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Back The Short Forever Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
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  61. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  62. AUTHOR’S NOTE

“I’ve been in that area since I arrived in London,” Stone replied. “Thanks to you. What was it you really wanted to accomplish when you put me onto Lance Cabot’s back?”

“You’re better off not knowing.”

Stone guessed again. “It wasn’t exactly official Company business, was it?”

Hedger shook his head slowly.

“What was it about?”

“All right, I’ll tell you; I guess I owe you that. But you breathe a word of this, and you’ll be in more trouble than you can imagine.”

For a moment, Stone thought he probably shouldn’t know this; then he changed his mind. “Tell me,” he said.

23

HEDGER, IF THAT WAS HIS NAME, leaned back in his chair and sipped his whiskey. “It was a Middle Eastern operation,” he said, “and those are always a mess. We had—still have—a shortage of Arabic-speaking operatives, locals who blend in—and that always makes things difficult. Even when you recruit them, you can never really put any trust in them; you never know if they’re doubling for Hamas, or some other radical organization.

“Cabot fit in really well out there; his Arabic was outstanding—so good that he could impersonate an Arab on the phone, if not in person; he wore the region like an old shoe. So much so that I began to suspect him.”

“Of what? Of being an Arab?”

“Of course not; the man looks like a California surfer, doesn’t he?”

No, Stone thought, but he understood what Hedger meant. “If you say so.”

“I began to feel that he was too much taking the part of the people who were supposed to be the opposition. He didn’t like the Israelis we dealt with—thought they were too smart and too devious—and he seemed charmed by Arab custom and even by their fanaticism. He said that’s the way he would be if he were a Palestinian. That sort of comment doesn’t go down well with one’s colleagues, you know?”

“I can imagine.”

“Lance developed some Palestinian contacts—a man and a woman—whom he trusted, but I didn’t. He kept making the case that we should take them inside, tell them more. I wouldn’t do it. I always felt that, the moment we turned our backs, they’d be on the phone to Yasser Arafat or somebody, and that we’d end up paying the price. Well, we did.”

“Did trust them?”