“First,” Schultz said after a moment’s thought, “tell Cronley, ‘Well done.’ That could have been a lot worse. You said you trust this dame from the AP, too?”
“Not that I have much choice. But, yeah, I do.”
“I’ll tell the admiral. Thanks for the call.”
“Unfortunately, there’s more.”
“Oh, shit!”
“Parsons found out that we’ve had the ASA intercepting his messages between him and G-2. He went to Mattingly with it, and they’re going to Seidel with it. Probably first thing this morning.”
“How long has the interception been going on?”
“I’d guess from the time Parsons got to the Compound.”
“You’d guess?”
“Cronley ordered the interception. I just heard about it.”
“So a lot of people are going to be embarrassed.”
“Obviously.”
“Cronley for getting caught. And you, me, and the admiral for not thinking about reading their mail before Cronley did.”
“Excuse me?”
“The admiral trusts G-2 about as far as he can throw it. He’s going to be embarrassed—as I am, and you should be—for not thinking about intercepting their traffic and telling Greene we wanted it done. Does Greene know that Cronley ordered it?”
“I don’t know, but I’d bet he doesn’t. Cronley usually just does what he thinks should be done without asking anybody.”
“As chief, DCI-Europe, he doesn’t have to ask anyone. It would have been nice if he told you what he was doing, but the fact is, he did not have to. Or maybe he didn’t tell you because he wanted to cover your ass in case he got caught.”
“Or because he was afraid I’d tell him not to.”
“Is that what you would have done?”
“I don’t think getting into a war with G-2 is smart.”
“Write this down, Harry. We are already in a war with G-2.”
“And all’s fair in love and war?”
“Write that down, too. Okay, here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll tell the admiral about Mattingly and Parsons going to Seidel. He will then call Seidel and tell him we knew about the Parsons intercepts. Or tell me to call. That’ll solve that problem. Temporarily.”
“Why temporarily?”
“Harry, the problem here is Mattingly. You told me he went to the Compound without telling you and taking with him this Major Davis, even though you had told him (a) to tell you where and when he was going there before he went, and (b) that he was not authorized to take anybody with him. Now, one of two things is true. Seidel asked Mattingly if he could get Davis into the Compound, and Mattingly said, ‘Yes, sir, General Seidel, sir.’ Or, worse, Mattingly went to Seidel and said he was going to the Compound to see Parsons, and he thought he could get Davis in with him, ‘If you think that would be a good idea, General Seidel, sir.’”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d start to think you’re not a Colonel Bob Mattingly fan.”
“He’s got to go, Harry. I know he’s an old buddy from the OSS, and I’m sorry. But the sonofabitch has proved what I—and, more importantly, the admiral—suspected from the start. Mattingly would flush DCI down the crapper, twice, if he thought he was buying a regular Army commission and a seat on the board of directors of the intelligence community.”
“How are you going to get rid of him?”
“I’d like to cut his balls off and watch him bleed to death, but now that I’m a very senior civilian, I can’t do that. But I’ll think of something.”
When Wallace didn’t reply, Schultz said, “I’ll be in touch. Vint Hill, break it down.”