By Order of the President (Presidential Agent 1)

“This sounds more credible than some of the other theories I’ve heard,” the DCI said. “Where did this come from? And is this why you asked me to come here?”

“I asked you to come here because I thought we could handle something that’s come up between us,” Hall said. “I’d rather, if possible, that we kept this out of school, John.”

The DCI nodded and waited for Hall to go on.

“John, did you see Natalie Cohen’s memo that I was to get everything, including raw data, from everybody about the 727?” Hall asked.

“I saw it, wondered about it, and ordered that it be carried out,” the DCI said.

“Would you say that that file met the criteria for material I was to get?”

“Obviously.”

“I didn’t get it, John. That’s the problem,” the secretary said.

“You obviously got it from somebody, Matt. I don’t understand. ”

“The problem is that I should have gotten it from you and I didn’t. The satburst was filed to Langley by your station chief in Luanda,” Hall said, nodding at the file the DCI was still holding in his hand.

“And the filing?”

“The satburst was either spiked or lost, or something, in Langley. I never got it from you.”

“And the filing?” the DCI repeated, somewhat impatiently.

“That was never sent, because there was no response to the satburst.”

“I can’t believe that,” the DCI said.

“Well, that’s what happened, John,” Hall said.

“Then where did you get it? The satburst and the filing?”

“Charley brought them to me just before I called you,” the secretary said, and then added, “When he came back from Luanda.”

The DCI glanced at Castillo. I thought he said this guy was his executive assistant. So what was he doing in Luanda? And with his nose obviously into something that’s none of the Department of Homeland Security’s business? How did he come into possession of this file? How did he know this file was sent to Langley? That it was either spiked there or that something else happened to it?

“You are going to tell me what’s going on here, right, Matt?”

“I am, and I’m afraid you’re not going to like it.”

“We won’t know that until you tell me, will we? How about starting with what Mr. Castillo was doing in Luanda and how he came into possession of this?” The DCI held up the file.

“He was in Luanda because the president ordered him to find out what everybody knows about the missing 727 and when they learned it,” Hall said.

“Everybody meaning who?”

“The CIA, the DIA, the FBI, the State Department, the Office of Naval Intelligence . . . everybody,” Hall said.

“I wasn’t told,” the DCI said, a little coldly.

“Nobody was,” Hall said.

“Except you,” Powell said, more coldly.

“That’s the way the president wanted it, John.”

“Is Natalie involved in this?”