High flight kirk mcgarve.., p.3
High Flight (Kirk McGarvey 5), page 3
part #4 of Kirk McGarvey Series
"What's your rate of faulty applications among the white population?" "A little less." "Among the Blacks or Hispanics?"
"A little more," Kennedy conceded the point. "But during that same time
period our work-related accident rate has skyrocketed, parts and
subassembly theft has become big business, and one week ago one of our
structural engineers, a man who has been with the company for thirty
years, was killed when a forty-pound tool box fell off a scaffold and hit
him on the head. We had three guys who said they thought one of our
Japanese-American employees was nearby when it happened, but now they're
not so sure they saw anything." "That's thin."
"By itself, yes. But our position on the stock market has become shaky,
and there've been a couple of probing runs against us. If another of our
airplanes went down now, we'd take a beating on the market."
"The Japanese would try to buy you out. But you could buy back your own
stock. It's been done before. And from what I read Guerin has had a
couple of very good years, You've taken customers away from Boeing and
Airbus."
"We don't have the money. In fact we're so heavily leveraged that we're
having trouble meeting our payroll. Eighty thousand paychecks every two
weeks eats up a sizable amount of cash." "Where did it go?" "Research." "Which is what the Japanese are really after." Kennedy nodded.
HIGH FLIGHT 25
"Research into what, Mr. Kennedy? What is Guerin working on that's nearly
bankrupting the company and that, according to you, a group of Japanese
corporations wants so badly it's willing to commit mass murder for it?" "A new airplane." MeGarvey stared at the ex-astronaut.
"We've designated it the P/C2622. P for passenger, C for cargo, and the
2 for the twenty-first century. It's what's called 'next generation
equipment."' "What's different about this one?"
"This one is hypersonic. Los Angeles to Tokyo in ninety minutes. But it's
nothing like the Concorde, which has been a dismal failure for a lot of
reasons. Our airplane creates almost no air pollution because at altitude
the engines bum hydrogen, the byproduct of which is water vapor. And
almost no sonic boom footprint would reach the ground because
ninety-eight percent of the pressure energy is directed upward, not down.
There'll be a lower passenger-per-mile cost than Boeing's 747 at current
fuel prices, but with the same payloads and the same runway
requirements."
"Impressive," McGarvey conceded. "But how many years will it be before
your test flights begin?" "Four weeks, maybe six weeks."
"Your prototype is already built?" McGarvey was surprised.
"All except for the hypersonic engines. Our first test flights will run
to near Mach one with a cowling replacing the hydrogen engine.
Rolls-Royce promises delivery within one year." Kennedy studied McGarvey.
"The bottom line is that this Japanese zaibatsu plans to do to the
commercial airplane business what has been done to the automobile
business and to the consumer electronics market. And they'll stop at
nothing to do it. Including the murders of a lot of innocent people. If
they somehow bring down another of our airplanes, our stock will die, but
so will several hundred men, women, and children. Just like 1990."
26 DAVID HAGBERG
"What if you're wrong?"
"We sincerely hope we are, Mr. McGarvey. That's what we want to hire you
to find out for us." "And if you're right?"
"Then we'd like you to do whatever it takes to stop them."
"I see." McGarvey turned and started back across the beach toward the
parking lot. Kennedy fell in behind him. "Will you help us?"
McGarvey looked at him. "Why don't you sell the technology to Japan?
Share it with them under license."
"We thought about it. Boeing works with the Japanese. There's precedent." "But you can't forget 1990." "That's right," Kennedy said.
McGarvey stopped. "In 1983 Hitachi Corporation offered to build a major
engine research facility in Japan that would be shared equally by any
American commercial airplane manufacturer who wanted to participate.
Hitachi would put up all the money, the Americans would bring their head
start in research. Guerin turned them down."
"Our prerogative," Kennedy said. "Chrysler was given the same offer
before it built its billion-dollar design and research center. But
laccoca said no: 'Chrysler is simply not for sale to the Japanese for any
price.' Neither was Guerin."
Time to get out of the business for good? McGarvey wondered. He could
understand Langley's hesitation to go along with the airplane company.
The direction had come from the White House. Just now we were walking
softly around the Japanese who held a significant percentage of our five
trillion dollars plus of debt. No one wanted to upset the apple cart.
Maybe America was for sale after all. "How do I contact you, Mr. Kennedy?" "Will you help us?" "I'll look into it. That's all I'm saying for the moment.
HIGH FLIGHT 27
Do you have a secure number in Portland where I can reach you?"
Kennedy pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to McGarvey.
"We have a scrambled phone system at our Gales Creek Computer Center. As
long as you're calling from a phone you know has not been tapped, your
message will be secure."
McGarvey pocketed the envelope. "I'd like you to stay in Washington for
the next few days. Can you do that?"
V9 'Yes.
"Can you arrange a secure meeting place in the city? Not your hotel.
Maybe an apartment?"
