The Evening News (10 page)

She paused
.”
Oh, by the way, your father phoned. He's
arriving early tomorrow and would like to stay a week
.”

Sloane grimaced
.”
That's pretty soon after the last time
.”

"He's lonely and he's getting old. Maybe if you're that way someday
you'll have a favorite daughter-in-law you'll want to be with
.”

They both laughed, knowing how fond Angus Sloane was of Jessica and vice
versa, and that in some ways the two were closer than the father and son
.
Angus had been living alone in Florida since the death of Crawford's
mother several years earlier
.”
I enjoy having him around the house
,”
Jessica said
.”
So does Nicky
.”

"Okay then, that's fine. But while Dad's here, try to use your great
influence to stop him sounding off so much about honor, patriotism and
all the rest
.”

"I know what you mean. I'll do what I can
.”

Behind the exchange was the fact that the elder Sloane could never quite
let go of his World War 11 hero status-as an Army Air Forces lead
bombardier who won a Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross
.
After the war he had been a certified public accountant-not a spectacular
career, though on retirement it provided him a reasonable pension and
independence. But the military years continued to dominate Angus's
thoughts
.
While Crawford respected his father's war record, he knew the old man
could be tedious when launched on one of his favorite themes-"the
disappearance nowadays of integrity and
moral values
,”
as he was apt to put it. Jessica, though, managed to let her father-in-law's preachments flow over her
.
Talk between Sloane and Jessica continued over dinner, always a favorite
time. Jessica had a maid come in daily but prepared dinner herself
,
managing to be organized so that she spent minimal time in the kitchen
after her husband's arrival for the evening
.
Sloane said thoughtfully, "I know what you meant back there, that it
isn't like me to venture out on limbs. I guess, in my life, I haven't
taken chances as often as I might. But I felt strongly about some things
in the book. Still do
.”

"The terrorism part
?
”

He nodded
.”
Since that was written I've done some thinking about how
terrorism might, how it could, affect you and me. It's why I've taken
some special precautions. Until now I haven't told you, but you ought to
know
.”

While Jessica regarded him curiously, he went on
.”
Have you ever thought
that someone like me could be kidnapped, become a hostage
?
”

"I have when you've been overseas
.”

fie shook his head
.”
It could happen here. There's always a first and I
,
like some others on television, work in a goldfish bowl. If terrorists
begin operating in the U.S.-and you know I believe they will, quite
soon-people like me will be attractive bait because anything we do, or
is done to us, gets noticed in a big way
.”

"What about families? Could they be targets too
?
”

"That's highly unlikely. Terrorists would be after a name. Someone
everybody knows
.”

Jessica said uneasily, "You spoke of precautions. What kind
?
”

"The kind that would be effective after I'd been taken hostage-if it
happened. I've worked it out with a lawyer I know, Sy Dreeland. He has
all the details, and authority to make them public if and when that's
needed
.”

"I don't much like this conversation
,”
Jessica said
.”
You're making me
nervous, and how can precautions be any good after something bad has
already happened
?
”

"Before it happens
,”
he said, "I have to trust the network to provide
some kind of security protection, and they do that now, more or less. But
afterward, just as I said in the book, I wouldn't want any kind of ransom
to be paid by anyone, including from our own money. So one thing I've
done is make a solemn declaration-it's all in legal form-to that effect
.”

"Are you telling me all our money would be tied up, frozen
?
”

He shook his head
.”
No. I couldn't do that, even if I wanted. Almost
everything we have-this house, bank accounts, stocks, gold, foreign
currencies-you and I own jointly and you could do whatever you wanted
with them, just as you can now. But after that solemn declaration was
made public and everybody knew the way I felt, I'd like to think you
wouldn't go some other route
.”

Jessica protested, "You'd rob me of the right to make a decision
!”

He said gently, "No, dearest. I'd relieve you of a terrible
responsibility and a dilemma
.”

"But supposing the network were willing to pay a ransom
?
”

"I doubt they would be, but certainly not against my wishes which are on
record in the book and repeated in the declaration
.”

"You said the network is giving you some kind of security protection
.
It's the first I've heard of it. Just what kind
?
”

"When there are telephoned threats, or screwball letters which sound a
certain way, or a rumor of some kind of possible attack-it happens at all
networks and especially to anchor people--then private security men are
called in. They hang around the CBA News Building, wherever I'm working
,
doing whatever security people are supposed to. It's happened with me a
few times
.”

"You've never told me
.”

"No, I guess I never have
,”
he conceded
.”
What else haven't you told me
?
”

There was an edge to Jessica's voice
,
though clearly she had not made up her mind whether to be angry at the
concealment or just anxious
.”
Not
hing else at the network, but there are some other things I've
arranged with Dreeland
.”

"Would it be too much to let me know about those too
?
”

"It's important that you know
.”

Sloane ignored the sarcasm which his wife
sometimes resorted to when emotional
.”
When someone is kidnapped, no
matter where in the world, nowadays it's a certainty they will make, or
be compelled to make, videotape recordings. Then those recordings turn
up, sometimes are played on television, but no one knows for sure whether
they were voluntary or forced and, if forced, to what extent. But if
there's a prearrangement of signals, someone who is taken hostage has a
good chance of getting a message back that is clearly understood
.
Incidentally, more and more people who might one day be hostages are
doing that, leaving instructions with their lawyers and establishing a
signal code
.”

