The Straw Man

The Legend of Nat Turner

An exciting CIA Novel that you will not want to put down

John Weems

Background

North Carolina holds many surprises for those who have never spent time there. The state is regarded as the most progressive of its southern sisters. In recent years the south has come alive, and North Carolina and the other southern states now comprise one of the fastest growing regions in the United States. Today North Carolina and the South are not even reminiscent of the region that was portrayed so vividly by American novelists in the first half of the twentieth century.

North Carolina is fortunate to have a favorable balance between industry and agriculture. While there are those who view this southern state as rural, many of the nations' major industries make their home here. North Carolina is the leading manufacturer of furniture, and many of the great names in furniture owe their existence to the craftsmen of this state. Great textile manufacturers have chosen North Carolina as their base of operation, locating factories and mills throughout the state. North Carolina attracted attention in the early part of the twentieth century when the nation's large tobacco firms chose to locate their home offices and processing facilities in the state.

Geographically the state is exceedingly diverse. The highest mountains in the eastern half of the United States, complete with winter resorts and ski slopes, are located in this traditionally warm southern state. The eastern shoreline is famous for its barrier islands, known as the Outer Banks. These banks protrude proudly but menacingly, into the Atlantic Ocean. The state is famous for such varied reasons as the first English settlement in the New World, the first manned flight at Kitty Hawk by the Wright Brothers and the home base of Black Beard the pirate.

Cape Hatteras, known as the "graveyard of the Atlantic", constitutes the easternmost tip of the barrier islands. It is at this precise point the Gulf Stream, which guards and warms the shoreline of the southern half of the United States, chooses to leave the North American continent on its journey through the north Atlantic. The point of departure is clearly visible. This visibility is the result of the Greenland Current which sweeps down the coastline of the northern half of the East coast of the United States and plunges broadside into the Gulf Stream, creating a ridge which often rises three to four feet out of the water. This geographic phenomenon serves as the primary ingredients for the production of terrifying storms. The rugged shoreline and these converging currents provide treacherous sea lanes for ships which attempt to hug the coastline for safety.

While a reasonable portion of the populace of the United States may underestimate the virility of North Carolina, the Soviet Union does not. Located among the sand hills of the southern part of North Carolina is the massive military base of Fort Bragg. This military base is the home of both the Eighty-Second Airborne Division and the special services force commonly known as the Green Berets. Fort Bragg, one of the major locations used for basic military training by the infantry, has between fifty and seventy-five thousand military men and women in residence at all times.

Located adjacent to Fort Bragg is Pope Air Force Base, one of the nation's oldest Air Force installations. This base, named for 1st Lt. Harley Halbert Pope, provides airlift support for airborne forces, supplies equipment for the military, and aides in the evacuations of wounded military personnel.  Due east of Fort Bragg is one of the largest Marine bases in the world, Camp Lejeune. This military establishment serves as one of the chief strategic bases in the United States. When trouble erupts anywhere in the world, the marines of Camp Lejeune are usually the first to be assembled for immediate dispatch. A few miles northeast of Camp Lejeune at Cherry Point, North Carolina, is located the major marine military air base. The most recent addition to the arsenal of the Cherry Point facility is the vertical take-off and landing aircraft, the Harrier Jump jet, built by the British.

Located in the very heart of eastern North Carolina, near Goldsboro, is Seymour Johnson Air Base used by the Tactical Air Command as the staging area for its largest transport planes. These planes often have proven to be the difference between success and failure in many of the United States recent military campaigns. Based at Seymour Johnson are the C-130 Hercules, the C-141 Starlifter, and the C-5A Galaxy, the largest airplane now flying in the world. The logistics of supply has made the Tactical Air Command famous. Their heroic exploits of supplying troops can be recounted on every continent. One recent example illustrates the tactical importance of this base. The airplanes from Seymour Johnson were called upon to supply Israel during the second Arab-Israeli war. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities Russia had supplied five Arab nations for two years with the obvious purpose of annihilating Israel and returning this ancient land to Arab control. When the Egyptians caught the Israeli's by surprise and stormed across the Suez Canal, the Israeli's could do nothing but fall into rapid retreat. They were totally unprepared for this war. Israel was immediately attacked from all sides by Syria and other Arab Nations. The future looked bleak indeed.

The United States immediately started an airlift to Israel of military supplies primarily using C-141's and C-5A's from Seymour Johnson. Within six days Israel had been supplied with enough equipment to equal the efforts of the Soviets over the two year period. After eleven days Israel was so much better supplied than the enemy that the Arab nations simply called off the war. Even though the C-5A was instrumental in this victory, those congressmen and critics of Lockheed Aircraft's cost overruns in the development and manufacture of this airplane never have given either the company or the aircraft the credit deserved.

A few miles north east of Goldsboro near Greenville stand an amazing array of radio antennae. Dotted among the tobacco fields of this area are located the most powerful radio transmitters in the world. It is from this location the Voice of America beams its programs around the globe. One hundred miles west of these transmitters lies Raleigh, the state capitol. This southern capitol, along with the village of Chapel Hill and the city of Durham, form the three points of a triangle framing the Research Triangle Park. During the last thirty years this park has attracted research facilities from the foremost companies in the United States. These companies have built complex and sophisticated research facilities with laboratories conducting basic research in the areas of pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, electronics, and genetic engineering. This research complex has garnered much of the highly classified basic research contracted by the federal government. An amazing array of international companies whose home offices are not within the confines of the continental United States has chosen to place their research facilities within the park.

Adjoining this research complex are three well known research universities: The University of North Carolina nestled in the cozy little village of Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University located virtually within the shadow of the capital building in Raleigh, and Duke University situated in the bustling industrial city of Durham. These three major universities lend an educational and academic air to the area.  Whenever serious military trouble develops anywhere in the world, eastern North Carolina goes on alert. In an area most people could cover with their thumb on a map of the United States, stands the attack arm of this powerful country. This small area is literally the tip of a spear standing ready to be hurled in time of danger and crisis. Yes, the communist nations are very aware of North Carolina, and consequently have devoted more than an ordinary share of resources and personnel to monitor the activities and facilities of this area.

Prologue

Amboise Manor House

Leesburg Virginia

April 15, 2008

“Johnnie Walker Blue Label is a 25 year old blend of the rarest of Scotch Whiskies. I can think of nothing more pleasurable than story telling over a glass of good single malt or something very special like Johnnie Walker Blue. In my opinion that is the recipe for a perfect evening”.

The flames in the fireplace had slowly retreated from a roaring inferno to a calm tapestry of reds and yellows. The smell of the hardwoods burning permeated the room and complimented the taste of the rare whiskies being savored by two men. A misting rain blanketed the windows as ghostly as a spirit floating through the parlor of a haunted mansion. The wind was not a gale but its presence was not to be denied as it tormented the branches of the large oaks on the front lawn and teased the shrubbery that brushed gently against the library windows. It was a perfect night for tales to be told, a beautiful moment ripe for secrets to be shared between two old and very close friends.

These stories and secrets have nothing to do with wispy spirits of the nether world. This is a special moment in time for two men to share confidences that conceivably should not be told. But as most would agree, why do we have secrets if they can not to be shared with the right person at the right time?

This magical night is proving to be special. Two distinguished elderly gentlemen in the twilight of their careers sharing time and place together have the opportunity of opening the windows of history that otherwise will be lost forever in the quicksand of fading memory. Secrets will be shared in this intimate mystical setting. On many previous occasions these two old friends sat alone in this very library of one of Virginia’s most stately mansions sharing scotch whiskey and relating closely held enigmatic adventures of world import. Not inside information relating to finance and wealth. These were events which have shaped the world as it spun on its axis for the last sixty years.

Dr. Ernest St. Louis, the owner of beautiful Amboise Manor House, holds an endowed professorship in European History at Georgetown University. While the prestige of the appointment and the salary it commands would be considered lucrative in any academic circle, was not the major source of Dr. St. Louis wealth. He was a direct descendant of the founders of the Union Pacific Railroad and grandfathers and fathers before him had multiplied this original wealth scores of times through investments in steel, citrus, coal and major ownership in large estancias in Argentina and Brazil. His home, some thirty miles removed from Washington DC was an imposing structure establishing him well within the top echelon of his wealthy Virginia neighbors. While technically not a castle, the architecture of this mansion was imposing and tastefully luxurious. His longtime friend George Calumet has been invited to spend the week-end. This was the first night of their long planned visit.

George Calumet, the former Deputy Director of the CIA, had been looking forward to this brief vacation for several weeks. He knew that the incisive mind of Ernest St. Louis was never satisfied with small talk and reminiscences about earlier experiences in their long friendship. Ernest St. Louis like to do two things above all else. He adored teaching but even more he worshiped learning. He never spent his time on the inconsequential. Such conversation held no interest for him whatsoever. George understood this about Ernest and fully understood his expectations of sharing thoughts and experiences that would fascinate his academic mind. These interchanges was the impetus for these occasional weekends,

George Calumet had been with the CIA most of his adult life. He had risen rapidly through its ranks and had held most of the ultra sensitive positions the “company” had offered. He could have well spent weeks sharing these secret confidences gathered through work in the field and those he had directed in his leadership positions within the CIA. Most of this body of sensitive knowledge he felt comfortable in sharing with his friend Ernest. He was confident these secrets would go no further than the library of his stately mansion. This trust had never been breached.

There was one secret he had never shared. This secret was so precious he had sworn to himself and to be reinforced was sworn by others not to reveal. There were only three people in the CIA that had shared the knowledge of this secret and one was now dead. It was apparent to George that not many more years would pass until this secret, one of the most startling confidences of the twentieth century, would pass into oblivion unrecorded in anyone’s history that related to the turbulent time following World War II.

Two major super powers with their fingers on collective buttons that could destroy our civilization as we know it, viewing each other with mistrust and loathing, looking for any advantage for leverage as wrestlers writhing on canvas mats. Staring each other down, harboring fear and hatred for their adversary, with disaster lurking should either overstep their threatening countenances. This atmosphere had the world on the brink of a nuclear holocaust. The citizens of these two countries and their collective friends inhabiting the rest of the known world were concerned but never fully understood the teetering dangerous tension this earth was experiencing. Should the billions of our planets inhabitants really have this understood the thin restraints holding these goliaths at bay, paranoia would have been rampant. The population inhabiting this third planet from the sun could not have safely handled the truth of the moment.

George had been looking forward to this week-end. Ernest was the perfect host. He knew the conversation would be scintillating. George looked both forward too and yet dreaded the one question that Ernest might ask when they had settled in to the leather wing chairs facing the fireplace. Should this question be asked there were only two people left in the CIA and the participant himself that knew the factual answer to the question should it be asked?

The question was so obvious. Yet the question is never asked? It is a question that could be shortened to two words. “What happened?” Two words however in no way explore the complexity of the result. George had thought to himself,

”Will Ernest ask the question? Will I have the courage to answer this simple question factually and honestly? Will I chose to finesse the question and let history draw conclusions from scholars with vast reputations substituting educated guesses for actual fact and be dutifully recorded in history books for future generations to study?”

The days of anticipation had passed and George and Ernest were now through with their satisfying dinner of excellently prepared fresh game secured from the lands surrounding Amboise. The two friends had retreated to the library, poked the burning logs, and settled into a sea of the softest of leather. The discussion of the merits of fine scotch whiskey had been exhausted and it was now time for the conversation to be directed to something of more import.

The conversation was preceded by a long pause with both men looking intently into the diminishing fire. Ernest looked up slowly and turned slowly toward George and said, “What happened! George tells me the truth”.

Both men locked eyes and George replied, “Do you want to be more specific?” 

Ernest spoke softly but firmly, “George we are both getting older. It is not just a matter of curiosity to me. I am a historian.” 

Ernest paused momentarily and continued, “One of the greatest moments in history took place on your watch and nobody knows what happened. Secrets of national security are one thing but to ignore a turning point in history is another? This cannot be ignored.”

Ernest paused again, “The Soviet Union was one of the two greatest powers to ever exist on earth and suddenly one day it caved in. It melted. It evaporated like Atlantis sinking in to the sea. While everyone knows these events did occur nobody knows the real cause. We have had to live with hackneyed phrases spoken with the consistency of Gerber’s baby food offered as explanations. These lame off the cuff opinions from talking heads on television do not satisfy the description of a true moment in history. A nation of true power does not come apart overnight without there being and underlying root cause.”

Ernest went on, “You owe it to me. You owe it to the world. This must be recorded. You might not want it released now but it has to be available for future generations.”

George leaned back deeply into his leather wing chair. The protruding head rest gave him comfort as if they were arms folding around him.

He smiled a big relaxed smile. He had now made his decision. Now was the right moment and the right place and said, “You are not going to believe it. If you really want to know the absolute gospel I am not going to give you a quick answer with scanty facts and figures. It is a story which is going to take all night to tell and it must be frequently punctuated with small glasses of Johnnie Walker Blue. When I finish this story we will both be dead drunk. This is the only way that I can do this tale with the verve and emotion it deserves. Are you sure you want to hear it? It is quite a tale”

Ernest responded, “With an introduction like that I must immediately fortify myself with the cream of the spirits from the highlands.” 

There was a pause, glasses refilled. Ernest sat back in his chair and George leaned forward.

George began, “It was a fluke!”

“Not a real fluke. There was a plan and I happened to be the one who proposed it.”

“My plan however did not include the ending of the “Cold War”. It didn’t include the tearing down of the “Berlin Wall”. It didn’t include reducing the Soviet Union of one third of its land mass nor did it include freeing an incredible number of nations from Soviet domination.”

George went on, “It was an unusual time. Tensions were always boiling on the surface. The Soviets were probably cheating on every agreement we had made with them. I suspect we were too. It really was business as usual.”

“Let me go back six years to 1981. This is as good place to start the story as any other. President Reagan was inaugurated and entered the White House on the platform to make America strong again. He was totally convinced that President Jimmy Carter had allowed the country to wallow in complacency and he announced to the world that his intention was to make America strong again. He had overwhelming National support based upon the margin of his election the preceding November. He narrowed his focus to a few things he wanted to accomplish. He refused to scatter his influence over many issues. He was a strident “Cold Warrior”. His first acts were to propose large increases in defense spending and in 1983 made a startling announcement. He wanted to establish an anti-missile system based in space. If you recall 1981 was the year the space shuttle Columbia made its maiden voyage? We had the space equipment to build such a system whenever it might be perfected”.

George paused for emphasis, “President Reagan’s political opponents immediately attacked this anti-missile system plan and called it Star Wars. It was intended to be a term of derision but most of the American people liked it. Even though opposing politicians set up an unrelenting attack on the program the concept was based on rather firm logic. We were in the process of introducing the cruise missile and the SS-20 intermediate range missiles in Western Europe. These two missiles alone made 80% of the industrial might of the Soviet Union vulnerable to the small land based missiles.”

“The Soviet intermediate range missiles were not very good but even if they were they had few military targets they could hit. The Soviets did have very good Inter Continental missiles equipped with multiple war heads that could easily hit the United States and do considerable damage. We had no anti-missile system based in the United States but if we had invested in this hardware, the thought we could hit an ICBM traveling three thousand miles per hour straight toward us, was very problematical any way. It was doubtful that we would have any success with such a system intercepting missiles.”

“On the other hand, missiles, lasers, heavy metals or any projectile based in space could theoretically be 100% successful. Any heat signature of an ICBM coming out of a silo would be picked up by sensors in space immediately triggering a response targeting these instruments of death as they were struggling to become airborne. These targets would be barely moving and would be surrounded by immense amounts of heat. What a great target. While some politicians did not want to see the new President receive credit by making such a bold move, logic was on his side”.

“Brezhnev died in November of 1982. Yuri Andropov was elected General Secretary the very next day, and was the first former head of the KGB to hold that post. Andropov responded adamantly and defiantly to Reagan's Strategic Initiative plan. Andropov openly declared that all attempts at achieving military superiority over the U.S.S.R. was a waste of time and would be resisted with utmost Soviet vigor." It was later reported that Andropov was frightened by this newly proposed Strategic Defense Initiative.”

George paused and looked at Ernest with his eyebrows raised. “All of this was brewing when another problem surfaced that frightened me immensely. Let me skip forward to the spring of 1987. It was the middle of April. The 18th I think.”

“At the time I was Head of the Eastern European Section and I was facing serious problems and needed bold action fast. I had slept no more than three hours the night before and that was fitfully. The drive from my house to Langley was at most thirty minutes. The countryside is beautiful and I usually enjoy the drive to work immensely. This particular morning I arrived at the gate and couldn’t remember a single thing about my trip. I only hoped I had not been a danger to anyone on the road. My mind had been totally absorbed in a meeting that was going to take place early that morning.

“The meeting was scheduled for 9:00 AM with the Deputy Director of the CIA to discuss problems that we were having in the Eastern European Section. The fact that these problems were not confined to he Eastern Section was scarcely any comfort. I was going to have to answer for my failures and in no way attempt to share the blame with others. Any section head that was not willing to shoulder the responsibility for actions or shortcomings occurring under his command would not last long in the CIA.”

“There was one unusual aspect of our meeting. My good friend and counterpart, Michael Shinn, was also going to be present. This fact alleviated some of the tension surrounding the meeting. The Deputy Director seldom criticized one of his Section heads in front of another”.  

“While I was given great latitude in the planning and execution of operations in Eastern Europe it was always necessary to explained in great detail to the Deputy Director my activities, my thoughts and my plans. Today was special. I was going to propose a plan that if accepted would involve large numbers of CIA operatives working in Europe. Combined operations were always major decisions but this particular one was to be the most important major thrust that the CIA had attempted in five years”.

“I want to assure you again that my operation, no matter how important it appeared in my eyes in no way I included bringing down the Soviet Union”.

“My mind was racing as I thought about my presentation. I truly was excited. I knew better than to let my unbridled enthusiasm show too much in the meeting that was about to take place. Excitement to the CIA was sometimes interpreted as panic. The CIA preferred the cool, calm, calculating mode of expression. An approach that suggested well-thought-out plans and procedures to be followed when applied in the field. I knew, as well as most of my colleagues, that many of the coolest, calmest of our operatives were not the best thinkers. However, as in any business, the game was played by the rules of the informal power structure”.

“One more time I ran through his presentation in my mind. I marveled at its simplicity. This approach had been used on numerous occasions on a small scale, but the stakes had never been as high as they were going to be if his plan were accepted”.

“The CIA for more than two years had been facing difficult times. The British Section MI-6 and Israel's Mossad were having the same troubles we were experiencing”.

Ernest said, “George you keep talking about serious troubles but you have never explained to me the nature of these problems.”

George replied, “I was just about to lay this strange situation out for you. All of the Intelligence Services, both east and West, were undergoing dramatic changes in personnel and therein was the basis of the problem”.

“It had been forty-two years since the close of World War II. Relationships between countries throughout the world had ebbed and flowed. Enemies had become friends and friends had become enemies. Thirty-two years is a long time to keep Intelligence Services honed to a razor sharp edge. Recent months had proven to be a particularly bad time. All Intelligence Services spent considerably more time identifying other foreign agents than they did securing classified and sensitive information. There simply was not much going on at that time to create activity among the Soviet agents”.

“Summit meetings have a salutary effect on Intelligence activities. No one will ever forget the U-2 incident when Gary Powers were shot down over Russia just prior to Kruchev's visit to the United States during the Eisenhower administration. Summit meetings had again become popular and neither Intelligence service wanted to commit the ultimate faux pas that would allow them to be blamed for derailing the peace process”.

“It was my responsibility, along with Michael Shinn who headed the Western European Section of the CIA, to keep tabs on the agents placed in the field by the various Communist nations of the Eastern bloc. Quite frankly, they were just as interested in identifying the agents from the friendly powers as they were the agents of the current enemy. You never knew when our friends would become enemies. Sometime during the last forty-two years most of agents who had been active had either retired, been killed, promoted or died of natural causes. There were not many left. In this particular window in time it was apparent that the KGB was replacing its agents at an alarming rate”.

“We found the new KGB agent to be a different breed. These men and women were much less ideological than their predecessors but they were more highly trained. These new adversaries were trained in the use of new weapons systems, computers, and the latest technological devices developed for espionage and counter espionage by governmental research laboratories. The worst aspect of the problem was that the CIA did not know who these new replacements were and that was serious”.

“To start all over again by ferreting out these subversives that had buried themselves so deeply into the warp and woof of European life was enough to give one a giant headache. New dossiers had to be built, files had to be created, information had to be entered in various databases in appropriate computers, movements had to be tracked and recorded. There was simply no end to the chore that all of the heads of sections faced. There was not enough sensitive activity going on among the free world powers to create much interest in the KGB offices in Moscow. Morale was anything but high”. 

“They almost wished for a breakout of hostilities. It would at least make their jobs easier. When world tensions increased all of the intelligence services became highly active and consequently much more detectable. Right now everything was quiet and the moles were burying deeper and deeper. The CIA was worried. Soviet penetration was great and at present there was nothing that could be done about it. The touch of irony was that lack of hostility presented an even greater risk to security than international alerts. There was no question in my mind that if some event brought the world to the brink of war at this time the CIA would be branded a failure”.

“There were too many agents undetected. I was counting on this current state of weakness within the agency to help sell my plan. While I was making mental calculations about the upcoming meeting it is safe to say that no one was any more aware of this situation than the Deputy Director”.

“Dr. Christopher Cope, our Deputy Director, was a brilliant man. He possessed a razor sharp incisive mind. He had that important ability to ignore the extraneous and see right to the heart of a problem. Cope had spent most of his professional career on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had risen through the academic ranks rapidly and when he was forty-two years old he became the Executive Vice-President of the University.”

“Just six years later with the inauguration of a new President of our country he was asked to become the Deputy Director of the CIA. After substantial soul searching he decided this was a contribution he could make at the expense of an outstanding academic career”.

I get excited just sitting here talking to you about those three months in the history of our nation that will never be recorded. I can feel the adrenalin beginning to run. My palms are beginning to sweat just thinking about it. Let me start all over again at the very beginning and I will tell you the whole story just as it played out.

                                                                                 1987

7:30 a.m. Monday, April 18, 1987

Hunt Country of Virginia

George Calumet, Head of the Eastern European Section of the CIA, was driving to work through the hunt country of northern Virginia. There are those who describe this as some of the loveliest real estate anywhere. George did not claim to be that much of an aficionado of this geographic area, but he would agree it was beautiful countryside. He had made this drive hundreds of times, using the thirty minutes to enjoy the scenery and organize his day. However, this morning he had taken no notice of the surroundings. He was in deep concentration with his mind on CIA business. While his driving posed no threat to other motorists, he would have to admit he could remember nothing he had seen or done during this trip to work. He was totally absorbed.

A 9:00 meeting was scheduled this morning with the Deputy Director of the CIA to discuss problems of the Eastern European Section. The fact that these problems were not confined to the Eastern Section was scarcely any comfort. Any section head must shoulder the responsibility for actions and shortcomings occurring under his command or he would not last long at the CIA.

There was one unusual aspect of this meeting. His friend and counterpart, Michael Shinn, was going to be present. This fact alleviated some of the tension surrounding the meeting. The Deputy Director seldom criticized one of his section heads in front of another.

While George was given latitude in the planning and execution of operations in Eastern Europe, the activities were reported in detail to the Deputy Director. Today was special. He was going to propose a plan which, if accepted, would involve large numbers of CIA operatives from both the Eastern and Western sections. Combined operations were important, but this one would be the most significant major thrust of the CIA in five years.

His mind began to race and he became excited as he thought about his presentation. He knew, however, he must keep his enthusiasm contained in today's meeting. Excitement to the CIA was interpreted as panic. The CIA preferred the cool, calm, calculating mode of expression, a demeanor suggesting well-thought-out plans and procedures. As in any business, if you want to succeed you play the game by the rules.

Once more George mentally ran through his presentation. He marveled at its simplicity. This approach had been used on a small scale, but never had the stakes been as high as they were going to be if his plan were accepted.

For more than two years the CIA had been facing difficult times. The British MI6 and Israel's famed Mossad were having the same trouble. Most of the intelligence services, from the East and West, were undergoing dramatic changes in personnel, and therein lay the basis of the problem.

It had been almost forty-five years since the close of World War II. Relationships between countries had ebbed and flowed. Enemies had become friends, and friends had become enemies. Forty-five years is a long time to keep intelligence services honed to a razor sharp edge. Recent months had proven to be a particularly bad time. George Calumet's responsibility, along with Michael Shinn who headed the Western Section of the CIA, was to keep tabs on the agents placed in the field by the various Communist nations of the Eastern bloc. During the last forty-five years most of the active agents had retired, been killed, promoted, or had died of natural causes. Not many were left and the KGB was replacing its agents at an alarming rate. The new KGB agent was a different breed. These men and women were less ideological than their predecessors but more highly trained. These new adversaries were accomplished in the use of weapons, computers, and the latest technological devices developed by governmental research laboratories for espionage and counter-espionage. The most serious aspect of the problem was that the CIA had not been able to identify these new replacements.

To start over again, ferreting out those subversives who had buried themselves so deeply into the warp and woof of European life, was enough to give a section head a throbbing headache. New dossiers had to be built, files created, information entered into data bases in computers, and movements tracked and recorded. There was no end to the chore all the section heads faced. The problem was complicated by the fact that not much sensitive activity was taking place among free world powers to interest the KGB. Morale was anything but high. The CIA agents almost wished for a breakout of hostilities. It would at least make their jobs easier. When world tensions increased, all the intelligence services became highly active and consequently their agents more easily detected. But now everything was quiet, and the moles were burying deeper and deeper. The CIA was worried; Soviet penetration was deep, and nothing could be done about it. It was ironic that the lack of hostilities presented an even greater risk to security than did international alerts. There was no question in George's mind that, if some event brought the world to the brink of war, the CIA would be branded a failure. Too many KGB agents were undetected. George was counting on this current state of weakness within the agency to sell his plan. While he was making mental notes about the upcoming meeting, no one was more aware of the situation than the Deputy Director.

Dr. Christopher Cope possessed a razor sharp, incisive mind. He had the ability to ignore the extraneous and see right to the heart of a problem. Cope spent most of his professional career on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had risen through the academic ranks rapidly, and when forty-two years old became a vice-president of this institution. Six years later with the inauguration of a new President of the United States, he was asked, to become deputy director of the CIA. After substantial soul searching, he decided to make this contribution to his country at the expense of an outstanding academic career. While Cope had graduate degrees from three of the United States most prestigious research universities, he liked to emphasize his liberal arts training at the undergraduate level in a small college in Ohio.

Deputy Director Cope had decided to keep the meeting small. Only Calumet and Shinn had been invited to join him in his deliberations. Both liked Cope very much. His academic training, however, did prove to be a problem to these two from time to time. He often attacked their ideas when he knew them to be perfectly sound. He enjoyed the intellectual interchange accompanying a good argument. While disconcerting, it taught Calumet and Shinn to do their homework. Cope believed in facts, documentation, and supported theories.

While tough, Cope was completely fair in his judgments. Cope also had considerable influence with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. If Cope were convinced an idea was good, he would support it as strongly as if it were his own. He would then take this idea to the Director and in a most erudite and persuasive manner try to initiate it as agency policy. Cope would always give credit where credit was due.

Everyone at the agency knew if you could convince Chris Cope about the value of a project, the Director was likely to give his approval. The Director had confidence in Cope and past experience had proven this was good judgment. Chris had never failed the Director or embarrassed him in any way. The two made a good team. This confidence was the ultimate compliment, and no one else at the agency had the same standing with the Director.

As Calumet approached the checkpoint allowing entrance to the grounds of the CIA Headquarters Building, these thoughts receded from his mind. After George presented proper credentials, the guard made a cursory inspection of the inside of the automobile before allowing him to proceed. The 9:00 meeting took place in the small conference room adjacent to Cope's office. The room was almost square, with dimensions roughly eighteen feet by twenty feet, and as nondescript as most government offices. A brown carpet with a slight tweed effect covered the floor. Several landscape prints hung on each wall, obviously selected by a decorator with the purpose in mind of not being provocative. Eight identical armchairs surrounded the Formica topped conference table. There could be no way to determine superiority in this room by looking at the chairs. Everyone knew, however, that Chris Cope would sit at the east end of the table with his back to the windows.

On the north wall was a credenza completely covered in Formica. This piece of furniture had two sliding doors in the center with two stacked drawers on each end. The credenza had no practical use, and was completely lacking in character. A lamp placed on the right end of the credenza appeared to be a telescope standing on end. On the left end was an arrangement of exotic flowers, unfortunately a dried arrangement and not freshly cut. The flowers contributed certain lifelessness to the room. It is interesting to note that an agency such as the CIA, with hundreds of millions of dollars to spend each year on covert activities, carefully makes its public and business rooms appear to be furnished with a budget of a few hundred dollars.

The meeting had been in session for two hours. During this time, Cope had been direct in pointing out the shortcomings of the two European sections. Both section heads were thoroughly uncomfortable. George thought the time was now appropriate to present his plan.

"Chris, I have a suggestion."

Calumet in his coolest, CIA demeanor leaned forward on the table and realized he had a problem with the seating arrangement. The Deputy Director was to his right and Mike Shinn was to his left. This was not going to work. It would be impossible to give both men the proper eye contact without moving his head back and forth as if he were watching a tennis match. Calumet realized it was vital to have the Deputy Director endorse his plan. He certainly wanted Mike on his side, too. While Mike was not subject to petty jealousies, it was important for Mike to feel he was an integral part of this operation from the beginning. He did not want to lose Mike's support over something as simple as spending a great portion of his time engaging the Deputy Director's eye in his presentation.

Calumet made up his mind abruptly. He pushed his chair back from the table, walked to the west end of the room, and stood against the wall.

