Spycraft - Melton [146]
Andy and Wally were in the bathroom. Andy had removed the two fluorescent lights on the top and side of the medicine cabinet and dug out a cavity in the plaster for the power line tap, while Wally was working on the antenna. “We just about had the thing pretty well finished, just the final touch, putting the tile back and plastering in the bathroom to cover the wires running from transmitter to the AC power line buried in the wall,” said Andy. “We hadn’t drilled the pinhole through the ceiling, but had everything else done. And that’s when it all fell apart.”
Andy and Wally had continued working away in the bathroom unaware of what was taking place just a few feet down the hall. Focused on the task, they assumed that either Mario or the case officer had come by, but when Dave did not return, Wally went to investigate. He too found himself staring down a gun positioned so close to his face that he could see traces of rust on the inside of the barrel. Then, when Andy turned around, he faced yet another armed Cuban. Hustled out of the bathroom, he joined Dave and Wally against the wall of the apartment’s kitchen dining-room area.17 To the three prisoners, the armed Cubans seemed indecisive about what to do next, which only added to their fear and anxiety.
“We stood against the wall for some hours. They ripped through the place, I don’t think they knew what they were doing,” said Andy. “First thing they took was all our money, then they took all my good cigars, and put us in the bedroom on a bed with the lights on.”
Dave and Andy began communicating with each other by tracing letters on the bed. The Americans remained awake through the night as the Cubans waited to see who else might show up at the apartment. At one point, there was a gunshot from the living room. Had the Cubans caught and executed either Mario or the case officer? The techs’ fears were unfounded. One of the guards had accidentally shot himself in the hand.
The next morning the prisoners were moved to the living room and faced the first of many interrogations. All of the equipment and tools they had brought in to do the job were arranged neatly on the floor. Repeatedly questioned, the techs maintained their cover story that they were Americans on vacation and saw an opportunity to make a little extra money doing some electrical work.
They were given coffee and then photographed with the equipment. Within days, the pictures appeared in the local papers alleging that the three were American spies.
Since the operation was put together quickly, the techs had little to back up their story, except the few documents they carried and their ability to brazen it out under interrogation. None of the three had received “risk of capture briefings” provided to military or intelligence officers who undertake dangerous missions. If one of the three alias identities or cover stories fell apart or if one of them broke under questioning, all three would be exposed as criminals or spies. The consequences were grave. Castro’s government had already established a tradition of executions for political as well as social crimes.
Eventually the Cubans moved the trio from the high-rise to a military intelligence installation, only a few blocks from the U.S. Embassy. There they were fingerprinted and photographed. By early evening, the techs were separated, had their belts, shoelaces, and watches removed, and locked into different holding cells. Not much more than thirty square feet, with a shower and toilet combination at one end, each cell was packed with prisoners and triple-decker, GI-style bunk beds.
That night began the first of many interrogations. Escorted from his sweltering cell to a small, cold, air-conditioned room, Wally faced three Cubans. The one whom he would dub “Bad Teeth” took the lead. “What are you doing here? Come on, Mr. Taransky, tell us,” Bad Teeth asked in English. “Why, you work for the CIA, don’t you?”
Throughout the initial round of questioning, Wally stuck to the cover story and on the second day was driven