"Dominique Kilbourne. She has an apartment in the Watergate complex.
She's a lobbyist for the Airplane Manufacturers and Airlines Association.
Her brother Newton is our vice president in charge of prototype
development and manufacture. And she's a friend. A discreet friend." "Are you sleeping with her?"
Kennedy reared back, but before he could reply, McGarvey cautioned him.
"Don't ever lie to me. My life may, at some point, depend upon knowing
the entire truth."
"We had an affair a few years ago. It was brief, and when it was over we
parted friends. That's the situation now." Kennedy handed him a thick
envelope. "This is some background' reading."
McGarvey nodded. "I'll be talking to you." He headed toward the parking
lot. This time Kennedy did not fall in beside him.
CIA Deputy Director of Operations Phillip Carrara met McGarvey a few minutes before ten at the bar in the Four Seasons Hotel on the Georgetown side of Rock Creek. He was a barrel-chested man, with a square face, thick dark hair combed straight back, and an easy smile. As an Hispanic, he maintained that he had to work twice as hard as an Anglo to get any respect. No one in the Company took the man lightly. He was among the best.
28 DAVID HAGBERG
"Did you talk to David Kennedy?" he asked when his scotch rocks came. The
bar was half full, but no one was paying them any attention.
"This afternoon," McGarvey said. "I was surprised that the general
mentioned my name."
Carrara smiled wanly and shook his head. "It was Ryan's suggestion
actually." "That bastard still has a hard-on for me?"
"He's got a long memory. He wants to see you dumped on your ass once and
for all. Are you going to take it?" "What have you heard?"
"Guerin's in some financial trouble. It's apparently overspent on
research for the NASA space plane project, and it's vulnerable right now.
It wants protection." "Anything from Tokyo?"
"We've picked up nothing, Kirk. If there is a zaibatsu planning nefarious
things, it's deep." "Would you query Tokyo Station for me?" Carrara chuckled. "Not a chance in hell, compar.
"If Guerin fails it would take a hell of a big bite out of U.S. exports."
"Guerin is only one out of three. And I don't see Vasilanti or Kennedy
camped out on the White House lawn. In the meantime if you'll look around
you'll notice that this country is still in economic trouble. Japan holds
nearly half our debt, its navy is negotiating with the Philippine
government to buy our old base at Subic Bay-that by the way is privileged
information-and the White House is trying to put together a package with
teeth for the economic summit next month in Tokyo. Are you following me?"
"Times are tough all around. But what about the Russians? Is Yemlin still
the KGB's rezident?"
"It's called the Foreign Intelligence Service-the SUR-these days. But
Yemlin hung on."
"Is the SUR still as active in Tokyo as the KGB was? They were running
a top-grade network called Abunai, which was a hell of a lot better than
anything we were fielding."
HIGH FLIGHT 29
Carrara's complexion darkened. "What's your point, Mac?"
"We've got a big problem between us and the Japanese, Phil. I'm not
telling you anything new. And it's not going away. Who knows, maybe this
Guerin thing is only the opening shot." "Of what?"
McGarvey looked at his old friend. "I don't know. I really don't.
Everything is different now. Everything has changed." "You can say that again." "Maybe a war with Japan might wake everybody up."
"Don't even think it, Mac," Carrara said. "But what about Yemlin? You
knew he was here in Washington all along, didn't you?"
"If I'd wanted I could have had him anytime during the last couple of
years."
Carrara nodded. "If you were going to meet with him, where would it be?" "Is the FBI still watching him?" "Officially yes. In actuality it's pretty loose now."
"Arlington National Cemetery. Tomorrow at noon at Kennedy's Tomb if he's
clean." "If not?"
"Thursday at one, and then Friday at ten. After that we'll have to try
something else." "Do you think he'll help you?" McGarvey nodded. "He owes me."
Carrara smiled wanly. "And God help the poor bastard if he doesn't see
it that way."
Arlington National Cemetery sprawls over more than four hundred acres across the Potomac River from the city of Washington. Established in 1864 on the Custis and Lee estates, nearly one hundred thousand people are buried there, including John F. Kennedy. On the best of days the cemetery is a grim reminder of the only true constant in war: a lot of people die. McGarvey wondered if the unthinkable were starting again. This time the stakes would be much higher and the battles would be
30 DAVID HAGBERG
more fierce than fifty-five years ago, but the outcome would be the same: people would die needlessly. He felt as if he were surrounded by his nightmares.
Viktor Pavlovich Yemlin stood in front of the flame at Kennedy's tomb,
his hat in hand, his wispy white hair ruffling in the slight but chilly
breeze. The sky was overcast, and it felt as if it might rain or even
snow. The Russian wore a long, dark overcoat and a light silk scarf. In
appearance he could have been Eduard Shevardnadze's younger brother,
except that his shoulders were hunched, and in the old days he had been
involved with some very bad people, which lent him a dark aura.
