a folding tripod. A cable ran from the “binoculars” to a large battery pack that sat on the ground.
The other was mounted on a U.S. Springfield Caliber .30-06 Rifle, Model 1903A4, and looked something like an oversight telescopic sight. It, too, had a power cable, which ran to a battery pack equipped with web straps, much like a rucksack.
The rifle-mounted device was not a binocular, nor as powerful as the other device, but there was really no way Thomas could have hauled it aloft in the tree he had chosen to surveil the shore of Lake Tanganyika.
And the rifle-mounted device had performed better than he thought it would.
He had picked up the launches when they were almost one thousand yards from the beach, and as they drew closer, he could make out first the forms of men aboard them, and ultimately, as they reached the beach, even facial characteristics.
One of the sixteen men who debarked from the second launch had an unlit cigar in his mouth. He was bald and clean shaven.
Before he had completely waded ashore, a half-dozen men came out of the bush to greet him.
They embraced warmly.
The bald and clean-shaven man with the unlit cigar in his mouth, and one of the men who had come out of the bush, stood and watched the other men jump out of the launches into the shallow water, then begin to transport small packages and small arms from the launches to the shore.
The rifle-mounted light-intensifying sight had crosshairs. The rifle had been sighted at 150 yards.
Master Sergeant Thomas took a sight picture on the head of the bald, clean-shaven man with an unlit cigar in his mouth, and waited patiently, his finger on the trigger, until—as he knew he would—the bald, clean-shaven man with an unlit cigar in his mouth turned to look around, and he could center on the crosshairs on his nose.
He squeezed the trigger.
The firing pin extended into the empty chamber of the U.S. Springfield Caliber .30-06 Rifle, Model 1903A4. There was a metallic click.
“Got you, you Cuban cocksucker,” Master Sergeant Thomas said with great satisfaction in his voice, then started to climb down from the tree.
[ SEVEN ]
SECRET
HELP0025 1050 ZULU 23 APRIL 1965
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: HELPER SIX
TO: EARNEST SIX
AFTER ACTION REPORT #9
REFERENCE MAP BAKER 08
1. AT APPROXIMATELY 0600 ZULU 23 APRIL 1965 SIXTEEN (16) ARMED MEN LANDED SURREPTITIOUSLY FROM TWO LAUNCHES APPROXIMATELY FIVE (5) KILOMETERS WEST OF KALAMBA, KIVU PROVINCE, CONGO.
2. THE LAUNCHES WERE PREVIOUSLY DETECTED BY SPEC5 CHARLES K. ANDERSON, AN OBSERVER ABOARD AN L19 PILOTED BY 1LT JACQUES PORTET CROSSING THE TANGANYIKA/CONGO BORDER. AFTER DISEMBARKING THE INFILTRATORS, THE LAUNCHES WERE OBSERVED ON A COURSE WHICH WOULD TAKE THEM TO KIGOMA, TANGANYIKA.
3. ONE OF THE INFILTRATORS WAS POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED AS MAJOR ERNESTO GUEVARA BY MSGT WILLIAM THOMAS, WHO ALSO BELIEVES MAJOR DREKE WAS IN THE PARTY. ALL BUT GUEVARA ARE NEGRO.
4. THE INFILTRATORS ARE APPARENTLY UNAWARE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN DETECTED. COLONEL JEAN-BAPTISTE SUPO BELIEVES THEIR DESTINATION WILL BE LULUABOURG IN KASAI PROVINCE, TO WHICH THEY WILL TRAVEL IN GROUPS OF TWO OR THREE IN FARM VEHICLES. SUPO HAS ISSUED ORDERS STATING THEY ARE TO BE ALLOWED TO PASS THE CHECKPOINTS HE HAS ESTABLISHED.
5. DETECTION OF THE INFILTRATORS WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY EXTRAORDINARILY ACCURATE AND TIMELY INTEL FURNISHED BY STAFF OF CIA STATION CHIEF DAR ES SALAAM.
HELPER SIX
SECRET
[ EIGHT ]
The Hotel du Lac
Costermansville, Kivu Province
Republic of the Congo
2105 23 April 1965
Master Sergeant William Thomas had just confided in First Lieutenant Geoffrey Craig that he had the crosshairs right on the bastard’s nose when Spec5 Kenneth Anderson walked into the bar with a message.
“I suppose I can show you this, Lieutenant,” he said. “Before I show it to the major.”
Craig read it, and said, “Congratulations, Fatso, well-deserved. ”
He handed it to Master Sergeant Thomas, who read it, snorted, and said, “The fucking Green Hornet.3I will be damned.”
SECRET
EARN0051 WASH DC 1910 ZULU 23 APRIL 1965
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: EARNEST SIX
TO: HELPER SIX
1. FOLLOWING FROM PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES QUOTE WELL DONE. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK END QUOTE
2. BY VERBAL ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE ARMY COMMENDATION MEDAL IS AWARDED TO 1LT JACQUES PORTET, MSGT WILLIAM THOMAS, AND SPEC5 KENNETH ANDERSON. FURTHER, BY DIRECTION OF THE PRESIDENT SPEC5 ANDERSON IS PROMOTED TO SPECIALIST SIX.
3. EARNEST SIX HAS RELAYED YOUR APPRECIATION OF EFFORTS OF STAFF OF CIA DAR ES SALAAM TO DIRECTOR CIA.
FINTON FOR EARNEST SIX
SECRET
XXIII
Major Guevara (using the pseudonym Tatu) and the vanguard of Column One entered the Congo