High flight kirk mcgarve.., p.18
High Flight (Kirk McGarvey 5), page 18
part #4 of Kirk McGarvey Series
"How about the Agency?" the President asked Murphy.
"Nothing at all from the Japanese, although it's my understanding that
Naval Intelligence at Yokosuka is on the lookout for the submarine."
"The Samisho, " General Podvin said. "It was picked up by the SOSUS network
in the strait, probably heading back to port. But so far the MSDF hasn't
said a thing."
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"What about the Russian Navy?" Murphy asked.
"That's a problem at this point. They've concentrated a lot of power in
what's technically international waters but what's very close to the
Japanese home islands." "What?" Secor demanded.
"The sub has a good head start, so it's not likely the Russians will
catch up with it, but their ships are going to come damned close to
Hokkaido." "What have they got out there so far?" Murphy asked.
"Two attack submarines, three boomers, and at least eight destroyers and
guided-missile frigates."
"There are plenty of Russian Air Force bases and missile squadrons along
the mainland coast there as well," Murphy added. "How much time do we
have before it gets critical?"
"Thirty-six hours, give or take," the general said. "Question is, are the
Russians willing to use all that firepower?"
"More to the point, if they do start shooting, will we come to Japan's
defense?" the general's boss, Paul Landry, asked.
"That's what we're here to discuss." The President turned back to Murphy.
"You said you've learned nothing about the Japanese. What about the
Russians, other than their naval buildup in the strait."
One of the things Murphy liked about the President was that the man never
missed a beat.
"We've gotten nothing directly from the Japanese, or the Russians for
that matter, Mr. President, but there has been a development, of sorts,
concerning both of them. My people briefed me this morning." "Get to the point," the President warned.
"Guerin Airplane Company believes it may be the target'of an unfriendly
takeover attempt by a consortium of Japanese companies."
"We're not getting ourselves involved in business," the President
cautioned. "Not unless it concerns our national security. Does this?" "I'm not sure," Murphy admitted. "But a Guerin
160 DAVID HAGBERG
executive hired one of our ex-field officers to go to Moscow to offer the Russians an airplane assembly plant."
The President looked sharply at his secretaries of defense and state.
"We've heard nothing about this?" Both men shook their heads, mystified.
"For what type of airplane?" the National Security Adviser asked.
"From what we can tell it's to be a next-generation jetliner." "But not a military aircraft?"
"There could be a military application, but we don't have that
information yet. The point is what the Russians are apparently being
asked to do in exchange for the assembly plant." "Which is?" Secor asked.
"They want the Russians to spy on the Japanese for them. Specifically to
find out about this possible takeover move."
The President sat back in his chair and stared across the table at his
DCL "Have they broken the law?" "Damned if I know, Mr. President," Murphy said. "Have the Russians agreed to do it?" Secor asked.
"I don't know that either," Murphy admitted. "But someone bugged the
apartment here in town of Dominique Kilbourne. She runs the airlines and
manufacturers' lobby, and coincidentally her brother runs Guerin's
prototype and new product development division. In addition, she's had
a long-standing relationship with the Guerin executive who sent our man
to Moscow to negotiate the deal."
"Are you saying that the Russians are spying on her?" Secor asked.
"Not the Russians," Murphy said. "At least we don't think so. Three of
the devices were taken from her apartment and were handed over to my
Technical Services people who say the bugs are Japanese."
"Would Guerin's plans have been discussed in her apartment?" Secor asked.
HIGH FLIGHT 161
"It's certainly possible."
"Who is this former employee of yours, General?" the President asked.
"His name is Kirk MeGarvey. He was dismissed from the CIA in the eighties
by mutual agreement. Since then, however, we've used his services on a
contract basis." "What services?"
Murphy had expected the discussion to lead to this point. The problem was
he didn't know what to tell the President other than the truth. "He is ... or was ... an assassin." "Well," the President said. "I see."
"It shows how difficult Guerin believes the situation is." "Do we have any control over Mr. McGarvey?"
"He is an independent operator, Mr. President," Murphy said. "But there's
never been any doubt that he is anything but a completely loyal
American." "There'd be hell to pay if this got loose on the Hill." "Yes, sir." "You say that the Japanese are spying on us?"
"We've handed this to the Bureau. John Harding says that his
counterespionage people have tracked an increasing number of industrial
espionage reports, but this particular case was a new one for them."
"Will Guerin and McGarvey cooperate with you?" the President asked
Murphy. "I think so, Mr. President, if it's handled correctly."
"Then do it," the President said. "Now, what do we tell the Russians?"
"Japan is our ally," the Secretary of State answered. "We tell the
Russians to back off. At the very least get their navy out of the strait
until the situation cools off. As for the Japanese, we'll tell them that
the Russians are backing down, but that an apology will have to be made."
