Strategic Moves (Stone Barrington 19)

“That is certainly a reasonable goal,” Stone said, “if I can convince them that you will give them the information they want.”

“That may be more difficult than you think, Stone, which is why I so readily agreed to your outrageous retainer.”

Joan brought in the retainer agreement and handed it to Stone. He looked it over and handed it to Pablo. “Joan, this is . . . Pablo. What name are you going to be using henceforth?”

Pablo accepted the agreement. “I will revert to my original name, Erwin Gelbhardt,” he said. “I have a valid passport in that name.”

“Joan, this is Mr. Gelbhardt,” Stone said.

“How do you do, Mr. Gelbhardt,” Joan said, and they shook hands.

Gelbhardt signed both copies of the agreement and handed them back to Stone. Stone signed them both, handed one back to Pablo and the other to Joan for filing.

“But I prefer to be called Pablo,” Gelbhardt said.

“Pablo it is,” Joan replied, and left the office.

“Now, Pablo,” Stone said, “what sort of information will you supply to the CIA, in return for being left alone?”

Pablo thought for a moment. “Well, how about the longitude and latitude of the current location of Osama bin Laden?” he replied.

TWENTY-NINE

Stone stared across the desk at his new client. The man did not exhibit any sign of insanity. “You actually have that information?” he asked.

“I do,” Pablo responded.

“Who knows that you have it?”

“No one. I came across it quite by accident, and the person who gave it to me died almost immediately after telling me.”

“Is there anyone who believes you have that information?” Stone asked.

“Not to my knowledge,” Pablo replied.

“Then let’s keep it that way for the time being.”

“I should have thought you would want to dangle it before Lance Cabot and his colleagues as an incentive.”

“Do you have any reason to believe that bin Laden might move to another location?”

“No.”

“Then let’s first dangle other information before Lance, and save that little piece until we really, really need to use it.”

“I must tell you, Stone, that as a patriotic American, I have a moral imperative to give that information to my government.”

“Are you morally impelled to give it to them today, tomorrow, or next week?”

“I suppose not.”

“Then please let me choose the moment for transmitting it, so that you may derive the maximum benefit for being a patriotic American.”

“I take your point,” Pablo said.

“Now, what other information do you have for them?”

“I can give them the details of every arms transaction I have been involved in for the past twelve years,” Pablo replied. “I should mention that I have what is often referred to as a photographic memory, although it might be more accurate to describe me as visually and audibly memory-efficient.”