The Italian Divide (35 page)

“I fought against it,” Tyler said weakly. “I did my best. You can’t expect more than that from me.”

“But you should have told me about this Barry Gorman business once you knew about it. You owed me that much.”

Tyler didn’t respond.

Zhou continued in a loud booming voice. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think you’d—”

“You didn’t think that I’d cancel my bond purchase. Well, you were wrong.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“Could I get some coffee, please?”

Zhou hit the intercom, and his secretary came running. Once Tyler had a cup and gulped down half of it, Zhou said, “I will buy at least 50 percent of the bonds in your new issue if, and only if, you tell me everything about this Barry Gorman business.”

Tyler began explaining this in a halting voice. “I had noth— nothing to do with this.” He was stammering. “The idea came from Betty Richards, the CIA director.”

“Who else was involved?

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying to me. Keep your bonds and get out of here.”

“Can’t we discuss the—”

“Leave now. Our meeting is over.”

Tyler didn’t move.

“Leave or I’ll call my guards.”

Tyler’s hand was shaking.

After a full minute, Tyler said, “Craig Page was also involved. He used to be CIA director.”

At the mention of the name, Zhou felt a surge through is body as if he had been struck with an electric prod. “What’s Page’s role in this?”

When Tyler didn’t respond, Zhou said, “You tell me voluntarily, or I’ll—”

He left the threat hanging in the air.

Tyler took a deep breath and blurted out. “Craig Page had plastic surgery to change his appearance a year or two ago. He was hiding out in Italy racing cars. He has now surfaced again in Washington with his old friend Betty Richards. Barry Gorman doesn’t exist. Craig Page is pretending to be Barry Gorman, the owner of the Philoctetes Group, a private equity firm, which also doesn’t exist.”

“So he’s using US government money to bid against me for Alberto Goldoni’s stock and control of Turin Credit.”

“It’s all a sham. He has no intention of buying the stock. He’s trying to trap you.”

Zhou stood up and paced around the office. He had seen how Craig Page operated in the past. None of this surprised him.

“Now you know everything.” Tyler added weakly. “Will you buy the bonds from our new issue?”

Tyler stood and Zhou walked over, close to Tyler. “Of course I’ll buy your bonds. Even though you should have come here and told me on your own. Not wait for me to demand the information from you.”

“I’m sorry. Really, I am.”

“Don’t worry. I’m a forgiving person.”

But not with Craig Page, Zhou thought.

Finally, with what Tyler told Zhou, killing Page had now become a lot easier.

Washington

“R
un that by me again,” Betty told Craig. “You want to have four US Special Forces troops go with you to Ascona to help you kidnap Zhou, the Chinese Finance Minister, and take him to Italy?”

They were in Betty’s seventh floor office at Langley. It was eleven thirty in the morning.

“That expresses it very succinctly,” Craig said. “What do you think?”

“Well, what I didn’t say is you are out of your fuckin’ mind.”

“That’s a positive reaction. Sort of.”

“Okay. I’ll tell you what I really think. I’m in favor of anything that brings down Zhou. The man’s a horror, and bad for our relations with China. Your plan is bold and daring. Typical Craig Page. It might even work.”

“What do you mean ‘might.’ It will work.”

“I’ve heard that from you before. Sometimes you come up empty. There’s no point you and I debating it. The critical fact is I can’t authorize it on my own.”

“You did for Argentina.”

“A different president was involved. Also China isn’t Argentina. I can and will support you. However, it’ll be the president’s call.”

Craig had expected that response. “When can we get on his calendar?”

Betty picked up the red phone that ran to the Oval Office. He heard her say, “Craig Page is back about the China-Italy matter. We’d like some time with you… . Three o’clock will be great… .We’ll be there.”

She put down the phone. “We’re on for three this afternoon.”

“You think he’ll invite Jones and Tyler?”

“Jones in Egypt. I don’t know about Tyler.”

“I don’t like Tyler.

“Really. I couldn’t tell.”

“He was so damn negative.”

“Sorry, Craig, even the CIA director can’t tell the president whom to invite to a White House meeting. Now let’s get some lunch before we go to the White House.”

