'Why wasn't the Agency informed of this tip you received seven months ago?' asked the C.I.A.'s Knowlton abrasively.
'It didn't prove out.'
'In your hands; it might have been different in ours."
'That's possible. I admitted we didn't stay with him long enough. Manpower's limited; which of us can keep up a non-productive surveillance indefinitely?'
'We might have shared it, if we'd known.'
'And we could have saved you the time it took to build the Brussels file, if we'd been told about that.'
'Where did the tip come from?' asked Gillette, interrupting impatiently, his eyes on Manning.
'It was anonymous.'
'You settled for that?' The bird-like expression on Gillette's face conveyed his astonishment.
'It's one reason the initial surveillance was limited.'
'Yes, of course, but you mean you never dug for it?'
'Naturally, we did,' replied the colonel testily.
'Apparently without much enthusiasm,' continued Gillette angrily. 'Didn't it occur to you that someone over at Langley, or on the Council, might have helped, might have filled in a gap? I agree with Peter. We should have been informed.'
'There's a reason why you weren't' Manning breathed deeply; in less military surroundings it might have been construed as a sigh. 'The informant made it clear that if we brought in any other branch, he wouldn't make contact again. We felt we had to abide by that; we've done it before.'
'What did you say?' Knowlton put down the summary page and stared at the Pentagon officer.
'It's nothing new, Peter. Each of us sets up his own sources, protects them.'
'I'm aware of that. It's why you weren't told about Brussels. Both drones said to keep the army out*
Silence. Broken by the abrasive voice of the Security Council's Alfred Gillette. 'How often is "we've done it before", Colonel?'
'What?' Manning looked at Gillette, but was aware that David Abbott was watching both of them closely.
'I'd like to know how many times you've been told to keep your sources to yourself. I refer to Cain, of course.*
'Quite a few, I guess.'
'You guess?'
'Most of the time."
'And you, Peter? What about the Agency?'
'We've been severely limited in terms of in-depth dissemination.'
'For God's sake, what's that mean?' The interruption came from the least expected member of the conference; the congressman from Oversight 'Don't misunderstand me, I haven't begun yet. I just want to follow the language.' He turned to the C.I.A. man. 'What the hell did you just say? "In-depth what!"'
'Dissemination, Congressman Walters; it's throughout Cain's file. We risked losing informants if we brought them to the attention of other intelligence units. I assure you, it's standard.'
'It sounds like you were test-tubing a heifer.'
'With about the same results,* added Gillette. 'No cross pollinization to corrupt the strain. And, conversely, no crosschecking to look for patterns of inaccuracy."
'Some nice turns of phrase,' said Abbott, his craggy face wrinkled in appreciation, 'but I'm not sure I understand you.'
'I'd say it's pretty damned clear,' replied the man from National Security, looking at Colonel Manning and Peter Knowlton. 'The country's two most active intelligence branches have been fed information about Cain - for the past three years - and there's been no pooling for origins of fraud. We've simply received all information as bona fide data, stored and accepted as valid.'
'Well, I've been around a long time - perhaps too long, I concede but there's nothing here I haven't heard before,' said the Monk. Sources are shrewd and defensive people; they guard their contacts jealously. None are in the business of charity, only for profit and survival.'
'I'm afraid you're overlooking my point.' Gillette removed his glasses. 'I said before that I was alarmed that so many recent assassinations have been attributed to Cain - attributed here to Cain - when it seems to me that the most accomplished assassin of our time - perhaps in history - has been relegated to a comparatively minor role. I think that's wrong. I think Carlos is the man we should be concentrating on. What happened to Carlos?
'I question your judgment, Alfred,' said the Monk. 'Carlos's time has passed, Cain's moved in. The old order changes; there's a new and, I suspect, far more deadly shark in the waters.'
'I can't agree with that,' said the man from National Security, his owl-eyes boring into the elder statesman of the intelligence community. 'Forgive me, David, but it strikes me as if Carlos himself was manipulating this committee. To take the attention away from himself, making us concentrate on a subject of much less importance. We're spending all our energies going after a toothless sand shark while the hammerhead roams free.'
'No one's forgetting Carlos,' objected Manning. 'He's simply not as active as Cain's been.'
'Perhaps,' said Gillette icily, 'that's exactly what Carlos wants us to believe. And, by God. we believe it!'
'Can you doubt it?' asked Abbott. The record of Cain's accomplishments is staggering.'
'Can I doubt it?' repeated Gillette. That's the question, isn't it? But can any of us be sure? That's also a valid question. We now find that both the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have been literally operating independently of each other, without even conferring as to the accuracy of their sources.'
'A custom rarely-breached in this town," said Abbott, amused. Again the congressman from Oversight interrupted. 'What are you trying to say, Mr Gillette?'
'I'd like more information about the activities of one Ilich Ramirez Sanchez. That's...'
'Carlos,' said the congressman. 'I remember my reading. I see. Thank you. Go on, gentlemen.'
Manning spoke quickly. 'May we get back to Zurich, please. Our recommendation is to go after Cain now. We can spread the word in the Verbrecherwelt, pull in every informer we have, request the co-operation of the Zurich police. We can't afford to lose another day. The man in Zurich is Cain!'
Then what was Brussels?' The C.I.A.'s Knowlton asked the question as much of himself as anyone at the table. The method was Cain's, the informants unequivocal. What was the purpose?'
To feed you false information obviously,' said Gillette. 'And before we make any dramatic moves in Zurich, I suggest that each of you comb the Cain files and recheck every source given you. Have your European stations pull in every informant who so miraculously appeared to offer information. I have an idea you might find something you didn't expect: the fine Latin hand of Ramirez Sanchez.'
'Since you're so insistent on clarification, Alfred,' interrupted Abbott, 'why not tell us about the unconfirmed occurrence that took place six months ago. We seem to be in a quagmire here; it might be helpful.'
For the first time during the conference, the abrasive delegate from the National Security Council seemed to hesitate. 'We received word around the middle of August from a reliable source in Aix-en-Provence that Cain was on his way to Marseilles.'