The Matarese Countdown (Matarese Dynasty 1)

"It was the Matarese's offer to me, wasn't it? The millions and the ranch somewhere-" "That was a throwaway line," interrupted Shields, "but it stuck for a while. You yourself made a President of the United States pay you off twenty-five years ago. The answer's yes."

"How do you know I didn't accept?"

"Because you never would have brought it up with Denny, especially with such specificity."

" You're impossible!"

"Maybe, but remember Prague. By the way, where is Denny?"

"I ordered him to stay away until I was finished with you, since, as we agreed, I'm running this operation. I do have that authority, don't

I?"

"Are you finished with me, Brandon?" asked the deputy director without answering the question.

"Hell, no! Your idea of shutting down this place and moving to North Carolina is out! We're staying right here."

"You're certifiable. The Matarese know where we are-where you are. They know you survived the trawler, and by flying up here to join us you threw down the gauntlet. They won't stop until they kill you."

"Tell me, Squinty, why do they want to kill me?"

"For the same reason we wanted to find you-for what may or may not be in that concrete head of yours. Years ago your initial debriefing was hardly illuminating, but in your own words, you know more about the Matarese than anyone else on our side does."

"What's to prevent me from giving you everything I know on paper?"

"Not a thing, but there are laws and we're dealing with powerful interests, presumably very rich, very influential people in and out of government."

"So what?"

"So typewritten statements-depositions-from a dead, discredited deep-cover agent with a record of flagrant abuse of conduct, including misinformation, disinformation, and consistent lying to his superiors, isn't the sort of file you present to the courts, much less a congressional hearing."

"Tear up the file, burn it! That was ancient history and has nothing to do with the present circumstances."

"You've been away too long, Beowulf Agate. This is the nineties.

Files aren't neatly inserted into manila folders, they're computerized, and any senior department head with the proper codes throughout the entire intelligence community can access them. And you may be certain a few already have."

"You're saying that my cold corpse can't be interrogated, and all that's left is a record of necessary actions I took that label me a lying loose cannon."

"That's precisely what I'm saying. You'd be posthumous rotten meat for the Matarese grinders." Shields paused, then gestured for Scofield and Pryce to move with him away from the now-silent aircraft and its bustling crew.

"Listen to me, Brandon," he continued out of the crew's earshot, "I know Cameron's put you through an interrogation wringer, and I will too. But before we go any farther, I've got to come clean with you. There can't be any secrets between us."

"Squinty has a confession to make to little old me?" said Bray mockingly.

"I didn't think we prehistoric dinosaurs had any secrets left worth talking about."

"I'm serious, Brandon. It'll explain how far I got-I think I got and it may even bring you a degree of relief, if you had any qualms talking about it."

"I can't wait."

"When you left years ago, there were so many questions left unanswered, things you simply refused to clarify-" "I had a goddamned good reason," broke in Scofield quietly, harshly.

"Those debriefing clowns were looking six ways to hell and back to pin the whole mess on Taleniekov. They kept repeating the words 'enemy' and "Commie bastard' to the point where I could have wasted them. They wanted to paint Vasili as the whole evil empire, all by himself, when nothing could have been farther from the truth."

"Only the hotheads, Brandon, only the hotheads. The rest of us didn't say those things or believe them."

"Then you cooler fellows should have put out the fires! When I told them that Taleniekov had to get out of Moscow because he was under a death sentence, they kept saying 'a setup' and 'a double agent' and other stupid cliches they knew nothing about!"

"But you knew that if you told the whole truth, Taleniekov would go down in history as the madman who brought the superpowers to the edge of nuclear war, possibly over it."

"I'm not sure what you mean, Squinty," said Scofield cautiously.

"Of course you do. You couldn't state for any official record that the United States of America was about to elect a President who was heir to the most vicious organization the world has ever known outside of the Nazis. Only it wasn't a Communist Hitler, it was an elusive man only whispered about in the geopolitical cellars. The son of the Shepherd Boy."

"What the hell-" choked Brandon, turning to an astonished Pryce, who shook his head.

"How did you know?" he said, addressing Shields.

"I never mentioned the son of the Shepherd Boy. He was dead, the whole damn bunch was dead! And yes, one of the reasons I kept quiet was Taleniekov, but there was another, whether you'll believe it or not. Our country, our whole system of government, would have become the laughingstock of the civilized world. How did you find out?"

