Spycraft - Melton [145]
This alternate operation seemed routine enough. An apartment above the news agency offices had been rented by a CIA contact, a Cuban dance instructor named Mario, and if any problems arose, the techs had a “bug out” plan to regroup in the apartment of an American secretary also living in the building.
The next day, the techs met with the case officer in a downtown sandwich shop to await a “go signal.” When Mario showed up, drank a cup of coffee, and left without acknowledging the presence of the four Americans, the empty coffee cup signaled an all-clear for the techs to proceed to the Seguro Medico Building and survey the target. Because the local office feared an informant had penetrated its surveillance team, they would conduct the operation without countersurveillance. All agreed that since the techs would be working from the agent’s apartment, little risk existed. They could control the apartment for as long as they needed to finish the job.
Arriving at the Seguro Medico Building for the survey phase, Andy and the others noticed that no concierge was on duty. That was the first good sign. “It was a Sunday and nobody was there. We got on the elevator and went one or two stories higher and walked down the stairs to the agent’s apartment,” remembered Andy. “We cased the apartment to determine the construction materials, where load-bearing walls were, and the location of power. We figured out what equipment we’d need to drill and make repairs and how we’d divide up the work. Basically we created the ‘plan of attack’ to minimize the amount of time to do the job. Then we went back to the safe house.”13
The next day, after satisfying themselves and the local chief the operational plan was sound, the techs returned to the apartment to do the job. They would drill down through the floor and into the ceiling of the New China News Agency, opening pinholes of less than one millimeter to provide an airway for conversations to reach microphones placed snugly against the minute openings. “This wasn’t exactly a blind drill,” Andy explained, “because we knew the apartments were mirrors of each other. We were going into an area we believed they’d be talking in, like a bedroom office. You’re never sure of how the audio will work, but in those days, when we had a good pinhole, we could usually get good reception and cover a couple of adjacent rooms.”
The backbone of the equipment used for the mission was the SRT-3.14 The all-transistor transmitter was about the size of a pack of cigarettes and broadcast an unencrypted clear signal.15 A small switch receiver mounted in the SRT-3 would allow the listening post keeper to turn the device on and off remotely to elude electronic sweeps,16 and since the system would tap power from the building’s electrical line, it could run indefinitely.
However, almost from the start, the job did not go as anticipated. The unair-conditioned apartment was stifling and soon the three stripped down to their shorts and tennis shoes. The apartment’s thick concrete floors made the work slow going, even with the heavy-duty quarter-inch diamond drill bits.
For two days, the techs worked at the job, supported with food and supplies brought in by Mario and the case officer. With luck, they would finish up in three days and immediately leave the island.
On Wednesday, the operation began to go bad. First, a meter reader with the local utility company knocked on the door and was turned away without incident. Then a loud knocking summoned Dave to the apartment’s front door. Opening the door, he found himself facing down the barrel of a large handgun in the hand of an unshaven young Cuban in olive green fatigues accompanied by four other armed young men, all dressed in the same style of fatigues. The five Cubans entered the room and silenced Dave so quickly that he had no opportunity to sound a warning.