“Hugh English.”
Kate Lee emitted a small groan.
“There was no way I could ask Jim Tiptree not to report this to him. I’m sure he’ll be on the phone to me within minutes.”
The Director sighed. “Hugh English is going to be more trouble than the ambassador,” she said.
“I know. Unless you speak to him before he speaks to me, there will be an eruption, and I don’t think we want that.”
The director picked up the phone. “Get me Hugh English, please; if he’s not in, try his cell or his car phone.” She pressed the speaker button and waited.
Lance tried not to squirm in his seat.
“Hello?” Hugh English might have been in the room with them, his voice was so clear.
“Good morning, Hugh.”
“Not really, Director; I have a problem.”
“The situation in St. Marks?”
There was what seemed a stunned silence, then: “I’m very surprised that you should know about this so quickly, Director; I’m not sure it rises to your level.”
“Hugh, we’re not sure about this yet, but the Peppers may have been detained because Bill was trying to extract some information from St. Marks government computers at my request.”
“I received no such request from you, Director.”
“No, it was made through another Agency officer who is also present on St. Marks at the moment. It’s my understanding that Bill Pepper has been extracting all sorts of information from those computers for months, so I believed that my request would be routine for him, and he did not indicate otherwise.”
“Director, I’m sure this could have all been avoided, if you had had the courtesy to go through my office, as prescribed by the operational procedures which you yourself instituted.”
“Perhaps, but we don’t know that yet. He may well have been detained for something you yourself asked him to do.”
Lance love
d that.
“In any case, Hugh, I am personally working to have the Peppers released and returned to the U.S., perhaps as early as tomorrow, so please take no steps in that regard without consulting me first.”
“As you wish, Director.”
“I think we can resolve this quickly and without a fuss, so just give me some time. In the meantime, you might be thinking about a replacement for the Peppers on St. Marks.”
“Don’t you think that might be precipitous, Director? I mean, until we know the meaning of their detention, we won’t know if they’ve been compromised.”
“Hugh, they were compromised the moment they came to the personal attention of the infamous Colonel Croft.”
“Quite,” Hugh English said. “I’ll begin working on a replacement. Is that all, Director?”
“For the moment, Hugh.”
“Good-bye.” He hung up.
“If he calls you, Lance,” the director said, “stonewall him, but as politely as possible. Now, get to work on getting an airplane there tomorrow.”
Lance stood up. “Thank you, Director.” She was asking for the White House when he left her office.
34