"Fellows, if you don't mind, I need to stand. I think more clearly on my feet and if there're any details which need analyzing, I think I can handle them better when I can talk to both of you without shifting my head back and forth."

He focused his eyes on the line where the ceiling meets the east wall over the windows, took a deep breath and began. "This is the problem as I see it. It's been almost forty-five years since the end of World War II. Our agency has spent more time tracking penetrators than it has uncovering classified information. We've had our successes and we've had our failures. Looking at the total picture I think we can be proud of the track record of the CIA. However, during the last two or three years, there's been a dramatic removal of known Communist bloc agents from the field. It now appears most of the agents we had previously identified and had under surveillance are no longer on station.

We know these people have been replaced by new and younger operatives, and frankly, they're much better trained than most of those we faced in the past. They're being slipped in under cover and kept out of sight. Those agents left in the field are being moved to new locations in other sectors of Europe, and we're no longer able to keep up with them. If some military action were to put our stations on alert, I think we would be embarrassed, and we would have a helluva time keeping them from penetrating virtually every operation we have going. Men, I have spent many sleepless nights thinking about this."

"Can you believe these intruders are now in place and may honestly know more about our potential military operations than our own intelligence gathering service? I'm sure both of you agreeing this is an unacceptable posture."

"That is the outline of the problem," Calumet said, "and here's my suggestion for the solution. We need to find a person who meets a certain set of criteria which we will determine. This person will have no connection with any intelligence or security service and would not be in possession of classified information or military secrets. Even though he is not intelligence oriented, we will put him in the field masquerading as a person possessing substantial information of military importance."

"Now I'm going to outline a method to make him appear to be of great importance to the KGB."

Calumet narrowed his eyes almost to slits, furrowed his brow and went on. "Once this person has been identified and recruited we will take him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. We will ask General Chambers, the base commander, to close the base and alert his staff that a high level CIA operative will be visiting him for two days. We will ask him to raise the base to maximum security. The closing of the base and the high level of security will tip off the KGB that something big is going on."

"On the evening of the second day we will move our recruit over to Pope Air Force Base. This is only a fifteen or twenty minute drive. Our new man will spend all day with the base commander at Pope. We will ask for Pope to be closed during his stay and the same high level of security be enforced. This will get the attention of everyone connected with the air base."

"On the evening of the third day we will use an Apache helicopter to ferry him to Camp LeJeune. The same format will be followed. On the evening of the fourth day we will move our man to Cherry Point, the marine air base, where the Harrier Jump Jets are located. We'll ask the commander at Cherry Point to take him up in one of the Harriers and spend most of the day in the air. You recall the Harrier Jump Jet has vertical take-off and landing capabilities and can even fly backwards! This should cause some attention to be focused on our man."

"The fifth day we will ferry him to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base near Goldsboro and drop him off in a Harrier. This should cause real excitement and gather considerable attention! The base commander will be asked to close the base and tighten security. Our man can spend the following day with the base commander and then be taken to Raleigh in the evening. By this time the computers in the KGB offices in Moscow will be humming. They will use their search and match programs trying to obtain a fix on this new military VIP who has appeared from nowhere. If we start the circuit on Monday morning, we’ll finfish the military bases on Friday night.”

"The following Monday we'll take him for a visit to the Voice of America transmitters near Greenville. I would like for a military escort to accompany him for effect. This should help us make this person the most highly publicized security secret in the world. The Soviets by this time will be assembling a task force to monitor this person's every move. We'll take him back to Raleigh on Monday night and have him ready for visits in the Research Triangle Park starting on Tuesday morning."

"The amusing fact is that we could drive a visitor right though the gates of these bases without security precautions and never be detected. It's the tightened security that will bring the moles to the surface, and I expect our man will be photographed or identified in some way at each installation."

"On Tuesday we'll arrange a visit to the research labs of Hercules Laboratories. They have many government contracts and, frankly, the security at Hercules is better than at the military bases. Our man will be given the red carpet treatment in the Research Triangle Park. Many of those laboratories live on money provided by government contracts."

"Wednesday he goes to Burroughs-Wellcome in the morning and Glaxo in the afternoon. These are both large pharmaceutical firms owned by the British. Their research labs are in the Park, and both have large manufacturing facilities in North Carolina. This move will certainly puzzle the Soviets. It will perhaps raise the specter of germ warfare. Before this week is out we may have a parade of agents following our man."

"On Thursday he'll spend the day at Troxler Electronics. This company was founded by one of the cleverest men in the country. He has consistently invented new electronic devices, done the basic research, and then placed the product on the market quicker and cheaper than anybody else in the United States. This firm has now become one of the first companies the military approach when they need a device in a hurry. I'm sure the KGB knows all about Troxler Electronics."

"When the KGB analysts in Moscow begin to receive reports of this flurry of activity in North Carolina, and when they have properly identified our man, we'll be ready to spring the trap so carefully baited. They'll flag him and send his dossier to stations around the world. They're smart enough to know we wouldn't go to all this effort if it were not for an important national security operation. Every station of theirs will be waiting for him to pop up somewhere."

"The following Monday he goes back to Seymour Johnson and boards a C-141 Starlifter for a flight to England. We'll put him in one of our bases near the Cotswold and ask MI6 to meet and escort him to Number 10 Downing Street for an audience with the Prime Minister. We would have to get the State Department to do this for us. I suspect our Deputy Director would have to spend a lot of his green stamps for that one! After the audience we'll request he spend the balance of the day with the head of MI6. The second day in England he would continue to work in Whitehall with MI6. This would firmly tie our man to the top intelligence service in the British Empire."

"After two days in England we'll send him by C-141 to Tel Aviv. Here again we'll need an audience with the Prime Minister and the balance of two days with the Mossad. When the Mossad becomes involved, our man becomes white hot. I'm assuming this information will be taken to the Communist Central Committee. Even the KGB would not try to bury this as much as they'd like to. The Soviets should now become desperate to know what's going on."

"Two more stops --one in Paris and one in Bonn. If the Prime Minister and the Chancellor will visit with him and then turn him over to their intelligence people, the nail will be clinched. The Soviets should assume the United States is planning an invasion somewhere in the world using the marines from Camp LeJeune and the 82nd Airborne Division. It would also be logical for them to assume the Tactical Air Command from Seymour Johnson will both land and support them. The air cover would be provided by the Harrier Jump Jets from Cherry Point."

He paused and took a breath. "After the visits with these four heads of state, it would be assumed he was moving about putting our intelligence stations on alert. The fact he didn't visit them directly would indicate the information is so sensitive he must work from cover. This conclusion would be supported by the fact the United States sent someone personally to transmit the information. They did not want to use any kind of communication device for fear it would be intercepted. The fact that the Navy is not involved in any way would suggest the invasion would be in a land locked area which prohibits the use of aircraft carriers, Navy guns, and air cover."

He smiled and added, "We're going to have to be careful not to make this appear so real they attack us first."

Both Cope and Shinn acknowledged Calumet's smile with one of their own.

Calumet continued his presentation, "If they do come to this conclusion, then our man will become so important they cannot afford to let him move around Europe unobserved. I think we can safely assume that anywhere he goes he will be shadowed by the best agents the KGB has."

Calumet then moved to his conclusion. "We will have him move quickly through ten select cities in Europe. He'll stop people on the street and talk to them. He'll join people at tables in crowded restaurants. He'll visit bars and conversations. We want him in theaters and opera houses meeting people during intermission. Then comes the crowning blow, we'll have him visit universities. The Soviets hate universities. They don't even like their own. The Soviets believe no academic can be totally trusted. When he visits the universities, they'll go crazy."

Shinn couldn't hold back any longer and broke into the presentation. "What's he going to talk about with all of these people?"

He answered, "Nothing of consequence as far as we're concerned, but of course the Soviets don't know this."

"You mean he'll be talking to prime ministers without any assigned topic?"

"No Mike, I was speaking of the Grand Tour through the cities of Europe. When he speaks to the prime ministers, they'll know what we're up to. But this information should be delivered by the Director of the CIA to the head of their counterparts abroad. We should ask them not to bring anyone else in or the KGB penetration might pick it up. The KGB is in deep."

"We must make every effort to keep security tight anywhere our man goes. We want the KGB to think we're trying to slip this man all over the world undetected. They'll never know how disappointed we'll be if they miss him at any of his assigned stops.

Chris Cope, who had been listening patiently, decided to break in. "I'm impressed, very impressed." Calumet could have sung with the angels.

"George, I think we could now expect the KGB to get directions from the Central Committee to make our man its highest priority. If this does happen, we can rest assured none of their new agents in the field will be left in cover. They're going to put them on the street for the entire world to see. When this happens, the good ole CIA' will be waiting. Any time  they put on the street we'll be right behind them. We'll get pictures, fingerprints, addresses, employment, friends, meeting points, control agents. We should get everything. Then we can silently slip away, and they'll never know their agent's cover has been blown."

"Our new operative, however, will be in for a nightmare. He'll be followed, his room searched, and his phone tapped. Anyone he talks with on the street will be noted. I'm sure he'll get their undivided attention. He'll undoubtedly be confronted directly by the best of the KGB. It not only will be mental pressure, but I expect it to become physical."

"Do you think they'll kill him?" Shinn asked cautiously.

I don't think so. Killing him wouldn't stop the military operation. The Soviets are more interested in the information they think he is carrying."

"Do you think that he'll be spirited back to USSR?"

"It could happen. I hope we could move in and prevent it, but for us to do so, our man will have to walk a narrow line. If he decides to free-lance, then he is in big trouble"

"Where are you suggesting we send him after he has met with the heads of government?" Cope inquired of Calumet.

"This is the itinerary I have in mind--Helsinki, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Stuttgart, West Berlin, Munich, and ending up in Salzburg."

Shinn wanted to know, "Why did you select those cities?"

"Cities of intrigue," replied Calumet.

He paused to let the comment sink in and then continued, "Seriously, the KGB has station heads and major networks in those cities. They'll have the manpower to put on the street if we take it right to their strength. We will certainly be getting their best operatives in these cities. Another bonus is the fact that all of these cities have major universities. If our man starts poking around the ivy covered halls of academe, then the KGB station heads will come under increasing pressure. Moscow will be all over them to see what our man is up to. Universities are their most sensitive area. The KGB will be distraught if they think he can move easily and freely among the academicians."

Chris laughed out loud. "I'd give anything to be with the task force assigned to track this man. I'd love to see those braggadocio bastards upstaging one another trying to figure out what the hell's going on. The whole hierarchy will want to get in on the action; the Central Committee will need constant progress reports. We have never come up with anything which has the potential to cause such consternation as this little scam. It's absolutely incredible."

Calumet could scarcely contain himself. No one had ever heard Chris talk like this before. He was showing enthusiasm to which the CIA was unaccustomed.

Cope continued, "Can you believe the exponential number of people the KGB will have to trace and identify simply because our man has come in contact with them, and they in turn have come in contact with others? They'll be swamped! They'll be overwhelmed! The field agents may lose their cool. They'll probably start going up to people and showing their credentials as if they were some damn detectives." Cope was obviously having a totally uncharacteristic good time.

"Will he talk to our local people in these cities?" Shinn asked.

"No, we want our people free to work on the identification of their agents," replied Calumet. "If he gets involved with our agents, we would have to spend most of our time devising covers. This would defeat the purpose of the plan. Only in case of complete disaster would I want of our stations to  become involved. I would say it'll be hands off unless they try to kill him."

Calumet paused as he considered the matter and repeated once again, "We can only help if he strictly follows our directions. Any free-lancing and all bets are off."

The meeting continued for another hour with the men discussing details and speculating on possibilities. Cope asked his usual penetrating questions. The plan became tighter and tighter. Cope would have preferred not to use the military for the original method of transportation into England, Israel, France, and Germany. However, the ability to move the man about to visit these essential contacts without going through passport control was too appealing. It would add to his mystique.

Cope looked directly into each man's eyes and said, rather abruptly, "Can the two of you break away for dinner tonight?"

Calumet maintained his cool professional demeanor, but he wanted to shout. Chris had bought the operation. Not only had he bought the operation, it was obvious he was going to move with great dispatch. The dinner tonight indicated the plan was to go into effect with a degree of urgency. Cope would have to meet with the director this afternoon for approval. Calumet also knew if the director liked the idea, he might just have to call the White House for an immediate unscheduled visit.

8:30 p.m., Monday, April 18, 1987

Waterfront Hotel, Thames Street

Fells Point Section, Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore is an old and historic city. Ten or twelve years ago it could have been described as "run down at the heels." Today, however, Baltimore can be used as one of the best examples of urban renewal. The revitalization of the inner harbor is Baltimore's frontispiece. The city of Baltimore radiates like a star from this newly developed downtown area. One mile due east of the inner harbor on the waterfront is a section of Baltimore known as Fells Point. A few years ago Fells Point was nothing more than a seaman's hangout, and considered to be a dangerous section of the city. However, Fells Point, too, has been reclaimed. Houses and buildings often dating back 200 years now serve as fashionable boutiques and upscale restaurants. For historic purposes the businesses are housed in these old buildings with very little renovation other than new wiring and plumbing. The atmosphere is impressive.

The Waterfront Hotel is located on Thames Street directly across from the harbor and faces the old Custom House. The Waterfront Hotel no longer offers lodging to weary travelers. The first floor is devoted to a tavern and the second floor to a unique dining room. Both levels contain fireplaces with roaring fires except in the hottest months. To reach the dining room you must ascend a very narrow set of stairs leading to the second floor. The left side of the stairwell has been left as bare bricks which immediately allow one to observe the antiquity of the building. At the top of the stairs is a small landing. After a quick right turn and three more steps, the guests arrive in a delightful small dining room. On the east wall is a fireplace with several logs cheerily ablaze. No more than ten tables are arranged about the room, but even these make for a slightly cramped space which adds to the coziness. While the paneling is not original to the room, it is easy to tell the wood dates back to the time of the construction of the building. The setting is ideal for a meal to be shared by friends.

Dr. Christopher Cope had invited two old and trusted academic friends to join him, Shinn, and Calumet for dinner. The first was Lt. Commander Cicero Pittard of the United States Naval Academy. Pittard was a Full Professor with specialties in mathematics, physics, navigation, and technological warfare. The United States Naval Academy, located in Annapolis, Maryland, was only twenty miles south of Baltimore. The quick drive up Route 2 made the Fells Point meeting very convenient for Pittard.

The second friend was Dr. Howard Womack, a full professor at the University of Maryland. This educational institutional is located in College Park, a suburb of Washington, D.C., and is a twenty-five minute drive from Baltimore following Interstate 95 North. The meeting place in Baltimore was convenient for Womack since the total trip to the restaurant in Fells Point didn't take more than thirty-five minutes. Dr. Womack's specialty was World Governments with a more narrow focus on the Eastern bloc countries. All three Central Intelligence Agency employees worked and lived west of the District of Columbia. The drive from CIA headquarters took about an hour.

The evening was very convivial. It was apparent Cope, Pittard, and Womack were old friends and had shared many good times together. It was also easy to tell from their conversation they respected each other greatly. They had a tendency to degrade each other in minor and amusing ways good friends like to do to show close association and real affection. George Calumet and Michael Shinn were not included in these preliminary remarks and, consequently, felt a bit awkward sitting at the table.

After two rounds of Johnny Walker Black Scotch Whiskey on the rocks, the evening began to change for Calumet and Shinn. The before-dinner cocktails had their effect, and after 30 minutes, Calumet and Shinn were definitely included in the group. Calumet was expecting the conversation relating to the proposed operation to begin immediately. To his surprise, this was not Chris Cope's way. Stories were swapped, jokes were told, and embarrassing moments were relived. After dinner was ordered, the conversation became more serious. Cope shared with his two friends some of the CIA's recent successes, but he soon moved to the major problem facing the CIA that had been a matter of concern for several months.

The dinner was superb. A comment was made by one of the men that this was the best dinner he had ever eaten. This pronouncement had been made many times before by each of the dining participants and would indeed be made many times again. Only after the table was cleared and coffee was served did Chris Cope begin to recount the conversation which had taken place in his conference room this morning. Dr. Womack and Lt. Commander Pittard entered into the conversation in a lively sort of way. They asked many of the same questions Cope and Shinn had asked of Calumet earlier in the day. Tonight was different, however. Cope had not come to Womack and Pittard to determine if the operation should be launched. He had come to ask them for help in some yet undetermined way.

As the plan began to unfold the essential ingredients seemed to include finding someone outside the intelligence field to operate as a Straw Man. This Straw Man would be sent scurrying around Europe with the KGB in hot pursuit. As in an old Keystone comedy film, the CIA would be stalking the KGB, cleverly identifying the KGB's new and unknown operatives who had been carefully and secretly placed in the field. Surprisingly, it was Pittard who took the initiative and not Cope. "Chris, we've had a delicious dinner and I'm happy to spend CIA money on good food, but it’s obvious delectable dining is not why you invited us here. While I don't mind spending most of the night discussing an idea you've already accepted, I know from experience you would never buy someone a dinner such as the one we've had here tonight without expecting something in return."

Chris Cope leaned back in his chair and smiled at this friendly accusation. "Fellows, we do need your help." He paused. "I don't want many of our people at the company to know anything about this operation in its earliest stages. You begin to get a lot of friendly advice and, frankly, I don't need that right now. The main thing I want us to do tonight is to brainstorm and outline in rough fashion the characteristics we think this person should have before we start looking for the person to fit the position. To deceive the KGB is not an easy task and if they are not fooled, I promise you they will turn the tables on us, and there'll be hell to pay. They'll have us chasing every derelict and prostitute in Europe thinking they're KGB agents, and we'll be filling our computers with worthless information. If this happens, I suspect ' Ole Chris Cope' will be teaching Freshman Chemistry in the hills of eastern Kentucky never to be heard from again."

They all laughed. Womack entered the conversation. "If you're going to send a man to talk to generals, heads of state, chiefs of intelligence and who can deal face-to-face with the best of the KGB, then he'll have to be sophisticated, exhibit a high level of confidence and be experienced in speaking in pressure situations. I hate to use a facetious remark, but he's going to need a James Bond personality."

Calumet agreed. "This man is going to be operating in many different countries with widely varying cultures and value systems. He needs to be knowledgeable of those differences and be able to adjust to the subtle interpersonal changes which take place when he deals with varying social classes in these countries. Body language is different and protocol follows entirely different rules. A mistake in interpreting nuance can cause an international incident."

"Our man must have great historical knowledge," Shinn interjected, "and, if at all possible, have complete mastery of more than one of the common languages in Europe. It won't be necessary for him to know the native language of every country he visits, but it is important for Europeans to know that the person with whom they're dealing is a good linguist. To the typical educated European, the mastery of another country's language is the mark of an intelligent person. I would hope he will be conversant enough to switch languages if he were in an international situation such as a hotel or a casino."

The nodding approval of those around the table indicated they agreed with Shinn. Pittard had been taking all of this in and decided it was now time for him to join into the conversation. "We mentioned sophistication, but we didn't include the ability to stay calm and collected under pressure. I'm sure it was implied, but I want to be sure we all understand we're not sending this man on holiday with no implicit danger. If your little scam works, we are not sure how the Soviets will react. My guess is they will consider spiriting him away if they think he possesses information that is endangering their ideological revolution. To put it more bluntly, if we scare the hell out of them, your new super spy might get an unscheduled visit behind the Iron Curtain. If he does, will he blow the cover?" Pittard paused. "Chris, if this man disappears, then you will not want to believe anything the Soviets do for many months. If they crack him, and they will, they'll do exactly as you said, and try to turn the tables on us."

"You're right, Cicero." Cope replied. "This man is going to have to stay out of trouble. We must have him under more control than I first thought this morning. Not only will he need to be calm and collected, he's going to have to sense when his cover is blown and get the hell out. We'll pick him up and have him to safety in a matter of minutes, if he will use good judgment."

Womack was slightly impatient and becoming more interested and excited. He could not wait any longer and broke in as academics tend to do. "Respect! This person by his very position must gain respect. We're still an infant country in the eyes of Europeans. We call our president by his last name, but I guarantee you this will not be true in the countries where this man will be travelling. The professional position he holds now must command a level of respect which will open doors for him in Europe. It is also important for the KGB to buy the fact that we're entrusting our nation's most vital secrets to this unique person. Whomever you select must have achieved a high level position in his field to have garnered the level of respect he will need."

"Sounds like we need an ambassador,." Shinn added. "It would appear to be logical to place a person with ambassadorial competence, experience, and level of achievement into this trusted position."

Cope, listening quietly and considering all that was being said, responded, "Well, maybe we should seek an ambassador. If he fits our characteristics, then we'll get busy recruiting him."

George Calumet decided it was time for him to enter the conversation forcefully; after all, it was his plan originally. "This person is going to have to be well versed in science. I agree he needs to be sophisticated and make an impact.

Yes, he needs to be an obvious leader; but the aspect I'm the most concerned about relates to the knowledgeable impact he will make. I'm more inclined to think this person needs scientific accomplishment."

Shinn wanted back into the conversation. He had waited patiently, but the discussion was heating up and it became evident he was going to have to be aggressive to get to voice his ideas.

He almost blurted out, "Computers! He needs to know computers. Scientific accomplishment is one thing, but an expert in the use of computers today takes on an aura of being at the frontiers of knowledge. It gives one instant credentials. Everyone we'll schedule our Straw Man to talk with will have access to very powerful computers. While they personally may not write computer programs, they would be totally familiar with the computer's capabilities. An expert in this field would be a great advantage in carrying out the assignment we're going to give him."

Chris Cope had bided his time. He had stayed out of the discussion other than to make an occasional comment to reassure everyone he was still in control of the conversation. He wanted each of them to feel he was being attentive as they brainstormed and discussed the profile of the new operative for the Central Intelligence Agency. He wanted to keep himself in a judgmental position; consequently he was not being overly committed to any particular suggestion. So far there had been little said he could fault. He had selected good people for this meeting and they were right on track. As the conversation continued, a personality type was coming into focus for Chris. He had already realized this was not going to be an easy person to find. Even though the suggestion had been made and he had given some positive agreement to the idea. He had already ruled out ambassadors. While such a position did carry prestige, almost none of the other characteristics fit.

Cope suddenly asked the question, "What do you think he should look like?"

"I think he should be big, strong, and in excellent physical condition." Womack stated emphatically.

Pittard broke in. "Well, that leaves me out and I was hoping everyone here was describing me."

They all chuckled at Pittard's humorous remark.

"He can't be a young kid." Womack continued. "He must be old enough to convey wisdom and experience but not old enough to show deterioration. In the eyes of the Soviets, this shows weakness."

"Howard, why do you think he needs to be big and strong?" Cope asked.

"We're going to ask our new operative to meet with almost every conceivable personality type as we move him about the world. We need a confident, physically imposing person. Aggressiveness to make an impact would be counterproductive in this case. A person who is calm and self assured will speak volumes to the people with whom he comes in contact. I am visualizing a person who will comfortably fill a doorway when he comes through it."

"Do you mean we need a football or a basketball type, someone 6'6" or 6'8" and weighing 260 pounds?"

"No, that would be overdoing it. A huge person who towers over you makes you feel uncomfortable. In my judgment, a maximum size would be 6'3" or 6'4" and not under 6 feet.

Pittard looked up contemplating the physical appearance of their hypothetical man and asked "How much do you think he should weigh?"  

Cope joined with the comment, "Proportional, just so he looks proportional. As a rule of thumb I am guessing that 200 pounds would be a good target. Give or take a few pounds of course. We want this person to look good."

"Chris, do you have a personality type in mind? A Type A personality, or do you want someone more laid back?" Womack asked.

Cope grinned. "I think we need both. We need a Type A personality with the demeanor of Gregory Peck or Charlton Heston."

Womack returned the grin. "I think you're telling the truth. We're looking for a movie star type. We should sign Gregory Peck or Charlton Heston. They appear to have all of the characteristics we're looking for; at least they play those parts on the screen."

Reflecting for a moment, Cope said, "This person not only will to have to sell in Peoria but also Helsinki, Paris, Zurich, and Berlin. Most of all, he's going to have to win an academy award in Moscow! We need someone with the flexibility and demeanor to talk with prime ministers and still be able to move among street people without creating a certain awkwardness which can accompany persons of high rank. This person will need to have a dramatic personality and yet still have the good sense to know when to fold his tents and fade into the woodwork. We're talking good theatre. Perhaps he'll conceive himself as playing a part. But if he does, it will have to be his natural demeanor. Like Spencer Tracy, who played the same part in every movie?"

Michael Shinn had been carefully listening to the latest remarks. But his mind was already racing to topics not yet covered. "The KGB will run background checks on this person as soon as he surfaces. They will investigate his personal life, his professional life, anything to help them piece together a profile. It's important for this person to be well known in his community. We're not looking for a face in the crowd. We need someone with experience and verifiable accomplishments, both personal and professional. He must have shown leadership, perhaps as president of the Rotary club, or president of some national organization. The KGB is smart enough to know The United States government is not going to pick a guy named Joe off the street and entrust him with highly classified information when he has had no track record."

Cope agreed. "Mike, we are going to have to find someone who is well known enough to run for office and win. It sounds as if we are describing the president of a large corporation. He certainly must have had public exposure. Name recognition impresses local operatives. It makes their reports to Moscow convincing."

Cope continued. "I think we've done a remarkable job in describing the person to head this operation. Of course this person may not be easy to find. When you mention corporation presidents in the same breath with personal experience in operating computers, you are going in opposite directions. The reason highest ranking executives of companies do not have a computer terminals in their office are they don't know how to type. We will have a problem locating someone of the age we discussed who has taken time to master the computer. Most executives came along prior to the advent of the microcomputer and the only computers around during their early years were the large mainframes. The mainframes were run primarily by technicians, not by promising executives. Very few have any experience at all. An expert is a rare bird indeed."

Cope went on. "I also agree with you Mike, we're going to have to have someone who can establish instant credibility with the Soviets. They are well aware we wouldn't clear anyone to handle top secret information that hasn't proven ability to handle responsibility."

The conversation continued as each of the men speculated on the origin of a person who would be convincing both in palaces and in intelligence services. Then the conversation took a turn. The subject of courage came up.

"Folks," Womack emphasized, "this man is going to be talking to people who possess some of the sharpest minds anywhere. He's going to be talking to some of the most suspicious minds in the world. Our man is going to have to be endowed with a considerable supply of intestinal fortitude. He's going to go eyeball to eyeball with professional killers. Some of the people he will confront would prefer killing him to conversing with him. If he can't convince the KGB assassins he's for real, he's a dead man! That takes more than savoir-faire. That takes courage."

Michael Shinn chimed in. "While we hope this person doesn't do anything to get him in over his head, we know from experience the CIA has many missing operatives who have left no trace. It's my opinion he'll need to show the KGB he's as tough as they are. They must be convinced he's dangerous when cornered will kill if necessary. We can't put a weak personality in the field. It would be signing his death warrant. Then our whole operation would sink by its own dead weight."

Pittard reflected on these comments for a moment. "I think we're looking for someone who is an athlete--or certainly was an athlete. Such a person has many of the skills necessary for the job. They're entertainers in the broadest sense because they played in front of large crowds. I'm impressed at how easily great big lumbering football players become movie and TV actors. They do it rather easily and with a surprising amount of grace. Another important characteristic of someone who's played sports is that he knows the value of intimidation. When athletes come face to face in competition and look one another in the eye, the one who blinks first generally loses. That's an important lesson an athlete learns. The very demeanor of a good athlete will always exude lack of fear. His body language indicates that he's ready to be physically brutal if necessary. He's also prepared to sacrifice his body for a win."

Cope warmed to these comments. "Are you suggesting a professional athlete?"

"I doubt many professional athletes would possess the skills necessary, unless you think we could secure the services of Senator Bill Bradley or Representative Jack Kemp. I somehow doubt we'd be able to attract either of those for our clandestine operation!" Pittard replied.

"One thing puzzles me." said Womack. "It's my understanding our new operative is not going to have any direct connection with the CIA while he's in Europe. Is an operative traveling to every major city on the continent and not establishing contact with the United States going to make sense of the Soviets? This alone might allow them to see through the whole scheme. This person is going to have to develop some communication technique which allows him to report back to the United States often. The biggest problem he'll face is one of interception. Should the Soviets come into possession of one of his messages and it's not of consequence, the cover for the operation is blown anyway. Some of your CIA technical boys are going to have to give this some thought. You certainly can't have him picking up a public telephone and calling long distance to Washington!"

Calumet agreed with Womack. "This operative will not have contact with CIA agents in the field. Consequently, the only alternative is to set up a dummy receptor in the United States, probably in North Carolina. He needs a contact person and maybe even a network established to make his field reporting look plausible. This task will test his creativeness. The KGB will be on his communication transmissions like a duck on a June bug.

Pittard agreed, "I think you're right. But if we find someone meeting most of the characteristics in the profile we're creating, then this person will have a staff which will act as this network. It may be necessary for the CIA to establish a secure line, but it would be better if he were ingenious enough to develop the system himself."

Chris Cope rejoined the conversation. "While we were talking about Bradley and Kemp, it struck me rather forcefully that we must find someone who can give us the time we need. We're not offering him a full-time job. This whole operation shouldn't take more than two months. Consequently, we're going to have to find someone who can get away from his job for a period of time and still be welcomed back without too many questions. This could pose a serious problem for us."

Pittard agreed with a quick nod of his head. He was interested in another facet of this man's background. He looked at Cope. "Should the man come from any particular section of the country?"

He followed with a second question without waiting for the first to be answered, "Where are we most likely to find someone meeting these exclusive qualifications?"

