The alarm sounded as the Beechcraft got close to Atlanta. With there being less than two hours left, Harry liked taking the controls to get beyond Atlanta’s air space. He made sure he was still at eight thousand feet and he dropped his air speed to 280mph. Harry checked his gauges, looked off to port and to starboard before flying toward the horizon.
Passing to the west of the city, Harry set his heading directly south. This would take him out over the Gulf of Mexico. Once he flew far enough south, he’d turn directly east to approach the house from the Gulf side.
Once Atlanta was well behind him, he did one more instrument check, pushed the throttle to 320mph, and set the automatic pilot. He set his alarm system for one hour. He calculated he’d be reaching the Gulf of Mexico in less than an hour and he’d want to be alert to make the turn east once he was far enough south.
His mind was immediately replaying where his thoughts took him before reaching Atlanta. It was a remarkable story and Harry found himself going back to where he left off in his Capitol Hill office.
Ivan proved to be remarkably resilient after surviving an ordeal Harry wasn’t sure he’d survive. Ivan left the cove a naive kid. The man sitting before him had a certain amount of self-assurance after he was a guest of the DOD in California for two months. Harry wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find out. He’d know it when Ivan said it, but for the time being, Harry listened.
“Where’d you go when you first left the cove?” Harry asked.
“I kicked around the West Coast inside the anti-war movement for two years. It brought me here, to DC, twice, and it carried me to California after that. People in the movement sent me to Berkeley. There were some serious dudes in Berkeley. I was there for part of 72 into 73. Word spead, I wanted to go get my brother,” Ivan said. “I don’t know what I expected to happen. I figured, the more people I told, the better shot I had at getting somewhere. I was near campus one day and one of the guys I knew handed me a sheet of paper. On it was written directions into San Francisco where I was to meet a guy in a park,” Ivan said.
“‘You want to go get your brother?’ he asked, nodded at the paper. ‘That cat can get you where you want to go.’”
“I met the guy at the time specified. He’s in a military uniform. He’s a captain. An eyeglass case blocked me from seeing his name. He sits down without looking at me and begins eating his lunch. He questions me about what I want. I gave him the information on Boris going missing on a battlefield in Vietnam,” Ivan said.
“‘Come here the same time next Friday. We won’t speak. I’ll sit down on the bench and place an envelope between us. After a minute, I’ll walk away. In that envelope will be what you need to get you to where you want to go.’”
“Next week he leaves the envelope for me. I’ve got maps, reports on the battle, statements from my brother’s squad members, and an official report on the battle from the Pentagon,” Ivan said.
“In the package is a note telling me to go to Fresno to Cambodian Air Freight Company. I’d be hired by the head guy. I’d be taught local languages from the area I was going into. The people at the air freight company were all Cambodian and Thai.”
“You were going to Vietnam, weren’t you?”
“Vietnam was a war zone. You couldn’t fly into Vietnam.”
“How long did this Fresno thing go on?” Harry asked.
“I was there six months. I can talk well enough to get by. I understand the languages better than I speak them. One day I am told to see the boss. He gives me another envelope. I have all the identification I need to get into Cambodia. I’m told the following day one of the flight crew will become ill. I’ll be told to take his place. The papers will make it all nice and legal. I’m on my way,” Ivan said.
“It’s a freight load to Guam. They refuel in Guam and fly on to Phenom Penh. Two days after we leave California, I’m walking around at the Cambodian Air Freight Company in Cambodia. No one gives me a second look. I’ve shown no one the I.D. I was given.”
“How’d you feel about all that?” Harry asked.
“I didn’t think about it. I was excited. I was on my way to finding my brother. Look, I admit I was drinking more than I should. I smoked some weed. My brain may not have been functioning in tiptop shape. I thought I was getting where I wanted to go. I was in Cambodia in the early months of 1974. It was progress.”
“After five years, if my calculations are correct, you think you’re making progress? Didn’t you think for a second, hey this is a bit too good to be true? Didn’t it seem like you went from California to Cambodia in record time?” Harry asked.
“Once or twice in Fresno I had trouble understanding what it was I was doing. One of my more sober moments. I thought I was where I wanted to be.”
“I’m going to run a check on Cambodian Air Freight. I can guarantee you that I’m going to find out it’s a front for the Company moving men and material into Southeast Asia. You were set up, Ivan.”
Ivan seemed to chew on that for a minute or two.
“How do you figure? I was out there for years before I was able to get anywhere near Southeast Asia, Senator.”
