By Order of the President (Presidential Agent 1)

“That strikes me as a succinct summing-up, Charley,” Hall said, shaking his head. “A little crude but right on the money. I hope she was worth it. That—little dalliance—is likely to turn out to be costly.”

Hall looked at his wristwatch.

“I don’t know how soon the FBI will show up, but I don’t think I can risk going back to the office. I very much doubt if they’d give the Pevsner dossier to you. Could we get coffee and something to munch on, do you think?”

“Coffee and a large hors d’oeuvres coming up, sir,” Charley said, heading for the telephone.

“Sir, am I allowed to make a suggestion?” Miller asked.

Hall considered that before replying, “Sure, why not?”

“What Pevsner said—or the ex-FBI agent, one of them—about there being a Philadelphia connection?”

Hall nodded his understanding.

“Sir, I might be useful in running that down.”

“How?”

“My father and the police commissioner are friends, sir. Commissioner Kellogg?”

“Miller, I’m going to pass on to the FBI what Charley heard in Vienna. They’ll certainly look into it, including asking the police what they might have.”

“Sir, sometimes the cooperation between the FBI and the police isn’t all that it sh

ould be.”

“Meaning?”

“I’m sure the cops will answer any specific questions put to them by the FBI. But probably not very quickly. And I’m also sure they’re not going to volunteer anything that might give up their snitches, or if they have somebody undercover with the Muslims, his identity. Or . . .”

“And you think they’d confide in you?”

“More than they would in the FBI,” Miller said. “Particularly if Commissioner Kellogg knew I was asking the questions for you.”

Hall exhaled and shook his head.

“Charley, did you hear this?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“That wasn’t really the question, Charley, and you know it. What do you think?”

“I was thinking, sir, that if the president . . . may I talk about that?”

Hall studied Miller a moment, then turned to Castillo. “He knows you’re working by order of the president, doesn’t he?”

“I think he’s figured that out, sir.”

“Since the cow is out of the barn . . .” Hall said, gesturing for Castillo to continue.

“Sir, if the president wants to know who knew what and when, and the cops in Philadelphia know something, isn’t he going to want to know when the FBI found out about it?”

Hall looked at him a long moment.

Charley thought, He’s thinking, but not about Miller going to Philadelphia.

“I just had a Washington bureaucrat’s thought that I’m a little ashamed of,” Hall confessed. “I was thinking, My God, if we find the 727 before anyone else does a lot of people are going to have egg on their face and really be annoyed with us. We can count on payback.”