"The Leviticus Factor, my old friend. Remember what I once told you about the L-Factor?"

"Yes, I do. You said "Look at the high priest, and wonder whether under his robes he's a rat." Still, how did you figure it out?"

"We'll continue this discussion out on the water. Somebody here is another form of rat, and I'll take no chances on electronic surveillance.. .. That unit you saw at the helicopter is a team of antiterrorist experts trained and with the instruments to unearth all manner of bugs no matter how well concealed."

"I'll say this, Squinty. After all these years, you've picked up a field trick or two."

"Your approval touches me deeply."

THE ALBANY TIMES-UNION

(Business Section, Page 2)

CONSOLIDATION OF UTILITIES IMMINENT

ALBANY, OCT. 2. Due to the ever-increasing demand for energy and the concomitant accelerating costs involved, utility companies from Toronto to Miami are engaged in serious discussions about consolidating their operations. Word of these initial conferences began circulating when Standard Light and Power of Boston experienced what could be termed a consumer revolt over the exploding costs of electricity passed on to municipalities, corporations, and individual families. Pockets of industry, as well as numerous research centers, have threatened to leave the state in an already depressed real-estate market. Conventional wisdom predicts that universities might follow, the aggregate leaving Massachusetts an impoverished state and Boston a deserted ghetto.

When questioned, Jamieson Fowler, CEO of Standard L and P, was succinct.

"Energy costs money and it's getting worse, not better. Is there a solution? Sure, it's down the road and it's nuclear. But nobody wants those plants within a hundred miles of their districts, so where are we? I don't believe there are any states with deserts that large. Now, if we could unify the vast network of grids into a single authority, a consortium, costs would plummet as a result of eliminating duplication alone."

Bruce Ebersole, president of Southern Utilities, echoed Mr.

Fowler's confidence.

"Our stockholders would be happy, and they're mostly elderly folk-our beloved grandmas and grand daddies-the public would be better served 'cause we'd upgrade equipment everywhere, and we could all look forward to a brighter day-from those huge combine machines down to the electric bulb, my friend."

On the issue of the tens of thousands of jobs that would be lost, Ebersole stated, "We'd retrain the trainable, I reckon."

The figure standing in the dark, recessed corner of the boathouse peered around the edge of the open door, the waves below lapping against the sides of the Chris-Craft's slip. The speedboat was cruising slowly toward the center of the bay, the three occupants in casual conversation, Scofield at the helm, turning constantly to the others and speaking.

Lieut

enant Colonel Leslie Montrose withdrew a small portable phone from her tunic, dialed a series of thirteen numbers, and raised the instrument to her right ear.

"Circle Vecchio," said the male voice over the line.

"Proceed."

"Three major subjects in conference beyond surveillance. Make no moves until situation is clarified."

"Thank you. The information will be forwarded to our people in London. Incidentally, your new equipment will be on the six P.M. flight. It's been cleared for transfer. A package from your son."

The Chris-Craft's engine was cut to idle as the speedboat bobbed up and down in the gentle waves of Chesapeake Bay, the motor sputtering at the stern.

"I still don't get it, Frank," said Scofield at the wheel, turning back to Shields.

"I never mentioned the Shepherd Boy or the son of the Shepherd Boy in those debriefings. They were dead, the whole damn bunch of them were dead!"

"It was in the notes we found after the massacre at the estate called Appleton Hall outside of Boston. The fragments were badly burned, but they were studied under glass in our laboratories and the name, or partial name, of "Sheph-Boy' kept coming up. Then the Corsican branch of Interpol uncovered the name of Guiderone. It was presumed he was the Shepherd Boy."

"So where did that take you?"

"For me to a logical search. In one of the fragments, barely legible, was the stilted phrase, 'he is the son," repeated twice in two separate memoranda. And in the second, 'we must obey." .. . Am I reaching you, Brandon?"

"Yes," replied Scofield quietly.

"It's what Taleniekov and I followed. But how did you?"

"For months, even years, none of us could figure it out. Then finally I did."

"For Christ's sake how?"

"The Leviticus Factor again-the high priest was a rat."