency.” 386
Orefice felt a sudden sense of loss - a loss of
something he didn’t have yet.
The President noticed.
“It’s OK, Scotty, you’re still my number one
man - and they’d have to interface with you.”
A sense of well being returned
Tuesday, May 30, 6:58 p.m.
They’d stopped for dinner and had been talking
over a coffee.
Courtney continued to unfold the plan to his
partner.
“……Robert recruited you and me into Yankee
Echo because we each had a particular expertise. I
know Pat McKenzie was in the background of my
selection, and probably in yours too. I don’t know if
Eisenberg was around at that time, but either he, or
someone else in the CIA, was probably a part of both of
our initial employments.”
He sipped his coffee.
“We were lied to right from the beginning.
They held all their secrets in a nice little group to keep
their exposure minimal. So when they got breached,
only twenty percent of the organization was at risk.
Hell, that’s brilliant.”
“Why do you suppose Pat spilled the whole
thing to us after Cuba?”
“He was in a tough spot, Andy. I think he may
have felt we’d probably figure it out once we got back,
and he doesn’t want us to leave. He must have thought
we’d earned out stripes, so why not trust us with the
truth?
“Do y’all really believe that?”
“No.”
“Mick?”
“He wants us back so we’re controlled. They
have to close out everything in the breach. That
includes you and me.” 387
“How do we leave and still convince them we’re
not a threat?”
“That would be more difficult for us than it
would be for them. They’ll come up with their own
answer, and I’m thinking maybe we should just play
into it. But I’ll tell you what - we are going to stop them
- at least for a while.
“You got me goin again, partner.”
“I don’t mean to keep you in the dark, Andy -
and I’m going to tell you everything - I promise. But
some of it’s going to come later. If I give you the whole
thing at once, I could put you at risk, and I don’t want
to do that. You’re going to have to continue to trust
me.”
“Y’all have m’ah trust, Mick. Keep goin. Ah’m
with you to the conclusion.”
Drawing a breath, he continued.
“They know there’s no way we could physically
access the organization even if we wanted to.”
“But we’re going to put a stop to it?”
“It won’t cease to exist, but it won’t be able to
operate for some time. When Robert recruited me back
at UVM, I told him I’d want to make contingency plans
for every type of breach. He gave me that latitude, and
I gave him all my plans - all but one. Something I
thought a lot about was what if Yankee Echo became a
rogue all on its own - what if we lost total control over
everything? There had to be a way to stop it, without
destroying it at the same time.”
“So how do we shut it down?”
“There’s two ways it could be done. First, Pat
or Robert could do it from McKenzie Industries, and
now that I know Eisenberg’s involved, I guess he could
do it too. They could just voluntarily close it out.”
St. Croix shifted his eyes.
Courtney noticed, and continued.
“I know, those were the long shots, but they
were still possibilities.”
388
“The second part’s the contingency you never
told Bobby about?”
“That’s right.”
Courtney looked around the room. No one he
saw, even if they overheard him, seemed to be a threat.
He continued - speaking about a plan of action
he created many years ago.
“What it all comes down to is Law Eight, Andy.
In order to stop the system from doing what it does, all
you’d need to do is keep feeding it full of itself - Yin and
Yang. Keep making it more of what it is, and it turns
itself into its opposite - and that’s what we’re going to
do. I can’t tell you how I’m going to do this right away,
and it probably isn’t going to be done for a couple of
months - but I promise you, I’ll have you there when it’s
done - if you want to be there.”
“Y’all got to be kiddin, Mick - ah’ll be there.
“OK, what we need to do now is get to Pat’s
house. We have to try and convince these people we’re
ready to compromise.”
They left the restaurant. Their journey would
take two days.
Andy St, Croix would arrive at Patrick
McKenzie’s home in Old Saybrook on Tursday, June 1st
at 11:58 a.m.. The Zero would exit their vehicle off I-95
in Clinton, two towns before Old Saybrook where
Courtney would reunion with Kay.
Thursday, June 1, 11:15 a.m.
Taking the right-hand exit for Clinton off
Connecticut’s I-95, the Interstate disappeared behind
them. At the end of the exit ramp, St. Croix made a left
hand turn.
389
About two hundred feet ahead, parked on the
right shoulder, Michael saw the