“Okay, go on,” Horatio encouraged him.
“Well, the camp has a black area component. And I’m not talking about folks who look like me. That’s where the secret side of U.S. diplomacy takes place.”
“Secret diplomacy?”
“Yeah. Goes on all the time. Leaders of other countries, agents, rebels, dictators, even terrorists who happen to be on our side at least for now, are flown in on some of those planes you see landing at two A.M. They don’t have to pass through customs or nothing. No one even knows they were ever here. And the meetings officially never happened. Before we invaded Iraq a bunch of Kurdish leaders were flown to the Farm to hold meetings about ways to topple old Saddam from the inside.”
An impressed Horatio exclaimed, “South, how do you know all this?”
Freeman looked offended. “Hey, I’m a damn journalist, man.”
Horatio sat back looking troubled.
Freeman grinned wickedly. “Scary shit.”
“Scary shit,” Horatio agreed.
CHAPTER
60
WHEN SEAN AND MICHELLE MET later he said, “I didn’t get a chance to search for a secret room earlier, you want to give it another shot together?”
A few minutes later they were in the main hall of the mansion. Waiting for it to clear out, they started making their rounds. They had clear
ed about a dozen rooms and had just finished with the library, when a voice startled them as they came out.
“You’re not doing it the right way.”
They turned and stared at Viggie, who was wearing a very superior look while perched on an ornate couch sitting against one wall in the main hall.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” Michelle asked.
“I’m sick.”
“You don’t look sick.”
“I already finished all the work, including my homework. And I saw you snooping around.”
“We’re not snooping around,” Sean objected.
“You’re looking for that secret room you asked me about, but you’re not doing it right.”
“Okay, how would you do it?” Sean shot back.
In response Viggie held up several sheets of paper covered with numbers and equations. “I’ve already worked it out. Right after you asked me about it I spent a bunch of time measuring every exterior and interior dimension of the house and compared it with the actual physical configuration.”
“You did?” Sean said, stunned. “You’re only eleven.”
Viggie ignored this. “And I came up with a very interesting discovery.”
“What was it?” Michelle said.
“There’s a twelve-by-twelve-foot square unaccounted for.” She showed them the paperwork, which was too complicated for either Michelle or Sean to follow.
“Okay, Little Miss Einstein,” Sean said. “Where is it?”
“Third floor, west corridor, next to the last bedroom on the right.”