"All that's reasonable," the National Security Adviser agreed. "But it'll
put us on the down side when we get to Tokyo. If we force them to back
off over this issue-
162 DAVID HAGBERG
which is, after all, important to them-they'll want some extra consideration from us."
"Wrong," Carter disagreed. "You're forgetting something important. The
Japanese will insist that this incident was a mistake. The government
didn't order the attack, and its Maritime Self Defense Force continues
to maintain a nonconfrontational policy with the Russians in the region."
"The Russians will back down," the President said. "Or else Guerin will
never get the export licenses it needs to build its assembly plant in
Moscow. But the rest of it I'll save for Tokyo, unless the Japanese do
something else just as stupid. Make sure Mr. McGarvey gets the word." "Yes, sir,"'Murphy said.
"Good." The President looked around the table. "Anything else?"
"What about Guerin's request that the Russians spy for it?" Murphy asked.
"We'll turn this over to the Attorney General. If anybody has broken the
law, they'll be prosecuted. Otherwise it's something between the Russians
and the Japanese. Something, if it comes up, I'll tell them to work out
on their own." The President sat forward. "We're in a tough position here
between the Russians and the Japanese. I've said it before, and I'll say
it again, if we have to play rough, we will. But I'll be damned if we're
going to sell out to the Japanese, or if we're going to let the Russians
start a shooting war over a goddamned island in the middle of nowhere."
They'd moved aboard the boat last night, and after a late dinner of lobster and white wine went to bed in the forepeak where they made love for nearly two hours before going to sleep. The stem of the boat was facing east, and this morning the sun blasted through the open hatch.
"Another beautiful day in paradise," Carol Moss said, padding barefoot
into the main saloon. Liskey, who'd always been an early riser, stood in the
HIGH FLIGHT 163
hatchway drinking his first cup of coffee for the day. He looked back at her and grinned. "If your CO could see you now, the old bag would toss you in jail and throw away the key."
Carol smiled back at him. She wore only the bottom half of a very brief
bikini and a gold ankle bracelet. "Not exactly Navy issue," she said.
"Anyone up and about?" "Not for another half-hour."
"Good. I'm going for a swim. And when I get back I'll expect breakfast."
"Aye, aye, ma'am," Liskey said, moving aside so that she could get up
into the cockpit. As she passed he reached out to grab her, but she
nimbly avoided him, and in two quick steps was over the rail and into the
water. "Nice," she cried, breaking the surface.
"Bacon and eggs in twenty minutes," he called out to her, then went
below. He switched the VHF radio to the weather channel, refilled his
coffee, and started the bacon.
The local and regional weather was broadcast twentyfour hours a day in
English from the U.S. Navy Meteorological Station on Okinawa, which
supplemented its local data with information from ships at sea, Japanese
weather stations as far as Kyushu, and U.S. weather. satellites. Winds
over the entire region today would be southeast at ten to fifteen knots,
producing waves of three to five feet in the East China Sea, increasing
to fifteen to twenty knots tonight, with seas gradually increasing to
five to eight feet. The high temperatures would range from near
seventy-five in the south to fortyfour in the north, under partly cloudy
skies with a nearzero chance of rain in the south. Perfect conditions for
them to set out. By tonight they would be anchored in a quiet, secluded
cove somewhere twenty-five or thirty miles north of here where Carol
wouldn't have to wear so many clothes when she went in for a swim. He
grinned and began to whistle the theme from Ravel's Bolero.
164 DAVID HAGBERG
Louis Zerkel was aware that most of his co-workers and supervisors tolerated his conspiracy theories because his design and analysis work was nothing short of brilliant. Although he was unaware of his real worth, there were those in the San Francisco business office who figured he'd earned the company fifteen million dollars in excess of the salary and benefits he'd received over the years. When he spoke, people listened. You could never tell when a gem of design or application would pop out.
His psychiatrist, Dr. Jeanne Shepard, listened too. In the five years
he'd been seeing her for his debilitating bouts of fear and confusion,
she had picked up a number of design secrets that she passed on to a
friend in Washington, D.C., for considerations, sometimes as high as
twenty-five thousand dollars, always in untraceable small bills. Her
specialty was dealing with what she privately called "Silicon Valley nut
cases." Because of the stress that these highly brilliant men and women
worked under, her office was always busy. In Zerkel's case, his stress
manifested itself in conspiracy theories. It was a form of paranoia that
was relatively common among people with tunnel vision -engineers,
mathematicians, and researchers.
At their weekly sessions Dr. Shepard would skillfully steer his
conversation back to his work. He was developing what he called a
"real-time multiphasic head-up display director" for commercial
jetliners. Her Washington friend was very excited about it and kept
pressing her for more information.
Sitting across from Zerkel, she could see that he was even more agitated
than usual. He crossed and uncrossed his legs, fiddled with the pens and
colored pencils in his pocket, and darted glances out the window at the
overcast afternoon.
