"The Libya Connection" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pendleton Don)

3

It was late afternoon.

Heavy draperies shuttered out the cool winter sunshine from the Stony Man War Room. The only illumination was reflected off a screen that dominated one wall.

Bolan had returned to Stony Man from the Bahamas a short twenty-five minutes earlier. The lightweight Hughes, equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks for distance, had sped them over reefs of sand and coral, then over the lush tropical forests of scattered islands, at speeds of over 150 knots to a government airfield outside Miami, Florida.

At this moment, Jack Grimaldi was ensuring that the F-14 Tomcat jet, which had flown them to Washington from Miami, was readied for further short notice.

Three people, besides Bolan, were present at the briefing.

Aaron Kurtzman. Hal Brognola. April Rose.

The screen was filled with the image of a male face. The visage was highlighted by hard eyes and a scar down the left cheek.

Kurtzman's well-modulated voice supplied the data.

quot;Raoul Santos. Lenny Jericho's people found him doing life for a double knife murder in Kingston involving the rasta drug trade. A contract job. The wife and child of a government investigator were tortured before he cut their throats. That was the only time he was ever caught. There's plenty more, if you want to hear it. They call him “The Butcher.”quot;

quot;How long has he been with Jericho?quot; Bolan cut in.

quot;Jericho paid the guy's way out of the slammer in 1980,quot; supplied Hal. quot;Jericho takes great care to keep the connection secret. The media image Jericho has created for himself is some sort of a modern Robin Hood. He's almost a folk hero — the smart con artist who got away.quot;

April could not take her eyes away from the face of Santos on the screen.

quot;A mother and child... What does he do for Jericho?quot;

quot;Whatever dirty work needs doing,quot; said Hal, quot;and there's plenty of that in Jericho's world.quot;

quot;And Santos has Eve,quot; grunted Bolan. quot;What about the Thatcher character?quot;

Kurtzman punched up another head shot, this time front and profile.

It was a craggy face dominated by steely eyes that were impossible to read. The jawline was that of a determined military man in middle age.

quot;General Arnold L. Thatcher,quot; said Kurtzman. quot;I put through a tracer when the computer kicked his name out, and the Pentagon's Internal Affairs Division was very interested in what we wanted to know and why. They're in it with us now. The general is chief of security at a classified base in the Rockies, north of Denver. The installation is a storage depot — part of the army's NCB program.quot;

Bolan knew those initials. Nuclear, Chemical and Biological.

He scrutinized the frontal portrait on the screen. He saw a brokenness and a cynicism in the face that stared blankly back.

quot;Thatcher is two days into a five-day leave and no one's been able to run him down yet,quot; reported Brognola. quot;But considering his sensitive position in the NCB program, the Pentagon and the CIA are of course giving this top priority and we should have our hands on this bad general soon enough.

Internal Affairs launched a backtrack investigation and they came up with a bombshell this afternoon that confirms he's the Thatcher we're looking for.

The general took a medical leave late last year. His hospital records showed treatment for stomach problems that were supposedly cleared up. But the Pentagon investigators found more — they asked the right questions of the right people in the right way.

General Thatcher has seven months to live. He's dying of cancer. He's ripe for a sellout. Maybe he's trying to establish financial security for his family after he's gone.quot;

General Thatcher's likeness disappeared from the briefing-room screen. Comfortable indirect lighting filled the room.

Bolan spoke first.

quot;Jericho bought something from Thatcher, or paid Thatcher to do something.''

quot;The connection is Libya,quot; said Kurtzman. quot;Those are the Jericho impostor's words. And Hal's got major information coming up.quot;

Bolan lit a cigarette.

quot;I think Eve Aguilar pieced the whole thing together,quot; he said. quot;Manny Mandone was aboard the yacht. There was a lot of strange stuff going on. And she knows all about it.quot;

Kurtzman turned from processing continuing data.

quot;I'm glad to hear that the woman is thought to be alive. But why is she alive? She should be dead. I don't mean to be brutal, but we must consider this.quot;

Bolan felt the bitter taste in his mouth that he had experienced throughout the flight north from Exuma Cay.

quot;They've taken her to Libya,quot; he said. quot;That's where Jericho is and that's where Santos is.quot;

quot;Then... it dead-ends there, doesn't it?quot; asked April, sadly.

quot;Not at all, unfortunately,quot; growled Hal. quot;In a strange way it ties in with the renegade operation you just busted up, Striker. The Company feels that too many ex-CIA personnel have turned up recently working for Khaddafi, among others who have no love for us. One of the men the Company has been watching is a young retiree, name of Michael Rideout. Rideout served two military tours overseas, the second time with Special Forces. Then came his years with the CIA, out of their Marseilles office. He's been “retired” since the Company turned him loose during a Senate investigation. The man is bored, broke and bitter.quot;

Brognola paused to light the half-done stogie that was wedged between his chubby fingers, thought better of it.

quot;Rideout is our key to the Jericho operation. Listen to this. Rideout was approached four days ago by people representing Leonard Jericho. He was paid ten thousand dollars and told to stay on call to leave the country. Rideout — and our people who had him wired — received that call last night, Striker, while you and Jack were on your way to the Bahamas to do your own thing with the yacht. He caught the next commercial flight to Libya.

Like the Bear said, all of the agencies are cooperating on this because of the NCB tie-in. The CIA people were notified at the other end and they intercepted Rideout when he landed in Benghazi this morning. They're holding him now.

We could do what Able Team did so successfully in their Texas showdown recently — ride in on a nowhere man.

What I'm saying is, you could take Michael Rideout's place.quot;

Bolan stood. He turned to Kurtzman.

quot;Bear, I want a full printout on Thatcher, Jericho and the current situation in Libya. I need to study it on the flight over.quot;

quot;You've got it,quot; said Kurtzman.

Bolan looked back at Hal.

Hal looked from Bolan to April Rose and decided to relight his cigar.

The lovely quot;boss ladyquot; of Stony Man Farm stood from the couch and walked to Bolan, then wordlessly bowed her face and touched her forehead to his mouth. The natural scent of her was strong in his nostrils, yet subtle and provocative.

His arms encircled her shapely waist and held her to him.

quot;What is it, lady?quot; he asked comfortingly. quot;We should be used to saying goodbye by now. It goes with the job, you know that.quot;

quot;I do know it,quot; she whispered. quot;But I also know that this mission is different for you. You've told me how much you and Eve mean to each other.quot;

quot;What Eve and I had together was before you came along, I've told you that too,quot; he said gently.

quot;You big, beautiful man,quot; she said. quot;I'm not jealous, Mack. I'm only trying to tell you that I'm worried about you for the same reason that Hal is. And I think Eve must be a very special human being for you to care about her the way you do.quot;

quot;She is special, April. So are you, for understanding.quot;

quot;Just one promise,quot; said April Rose. quot;Bring the both of you back safely, okay?quot;

Bolan kissed her forehead.

It was time to commence preparations for the mission to Libya.

Final preparations, as they always were for The Executioner.

April held Bolan's hand for a heartbeat more, then released it.

quot;On your way if you must, Colonel Phoenix,quot; she said. quot;And I know you must, Mack.quot;

And she released him.