"Good afternoon Ms. Smithlin, gentlemen," Secretary of Defense Mulholland said as he strolled into the room. A marine closed the door behind him. The group of five nodded courteously and mumbled "Mister Secretary." He walked around to the far side of the oblong table, pulled out an armchair and sat down.
"I know you want to get started right away. In case you haven't been told yet, the newcomer next to Mr. Bufkin is Jane Smithlin, Americas analyst. She reports to Mark, who is filling in today for the Director of Operations. In settings like this, I'd prefer that we address each other informally. Mully is fine with me, but in here only. I know some of you are upset, but you have to understand that I can't pull the President for a meeting every time one of you feels our national security is in danger. Lindsey, you could have provided more information, when I requested it-not at your own convenience. Now what the hell is going on down there?"
"They lost an A-team in Marinagua," Bufkin said.
"What?" Chuck Tyler said, leaning forward. "Only the President or Congress can authorize troops on foreign soil."
"Al, start talking," Secretary Mulholland said, turning to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"If it starts to smell like Iran-Contra, I'm leaving. The President doesn't need this," Chuck said. He was the only senior member in the National Security Council that came out of that scandal unscathed, even though he was its primary author. It earned him a job with the current administration as the President's personal spook.
"Mr. Secretary," General Lindsey Warner said. He looked at General Al Downing, who nodded his consent. "It wasn't an A-team. All we did is what we've done for years in situations like this. We ETS members out of the service. They are legitimate civilians when they go in."
"When and where?"
"Five days ago, just across the frontier, about twenty kilometers north of a town called Chinadega. We've recovered all of the bodies, except one. A Special Forces Sergeant First Class by the name of Fernando Greathouse. The rebels rescued him in a daring raid. He got a message out."
"Which one of our recon planes picked up," Bufkin said.
"Now that he's there, what do the rebels know?"
"Nothing," Bufkin said, interrupting Warner. "Greathouse was a good man. He died from his wounds this morning."
"I should have been told. This is inexcusable," Mulholland said, turning to Warner.
"If I had transmitted any information about this from Panamá, we wouldn't be having this discussion. The Cubans would know, the Russians would know, and the Japanese would know."
"We're talking about Central America. Where the hell do the goddam Japanese fit in?"
"They want the oil markets, but have no influence in Marinagua. Cuba does. Who was once an ally with Cuba? Russia. What is happening now? Agents from the Direccion General de Inteligencia roaming all over Lagrimosa and the interior."
"Stop. Back the hell up, general. This is ridiculous. Cuba has no more capability of taking over a government these days than Costa Rica does."
"May I say something?" Ms. Smithlin said. "Through our listening posts in Panamá, we have been monitoring an increase in Japanese activity. We know they've sent a delegation to Marinagua. We've been trying to monitor their situation. But with the war, and our own lack of involvement over the last six months, especially since the massacre at Gracias a Dios, getting a good weather report has been close to impossible."
"They won't even allow in one CNN reporter," Bufkin said.
"Go on," Secretary Mulholland said, waving his hand.
"Current oil production in the Lake Maracaibo basin in Venezuela is at one billion barrels annually. This is expected to double within the next five years. The U.S. is a major purchaser of this oil, after it is refined in the Netherlands. Of course, we also buy oil from Mexico and Canada and, although it isn't much right now, Marinagua. Our own petro-chemical analysis indicates that within three years, the oil fields in Marinagua will rival that of Venezuela. Our goal has been to handle our consumption, six billion barrels annually, from within this hemisphere. It's now realistic. At the same time, the Japanese have signed a major mineral rights deal that puts them very close to the Maracaibo basin. They have similar rights in other places as well, such as Panamá. We have reason to believe they're directly involved in talks with the Suarez government to help with the continued exploration, drilling and refining of Marinaguan oil. If these talks are successful, there is reason to believe they will be able to control and distribute the largest oil deposits in the Americas."
"In our own backyard? They know we'll never put up with this. We've influenced the region since before the Monroe Doctrine."
"Mully," Chuck said, "they've kicked us out of nearly every country down there. Soon, we won't even have a presence in Panamá."
"Cuban exports have dropped over eighty percent and they're in the middle of a faltering sugar market. Add to that the tens of thousands of refugees, the best and brightest that Cuba has to offer."
"It doesn't sound like a revolution to me, except maybe in Cuba."
"Mr. Secretary," Warner said, "we have tracked an unprecedented ninety DGI agents into Marinagua. I don't think President Suarez himself knows there are that many. They've been coming in by shrimp boats, which is their normal method. What really drew our attention was the traffic through the isthmus where they pick up their passports and cedulas. They've got complete freedom of movement anywhere from Panamá to Mexico."
"These aren't just any agents. They're veterans. Not one of them has less than ten years of training and field work," Smithlin said.
"Under orders from the First Vice President of the Council of Ministers," Bufkin added. "General Raul Castro Ruz himself."
"As a matter of policy, they were tracked. I used members from Seventh Special Forces Group. They followed several suspected DGI agents through the interior of Panamá to Costa Rica, up to Marinagua. There they stopped."
"And when you needed more info, you sent in a sterile group."
"Exactly. They fall under the super secret Intelligence Support Activity."
"Now for the hard stuff," Bufkin said. Secretary Mulholland raised his eyebrows.
"On the other side of the world, we have several companies assisting the Russians in oil exploration. The Caspian Sea region is currently the most productive, yielding sixty-eight billion barrels annually. For years, our focus had been only in western Siberia. Although exploration has taken longer than original forecasts, the prospects look so promising that the World Bank has renewed Russian financing. The oil found there may never reach Middle East numbers of six hundred billion barrels annually, but, it could help in keeping OPEC's pricing in line."
