"They'll kill her!" screamed Latham, spinning around and pounding his fist against the wall.
"I deplore the possibility," countered the Deuxieme chief, "but I mourn the death of my colleagues, for at least two are dead, most probably a third. As for Karin, we have no evidence she has been dealt the same fate, and in my judgment, she's very much alive."
"How can you say that?" asked Drew, snapping his head toward Moreau.
Because she's more valuable to them as a hostage than as a corpse. They want the man known as Harry Latham, and that's you."
"So?))
"They'll use her to draw out Harry Latham, for what reason none of us know, but they want your brother and you are now he."
"What do we do?"
"We wait, chlopak," said Colonel Witkowski, standing erect and speaking softly.
"As we both know, it's the toughest part of our job.
If they wanted to kill Karin to make another example, her body would have been left with the other two. She wasn't. We wait."
"All right, all right!" exclaimed Drew, lunging across the room, stopped by the desk, his hand on the edge.
"But if that's the way it's got to be, I want the names of everyone, everyone who was told who I am and where I am. The leaks, I want to know where every leak was planted!"
"What good would it do, mon ami? Such leaks are like stones thrown into a pond; the ripples spread across the waters."
"I have to have them, that's why!"
"Very well, I'll give you the names of the people we reached, and Stanley will have to provide those at the embassy."
"Start writing," ordered Latham, rushing around the desk, opening the drawer, and pulling out sheets of hotel stationery.
"Everything you've got."
"We've fed them two hundred thirty-six names along with corresponding photographs," said Knox Talbot, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, over the phone to Wesley Sorenson.
"Any responses yet?"
"Nothing concrete, but a number of possibles. We're lucky insofar as seven personnel at the safe house actually saw "Deputy Director Connally," unlucky that only four were close enough to give descriptions in any detail."
"What about the possibles?" asked the director of Consular Operations.
"Very inconclusive. Damned if one of the witnesses didn't pick out your photograph among eight others."
"If they were all around my age, that tells us something."
"They weren't. We made it clear that whoever the impostor was would drastically change his appearance, that his hair would most likely not be his own, his eye color possibly altered with contact lenses, all the usual devices."
"Except one, Knox. He could look older, but not younger, not without appearing grotesque."
"That's the strange thing, Wcs. To a man and one woman, they pretty much said the same thing. That this "Connally' was so ordinary as to be almost nondescriptI'm cutting through the verbiage, of course."
"Of course. What about his clothing?"
"Right out of the old Agency guidelines. Dark suit, white shirt, preppy striped tie, laced brown shoes. Oh, and a light raincoat, the short, hang-loose variety. The woman who was at the security counter said it was like one an officer friend of hers wore, a London Fog."
"Face?"
"Again bland, very ordinary. No mustache, no chin beard, just pale skin and no outstanding features, but wearing fairly thick glasses, too thick, I'd say."
"How many possibles are there?"
"Eliminating the obvious, such as yourself, twenty four
"Without eliminating anyone, how many?"
"Fifty-one."
"May I see them?"
"The twenty-four are on their way over to you. I'll send the other twenty-seven posthaste. Or should I remove yours? I mean, you don't even work here."
"Why did you include it?"
"A perverse sense of humor, I guess. As I frequently tell our administration colleague, Adam Bollinger, a laugh now and then can put things into perspective."
"Granted, my friend, I'must not feeling very humorous. Have you heard the word from Paris?"
"Not for the last twenty-some hours."
"Hear it now. Karin de Vries has disappeared. She was abducted by the ncos."
"Oh, my God!"
"Apparently He's not around when you need Him."
"What does Witkowski say?"
"He's worried about Latham. He said Drew behaved like he was under control, but he's convinced it was an act."
"How so?"
"Because he demanded to know where the leaks were made that blew his cover."
"A reasonable request, I'd say. He's the bait."
"You're not listening, Knox. I said 'demanded," and Stanley made it clear that Latham delivered it on a give me-or-I'm-out basis."
"I still don't see why that makes him a loose cannon."
"We've both been married a long time to remember. He's in love, old boy. It came