Whistleblower and Never Say Die (9 page)

They emerged into what appeared to be a large sitting
room. Slivers of light shimmered through worn curtains. In the suffocating darkness hulked vaguely discernible furniture.

“Sit, sit,” ordered Gerard. Guy and Willy moved toward a couch, but Gerard snapped, “Not
there!
Can’t you see that’s a genuine Queen Anne?” He pointed at a pair of massive rosewood chairs. “Sit there.” He settled into a brocade armchair by the window. With his arms crossed and his knobby knees jutting out at them, he looked like a disagreeable pile of bones. “So what does Toby want from me now?” he demanded.

“He said you could pass us some information.”

Gerard snorted. “I am not in the business.”

“You used to be.”

“No longer. The stakes are too high.”

Willy glanced thoughtfully around the room, noting in the shadows the soft gleam of ivory, the luster of fine old china. She suddenly realized they were surrounded by a treasure trove of antiques. Even the house was an antique, one of Saigon’s lovely old French colonials, laced with climbing vines. By law it belonged to the state. She wondered what the Frenchman had done to keep such a home.

“It has been years since I had any business with the Company,” said Gerard. “I know nothing that could possibly help you now.”

“Maybe you do,” said Guy. “We’re here about an old matter. From the war.”

Gerard laughed. “These people are perpetually at war! Which enemy? The Chinese? The French? The Khmer Rouge?”

“You know which war,” Guy said.

Gerard sat back.
“That
war is over.”

“Not for some of us,” said Willy.

The Frenchman turned to her. She felt him studying her, measuring her significance. She resented being appraised this way. Deliberately she returned his stare.

“What’s the girl got to do with it?” Gerard demanded.

“She’s here about her father. Missing in action since 1970.”

Gerard shrugged. “My business is imports. I know nothing about missing soldiers.”

“My father wasn’t a soldier,” said Willy. “He was a pilot for Air America.”

“Wild Bill Maitland,” Guy added.

The sudden silence in the room was thick enough to slice. After a long pause, Gerard said softly, “Air America.”

Willy nodded. “You remember him?”

The Frenchman’s knobby fingers began to tap the armrest. “I knew of them, the pilots. They carried goods for me on occasion. At a price.”

“Goods?”

“Pharmaceuticals,” said Guy.

Gerard slapped the armrest in irritation. “Come, Mr. Barnard, we both know what we’re talking about! Opium. I don’t deny it. There was a war going on, and there was money to be made. So I made it. Air America happened to provide the most reliable delivery service. The pilots never asked questions. They were good that way. I paid them what they were worth. In gold.”

Again there was a silence. It took all Willy’s courage to ask the next question. “And my father? Was he one of the pilots you paid in gold?”

Alain Gerard shrugged. “Would it surprise you?”

Somehow, it wouldn’t, but she tried to imagine what all those old family friends would say, the ones who’d thought her father a hero.

“He was one of the best,” said Gerard.

She looked up. “The best?” She felt like laughing. “At what? Running drugs?”

“Flying. It was his calling.”

“My father’s calling,” she said bitterly, “was to do whatever he wanted. With no thought for anyone else.”

“Still,” insisted Gerard, “he was one of the best.”

“The day his plane went down…” said Guy. “Was he carrying something of yours?”

The Frenchman didn’t answer. He fidgeted in his chair, then rose and went to the window, where he fussed prissily with the curtains.

“Gerard?” Guy prodded.

Gerard turned and looked at them. “Why are you here? What purpose do these questions serve?”

“I have to know what happened to him,” said Willy.

Gerard turned to the window and peered out through a slit in the curtains. “Go home, Miss Maitland. Before you learn things you don’t want to know.”

“What things?”

“Unpleasant things.”

“He was my father! I have a right—”

“A right?” Gerard laughed. “He was in a war zone! He knew the risks. He was just another man who did not come back alive.”

“I want to know why. I want to know what he was doing in Laos.”

“Since when does
anyone
know what they were really doing in Laos?” He moved around the room, covetously touching his precious treasures. “You cannot imagine the things that went on in those days. Our secret war. Laos was the country we didn’t talk about. But we were all there. Russians, Chinese, Americans, French. Friends and enemies, packed into the same filthy bars of Vientiane. Good soldiers, all of us, out to make a living.” He stopped and looked at Willy. “I still do not understand that war.”

“But you knew more than most,” said Guy. “You were working with Intelligence.”

“I saw only part of the picture.”

“Toby Wolff suggested you took part in the crash investigation.”

“I had little to do with it.”

“Then who was in charge?”

“An American colonel by the name of Kistner.”