“Spooks, spies, are aware of who is around them. What you call listening is what a spy does. Don’t doubt for a minute that you were spying for Uncle Sam. They sent you places where the bad guys hung out, drank, and talked shop.”
Ivan needed a minute to give that some thought.
“Can I get something to drink?”
“As I recall, you aren’t a bourbon and branch man.”
“No, I gave up drinking. Too many hangovers. Too many mornings I didn’t remember the night before. I didn’t remember an hour before. A root beer would taste nice right now,”
Harry pressed the intercom and ordered the root beer.
“Why did they play ball with me? I mean I was there on a crazy mission. Why did they let me sign on the dotted line and let me go? I’d have signed again if they’d told me I was going back into the tiger cage if I didn’t sign.”
“You had a get out of jail free card. They knew I knew who had you. I spoke to the director at Langley. I wasn’t thrilled by it but I knew where to find you. They all but verified it. I worried a bit over that. I’ve heard stories about what happens to people who cross them. A congressman could have an accident,” Harry said. “In DC I’m in the news a lot. Clay makes the news here a couple of times a year. We take politicians to task and enough people support what we are doing that we’ve become bulletproof. I think they gave you what you were after and sent you home to make sure I didn’t ask for an investigation over where one of my constituents went,” Harry said.
“They wouldn’t help a senator have an accident?” Ivan asked.
“Oh, I think anyone, including the president could have an accident if they threatened the health and welfare of the Company. In my case, it was easier for him to listen to me, check what I wanted to be checked, and go merrily on his way with no waves created.”
“Thank you, Senator. If your version is the true version, I may owe you my life,” Ivan said. “I was lucky I had that card.”
“Ivan, if you weren’t directly connected to Clayton, when that idiot from over there dialed my number I would have hung up the phone and never given it a second thought. But I sensed the call was about you. Most of the people who I gave that card to don’t get far from the cove. You are the exception, and I’ve got to tell you, for such a smart kid, it was a damn dumb thing to do.”
“There was a lot of alcohol involved,” Ivan said. “I get a thing in my mind, and, well, I did what I did. I couldn’t think of anything else.”
“Let the people in charge take care of it,” Harry said.
“That never crossed my mind. It was my brother. I had an incentive to go get him. The people in charge, not so much,” Ivan said. “I did find him and bring him home.”
“There is that,” Harry said. “That part of the world is as treacherous as any. You’re not only lucky to be alive but when you end up getting involved with spooks and their assets, they have ways of keeping you on the job. They are reluctant to let go of a good asset. I think you are one lucky young man.”
“The best thing that ever happened to me was meeting Clay. When you come down to it, he helped get me out of the mess I was in, because he works for you, and you have clout.”
“I don’t think he necessarily feels the same way about you, Mr. Aleksa,” Harry pointed out.
“I know. I’ll find a way to win him back, Senator. I’ve got that idea in my mind and I don’t drink anymore.”
“You left him with a pain it’s not easy to forget. He recovered and he’s become a damn good man, a good father, and a good friend,” Harry said. “Keep that in mind once you’re back in the cove. I shouldn’t like you upsetting his applecart yet again.”
“No, Sir,” Ivan said. “I won’t do that.”
“You’re my constituent. I do help my constituents when I can. I must admit, this is as bizarre a problem as I’ve encountered. What happened next? How’d you get over there?” Ivan wanted to get home and see Clay. He wanted to get his life back, and he needed Clay to be in it. He owed Harry any time it took to satisfy his senatorial curiosity, and he waited for the next question.
“OK,” Harry said, wanting more than anything to make a drink. “You finally got your wish and were over there. What happened then? Cut to the chase, Ivan.”
“I got on the plane that will end up in Phnom Penh. No one paid any attention to me. I get to Cambodia and I’m expected to go to work for Cambodian Air Freight at their terminal. A guy shows me what to do. He gives me a key to a room behind the terminal where I can sleep.”
“A few weeks in, I met a guy in one of the bars. Just walks over to me and says he’s a guide looking for work. It seemed peculiar at the time but I’m new in town. I tell him I want to go to Vietnam. He smiles and says I don’t want to go to Vietnam. I assure him I do. He says he’ll take me to where I want to go, but it will cost me.”
“He spoke English?” Harry asked.
“Mixture,” Ivan said. “Cambodian, French, and some English. I speak enough of the same languages to be understood.”