George Calumet took it upon himself to answer the questions posed by Pittard. "Let me make a suggestion. My plan was to move our man around the military bases and sensitive installations in North Carolina. I think it would be of substantive benefit if the person were from North Carolina or at least have some North Carolina connection. When I first thought of a North Carolinian heading this operation it had not occurred to me we were going to make the qualifications as restrictive as we've done tonight. It might not be possible to find someone down there who can handle the job as we're now defining it. George continued, "If we do find someone prominent within the state who already knows the base commanders of the various military installations and the heads of the research labs in the Research Triangle Park, his ability to trade on these ' Tobacco Road Connections' would make this first phase of the operation go much smoother."

"The ' good ole boy' network is the way you get things done down in Dixie. It would be a great plus if the person had already been a visitor on these bases, even if the event had been social. I'd like for us to center the operation in North Carolina. It would give the KGB something new to think about. Then if our operative were from this area his background knowledge would be truthful and factual. Anyone talking to this operative in Europe would be interrogating someone who does possess detailed information on the area. This would sell in Peoria, but best of all, inside the KGB."

Chris Cope looked around the table slowly catching each man's gaze. "Have we narrowed the qualifications too much?"

Without waiting for an answer he followed with, "Do you think there's anyone out there possessing all these qualifications?"

Womack answered quickly, "All you can do is try. What about those fancy data bases you have in those big mainframes of yours? Can't you enter a set of parameters and have this man assembled and spring forth full grown and ready to go to war?"

He paused. "I'm serious. Is it possible to have your computer picking the man for us?"

Cope, calmed his voice down and spoke in a very deliberate fashion, "The boys with the computers can accomplish some marvelous results with their research programs and data bases, but I've come to another conclusion as to how we locate this person."

He went on. "I don't think there's an ambassador who will fill the qualifications. Yes, I think a Bill Bradley or a Jack Kemp could handle this job nicely, but we're not going find two like them very often in public service. Bradley and Kemp have other characteristics which moved my mind to the academic world. I think we're most likely to find a person with this breadth of knowledge on a university campus. I know three of us at this table have spent most of their professional lives in the halls of academe. I could rightfully be accused of having a prejudiced point of view. I want an honest assessment from everyone at this table."

Womack let his eyes roll back slightly, raised his gaze above Chris Cope's head, and glanced at the south wall of the dining room. "Chris, you're probably right. A university campus is our best bet."

The other three tablemates echoed Cope's assessments, and it appeared the matter was now settled. It was now an assumption the CIA would search for an academic type to fit the agreed profile. He would then be sent to Europe to front a bogus operation as a Straw Man.

Pittard looked directly at Chris Cope. "Chris, are you going to use the computers to locate our man?"

The answer from Cope was quick and firm, "No, I have something else in mind I think is better."

"Is it classified information or can you share it with two school teachers?" Womack asked.

"Yes it is classified, but I'll share it with the two of you."

There was a brief pause and Cope went on, "There're no free lunches. In my judgment, the two best people in the world to find this person are sitting right here at this table."

He looked directly at Pittard and then Womack. "I want the two of you to go to North Carolina and see if Indiana Jones does exist."

There were a few minutes of concluding conversation. Cope paid the bill with an American Express Gold Card and the group adjourned down the narrow set of stairs. At the doorway they bade each other farewell and went in separate directions to search for their automobiles.

At this moment there was someone in North Carolina turning off his Compaq 386 portable computer after completing work on a new graphics package he was designing. He had no way of knowing his life would change dramatically in the near future, and he would never be the same again.

8:00 a.m. Friday, April 22, 1987

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Morehead Conference Room

University of North Carolina

Many still call Chapel Hill a village; even though, by any standard of measure today, it would qualify as a small bustling city. The University alone has more than 20,000 students, and when the professors, doctors, nurses, and staff at the medical school are included, the figure rises to 30,000. Since there are more than 25,000 permanent residents in the city community, the term village would not be apropos to a census taker. Nevertheless, its residents view it as a village, and Chapel Hill continues to be one of the most idyllic communities in the United States.

Chapel Hill provides the perfect university setting. The economy is built around the University of North Carolina. The University is steeped in tradition, and proudly proclaims itself as being the first state university founded in the United States. The age of the institution is approaching 200 years, making it a true eighteenth century university. The campus of the University of North Carolina is one of the most beautiful anywhere in the United States. Kenan Stadium, the gridiron where the Tar Heels play football, is nestled among towering pines encircling the stadium. All entrances for the spectators require a walk on paths through this beautiful stand of pine trees before entering the admission gates. The character of this institution is unmatched by any other public university. The affection for the University by the citizens of the state makes it more like some of the great private universities of the world. It is truly a special institution.

The Morehead Building, located on the campus of the University of North Carolina, is set back 200 yards from Franklin Street. This street is the main artery through Chapel Hill, with as many of the restaurants and retail stores locating near the university as possible. One half of the Morehead Building is a planetarium. The other half of the building has the atmosphere of a private club.

Inside are meeting rooms, ball rooms, and conference rooms, all decorated with a splendor not commonly associated with state universities? The Morehead Building, however, can justify its existence and its opulence due to the generosity of the donor for whom the building is named.

The conference room in the Morehead Building assigned to Pittard and Womack could in no way be compared to the conference room in the CIA headquarters. The conference room in the Morehead Building was beautifully decorated in the most tasteful way. The casual observer would quickly deduce that money had been no object in the design and decorating of this room. The furniture was the finest North Carolina craftsmen could produce. The pictures on the wall were original oil paintings, and the paneling encircling the room was two inches thick, evident from the beveling of the panels.

The general public is not admitted to the Morehead Building. These facilities are used only for special occasions, and anyone invited as a guest to the Morehead should consider him or her fortunate.

Pittard and Womack were able to use the conference room because of the relationship between Cicero Pittard and the director of the Morehead Foundation. Pittard and the director of the foundation had been graduate students together while attending the University of Michigan. It was this past friendship which had been continued and cultivated over the intervening twenty years that allowed entrance to these sacrosanct facilities.

In true academic fashion, both men were seated at opposite ends of the conference table with briefcases open and papers neatly scattered about in small piles.

Pittard remarked to Womack, "This task proved to be much easier than I thought it would. Everyone I asked for a list of names, no matter what the subject, included Nat Turner."

"I had the same experience," replied Womack. "If we talked about science, Nat Turner's name would come up. If we talked about art, Nat Turner's name would be mentioned. If we talked about community or statewide involvement, Nat's name was always on the list."

Pittard made an interesting observation. “North Carolina is a different state from any I have ever visited. The residents of North Carolina view themselves as citizens of the state, as opposed to being citizens of the community or of some small geographical section. I've never found a place where the movers and shakers in the state all know each other on a first-name basis. Here you can pick up the phone and call presidents of large industries or presidents of large universities and have the secretary put them right through if they're available. It was amazing to me I could walk into a university president's office and not only would he talk openly with me, but make calls to department heads and bank executives to check details. I'd like to live in North Carolina. It's the most free and open society that I have experienced."

Womack nodded his head in agreement.

Pittard continued. "Let's jot down for Chris Cope's benefit the places we've been."

They listed:

The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, and Davidson College in Davidson.

They further listed:

Wachovia Bank's home office in Winston-Salem, Wachovia Bank's regional office in Raleigh,

North Carolina National Bank's home office in Charlotte, North Carolina National Bank's regional office in Raleigh, First Union Bank's home office in Charlotte, First Union National Bank's regional office in Raleigh.

They continued to list:

North Carolina Association of Business and Industry in Raleigh,

The Independent College Fund Office in Winston-Salem,

The North Carolina Association of Independent Colleges and Universities' office in Raleigh,

The North Carolina Association of Colleges and Universities office in Raleigh,

Also listed were four research laboratories in the Research Triangle Park:

Hercules Research Laboratory,

TRW Research Laboratory,

Laser Optics Research Laboratory

The Environmental Protection Agency's research lab.

The investigation had taken a week. Pittard and Womack had made their headquarters in Chapel Hill where they had the use of the University's conference room in the Morehead Building. The director of the Morehead Foundation had been thoughtful enough and provided them adequate secretarial assistance. They both thought it would be helpful to use a computer generated data base in sorting the information they collected. However, the name Nat Turner came to the top so often; they stopped using the data base and concentrated on collecting information on this unique individual.

The dossier they compiled from their visits and telephone calls across the state was prepared included the following notations:

Name: Dr. Nathaniel E. Turner

Age: 48 years

Height: 6 feet, 3 inches

Weight: 195 pounds

Occupation: President, Cameron College, Raleigh, North Carolina

Personal characteristics:

Intelligent, analytical mind

Photographic memory

Thinks backward in solving problems

Trivia expert

Authority in computer programming

President of small computer Software Company

Computer graphics expert

Specialist in the field of Kirlian photography

Expert in the field of holography

Lectures on the origin of the universe Lectures on Leakey's discoveries

President of many civic and professional organizations

Award-winning photographer

Lover of music

Exceptional athlete

Low handicap golfer

Excellent skier

Mountain climber

Linguist, speaks both French and German fluently

Traveled extensively, particularly in Europe, South Pacific and Asia, Safaris into Kenya and Tanzania

Visited Russia within the last two years

For the rest of the day, Pittard and Womack worked on the dossier. They rearranged the material, added notations, and inserted comments garnered from professional associates throughout the state. Finally in the late afternoon, they had the report ready for Chris Cope. The report was brilliantly worded; it had been crafted by two outstanding academicians with training both in science and political science.

Both men pronounced approval of the report to be sent to Cope and moved across campus to the computer center operated by the School of Business. The director of the Morehead Foundation had made arrangements for Womack and Pittard to use the facsimile machine located in the School of Business to transmit their written report directly to the desk of Deputy Director Christopher Cope. After arriving at the School of Business, they dialed the security number given by Cope and talked to him briefly. Both placed their telephone into the cradle provided by the fax machines, and the report was copied digitally, changed to analog, and sent across the telephone lines to the CIA headquarters. Here the report was reproduced on the Fax machine located in Cope's office. Within a matter of seconds, Cope had the full report prepared by Pittard and Womack. At the end of the report was a concluding paragraph noting both men were staying in the Hotel Europa located in Chapel Hill. They were going to have dinner together at 8:00 p.m. and would be back in their suite by 10:00 p.m. If there were further instructions, they would be available then.

After properly thanking the dean of the School of Business for the use of his Fax machine, they returned to the Hotel Europa. This hotel, while located in Chapel Hill, prides itself on pampering its residents in a European manner. The food is renowned and the accommodations outstanding. Pittard and Womack had rented a suite to use during their week in Chapel Hill. They returned to their suite, leisurely took baths, dressed, and returned to the drawing room of the suite. Both men, being of simple taste, poured themselves a stiff Jack Daniels on the rocks. They sat back to discuss their week's work and relax before claiming their reservation in the dining room downstairs.

A few minutes before 8:00, they descended to the continental dining room and treated themselves to the rack of lamb. The rack was brought to them on a silver cart with each of the ribs adorned by a small paper cap. These marched proudly across the lamb as if they were a team of chefs properly presenting the feature of the house. The lamb was carved and served with a flourish. The center of each chop was pink, and the aroma set the taste buds on edge. Both men reflected this was a fitting way to finish a week's work. By 10:00 they were back in their suite wondering if they were going to receive a call from Deputy Director Cope.

In CIA headquarters Cope, Calumet and Shinn had thoroughly studied the dossier. They divided assignments and went to their various sections to set CIA machinery in motion. A common goal was to see how much they could discover about Nat Turner in the next four hours. Assignments were made to their subordinates. Computer data bases were searched, telephone calls made agents in North Carolina given assignments. By 9:00 p.m. the three men had the information they needed relating to Nat Turner. The information was synthesized and dictated into a final report to be shared with each other. At 9:45 p.m. they were summoned back to Chris Cope's office to report their findings.

Chris Cope took charge immediately. He first turned to Calumet, "George, how did he check out?"

"Everything I've been able to uncover has been very positive. We've been able to verify most of the items included in the report by Pittard and Womack. It was amazing how closely he fit the characteristics we discussed in the restaurant in Fells Point."

"Is there any down side?"

George Calumet screwed up his face slightly and said, "Well, not a total down side, but he is highly independent. He's been the president of a college a long time and prior to that he was vice-president of a state university. He has had great latitude in all he's done throughout his career. When he makes up his mind he's difficult to dissuade. He definitely goes in his own direction."

Cope turned to Shinn, "What did you find out Mike?"

Mike was crisp and to the point, "Everything checks out. Contacts were all positive. There is absolutely nothing negative. He is well known in the area and as he moves about Eastern North Carolina, he'll be easy to identify."

Cope came back at Shinn, "Mike, do you have any reservations?"

Shinn, cautiously but very firmly said, "Yes I do. He's a college president. I wasn't expecting a college president. I was expecting a dynamic associate professor in anthropology with a wide range of knowledge and a great interest in science. Somehow, this administrative type worries me."

Cope eased off. "Mike, he worries me too. He's almost too good to be true. He's a character out a book. Nobody should be an authority on computers, an artist, tramp over Leakey's diggings, talk about the origin of the universe, play low handicap golf, climb mountains, sleep four hours at night and always be up in the morning looking for new challenges to be conquered."

Calumet came back into the conversation and said, "I agree with both of you. This air of independence and almost-too-good-to-be-true set of credentials indicate to me he will be hard to control. It's my guess if we select him for the job, he would not only do everything we direct him to do, but he'll start viewing himself as another James Bond. Yes, I think he could fool the KGB. We have the man to do this. His academic credentials will impress the prime minister of England and the head of MI6. Mossad will go crazy over him. They'll probably try to hire him. This independent personality is the type the French think should populate the earth. I believe everybody will love him other than the CIA."

Cope reflected on these thoughts, considered his own slightly negative thinking, and knew decision time was here. Another thought ran through his mind, Pittard and Womack were sitting in Chapel Hill, North Carolina awaiting a phone call. They were both backing Nat Turner completely and unequivocally. They presented Turner in their report as the greatest thing since sliced bread and were waiting for permission to go talk with this academician. They had become enamored with him while working up the details of the dossier.

Another thought ran through Cope's mind, "I must remember I sent two academicians to find an academician. Yes, they're going to be impressed with the true Renaissance man. They'll like his independence and determination. A person with Nat Turner's personality fits beautifully on a college campus. It's apparent why he moved rapidly through the academic ranks and became a college president in his mid-thirties. But independence does not always work well in a covert operation."

Cope knew this, and he realized there was a nagging doubt in his mind concerning Nat Turner. He, like Pittard and Womack, was impressed with Turner's credentials, but would he stay in harness? It was imperative he perform the duties assigned without the CIA having to make contact with him once he was in the field.

Yes, decision making time was here and it was Chris Cope's decision. The conclusion was obvious. Pittard and Womack had no one else. They had a few other names but, in their judgment, Nat Turner stood out head and shoulders above all the rest. Consequently, he was their choice.

Chris Cope had one other problem. The problem was he. He, too, was an academic. He, too, had trouble staying within the harness of the CIA. But he had become a brilliant intelligence officer.

Chris thought to himself, "Turner is exactly the kind of person I would be if I worked in the field. Of course, I'm selecting Turner. The CIA needs more Turners than we have. I can understand why Mike Shinn and George Calumet worry about the Nat Turners of the world. They were brought up under strict discipline and have learned to obey orders. Both have done an outstanding job. Their accomplishments moved them right through the CIA until they became heads of their respective sections. However, they realized for this particular assignment, the independence, creativity and the ingenuity possessed by Nat Turner could not be found anywhere other than the academic world."

Chris Cope reached for the telephone making a mental note to begin looking for more Nat Turners.

9:00 a.m. Monday, May 2, 1987

Raleigh, North Carolina

Office of the President

Cameron College

Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina, is located in the piedmont section on the edge of the coastal plain. The Atlantic Ocean is both due east, southeast and south of Raleigh. Were one to draw a line due south from the Capital City it would intersect Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Gulf Stream moves north up the exposed flank of North Carolina distanced approximately thirty miles off shore. It turns abruptly out to sea when it reaches Cape Hatteras. The winds from the Gulf Stream sweep across Eastern North Carolina providing Raleigh a pleasant moderate climate. The temperature, even in the dead of winter, seldom reaches zero, and a heat wave during summer will rarely exceed 100 degrees.

Raleigh is at home with education, with six colleges and universities within its city limits and other major educational facilities located within a twenty-five mile radius. The state capital and all of its branches of government are located in the downtown area. Raleigh would be considered a white collar city, with an ambience thoroughly enjoyed by its residents. Its citizens prefer to talk about the way the city used to be rather than dreaming about growth and expansion.

One mile due west of the state capitol, on Hillsborough Street, the business route of Highway 1, is located North Carolina State University. This university is a leading technical and agricultural school. Its science and engineering facilities have an international reputation, and its basketball team has won two national championships within the last fifteen years.

Raleigh has a strong financial flavor. North Carolina has several financial institutions recognized for their strength and aggressiveness located in the city. The State of North Carolina was one of the first in the country to allow statewide banking. Even the national banks were allowed to merge or start branches in virtually every community and hamlet throughout the state. Consequently the assets of these financial institutions run into the billions. This approach to banking was allowed well in advance of most other states. The banks are one of the cohesive units of North Carolina. The bank executives tend to be involved in the warp and woof of the communities where the banks are located. If information is needed about a citizen, a bank executive would be a good resource for information.

Also located in Raleigh is Cameron College, a strong, vigorous liberal arts college. The institution has a reputation for academic excellence. The college is located near the city limits on a 250 acre campus of renowned beauty. A double lane drive proceeds 2000 feet through landscaped grounds to the administration building. An amphitheater, with seating capacity of 2500, has as its background a beautiful lake with a stage as an island within the lake. A twenty-five foot moat separates the island from the seating area of the amphitheatre. On west campus stands a 30,000 seat football stadium, the home of the Fighting Highlanders.

On the second floor of the administration building, just off an impressive rotunda, is the president's office. This, office much like the Morehead Building in Chapel Hill, is not typical of most college presidents offices. It is large, spacious, and beautifully decorated. There is a professional touch in every aspect of decor. The paintings are authentic, the furniture is large but in good taste, and the carpet is of highest quality. The subtle touches in the office reflect its inhibitor. While not placed to draw attention, there are carvings or replicas of at least twenty animals in this one room, reflecting the president's love of nature.

A high fidelity stereo system plays music softly in the background. The wall hangings represent various periods, and the only reproductions are those of da Vinci, Wyeth, and Toulouse Lautrec. The furniture includes a sofa, two wing back chairs, a circular table surrounded by four leather, brass studded wooden chairs of sturdy variety. A massive executive desk with large executive chair is reinforced from behind with a beautiful North Carolina-made credenza. Two antique tables, topped with antique lamps, add to the relaxed atmosphere and feeling of well-being one senses upon entering.

The inhabitant of this masculine lair is the president of the institution, Dr. Nathaniel Turner, whom most people describe as "easy in his skin." As a 6'3" 200 pounder, Nat presents a relaxed and warm countenance that encourages one to talk readily and easily. Conversation with Nat generally is satisfying. Both parties find they have a lot to say to each other, and most visitors upon exit generally agree they have just participated in a worthwhile exchange. This easy going southern touch, however, can be deceiving. Nat has been the driving force that has moved the institution to the top of the liberal arts colleges in the country. One other characteristic of Nat is his clean desk. One will never visit Nat unexpectedly and find papers scattered around the office. He has incredible drive bordering on compulsion to get his work done and moving. He has proclaimed his intention never to be a bottleneck of any work. Beyond Nat's private office, however, the picture changes dramatically. While the total office complex is well decorated and shows excellent taste in decor and furniture, the scene is much more business-like. Each room is dominated by microcomputers. Every member of the staff has an IBM personal computer of some variety. One secretary has an IBM System 2 Model 30. Another of the secretaries has an IBM AT with a 40 Meg hard disk.

The female assistant to Nat Turner is Dr. Nancy Carroll. Dr. Carroll presides over the IBM System 2, Model 80 twin computers in her office. Her training is in mathematics and chemistry, through post graduate work she has an additional degree in computer science. All the computers in the office are connected by a local area network.

Pittard and Womack were ushered into President Nat Turner's office by his secretary, a friendly and charming young lady, whose mother obviously believed in the traditions of the old south. There was no mistaking the southern accent nor the southern hospitality. It appeared there was no way you could visit with President Nat Turner unless you took a cup of coffee in with you.

The first impression of Nat Turner was striking. He had an athletic build with no trace of paunch around the middle to belie his age. This man kept himself in top physical condition. The office was striking and the desk was absolutely clean not one paper was left unattended. The friendliness, the southern accent, the genuine hospitality being extended was just as evident in the president's office as it had been by the president's secretary. Openness and forthrightness appeared to be the golden thread pervading all of the staff surrounding Nat Turner. The bright eyes and the attentive expression immediately suggested this was a person who could be trusted. It was amazing to both Pittard and Womack how a simple introduction appeared to turn the three of them into close friends. President Turner instructed both men in a friendly manner to relax in the wing chairs flanking one of the antique tables. He pulled a blue leather chair from around a circular conference table on the north wall and positioned it between the two men at a distance of about six feet. The chairs were now placed in an equilateral triangle.

Nat went through an explanation as to why he liked to have his back to the telephone when he was in conference. In an earlier office he had a telephone system with five buttons denoting four outside lines and an intercom system behind his desk. On occasions when he was visiting with a guest in his office, the four outside lines would light and begin to blink, becoming distracting to him. He laughed and said, "It distracted me and made him wonder what on earth was going on." So consequently, he decided if his back were to the telephone, he would never worry about the buttons lighting up.

He also volunteered the information that the telephone system at Cameron College was new. It was a Northern Telecom SL-1 Digital Switch. This new digital telephone system allowed for inter-campus data transfer and enabled computers to communicate anywhere there were telephone wires. The trunk lines going to and from the campus were made of optical fiber and the long distance service the college subscribed to was of optical fiber. President Turner appeared to take great delight in talking about this rather mundane, but scientific, aspect of his telephone system.

Only in the South would two strangers be greeted by a college president and included in household conversation. It was delightful both to Pittard and Womack. This off-handed conversation tended to draw the men closer to Nat Turner in an intimate sort of way. Both visitors were witnessing a man with great skill in selling himself to strangers. The technique was simple. He treated them as if they had known each other a long time and would be interested in this small technical facet of the college's operation. The man was totally genuine.

After some opening remarks, Pittard thought it was time to get down to business. Nat Turner had an open and approachable personality, so Pittard opted to be direct. He decided there was no way to deceive Turner. To approach him, one must lay one's cards on the table and see what happens. Pittard decided if he attempted some psychological ploy, it wouldn't work, and it could rupture the rapport already established between the men.

Pittard started his conversation. "Womack and I represent the Central Intelligence Agency. Neither of us work for the Agency and after we complete this assignment, we will return to our respective campuses. We have assumed the responsibility of this assignment because of a personal friendship with the Deputy Director of the agency who is also a former academic."

Pittard described the problem the CIA faced in identifying new intelligence agents being placed in Europe. He outlined the plan conceived by Calumet, the head of the Eastern European section of the CIA, to uncover these new agents. At this point, Pittard began to appeal to Nat Turner's vanity. He explained the nature of their assignment, and why they wanted the new bogus operative to come from North Carolina. Pittard went into detail relating the method they had used for selection. He indicated the names of persons spoken to in the preparation of the lists they had made. He explained that seven lists were compiled. One list had been of the most highly respected educators in North Carolina. Another list included those educators most closely associated with the arts in the state. Another list contained the names of educators of genuine scientific accomplishment. On a fourth list were educators actively involved in local civic and state wide activities? A fifth list contained authorities in the use of computer hardware who have the ability to program computers. A sixth list was one of people considered to be genuinely successful. The seventh and last list was one including educators for whom people would like to work. At this time,

Pittard told Nat his name had appeared on every list. Sometimes, it was near the top, sometimes not, but it was always within the top ten. After spending almost thirty minutes describing their work during the previous week, it was time to draw Nat into the conversation. Pittard, sensing President Turner as a man of genuine good humor, opened his final ploy with the comment, "Like the IRS man, I have come to help you. We would like to discuss the possibility of you becoming our Straw Man."

Womack had waited patiently while Pittard outlined the activities that had brought them up to this point. At this time he launched into the conversation on a first name basis.

"Nat, after your name appeared on all of the lists Cicero mentioned, we immediately contacted the head of the CIA in the Raleigh office. We asked him for certain detailed information relating to the characteristics we discussed in Baltimore. The two of us spent Thursday and Friday checking with business men and educators across the state. We verified one characteristic after the other. If we had spent a week getting to know you and then drew a set of characteristics describing you as a person and then compared them with the profile we had in mind, the correlation would have been 1.0. We could spend two years looking for someone else to fit the characteristics and never come up with the match we have found in you."

Nat was not displeased with this turn in the conversation. He was interested, but he had not been landed yet. He had some questions to ask. Both Pittard and Womack had the distinct feeling the handling of the answers to his questions would determine his decision, neither wanted to fumble the ball. They were not interested in starting all over with their search.

"How long will I be involved in this operation?" Nat asked.

"No more than two months. I would suggest starting immediately after your graduation ceremonies and returning in July."

Nat mulled over the possibility of spending his summer traveling about Europe. This appealed to him. The adrenaline began to pump into his system. He felt the edge of excitement move into his body as he contemplated a new game he had never played.

Turner looked Pittard directly in the eyes. "I'm surprised at your going to the academic community to find an operative for the CIA. Academics are liberal. You're not going to find many who would work for the CIA.

Pittard grinned. "We checked your friends. We asked about your golf partners. We noted you belong to two country clubs. The people you associate with off campus are highly respected but conservative business men. We interpreted these friendships as meaning you were at least middle-of-the-road politically and did not view the business community negatively. We also found out you love your country. You value the traditional ideals of American democracy. How our CIA friends found this out for us, I'll never know. In our judgment at least, this puts you in the same category with the two of us, which is good enough for the CIA."

"What on earth would make you think I'd be the least bit interested in becoming a spy, bogus or not?"

"It's your lifestyle.” Womack answered rather bluntly. "You own a BMW 2002, a BMW 635, and a SAAB 9000. There isn't a family sedan among those three. They are race cars. Any of the three could run close to 150 miles per hour on a track such as Talladega. Those are not automobiles typically used to chauffeur little old ladies and prospective donors to concerts."

Pittard joined in. "Your sporting background and your continued involvement in athletic pursuits, we think are an insight into your personality. You golf, ski, climb mountains, hike, white-water raft, and have an avid interest in Redskin football. These activities do not suggest one curled up with a book in front of the fire on Sunday afternoon sipping a glass of sherry."

"Sitting here talking with you," Womack commented, "I notice a calm outward demeanor, but I also detect a tremendous reservoir of pent-up energy looking for new fields to conquer. The work you have done pushing this college to the forefront of education, indicates a strong individual drive. We heard you keep a clean desk. This has been verified this morning. It indicates to us a person who comes to work and sets himself to accomplishing the task at hand without diversion."

"If I accept this two month assignment, how will it be financed?" "A Swiss bank account will be established for you. You'll carry Swiss currency and Swiss traveler’s checks in addition to American dollars. I can assure you the CIA will be generous. You will live in a sufficient style, staying in the better hotels, eating in the best restaurants."

"Who will be my contact person? With whom will I communicate?"

Womack answered. "No one once you're in the field. Remember CIA operatives will be watching you all the time if you follow the proscribed itinerary. Their job, of course, will be primarily to detect Soviet agents. But, they will be shadowing you as closely as the KGB. You'll need to communicate with someone back in Raleigh. Transmissions will need to be made almost every day. The KGB would become suspicious if you're not in contact with your home base."

"I can devise a way to stay in touch with my office," Nat said as he warmed to the prospect.

"You know your conversations will be intercepted. The Soviets have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to monitor conversations. Scramblers are not entirely safe anymore."

Nat shrugged his shoulders slightly and said, "Mine won't."

Pittard, with his scientific background, was obviously interested. He decided to use this interest in presenting the challenge for Not to outwit the KGB.

"What on earth would you do Nat, to keep your conversations from being monitored?"

"Cicero, you're beginning to punch my button now. There isn't anything in the world more fascinating to me more than problem solving. This is a possible solution. I have a Compaq 386 portable computer, which operates at 20 MHZ.

There are no faster operating personal computers. I will work with my assistant, Nancy Carroll, in setting up a procedure to allow my Compaq 386 to communicate with her IBM System 2 Model 80. They have compatible architecture. The optical fiber trunk lines and the SL-1 digital switch will be important to the security of this transmission. All transmitted information will be digital and not delayed by converting it to analog and back to digital. When I call from Europe, I will specify US Sprint or Southern Net. Each of these long distance networks uses optical fiber. I will prepare messages to transmit back to my office on the Compaq computer in the form of computer programs."

"After the messages are written, I'll compile them into assembly language. Have you followed me up to this point?"

Pittard nodded.

"I'm going now to write a batch file to copy each individual program into a separate directory on the System 2 Model 80 back at my office. At the end of the batch file, I'll give an instruction to erase the batch file. This will leave no record of the messages I have sent. Nancy Carroll and I will agree on the names of the directories before I leave. They will be a secret between the two of us."

"She will immediately create these directories. I will then execute the batch file. The file would direct these programs to be copied into the appropriate directories back in Raleigh. All of this is in assembly language, and the copying of these Programs would take a second or two at the most. Even if they were intercepted, they would be nothing but blips on a screen. The Soviets with all their hundreds of millions of dollars spent on penetration and interception could not decipher these messages.

Pittard's eyes became wide. "Nat, that's brilliant. You're using the disk operating system "copy" command to separate the assembly language programs and then copying them to a prescribed directory known only to you and your assistant. We may teach the Soviets and the CIA a new method of communicating. The use of your batch file to erase your compiled programs is equally as clever."

Nat moved to another question. "Will they let me portray this character as if I worked for the CIA? Will I have flexibility, latitude, and freedom of movement?"

