26th June
Robin and Paul had not expected to be back in Washington, D.C. so soon.
Hawker had flown them across America in the Learjet – all the way to Maryland. Hawker had said that they were close to the jet’s maximum range when they had eventually touched down at Anacostia-Bolling.
They were now sitting in a car on North Stafford Street, Arlington, watching a silver-grey Mercedes that was parked about fifty metres away.
Hidden surveillance equipment in their vehicle gave a clear image of Rodriguez in the Mercedes and relayed the music from his car radio.
Hawker remained at Anacostia-Bolling, planning to return to Nevada as soon as it became apparent that Rodriguez would no longer need to be followed by plane.
Robin’s mobile rang. He put it into loudspeaker mode.
‘Hello,’ Robin answered.
‘Hi, Robin. It’s Robert,’ Robert Faraday replied.
‘Have you got any more information on WAR from Groom Lake?’
‘Nothing new,’ Robert responded. ‘After we intercepted and blocked the message from Henderson, he was arrested and interrogated, but he’s not said anything useful so far.’
‘At least we’ve got him,’ Robin replied. ‘A week ago, we didn’t know the names of any WAR operatives; now we’ve identified two. We’ve got to go,’ added Robin quickly. ‘Another car’s just pulled up in front of Rodriguez.’
A man wearing a smart suit got out of the car that had just stopped. He walked to the front passenger door of the Mercedes, opened the door and got in beside Rodriguez.
‘Hello, Dean.’ Robin and Paul heard the voice of Rodriguez.
Rodriguez turned off the radio in the Mercedes.
‘Hello, Carl. What’s happening?’
‘They’re on to me. I don’t know how.’
‘Do they know about Henderson?’
‘I don’t know that either. I haven’t heard from him.’
‘That’s helpful,’ said Paul. ‘It implies that Henderson was the only other WAR infiltrator at Groom Lake.’
‘WAR has never been compromised before,’ Dean continued. ‘This could put us in a difficult position for Betelgeuse.’
‘We can’t afford to lose operatives,’ said Rodriguez. ‘There are, after all, just the seven of us.’
‘WAR is composed of just seven people!’ said Robin in amazement.
‘Here are the details of a safe house,’ said Dean to Rodriguez, passing to him a sheet of paper. ‘Stay there until we can make arrangements for a new identity for you.’
Dean got out of the car, returned to his own vehicle and drove away.
‘We’ll follow him,’ said Paul, pulling away from the curb. ‘We can track Rodriguez later via his transmitter.’
They followed Dean’s car along North Stafford Street and then right onto Custis Memorial Parkway. It was a good route for tailing a subject. Because so many cars would be driving all the way along route 66, no specific vehicle could easily be identified as following any other.
They continued across the Potomac and then onto Constitution Avenue NW. Dean took a left onto Seventeenth Street NW.
‘I wonder if he’s heading for …’ said Paul, pausing to check if his guess was correct. ‘Well, I’ll be damned, he is,’ Paul concluded as he watched Dean pass through the security gates to the White House.