“Go on,” Harry said, leaning back in his chair.
“I had the maps and the points I needed to know to get to the battlefield. I gave him directions and we crossed into Vietnam from Cambodia. The map says it’s six kilometers to the battlefield. Took us a little over an hour to walk it. The landmarks hadn’t changed.”
“I didn’t show the guide the maps. I don’t know if he could read a map. Once I’m at the place where Boris was wounded, I’m reading the descriptions his squad members gave about where Boris was wounded and they couldn’t go get him because of the heavy VC fire.
“As we’re trying to find the spot they said Boris fell, a Vietnamese man, maybe thirty, came over to ask what we were doing there. He’s not hostile, more curious. I tell him and he gets brusque with us. When he finds out what I’m doing.”
“He spoke English?” Harry asked.
“Mixture. What I didn’t understand the guide interpreted for me. This guy was at the battle where Boris was wounded. He lives nearby. He says that they fought for over an hour. The Americans fell back, and the VC drifts back into the jungle. They didn’t pursue them. He was adamant when he said that they took no prisoners and they took no American wounded off the battlefield.”
“This guy’s description of the battle matches up with that of the men in Boris’ squad. They found evidence that Boris crawled to the jungle a dozen meters away. His buddies were convinced he reached a trail inside the jungle and he got up and followed it. His buddies asked if they could go after Boris, but they were being relieved by another company, and those guys would take care of it.”
“So Boris’ wound wasn’t bad enough to keep him from walking away?” Harry asked.
“I want to follow the trail but without provisions, the guide says no. We’ve got to go back, get properly supplied, and then follow the trail to wherever it takes us. I want to go on that day, but the guide makes sense, and he’s going to come back with me, although I know the way now. I could find the battlefield again by myself, but my guide speaks the language and I didn’t want to come back alone.
“We got back packs and food. Some gear for rain, because rainy season was approaching and after I tell my boss what I’m doing, he pays me and waves goodbye.”
“Your boss knew where you were going?” Harry asked.
“Yeah, I told him. Showed him on a map, but it didn’t matter. As we crossed the border three days later, they were waiting for me. They took the guide into custody too. We were illegally entering a war zone. They were Americans. They spoke English. Didn’t look at my I.D. for more than a second. I knew someone tipped them off. My bet was on the guide but I trusted my boss. He’d been OK to me. Could have been him.”
“You were set up,” Harry said, sounding convinced. “It wasn’t your guide or your boss. They were part of it but you broadcast your intentions. If you were determined to go over there, some industrious types figured out a way to make it work out well for them.”
“I was set up? I don’t get it,” Ivan said.
“Your guide, the guy in the park, the man who sent you to him. I’d bet they all have a connection to the Company. If I run a check on that Cambodian Air Freight company, it’s going to be a front for the Company. It’s how they get their people in and out of Asia.”
“I thought they couldn’t operate inside the U.S.,” Ivan said.
“They aren’t supposed to do a lot of things. How do you think they get where they want to go? They don’t fly United.”
“They had you and they called me. Who had your wallet, once those Americans took charge of you? I had the call traced. It left a trail a mile wide and ten thousand miles long. Someone found my card in your wallet and they dialed the number on the back.”
“The entire deal was a setup? Why?”
“You were asking to get set up, Ivan. You’re trying to go find a US serviceman. Come on, Ivan, you aren’t that dumb,” Harry said.
“I guess I am. I jumped at the chance to get over there. I didn’t give it that much thought.”
“I want to know what happened to you after they called me,” Harry said. “I don’t have a date. After they took you prisoner.”
“Which one of them called you?” Ivan asked.
“Who had your wallet? They called. I answered. They hung up. I don’t know who it was.”
“They took everything off me. They were interested in the maps and official documents. They kept asking where I got them. They had me in the jungle. I was put into what they called a ‘tiger cage.’ I got a bowl of rice with things crawling in it once a day, whether or not I was hungry. A guy who came out once a day would ask me, ‘Where’d you get those defense department documents?’ I told him the story just like I told you. He walked away and the next day he’d come back to ask again. I told him the story again. He walks away. I don’t know how long I was in that cage. I froze at night and roasted during the day. One day they come and open the cage and let me out. I couldn’t straighten up and I couldn’t sit down. I could hardly walk.”
“They took me to a shower and gave me clean clothes to put on. I was taken into a room with three men waiting for me. They ask me how I feel. I didn’t know what to say. I figure if they left me in that cage a few more days, I’d have been dead.”