"Well, I don't know." Womack replied hesitatingly, narrowing his eyes. "They're going to want you to play it fairly straight. I know for a fact if you freelance you'll going to lose your protection. If they don't know where you're going to be, then you're not going to be protected."

"Howard, I like the idea of visiting the universities in these cities. KGB agents walking down ivy covered halls would stand out like sore thumbs. It is also an excellent opportunity for me to educate myself by conferring with their best scientists. This could be a nice businessman's holiday for me and it would drive the Soviets crazy. They hate uncontrolled academics."

"Yes, Nat, your credentials will get you in any president's, chancellors, or professor's office in Europe. It's a stroke of genius to have someone from the academic community head this operation. I'd love to be doing the same thing you are planning to do --ducking in and out of offices, having conferences with outstanding people and making the Soviets wonder what on earth you are talking about."

"Will I have contacts in Europe with the CIA?"

Pittard answered with a firm "No."

"Will I carry a gun?"

Pittard answered with a firm "No."

"What if things get rough, will I get backup?"

"How rough do you plan to get?" inquired Pittard.

"I hope I don't get rough at all, but I know from past experience, I can have knee jerk reactions when pushed to the wall."

"It's your job to detect Soviet agents, nothing else. Stay away from the rough stuff." Womack warned.

"I will if I can," responded Turner.

Both Pittard and Womack realized Turner was talking as if he had accepted the job.

"Once again, will this be a well financed operation?"

"Absolutely," Womack assured him. Nat shrugged his shoulders, smiled and said, "Okay, count me in. I'll have to talk with the chairman of my board of trustees and tell him I'll be gone for two months. Studying European institutions will be reason enough."

Nat then said "Let's set a date. We graduate on Sunday, the 15th."

Pittard said "Fine, we'll start on the sixteenth. Fort Bragg will be your first stop. Do you want us to drive you down? It's only sixty-five miles."

"No, have me picked up in a Fort Bragg helicopter. That will impress my faculty and students. General Chambers has used the Cameron campus from time to time when he's flown to Raleigh. This would not be the first time the helicopter has landed here."

"I'll see if it can be arranged." Pittard replied.

8:00 a.m. May 16, 1987

Raleigh, North Carolina

Campus of Cameron College

The campus of Cameron College is bordered on the west by the Benson and Bradshaw highway which completely encircles Raleigh. Near this highway is the memorial football stadium. Graduation had been held the day before in the amphitheater, and the graduating students had departed from the campus looking for the wonderful tomorrows promised by the graduation speaker. The faculties of Cameron College were taking a well-deserved break and were nowhere to be seen. The day after graduation is one of the quietest days on a college campus. The administrators of the college who continue to work during the break between the end of school and the beginning of the summer session were safely in their offices. Even the grounds crews, who are usually evident on campus, were not in sight on this morning. The director of buildings and grounds had focused on having the campus brought to perfection for graduation day. The grass was freshly cut, the gardens were worked, and the shrubbery was freshly trimmed. After working to a fever pitch the week before, the grounds' crew was relaxing, and they too were enjoying a well-earned rest.

Precisely at 9:00 a.m. on this beautiful late-spring morning, with only an occasional fluffy white cloud giving relief to the vast blue sky, a shadow appeared over the Cameron College campus. As the shadow grew larger, an accompanying crescendo of noise descended, and as slowly as a giant sea bird, the AH-64 Apache helicopter landed softly near the large stadium. Touchdown was at 9:00 a.m. plus thirty seconds. Major Bailey, the personal pilot of General Edgar Chambers, base commander of Fort Bragg, was assigned to appear on the Cameron College campus at 9:00. The military precision to which he was accustomed made him gauge his arrival according to orders. Accompanying Major Bailey on the helicopter was George Calumet, Head of the Eastern European Section of the CIA. Calumet had flown into Fayetteville, North Carolina the day before and had spent much of the afternoon in conference with General Chambers.

Also, precisely at 9:00 a.m., a black Saab 9000 Turbo drove across the parking lot and braked fifty paces from the descending helicopter. Brief instructions were given to the driver and with head bowed Nat preceded briskly toward the opening door of the helicopter.

Nat was amused with himself for bowing his head and moving at such a brisk pace. He had seen this some posture on television hundreds of times before. The rotating propellers blades were high above, and no risk of decapitation was present even if one were to walk bolt upright. He had assured himself he would not succumb to the psychological ploy of ducking under the rotating propeller blades. Yet here he was, ducking his head.

Nat was helped aboard by George Calumet and the door was quickly closed. As animated greetings were exchanged between Nat and the pilot, Major Bailey, the helicopter started a dramatic rise upward. At the same time the great turbo engines started moving the wingless insect forward. Bailey turned to Turner. "Would you like to fly over of the campus?"

This comment interrupted a final wave toward the Saab and Turner replied, "I'd enjoy that."

As the helicopter moved to an altitude of 300 feet, carefully circumnavigating the large smokestack located near the boilers on the rear of the campus, Nat noticed the small flag firmly attached to the outside of the helicopter. A smile spread across his face as he realized he was being ferried to Fort Bragg on General Chambers' personal helicopter, being flown by General Chambers' personal pilot. The helicopter moved to the east campus and flew over the amphitheater and lake. The open fields provided a rural setting for the campus even though it was well within the confines of the city limits of Raleigh. Turner's eyes were diverted to the white dome of the administration building, and he was impressed with the symmetrical layout of the thirty buildings which provided home and instructional facilities for the Cameron College students.

Major Bailey provided a bonus for Turner as he made two complete passes over the campus at a low level and then took the helicopter straight up to 2000 feet and hovered briefly, letting Turner drink in the beauty of the school he loved so much.

At this point, Turner looked down and noticed the Saab had safely arrived in its appointed parking place in front of the administration building; the helicopter began to pick up speed and moved south southwest toward Fayetteville, North Carolina and the general environs of Fort Bragg. As the helicopter gained altitude, and headed toward its appointed destination, Turner's was struck with the beauty of North Carolina. The sand hills of the coastal plain were clearly evident as the floor of this ancient sea was now proudly producing great white pines and oak trees of every description. Nat, for some reason, recalled an occurrence ten years ago. An alumna of Cameron, who graduated in 1923, wanted to plant 23 different kinds of oak trees on the campus in a small grove. Nat laughed recalling that he did not know there were twenty-three kinds of oak trees. But, nevertheless, the Forestry Division of North Carolina State University helped his grounds people assemble these twenty three different kinds of oaks, and they were properly planted in the grove to please the contributing alumna.

Major Bailey provided Nat with another treat. He diverted the course of the helicopter slightly from a direct path to Fort Bragg and flew over the great golfing resort of Pinehurst. Nat was a member of the Pinehurst Country Club, and had played its seven courses regularly for ten years. He was particularly interested in seeing from the air the famed number two course which is always ranked within the ten best golf courses in the world. He thought how lucky Pinehurst Country Club had been to have as its own golf professional, the famed Scotsman Donald Ross, who was called upon to design so many great golf courses in the first half of the twentieth century. Within fifteen miles of the famous Pinehurst Hotel, were at least thirty of the most beautifully manicured tests of golfing skill anywhere on earth.

The helicopter began to decrease its altitude and the massive military base of Fort Bragg came into view. In a minute or two, the helicopter was safely on the ground resting on the prescribed pad, near General Chambers' headquarters. At the precise moment of touchdown, two high ranking officers appeared from the doorway of the headquarters building and a number of noncommissioned officers scurried around to see what assistance they might give the arriving occupants of General Chambers' helicopter. The helicopter switches were turned off. The rotors revolved a few more times and came to a halt. An expressionless sergeant opened the door and helped Nat and George Calumet from the plane.

After a few moments of proceeding through a mental check list and moving several toggle switches, Major Bailey emerged to join Turner and Calumet. As the three headed toward the headquarters building, the two high ranking officers came forward, and General Chambers shook hands with Nat.

"Nat, I want you to meet Colonel James Sullivan. You'll be spending a lot of time with him during the next two days." spoke General Chambers.

Pleasantries were exchanged. The hospitality of the general, however, would make the casual observer assume he and Nat had been close personal friends for many years.

Near the door of the headquarters was an enlisted man working in the flower garden flanking both sides of the entrance. As the five members of the party arrived near the entrance, the gardener turned around, stood at attention, and saluted the general and his accompanying friends. When the private saluted, an infinitesimal click took place in his belt buckle. General Chambers, Colonel Sullivan, Major Bailey, George Calumet, but most of all Nat Turner, were now recorded on film for study and analysis by people who were in no way related to the Army, the CIA or Fort Bragg.

The KGB didn't know it yet, but the click in the private's belt buckle was the first blip on the screen introducing Nat Turner to the world of intelligence gathering. Within the hour, this enlisted man would have the film from his miniature camera passed to a co-worker who would be leaving the base for downtown Fayetteville. Sometime in the afternoon, this film would be relayed to a business in Raleigh. A copy of this picture would be sent by Fax machine to the Soviet Embassy in Washington. If deemed important this reproduction would be delivered by diplomatic pouch to the KGB in Moscow.

Today, however, the KGB would find they were lucky. Usually, the identification of unknown subjects took days and sometimes weeks to accomplish. It usually took the giant computers located in the KGB offices in Moscow along with field men checking leads to uncover the identity of an unknown person. In this case, it would not be necessary. The head of the KGB office in Raleigh would find identification easy. Dr. Turner's picture was in the local Newspaper “The News and Observer” often. Most local social and business occasions were attended by the president of Cameron College. Turner was easily one of the best known and most easily recognized figures in the city.

General Chambers, Colonel Sullivan, Major Bailey, George Calumet and Nat Turner all went into the general's large office. Comfortable chairs had been arranged in a circle for conversation. Coffee was served by the general's secretary, and informal conversation began. General Chambers explained the base would be running rampant with rumors over its closing. Bragg is known as an open base, and the only time it is ever closed is in military emergency. When the announcement was made to the 45,000 people residing at Fort Bragg that the base would be closed, it was assumed a small, unannounced war had broken out in some distant far-away place. They were thinking the personnel of Fort Bragg would soon be notified they were to mobilize. It would be their job to see some brush fire war was extinguished before the super powers took sides and escalated the matter into World War III.

The personnel at Fort Bragg live constantly with this pressure. When military action involving the United States is imminent, it can be assumed that either the 82nd Airborne division, located at Fort Bragg, or the marines located at Camp Lejeune will be used as the strike force. These two bases located in North Carolina are the first to hear the drums of war.

General Chambers, smiling, but also exhibiting a certain underlying grimness said, "It will take weeks for our people to calm down again. Closing the base happens so seldom, that when it does, it's traumatic. However, I can assure you of one thing. If the Soviets have penetration at Fort Bragg, and undoubtedly they do, your picture will be in Moscow in less than twenty four hours. There's no doubt in my mind we've already accomplished what you've set out to do."

The conversation continued for thirty minutes with George Calumet sharing with the general a rough sketch of the plan they would be following for the next two months. General Chambers expressed genuine concern for Nat's safety.

"Nat, do you realize with whom you're going to be dealing during the next two months? You can count on seeing cold blooded killers face to face. Most CIA and military intelligence agents are operating undercover and cloaked with secrecy. The minute their cover is blown, they're pulled in from the field and sent back to the United States. Our friends here in the CIA are purposefully blowing your cover before you even leave the country. My guess is you'll have a good chance of either getting killed or being spirited away into the Soviet Union. If this happens, we'll never hear from you again."

Nat Turner assured General Chambers this had been properly considered and he realized the risk involved. He expressed the hope that being a public figure might dissuade the Soviets from making such a bold, dramatic move.

"Nat, you may be right, but let me warn you. Don't do anything to make the KGB look bad. If you step off the straight and narrow outlined to you by the CIA, you'll become a marked man. I'm not trying to frighten you, but I've worked with these people too long. We've studied the Soviet mindset, and they do not think like we do."

Colonel Sullivan joined in the conversation. "Nat, the biggest mistake you can make is to assume the Soviets are like Americans who speak another language. As you know from your travels in the Soviet Union, if they didn't open their mouths, you'd have difficulty determining if they were Americans or Soviets. They look just like we do. However, when you start working with the Soviets, you'll find they have a peasant mentality. In the long history of Russia, there were only a few czars but a whole lot of peasants. In 1917 the peasants took over, and they still behave the way they have for four centuries. We've had close to forty treaties with the Soviets and they've broken every one of them.

The breaking of a treaty to the Soviet mind is similar to the football coach of the University of North Carolina running a trick play. They do not have a moral commitment to their word. They work to bring advantage to themselves. We Americans always try to overlay our sense of values on the rest of the world. It's the biggest mistake our country makes but we'll continue to do it. As you work with KGB agents, you'll learn not to trust anything they say. Every conversation will be designed to mislead. Having this insight will work to your advantage."

Nat was well aware of this devious side of trained Soviet operatives, but he replied, "Thank you, Colonel. I've always felt that to be forewarned is to be forearmed."

The conversation went on for an hour. It was now 11:00 a.m., and time to make plans for the next day and a half.

"Nat, how would you like to spend these two days? General Chambers asked. "We're going to put ourselves completely at your disposal, and I've kept my schedule open to spend this time with you."

"General, I have no intention of taking your time for two days. You should be running this base not providing cover for me. I'll be much happier, if you will find the most knowledgeable person you have on the base to spend today talking about the history of Fort Bragg. By midnight tonight, I would like to be something of a military historian."

"Tomorrow, I'd like you to provide me your best weapons expert. I want someone who will spend eight to ten hours discussing every weapon available to the United States Army. I must be on the frontiers of knowledge. Tell your men to press hard. They'll find I am a good student.

"Jim Sullivan here will give you the best oral history of anybody on the base."

He turned to Jim, "Jim, could you clear your schedule and spend it with Nat?"

"I would be most happy to do so." replied Colonel Sullivan.

General Chambers told Nat he would see that his best weapons' man would be made available to have breakfast with him at 7:00 in the morning and stay as late tomorrow night as possible.

George Calumet joined the conversation. "Gentlemen, our schedule calls for us to be at Pope Air Force Base by 6:00, so you won't be burning midnight oil here. Five or 5:30 is the latest you can stay; this schedule will not give you any time to relax."

"George, I think my time is going to be better spent learning than relaxing right now. My life may well depend on the knowledge I acquire in the next ten days."

General Chambers and Colonel Sullivan both nodded their heads, agreeing with Turner. Colonel Sullivan stood, invited Nat Turner to follow him, and they exited the General's office to find a conference room they could spend the rest of the day and the evening together.

Chambers turned to George Calumet. "George, the use of Nat for this operation was a total surprise to me. Frankly, I was skeptical. I did not see how a college president would fit into our kind of business at all. While I have known Nat socially, I don't know him well. We've been together on occasions, but I've never had a personal conversation with him until this morning. He's one of the brightest guys I've ever known. At parties and business gatherings, he was all public relations. When he came in here, he was all business. The KGB may have formidable adversary."

George Calumet agreed with the general's concluding remarks. He smiled inwardly, and thought to himself. "This operation is already going much better than I expected."

George excused himself, thanked the general for all he had arranged, and indicated he would be back the following evening to accompany Nat to Pope Air Force Base.

Colonel Sullivan and Nat were well into military history by this time. Colonel Sullivan ordered lunch to be sent in, and had the sneaking suspicion he would be doing the same thing for the evening meal.

Sullivan thought to himself. "Perhaps I should have known, but Turner is much more knowledgeable about military history and the activities of the armed forces in World War II than I thought he would be."

Sullivan was teaching the best student he had faced and, he was teaching the subject he loved most. He was impressed with Turner's penetrating questions and found his incisive inquiries made him look at military history differently than he had before.

Sullivan thought, if Nat is enjoying this as much as I am, he's having a ball.

Nat was reflecting much the same way as Sullivan. He loved this academic challenge and exchange. The conference extended to midnight. He was already looking forward to tomorrow's session on weapons system.

8:00 p.m. Monday, May 16

Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, North Carolina

Freeman Hill, the assistant manager of the Cameron Village Camera Shoppe, locked the door and turned out the overhead fluorescent lights which illuminated the store during business hours. Even with the lights extinguished there was ample visibility to move around the shop using only the window display lights and the marketing displays? Hill slipped the double bolted lock into place which was attached securely to the metal sill surrounding the door. He retreated behind the main service counter and moved a hidden toggle switch activating the sensitive alarm system. To an astute observer it would appear considerably more attention was being devoted to security measures than ordinarily would be expected at a camera store located in a large shopping center of a sizable city. Freeman took a last look around the shop and noted everything was in place to his satisfaction. He moved through the door leading to the working area in the back of the building. In the rear were two offices and several small photographic developing rooms. These rooms flanked a hallway extending shotgun style to the rear door leading to a loading dock. Freeman turned into the first door on his left and entered into Wells Compton's office, the manager of the Cameron Village Camera Shoppe. Wells was examining an 8x10 enlargement of a print made from film delivered to him less than an hour ago.

Freeman asked, "How is the quality of the print?

"The Belt Buckle Camera does an excellent job if the object being photographed is more than three feet from the lens," replied Wells. "It is not satisfactory for close-up work. These pictures are great."

Wells looked up catching Freeman squarely in the eye, "I'm puzzled. Fort Bragg was closed today, and it's never closed unless a military emergency is declared by Washington. There's nothing going on which would warrant such extreme action."

"Do you have any idea why it was closed?"

"Not, but I'll share with you what I know. Shortly before Fort Bragg closed, a helicopter landed near General Chambers' headquarters. Two civilian passengers on the helicopter were met by the base commander and a staff officer. One of the civilians spent the rest of the day in the Headquarters Building. About noon the other civilian left Fort Bragg in a privately owned automobile. The first man is apparently staying the night. Tomorrow we'll have a clearer picture of what's going on."

“Freeman, I want you to look at this picture and tell me if you can identify either one of the non-military."

Freeman leaned forward and picked up the photograph expecting to search the memory cells of his brain to gain some clue as to the identity of a furtive figure. Freeman looked up in surprise.

"The one in the center is Dr. Nat Turner." He immediately looked back down at the picture and studied it for a few moments and said, "If I've ever seen the other one, I don't remember him. There's something vaguely familiar about his face. I may have seen it in some of our files, but I can't identify him."

Wells commented, "I had the same feeling. I know I've seen the picture of the other man, but I've never had any personal experience with him. I'm going to send a copy of the photograph through the Fax machine to our embassy in Washington. They'll either identify him for us or ask Moscow to do the identification. We need to know who he is as quickly as possible."

"Now, back to Nat Turner, why in the hell do you think he's involved with some mysterious closing of Fort Bragg? To my knowledge he's never had any connection with the military. It's my opinion the closing of the base and the arrival of these two men is entirely coincidental."

"But let's send the photograph to Washington anyway."

Freeman went next door and took the cover off the facsimile machine and laid the photograph on the flatbed scanner. The quality setting was on best. He dialed a private number in Washington and when the connection was made the scan of picture started. A perfect reproduction of this photograph would be in the Soviet embassy in Washington within seconds. Wells came into the room with a handwritten note identifying Nat Turner as the president of Cameron College, and asking for an identification of the second civilian in the photograph. He told Freeman to transmit the report to Washington.

6:00 p.m. Tuesday May 17

Pope Air Force Base

Fayetteville, N. C.

The drive from General Chambers' headquarters at Fort Bragg to General Hugh Anderson's headquarters at Pope Air Force Base took less than twenty minutes.

Upon arrival at General Anderson's headquarters, a master sergeant greeted Nat and George before they were able to open the door of their automobile. He informed Nat he had been asked to direct them to the guest quarters reserved for him in the Officers' Club. He indicated General Hugh Anderson would meet him for dinner at the Officers' Club at 7:30. The master sergeant got in a traditional khaki car and Nat's party followed him through the streets of the Air Force base to the Officers' Club. At the door of the club, Turner's party was greeted by another master sergeant who took George and Nat inside.

Calumet said "I'll be back this time tomorrow to accompany you to Camp Lejeune." It was obvious from his attitude Calumet was pleased with the first two days of this operation.

Nat was ushered to his reserved room and found it to be surprisingly plush. It showed there was a soft side to the military if one's rank were high enough to merit VIP treatment. With more than an hour before the appointed time for dinner, Nat decided he would take a shower. His preference for personal hygiene was to shower in the morning, readying him for the day. He did have the habit, however, of showering again if time permitted when he had an evening engagement. While Turner did not have a heavy beard, he liked a refreshing shave in the evening if he were going to be around people. It not only improved his appearance but gave him a psychological lift.

After his shower and shave, Nat heard a knock on the door and opened it. He was faced with an enlisted man carrying a silver tray. Plainly in view on the tray was a bucket of ice, a liter bottle of Chivas Regal Scotch Whiskey, and a bud vase with one rose. The enlisted man explained the gift was compliments of the Officers' Club. The manager hoped he would enjoy his stay while visiting Pope Air Force Base. The enlisted man placed the tray carefully on the table, walked to the open door, turned around and said "Sir, is there anything else you would like?"

Nat Turner assured him everything was fine, and he appreciated the hospitality of the base. An imperceptible click took place in the belt buckle of the private. The enlisted man closed the door, and proceeded down the hall.

Within thirty minutes the film was off the base, and by 9:00 had arrived at KGB headquarters in Raleigh.

Nat decided to enjoy the hospitality offered by the officer's club, and poured a hefty portion of the Chivas Regal straight over ice. He relaxed with his drink and thought over the last two days. He was beginning to enjoy this assignment. Not only was the hospitality excellent, but he loved the education he was getting. He made a few notes on his yellow pad for use in the discussions to take place the next morning.

The hour was now approaching 7:30 p.m. He wandered down the hall past the low lights in the bar into a beautiful dining room. He noticed a round table in the corner adorned with freshly cut flowers. Assuming this was the appointed destination, he looked for the reserved sign ordinarily placed in the center of a special table. He smiled to himself and remembered where he was. The commanding officer of Pope Air Base would not have to put a reserved sign on his table. This was the one table in the Officers' Club never used by anyone but the general and his party. Even on crowded evenings, this table would often be unattended and unused. No one asked to be seated at this table. Rank still has a few privileges.

As Nat left the dining room and retraced his steps toward the bar, he noticed a flurry of activity at the door. A staff sergeant, obviously the club manager, was busily greeting the newly arrived guests. As Turner focused on these guests, he was aware they were high ranking officers and assumed they were his dinner partners. As Nat's eyes adjusted to the dimly lit foyer, he recognized the military bearing and the square cut face of General Hugh Anderson, commander of the base. While Nat could not claim General Anderson as a close personal friend, he was an acquaintance. They had been together at social events in Raleigh and both had similar personalities. Nat strode quickly toward the door and caught the eye of General Anderson.

Even though they were only a few paces apart, General Anderson hailed him and said, "Nat, it's great to have you here."

The two accompanying high ranking military officers would have interpreted this greeting as representing an old and personal friendship.

"General, it is great to be here."

"Now, Nat, I've told you before if you want me to call you by your first name, you must return the favor and call me Hugh."

"I want you to meet my two staff officers. This is Colonel James Stokes and Major Henry Jett."

"Nat, shall we stop by the bar for a highball or do you want to go on to the table?"

"Your choice, Hugh," Nat replied. "I'm one ahead of you. Your Officers' Club staff gave me a bottle of Chivas Regal, so I decided to take advantage of the courtesy."

General Anderson laughed. "That's great; I didn't realize my boys were public relations specialists. Maybe they recognized you as someone special. I don't ever recall them having done that before."

The party moved through the dining room which was now about half full and arrived at the General's round table in the corner. While the table itself was physically located in the corner, ample space was available allowing the best of service. The surroundings were beautiful with large windows, tastefully draped and covered in sheers, at right angles to each other.

Orders for drinks were given, and within a matter of moments, the waiter returned. From this time on no glass on the table was allowed to be emptied. The conversation was robust and healthy. Clever stories were told and the men appreciated each other. The three military men had a second cocktail. Nat decided to decline this refill. Both of his previous drinks had been generous, and he was certain wine would be served during the meal. He decided discretion was the better part of valor. The meal was excellent in every way, as would be expected when served to a general in the Air Force. Orders for an entree were not requested; instead each man was served a slice of perfectly marbled prime rib which filled the plate. Nat had heard of generous portions described as overhanging the plate, but this was his first time to witness the phenomenon.

The usual comment in such circumstances was spoken by Nat. "It is nice to see our boys on military bases fed so well." Each of the three military men chuckled and assured Nat this was typical food pulled right off the chow line.

At the conclusion of dinner, coffee was served and cigars were offered. Nat didn't smoke, and he was amazed with himself when he took one of the cigars and extracted it from its glass container. All four men were offered lights by a steward and puffed heartily. Each leaned back in his chair savoring the taste of the tobacco leaf binder. Since Nat didn't smoke, he decided to make no attempt to inhale the hearty cigar. Tobacco to Nat was not unpleasant; however, nothing about the taste tempted him to acquire the habit. He was analyzing himself as to why he agreed to smoke the cigar and decided this had been such a perfect evening, he would "go with the flow." This included smoking a cigar.

After coffee, and during after-dinner liqueurs, Hugh Anderson asked Nat how he would like to spend the next day. He assured Nat he would be available to confer as would Colonel Stokes and Major Jett.

"Hugh, I think our protocol requires me to be in your office building, but I have no intention of tying you up all day entertaining me. What I would like is for you to provide me the person who knows the most about military aircraft, both domestic and foreign. When I go, to Europe in a few weeks, my only weapon is going to be knowledge, and as you can imagine, I want to be well armed."

Anderson turned to Major Jett. "Henry, why don't you plan to spend the day with Nat.?"

General Anderson turned back to Nat. "Henry Jett is as good as you'll find on military aircraft. We use him in our friend or foe identification classes. Give Henry a silhouette of any aircraft in the world for one tenth of a second, and he'll not only tell you what country built the plane but it’s make and model number. He can tell you the thrust of the jet engines, range, maximum altitude, speed, age of design, and the designer himself. There's a whole lot more Henry could tell, but I never ask. If you're not careful, you can ask Henry what time it is, and he'll tell you how to make a watch.  You may have to cut him off at times."

General Anderson paused a brief moment and smiled. "Nat, he'll be right down your alley. Henry would make a great college professor. He can bore you absolutely to death with facts and details. The two of you will get along famously. You might even want to hire him to teach at Cameron after he retires."

Everyone gave the general's comments a hearty laugh, and the evening ended in a climate of spirited good humor.

Upon returning to his room around 11:00 p.m., Nat found the bed properly turned down and mints on the pillow. He and Major Jett had made plans to have breakfast together in the officers' mess.

Nat woke as usual at 5:00 a.m. After getting dressed, he decided to walk around the base for early morning exercise. Even though it was the middle of May and early in the morning, the sun was appropriately warming the air. Anyone who was ever stationed at a military base in North Carolina can vouch for the fact that this was a southern state indeed. The walk stimulated Nat. He recalled the events of yesterday and the pleasant meal he had shared with General Anderson, Colonel Stokes, and Major Jett. While those three probably envied his academic life, Nat was reflecting on how it must feel to be professional military.

He made himself face reality by mentally noting those three did not spend evenings in the Officers' Club very often as pleasantly as they did last night. He also knew the three must occasionally suffer from the routine and regulation. Nevertheless, at the moment, it all seemed glamorous. Nat returned to the steps of the Officers' Club. Three minutes before 7:00, comfortably ahead of schedule, Major Henry Jett arrived, and they drove directly to the officer's mess and had a breakfast far larger than Nat would typically eat. In fact, Nat was one of those people who violated all laws of nutrition and preferred not to eat breakfast at all. Grapefruit juice was all he ever wanted, and he generally drank several glasses during the day. When visitors were in his office, drinking coffee, Nat would join them with a glass of grapefruit juice. He also said to friends that if there were anything at all to the grapefruit diet, he would weigh no more than one hundred pounds.

Nat and Henry did not launch heatedly into the business of the day. They ate the military breakfast, each had three cups of coffee, which again violated every rule Nat had made for himself years before.

They drove over to General Anderson's headquarters and found a comfortable conference room where they would spend the day. Major Jett asked his secretary to order lunch to be delivered to the conference room, giving them an uninterrupted nine hours to discuss military aircraft.

Henry Jett's secretary had prepared the conference room with several of his favorite books on military aircraft. She had also prepared a 35mm projector and had loaded the cassette with 144 slides. Aircraft fascinate almost everyone, and Nat was no exception. He considered himself relatively knowledgeable about aircraft both commercial and military, but this was to be the opportunity to fill any gaps. He also was going to be supplied with statistical data giving him more knowledge of the field of aviation in general. Turner loved statistical data and absorbed it readily.

"Where would you like to start?", Jett asked.

"Henry, let's go back to the very beginning, all the way to the Wright brothers, if you like. I want to know as much as I possibly can about the history of military aircraft."

For almost an hour, Major Jett discussed manned flight in the early 1900's and the flying Jennies of World War I. After the discussion of World War I, he discussed the Air Force's problem of being taken seriously by Congress all the way into World War II. Major Jett said "Had it not been for the urging and efforts of three or four people, there would have been virtually no Air Force ready to take on the Japanese and the Germans in 1941 and 1942."

Nat was now ready to discuss World War II aircraft. It was at this point Henry Jett was to become surprised. This era obviously fascinated Nat. He was well educated in matters relating to the World War II. Nat mentioned aircraft, theaters of war, roles played by particular airplanes, modifications made on bombers, and generally showed himself to be an expert. Jett did fill in a few gaps in Nat's knowledge and provided statistics and performance ratings on the various planes.