“I vote for Capri, that excellent Italian place not far from here.”

“Aren’t you tired of eating Italian food?”

“Never. Not as long as it’s good.”

Over lunch, Betty asked Craig, “What’s happening with you and Elizabeth?”

“She’s working hard to get the facts about Parelli and Zhou. She’s a helluva reporter.”

“No, I mean personally.”

He began singing. “Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match.”

“Very funny.”

“Seriously. We’re back together. The sex is as good as ever.”

She blushed. “Too much information. I don’t need those details. I’d like to know if wedding bells are a possibility.”

“Right now both of us are trying to avoid getting killed by Zhou and his thugs. Everything else will have to wait.”

*     *     *

When Craig and Betty entered the Oval Office, Craig was glad to see President Worth was alone.

As if reading Craig’s mind, Worth said, “I would have included Jones and Tyler. But Jones is in Egypt having to endure violent protests and Tyler’s in Beijing.”

That raised Craig’s antenna. “What’s he doing there?”

“Something to do with a new bond issue we’re putting out in a little while. He wants to make sure the Chinese buy our new bonds when we roll over the old ones.”

Worth checked his watch. “We better get started.”

Craig took that as a sign Worth’s time was limited. So once they sat down in the living room section of the office, Craig gave a brief summary of what had happened since their last meeting. He ended with his meeting with the Italian president.

“I came away from that session feeling confident that if we could get Zhou to Italy, the Italians would try him for Federico’s murder.”

“And how do you propose to get Zhou to Italy?”

“Well, next week he’s going to be attending a world financial conference in Ascona, Switzerland.”

“I love that part of the world. I was there four years ago for a vacation. We took a boat ride on Lake Maggiore from Ascona to Stresa.”

The president smiled and turned to Betty. “Craig wants to kidnap Zhou and take him by boat to Stresa. Right?”

She nodded. “How’d you guess.”

“I’ve gotten to know how Craig operates.”

“If he could do it,” Betty said, “it would be good for everybody. Zhou is trouble for all of us.”

“Do we know whether Mei Ling is supporting Zhou on this Italian bank business?” Worth asked.

Craig cleared his throat and answered. “Elizabeth Crowder, the—”

“Foreign news editor for the
International Herald
.”

“Yes. She met with Mei Ling a few days ago. She believes Mei Ling would like to stop Zhou but she feels powerless because he has the support of the military.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Mei Ling and I had a private meeting a couple of months ago. She told me about her concerns with the military. I like her. We decided to open a line of communication.”

“Good to hear that,” Craig said.

“So let’s say I agree with you it would be a good idea to kidnap Zhou and take him by boat from Switzerland to Italy. How would you do that?”

Craig took a deep breath as if he were preparing to jump off a high board. “Well, if you let me borrow four Special Ops Forces, we could get in and out with Zhou before anybody knew about it.”

“Casualties?”

“I’ll develop a plan that will hopefully avoid them.”

“But we both know these operations never go exactly as planned. Look at the Osama Bin Laden capture. One of our two helicopters crashed on the roof of the compound.”

“They got their man. Didn’t they?”

“I don’t know, Craig. Switzerland is our ally. It’s not Pakistan.” Worth looked troubled. “The French and Italians don’t want to ask the Swiss to extradite him.”

“On the other hand,” Betty said, “removing Zhou from the world stage would be beneficial for this country and lots of other people.”

Craig was thrilled with Betty. She knew exactly when to come in.

Worth put his head into his hands and closed his eyes. At least he’s thinking about it, Craig concluded.

Finally, Worth opened his eyes and picked up his head. “Okay, Craig. You have my approval on two conditions.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“First, disguise the identity of the troops. No US insignia on the shirts or anything like that. They should wear plain olive or brown so they could be from anywhere. After the operation, we can refuse to admit or deny they were ours.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Second, when your plans are set and before you head over there, I want you and Betty to come here and brief me about the logistics. After that, you must keep Betty informed about all details of the operation, and Betty you must keep me informed in real time. I want to be able to abort this at any time before you commence the operation. Is that clear?”