“That’s probably how they had it figured,” Harry said. “This is when you were told what they wanted you to do for them?”
“No, they smile a lot and laugh at my answers. Then I’m brought this big juicy hamburger with all the trimmings and fries. I asked if I could have a root beer. They brought me a root beer.”
“They were being nice to you?” Harry asked. “It’s something like good cop, bad cop. These were the good cops.”
“That’s when they asked me about you,” Ivan said.
Harry leaned forward as though he didn’t want to miss a word.
“Tell me exactly what they said,” Harry said.
“‘Why do you have a congressman’s card in your wallet?’”
“‘He’s my neighbor. I live two houses up the beach from him. My best friend works for him. He gave me a card and said, “No one but me answers this phone. If you ever need help, call after 8 p.m.”’”
“What else did they say?”
“They laughed,” Ivan said. “Nervous-like.”
“They probably knew I put a trace on the call. They knew I knew who had you and where the call originated.”
“How could they possibly know who had me by a hang up call?”
“I called Langley. Not the smartest move I ever made, but I was a little shocked and a little pissed. I knew where I was told you were going, after you were gone from the cove. Years later I got that cryptic phone call. It didn’t take me long to connect it to you.”
“You thought it was me? I wouldn’t call and hang up. I forgot I had that card to tell you the truth,” Ivan said.
“Son, that was your get out of jail free card. It may have saved your bacon, Mr. Aleksa. I talked to the director last month, when I got a message that you were in the country with your brother and you’re trying to get him the proper documents to make him legal.”
“You talked to the director twice on my behalf?” Ivan asked.
“No, I spoke to him on my behalf. You just happened to be the topic of the conversation. I don’t mind telling you, the first time we spoke I wasn’t sure I’d walk away from the meeting.”
“Why did you want to talk to him again?” Ivan asked.
“To gloat. I was a congressman first time around. I’m a senator now and I wanted him to know I knew the score. I didn’t need to tell him anything. He knew why I called and he was more than happy to reassure me you’d done what you signed on to do and the Company no longer had need for your services.”
“Damn,” Ivan said. “You have that kind of pull?”
“In DC I’m the topic of conversation. Clay, too, for that matter, but everyone knows me and I’m not likely to have any accidents. When I call for someone to meet with me, they meet with me. You might say that when you came home, it gave me an opportunity to even the score from my first go round with the director. I wanted him to look over his shoulder for a while.”
“He knew what you were doing?” Ivan asked.
“He did. He’s a player. He knows the score. Some pissant congressman he can brush off his sleeve. Not so with a senator.”
“I had no idea you had that kind of power, Senator.”
“It’s good for the DC crowd. Nothing applies once I’m home. This is all political all the time. The game we play here isn’t played the same way anywhere else in the world.”
Ivan knew little or nothing about politics but hearing he was part of a game he didn’t even knew existed was sobering.
“You got out of the cage. They asked you about me. What happened next?”
“Max, the head honcho asks me, ‘How would you like to do some work for us?’”
“‘Do I get a choice?’ I ask him.’”
“‘Sure. We aren’t the enemy, Ivan. You can be our friend and work with us, or, well, there’s that empty tiger cage going to waste out back,’ he says. ‘Your choice. No pressure here.’”
“‘What do you want me to do?’ I ask him.”
“‘First, before I can tell you what you’ll be doing, I need you to sign this contract.’ He puts a contract in front of me. It was four or five pages long. I’m too unfocused to read it. I asked where to sign. He puts his finger there and I signed. I wouldn’t have lived another week in that tiger cage. I was already hallucinating half the time. I’d have confessed to the Kennedy assassination if they asked me to,” Ivan said.
“What did they have you doing?” Harry asked.
“Listening. They took me to places where I bought drinks, drank tea, and merely hung around listening for anything suspicious. I knew Cambodian, Thai, some French, and some Vietnamese. I understood better than I spoke, but listening was the job.”
“From 1974, if I’ve added right, until this year, 1979, you’ve been doing the same thing?” Harry asked. “How has that changed? Did they handle you differently at any time? Did your treatment change is what I’m asking?” Harry asked.
“Yes, there was a noticeable change a couple of years ago. With the Khmer Rouge taking over, they put two handlers with me,” Ivan said. “Wherever I went, they went with me. Not so much with me as they stayed near me. I had a handler before. I rarely saw him, he showed up when I was somewhere that people wouldn’t be curious about the meeting. The two handlers were more visible. They never approached me in a place where I was sent to listen but they were close if anything went down they didn’t like,” Ivan said. “I figure they were my bodyguards. I’d become pretty good at what I did. My value increased as time went on. I was treated like I mattered to them.”
