Spy in a Little Black Dress - By Maxine Kenneth Page 0,26
they got curious and decided to find out what you were doing in town.”
Dulles cleared his throat, an indication to Jackie that he was about to switch conversational gears. “And what about your collateral assignment?”
“Jack Kennedy? I’m sorry to say that I had to break a date with him in order to go to New Orleans.”
“Having Jack Kennedy on our side could be even more of a plus than we first thought. I’m sure you know that he has formally announced his candidacy for the Senate. With a crackerjack campaign manager like his brother Bobby, the odds are good that he’ll defeat Henry Cabot Lodge in November and become a national force.” Dulles pursed his lips. “You probably haven’t heard from him because he’s been so busy with his campaign, so you’ll have to use your ingenuity to get his attention again.”
“I’ll do it,” Jackie said, having no idea how she would, but confident that something would occur to her in due time.
“Now, about Cuba,” Dulles went on. “I’m sure you know that our old friend Fulgencio Batista is back in power. Eighty days before the national elections, he staged a coup and took over the reins of power again. He may be a dictator, but he’s our dictator because he leaves our business interests there alone and because we don’t want anyone else coming in who might favor the Communists. If the island goes Red, it could cause all sorts of problems for us, especially being only ninety miles away from the U.S. coast.”
Jackie nodded in agreement. During her research, she had learned that Cuba, if it fell into Soviet hands, could be used as a staging post for an invasion of the U.S. Or worse, with these new rockets in development by both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., Cuba could be used as a launchpad to hurl nuclear-tipped missiles at cities up and down the eastern seaboard, a truly frightening prospect, especially if Washington, D.C., was the chief target. And this was a possibility that she knew the CIA and the State Department were taking all possible steps to prevent.
Dulles continued, “Your trip to Cuba is back on. But this time your assignment is a completely different one.”
Jackie looked surprised. She had figured that the Cuban mission was dead in the water.
“Batista’s takeover has angered many Cubans, as you can imagine. There are several groups in opposition to him, actively plotting his ouster. One such group is led by an attorney. He was running for office in the last election, but Batista’s coup put an end to his political career. So he has gathered a handful of followers and is hiding out in the Sierra Maestra, the mountains of Oriente Province. That’s where he was raised. His family are wealthy landowners there. We want you to go to Cuba and meet with this lawyer. Find out what his intentions are should he ever come to power. Is he a friend of the U.S.? Or does he lean more to the left?” Dulles paused. “The far left.”
He looked at Jackie and smiled, a facial expression that Jackie had not often seen him indulge in.
“The funny thing is, this lawyer once had a promising career as a baseball player. He was scouted as an excellent left-handed pitching prospect with a mean curveball. He even came here, to the States, for a tryout with the Senators. But he just didn’t have the stuff, as the sportswriters say. That’s why he ultimately decided to become a lawyer instead.”
“And what is the name of this southpaw?” Jackie asked.
“Fidel Castro.”
Jackie filed the name away for future reference. “And who is going to take me to meet him at his mountain hideout?”
“Your Cuban contact is a young man named Emiliano Martínez. He was a law school classmate of Fidel Castro’s and a fellow student activist. They were both recruited by the Ortodoxo, the Cuban People’s Party. It had a strong following among student groups at the University of Havana who were hoping to become the country’s future leaders.”
Another idealistic young politico in the Jack Kennedy mold, Jackie thought. Sounds promising.
“And will I be going undercover, like the last time?” she wanted to know. The memory of her cover story in Paris was a sore spot with Jackie, since it seemed that everyone she met there was able to see through it in about two seconds.
“In a limited way. But I have someone else who will brief you on that part of your assignment. Because it