Willy looked up in surprise.
“Joseph
Kistner?”

“Since promoted to general,” Guy noted softly.

Gerard nodded. “He called himself a military attaché.”

“Meaning he was really CIA.”

“Meaning any number of things. I was liaison for French Intelligence, and I was told only the minimum. That was the way the colonel worked, you see. For him, information was power. He shared very little of it.”

“What do you know about the crash?”

Gerard shrugged. “They called it ‘a routine loss.’ Hostile fire. A search was called at the insistence of the other pilots, but no survivors were found. After a day, Colonel Kistner put out the order to melt any wreckage. I don’t know if the order was ever executed.”

Willy shook her head. “Melt?”

“That’s jargon for destroy,” explained Guy. “They do it whenever a plane goes down during a classified mission. To get rid of the evidence.”

“But my father wasn’t flying a classified mission. It was a routine supply flight.”

“They were
all
listed as routine supply flights,” said Gerard.

“The cargo manifest listed aircraft parts,” said Guy. “Not a reason to melt the plane. What was really on that flight?”

Gerard didn’t answer.

“There was a passenger,” Willy said. “They were carrying a passenger.”

Gerard’s gaze snapped toward her. “Who told you this?”

“Luis Valdez, Dad’s cargo kicker. He bailed out as the plane went down.”

“You spoke to this man Valdez?”

“It was only a short phone call, right after he was released from the POW camp.”

“Then…he is still alive?”

She shook her head. “He shot himself the day after he got back to the States.”

Gerard began to pace around the room again, touching each piece of furniture. He reminded her of a greedy gnome fingering his treasures.

“Who was the passenger, Gerard?” asked Guy.

Gerard picked up a lacquer box, set it back down again.

“Military? Intelligence? What?”

Gerard stopped pacing. “He was a phantom, Mr. Barnard.”

“Meaning you don’t know his name?”

“Oh, he had many names, many faces. A rumor always
does. Some said he was a general. Or a prince. Or a drug lord.” Turning, he stared out the curtain slit, a shriveled silhouette against the glow of light. “Whoever he was, he represented a threat to someone in a high place.”

Someone in a high place.
Willy thought of the intrigue that must have swirled in Vientiane, 1970. She thought of Air America and Defense Intelligence and the CIA. Who among all those players would have felt threatened by this one unnamed Lao?

“Who do
you
think he was, Mr. Gerard?” she asked.

The silhouette at the window shrugged. “It makes no difference now. He’s dead. Everyone on that plane is dead.”

“Maybe not all of them. My father—”

“Your father has not been seen in twenty years. And if I were you, I would leave well enough alone.”

“But if he’s alive—”

“If he’s alive, he may not wish to be found.” Gerard turned and looked at her, his expression hidden against the backglow of the window. “A man with a price on his head has good reason to stay dead.”

S
he stared at him. “A price? I don’t understand.”

“You mean no one has told you about the bounty?”

“Bounty for what?”

“For the arrest of Friar Tuck.”

She fell instantly still. An image took shape in her mind: words typed on a file folder.
Operation Friar Tuck. Declassified.
She turned to Guy. “You know what he’s talking about, don’t you. Who’s Friar Tuck?”

Guy’s expression was unreadable, as if a mask had fallen over his face. “It’s nothing but a story.”

“But you had his file in your room.”

“It’s just a nickname for a renegade pilot. A legend—”

“Not just a legend,” insisted Gerard. “He was a real man, a traitor. Intelligence does not offer two-million-dollar bounties for mere legends.”

Willy’s gaze shot back to Guy. She wondered how he had the nerve—the gall—to meet her eyes.
You knew,
she thought.
You bastard. All the time, you knew.
Rage had tightened her throat almost beyond speech.

She barely managed to force out her next question, which
she directed at Alain Gerard. “You think this—this renegade pilot is my father?”

“Intelligence thought so.”

“Based on what evidence? That he could fly planes? The fact that he’s not here to defend himself?”

“Based on the timing, the circumstances. In July 1970, William Maitland vanished from the face of the earth. In August of the same year, we heard the first reports of a foreign pilot flying for the enemy. Running weapons and gold.”

“But there were hundreds of foreign pilots in Laos! Friar Tuck could have been a Frenchman, a Russian, a—”

“This much we did know—he was American.”

She raised her chin. “You’re saying my father was a traitor.”

“I am telling you this only because it’s something you should know. If he’s alive, this is the reason he may not want to be found. You think you are on some sort of rescue mission, Miss Maitland, but you may be sadly mistaken. Your father could go home to a jail cell.”

