“Sir, are you still there?” Castillo asked.
“Hang on a minute, Charley, while I think,” Secretary Hall said.
He looked at Sergeant Betty Schneider again.
“You believe this Philadelphia connection, Sergeant?”
“Yes, sir. It seems to fit.”
“I’m going back in the mayor’s office and tell him and Commissioner Kellogg that I have to go back to Washington immediately,” Hall said, carefully. “To the White House.”
She nodded.
“Tom, have them get the airplane ready,” Hall ordered.
McGuire turned his back and spoke softly into a microphone in the lapel of his jacket.
“Inasmuch as I still believe the situation is under control, that we will be able to neutralize the airplane, I am not going to tell the mayor of this development,” Hall said. He let that sink in a moment. “Sergeant, I would like an escort to the airport. I have to get there as quickly as possible.”
“I’ll be happy to give you an escort, Mr. Secretary,” Betty Schneider said.
“If on the way to the airport, Sergeant, I told you I thought it would be helpful if you went to Washington with me, what would your reaction be? Please take a moment to think over your answer.”
Betty Schneider pursed her lips and exhaled audibly.
“You understand, I think, what I’m asking, and why,” Hall added.
She nodded.
“Major Castillo does have a way of upsetting the apple cart, doesn’t he?” she asked, softly. “Just when you think things are under control, up he pops.”
Joel Isaacson chuckled.
“Mr. Secretary,” Sergeant Schneider said, “my orders from Chief Inspector Kramer are to provide you with any support you asked for. If you asked me to go with you to Washington, I’m sure I would go.”
“Thank you,” Secretary Hall said.
He put the secure telephone to his ear again.
“Charley?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You don’t know where in Costa Rica?”
“No, sir. But according to Colonel Torine there are only two airports in the country that’ll take a 727 . . . hold one, sir.”
“Now what?” Hall snapped, impatiently.
“Sir, Mr. . . . my friend tells me that he is working on a positive location and should have it shortly. He said to tell you he’s doing the very best he can.”
“Tell him thank you,” Hall said, and then went on: “Charley, I’m on my way to the White House. Stay close by the phone. I strongly suspect that our boss is going to want to talk to you.”
“Sir, I was about to head for Costa Rica.”
“And while you’re doing that, you’ll be out of touch?”
“It’s about seven hundred miles from here. Figure an hour and a half in the air and thirty minutes to shut down the radio here and get to the airport. I’ll be out of touch for a little over two hours, sir.”