Major Jett went over specifics relating to the military philosophy which determined the use of specific aircraft in war time. Nat thought to himself that this discussion alone was worth the time spent at Pope. He promised silently that he would acquire reference books and follow military aircraft more intently in the future. The conversation moved to guidance systems. They first discussed guidance systems used by aircraft, and then inertial guidance systems used by rockets. Air and ground launched rocket systems were discussed next. Major Jett quickly pointed out the various arrays of rockets available to the Air Force which could be fired from aircraft on the move. He went into painstaking detail to explain why certain rockets were fitted to certain aircraft. This matching of rocket to aircraft fascinated Nat. He quickly understood the conditions under which the aircraft would be operating and why a certain rocket better fit the combat conditions than some other rocket system.

The last topic discussed before lunch was propulsion systems. They discussed a new method to focus the exhaust of a jet in varying directions. Major Jett pointed out Nat would see this technology when he visited the Cherry Point Marine Air Base in a day or two.

After lunch Major Jett asked Nat if he were ready for his 'Show and Tell' presentation. Nat assured him if he would serve popcorn, he would stay for a week. Henry Jett darkened the room and flashed a picture of the World War II P-51 fighter on the screen. As he talked, he would change pictures and carefully synchronize the image on the screen with the instruction being given.

"During World War II, our fastest planes were the P-51 and the P-47. Neither of these planes would exceed .8 mach: roughly 560 mph. Both planes begin to experience shock waves at this speed. The X-1, flown by Colonel Chuck Yeager, exceeded the speed of sound in 1947. During these trials, he found fixed horizontal stabilizers lost their effectiveness as the plane approached the speed of sound. He was able to maintain control of the airplane by means of this particular plane's horizontal stabilizer which had the capability of changing the angle of incidence. He theorized supersonic planes must have a "flying tail." This is a maneuverable horizontal stabilizer. The first such plane built was the F-86 and its kill ratio in the Korean War against the MIG-15 was 10 to 1."

The picture on the screen changed. "When the F-100 was built and began to fly at supersonic speed, it was found the plane would get "Supersonic flow" over the total aircraft. Supersonic flow locked the airplane into a firm position and it was no longer maneuverable. As strange as it sounds, planes flying at supersonic speeds must have surfaces which make them unstable. The major problem with such an airplane is to obtain maneuverability at supersonic speeds the plane is difficult to fly at subsonic speeds. Dampeners were placed on these aircraft which made the plane stable while flying below the speed of sound, but were removed by computer control as speed increased beyond the speed of sound."

The F-104 came on the screen. "This technique was used in the construction of the F-100, the F-104 and the F-101. The F-104 was an extremely fast plane at supersonic speeds but was very unstable at subsonic speeds. To keep the F-104 under control, a new computer controlled system had to be developed to insure the pilot of the aircraft did not place stresses on the airplane beyond its capabilities."

"In the early 1970's the fly-by-wire control system was introduced. When a pilot is flying-by-wire signals are transmitted from the pilot's controls to a computer controlling servo-mechanisms operating the various flight functions on the surface of the airplane. If the pilot asks the plane to perform a maneuver making it unstable, the computer would allow the airplane only to operate within its designed tolerances."

Jett pressed the changer. "The F-16 was the first airplane produced totally using the fly-by-wire system. The F-16 had a new response system, the controls were not movable. Pressure by the hand produced electrical impulses which were interpreted by the computer making the plane perform in the manner indicated by the pressure. If the pilot pushed forward, the nose dipped and the plane dove. If the pilot pulled back, the plane rose, pressing left, the plane banked left, pressing right, it banked to the right. Yet at no time did the control mechanism actually move. These non-movable controls proved to be a substantial psychological problem for some pilots who had always flown planes with movable controls."

"The F-16 used two different kinds of computer systems, an analog computer for its flight control system, and a digital computer for its weapons system. Analog computers require a stable electrical source. The F-18 and F-20 use digital computers for both controls. If one computer is lost, the other has the capability of assuming its functions."

An older plane was projected to the screen. "The P-59, introduced in 1942, was the first American airplane to be propelled by a jet engine. The P-80 was introduced two years later in 1944. Afterburners were added to jet engines increasing the plane's speed dramatically. The F-100 was the first airplane able to fly straight and level at supersonic speeds. Other planes could break the sound barrier, but they were in a dive."

"As airplanes passed the speed of sound and began to edge toward mach 2, new metals had to be developed for the skin of the aircraft. For example, the skin temperature of an airplane flying at mach 3, in the 2000 mph range, will rise to 700 degrees. These new planes were built of stainless steel."

"Two planes were originally developed during the 1960's with new outer skins. One was the B-70 model which President Carter scrapped and the SR-71, which was originally designed as a fighter plane. It was later stripped and made into a reconnaissance plane to replace the U-2 for high flying spying missions. The 5R71 was originally named YF-12 and was designed to carry long range air-to-air missiles. The YF-12 was cancelled by President Carter along with the B-70. When Gary Powers was shot down in the U-2 over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile, it became apparent we needed a faster, higher flying reconnaissance plane. The SR-71 is still the fastest airplane in the world."

The F-4 silently appeared. "Let me tell you some of the capabilities and specifications of our major fighter planes today. The F-4 Phantom was first flown by the Air Force in May 1963. Three major modifications have been made to this aircraft and the new aircraft known as the F-4B, the F-4C and The F-4 D. The phantom is a twin engine, all weather tactical fighter bombers which can fly more than 1600 mph with a ceiling of 60,000 feet. Its range is 1300 miles plus. It was designed and built by McDonnell Aircraft Company before the company merged with Douglas. The plane is powered by two twin turbo-jet engines with after burners, and usually carries four Sparrow and four Sidewinder missiles. It has one fuselage bomb rack and racks for the wings if it is to be used as a bomber."

The projector displayed a dazzling aircraft. "The F-15 Eagle is an all weather tactical electronic warfare machine. It is built by McDonnell-Douglas using two jet engines with a thrust of more than 25,000 pounds each and a ceiling of 65,000 feet. Its speed approaches 2,000 mph, and it boasts a range of more than 3,000 miles under normal flying conditions. It typically carries four Sparrow and four Sidewinder missiles plus a considerable amount of other weapons and ordinance."

Another of the latest aircraft was flashed on the screen. "The F-16 Falcon is an aircraft designed for air-to-air combat. It's highly maneuverable and employs the same advanced aerospace designs proven in the F-15 and the F-111. The F-16 is built by General Dynamics and powered by one 25,000 pound thrust jet engine. The speed of the F-16 is 1600 miles per hour and the ceiling is 55,000 feet. The F-16A carries one pilot; the F-16B carries two crew members. Generally the F-16 carries six Sidewinder missiles."

Another plane came into view. "The F-14A Tomcat is the current backbone of naval aircraft. It is built by Grumman, with twin tails like the F-15 Eagle. It is a two-seat multi-purpose aircraft and is our most powerful Navy fighter. Its capabilities are similar to those of the F-15."

The changer clicked. "One of the latest of the fighters designed by McDonnell-Douglas is the F-18 Hornet. It's considered to be a state-of-the-art fighter and usually carries two Harpoon and two Sidewinder missiles."

Click. "Let's talk about stealth technology. Lockheed is actively involved in aircraft development based on stealth technology. It is assumed the skin of the airplane is made of some substance other than metal. It will be a delta-wing or even a flying wing aircraft. They have the least possible radar signature." Northrop developed a flying wing in 1949 in its Northrop YB-49. This airplane created such a poor radar signature it was speculated this design would be used in stealth technology in the future. Northrop used the experience in designing the YB-49 and is one of the prime contractors for the B-2 bomber which is our first real stealth bomber."

The big familiar bomber appeared. "The B-52 Stratofortress bomber has been the backbone of the Strategic Air Command since its introduction in 1954. Even though the plane's age is approaching forty years, it has been modified many times and is still considered to be an outstanding aircraft. It is powered by eight Pratt and Whitney jet engines, each producing a thrust of 12,000 pounds. The top speed of the aircraft is 650 miles per hour with a ceiling of more than 50,000 feet. It generally carries nuclear devices when airborne even though it was used for conventional warfare during the Vietnam War."

The picture changed. "The FB-111 is a medium range fighter and bomber. Generally we consider it part of our bombing force as opposed to part of our fighter force with the introduction of the many new fighter aircraft in recent years. The 111 is built by General Dynamics and uses two Pratt and Whitney turbofan engines each producing a thrust of 20,000 pounds. Its ceiling is 70,000 feet with a range of more than 4,000 miles. It carries four SRAM air-to-surface missiles or six nuclear bombs and has a crew of two."

A sleek new bomber came to life on the screen. "The B-1B bomber was developed to replace the B-52 Stratofortress. Studies for the B-1 were initiated in 1965, but the Air Force is just now taking delivery on this plane. As you know, it had a rocky time with Congress and past administrations. The primary purpose of the B-1 is to serve as a strategic heavy bomber. It is built by Rockwell International and is powered by four General Electric GE 02 turbo-fan engines. Each engine has 30,000 pounds, and its ceiling is more than 80,000 feet. It carries a crew of four and has twice the payload of the B-52. The F-111 also carries SRAM missiles."

The old workhorse of the Tactical Air Command appeared. "The C-131H Hercules primary function is close air support and the carrying of cargo. A totally versatile plane, it is one of the best ever built. It is, in fact, used by all services for virtually every different kind of mission. Built by Lockheed aircraft, using four Lockheed turboprop engines of 4500 horsepower, the aircraft's maximum speed is 350 mph and its ceiling is 30,000 feet. Range is approximately 2500 miles and the plane carries a crew of fourteen --five offices and nine enlisted men."

Jett continued with his display of transport planes. "The C-141 Starlifter is a long range troop and cargo aircraft. It's built by the Lockheed Marietta Company and uses four Pratt and Whitney B-7 turbofan engines. Each engine has a thousand pounds of thrust and the aircraft has a cruising speed of 500 mph. The ceiling for the C-141 Starlifter is more than 40,000 feet."

"The C-5A is a long range heavy logistical transport. It is built by the Lockheed Georgia Company and powered by four GE-1 turbofan engines. Each engine develops 40,000 pounds of thrust and the aircraft has a cruising speed of 500 mph with a ceiling of 34,000 feet. The C-5A carries a crew of eight."

"Boeing and Douglas have built aerial tankers whose primary function is aerial refueling. The KCH-135 built by Boeing is powered by four Pratt and Whitney J57 turbojet engines. Each engine has a thrust of 13,750 pounds. Maximum speed is 600 mph with a ceiling of more than 50,000 feet. The K-35 carries a crew of four and is the same basic configuration of the Boeing 707 commercial aircraft plane."

"The PC-10 Extender is the other aerial tanker and transport built by McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft Company. It's powered by three General Electric 5032 turbofan engines. The thrust of each engine is 52,500 pounds, and the speed of the aircraft is 600 mph with a ceiling of 50,000 feet. It carries a crew of four and is basically the same configuration as the DC-10 used in commercial aviation."

Jett now displayed the spy planes. "The U-2 is a high altitude reconnaissance aircraft built primarily for spy purposes. The airplane was built by Lockheed Aircraft and was first introduced in 1955. The plane is powered by one Pratt and Whitney J-75 turbojet engine with a thrust of 17,000 pounds. The range is more than 3,000 miles with a ceiling of 80,000 feet. This is the aircraft piloted by Gary Powers that was shot down just prior to the Eisenhower-Khrushchev summit meeting which created such an international incident."

The beautiful and eerie Blackbird appeared on the screen. "The SR-71 Blackbird is considered a strategic reconnaissance plane, a spy aircraft. It's built by Lockheed aircraft and powered by two Pratt and Whitney J-58 turbojet engines with afterburners. The thrust of each engine is 32,000 pounds and the speed of the aircraft is close to 2,500 mph. Without question, this is the fastest plane in the world. They announced the ceiling at 90,000 feet, but it's speculated the plane can fly on the edge of space at 120,000 feet. It has a range of more than 2,000 mph and is one of the truly unique aircraft flying anywhere. This aircraft holds all of the world's speed records but the US Air Force would never allow it to operate at maximum because it does not want all of the specifications known to the Soviets."

"The United States has in recent years relied on a mix of land-based intercontinental missiles, submarine launched missiles and manned bombers, as a retaliatory force. This triangular concept offers flexibility with each leg possessing both strengths and weaknesses. The Soviets on the other hand, have almost all of their nuclear power threat in intercontinental ballistic missiles. They have never had a truly effective long range bomber, and only a minor strategic bomb force."

"The Tupolev Blackjack bomber does change this to some degree. There's no question the Blackjack will be able to reach the United States with a nuclear bomb load. But it does not have the range for a return flight. Consequently it would have to depend upon the ability to penetrate the United States defenses, deliver its bomb load on a strategic target, and make it somewhere into Central or South America and land at a friendly country's air base. It is virtually impossible for the bomber to complete such a mission, because we would inevitably follow it to its landing spot and destroy it on the ground. Consequently, a bomber such as the Blackjack could only make one mission to the United States, making it economically unfeasible."

"Our bombers, even the F-111's and the B-1B, have advantages and disadvantages. They are flexible and recallable, but are relatively slow when compared with missiles. They have the same problems Russian bombers have in reaching enemy defenses before they could deliver their bomb load on a strategic target. They would have to find their way to some landing area to be used again another day. These bombers, however, can be used effectively in more limited wars and provide United States a weapon not readily available to the Soviets."

"The B-2, the first of the stealth bombers and are now in service. This aircraft can better penetrate enemy defenses than our current aircraft and consequently is more effective on a strategic basis. Even though the B-52 is now an old bomber, it still has the capability of offering itself as a launching platform while being used as stand-off Cruise missile carrier. The B-52's could take Cruise missiles within range of their strategic targets and return home to be used again."

"The Soviets' dependence on their ICBM's is the main reason they're dead set against the United States developing a Strategic defense Initiative capable of destroying their weapons as they come out of the silos. You can rest assured the Soviets will do everything in their power to keep the United States from developing this defense system, as it negates a large portion of Soviet nuclear power."

"Cruise missiles are already being fitted to the B-52G and B-52H. The B-52G carries the missile externally. The B-52H carries the missile internally. The Rockwell B-1B bomber is now considered to be our primary offensive bomber and will be carrying our larger nuclear bombs. The Rockwell B-1B bomber is a swing wing plane, with wings extended for takeoff and landing, and swept back for maximum speed during operation."

"The Soviets now have three bombers capable of doing considerable damage. Their two older bombers, the Bear and the Backfire, present such obvious radar signatures it's assumed they could not penetrate the defenses of the United States. Only one, the Tupolev Blackjack is much of a threat. It has swing wings like our B-1B. It's also larger and faster than the B-1B. This will be the first true intercontinental bomber placed in service by the Soviet inability to return to its home base. This changes, of course, if they're based in Cuba or Nicaragua."

"The United States has a bomber on the drawing board which will fly faster and carry more payload than the Blackjack. It's the Northrop Advanced Design bomber. This is a true stealth bomber and should be in service in the near future."

"Guided weaponry has become so effective in recent years it makes radar detectable airplanes highly vulnerable. Future planes will be designed using stealth technology. Flat sides and metallic skins are out! Contours are going to give radar a glancing blow and signatures must be disguised. Technology in this area is progressing at a rapid rate. It appears that every time we develop a new weapon for our Air Force, a countermeasure is developed to defeat the weapon. Next we modify the weapon to make it less vulnerable to the countermeasures, and the chase goes on."

Nat was interested in how the U.S. aircraft compared with the new MIG-25. Major Jett pointed out that the MIG-25 was packed with raw power, but did not have the electronic sophistication of the American aircraft. With pride, he reminded Nat of how well the Israelis had flown the F-15's and F-16's in defeating Arab flown MIG-25's.

Nat responded with a grin. "How do you compare the pilots trained by us for the Israeli Air Force with the Arab pilots trained to fly the MIGS."

Henry Jett realized he had been picked off base and returned the grin, saying "Well, you have a point. I think everyone would agree the Israelis were much better pilots than any of those put in the air by the Arab nations."

The afternoon was wearing on. It would not be long before this conference would have to end. Lunch had not interrupted the conversation; they had discussed military aircraft between bites. Nat would eat while Henry Jett was talking, then Jett ate while Nat asked questions and made speculations. Nat was interested in finding out about the new Russian Fox Bat which reportedly could fly 2100 miles per hour, well above mach 3. Henry assured Nat reliable intelligence information had confirmed this aircraft did have the reported performance ratings. He assured Nat the United States had aircraft which could equal anything the Foxbat would do, and those aircraft had already been discussed. Nat made a mental note to find out more about the F-20.

At 4:30, the conference ended. Not assured Major Jett informative days of his life. He would forever be indebted for his expert instruction. Nat was amazed at Jett's knowledge of aircraft. Major Jett was even more amazed at the mind of Nat, and how quickly and easily he absorbed detailed information. Major Jett was convinced if he tested Nat Turner on the information covered during their conversation today; Turner would score 100% correct answers.

At 5:00 they returned to General Anderson's office and Nat paid his respects, telling him how much he appreciated the opportunity to spend the day with Major Jett. He confirmed General Anderson's assessment of Jett as being the most knowledgeable person he had ever met on military aircraft. He also thanked him for the enjoyable evening at the Officers' Club. He soon left General Anderson's office, walked to a waiting car and found George Calumet inside. Major Jett rode with them to the tarmac, and the driver drove directly to an awaiting Apache AH-64 helicopter. As the helicopter rose from its pad, Nat waved to Major Jett who was standing by the car.

The Apache helicopter disappeared from view over the horizon, and orders were given by General Anderson to open the air base once again. A wave of rumor immediately swept over the base like a tidal wave.

Tuesday night, May 17

Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, North Carolina

The Camera Shoppe had been locked, bolted, and all protection devices made operative two hours before. Wells was seated at his desk with Freeman seated comfortably in a chair against the wall on the other side of the room. Spread in front of Wells was three photographs. The photograph on the left was the one processed from the film delivered to him the night before. The photograph in the middle was processed from film delivered from Fort Bragg today and represented the image of Nat shaking hands with the base commander. The third photograph was an image produced from the film taken shortly thereafter by another operative at Pope Air Force Base.

All three pictures included Nat and another civilian. To the left of the three pictures was a decoded message from the Soviet embassy in Washington. To the right of the three aligned pictures were two written reports. One, was from penetration at Fort Bragg, and the other from penetration at Pope Air Force Base. The note from Fort Bragg indicated one civilian spent the night after having dinner with the base commander and two of his staff members. The following day was spent in base headquarters with departure taking place shortly after 5:00 p.m.

Just prior to departure the accompanying photograph was made. The other civilian had left the base the night before and did not return to base headquarters until shortly before 4:00 PM. The second civilian was not present during any discussions taking place during the day. Departure from the base was made in the Base Commander's automobile. At 5:45 p.m. Fort Bragg was declared an open base once again. The other report on the desk to the right of the photographs was received from this was one of the most penetration at Pope Air Force Base. It had accompanied the third picture. This report contained the following information. Two civilians arrived at base headquarters shortly before 6:00 p.m. Their arrival coincided with the closing of Pope to the public. The closing was to take effect at 5:45 p.m. Both men spent a brief period of time in base headquarters. The civilian standing on the right soon left the base in a privately owned automobile. The civilian on the left was taken by a staff officer to the VIP guest quarters located near the Officers' Club.

The third sheet of paper was a decoded message from the Russian embassy in Washington.

It stated: Identification requested:

George Calumet

Head of the Eastern European section of the CIA Office:

CIA Headquarters, McLean, Virginia

Reports directly to Deputy Director,

Christopher Cope Second man unidentified,

Suggest local investigation be made

Wells Compton and Freeman Hill had been discussing the three messages for more than an hour.

"It just does not make sense", Wells said. “We certainly don't need any help in identifying Nat Turner. His picture is in the paper more than anyone else in Raleigh other than the governor. The identification of the CIA man hit me like a ton of bricks. George Calumet is one of the highest ranking employees in the whole CIA. Why would he be in North Carolina traveling with Turner. Even more puzzling is the fact that Calumet accompanies Turner and then gets in an automobile and drives away as if he is some minor aide. It's Turner who stays and spends time with the military brass."

"I would ordinarily say the visits by Turner and the closing of the bases were sheer coincidence if Calumet were not part of the scenario. It's completely out of character for high level CIA employees to move about the country simply accompanying dignitaries."

"Freeman, what do you think?"

"It's more logical to me to believe Turner is visiting the bases for educational reasons, and the CIA will use him for public relations purposes to squeeze more money out of Congress."

Wells looked directly at Freeman. There was a distinct change in the pitch of his voice, "What do I report to the embassy?" He paused and went on, "I'm going to down play Turner and concentrate on George Calumet. At least that makes some semblance of sense."

Within fifteen minutes the facsimile machine was turned on. Copies of the three photographs and the written report from Wells were flashed to the security room of the Soviet Embassy in Washington.

6:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, 1987

Camp Lejeune

Jacksonville, N. C.

The helicopter sat down one half mile from General Nikki Webb's headquarters. General Webb and his second in command, Colonel Franz Wolhiem, were on hand to greet Nat Turner and George Calumet. Within minutes they were inside General Webb's headquarters building and seated in his spacious office.

The only reason Calumet was accompanying Nat was to be sure any KGB penetration clearly identified Nat with the CIA. Not only was Nat certain to be identified as he made his rounds through these sensitive installations, but the presence of George Calumet, head of the Eastern European section of the CIA, was sure to sound sensitive Soviet alarms. After Nat was safely delivered, Calumet left.

After some pleasantries, the three men decided the next day needed to be planned. As had happened at the other two military installations, Major General Webb offered to make himself available to Nat the following day.

"Nikki, I wouldn't dream of tying you up all day. While I would enjoy our time together, you have many things to do other than looking after me. However, I would like to spend the day with someone highly knowledgeable in marine military tactics and planning. The marines have long been known for being the first to go into combat in time of trouble, and I know your success in these ultra-dangerous situations proves someone knows a lot about military planning and logistics. If you would pair me with someone who could share marine thinking, my time would be well spent."

General Webb looked at Colonel Wolhiem. "Franz, can you make yourself available?"

"Yes sir, I certainly will and would enjoy the day."

General Webb invited Nat and Franz to join him at his home for dinner that night. Nikki explained his wife was visiting relatives and would not return for more than two weeks. Consequently, only the three of them and the staff would be in the residence.

Colonel Wolhiem then took Nat to the camp's guest quarters and they agreed Wolhiem would return at 7:15 for the trip to the general's home.

Nat's baggage was clearly identified with his name and address emblazoned on a tag. A spy walking around in a trench coat with his collar turned up and a felt hat on would not have identified his baggage in such a fashion. But, of course, Nat was not a spy. He was simply a visitor moving from one military establishment to another, chauffeured by military vehicles, with the base being closed during his stay. Outside of this circumstantial evidence, there was no indication Nat worked for the CIA. After all, he was the president of a small liberal arts college located in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was nothing more, nothing less.

Dinner was pleasant and Nat thoroughly enjoyed the food and the company. He liked both of these men, and they obviously liked him. The evening started in the drawing room, moved to the dining room and ended in the general's study.

His personal study was the one place in the house the general allowed his vanity to show. The souvenirs and memorabilia denoted the many exploits and historic events in which the general had participated. Sitting in this room was tantamount to experiencing a deep insight into the history of the Marine Corps.

At 11:30, Colonel Wolhiem returned Nat to the guest quarters, and they agreed to have breakfast the following morning.

At 7:30 Colonel Wolhiem arrived to take Nat to the officer's mess. They enjoyed breakfast but did not start into their briefing during the meal. By 8:30 they were back at General Webb's headquarters building in a conference room and ready to go to work.

Nat started the conversation. "Will there be an opportunity for me to see the training facilities?"

"Sure. Why don't we talk this morning and you can have the VIP tour of our facilities this afternoon before you move out."

"I'd also like the opportunity of meeting some of your instructors. Are they as tough as their reputation?"

Franz shrugged his shoulders, "They're still tough, but some have had to be curbed because they were extremely macho and would try to outdo each other by being rough on the young enlisted men. As you know, their enthusiasm has caused some difficulty for us on a few occasions in the past."

With it now agreed they would go over the training facilities in the afternoon, Nat was ready to get down to work. "Franz, run over with me the training regimen. I'm interested in the philosophy of marine preparedness and why you think it has to be so rigorous."

"We want the marines trained to be the best fighters in the world. The toughest and best training will serve them well in the jobs they're going to be asked to do. If there's a dirty, sticky, messy, filthy job and the American military is asked to go fight, immediately Camp LeJeune is notified and we mobilize. We think it's not fair to put men in the field who are not as good as they can possibly be if they're going to have to fight in these terrible situations. We're not being tough to develop some sort of image; we're being tough for the sake of these young men whose lives depend on the training they receive at this base. We want them to know how to use the latest and best weapons in the world. If they're made available to them in combat, we'll make certain they know how to use them.

"On the other hand, if they are stripped of their weapons and have nothing with which to face the enemy but a knife or even their bare hands, we want them able to defend themselves and come out the winner." Franz took a breath, paused, and continued. "Nat, the South Pacific was the perfect example, but its taken place dozens of other times. On Guadalcanal or any number of islands I could name, the enemy was on higher ground, firing from cover, and psychologically had their backs against the wall. They knew the invaders had to be repulsed. Guess who had the honor of leading the invasion? You guessed it, the Marine Corps. We're often put in situations where it appears the top brass in Washington think our young men are bullet proof. Yes, we want the best men, and we train them to be tough, but it's for their sake. It's also important for us to have troops who are smart. Most of our battles have been won because we've been able to size up a situation and do something the enemy is not expecting. We think the marine officer is the best field strategist in the world. There's no foreign military power, no matter how well trained or well equipped, who relishes the thought of facing marines from Camp Lejeune."

"How do you deal with the men psychologically when they know they have the dirtiest job in the world? It would appear you'd have problems even getting them up to go into combat."

"You'd think this would be the case, but, when someone joins the Marine Corps, they're well aware of the tasks that are going to be given to them. In our judgment being the elite fighting machine is heavy stuff indeed. Of course, while they're here, we keep telling them they're the best in the world. After they go through our training, they know they're the best in the world. An air of invincibility is acquired. It's this positive attitude which convinces them they'll win every battle they fight. They stay on a psychological high. In combat, we've had only a few marines throughout our history of whom we couldn't be proud after a battle was over."

Nat moved the conversation from marine training to helicopters, "Why the great penchant for helicopters? It's my understanding the marines have more helicopters per man than any of the other armed forces."

"That's correct. We view the marines as being very mobile. In combat we must be able to move our men strategically. If we were fighting the war in the South Pacific today, we would no longer confront troops defending a beach. Our plan would be to bomb the hell out of those guys, and deliver the marines behind them by helicopter. Strategy has changed dramatically with the introduction of the helicopter. The marines have used this piece of equipment with great effectiveness."

The conversation went on for thirty more minutes discussing the Apache Attack helicopter, the Bell and Huey gunships, and the helicopters fitted for special jobs in combat.

Franz concluded their conversation about helicopters by remarking, "The rescue helicopter has done more to lift the morale of men in the field in such places as Viet Nam than any other single instrument of war. While they may not get the notoriety and publicity they deserve, the feats of heroism performed by pilots of rescue helicopters are legend. These pilots develop a bravado often exceeding the fighting men in the field. If a marine is wounded or hurt, regardless of the circumstances, if they call for help on their radio, the rescue helicopter goes in. The pilot will pick up the man or men, and fly out regardless of the personal danger to himself. It's a wonder we didn't have more killed than we did. Their concern for helping those fighting on the front lines was so great they ignored personal safety."

The morning was now moving on and Nat did have one more specific topic which needed to be discussed prior to their visit of the camp. He thought for a few moments about how to phrase the question, and decided to use a problem facing President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

"If you had been in charge of rescuing the hostages from Beirut in 1980, what you would you have done, Franz?" Nat moved back in his chair knowing this answer would take some time.

Franz pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "I'm not sure I would have planned the operation very differently. It was a text book example of a rescue mission. All of us at LeJeune have posed the same question to each other. My answer is not off the wall. It is one I have thought about many times. In fact, we've thought about it so much, we'd be able to do a better job than they did in 1980.

"Let me start by assuming this mission was of high priority to the President. If this were the case, I would do many things involving movements of military personnel all over the world. This would be opposite to the approach taken in 1980 in Lebanon. The rescue mission in 1980 was kept secret. The United States tried to lull the kidnappers asleep by inactivity. Their plan was to slip a few helicopters and C-130s into the desert area near Beirut. They hoped to rescue the hostages, take them back into the desert and fly away. It was designed to take the kidnappers totally by surprise. I think this was the wrong approach. Sometimes you can lull the enemy to sleep and then creep up on them, but not often.

"You've asked the question, so now I am going to tell you what I'd have wanted to do had I planned the operation." At this point, Colonel Franz Wolhiem paused, looked at the ceiling ahead, looked at the wall behind Nat, gathered his thoughts and then launched into his plan. "The first thing I'd have done was to raise the threshold of the world, not lull everyone to sleep. I would have moved troops to Europe to start newspapers asking questions about these military movements. Next I would have brought our aircraft carriers and cruisers closer to the Lebanese shores as if we were going to put them under naval gun bombardment again. SR-71s spy planes would go in  flying sorties and the F-14 Tomcats would become active off the carrier decks. Our European military bases would be asked to put combat gear on the infantry men. Visitors would be allowed to see we were preparing to do battle. Now all of this is psychological.

"A spy satellite would be focused on the area of the target activity providing a complete and current map of the area as produced by the satellite. If the streets were blocked for whatever reason, we would need to know. I would also arrange to have reports from this particular satellite as often as I could get them just to be sure the conditions did not change. As was done in 1980, a secure landing area for our aircraft would be necessary. An entrance route into the city would be carefully planned. I would want our C-130s to put in place trucks which were new and dependable and painted with appropriate markings. This would make them appear familiar on the streets of Beirut.

