‘No. I think we’ve got a far bigger problem on our hands,’ said Lloyd. ‘Have you seen Dexter’s latest report? I left it on your desk yesterday afternoon.’
‘No, I haven’t,’ the President replied. ‘I spent most of yesterday holed up with Larry Harrington in the State Department.’ He flicked open a file bearing the CIA emblem, and began reading.
He had sworn out loud on three occasions before he had reached the second page. By the time he’d come to the final paragraph, his face was drained of colour. He looked up at his oldest friend. ‘I thought Jackson was supposed to be on our side.’
‘He is, Mr President.’
‘Then how come Dexter claims she can prove that he was responsible for the assassination in Colombia, then went to St Petersburg intending to kill Zerimski?’
‘Because that way she clears herself of any involvement, and leaves us to explain why we hired Jackson in the first place. By now she’ll have a cabinet full of files to prove that it was Jackson who killed Guzman, and anything else she wants the world to believe about him. Just look at these pictures she’s supplied of Jackson in a Bogota bar handing money over to the Chief of Police. What they don’t show is that the meeting took place almost two weeks after the assassination. Never forget, sir, that the CIA are unrivalled when it comes to covering their asses.’
‘It’s not their asses I’m worried about,’ said the President. ‘What about Dexter’s story that Jackson’s back in America, and is working with the Russian Mafya?’
‘Isn’t that convenient,’ said Lloyd. ‘If anything goes wrong during Zerimski’s visit, she already has someone lined up to take the rap.’
‘Then how do you explain the fact that Jackson was recorded by a security camera in Dallas a few days ago buying a high-powered rifle of near-identical specifications to the one used to kill Guzman?’
‘Simple,’ said Lloyd. ‘Once you realise it wasn’t actually Jackson, everything else falls into place.’
‘If it wasn’t Jackson, then who the hell was it?’
‘It was Connor Fitzgerald,’ said Lloyd quietly.
‘But you told me Fitzgerald was arrested in St Petersburg, and then hanged. We’d even discussed how we might get him out.’
‘I know, sir, but that was never going to be a possibility once Zerimski had been elected. Unless …’
‘Unless?’
‘Unless Jackson took his place.’
‘Why on earth would he do that?’
‘Remember that Fitzgerald saved Jackson’s life in Vietnam, and has the Medal of Honor to prove it. When Fitzgerald returned from the war, it was Jackson who recruited him as an NOC. For the next twenty-eight years he served the CIA, and gained the reputation of being their most respected officer. Then, overnight, he disappears and can’t be traced on thei
r books. His secretary, Joan Bennett, who worked for him for nineteen years, suddenly dies in a mysterious car accident while she’s on the way to see Fitzgerald’s wife. Then his wife and daughter also vanish off the face of the earth. Meanwhile, the man we appoint to find out what’s going on is accused of being an assassin and double-crossing his closest friend. But however carefully you search through Helen Dexter’s numerous reports, you’ll never find a single reference to Connor Fitzgerald.’
‘How do you know all this, Andy?’ asked Lawrence.
‘Because Jackson called me from St Petersburg just after Fitzgerald had been arrested.’
‘Do you have a recording of that conversation?’
‘Yes, sir, I do.’
‘Goddamn it,’ said Lawrence. ‘Dexter makes J. Edgar Hoover look like a Girl Scout.’
‘If we accept that it was Jackson who was hanged in Russia, we have to assume it was Fitzgerald who flew to Dallas, with the intention of buying that rifle so he could carry out his present assignment.’
‘Am I the target this time?’ asked Lawrence quietly.
‘I don’t think so, Mr President. That’s the one thing I think Dexter’s being straight about - I still believe the target’s Zerimski.’
‘Oh my God,’ said Lawrence, slumping into his chair. ‘But why would an honourable man with a background and reputation as good as Fitzgerald’s get involved in a mission like this? It just doesn’t add up.’
‘It does if that honourable man believes that the original order to assassinate Zerimski came from you.’
Zerimski was running late when his plane took off from New York to fly him back to Washington, but he was in a good mood. His speech to the United Nations had been well received, and his lunch with the Secretary-General had been described in a communique issued by the Secretariat as ‘wide-ranging and productive’.