He turned as McGarvey approached, an oddly distant expression on his
face, a frightened look, as if he were seeing a ghost and he was girding
himself for the confrontation. "Hello, Kirk," he said.
"It's been a long time, Viktor Pavlovich," McGarvey said.
First it had been Valentin Baranov who'd headed the KGB's Department 8
of Directorate S-the Illegals Directorate-who had given the assassin
Arkady Kurshin his charter. Next, after McGarvey had killed Baranov, came
General Vasili Didenko, and finally Yemlin.
Caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment, Yemlin had said. Fighting
capitalism. Saving the Rodina. McGarvey had been allowed to read the
transcripts of a National Security Agency satellite phone tap. Yemlin had
been speaking with Boris Yeltsin himself, shortly after the August
Kremlin coup in which Gorbachev had been arrested.
There had been deaths. Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of millions if Stalin's
killed were included. Who was not guilty? Time now to go forward. Time
to build on the ashes of the old.
Expedient words, McGarvey had thought at the time. But then the business,
by its very nature, bred and nourished expediency. "Are you here for revenge?" Yemlin asked. McGarvey could hear laughter, and for a moment he
HIGH FLIGHT 31
thought it was out of place here in a cemetery, but then he realized that he was remembering his sister as a young girl. She'd laughed often in those days. But afterward, after their parents died, neither of them laughed very much. Revenge, he asked himself. For what? There'd never been any hard evidence, nor did he believe the Russian was ready to offer any.
"I've taken an assignment for Guerin Airplane Company."
"That's what Phillip told me." The Russian motioned for them to walk, and
they headed down a broad path away from the flame. There were very few
other people visiting the cemetery.
"Guerin is concerned that a consortium of powerful Japanese corporations
may be gearing up for a raid on their stock. From what I was told they've
probably formed a zaibatsu with a lot of financial backing." "Would Washington allow such a thing?"
"I assume their NASA and military divisions would have to be split out
of the deal. But just now no one wants to rock the boat."
"I understand," Yemlin said. "But Guerin's position is strong."
"The Japanese may try to sabotage Guerin's airplanes. Blow them out of
the sky, if need be. That'd knock hell out of the company's stock value.
A takeover would be easy."
"They would be acquiring an essentially worthless company in that case.
Unless there was something else they wanted."
"There is something else, Viktor Pavlovich," McGarvey said. Yemlin smiled. "Can you talk about it?"
"They've been working on the next generation of commercial airplane. Just
about everything flying transoceanic, or even transcontinental, will
become obsolete." "You're talking about the NASA plane?"
"They're using that as a cover project, but the other has been buried.
It's one of the reasons they hired me.
32 DAVID HAGBERG
They think the Japanese are desperate to buy them out for that line of development alone."
"Which they would dismantle and transport back to Japan." "Something like that."
Yemlin stopped. "Do you honestly believe they're desperate enough to blow
airplanes out of the sky? To become terrorists? To kill people? Think
about it, Kirk. Japan is your country's major trading partner. It would
be stupid for them to do anything to jeopardize that position. It would
be disastrous for them if they were exposed."
"We don't believe the government is involved," MeGarvey said. "At least
Guerin's top people hope it's
it not. "Those are very big stakes," Yemlin said. "The biggest." "What would you have us do?"
"If we can identify the individual companies that make up this
consortium, and if we can get someone into a boardroom meeting, or
possibly someone inside the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
who could gather hard evidence that such a plan exists, Guerin's people
could take it to the President and pressure would be brought directly on
Tokyo." "I ask you again, Kirk, what would you have us do?" "Hand the project over to network Abunai. "
A flicker of surprise crossed the Russian's face. "What would Guerin do
for us in exchange? Where is the quid pro quo?"
McGarvey had thought that out on the way in to the city. Russia was
having its own trouble with Japan over the Kuril Islands and others north
of Hokkaido, so whatever he offered Yemlin would have to be something
Russia needed. Something very important, such as foreign exchange. He and
Kennedy had discussed the situation yesterday afternoon by phone.
"It's possible that Guerin would build and equip a subassembly factory
outside of Moscow."
HIGH FLIGHT 33
Yemlin's eyebrows rose. "For which airplane?" "The new one." "What about personnel?" "Some Russians that Guerin would train." "Would our people be involved in the engineering?"
"I don't know, but I think something could be worked out."
Yemlin looked back the way they had come, the flame at Kennedy's Tomb
just visible, and McGarvey followed his gaze. The thirty-four years since
the President's assassination had been nothing short of stunning. "It will take time," Yemlin said.
"The prototype is nearly ready to fly. If something is going to happen,
we suspect it will happen very soon."
Another thought crossed Yemlin's mind. "Would Guerin be willing to pay
expenses in Tokyo?"
"Within reason," McGarvey replied. The Russians' supply of hard
currencies, which they needed to fund foreign intelligence operations,