The exit route from the target area would be different from the entrance route and would be defended. If our exit trucks were to pick up pursuit, the pursuers would be taken out of action by rifle fire. The rescue mission is to be kept bloodless, if at all possible but I would tell our Marines to defend themselves. I would not want to have a marine killed because of an order not to shoot someone aiming a gun at them. After planning the attempt by studying the building, the gates would be crashed by three to four trucks, stun grenades thrown in the glass windows to create havoc and general confusion. The front door would be blown off its hinges and our people would go in. All four sides of the building would be secured with no uncovered escape route. Stun grenades would be the order of the day. Generally an attack of this sort gets immediate attention of the occupants defending the building, creating much confusion causing the defenders to panic and move to save themselves. Whenever the organization of a defense can be disrupted, the battle is generally 90% won.

"After securing the hostages, I would put them in the trucks and follow the prescribed escape route, giving military protection to assure the escape. Nothing would be allowed to keep the trucks from making a safe getaway and racing back into the desert. This mission would take place at night instead of in the daylight, and night sighting infrared equipment would give us the advantage under these conditions. It's my philosophy to go with your strengths. As I mentioned, I would use stun weapons instead of fragmentation weapons. I would create diversions along the escape routes generally by planting minor explosions on side streets, and the last thing would be the escape curtain. Once the city had been cleared, our military should provide a safe escape curtain. This could be either helicopters or ground troops, but there must be a point past which the enemy pursuers cannot go. In no way, would I allow either terrorists or their military to approach our escape aircraft. Then, if all had gone well we would get our planes in the air. They would not crash into each other, as did happen in 1980. Again, the marines would have accomplished their mission."

Nat and Franz continued to discuss military matters until lunch. They returned to the officer's mess for the noon meal after which Nat was given a full and complete tour of the training facilities. At 5:00, the helicopter and George Calumet magically appeared for the trip to the Cherry Point Air Base. About the time the helicopter was lifting off for the short trip, a telephone was ringing in the Cameron Village Camera Shoppe in Raleigh.

10:00 PM Wednesday, May 18

Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, North Carolina

The manager of the Cameron Village Camera Shoppe was talking to his associate Freeman Hill about the latest reports he had received from Pope Air Force Base and Camp Lejeune. The report from Pope Air Force Base had confirmed the fact that Turner had spent the night on the base and had dinner with the base commander in the Officer's Club. It also had confirmed that he had spent the day at base headquarters. In late afternoon the second civilian returned and joined Nat and his military hosts. Shortly after 5:00 pm the two visitors had left the base in an AH-64 Apache helicopter. Wells Compton was mildly depressed.

The report from penetration at Camp Lejeune Marine Base was similar to the reports he had received from Fort Bragg and Pope. At the time of arrival of an AH-64 Apache helicopter, the base was closed to the public. The two civilians aboard the helicopter were greeted by the base commander and his staff. After a brief meeting in the headquarters building one of the civilians left the base by private automobile. The second civilian was driven to the VIP guest quarters by a high ranking staff member. Penetration indicates more information would follow tomorrow.

"Wells, I have been in this business for more than twenty years and I've never seen a pattern developing as clearly as the one we've witnessed in the last forty eight hours. No explanation has been given for the opening and closing of the bases. All we know, is they coincide with the arrival and departure of George Calumet and Nat Turner. I could better understand the situation if Calumet were closely involved in the high level meetings going on. But Calumet driving away in his car and leaving Turner to confer with the high ranking officers beats the hell out of me."

Compton, thinking on these remarks replied. "If Calumet were making these rounds by himself I would think we had uncovered the planning of another invasion such as Granada. He could be carrying direct orders from the President.

Something is obviously going on right in front of our eyes and we're too close to see it. Let's at least tell the embassy about the sequence of events. This news will probably be sent on to Moscow. There has to be a bigger picture than we're seeing."

6:00 p.m. Thursday, May 19

Cherry Point Marine Air Base

Cherry Point, N.C.

The helicopter trip from Camp LeJeune to Cherry Point took no more than twenty minutes since the two bases are separated by less than forty miles. Cherry Point is located on the Neuse River at a point where the river is two miles wide and its proximity to the ocean makes the water salty, not fresh. The military base is surrounded by the Croatan National Forest. A major highway, cutting through the forest, serves Cherry Point and proceeds on to one of North Carolina's busiest beach resorts. This thoroughfare, Highway 70, leaves the historical city of New Bern, proceeds southeast, bisects the city of Havelock, and dead ends at the waterfront community of Morehead City.

On the flight from Camp LeJeune over the Croatan National Forest, Nat reflected upon his plans for tomorrow. The day's activities were now going to change. Tomorrow would be fun. He was not going to make any attempt to cram his head with facts and figures as he had been doing the first four days of the week. It was now Thursday night, and his week would start winding down. While some of the day would be spent in discussing search and destroy operations, most of the time was going to be spent in the air.

The helicopter sat down, and before the doors could open, Major Francis Lacey moved forward to greet George Calumet and Nat Turner. Major Lacey indicated he was happy to have the two of them at the Cherry Point Base, and he would escort them immediately to the office of the base commander, Brigadier General Jesse Greer. Within fifteen minutes, they were in the general's office, and after greetings and brief opening conversation, George Calumet slipped away leaving Nat on his own with General Greer and Major Lacey. Nat had no surprises for his military hosts. He was going to follow the schedule put together by the CIA. After the get-acquainted session with Brigadier General Greer and Major Lacey, Nat was taken to the guest quarters to freshen up for the evening meal.

At 7:30, Major Lacey arrived at the guest quarters and escorted Nat to the Officer's Club. General Greer was already seated at his table. Within a few minutes the conversation was much livelier than Nat had anticipated. Both of these men were professional flyers, and their passion in life was to be in the air. Nat's knowledge of aircraft amazed them. After a few knowledgeable questions by Nat, both men launched into an evaluation of the problems, the merits and the faults of the various aircraft they had flown. When talking to flyers, it was interesting to note how fond they are of each different type of plane they have flown. Nat concluded that, when a pilot's life depends on a plane responding to his commands, a bond is forged between man and machine that never will be broken.

Typically cocktails were enjoyed for some thirty minutes prior to dinner, but by now, it had run well over an hour. The additional libation had loosened the tongues of the three men and they were enjoying each other's company. At ten minutes to nine dinner was ordered and shortly thereafter the appetizer and soup began to arrive. The brisk conversation continued throughout the meal, and at 10:15 p.m. the men returned to their quarters for a good night's sleep.

The next morning Major Lacey picked Nat up at his quarters and the two men enjoyed breakfast together. By 9:00, they had arrived on the tarmac for the beginning of what was to be an exciting day for Nat. Major Lacey introduced Nat to Captain Craig Martin. They were standing on the tarmac looking at the Harrier Jump Jet in which they were going to spend the major part of the day.

Captain Martin walked Nat and Major Lacey around the aircraft pointing out the extraordinary features of the plane which allowed it to perform in such a remarkable way. The Harrier Jump Jet was built by the British, but immediately had become the darling of the United States Marine Corps. The marines became the British's best customer. This plane fit the Marine personality perfectly.

The Harrier Jump Jet is actually a STOVL, "Short Take Off and Vertical Landing". It was pointed out, however, under emergency conditions; the Harrier Jump Jet could become a VTOVL which meant Vertical Take Off and Vertical Landing. The aircraft is designed to go straight up like a helicopter, and come straight down again. It can pause and hover perfectly still in the air, and, to the amazement of all, it can fly backwards. The Harrier is not a helicopter, and has nothing in common with the helicopter. No blades rotate above; in fact, there are no blades at all. It is a pure jet powered aircraft. These amazing feats are accomplished by varying the angle of the thrust from the exhaust of the aircraft. Once in the air, and needing maximum performance, the nozzles are placed in the appropriate and traditional position, and the aircraft has outstanding jet fighter capabilities.

After the walking tour around the aircraft, they went into the nearby service building and outfitted Nat with an appropriate jump suit and flight helmet. They bade Major Lacey goodbye, and Captain Martin and Nat climbed into the Harrier for their flight. Before takeoff, Captain Martin tested the radio to make sure he and Nat could communicate properly. He then cleared himself with the control tower for immediate departure.

The nozzles of the jets were turned downward and the plane started moving along the runway. It appeared to Nat they had barely started when the plane literally jumped into the air. It was an exciting experience. Captain Martin started their flight southwest retracing the route Nat had flown the evening before on the helicopter. The plane climbed quickly to 15,000 feet and flew over the Camp LeJeune Marine Base. Looking down, Nat could see the marine base was split into two parts by the Neuse River. He also observed the Atlantic Ocean served as the eastern edge of the base. He was impressed with how much prime North Carolina real estate is owned by the Marine Corps, with this base bordered by at least twenty miles of picturesque beach front property.

Their flight continued southwest until they were over Wilmington, North Carolina. As he looked down he could see Wrightsville Beach and many of the resort areas so familiar to him. Captain Martin banked the plane slightly and they were now moving due south over Carolina Beach and heading for Cape Fear, the sharp point forming the southern tip of North Carolina. An abrupt right angle turn made the cape stand out clearly. Now Bald Head Island, a prominent geographical feature of the cape, came into view. From this altitude, Nat could see the string of narrow islands covered with vacation homes marching southwest toward North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Captain Martin spoke into his intercommunication system. "We'll spend most of the morning flying over the Outer Banks. You'll enjoy the view from above even more than the one you have when you're sitting on the beach." The barrier islands of North Carolina were idyllic and beautiful from the air.

On the return trip, they passed over Topsail Island, and before many minutes arrived at the Emerald Isle and Atlantic Beach area. Nat could now see clearly the strange geography of the outer banks from Beaufort Inlet to Cape Lookout. The cape was fashioned as if it were a fish hook. This seemed appropriate to Nat since many of the local residents for generations had made their living from fishing.

The Harrier Jump Jet was now flying northeast over the Atlantic Ocean with the barrier islands on their left. They reached Ocracoke Inlet, the beginning of Ocracoke Island. The island is famous for its wild horses which run free on the island and for its residents who speak Elizabethan English. Nat knew a visit to Ocracoke Island is a visit to the distant past.

They were now approaching Cape Hatteras, the graveyard of the Atlantic. At this point the Gulf Stream moves out to sea with its line of departure clearly evident in the water. The Harrier proceeded north toward Manteo and Kill Devils Hill where the monument commemorating the Wright Brothers' first manned flight shortly became visible on the left. The jet continued north by northwest toward Virginia Beach and Norfolk. Prior to reaching the Virginia state line, Captain Martin banked the Harrier left, swept back over Elizabeth City, and Nat could see the deserted naval training base famous for preparing Naval pilots during World War II.

They were now preceding south passing over the Albemarle Sound and into the waterfowl country of eastern North Carolina. On the left, Nat could see Lake Mattamuskeet where he had been duck hunting on numerous occasions. They passed over the Pamlico River, another of the North Carolina watery indentations, and soon were approaching the Cherry Point Air Base.

When they were over the Neuse River ready for landing, Nat asked Captain Martin, "Am I going to see you put the plane through its paces?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

At this point, with a smooth swing of the engine's nozzles, Captain Martin brought the Harrier to an easy halt. Nat could scarcely believe his eyes and his senses. The plane was sitting totally still, moving in no direction whatsoever. They were over the Neuse River overlooking all directions as if they were on some giant platform. With an imperceptible move of controls, the plane began to move straight up. They proceeded in this manner for about 1,000 feet, then came to a standstill again, and Captain

Martin brought the Jump Jet straight down. The precision was eerie. It was as if they were on a yo-yo string. No backward movement or forward movement at all. Then, as the crowning touch, the airplane began to fly backwards. The plane did not move far before Captain Martin changed the thrusters and was again moving forward bringing the plane back over the Cherry Point Base. They were now at a 500 foot level and the plane came to an easy halt and descended vertically until they were safely on the deck.

After exiting the aircraft, Nat and Captain Martin started walking back toward the ready room located in the service building adjacent to the maintenance shops for the Harrier Jets.

"Craig that was the most incredible flying experience I've ever had. You must look forward to every opportunity to fly the plane. I wish I had another reason to go back up with you." Captain Martin smiled.

They changed out of their flight suits and drove to the officer's mess to meet Major Lacey. The conversation was easy, but Nat was excited. He had thoroughly enjoyed his morning flight with Captain Martin. Then the men presented Nat with a surprise. The flying was not over. They had a flying route outlined in eastern North Carolina for training purposes and Captain Martin would take Nat over this training route in the Harrier.

After they completed lunch, they returned to the service building, slipped back into their flight suits and helmets and scrambled back into the Harrier Jump Jet. This time after a low, short take-off, Captain Martin did not take the jet much higher than the treetops. Not estimated they were roughly 200 feet in the air. The Harrier continued a relaxed, easy low level flight. Captain Martin explained that while flying at this level it would be difficult for enemy radar to detect the Harrier. While he was over the Neuse River, he dropped down to 50 feet off the water, and flew at this low level for several miles. They were now lower than the treetops and invisible to enemy radar and safe from rocket fire.

Within a few minutes, Captain Martin brought the plane back up over the treetops and began to slowly move around one of the few hills to be found in eastern North Carolina. He was demonstrating the ability of the Harrier Jet to use natural terrain for cover. He hypothesized where an enemy encampment might be, and carefully slipped the plane around the hill approaching the encampment from the rear. The unique ability of this airplane was incredible. It had the agility of a helicopter, the speed of a jet fighter, and the ability to land and take off without detection behind enemy lines. Not had the sensation of flying in the aircraft of the future. Within an hour they were back on the deck, and he had returned to Brigadier General Greer's headquarters building. Nat gave Captain Martin generous and sincere thanks for the interesting day, commenting that it was an experience he would never forget.

Two hours remained before Nat's departure for Seymour Johnson. This time was spent with Major Lacey discussing the Harrier Jump Jet. He asked Major Lacey specific questions about a rescue operation performed using the Harrier.

Major Lacey said "In any rescue operation, enough military activities should be taking place to scramble enemy fighters and totally engage their radar operators."

"While this activity is going on, with the radar tracking high-flying aircraft, the Harrier would move in low and slow, coming to a complete halt using natural cover, moving at right angles when necessary, and then move into the appropriate position for rescue. The Harrier in this case would be much better than a helicopter because it is faster when escape is needed."

After the conclusion of this conversation, the back of Nat's neck was tingling. He had an uneasy feeling his life and well-being might one day depend on this unique aircraft.

9:00 pm, Thursday, May 19

Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, NC

Wells Compton had not had a good day. His edginess was apparent to Freeman Hill. It wasn't often he observed Compton upset. Hill shared today's anxiety. There were times he hated to have to go through the motions of operating a camera shop. Today had been especially busy and it was quite apparent the customer base was expanding. The camera shop was beginning to make a substantial profit, which was not the intention of the Communist Party in setting up this capitalistic business. Compton and Hill were experiencing free enterprise and both had laughed about how corrupt they might become if they stayed in this country. Their profits were enabling them to live as only the top ranking party members did in the Soviet Union.

At 8:00 p.m. Hill had served the last customer and closed the front door, bolting it securely. The alarm system had been set and Hill returned to Compton's office. They both had mixed feelings of excitement and dread. They were excited about the importance of the work currently being conducted by the Raleigh office. Any time the local military of eastern North Carolina were increasing activity adrenaline would be pumping in the veins of the Raleigh area agents. Tonight the reports from penetration at LeJeune and Cherry Point had arrived. The report from Cherry Point parallels closely the one from Fort Bragg. Nat Turner had spent the evening before with the base commander and the following day in the base headquarters. Turner worked either with the base commander or some high ranking officer. During late afternoon the second civilian had returned to base and the men boarded an AH-64 Apache helicopter and flew away shortly before 5:00 p.m. immediately after the departure of the helicopter, Camp LeJeune was once again open to the public.

Penetration from Cherry Point sounded like a carbon copy of the reports received from the other three bases on the preceding nights. The helicopter landed carrying two civilians. These two were taken to base headquarters, staying but a brief period of time. One civilian left the base by automobile and the other was taken to the guest quarters.

Compton had to face the facts. Nat was not a visiting dignitary being shown some of the sensitive military bases located near his campus. Turner had attended no demonstrations nor had he taken public relations tours. Other than those hours spent dining and resting, his total time had been spent in base headquarters. Compton had now come to the conclusion that Turner was a CIA agent who had been under cover awaiting this one strategic task.

This personal judgment, along with the accompanying biographical data and recent photographs, was sent on the facsimile machine to the Soviet Embassy in Washington.

Compton had spent the day studying the information gathered on Turner. The voluminous files were crammed full of newspaper clippings and other personal information gathered by the members of the Raleigh KGB station. Compton had analyzed the files until his eyes had become tired. This college president had a myriad of interests and accomplishments. There was nothing in the file, however, indicating any activity which could be linked with espionage or the CIA. Compton knew he was either making the discovery of a lifetime, or he was the biggest fool put on station by the KGB in a long, long time.

5:45 p.m. Thursday, April 19

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base

Goldsboro, North Carolina

At 5:15 p.m., the Harrier Jump Jet had lifted off from Cherry Point Marine Air Base and headed northwest toward Goldsboro, destination, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Seymour Johnson was home of the famous C-130 Hercules, the C-141 Starlifter and the largest plane in the world, the C-5A Galaxy. These planes have provided flexibility for the U. S. armed services unequaled by any nation in the world. The most logistically competent support service ever devised was made possible by these three planes. Supplies, materiel and weapons can be moved at a moment's notice to the most forward positions in combat.

The Seymour Johnson Air Base was less than seventy-five miles from Cherry Point and when the Harrier arrived, it made a vertical landing. This remarkable aircraft always creates interest and excitement wherever it appears. On hand to meet Nat Turner was Colonel Alfred Jackson, the base commander, his aide Major Sam Cunningham and George Calumet.

The plan of having Nat come by Jump Jet to Seymour Johnson required George Calumet to drive by automobile since there was room for only two people in the airplane. With Seymour Johnson closed and the Harrier Jump Jet arriving, attention was focused on the occupant who exited the airplane and quickly entered the automobile of the base commander. Before the colonel's car had pulled away, the Harrier was off and flying. It was incredible how quickly the airplane could become airborne through the use of the jet exhaust directed downward toward the ground.

Seymour Johnson is a major military base and its pilots and crewmen fly all over the world. The C-130 Hercules has as glorious a battle history as any transport plane in the world. The C-141 Starlifter and the C-5A Galaxy, both flying out of Seymour Johnson, are given credit for saving Israel in the last Arab Israeli War. These planes have ferried hundreds of thousands of troops into war theaters and all are equipped to make air drops or to move combat troops to the front lines in sight of the enemy.

Nat followed the same pattern as he had at the preceding four military bases. His visit began with a short conference in the base commander's office with Colonel Alfred Jackson and Major Sam Cunningham. Nat and George Calumet were properly greeted and the plans for the next day were discussed. Nat made it clear he did not need to talk with Colonel Jackson all day on Saturday, but would be happy to talk with someone else who was knowledgeable in the work of the Tactical Air Command. Colonel Jackson made Major Cunningham available for Nat the next day.

After the plan was agreed upon, Major Cunningham took Nat to the base guest quarters and made arrangements to meet him again at 7:30 p.m. George indicated he would return to the base tomorrow evening for the helicopter trip back to the Cameron College campus. Nat spent a leisurely hour in his quarters preparing himself for the evening.

During this restful time for Nat, a master sergeant who was working on the flight line when the Harrier Jump Jet arrived at the base was making a call to the Cameron Village Camera Shoppe to determine if they had 400 ASA speed film. The assistant manager of the shop indicated they did. The caller said he would be at the shop in Raleigh first thing in the morning to pick up the film. The voice on the telephone said they would be glad to see him.

Major Cunningham picked Nat up at 7:35, and they proceeded to the Officer's Club for dinner with Colonel Jackson. When they arrived, the Colonel was in the bar talking to a major about a flight overseas. Major Cunningham and Nat joined them. All three men drank their whiskey straight and over ice. Colonel Jackson had a preference for Jack Daniels Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey, Major Cunningham ordered Bombay Sapphire Gin with a slice of lime and Nat Turner ordered his favorite Johnny Walker Black. Within a moment or two, the officer conducting the conversation with Colonel Jackson left.

For the next forty five minutes, much to Nat's surprise, the conversation was focused on him and not on the military at all. They wanted to know everything about Nat's background and his training. They were particularly interested in how he became involved in clandestine activities with the CIA.

After the discussion of Nat's background, the three men adjourned to the main dining room to the table reserved for Colonel Jackson. They enjoyed a delicious meal, and at 10:30, Nat returned to his guest quarters with a promise from Major Cunningham he would be picked up at 7:00 in the morning. Nat was up at 5:00 a.m. as usual and was going over some of the notes he had made. He showered, took a quick walk in the general vicinity of the Officer's Club and was ready for breakfast when Sam came by at 7:00. They proceeded to the officer's mess, had a large breakfast and went immediately to base headquarters for a full day's work.

The day was spent giving Nat a detailed account of the capability of the tactical air command aircraft. They discussed short take-off and short landing capabilities. Major Cunningham showed him configurations of wheels to allow the plane to operate on unimproved terrain which would be totally impossible for other jet aircraft to either take off or land.

"The C-5A has twenty two landing wheels to distribute the weight and keep the plane from sinking into soft ground. The wheels retract sideways into the belly of the fuselage to make them better fit the configuration of the aircraft. All of the wheels are rotated ninety degrees upon their retraction.

"The raised tail sections give the aircraft rapid loading and unloading capabilities from the ramp at the rear of the airplane. This raised tail section adds another peculiar advantage to tactical air command aircraft. With planes like the C-130 Hercules, it is possible to rock the plane back as it starts down the runway with the nose in the air and the tail parallel to the ground and fire JATO bottles from the wing tips boosting the plane from the ground in a remarkably short space. The JATO bottles are small rockets dubbed many years before as Jet Assisted Take Off bottles."

Nat recalled demonstrations he had witnessed at Sewart Air Force Base, Smyrna, Tennessee with these planes scurrying down the field, nose in the air and the tails parallel to the ground in an awkward sort of way. These tactical air command cargo planes were truly remarkable and versatile.

After the conversation about the configuration and capabilities of the aircraft based at Seymour Johnson, the conversation moved to missions of the tactical air command. The afternoon was spent recounting difficulties faced, but conquered, by the remarkable men and machines of Seymour Johnson. There were rescues and front lines supplied where planes landed close enough to the enemy to be shot with hand guns.

Sam laughingly said "They threw rocks and beer bottles at us."

"Anyone who has served overseas in combat knows logistics and supply is a forceful weapon the United States military forces possess that is not available to any other armed services in the world."

The helicopter came sooner than Nat would have liked. He had thoroughly enjoyed his conversation with Major Cunningham. Shortly before 5:00, they concluded their final questions and comments and returned to Colonel Jackson's office. George Calumet was waiting, and they all bade each other goodbye. Major Cunningham drove George and Nat back to the tarmac, and their helicopter was patiently awaiting their arrival. With a quick handshake and repeated thanks for the time and information, Calumet and Turner boarded the helicopter and it quickly separated from the bonds of earth.

The flight from Seymour Johnson to Cameron College was less than thirty minutes. At ten minutes before 6:00, the plane landed on the west side of the campus in the parking lot of the football stadium. The Saab arrived to provide transportation for Nat. Soon one of the Cameron College security vehicles took George Calumet to the Sheraton Hotel located near the Raleigh-Durham Airport. Nat and George had already agreed the following week would be spent primarily in the Research Triangle visiting sensitive installations.

Nat was now on home ground and would need no escort from the CIA. Prior to starting his rounds in the Research Triangle Park, however, he wanted to make a visit to Greenville, North Carolina and spend the day at the Voice of America facilities. It had been agreed the helicopter would be at Nat's disposal for this journey on Monday. Before departing the helicopter, Nat talked to the pilot who said he would be at this spot at 8:00 Monday, and they would be back in Raleigh from Greenville by 4:00 p.m. Even though the helicopter was on the ground less than five minutes, a small crowd had gathered to see Nat get into his Saab and depart. This had been a full six day week for Nat and he was eagerly looking forward to spending Sunday totally relaxed. As he ran next week's schedule through his mind he realized he was going to be as busy next week as he had been this week. The one difference in next week's itinerary, however, was Nat would sleep in his bed at home. A week from Monday, Nat would be heading for England to become engaged in activities that would change his life forever.

8:10 p.m. Friday, May 20

The Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, North Carolina

Freeman Hill, the assistant manager, cheerily bade a young couple goodbye who had dropped off eight rolls of film for processing. The couple had taken a late spring vacation on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. The young man enjoyed playing golf and had been describing several of the beautiful courses to Freeman. He was especially proud of having played Harbor Town, the home of the Heritage Golf Classic.

Hill sat down in his accustomed chair across from Wells Compton and asked about the latest report from penetration at Cherry Point. Compton said he had received a message from him indicating he would come to Raleigh in the morning. They could then process his film and discuss his observations first hand.

Compton leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. He was both speaking to Hill and verbalizing to himself the thoughts going through his mind. "There's no reason to wait on the picture from Cherry Point. The pattern is exactly the same. Two civilians arrive at the base. They meet briefly with the base commander, and one civilian which so far has been George Calumet leaves the base by automobile. There is no evidence Calumet is involved in any clandestine activity during the period he is away. It's apparent his only function is to accompany Turner to his next destination. Calumet and Turner are not spending more than an hour a day together and ninety percent of that time is traveling. When Turner is on base he is always in the company of the commanding officer. It's my guess Calumet and Turner are not conducting any business together. I'm beginning to think Calumet is along on this trip only as a courtesy. I'm now convinced Turner is the big gun in whatever the CIA has dreamed up. We're lucky as hell to have nailed him moving into the mainstream as early as we did. In my report to the embassy tonight I'm going to ask them to forward this conclusion to Moscow. It's my judgment that home office will view these movements of Turner as a matter of national security. Even though these bases are geographically close together they seldom work jointly except during a major military operation."

Compton paused and looked directly at Hill. "Freeman, give me your worse case analysis based on the little information we have."

"I agree with your conclusion. Turner is a mole the CIA has kept hidden. They are bringing him out now because they need him to conduct a mission of importance. The fact he is visiting military bases indicates to me his mission is one of aggression, not one of surveillance and espionage. The Eighty Second Airborne Division based at Bragg and the marines at LeJeune are the forces kept ready for quick and dirty work. His visits to Pope and Cherry Point suggest the mission is going to require air support."

Compton was pleased with the analysis he was getting from Hill. They were thinking along parallel lines. This was giving him more confidence than he had at the beginning of their conversation.

"I'm going to spend more time than usual on this report. It's likely this report will be read by the head of the KGB in Moscow."

Compton quit talking and began to think to himself, these are the opportunities which make careers. I want to be sure I take advantage of this situation being dropped in my lap. It was well after midnight before the report was finished and sent to Washington. After the report was filed, Compton prepared to go home and get what rest he could before returning to the camera store early in the morning. It had been a long and stressful day. One problem with operating a camera shop was the fact that Saturday was the busiest day. He had found entrepreneurs in the United States have the opportunity to make substantial sums of money. For him, however, it meant keeping his shop open sixty hours each week.

The telephone rang. Hill answered and handed the phone to Compton. Compton took the instrument, said hello, and immediately recognized the voice as penetration at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

"Mr. Compton, I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner. I've been on duty and it's impossible to get away for a phone call. But something big is going on down here. Rumors are flying everywhere. Earlier tonight a Harrier Jump Jet landed and a civilian passenger was whisked to our base commander's headquarters. We seldom have a Harrier land at Seymour and most of the personnel think this is significant. Word out on the line is we are due to be alerted and the marines will be moved somewhere for combat.

"Did they close the base?"

"Yes, tight as a drum. Nobody has been allowed to enter or leave the base without strict military identification. All civilians without security clearance have been ordered off the base immediately. The atmosphere here is the same as it was just prior to the Granada invasion."

Compton thanked him for the information and hung up. He was now even more confident his conclusion was right about Turner's mission. He started to file a supplemental report with Washington but decided this new information would be a valuable frontal piece for his Saturday night report.

6:00 p.m. Saturday, May 21

The Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, North Carolina

The phone rang and was answered by Hill. Compton was in his office and he noticed the light indicating line 1 was blinking. He knew the call had been placed on hold and, as expected, his intercom line rang.

"Yes?"

"Our penetration from Seymour Johnson is on the phone."

Compton punched the line 1 button with his index finger and brusquely said, "Go ahead."

The voice on the other end of the line started immediately, "Our man left in an AH-64 Apache helicopter less than five minutes ago. He's been closeted in base headquarters all day. Something strange has happened, however. As the chopper cleared our airspace the base was declared open again. This caught everyone by surprise. Everyone down here thought we would be on our way to war within forty eight hours."

Compton thanked the man on the other end of the line for the information and replaced the instrument in its cradle. He buzzed Hill who was working at the front counter.

"Freeman, I think we'll be having a helicopter landing at Cameron College within the next few minutes. Let's close the store and drive out to Cameron and watch the arrival ourselves."

It took ten minutes to clear the store and secure the doors. They drove away from the giant shopping complex in Freeman's car. The automobile moved to Clark Avenue and followed this divided city street until it dead ended at Brooks.

They turned left and traveled a short distance to Hillsborough Street, the main artery leading to Cameron College. After waiting patiently for the traffic light to turn green, they moved into the flow of traffic and followed the street almost one mile until the beautiful meadowland surrounding Cameron College came into view. When they arrived at the main entrance, they turned right and followed the wide double lane drive until they reached the administration building. They made a left hand turn on one of the campus streets and followed it to the west campus and parked the automobile in the parking lot surrounding the football stadium. Hill noticed the putting green across the way in front of the gymnasium. He reminded Compton his golf clubs were kept in the trunk of the automobile and invited him to a putting contest on the golf green. What could look more innocent than two men engaged in a putting contest as the wicked-looking AH-64 Apache Helicopter made its landing on west campus not more than seventy five yards from where they were standing.