“Valuable assets are worth their weight in gold,” Harry said. “Did anything go down that had them taking you out of a place?”
“No, I’m kind of nondescript, you know. I fit in anywhere I go. I’m Lithuanian on my father’s side and my looks allow me to dress a certain way which makes me look at home in the places I went. I acted like I belonged there and I stayed out of trouble. I don’t know if any of the friendlier people I met were part of the team watching me.”
“What did they want you to listen for?” Harry asked.
“People talking about a thing going down in or around where we were. Lots of international intrigue in Phnom Penh. I spent time at the Cambodian Air Freight company. It was there I was handed envelopes with currency. I always had enough money to do what I needed to do, but never so much it made anyone suspicious. The freight company was my cover. I was told to run errands from time to time. In case someone was interested in who I was.” Ivan said.
“When I ate, I ate where they told me. When I drank, I drank where they told me to drink. I was supposed to be listening, no matter where I was.”
“In my opinion, you were set up from the time you got to Berkeley, they saw you coming. You were determined enough to get over there, they decided to make use of you.”
“One handler told me, ‘You were going to get over here, and now that you’re here, you get to do something for your country.’ Why do we do that? It’s just another way of causing trouble. I wasn’t sure why I was listening. Most of what I heard was the typical crap you might hear in any bar, but they’d ask me over and over about something one particular a guy said. I didn’t get it. I was good at it. I didn’t mind doing it after a while. I’d rather have been in Philadelphia. I’d get angry about being forced to do it, and then, I’d remember that empty tiger cage. That was enough to keep me doing what they said.”
“I can’t tell you how things got this way, Ivan. They are this way. I suppose one step at a time we get deeper into the weeds. We’re suspicious of everyone and everything. We spy on our enemies. We spy on our friends. I suppose we want to know everything about everyone, and then, will we be safe? I doubt it,” Harry said. “It’s a tangled web with no beginning and no end. We do it because we’ve always done it, since I’ve been around,” Harry said.
“You see yourself as nondescript and you can easily fit in anywhere. These people are trained to spot people who can be valuable to them. Did you ever hear something that got your handlers excited, Ivan?”
“A few times. I’d tell them what I heard as soon as I left a place. My handlers judged what meant something and what didn’t. I suppose they told other people what I told them. A few times we all made a trip to the jungle hideaway and two or three guys I’d never seen before asked me questions and we went over what I heard. I mean we went over and over it. They wanted to know how they said what I heard them say. They wanted to know what I thought. I didn’t think. That’s how I did what I did. I did it. I didn’t think about it. Nothing I heard made me think anything. I listened and when I was asked, I told them what I heard.”
“You sound like you were part of the program by that time,” Harry said as he listened to the strange tale.
“I did what I signed on to do. A few times I heard something a little more detailed. You’d be surprised how liquor loosens the tongue muscle. It was in the next to last year, after I had the two handlers with me, I was sent back to the headquarters to be trained to use a gun. They had a rig that hid it between my shoulder blades. That surprised me. I knew they trusted me by then. When I went back to work, I bought a jacket that fit me nicely and it hid any sign of the gun being strapped to my back.”
“What did they say about the gun?”
“It was about the Khmer Rouge. They were everywhere and by that time people were dying and disappearing at an alarming rate. No one was safe and they told me, ‘You can’t shoot your way out of trouble, if they decide to take you prisoner. The gun buys you enough time for us to get you out. It’s one more layer of protection to keep you from falling into the wrong hands.’”
“Did you feel comfortable packing a gun?”
“Yeah, they taught me well. They were thorough people. They weren’t putting me out there to shoot my handlers. I could tell by how they taught me to use it, they weren’t positive it was the smartest idea they’d come up with,” Ivan said.
“How many times did you use it?” Harry asked.
“Never had to draw the gun. A few times someone patted my back and I had to watch his eyes to make sure he didn’t feel the gun,” Ivan said. “Luckily the Cambodians aren’t big back slappers.”
“Boris? What happened there? After all that time, how is it, when you came back into the country, you had your brother and his family with you? If I’ve ever been shocked about anything, that shocked me. After all you went through, how the hell did you manage to end up with your brother?”