There has to be a tree, Robert thought. The line came from a legend about a hunter who was relating an experience he had on safari. “This huge lion was racing toward me, and all my gun bearers had fled. I had no gun, and there was nowhere to hide. Not a bush or a tree in sight. And the beast was charging straight at me, coming closer and closer.” “How did you escape?” a listener asked. “I ran over to the nearest tree and climbed it.” “But you said there were no trees.” “You don’t understand. There has to be a tree!” And I have to find it, Robert thought.
He looked around the piazza. It was almost deserted at this hour. He decided it was time to have a talk with the man who had started him on this nightmare, General Hilliard. But he would have to be careful. Modern electronic phone tracing was almost instantaneous. Robert observed that the two telephone booths next to the one he was in were both empty. Perfect. Ignoring the private number General Hilliard had given him, he dialled the switchboard of NSA. When an operator answered, Robert said, “General Milliard’s office, please.”
A moment later, he heard a secretary’s voice. “General Hilliard’s office.”
Robert said, “Please hold for an overseas call.” He dropped the receiver and hurried into the next booth. He quickly redialled the number. A different secretary answered, “General Hilliard’s office.”
“Please hold for an overseas call,” Robert said. He let the receiver hang and walked into the third booth, and dialled. When another secretary answered, Robert said, “This is Commander Bellamy. J want to speak to General Hilliard.”
There was a gasp of surprise. “Just a moment, Commander.” The secretary buzzed the intercom. “General, Commander Bellamy is on line three.”
General Hilliard turned to Harrison Keller. “Bellamy is on line three. Start a trace, fast.”
Harrison Keller hurried over to a telephone on a side table, and dialled the Network Operations Centre, manned and monitored twenty-four hours a day. The senior officer on duty answered. “NOC. Adams.”
“How long will it take to do an emergency trace on an incoming call?” Keller whispered.
“Between one and two minutes.”
“Start it. General Hilliard’s office, line three. I’ll hang on.” He looked over at the General and nodded.
General Hilliard picked up the telephone.
“Commander … is that you?”
In the Operations Centre, Adams punched a number into a computer. “Here we go,” he said.
“I thought it was time you and I had a talk, General.”
“I’m glad you called, Commander. Why don’t you come in and we can discuss the situation? I’ll arrange a plane for you, and you can be here in …”
“No thanks. Too many accidents happen in airplanes, General.”
In the communications room, ESS, the electronic switching system, had been activated. The computer screen began lighting up. AX121-B … AX122-C … AX123-C …
“What’s happening?” Keller whispered into the phone.
“The Network Operations Centre in New Jersey is searching the Washington, DC trunks, sir. Hold on.”
The screen went blank. Then the words: OVERSEAS TRUNK LINE ONE flashed onto the screen.
“The call is coming from somewhere in Europe. We’re tracing the country …”
General Hilliard was saying, “Commander Bellamy, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I have a suggestion …”
Robert replaced the receiver.
General Hilliard looked over at Keller. “Did you get it?”
Harrison Keller talked into the phone to Adams. “What happened?”
“We lost him.”
Robert moved into the second booth and picked up the telephone.
General Hilliard’s secretary said, “Commander Bellamy is calling on line two.”
The two men looked at each other. General Hilliard pressed the button for line two.
“Commander?”
“Let me make a suggestion,” Robert said.
General Hilliard put his hand over the mouthpiece. “Get the trace working again.”
Harrison Keller picked up the telephone and said to Adams, “He’s on again. Line two. Move fast.”
“Right.”
“My suggestion, General, is that you call off all your men. And I mean now.”
“I think you misunderstand the situation, Commander. We can work this problem out if …”
“I’ll tell you how we can work it out. There’s a termination order out on me. I want you to cancel it.”
In the Network Operations Centre, the computer screen was flashing a new message: AX155-C Subtrunk A21 verified. Circuit 301 to Rome. Atlantic Trunk 1.
“We’ve got it,” Adams said into the phone. “We’ve traced the trunk to Rome.”
“Get me the number and location,” Keller told him.
In Rome, Robert was glancing at his watch. “You gave me an assignment. I carried it out.”
“You did very well, Commander. Here is what I …”
The line went dead.
The General turned to Keller. “He hung up, again.”
Keller spoke into the phone. “Did you get it?”
“Too quick, sir.”
Robert moved into the next booth and picked up the telephone.
Genera:! Hilliard’s secretary’s voice came over the intercom. “Commander Bellamy is on line one, General.”
The General snapped, “Find the bastard!” He picked up the telephone. “Commander?”