In the silence that followed, she turned her gaze to Guy. He still hadn’t said a word; that alone proved his guilt.
Who do you work for?
she wondered.
The CIA? The Ariel Group? Or your lying, miserable self?

She couldn’t stand the sight of him. Even being in the same room with him made her recoil in disgust.

She rose. “Thank you, Mr. Gerard. You’ve told me things I needed to hear. Things I didn’t expect.”

“Then you agree it’s best you drop the matter?”

“I don’t agree. You think my father’s a traitor. Obviously you’re not the only one who thinks so. But you’re all wrong.”

“And how will you prove it?” Gerard snorted. “Tell me, Miss Maitland, how will you perform this grand miracle after twenty years?”

She didn’t have an answer. The truth was, she didn’t know what her next move would be. All she knew was that she would have to do it alone.

Her spine was ramrod straight as she followed Gerard back down the hall. The whole time, she was intensely aware of Guy moving right behind her.
I knew I couldn’t trust him,
she thought.
From the very beginning I knew it.

No one said a word until they reached the front door. There Gerard paused. Quietly he said, “Mr. Barnard? You will relay a message to Toby Wolff?”

Guy nodded. “Certainly. What’s the message?”

“Tell him he has just called in his last chip.” Gerard opened the front door. Outside, the sunshine was blinding. “There will be no more from me.”

She made it scarcely five steps before her rage burst through.

“You lied to me. You scum, you were
using
me!”

The look on his face was the only answer Willy needed. It was written there clearly; the acknowledgment, the guilt.

“You knew about Friar Tuck. About the bounty. You weren’t after just any ‘live one,’ were you? You were after a particular man—my father!”

Guy gave a shrug as though, now that the truth was out, it hardly mattered.

“How was this ‘deal’ with me supposed to work?” she pressed on. “Tell me, I’m curious. Were you going to turn him in the instant we found him—and my part of the deal
be damned? Or were you going to humor me awhile, give me a chance to get my father home, let him step off the plane and onto American soil before you had him arrested? What was the plan, Guy? What was it?”

“There was no plan.”

“Come on. A man like you always has a plan.”

He looked tired. Defeated. “There was no plan.”

She stared straight up at him, her fists clenching, unclenching. “I bet you had plans for that two million dollars. I bet you knew exactly how you were going to spend it. Every penny. And all you had to do was put my father away. You bastard.” She should have slugged him right then and there. Instead, she walked away.

“Sure, I could use two million bucks!” he yelled. “I could use a lot of things! But I didn’t want to use
you!”

She kept walking. It took him only a few quick strides to catch up to her.

“Willy. Dammit, will you listen?”

“To what? More of your lies?”

“No. The truth.”

“The truth?” She laughed. “Since when have you bothered with the truth?”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. “Since right now.”

“Let me go.”

“Not until you hear me out.”

“Why should I believe anything you say?”

“Look, I admit it. I knew about Friar Tuck. About the reward. And—”

“And you knew my father was on their list.”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“I would have. I was going to.”

“It was all worked out from the beginning, wasn’t it? Use me to track down my father.”

“I thought about it. At first.”

“Oh, you’re low, Guy. You’re really scraping bottom. Does money mean so much to you?”

“I wasn’t doing it for the money. I didn’t have a choice. They backed me into it.”

“Who?”

“The Ariel Group. I told you—two weeks ago they showed up in my office. They knew I was headed back to Nam. What I didn’t tell you was the real reason they wanted me to work for them. They weren’t tracking MIAs. They were tracking an old war criminal.”

“Friar Tuck.”

He nodded. “I told them I wasn’t interested. They offered me money. A lot of it. I got a little interested. Then they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Ah,” she said with disdain.

“Not money…” he protested.

“Then what’s the payoff?”

He ran his hand through his hair and let out a tired breath. “Silence.”

She frowned, not understanding. He didn’t say a thing, but she could see in his eyes some deep, dark agony. “Then that’s it,” she finally whispered. “Blackmail. What do they have on you, Guy? What are you hiding?”

“It’s not—” he swallowed “—something I can talk about.”

“I see. It must be pretty damn shocking. Which is no big
surprise, I guess. But it still doesn’t justify what you tried to do to me.” She turned and walked away in disgust.

The road shimmered in the midmorning heat. Guy was right on her heels, like a stray dog that refused to be left behind. And he wasn’t the only stray following her. The slap of bare feet announced the reappearance of Oliver, who skipped along beside her, chirping, “You want cyclo ride? It is very hot day! A thousand dong—I get you ride!”