At the moment of touchdown, the black Saab magically appeared, moving silently from the macadamized roadway across the parking lot until it was almost under the rotating blade of the Apache.

Nat bade farewell to the pilot and as the Great War machine struggled to free itself from the bonds of earth, the black Saab slipped down the hill and through the underpass headed toward Nat's home and sanctuary.

10:00 a.m. Sunday, May 22

Soviet Embassy

Washington D.C.

Yuri Popov, the KGB Chief assigned to the United States, was seated in the office of Sergei Leonov, who was in control of the Raleigh, North Carolina station as well as all others in the southeastern part of the United States. Leonov was sitting behind his desk with a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. It was Sunday morning and the embassy was closed to the public. The staff was kept to a minimum with most of the employees at home enjoying the weekend. Popov had come back to the embassy this morning at the request of Raleigh control, Sergei Leonov. He was holding his coffee in both hands and staring at a map on the wall behind Leonov's desk.

The map was one of several on a pull-down rack, similar to those you would find in a college classroom. The top map on the rack was of the United States. The second map was of the southeastern section of the United States followed by an individual map for each of the states. The map pulled down at this moment clearly showed the outline of North Carolina from its barrier islands in the east to the small slippery tail extending under the belly of the state of Tennessee. Clearly marked on this map were the military installations and strategic installations aligned with the federal government. Piedmont, North Carolina and the coastal plain of the state had the preponderance of the military markings.

An area between Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill was a mass of color indicating civilian strategic activities. This was the area known as the Research Triangle Park.

"The first reports indicated George Calumet, the head of the Eastern European Section of the CIA, was moving about the military bases of North Carolina accompanied by a college president with no known intelligence or espionage background" explained Popov. "Now, it becomes apparent George Calumet is nothing more than a delivery boy, and it is this Dr. Nat Turner who is conducting all the business taking place on the military bases."

"Yes and our Raleigh offices have done a good job in providing massive amounts of information on Dr. Turner" Leonov replied. "He is involved in every conceivable public activity within the state, but there has never been a hint of any military or intelligence connection. I have reviewed this material twice. Our Raleigh station theorizes he was recruited by the CIA while in college and has been ready for a major intelligence mission for twenty five or so years.

"The general pattern this week has been Nat Turner and George Calumet would arrive at a military base. They came in by air on each occasion but one. The one occasion they did not arrive by airplane was at Pope Air Force Base, which is a short drive from Fort Bragg. There was one other break in the pattern. Nat Turner flew into Seymour Johnson in a Harrier, and George Calumet evidently arrived some other way which we will assume was an automobile.

"After arriving at the installations, the base commander would meet with these two men in staff headquarters late in the afternoon. Invariably it was between five and six o'clock. At approximately the hour of six o'clock, George Calumet would get in a civilian automobile and leave the base. We don't know where he went during this period of time. He did not return until the following afternoon shortly before he and Nat Turner would leave the military base on their journey to a new location. There is no reason for the Raleigh station to believe Calumet was doing anything other than killing time during this twenty two hour absence. We assume he checked into a motel and passed his time working on various CIA matters.

"Nat Turner, on the other hand, was taken at approximately six p.m. to guest quarters on the military bases. At approximately 7:30 p.m. each night, he was picked up by a high ranking military officer and they both dined with the base commander until 10:30 p.m. or 11:00 p.m. The following day was spent in staff headquarters talking to the base commander and/or members of his staff until 4:00 p.m. At this time, George Calumet returned to base headquarters and was inside for one hour. Near 5:00 p.m., the conferences in staff headquarters would conclude and the two men moved by air to a new military base.

"The most puzzling feature is the closing of each military base. That's rare indeed! Ordinarily the military bases of North Carolina are closed to the public only during a time of national emergency. Only when preparations are being made for an airlift to some troubled spot in the world would civilians would be barred from entering the base. Other than these rare occasions, civilian guests are allowed to visit and civilian employees have few restrictions. A college president arriving on campus in military aircraft does not require the closing of a base; I don't care how sensitive his mission is."

"You're right, but we both know it did happen. We're going to have to report this matter to the KGB office in Moscow with some interpretation on our part."

"I know that's what I'm going to have to do, but I don't have any explanation. If any military activity followed the departure of Nat Turner, we would have something to go on. Up to now everything has returned to normal and our penetration has reported no unusual activity since the closing of the base."

"Let me speculate for a few moments." Leonov commented. "First of all Nat Turner and George Calumet arrived at Fort Bragg. Upon their arrival, the base was closed. On this occasion, they spent two days on this military base while they only spent one day on the other military bases. During each of his visits, the bases were closed. Let's assume something important was going on, and, for whatever reason, this matter of importance is related directly to br. Turner. Immediately after the departure of the two civilians, the base opened and returned to normal activity. Now I want to ask you the question Yuri, could the return to normal activity be the cover-up?

"Put yourself in the position of a base commander. You and your staff have been informed of an important military operation in which you're going to be involved within thirty days. You are told this military operation is going to be coordinated with the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Marine Air Force and the Tactical Air Command. It is now up to you as a base commander to ready yourself, plan the activities but not leak this information to Soviet penetration. Under these circumstances, you would do your best to make all of your base's operations appear to be as normal as possible. I would also assume that each of your immediate staff members had been briefed by Nat Turner, and would then work with the officers under their command readying them to be moved to some other part of the world on short notice. Each man would be under strict orders from the base commander to keep the matter quiet and unobtrusive. They would not in any way indicate to Soviet penetration anything unusual was happening on the base."

"Sergei, you make a good case. I am not sure it's correct, but you make a good case. I am going to prepare a report speculating on a scenario much the way you have outlined it. Perhaps Turner's movements can be related to movements in some other section of the world helping Moscow make sense of the matter. I'm going to give this release a blue code. I think the head of our organization in Moscow needs to at least know Nat Turner exists and what he's been about for a week."

9:00 am Monday, May 23

KGB Headquarters

Moscow, U.S.S.R.

Leonov Garganin, the Washington Embassy Control of the KGB in Moscow, was in the office of Tatlin Komarov, the Head of the KGB. Garganin had given Komarov a copy of the communiqué from the Soviet Embassy in Washington. He also had a picture of Nat Turner and George Calumet on top of the open file lying on Komarov's desk. Garganin had explained this was the third contact he had received from the Washington-based embassy during the week. There were now certain conclusions being drawn by Yuri Popov, the KGB chief attached to the Soviet Embassy in Washington. These interpretations needed the attention of Komarov to see if any action needed to be taken.

The two men spent an hour discussing the report. Both had examined the pictures and discussed the background of Nat Turner and George Calumet. They also discussed the coincidence between Turner's arrival on each of these military bases and their closing.

Komarov looked directly at Leonov Garganin and said "It doesn't make sense. I don't care if they were planning to drop the 82nd Airborne Division into Moscow. There would be no point in closing these military bases simply for a briefing from Nat Turner. Any time the North Carolina military bases close, there is going to be repercussions right here in Moscow all the way to the Central Committee. When those bases close, war is about to take place somewhere in the world within the next few days. Or, if somehow the war is averted, the military were certainly prepared to do battle. We have seen this happen many times since World War II. This is the first time to my knowledge any of these bases has been closed without any ensuing action."

It irritated Komarov for matters not to make sense.

"I don't think it made sense to Yuri Popov either" agreed Garganin. "But, as he pointed out in his message, it did happen, and after observing these meetings five times, he made the assumption something important was in the works. I think we would be arrogant to assume they closed the military bases in the state of North Carolina just to make our office nervous in Moscow."

Komarov glared at Leonov Garganin. He agreed with Garganin totally, but he felt as if he was being lectured to, and it irritated him. He knew if he took this information to the Central Committee, he was going to be bombarded with scores of questions, none of which he could answer. Everything was speculation at this point. On the other hand, if he sat on the information waiting for something else to develop and suddenly without warning, the United States made an air drop or an invasion somewhere in the world, he would be called on the carpet because the KGB had not given advance warning of such a move. If he told them he did have advance warning but had not shared this with the members of the Central Committee, he would be immediately dismissed from his post as head of the KGB. It was a terrible dilemma, and, to make matters worse, he was being lectured to by a subordinate.

"Leonov, I, too, have sense enough to know something important is going on among the military bases in North Carolina. I also know I am the one who is going to have to report this to the Central Committee, not you. I am the one they are going to ask many difficult questions I cannot answer because your agents in the United States have not provided me information for answers. They are going to think the United States is preparing to make a bold military incursion, and my agents like silly schoolboys are running around enjoying

Country and Western music while attending movie theaters, instead of securing the information vital to the security of our nation. The Central Committee will want to know why I don't know more about Nat Turner, a CIA agent your people in the United States had never before detected. Going before the committee is going to be bad enough. But to be lectured by a subordinate as if I am too stupid to understand the import of this communiqué is just about more than I can bear this morning."

Garganin was properly chastised, and he apologized to Komarov saying that no offense had been intended and certainly Komarov's judgment was far better than his in matters such as this. He indicated he was excited about the report, and perhaps his mental state made him speak in a manner not as respectful as it should have been.

Komarov and Garganin continued to discuss the matter and before noon had a full report prepared for delivery to the Central Committee during the afternoon.

8:00 a.m. Monday, May 23

Campus of Cameron College

Raleigh, North Carolina

The AH-64 Apache helicopter set down in its appointed place west of the football stadium near the beltline of Raleigh. The Saab arrived concurrently and Nat left the automobile with his head ducked under the spinning blades, again reminding himself of the ludicrousness of the posture. There seems to be some natural inclination causing the head to bow when approaching a helicopter with spinning blades.

Greenville, North Carolina was 100 miles east of Raleigh and the helicopter took 45 minutes to reach its destination near the transmitter of the Voice of America. The director of the facility met Nat at the helicopter and walked with him to his office. No KGB Agent was present at the transmitter to take Nat's picture. Within fifteen minutes, however, it was reported that a United States Army helicopter had landed at the Voice of America transmitting station near Greenville. This report came in less than one hour after the report had been made of a helicopter landing and taking off from the Cameron College campus. With both of these bits of information in hand at the Cameron Village Camera Shoppe, and the knowledge it would take approximately 45 minutes to fly from Raleigh to Greenville, a natural assumption was made.

9:00 a.m. Monday, May 23

Voice of America Transmitting Station

Greenville, North Carolina

The director of the Voice of America introduced himself to Nat as Paul Watts, and mentioned his daughter had graduated from Cameron College. While he had seen Nat on many formal occasions, he had never had the pleasure of meeting him in person. He had already informed his wife and daughter of the impending meeting.

After the pleasantries and a cup of coffee, both men got down to business. Paul asked "Nat, how can I be of service to you?"

"Paul if you don't mind, I have several technical questions to ask, and, if possible, I'd like to tour your facility. I want to be sure I understand the configuration of the antennas that allows you to broadcast around the world."

Paul was obviously pleased with this request, and could talk for days on the subject Nat had identified.

Paul took Nat over to a chart tacked to the wall and showed him the array of Antennae and explained the purpose of each. Nat received a quick but sufficient lesson on the ability to stack antennae to greatly increase the power of the broadcast. Paul went into detail about the various transmitters on site and the power of each. He talked about the millions of watts necessary to drive these signals into the ionosphere and on to every section of the globe.

After this preliminary discussion the two men walked to Paul's car and visited the various antennae sites. Paul was able to help Nat visualize the configurations by standing at precise points and looking in precise angles. They visited the transmitters, and in each building Paul explained its function of the transmitters. Nat was careful to note the height of the antennae. Paul explained there was no necessary line of sight reception from the Voice of America towers.

They returned to Paul's office and he secured several charts from a rack located near the windows on the north side of the wall. He began his explanation about wave length of the various transmissions and how radio waves were transmitted to the ionosphere and systematically bounced from ionosphere to earth, back to ionosphere, back to earth, skipping about the world. He showed Nat how various wave lengths and angles would bring strong reception into certain areas of the world particularly behind the Iron Curtain. The array of the antennae, the wave length and the angle of incidence into the ionosphere all contributed to the clearness of reception in particular targeted locations.

After the technical lesson was over, Nat asked about programming. For the next hour, Paul explained the purpose of the station, where the programming was secured, how and when it was transmitted. He was clear in his defense of the purpose of the Voice of America. In his judgment, the station was a forthright transmitter of news. It was not considered by him or the United States Information Agency as propaganda machine. All programming was carefully screened for its factualness and truthfulness. He did state, however, that information was often prepared to counter the propaganda being dispensed by state owned radio and television stations behind the Iron Curtain. He explained that the Communist bloc nations used their airwaves for propaganda purposes. Often they would broadcast outright lies, but even if the information being shared with the public’s of the eastern bloc nations were accurate, it was cast in a predictable light to make the citizens of the United States of America appear to be warmongers and the governments of the eastern bloc nations to be peace loving.

"When I was in Soviet Union two years ago," Nat said, "I noticed the cartoons placed on the walls of the main thoroughfares in the Soviet Union cities. They all showed Uncle Sam buying bombs with dollar marks emblazoned on them. The broadcasts from Soviet radio stations suggested apartheid would not exist in South Africa if it were not being financed by the United States.

"The United States was the only country under constant attack by the Russians. The other free nations of the world were seldom mentioned." Nat continued. “They want their citizens to think the only country threatening the Soviets is the United States. It's evident they think if the United States could somehow be subverted, the rest of the free world would collapse rather quickly. I didn't realize until my visit that the United States was the only country the Soviets actually fear."

Paul agreed with Nat's observation and said part of their problem relates to their geographical location and makeup. "The Soviet Union consists of republics bound together by force. Many of the republics would rather not be part of the Soviet Union at all, but are being held in domination by the military. Great portions of the country have Moslem backgrounds. Knowing many countrymen don't want to be a part of your nation puts stress on the Soviet hierarchy. Substantial military personnel are present in the southern part of the Soviet Union and many of their technological operations have been located there. "The Soviet's main allies are the Eastern Bloc nations. These too are held together by Soviet domination. Even though the governments are Communist and friends of the Soviet Union, the people themselves would like to be totally free and separate from of the Soviet Union. The Soviets are aware of this malaise and keep a strong military presence in each of the eastern bloc countries. Uprisings to remove the nation from Soviet control are always a possibility. Nations such as Afghanistan have refused to be dominated by the Soviets and have practiced a war of attrition for many years. More than one million Afghans have been killed during this occupation with a possibility of the number running as high as two million. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have left the country and no longer live in Afghanistan. The Soviets have found a fierce determination by the Afghans they did not find in the eastern European nations. Even the Soviets have finally come to see that the Afghans are not going to give up their fight no matter the cost in life and limb.

"Beyond the Eastern Bloc nations on the west is central Europe. These countries will resist Soviet incursion. On the southeastern edge of the Soviet Union is more than one billion Chinese who historically have had great difficulties with the Soviets and do not trust them at all. This nation is four times larger than the Soviet Union in population, and possesses the hydrogen bomb. This country has been involved in the use of rocketry since the 1300s. Then, of course to the east of the Soviet Union, separated only by the brief expanse of water is the Bering Straits, lies the United States. Their chief enemy and arch rival in every way. If the Russians were to look to the north across the polar region, they would not move far until they found Canadian territory.

Nat nodded and contributed his observations from his visit. "The Soviets conceive themselves as surrounded. Many of their own people don't like their government, their allies don't like their government, and they have enemies surrounding them in all directions. When you combine this with a history of being overrun by outsiders, you can imagine a national paranoia. Don't ever expect the Soviets to decrease their determination to arm themselves and disarm their enemies. This mentality goes far beyond a political revolution in 1917.

"Communism needs world domination for the security of their country. Communism requires a different mentality than with any other in the world. When it comes to trustworthiness and the willingness to abide by a treaty, you can forget it. The violation of a treaty to a Soviet is nothing worse than the mystical deception of a stage performing magician."

They went on with their conversation until lunch time. They discussed the people who listened to the Voice of America around the world and how the U.S. Information Agency used programming to appeal to their listening audience just as the commercial stations do. They talked about early jamming of the Voice of America and Paul indicated that this had been a constant problem in the earlier years, but recently the Soviets have moderated and the Voice of America can be received behind the Iron Curtain. Occasionally, however, for some reason they revert to their old jamming techniques, but it appears to the Voice of America they are doing this more for harassment than for the screening of information being delivered throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

Nat said he had become familiar with the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe while in Moscow. Paul Watts was pleased with this verification.

"Has there been any serious attempt to sabotage the Voice of America while it was located in eastern North Carolina?"

"No, we do keep nominal security on the facilities and the property is well protected by fences. We use infrared burglar alarms, but there have been no attempts to destroy transmitters or level the towers."

"Why do you think there have been no attempts?"

"There are so many redundant facilities within the Voice of America, an explosion wrecking a transmitter or knocking down a tower would not even put us off the air for a few minutes. Other facilities are ready to pick up the slack and go right on broadcasting. Beyond that, radio towers are easy to fabricate and radio transmitters are easy to secure so should sabotage take place, a tower could be reconstructed in a matter of a few weeks and the transmitter could be secured from RCA or General Electric as quickly as they could build one on their factory floor."

Nat asked why North Carolina was selected as the site for the Voice of America. They discussed the proximity of being on the east coast with a considerable amount of land available and little competing electrical interference from major cities. He showed Nat on the map the latitude and longitude of North Carolina and how well the transmission could be in bounced off the ionosphere into the eastern European nations.

After lunch the conversation was relaxed and philosophical. There were a few questions left and Nat wanted to be sure one idea he had could be accomplished.

"Paul, if I wanted to get a message behind the Iron Curtain using the Voice of America, would it be possible?"

"What kind of message are you talking about?"

Nat answered, "Nothing sensitive or derogatory toward our Communist friends. Would you be willing to send a message such as a happy birthday to a particular person or some casual comment to indicate that a certain action had or had not taken place?"

"I don't see why that couldn't be arranged."

"If you hear from my assistant, Dr. Nancy Carroll, and she asks you to put a certain message on the Voice of America at a particular time, I would appreciate it if you would do so. While I may never need this capability, I want to be sure it's in place. If it happens, any such request would take place between now and July 15. That is the latest date I am due to be back in Raleigh.

Their conversation continued on in a leisurely and friendly manner. At 4:00 p.m. the helicopter returned to the Voice of America transmitting station and retrieved Nat for the return trip to Raleigh. At fifteen minutes to 5:00, the helicopter landed on the west campus of Cameron College, near the football stadium. The black Saab rolled up to take Nat home.

10:00 a.m. Monday, May 23

The Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, North Carolina

Wells Compton, manager, arrived at 10:00 a.m. the usual opening hour of the shop. It was the custom of Freeman Hill and the two store clerks to arrive earlier and have the store ready for business prior to Compton's arrival.

He was barely inside the front door when Hill said, "Wells, we need to talk right away."

Compton proceeded around the counter and through the door leading to the rear of the building. Hill was on his heels.

He did not wait for Compton to ask about the nature of the conversation, but started in immediately, "Shortly after 8:00 a.m. one of our operatives reported that an AH-64 Apache Helicopter left Cameron College at precisely 8:00. From the markings it was apparently the same Apache we saw Saturday. We had no way of tracing the flight path of the chopper so I didn't bother to call you at home. It was a little after 9:00 O’clock. when I had a call from our operative in Greenville saying a helicopter had landed near the Voice of America transmitter. The markings confirm it was the same helicopter which left the Cameron campus shortly before. I would have called you but I knew you'd be here soon so I just waited."

"What on earth is the guy going to do next?" asked Compton. "He has visited every sensitive operation in the eastern part of the state. I'm going to contact the embassy immediately". Compton entered his office and prepared a message to be coded and sent to Washington. Within twenty minutes the report had been filed and an acknowledgment received. Shortly thereafter a coded message was received from the embassy directing Compton to assign operatives to the college campus full time. Surveillance was to be placed on Nat Turner twenty four hours a day for the foreseeable future.

Telephone calls were immediately made by Compton and through the veiled language used by KGB operatives three men were assigned to the premises of Cameron campus. Turner's activities were to be recorded and reported anytime he left campus. Compton telephoned the operative assigned to him serving as a technical expert in security matters. Compton asked him to come to the camera store as quickly as possible. Within thirty minutes the technician had arrived and had been given instructions to place a tap on Turner's telephone line in his office.

4:00 p.m. Monday, May 23, 1987

The Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, North Carolina

At 4:00 in the afternoon the technical expert returned with a grim look on his face. He asked Hill if Compton were in and was directed through the rear door to the private office.

"Did you have any luck?" Compton asked.

"We have some problems at Cameron."

"What's the problem?"

"First of all they use optical fiber instead of twisted pair in their telephone lines. That problem can be overcome. There's one problem that we can't overcome. They have more than one hundred trunk lines coming into the campus. There's no way to know which line will be transmitting President Turner's conversation. The third problem is they're using the Northern Telecom SL-1 digital switch. His conversation is being digitized and not being carried as analog signals. To tap his line would require us to put digital equipment inside President Turner's office near the handset. I see no way to get a man into his office to do this work. Now the icing on the cake, in the office they have four employees and ten separate telephone lines. A tap would have to be placed on each of the ten lines and monitored twenty four hours a day. It would tie up all the personnel of the Raleigh office waiting and hoping President Turner is going to say something significant. There is no cost effective way to intercept his telephone calls."

Compton continued his conversation with the technician and they both agreed as desirable as it might be to know the content of Turner's telephone calls it could not be accomplished by their small regional office. Before this conversation concluded, Hill buzzed Compton and informed him of a waiting telephone call. He picked up the receiver and was informed that the helicopter had returned to the Cameron College campus at 4:45 p.m. Turner was picked up by a black Saab 9000 and returned to his home in the forest on the north side of the campus.

Compton thanked the man for the information and replaced the receiver in the cradle. He called Hill back to his office and re-emphasized that Turner must be kept under twenty four hour surveillance until the orders changed.

10:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 24

Soviet Embassy

Washington, D. C.

Sergei Leonov, Raleigh control, had just reported to Yuri Popov, Washington KGB Chief, of Nat Turner's visit to the Voice of America just outside of Greenville, North Carolina the day before. Popov reflected on the events reported by the Raleigh station during the preceding week. He was now trying to fit in a visit to the Voice of America's transmitters with the visits to the military bases. There must be some connection, but he could not quite determine what the connection could be. He did not think the military would be using the Voice of America to provide some signal to military bases around the world. They had much better communication devices than the Voice of America.

Popov was letting this matter filter through his mind. He looked at Leonov. "Let me hypothesize with you. If I were planning a military operation somewhere in the world and wanted to involve the Voice of America, it would be for some significant reason. The military would use military communication equipment such as their satellites to send signals around the world. The only time the Voice of America would be used would be to send a message to civilians who do not possess military radios. For example, if I wanted to get word to some dissident group located in Romania giving them an indication of imminent military action they were expecting, I could send signals or code words over the Voice of America. They could be listening at the appropriate time and join in the military action. It's the only way I can see how the Voice of America could be used in a military way."

"Yes, it's the only thing that makes sense" said Leonov. "We do monitor the Voice of America and keep recordings on their broadcasts, but they're not of any military importance. It's all propaganda as far as we're concerned. If they were to make an ordinary statement fit into one of their broadcasts, it would be difficult for us to determine it was some coded signal. We would be better off if they used military satellites. We do have intercepts which can help us in those transmissions. The Voice of America would be difficult."

"Are you going to report this to the KGB?"

"Yes, I am. I think we're committed now. We've already sent them the material we collected on Nat Turner. They have a full dossier on George Calumet, so we didn't need to provide anything on him. We need to make sure the Raleigh station puts twenty-four hour coverage on Turner for the next few days.

Whatever he's doing is now consuming all of his time. He's certainly not administering his college while he's touring all of these sensitive facilities.

8:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 24

KGB Headquarters

Moscow, U.S.S.R.

Leonov Garganin walked into Tatalin Komarov's office and handed him the latest decoded report from the Soviet Embassy in Washington. Most reports from the Washington Embassy were sent by diplomatic pouch and arrived twenty-four hours later. Only matters of urgency and great importance were coded in the embassy and sent through the airwaves to the KGB office. While they knew all of the radio equipment was being monitored and recorded by the CIA, they had devised methods of compacting their transmissions into  a short burst of energy and sending these coded messages by satellite directly to Moscow. While any transmission is in danger of being intercepted, the KGB knew this technique made it difficult to capture because the wave length is changed on a daily basis, and the message is not only coded but condensed for a second or two transmissions. Even with the use of computers, it was difficult to scan all of the wave lengths available, detect a message being sent, record the message and set about decoding it.

"Do you think the United States is using the Voice of America to send coded messages to military people somewhere in the world "Komarov asked Garganin?

"It's certainly possible, but if they were using the Voice of America, more likely the target audience would be dissidents in the eastern bloc nations. They have access to military communication anywhere else. In my judgment, if they do use the Voice of America, it is to report military action which will take place in one our Eastern Bloc nations in southeastern Europe or perhaps Afghanistan. I doubt it would be Afghanistan because the United States has been helping the rebels there for many years and has established many military radio links with the Afghans."

"You're right. If a military action is being planned, it's being planned against one of our Eastern Bloc neighbors in Eastern Europe. I think we can safely assume this since the person traveling with Nat Turner was George Calumet, head of the Eastern European section of the CIA. Something is obviously being planned we need to know about right away."

"We need to alert our stations in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania to see if any of those stations can determine if something big is brewing" Komarov said. "Yugoslavia and Albania are both on the Adriatic Sea. If the United States were planning some military incursion in either of those two countries, you'd think their Navy would be involved. At least at this moment, we have no indication the Navy even knows the operation is being planned. Bulgaria could be reached by naval aircraft from the Aegean Sea by over flying part of Greece or skirting Greece to the east and overflying Turkey. Both Bulgaria and Romania are on the Black Sea, but the United States cannot put aircraft carriers in the Black Sea so it would seem to rule out Bulgaria and Romania as the objective. While we can't completely rule out the countries near major waterways, it does make one inclined to think Poland,

Czechoslovakia or Hungary are the most likely targets. Poland, of course, has a large coastline on the Baltic Sea, but this is entirely too near our major military forces to even consider a northern entry."

"Why do you think they'd be contemplating an invasion of one of the Eastern Bloc nations? It could be the start of World War III? "

"I've given considerable thought to the matter. I think they're willing to risk World War III for some reason, but I don't think they intend to start World War III. If they were to move into Poland or Czechoslovakia, I am assuming it would either be a rescue mission or to accomplish some particular military objective. For example, if we had a sensitive military installation in Poland they might be willing to test a preemptive strike by putting troops into an area to destroy the installation and quickly pull their people out to safety behind western European lines.

"They would be reasonably assured we would not fire our ICBMs over this small matter, but would only protest loudly. They would counter with the fact that his military installation was a threat to the Western European allies and they could not allow the military installation to exist. If they were successful in using this technique without retaliation, they would pick another military objective and quietly go about destroying it. This could go on and on."

Leonov Gaganin’s eyes were big. "Tatlin, do you believe this is about to happen?"

"No, I think it would be foolhardy. I also think the Western European nations would create such a storm of protest about a possible invasion from us the United States could not possibly pull off such an operation."

"Well, what do you plan to do with these theories?"

"I am going to share them with the Central Committee."

Garganin expressed great surprise. "Share it with the Committee! Isn't that foolhardy?"

"If you had been with me yesterday afternoon, you wouldn't think so. The members of the Central Committee tried to make a fool of me. I don't think anyone in our government either appreciates or likes the KGB. They obviously fear us greatly. There're times when I have the feeling if I show any animosity at all, the KGB will be an institution of the past. I always sense anger and suspicion by our political leaders. This is one thing we share with our opponents, the Central Intelligence Agency. The Congress of the United States does everything possible to make the work of the CIA difficult. If you were to listen to the political speeches in the United States Congress, you would think the CIA was the enemy. And yet, every one of them know that for the security of the United States the CIA must exist, and our Central Committee knows that for the security of the Soviet Union, the KGB must exist. But they don't like us and if at any time they can abuse us, they'll take the opportunity to do so.

"Yesterday I spent two very bad hours answering their questions" Komarov continued. "I didn't know much to tell them. We don't have any information allowing us to support theories factually. We can only draw inferences. I was badgered over and over again because of my lack of information. I was told not only to secure more information but to bring it to them right away. Yes, I am going to share the latest speculation of the Soviet Embassy in Washington. As neurotic as the committee members are, they will expect an imminent invasion of Moscow. There's no way of guessing the decision they might make in panic. At least half of them do believe the United States spends most of its time plotting the day they're going to destroy the Soviet Union. If their comments and questions reflect their true feelings, I don't see how the members of the Central Committee can sleep at night.

"I can tell you one other thing, Leonov. After I report this matter to the Central Committee, we may as well get ready to assign half the members of the KGB to follow Nat Turner. I'll probably be ordered to bring men in from California to sleep in his guest bedroom."

8:30 a.m. Tuesday May 24

Hercules Research Laboratories

Research Triangle Park

In the United States the name Hercules has long been related to war. Hercules Powder has been providing munitions for the United States since 1881. The company has major research facilities in the Research Triangle Park headed by the chief research scientist, Dr. John McCotter.

Nat had a 9:00 appointment to see Dr. McCotter. Since Hercules was one of the prime contractors for component parts in many of the United States missile systems, Nat knew the KGB would have penetration into this facility if at all possible.

