One Rough Man - Brad Taylor [96]
Is he giving me a lecture? Like I’m slow? “Colonel Hale, don’t treat me like a child. I understand how the Oversight Council works. I’m one of the members. Perhaps it’s you that needs a refresher on who you work for.”
Kurt backpedaled. “Sir, we meant no disrespect, but the Prometheus alert is a tactical control measure used solely by us in the Taskforce, and we didn’t realize a report to you was necessary.”
Standish steepled his fingers. “Well, maybe I should speak to the president about relooking at this little experiment’s rules of engagement. It sounds to me like you think you get to decide what does or does not occur within your little secret world.”
George broke in. “Sir, he’s not trying to tell you that you had no right to know, he’s explaining why you didn’t initially get any feedback. We’re here specifically to provide that feedback. Kurt and I just came from meeting the man who sent the cable. He has an interesting story to tell, and while it may have some merit, the odds of it being true aren’t that great.”
George continued, giving Standish a broad sketch of Pike’s story, knowing that Standish had read the original message. He finished by telling Standish the coordination made with Guatemala and the way ahead.
“So, what’s the Taskforce going to do with this? Anything?”
Kurt said, “Well, it depends on what the CIA finds out. Right now, there isn’t a whole lot we can do and, with the information we have, not much we should be doing. This is more of a CIA issue. Unless you want us to start focusing on it, we’re going to let them take the lead. We have enough on our plate without this.”
Perfect. Just what I wanted to hear. “No, that sounds right.”
Looking at his watch, Standish said, “I’ve got another meeting coming up. I appreciate you two taking the time out of your day to come down. We don’t have to be looking across the fence at each other all the time. I want to work with you. All I ask for is a little courtesy and respect.”
He paused. “Trust me—if I don’t get it, you will cease to exist.”
58
After the door closed behind Kurt and George, Standish buzzed his secretary and told her to show Lucas in as soon as he arrived. After a minute and a half, Standish saw him coming through the door and was embarrassed to feel his pulse rate go up. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but Lucas scared him. Bastard looks like he belongs in Alaska killing baby seals. He was a cousin of Standish’s wife, and extremely useful for certain tasks, but Standish didn’t like being alone with him for any length of time. He watched Lucas plop down in a chair as if he were in his own office.
“No issues,” Lucas said.
“Will it work?”
“No. You pay me just to pretend.” He tossed the phone to Standish, reached into his pocket and pulled out another phone, dialing a number. The phone rang once before the one in Standish’s hand began ringing.
Standish heard Kurt Hale answer after the fourth ring. Lucas said, “Can I speak to Betty?”
Through the phone he held, Standish heard Kurt say, “Sorry, wrong number.”
Lucas hung up.
Standish grinned. With any luck, not only would he get all information relating to the Mayan weapon, but he might also get other useful information relating to the Taskforce, or even Kurt’s personal life. I should have done this a long time ago.
“Can you tell anything was done?”
“Not at a casual look-over. If the phone’s software is scrubbed, they’ll see it was manipulated.”
“We’re good there. No way they’ll suspect this office of doing anything. What about the pager?”
“The pager’s a little different. That panic beacon attempts to transmit on any signal it can find, like cellular, FM, you name it. With that much stuff blasting out on a constant stream, there’s a chance someone will pick up the signal. It’ll also run the batteries down about four times as fast, which might spike the target. I figured it would be