your man in Dar es Salaam isn’t a man,” Felter interrupted.
“You do hear things, Felter, don’t you?” the Director said, smiling.
“Sometimes,” Felter said, returning the smile.
“I would like to improve that situation,” the Director said.
“I’m all for it. How?”
“What I thought, off the top of my head, is a conference in either Léopoldville or Dar es Salaam. I’ll send someone senior—I’m thinking of Howard O’Connor—with orders to tell everybody to stop the bickering. If you were to send someone . . .”
“Léopoldville,” Felter said. “I can’t go myself. I can send Lieutenant Colonel Lowell. I will, if you also tell O’Connor he and Lowell will be there as equals.”
“When?”
“How long will it take O’Connor to pack his bags?”
“You think I should propose to the Secretary of State that he send someone too?”
“I think that would unnecessarily complicate a good, simple idea.”
Fifteen minutes later, the vice admiral walked up to Felter and the Director.
“Mr. Director, we ran a downlinked satellite photograph of the vessel in question through the naval computer. It has been identified, with a ninety-seven percent positivity, as the Cuban merchant vessel Uvera. I have details—”
“That won’t be necessary, Admiral,” the Director said. “All Colonel Felter and I wanted was to make sure, (a) that it was the Uvera and, (b) that they not be aware we know where they are, and are going.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Admiral,” Felter said, “would it be possible to send one of the flanking destroyers of the naval force close enough to the Uvera so that it would be seen? Taking no action, of course. I think if they saw a destroyer that did not inspect them, they might change course, in the belief they had escaped detection.”
“Good idea, Felter,” the Director said.
"I’ll have the necessary orders issued, sir,” the vice admiral said.
[ THREE ]
SECRET
EARN0059 WASH DC 1235 ZULU 4 MAY 1965
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: EARNEST SIX
TO: HELPER SIX
1. LTCOL CRAIG W. LOWELL REPRESENTING COL FELTER AND CWO (4) JAMES L. FINTON WILL DEPART WASHINGTON DC 1400 ZULU 6 MAY 1965 TWA FLIGHT 233 TO BRUSSELS AND DEPART BRUSSELS 0830 ZULU 7 MAY 1965 UFA 4545 TO LÉOPOLDVILLE. A SENIOR CIA OFFICER REPRESENTING DIRECTOR CIA AND AN ASSISTANT WILL TRAVEL TO LÉOPOLDVILLE APPROXIMATELY SAME DATES AND ROUTE BUT DIFFERENT AIRLINES NOT KNOWN TO UNDERSIGNED.
2. A CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE ABOVE, PLUS CIA STATION CHIEFS LÉOPOLDVILLE AND DAR ES SALAAM, PLUS ONE STAFF MEMBER OF EACH WILL BE SCHEDULED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AFTER ALL PARTIES ARE IN LÉOPOLDVILLE. CIA STATION CHIEF LÉOPOLDVILLE WILL COORDINATE.
3. INASMUCH AS CONFERENCE SHOULD BE AS INCONSPICUOUS AS POSSIBLE LOWELL AND FINTON WILL TRAVEL IN CIVILIAN STATUS, AND EARNEST SIX SUGGESTS IF POSSIBLE CONFERENCE BE HELD IN HOME OF CAPTAIN PORTET.
4. YOU ARE DIRECTED TO MEET LOWELL AND FINTON ON ARRIVAL IN LÉOPOLDVILLE NOT IN US UNIFORM REPEAT NOT IN US UNIFORM AND ARRANGE FOR THEIR QUARTERS AND TRANSPORTATION. YOU AND SUCH US OFFICERS AS YOU MAY DESIGNATE WILL PARTICIPATE IN CONFERENCE NOT IN US UNIFORM.
FINTON FOR EARNEST SIX
SECRET
[ FOUR ]
404 Avenue Leopold
Léopoldville, Republic of the Congo
1930 8 May 1965
There were three Congolese paratroopers in front of the gate in the fence that surrounded the Portet property. One of them, a lieutenant, stepped in front of the black 1964 Chevrolet with a Corps Diplomatique license plate and identification badge and held his hand out to make it stop. The other two moved so, should it be necessary, they could quickly train their FN 7-mm automatic rifles on the car.
“What the hell is this?” D. Patrick O’Hara, who was the Deputy to the Assistant Director of the CIA for Sub-Saharan Africa, said to Mr. Howard W. O’Connor, the CIA’s Assistant Director for Administration. Both were in somewhat mussed tropical-weight gray suits.
“We don’t have diplomatic status,” O’Connor said, and then added, “I would like to know what the hell is going on with all of this.”
The embassy chauffeur stopped and rolled down his window.
“This is a U.S. Embassy car,” the driver said.
The Congolese paratrooper lieutenant did not seem very impressed.
“Papers, please,” he said in French.
“Can they do that to an embassy car?” D. Patrick O’Hara asked.
“Just give him your goddamn passport,” Howard W. O’Connor said.
The Congolese lieutenant examined the passports and handed them back.
“Invitation, please?” he asked.
O’Connor fumbled in the pocket of his suit and handed it over.
Captain and Madame Jacques Emile Portet Request The Honor of the Presence Of
HON. HOWARD O’CONNOR AND GUEST
At cocktails and dinner to honor Lieutenant General Joseph Désiré Mobutu 404 Avenue Leopold Léopoldville, Republic of the Congo