Craig and Betty both nodded. “We’ll do that,” Craig said.

“Then don’t waste your time sitting here. Get started with developing your plan. This won’t be easy.”

*     *     *

Back in Betty’s office, Craig said, “I don’t have a good feeling about Tyler. He was downright hostile when I proposed the Barry Gorman plan. Now suddenly he dashes off to Beijing.”

“You think he sold you out to Zhou?”

“There’s a good chance of that.”

“I don’t like disagreeing with you, but you don’t have much in the way of evidence to support that conclusion. In view of Tyler’s position, it’s not surprising he wouldn’t want to upset China. So I can’t draw any conclusion from his being negative in the meeting.”

He had a great deal of respect for Betty and her judgment. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “Let’s give it a little test.”

Craig took out his phone, activated the record function, and called Zhou Yun’s office in Beijing. He told the secretary, “This is Barry Gorman. I’d like to speak with Minister Zhou.”

“Just a moment,” she told him.

A few seconds later, he heard a booming voice, “This is Zhou. It is a pleasure to hear from you Barry Gorman. Are you the famous Barry Gorman who’s the head of the Philoctetes Group?”

Craig wondered what Zhou’s game was. He was determined to find out. “We have a mutual interest in a bank in Turin. Perhaps we can meet and reach a settlement.”

“You’re mistaken,” Zhou said casually. “I have no interest in a bank in Turin,
but I know who you are, Barry Gorman
, and I would be happy to meet with such an important man. I’m sure we’ll have common business interests to discuss. You tell me where and when.”

“I’m going to the Global Economic Conference in Ascona next week and I saw from the program that you’ll be speaking there on Friday morning. Suppose we meet 10 a.m. Thursday morning at your hotel.”

“That would be good. I don’t stay at a hotel. I take over a private residence on the edge of Ascona. Why don’t you come there Thursday morning at 10:00.”

That sounds good. What’s the address?”

“I’ll call you on your cell phone Thursday morning at 9:00 and give it to you.”

When Craig ended the call, he said to Betty, “I recorded the conversation. You have to listen to it.”

He played it for her. When it was over, he said, “What do you think?”

“He was toying with you. He knows Barry Gorman is Craig Page.”

“My conclusion, too. From his emphasis on ‘I know who you are, Barry Gorman.’”

“And the whole tone of the call. But how did he find out?”

“I’d bet anything Tyler told him in Beijing.”

“I’m coming around to your view. Let me call Jim Burton, the head of NSA. Their routine intercepts of Tyler’s calls may give us something.”

She got Burton on the phone and told him what she wanted.

He called back twenty minutes later with the information. “Two days ago, Zhou Yun, the Chinese Finance Minister called Tyler and told him that he had to come to Beijing immediately to discuss a new bond issue, ‘You must come to Beijing immediately,’ Zhou said. In response, Tyler told him that he would come that day.”

Betty hung up with Burton and called Tyler’s office. She asked his secretary when he’d be returning. “Ten fifteen this evening on United from Beijing.”

As soon as she reported that to Craig, he told her, “Here’s what I think you should do. Undoubtedly Tyler’s regular driver will be picking him up. Substitute one of your men driving Tyler’s car. He can say that the regular driver got sick.”

Northern Virginia

B
efore going to Dulles Airport, Craig called Giuseppe and woke him in the middle of the night. “Our friend will be taking over a private residence on the edge of Ascona. Number 16 via Delta. Check with the Ascona municipal officials and see if they can get the layout of the house and send it to you electronically. Then forward it to me.”

“Will do. Are we still alive?”

“Absolutely. I’ll explain when I see you.”

Craig had an agency car take him to Dulles Airport and drop him by the side of the exit road leading out of the airport in the direction of Washington. He checked his watch. It was a couple of minutes before 10:00 p.m. This may not have been the smartest idea, Craig thought, as bolts of lightning pierced the night sky in the west and he heard rumbles of thunder. A powerful summer storm was zeroing in on Washington. Craig hoped to hell Tyler’s plane landed and his car reached Craig before he got drenched.