"If this weren't so serious, it would sound like a spy novel
,”
Jessica
said
.”
So what kind of signals have you arranged
?
”

"Licking my lips with my tongue, which is something anyone might do
without its being noticed, would mean, Y am doing this against my will
.
Do not believe anything I am saying.' Scratching or touching my right
earlobe would mean, 'My captors are well organized and strongly armed.'
Doing the same thing to my left earlobe would mean, 'Security here is
sometimes lax. An attack from outside might succeed' There are some
others, but we'll leave it for now. I don't want all this to distress
you
.”

"Well, it does distress me
,”
Jessica said. She wondered: Could it happen?
Could Crawf be kidnapped and spirited away? It seemed unbelievable, but
almost every day unbelievable things did happen
.”
Apart from fear
,”
she said thoughtfully, "I have to admit some of this
fascinates me, because it's a side of you I don't believe I've ever seen
before. But I do wonder why you haven't taken that security course we
talked about
.”

It was an anti-terrorism course put on by a British company, Paladin
Security, that had been featured on several American news programs. The
course lasted a week, and in part was intended to prepare people for just
the possibility
Sloane had raised-how to behave as a victim in a hostage situation. Also taught was unarmed self defense-something Jessica had urged her husband to learn after a savage attack on the CBS anchorman Dan Rather on a New York street in 1986. The unprovoked attack by two unknown men had sent Rather to a hospital; the assailants were never found
.”
Finding time for that course is the problem
,”
Sloane said
.”
Speaking of
that, are you still taking CQB lessons
?
”

CQB was shorthand for close quarters battle, a specialized version of
unarmed combat practiced by the elite British Army SAS. The instruction
was given by a retired British brigadier now living in New York, and that
was something else Jessica had wanted Crawford to do. But when he simply
couldn't find time she took the lessons herself
.”
I'm not taking them regularly anymore
,”
she answered
.”
Though I do an
hour every month or two to keep refreshed, and Brigadier Wade sometimes
gives lectures which I go to
.”

Sloane nodded
.”
Good
.”

That night, still troubled by what had passed between them, Jessica found
it difficult to sleep
.
Outside, the occupants of the Ford Tempo watched as one by one the lights
in the house went off. Then they made a report by cellular phone and
,
ending that day's vigil, drove away.

Shortly after 6:30 A.M. the surveillance of the Sloanes' Larchmont house resumed. A Chevrolet Celebrity was being used this morning, and slouched down in the car's front seats-a standard observation technique so the occupants would not be noticed by other passing vehicles-were the Colombians, Carlos and Julio. The Chevy was parked beyond the Sloane house
on a convenient side street, the observation being carried on through side and rearview mirrors
.
Both men in the car were feeling tense, knowing that this would be a day
of action, the culmination of long and careful planning
.
At 7:30 A.m. an unforeseen event occurred when a taxi arrived at the Sloane
house. From the taxi an elderly man carrying a suitcase emerged. He went
into the house and remained there. The newcomer's unexpected presence meant
a complication and prompted a call by cellular phone to the watchers'
temporary headquarters some twenty miles away
.
Their efficient communications and ample transport typified an operation
on which expense had not been spared. The conspirators who had inspired and
organized the surveillance and what was to follow were expert, resourceful
and had access to plenty of money
.
They were associates of Colombia's Medellin cartel, a coalition of vicious
,
criminal, fabulously wealthy drug lords. Operating with bestial savagery
,
the cartel had been responsible for countless violent, bloody murders
including the 1989 assassination of Colombian presidential candidate
Senator Luis Carlos Gal6n. Since 19 81 more than 220 judges and court
officials had been murdered, plus police, journalists and others. In 1986
,
a Medellin alliance with the socialist-guerrilla faction M-19 resulted in
a killing orgy of ninety deaths, including half the members of Colombia's
Supreme Court
.
Despite the Medellin cartel's repulsive record, it enjoyed close ties with
the Roman Catholic Church. Several cartel bosses boasted private chapels
.
A cardinal spoke favorably of Medellin's people and a bishop blandly
admitted taking money from drug traffickers
.
Murder was not the only process by which the cartel ruled. Large-scale
bribery and corruption financed by the drug lords ran like a massive cancer
through Colombia's government, judiciary, police and military, beginning
at topmost levels and filtering to the lowest. A cynical description of the
drug trade's standard offer to officialdom was plata o plomo-silver or
lead
.
For a while, through 1989 and 1990 during a wave of horror following the Galin assassination, cartel leaders were inconvenienced by law enforcement efforts against them, including some modest intervention by the United States. A retaliatory response, accurately described by the drug conspirators as "total war
,”
involved massive violence, bombings and still more killings, a process which seemed certain to continue. But survival of the cartel and its ubiquitous drug trade-perhaps. with fresh leaders and bases-was never in doubt
.
In the present instance, while operating undercover in the United States
,
Medellin was working not for itself but for the Peruvian Maoist-terrorist
organization Sendero Luminoso, or "Shining Path
.”