"I know you're not trying to give me a lesson on global oil markets."
"No, but this is fairly new to some of us in this room. While we have been pressuring the Russians for exploration in western Siberia, and the Russians have been footing the bill, the Japanese have been quietly concentrating in eastern Siberia, at the base of the Yakutiya Mountain Range. It's more than speculation at this point. In the mid-seventies, the Japanese signed an agreement with what was then the Soviet Union that entitled them to fifty-one percent of the oil, if it was found, in exchange for paying for the exploration. The fact is, no one thought they could do it. They were looking in the wrong area. No one's laughing now. The pipeline to Okhotsk on the Siberian coast will give Japan control of more oil than what the Caspian Sea will ever produce. This is the beginning of a new Russo-Japanese alignment that will allow Japan to control a significant oil supply outside of the Middle East. Their goal of zero reliance on U.S. trade will be accomplished, as well unimaginable wealth, power and influence."
"Mr. Secretary, there is, as we speak, a Russian ship at the docks of Playa del Rey in Marinagua unloading an undisclosed cargo," General Warner said.
"The key is Marinagua," General Downing said. "Everything rests on what happens there. To the north, El Salvador has over thirty thousand demobilized soldiers and guerrillas. The FMLN and ARENA are still at each other's throats, plus the border dispute with Honduras which is on the brink of its own civil war. Guatemala is tired of President Cerna and a military coup is imminent, using the URNG as an excuse. In Mexico, well, the Zapatista rebels in the Chiapas State are the least of their troubles. The government is considered inept, linked to political assassinations, peasant massacres and drug trafficking. It couldn't happen at a worse time. Our deployments in Europe and the Balkans, plus our cut backs, have seriously curtailed our capabilities. If war does break out, we'll have to drive to it."
"Suarez has always been an ally. He's no communist."
"You're right, but he is an opportunist. He has no idea what will be unleashed by letting the Cubans in. He'll go for the money."
"What do we know about the rebel army?"
"Very little," Bufkin said. "Their leader, Miguel Cimeron, is a former officer in the National Guard. It seems that after he returned from training in the states, he lost all credibility and was forced to resign."
Bufkin and Warner insulted each other with their stares. Mulholland caught the exchange.
"His second in command, Enrique Movado, has stated quite vigorously that this is an internal struggle and they want nothing to do with us whatsoever."
"Which we can't afford to let happen," Tyler said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Cuba will eat Cimeron alive. They love nothing better than a new, vulnerable government. It seems to me what you need to do is quite simple. We know Suarez. He's still considered our ally. We did have a falling out, and there are some human rights issues that need to be addressed. We can live with that. I propose we send in a recon team, find where the main rebel camps are and pass the coordinates on to Suarez. He wins the war and we have our man in Marinagua back. Problem solved."
"Mark?"
"I can't tell you what to do. I can only report on the intelligence we've gathered."
"Al, where do you weigh in on this?"
"We need more intelligence."
"We're out of time on this one," Tyler said.
"I concur," Bufkin said. Ms. Smithlin nodded.
"You of all people should know better. There's no corroboration of information," Warner said.
"It's their last covert effort to make something happen. A Cuban Bay of Pigs in reverse. Besides, who could you send? We have no assets available," Tyler said.
"There is someone."
"Who?" Mulholland said.
"Someone who has an inside to the Suarez family itself, as well as that of the rebel army."
"There is no such person," Bufkin said.
"That's need-to-know information."
Smithlin passed a file over to Bufkin, who opened it. He laughed out loud. "Is this the 'asset' you're talking about?" Bufkin held up a black and white glossy showing the back of a man's head. Surrounding him were armed men wearing bandanas over their faces and holding up AK-47's. General Warner didn't say anything.
"I thought so."
"Who is it?" Mulholland said.
"Jon Croft. Shown here training those Zapatista rebels the general was talking about a moment ago."
"Why do I know that name?"
"Operation Just Cause. He nearly single-handedly ruined the whole reason we invaded Panamá with that little stunt he pulled with Noriega outside the Papal Nuncio. We wasted millions on that tinhorn and his incarceration."
"I think you've been misinformed. My man was simply trying to catch one of yours," Warner jabbed, referring to Noriega's days as a double agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. "In that, we were successful."
Bufkin's nostrils flared slightly. He dropped his pen and leaned forward as far as he could across the wide table. He stared coldly at Warner.
"General, I think you're the one who's misinformed. Sergeant Jon Croft, or should I say, former sergeant, had been a deserter for two months before he showed up that night in Panamá City. A fact you and the Delta commander failed to report. That's a breach of security. When one of your men goes Elvis, we need to know, at all times, even as civilians."
"Do we know where Croft is?" Mulholland said.
"He disappeared soon after this photo was taken. A very convincing death. It just didn't fool everyone. But then a second death was reported. According to our intelligence, it's no rumor. He was killed in Guatemala by paid assassins from a Mexican drug lord," Bufkin smirked.
"General?"
Warner held his clenched jaw expression.
"I'm going to call the President immediately. Mark, I want you and Chuck to come with in case he has any questions. Now, if you'll excuse me." He might as well have said, "Army case officers have run the show long enough in the Americas. Now it's the Agency's turn." The Secretary stood up, followed by Bufkin, Tyler and Ms. Smithlin. Generals Warner and Downing remained seated.
"I thought you were going to break the news to them about Ortega being back?" Downing whispered.
"He's hardly given us anything since he returned. We can't justify using him."
"The Cubans?"
"Probably. They'll find out eventually. And then we'll be done with him."
"What do you think we should do?"
"The only thing we can do. Find Croft."