“Is that yourself, General Schorcht? Sure and it is? What is a grand man like you wasting his time with the likes of us?”

The General had not forgotten their last meeting in the hospital room, for there was a mean glitter in his cold eyes. He turned back to Benicoff before he spoke.

“How secure is this room?”

“One hundred percent. It has all the built-in safeguards — plus it was swept by the security officer just before we came in.”

“You will now explain why you are withholding information from me — and why you refused to explain yourself before these people were present.”

“General Schorcht, every situation is not a confrontation,” Ben said with studied calm. “We are both on the same side — rather all of us are on the same side. I regret that we have had differences in the past, but let us leave that in the past. You have met Brian before. This is Major Kahn, who is assisting me in my investigation. She wrote the Expert Program that produced the new information, the first breakthrough that we have had in this case. The Major has top security clearance, as I’m sure you will know, since you would have had her investigated as soon as she was attached to the work here. She will outline in detail all of the new developments — as soon as you have told us what you know about the attempts on Brian’s life.”

“I have told you all you need to know. Major — your report.”

Shelly was sitting at attention, starting to speak, when Benicoff raised his hand.

“Just hold that report for a moment, Major. General, as I said before, this is not a confrontational situation. May I remind you of some highly relevant facts. The President himself has put me in charge of this investigation. I am sure that you don’t want me to consult him about this — a second time.”

General Schorcht remained silent — but his face was a mask of cold hatred.

“Good. I am glad that is clear. If you will check you will discover that Brian has also been cleared for all and any information relating to this case. He — and I — would like to know all of the facts that you have about the two recent attempts on his life. Would you please?” Ben sat back and smiled.

The General was a man of action and knew when he was outflanked and outfought. “Colonel — a full report on those aspects of Operation Touchstone as it relates to this investigation.”

“Yes, General.” The Colonel picked up the sheaf of papers that rested before him. “Operation Touchstone is a joint operation between the armed forces and the narcotic investigation divisions of a number of countries. It is the culmination of years of work. As you undoubtedly know, due to the reconstruction and development of the inner cities in the last decade, the lower and violent end of the international drug market has effectively been reduced if not eliminated. All of the smaller drug barons have been wiped out, which leaves only two of the largest international drug cartels, virtually governments of their own in their home countries. They have been investigated and penetrated by cooperating agents. We are in the final stages of finally eliminating them. However, completely incidental to this operation, we learned of an approach by a third party with great resources enlisting aid for what I believe is referred to as a ‘hit.’ ”

“The attack on me in the hospital?” Brian said.

“That is correct, sir. Our agent put himself at great risk to warn us. He himself did not know who contacted the organization, he was just aware of the hit contract. Since that time nothing more has been learned relating to this particular situation.”

“What do you know about the attack on us in Mexico?” Ben broke in.

“We are sure that the only connection between the two attacks was Mr. Delaney. Since the attackers were never found this is of course supposition. Also, the second attack is not within my jurisdiction…”

“I am in charge of that investigation,” the second officer said, a grizzled and menacing-looking Colonel. “My name is Davis, Military Intelligence. This concerns us greatly because the leak appears to have originated from inside a military base. A Navy establishment.” There was no doubt from his tone of voice how he felt about naval establishments.

“What has your progress been?” Benicoff asked.

“We have some leads that we are following up. However we have found no trace of any connection between the individuals who were in the first and second attacks.”

“Let me sum up then,” Ben said. “If you add up what the theft at Megalobe and the attacks on Brian have cost — it must be up in the millions. So we know that some very well heeled source hired the hopheads to kill Brian at the hospital. When they did not succeed there, this same source, we assume, tried again in Mexico. Is that correct, Colonel?”

“It conforms to our own estimates of the situation.”

“So in reality all we know is that someone with a lot of money has tried to kill Brian twice and has failed both times. Can we assume that this source is also the same one that committed the original attack and theft?”

He waited in silence until he obtained two reluctant and brisk military nods; the General was as stolid as ever.

“Then it would appear that we are all investigating the same people. Therefore I will keep you appraised in the future of our progress — firm in the knowledge that you will be doing the same. Is that agreed, General?”

“Agreed.” The word could not have been more reluctantly produced had it been squeezed from a rock. Ben smiled around the table.

“I am glad that we are all on the same side. Major Kahn, will you explain about your Expert Program and the results that it has produced?” Her report was succinct, clear and brief. When she was done they turned back to Benicoff.

“I took the investigation from there. The results so far are good. Firstly there was a flight at that time in that place. It was recorded by San Diego Miramar. The investigators found a cattle rancher who lives under the calculated flight path. He was disturbed by a low-flying chopper — he remembers it because it interfered with the end of a film he was watching on television at the time. We have a perfect time match from the program.”

“You have located the helicopter?” the General snapped.

“Once we put all the bits and pieces together that was the easiest part. It had to be the TS-69 that was working on the construction site. Any machine from outside the area would have to have filed a flight plan and there was no record of one. The copter rental company’s records reveal that on the afternoon of the evening in question there had been an electrical malfunction that temporarily grounded it. The machine did not return to Brown Field where it was based, but remained at the site in Guatay. The following morning mechanics were flown there and the fault, a minor electrical one, was repaired. So minor, I must add, that the pilot himself could have repaired it. A loose connection on one of the instruments.”

“Was the machine flown that night?” the General asked.

“According to the records — no,” Ben said. “That is the interesting part. Flight records are kept from the pilot’s logbook since, unlike an automobile, there is no odometer on an aircraft, nothing to indicate how many miles the thing has flown. But every engine has an hour meter that records how many hours it has been on. And here we did find a discrepancy. The pilot reported no flight that night, that the machine was on the ground and never flew until the next day. That does not match the engine’s records. So now we come to the interesting part. The FBI were into the company’s records as soon as I reported this possibility to them. They had the pilot in custody within two hours — and this is a recording of an interview I had with him just before I came here.”

There was absolute silence as Ben slipped the cassette into the built-in player in the desk. The screen slid down into position on the far wall and the room lights dimmed as he turned it on. The camera had been located behind his head, which could be seen in silhouette. Harsh lights revealed every detail of expression on the face of the man he was talking to.