"You're stressed out today, Louis. Would you like to talk about it?" She
was a mature, attractive woman. Her friends said she looked like Candice
Bergen, and she had the same, deep-throated confident voice and manner
as the actress.
HIGH FLIGHT 165
"There's a lot of pressure at the lab," Zerkel said. "We've hit a snag
in the director. Nothing that can't be worked out. But, you know,
everybody takes orders, even San Francisco. "Who takes orders?"
"Everybody. Me, you, everybody at InterTech, and I mean everybody. Maybe
even the U.S. one of these days unless something is done."
This was something new, Dr. Shepard thought. She'd seen him excited
before, and oftentimes so fearful that it was difficult for him to speak
with any coherence. During those sessions she did most of the talking.
Trying to soothe him, trying to calm his fears, trying to bring him back
to reality. On days like that she sometimes scheduled a second hour for
him in the same week so that she could maneuver him back on track. If he
ever completely broke down, he would become useless to her and she would
have to cut him adrift. That was something she had no intention of
allowing, even if she had to work with him every day. He was just too
much of a gold mine to leave floundering.
"It's the Japanese, Dr. Shepard. They're making their move." "I don't understand, Louis. What do you mean?"
"I want you to read something, then you'll see." He pulled a copy of the
Lamplighter newsletter out of his coat pocket and handed it to her. "Mr.
Reid knows."
Still puzzled, Dr. Shepard quickly scanned Reid's turgid prose, which,
if she was catching the gist of it, seemed to suggest that a war between
the United States and Japan was inevitable unless certain steps were
taken immediately by a White House too unsure of itself to make the first
move. It was Japanese bashing in a sophisticated forum. The newsletter's
masthead identified Edward R. Reid as a Washington insider and a former
undersecretary of state. "An adviser to presidents, and now an adviser
to you."
She looked up. "I still don't understand. What does this have to do with
you?"
166 DAVID HAGBERG
Zerkel took the newsletter, carefully folded it and put it back in his
pocket. "Do you watch television, read the newspaper?" "Yes, of course."
"Then you know that a Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force submarine sank
a Russian Navy ship just north of the Japanese home islands." "What's your connection?"
"The Japanese are also trying to take over Guerin Airplane Company,
something you might not know about." I 'Go on."
"Well, look at it this way, Dr. Shepard. Say the Japanese do take over
Guerin. Next maybe they'll go after Boeing. Or maybe General Motors, or
U.S. Steel. They've got the money."
'But what does - this have to do with you?" Dr. Shepard asked. She'd never
seen him quite like this before. He was agitated and frightened, but he
also seemed happy. He had the bit in his teeth.
"InterTech makes certain electronic assemblies for Guerin. But I found out
that InterTech is being supplied, and maybe even being directed, by the
Japanese. What do you think about that?"
It was another of his conspiracy theories. "Many American electronics
companies work with the Japanese."
"When that Guerin airliner went down out of Chicago it could have been
caused by one of our subassemblies. We even had the NTSB poking around, but
it didn't find anything. Could have been sabotage though. I haven't got
that part figured out yet, but it's there. What do you think about that?"
"Why would'they do that? What would they have to gain?"
Zerkel smiled. "Maybe to bankrupt the company so they could take them over
real cheaply, you know. Guerin is top dog right now on HSCT research.
Didn't you see the unveiling of its prototype the other day?" He leaned
forward. "Listen to this, Dr. Shepard. It got me
HIGH FLIGHT 167
thinking, why would such an advanced-design airplane use the same engine heat-monitor assembly that we designed more than ten years ago? Only thing that's never been changed is the in/out director module. What do you think about that?"
"I don't know, Louis," Dr. Shepard said, and she meant it. There was
something here, but she wasn't sure what just yet. "Have you contacted
Mr. Reid in Washington?"
Zerkel reared back. "Of course not," he said, and he glanced over his
shoulder at the closed door to the reception room. "I'm not sure of this
yet, and besides he knows what's going on. When the time comes I'll give
him my help. But I don't want to be killed. They do that, you know. It
could be 1941 all over again. I need more details."
Dr. Shepard delayed her next appointment for ten minutes so she could place a call to Benjamin Tallerico, her Washington friend. He ran the Fund for International Development, which worked to match U.S. and Canadian venture capital with foreign projects. Tallerico, an ex-Mafia lieutenant from Chicago, used the money to open electronics sweat shops in Taiwan, Thailand, and most recently in northern Mexico where wages were less than a dollar per hour. The work was billed out to North American and European companies, who'd ordered the subcontracts, for several dollars per hour.
Tallerico also dealt in industrial espionage, an endeavor that had grown
tremendously over the past half-dozen years or so. It was he who had
approached Dr. Shepard six years ago when her name came up in a
conversation with a Silicon Valley technician who had information to