She heard the squeak of wheels, the wheeze of an out-of-breath driver. Now Oliver’s uncles had joined the procession.

“Go away,” she said. “I don’t want a ride.”

“Sun very hot, very strong today. Maybe you faint. Once I see Russian lady faint.” Oliver shook his head at the memory. “It was very bad sight.”

“Go
away!”

Undaunted, Oliver turned to Guy. “How about you, Daddy?”

Guy slapped a few bills into Oliver’s grubby hand. “There’s a thousand. Now scram.”

Oliver vanished. Unfortunately, Guy wasn’t so easily brushed off. He followed Willy into the town marketplace, past stands piled high with melons and mangoes, past counters where freshly butchered meat gathered flies.

“I was going to tell you about your father,” Guy said. “I just wasn’t sure how you’d take it.”

“I’m not afraid of the truth.”

“Sure you are! You’re trying to protect him. That’s why you keep ignoring the evidence.”

“He wasn’t a traitor!”

“You still love him, don’t you?”

She turned sharply and walked away. Guy was right beside her. “What’s wrong?” he said. “Did I hit a nerve?”

“Why should I care about him? He walked out on us.”

“And you still feel guilty about it.”

“Guilty?” She stopped. “Me?”

“That’s right. Somewhere in that little-girl head of yours, you still blame yourself for his leaving. Maybe you had a fight, the way kids and dads always do, and you said something you shouldn’t have. But before you had the chance to make up, he took off. And his plane went down. And here you are, twenty years later, still trying to make it up to him.”

“Practicing psychiatry without a license now?”

“It doesn’t take a shrink to know what goes on in a kid’s head. I was fourteen when
my
old man walked out. I never got over being abandoned, either. Now I worry about my own kid. And it hurts.”

She stared at him, astonished. “You have a child?”

“In a manner of speaking.” He looked down. “The boy’s mother and I, we weren’t married. It’s not something I’m particularly proud of.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

You walked out on them,
she thought.
Your father left you. You left your son. The world never changes.

“He wasn’t a traitor,” she insisted, returning to the matter at hand. “He was a lot of things—irresponsible, careless, insensitive. But he wouldn’t turn against his own country.”

“But he’s on that list of suspects. If he’s not Friar Tuck himself, he’s probably connected somehow. And it’s got to be a dangerous link. That’s why someone’s trying to stop you. That’s why you’re hitting brick walls wherever you
turn. That’s why, with every step you take, you’re being followed.”

“What!” In reflex, she turned to scan the crowd.

“Don’t be so obvious.” Guy grabbed her arm and dragged her to a pharmacy window. “Man at two o’clock,” he murmured, nodding at a reflection in the glass. “Blue shirt, black trousers.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I just don’t know who he’s working for.”

“He looks Vietnamese.”

“But he could be working for the Russians. Or the Chinese. They both have a stake in this country.”

Even as she stared at the reflection, the man in the blue shirt melted into the crowd. She knew he was still lingering nearby; she could feel his gaze on her back.

“What do I do, Guy?” she whispered. “How do I get rid of him?”

“You can’t. Just keep in mind he’s there. That you’re probably under constant surveillance. In fact, we seem to be under the surveillance of a whole damn army.” At least a dozen faces were now reflected there, all of them crowded close and peering curiously at the two foreigners. In the back, a familiar figure kept bouncing up and down, waving at them in the glass.

“Hello, Daddy!” came a yell.

Guy sighed. “We can’t even get rid of
him.”

Willy stared hard at Guy’s reflection. And she thought,
But I can get rid of you.

Major Nathan Donnell of the Casualty Resolution team had shocking red hair, a booming voice and a cigar that
stank to high heaven. Guy didn’t know which was worse—the stench of that cigar or the odor of decay emanating from the four skeletons on the table. Maybe that’s why Nate smoked those rotten cigars; they masked the smell of death.

The skeletons, each labeled with an ID number, were laid out on separate tarps. Also on the table were four plastic bags containing the personal effects and various other items found with the skeletons. After twenty or more years in this climate, not much remained of these bodies except dirt-encrusted bones and teeth. At least that much was left; sometimes fragments were all they had to work with.

Nate was reading aloud from the accompanying reports. In that grim setting, his resonant voice sounded somehow obscene, echoing off the walls of the Quonset hut. “Number 784-A, found in jungle, twelve klicks west of Camp Hawthorne. Army dog tag nearby—name, Elmore Stukey, Pfc.”

“The tag was lying nearby?” Guy asked. “Not around the neck?”

Nate glanced at the Vietnamese liaison officer, who was standing off to the side. “Is that correct? It wasn’t around the neck?”