At 8:30 Nat left home and proceeded out Interstate 40 toward the massive complex of research facilities. The drive took no more than fifteen minutes, and Nat was in the lobby talking to the receptionist with at least ten minutes to spare before his appointment. He sat in one of the soft chairs flanking a matching couch in a glass walled atrium. Within five minutes, Dr. McCotter's secretary appeared, checked to make sure he had his visitor's pass clipped to his pocket and led him into the inner sanctum of Hercules Powder.

They ascended in a glass elevator on the outside of the building overlooking a courtyard, stopping at the fifth floor. Nat followed the secretary a few steps down the hall, and they climbed a flight of steps to the top floor of the building. Nat made a mental note that this floor was not served by the elevator. There was obviously a good reason for such a design, but it escaped him. Once in John McCotter's office, Nat did not want this nagging question hanging over him, so he went directly to the subject. John laughed, "The top floor was added in a minor expansion, and the architect wanted to design sumptuous executive quarters for me. I drew the line however, on the extension of the elevator and assured him there was a bit of perverse pleasure in knowing I have to walk the final flight to reach my quarters."

Dr. McCotter was open and friendly. His speech patterns indicated he was not originally from the South. He was all business, and ready to start his discussion with Nat right away.

"Nat, I'm glad you're here, but I also know you wouldn't have asked for this appointment if you didn't have an important reason, so let's get to it."

"You're my kind of man, John and I think we can discuss the matter I'm here for in short order."

"Fine."

Not assumed a serious look on his face. "Teach me about missiles."

Nat knew full well he was talking to one of the nation's leading authorities on rockets and armaments. He was being as direct as John. He sat back to see how John would react to this open menu request.

"Are you serious?"

"Well, 90% serious. I do need a crash course on rocketry this morning. If at all possible, I'd like to have it before lunch."

"Well, if you're serious, I do have roughly a three hour course, but it will be piling a lot of information on you in a short period of time. I generally make this presentation to the military that have had considerable experience in the field of rocketry and armaments."

He then pressed a button on the side of his desk. Blackout draperies slid across the window. What was once a brightly lit room with windows from ceiling to floor was now in total darkness with the exception of one overhead light? He pressed another button which turned ledge lighting on around the room, and drew the lights down through a rheostat until there was a dim twilight. The next button turned on a projector located in an adjacent room which projected a picture on an etched glass plate at the end of his office. Nat was obviously going to get a slide presentation along with his lecture. "Soon after World War II, the United States Air Force decided rocketry was the way of the future. They had determined if they could have a fully guided air-to air missile fired under radar control they would have the weapon they wanted. Various defense contractors started work in the field of rocketry. They worked primarily on two kinds of guidance systems for the missiles --passive infrared, homing on some heat-emitting target; and semi-active radar, homing in on the path established by the aircraft firing the missile.

"The first air-to-air missile, or AAM, to become operational was the Hughes Falcon in 1956. Today the United States, the Soviet Union and almost any country with modern technology including mainland China are building missiles. We'll be talking about many missiles this morning. But, two of the most prominent will be the AIM-7 Sparrow and the AIM-9 Sidewinder. The Sparrow was the pioneer of the big medium range radar guided missile, and the Sidewinder led the way for the small infrared homing missile.

"When air-to-air missiles were designed we not only had to have a weapon with an excellent tactical capability, but, we needed a missile which fit the aerodynamics of the aircraft carrying the missile. Another factor that must be considered now is stealth technology. Stealth, as you know, is the technology to make objects invisible or nearly invisible to radar. The Air Force was contracting for stealth bombers and stealth fighters when they suddenly realized they would also need stealth missiles to fly on these invisible aircraft. It occurred to us we were going to need invisible rockets available on our aircraft to help them reach their targets. Almost all countries involved in modern technology are devising methods to either elude rockets or, in some cases, actually shoot them down.

"Rockets, of course, are centuries old. We know the Chinese were using them as early as the thirteenth century, and the British were using them at least 200 years ago. Francis Scott Key recorded the use of rockets vividly in our national anthem as the British were bombarding Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland.

"I may need to remind you that while we're talking about guided missiles most battles are still being fought with unguided projectiles. There is also an area of ordinance that falls between the guided missile and the totally unguided projectile. These ordinance devices approach a target in a predetermined pattern, increasing dramatically the probability of a hit. More and more research is being conducted on this type of ordinance. Free falling bombs are being developed which can be guided in a certain pattern to be sure a target is knocked out. We could send a cluster of missiles in a pattern to be sure a target is completely destroyed. It is even likely that more than one nuclear warhead will be assigned to a particular target to be sure of its destruction. It is now possible to drop a bomb that can separate into small bomblets and hit hundreds of separate targets. You could drop one bomb over a division of soldiers and it would wreak destruction in a certain prescribed way. We have free fall bombs from one pound up to twenty two thousand pounds. Our largest nuclear bombs, the B61 and the B83, are free falling bombs used by the Strategic Air Command. The neutron bomb can kill people without destroying property using radiation to penetrate thick walls and not disturb a brick or window pane. Even though we have improved technology in many ways, most of the bombs still being used in wars around the world today are of completely traditional architecture. They are free falling bombs with fins to stabilize them. Actually not much has changed since World War I.

"Rocketry has been available to the armed services for some time. The reason rockets were not used earlier is because they were not highly accurate. Do you recall the bazooka? It was a weapon developed for the infantry that fired a rocket with fins out of a hollow pipe. The infantryman aimed the weapon at the target, which established the line of flight. The bazooka proved to be an effective weapon at close range. Aircraft were entirely different, however, and presented a completely different set of problems. They provide a basically unstable platform from which to fire a projectile. It is virtually impossible to hold the rocket in line on an aircraft long enough to keep it heading toward its target.

"Careful manufacturing techniques, however, did improve the non-guided missile until at last it became a reasonably effective weapon even on aircraft. An air-to-surface missile became effective when the plane could go into a shallow dive, line itself up carefully with its target, and cut loose the rockets from under its wings.

"Rockets use both kinetic energy and exploding warheads to bring their target to an untimely end. Some rocket frames are designed to carry as many as eighteen different rockets.

"Let me make some brief comments about nuclear bombs and our current bombers. The B-57 bomb is a fission device with a yield of five to ten kilotons. It is used primarily as a depth charge and is carried by Navy and marine aircraft. The B-61 is the most numerous of our nuclear devices, and is carried by the Air Force, Navy, marines and several allied nations. It is a lightweight, multi-purpose weapon, and is the primary stock of our B-52s, F-111s and the B1 bomber. The B-83 is the new high yield bomb and is the first one we consider in the megaton class. The primary deliverers of this bomb would be our B-52, our FB-111As and the B-1B.

"Now we'll discuss what you came to talk about, our guided weapons. Before moving into this area, I think it'll help to keep in mind that even as sophisticated as these weapons are, we use many other destructive devices in greater numbers than our guided weapons. I've already mentioned the two most common guidance systems were the infrared heat seeking type and the semi-active radar homing type. If a missile is large enough it can contain its own radar and not be dependent upon the radar provided by the launching aircraft. Pilots like these missiles and you can see why. They can select the target, launch the missile and then get the hell out of there while the missile is locked dead on the target without any further assistance needed from the pilot.

"Active radar systems, however, do have a problem. These systems can alert the target that the missile is coming just like the radar detector many people use in their automobiles. This problem will become greater as our enemies become more sophisticated in designing devices which can destroy the incoming missile.

"One type of missile not getting much publicity, but important to all our armed forces is the anti-radar missile, known as the ARM. The purpose of this missile is to lock on to enemy radar, homing on it and destroying its capability to listen. The first counter-measure for the anti-radar missiles was to detect the fact that missiles were coming and simply turn the radar off. The missile was puzzled when it lost its target and generally flew right on by its intended destination. As a counter-measure to this procedure, newer anti-radar missiles lock on to the radar, calculate its position with a small computer, and head directly to the target even if the radar is shut down. This is proving to be highly effective.

"Strategic missiles such as ICBMs and our intermediate range missiles are fired against fixed targets using inertial guidance systems. They have super accurate gyros and accelerometers which allow the missile to know where it is at all times. The missile is actually programmed to reach a target and each of these large birds can keep up with where it is at all times. It is amazing how accurate they are. “

"Next we became interested in developing a missile which did not follow a calculable flight path by the enemy. The reasoning was simple. If we fired the rocket and it followed a traditional trajectory, our enemy could detect it using either satellite or over the horizon radar. It could then calculate where it was, what trajectory it was following and mathematically determine where it would be. At a given time, it would have some device waiting to destroy the missile. When this became possible, we went to the whole technology of dummy warheads, chaff, aerosol clouds and any number of things to try to confuse enemy radars to keep them from actually shooting down our missiles as they would come into enemy territory.

"The cruise missile followed a different concept. You can think of the cruise missile as more of an unmanned airplane on a kamikaze mission. The cruise missile is subsonic and flies low using 'tercom', terrain comparison or terrain contour, matching techniques. The cruise missile not only has an inertial guidance system, but it uses tercom to read the terrain below it and compares it with a map stored in the memory of an on board computer. Inertial guidance systems work well on a straight trajectory. A cruise missile is designed to deviate off course and zig zag in many different ways, gain altitude, lower it’s altitude and basically come in from an angle unsuspected by the enemy. Such maneuvers ask a lot of inertial guidance systems, so the terrain comparison allows the cruise missile to read a map, find out where it is, feed this into the inertial guidance system computer which properly corrects itself and takes the cruise missile right on to its target. It is an effective device indeed. We saw quickly when the cruise missile was installed in Europe along with a new longer range heavy hitting Pershing II, the Soviets were willing to come to the conference table to get rid of the intermediate range missiles, They realized just how deadly these two birds were. The Soviets did not want those two missiles deployed in Europe. It would make them entirely too vulnerable."

"How did we come out in the intermediate range missile treaty?" Nat asked.

"Well, as usual the Soviets got more out of it than we did. Their short range and intermediate range missiles are not nearly as effective as ours. The SS-20 can do a lot of damage. I certainly don't want to underestimate it, but it in no way compares in sophistication to either one of our two missiles. On the other hand, I would have to admit, we did get the Soviets to the bargaining table, and they seemed eager to sign a treaty with us. If, on the other hand, you think they are going to be as faithful to the treaty as the United States will be, you can forget that. To my knowledge, we do not have a single treaty with the Soviets which has not been violated, and that includes SALT II.

"Now, let me get my slide presentation underway. Nat, I'm going to show you 35mm slides of our more important missiles and then we'll discuss their counterparts being built in the USSR."

John McCotter pressed the switch of the remote control device in his hand and a missile appeared on the screen from the slide projector located in the anteroom. "This is the ACM, built by General Dynamics in San Diego, propelled by Williams F-112 high pass ratio turbo fan. Weight approximately 3,000 pounds. Speed 500 miles per hour and range 1700 miles. This is a United States Air Force cruise missile and will carry a nuclear warhead. A degree of stealth technology is built into this missile and it is very potent."

John McCotter pressed the button again. "ADSM is built by General Dynamics in Pomona, California. High thrust launch motor, weight 30 pounds. They are fired from aircraft. This is a variation of the Stinger missile."

He pressed the button again. "AGM-130A, built by Rockwell in Duluth, Georgia, Twin long burn solid propellant rockets. Weight 3,000 pounds. This bird flies in the mach 1 range of roughly 700 mph with a range of 15 miles. This is considered a standoff weapon which allows the aircraft to define a target, fire the missile and turn away without seeing the mission completed."

The button again pressed. "ALCM built by Boeing Aerospace, propelled by the Williams F107-10 turbo fan. Weight a little more than 3,000 pounds, cruising speed 500 mph. The warhead is nuclear. This is truly the most important air launched cruise missile the Air Force possesses."

Click. "Brave 3000, built by Boeing in Wichita, Kansas. The Brave uses Noel Penny turbines. Weight 500 pounds speed 430 mph. Warhead can be either nuclear or conventional. This is considered a mini cruise missile."

The button pressed, and magically another slide appeared. "This is the Bull Pup, built by Martin-Marietta. Weight 57 pounds, speed 1700 mph, primarily used by the Navy and fired from carrier based aircraft toward land based targets."

Click. "The GBU 15 built by Rockwell International. Weight 2600 pounds. Speed is subsonic. This missile often carries cluster bombs, but can be fitted for the MT84."

Click. "The Harm is built by Texas Instruments. This is one of the more important missiles in our arsenal. Thiokol single grain propulsion, weight 800 pounds, performance more than mach 2, roughly 1500 miles per hour. The warhead is fragmentation with proximity fuse. These missiles are often carried by the Navy's A-7E and the new F/A-18B Hornet. "

Click. "The Harpoon is built by McDonnell Douglas for the Navy and Marine Corps. Also occasionally used by the Air Force. Uses the Teladyne CAE turbo jet, weighs 1145 pounds, speed is roughly 450 mph and is primarily used against ships at sea."

Click. "HVM, built by Vought, propulsion is solid rocket engine, weight 60 pounds. Speed 3400 mph. It is considered an anti-armor weapon and it kills purely by kinetic energy. Its main purpose is armor piercing."

Click. "Maverick, built by Hughes Aircraft, propulsion Thiokol solid rocket engine, weight 635 pounds, speed mach 2 or roughly 1350 mph. Warhead either a Chamberlain shape charge or AVCO steel case boon trader."

When the next missile appeared on the screen, John interrupted himself and said "This one will amuse you, but it is an important missile. It's called the Paveway LGBS." John was no longer using his lecture type military voice. "This little baby is built by Texas Instruments. It uses no propulsion. Only the speed of the airplane that launches it gives it any forward motion. It weighs about 30 pounds and is technically a free fall bomb. But where this one is different is that it's a guided missile. The bombs are simple and require no aircraft modification or electrical connection. They are carried on almost all our fighters and they follow a laser guiding them to the target. The configuration of their tail fins can be changed to maintain a predetermined glide path."

The next picture was the Shrike. "This missile is built by the Naval Weapons Center, propulsion Rockwell MK motor, weight 400 pounds, speed 1400 mph. The warhead is usually fragmentation with a proximity fuse. Air Force, Navy, Marines all use this rocket."

Click. "Sidearm, built by Motorola, propulsion naval propeller, solid rocket engine, weight 200 pounds, speed 1700 mph. Warhead is either blast or fragmentation."

Click. "Skipper II, built by Emerson Defense Systems, propulsion ATSC smokeless solid propellant rocket, weight 1300 pounds. The range is 10 miles, speed transonic, The warhead equivalent of a 1,000 pound bomb."

Click. "Slam, built by McDonnell Douglas, propulsion Teladyne CAA-J402 turbojet, weight 1400 pounds. This is a standoff land attack missile and is a derivative of the Harpoon the Navy uses to attack ships at sea."

Click. "SRAM-A, built by Boeing Aerospace, propulsion by Lockheed, two-pulse solid motor, weight 2200 pounds, speed 2000 miles per hour. The SRAM carries a nuclear warhead. This is primarily an Air Force Missile."

Click. "SRAM II, built by Boeing, propulsion two pulse advanced solid propellant rocket engine, weight 1500 pounds, performance 2000 mph, warhead turbo-nuclear."

Click. "Standard ARM, built by General Dynamics, propelled by Aerojet MK27 solid fuel rocket, weight 1400 pounds, speed 1800 mph, warhead conventional blast or fragmentation using proximity fuses. This missile is used by the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines."

Click. "Tacit Rainbow, built by Norfolk, propelled by a Williams International J400 Turbojet, weight 440 pounds, speed 600 mph. Warhead usually conventional with an impact fuse. This missile is primarily used by the Navy."

The button pressed, the picture changed. "Walleye, built by Martin Marietta, has no propulsion, it's free fall using the speed of the airplane, weight 1100 pounds, and speed is subsonic depending, of course, on the speed of the launch aircraft. Range about 16 miles."

John elaborated on the Walleye. "The pilot will identify the target. Typically he would be using his radar in the plane. The Walleye has a camera in it, and the pilot aims the camera, focuses it, and locks it on the target using a monitor screen in the cockpit. He releases the Walleye, and it will stay locked on the target while the pilot turns and gets away. Its standoff range as I mentioned is about 16 miles.

"Now, all the missiles I have just shown you are AGMs or ASMs, meaning Air to Ground Missile, or Air to Surface Missile. We have fewer Air-to-Air Missiles available in our arsenal. When we look at the AAMs, the guidance, of course, is infrared homing or semi-active radar homing. Few AAMs have their own radar system. Such guidance requires a much larger missile than most aircraft are capable of carrying. The Sidewinder, which we will take a look at in a few minutes, is more than thirty years old, but it has been modified and improved over the years, so it is still one of the main missiles in the arsenal. Most air-to-air missiles carry some sort of friend or foe identification. This is important because most missiles require some midcourse correction. When you give a missile the capability of correcting in midcourse and following another flight path, it could lock on to a friendly aircraft instead of the enemy or conceivably circle around and come up the tailpipe of your own plane. This possibility, as you would imagine, can make a pilot nervous and hesitant to launch if he's not sure the missile is going to wind up targeted on an enemy aircraft.

"Let me remind you again, Nat, the missiles I'm going to show you are only those made in the United States. Virtually all of the industrial nations of the world make air-to-air missiles. We could spend a long time talking about those made by other countries."

Click. "This is an ASAT, an air-to-space anti-satellite missile. It's built by the Vought Corporation; propulsion is a Lockheed 5R75 solid rocket booster, and Altair III solid rocket sustainer. Weight 2600 pounds, speed 620mph. Uses kinetic energy as a warhead, which means it simply crashes into its target. This missile is generally launched by an F-15 fighter and it is highly accurate. This is just the first of a whole new family of anti-satellite missiles."

Click. "The Falcon is built by Hughes Aircraft, solid rocket engine. The Falcon can be configured at least a dozen different ways, but the average weight would be in the neighborhood of 150, 160 pounds. It uses a blast warhead with a proximity fuse."

Click. "Genie, built by Douglas Aircraft, propelled by Thiokol solid rocket engine, Weight 820 pounds, speed 2500 mph. The Genie carries a nuclear warhead generally in the 1.5 kiloton range."

Click. "This is the Phoenix or AIM-54. He paused to be sure he had Nat's attention. "This is the newest and best rocket we have right now, probably the most sophisticated in the world. It is built by Hughes Aircraft, propelled by Aerojet MK60 autorocketdyne NK47 long burn rocket engine. It weighs almost 1,000 pounds and its speed is more than 3500 mph. It uses a continuous rod warhead with either proximity or impact fuses. This rocket should take us through the 1990s."

Click. "You will recognize the good old Sidewinder. As I mentioned, this rocket was originally introduced almost forty years ago, but it has been modified and upgraded and it is still the prototype of the small rocket carried by fighter planes around the world. The United States sells Sidewinders by the tens of thousands to its allies. Its original builder was the Naval Weapons Center, but Ford Aerospace has now taken over the contract. It can be configured any number of ways but the average weight of the Sidewinder will be around 190 pounds. The speed of the Sidewinder is slightly subsonic, 600 or 700 mph but generally it is fired in such close range that, when you add its speed to the speed of the airplane, it can be up an exhaust pipe in a short period of time."

Click. "Now let's look at another old, but true friend, the Sparrow. It is built by Raytheon Company. This could be considered a medium size missile. It is propelled by an Aerojet or Rockwell MK52. Weight 450 pounds, speed in the mach 4 range, roughly 2600 mph; warhead is continuous rod, generally with a proximity fuse."

Click. "The Stinger, built by General Dynamics, propelled by Tandem Atlantic Research solid jet engines, weighs 30 pounds, speed 1600mph. The warhead is of a fragmentation variety."

From that point on, the slides moved to the Russian arsenal. They talked first of air-to-air missiles and went back and talked about air-to-ground missiles. John shared both the Russian designations and the American designations of each class. As usual, Nat's questions were incisive, and John was impressed. At the conclusion of the conversation, Nat thanked John for his time and stated genuinely how much he had enjoyed his presentation. John returned the compliment saying he was always happy to find someone who was as interested in his field as Nat had proven to be. John accompanied Nat back to the entrance of Hercules, and, as Nat receded in the distance, John thought to himself, "He's one of the sharpest guys I have ever talked to. It's incredible to me how much he could grasp about the various configurations of rocketry and airborne weapons without having any appreciable background in the field at all. It's a shame he wasn't a scientist instead of an educator.

1:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 24

TRW Research Laboratories

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

Charles Anderson headed the research effort for the TRW Laboratory located in Research Triangle Park. He was a member of the Carolina Country Club located in Raleigh, and had played golf with Nat from time to time. While they did not play in a regular foursome, they had the opportunity to become well acquainted through social events held by the club and often formed a foursome during golf tournaments. On occasion when Nat's regular foursome needed a person to complete the match, because of the inability of one of the regulars to play, they asked Charles to join them. Nat always enjoyed riding in the golf cart with Charles. While much of the work carried on by TRW is classified, they did talk enough about science, technology and world events to lead Nat to covet some of Charles Anderson's knowledge before he was due to leave for Europe.

On impulse while driving away from the Governors Inn, Nat picked up the phone in his Saab and asked for directory assistance. Within a minute or two, he had TRW's number and was placing the call the see if it was convenient to stop by. TRW is one of the large conglomerates with government contracts working on some of the government's most exotic projects. Nat was convinced Charles Anderson would be a valuable source of information in the area of space warfare and satellites.

Nat was fortunate in finding Charles available to come to the phone and had time to see him right away. Excitement flirted around the nape of Nat's neck. He accelerated the car until the turbo boost needle was well up into the middle of the dial. The black Saab proceeded out Interstate 40 toward Durham. Reaching the Cornwallis Road exit, the automobile glided smoothly around the sweeping cloverleaf and proceeded west on Cornwallis Drive. Within a mile, he was following the double lane drive leading to the visitor's parking lot of the TRW Research Laboratories.

After parking his car, Nat went into the lobby, was greeted cordially by the receptionist and asked to sign the register for security purposes. He slipped on the authorized visitor's badge and was soon met by an associate of Charles Anderson. They proceeded to the elevator which whisked them to the third floor and Anderson's office. They greeted each other warmly, and immediately settled down to business. Nat was on a tight schedule and he promised he would not take much of Charles's time.

"Charles, it may surprise you, but I have a classified assignment for the federal government and need some technical information. I'm going to ask you some questions, and you can answer me if you can. I promise you the information will be kept confidential, but I don't expect to be informed of your classified work as I haven't been cleared for such information. Use your own judgment and help me as you can."

"Nat, we do have some work going on here that will astonish the world if we're successful. Of course, I can't discuss the work. If it's background information you need on space warfare or satellites, I probably can help you. Now what do you need to know?"

"How many satellites does the Soviet Union put into orbit each year?"

Charles answered, "About 100."

"How many of those are for military purposes?"

"I would estimate roughly 70% for purely military purposes, 15% for dual military and civilian purposes and about 15% for civilian purposes. But, as you know, in the Soviet Union it is difficult to separate military purposes from civilian purposes."

"How many satellites does the United States put up each year?"

He answered, "About 20."

Nat asked, "Why this great discrepancy?"

"The discrepancy isn't quite as great as it sounds. Technologically the satellites put up by the United States are much more advanced. They generally are multipurpose and we can keep them in orbit much longer than the Soviets. While you should never underestimate the Soviet Union, they are much more simplistic. They put one foot right in front of the other. They don't mind spending the money on launches and their satellites are not nearly as multifunctional. While everybody in the United States knows all about our orbital failures, the Soviets do not report theirs to the press. Our ability to place satellites in orbit and keep them there makes ours much more reliable."

He went on "There is one situation, however, that does give me pause. Were we to get into an armed conflict with the Soviets and start disabling each other's satellites, they are better prepared than we are to replace satellites that are blinded, disabled or destroyed? One of our primary objectives in this laboratory is to devise a way to protect satellites from enemy intrusion. The military has become so dependent upon satellites for all forms of action that even the foot soldier would grind to a halt in many cases if a particular satellite were disabled. Whether we admit it, or whether the Soviets admit it, space is the new theater of warfare."

"It is amusing" Nat said, that both the United States and the Soviets are declaring neither will use space for warfare."

Charles smiled "Nat, you know as well as I do, the decision to use space was made more than thirty years ago. Intercontinental ballistic missiles go through space. No one has any doubts about manned space platforms being used for military as well as civilian purposes."

"Of course, the United States is still looking strongly at using platforms in space for their Strategic Defense Initiative. Without question, the most reliable way to detect ICBMs on their way to destroy targets in the United States will be through sensors placed on orbiting satellites. The intercontinental missiles require only thirty minutes to reach their targets, and the SLBM, the submarine launched ballistic missiles, take as little as ten minutes, depending upon location at time of deployment. If we're going to have any hope of surviving a nuclear attack, we must be able to detect these missiles, assess their flight path, and warn both our military and civilian population."

"Can you tell me how the detection system works?" Nat asked.

"Oh yes, there's nothing classified about that. We use infrared sensors to detect the heat from the missile's exhaust. We know they're on their way within seconds after they leave the silo. Our spy satellites can get their pictures coming out of the hole. We're well advanced in that area."

"Charles, how many satellites does it take to monitor the Soviet Union?"

"It may surprise you, but it takes only three."

"How many satellites do we have in orbit?"

"We keep roughly 120 in orbit at all times."

"Well, how many do the Russians keep in orbit if they have 100 launches a

year?"

He laughed, "About the same number. As I said, we're much more reliable. We put up 20, they put 100. Yet, generally, there is a reasonable degree of parity sitting in space. The three early warning satellites are placed in geostationary orbit. This means their rotation is the same as the earth. As far as we're concerned, those three early warning moons are sitting there staring down on the Soviet Union night and day."

"Can you tell me how they function?"

"Sure. These three satellites are known as the defense support program. The military likes to use letters, so they call it the DSP. Each is equipped with a Schmidt telescope twelve feet long with a three foot aperture. At the focal point of this rather large telescope is a grid of 2000 lead sulfide infrared detectors. Each scans an area of 3.7 miles in both directions. The satellites scan at roughly 6 rpm producing a conical scanning pattern. By plotting an infrared source over several revolutions, we can detect whether an object is moving or stationary. We no longer have the problem of confusing a forest fire with an ICBM launch. You may laugh at this, but in 1975 one of our early warning satellites was temporarily blinded and ceased to function. We were afraid the Soviets had used a ground based laser to put it out of commission, but later found out an intense fire had broken out in the Soviet Union and our satellite was focusing on this intense heat source."

"Do the Soviets have lasers that can damage our satellites?"

"Yes, unfortunately they do. In fact we think they have two different configurations which could give us serious problems."

"What are we doing about it?" "We're working on it. The high altitude, low observable program is hopefully going to give us laser resistant satellites. We have found that ablative materials are also less vulnerable to lasers, and these will be integrated in our satellite early warning system. They should be in place in the early to mid-1990s."

"We have many other satellites in the surveillance and reconnaissance field."

Charles continued, "We have communication satellites and navigation satellites in orbit. We put some up for meteorological and others for geodesic purposes. The geodesic satellites are primarily for mapping, and your good old weatherman depends upon the meteorological satellites to give us our weather forecasts every day. The communication satellites are used for long distance telephone calls along with television and radio links.

"Television networks originally had to rely upon coaxial cable for direct connections. We then moved to microwave communications. You still see these big microwave reflectors mounted on top of most telephone company buildings. Now we are using satellite communication, and almost all of our television stations have the big concave dish antennae picking up transmitted signals from satellites. Needless to say, the heartbeat of the military is now being transmitted over communications satellites."

Nat slowed Charles down. "Let's go over those one at a time."

"OK, First, communications. The Comsats now carry over 70% of all our military communications going overseas. Each of the armed services has its own satellites. There is the DSCS, the defense satellite communication system used by all branches of the service. The AFSATCOM, is the Air Force satellite communication system. The Navy has the FLTSATCOM, the fleet satellite communication system, for their around the world use. The fourth is 5D5, the satellite data system. The 5D5 consists of four geostationary satellites plus two in orbit spares. They are designed to handle 1300 voice channels at 100 megabits per second. The FLSATCOM consists of four geostationary satellites and containing 900 to 1000 relayed links. FLTSATCOM uses many other satellites in its system, but has separate transponders for the Air Force to use.

The other little system is SD5. It is a three satellite network to fill polar gaps."

"Tell me about the reconnaissance and surveillance satellites."

"Well, these are the famous spy satellites. They are used to obtain military information and to keep a wary eye out for intruders. They use optical, infrared and sometimes even use radar to obtain highly detailed photographs of places of interest. Information captured by the spy satellites can be relayed back to receiving stations digitally through the use of video or they can take photographs using film and drop them in parachutes to be picked up by that workhorse the C-130 Hercules. The use of film is not an everyday occurrence, but when high definition information is needed, they will rely on this antiquated but effective information gathering device. Digitally produced pictures are computer enhanced, so most often they're satisfactory for the information we need. You would be amazed at the high resolution of photographs taken from our satellites.

"The most famous spy satellite is ' Big Bird'. It's the one that can give you both the wide area surveillance and the close look, high resolution reconnaissance. Its cameras can identify objects as small as twelve inches across. Using Big Bird, pictures are taken and processed on board. The photographs are then optically scanned and transmitted to earth. If you need to look at the actual photograph they're jettisoned and picked up."

"Are the Big Bird satellites placed in low orbits or high orbit?" Nat asked.

"Big Bird is put in a low sun-synchronous orbit enabling it to pass over the identical target at the same time every day. It also has rocket motors so we can nudge it back into orbit as it begins to decelerate. You must have some method to keep it from being drawn back to earth if it flies in orbits as low as 100 miles."

"Another new system is the Key-hole reconnaissance satellites. They are KH-8 and KH-9. These are both film return satellites and photograph only targets of high priority. KH-11, however, does not use film return. It relies totally on digital imaging. KH-12 is the latest and most sophisticated of our reconnaissance satellites. It is an extraordinary spy machine."

"What is the Soviet Union doing?" Nat inquired.

"They still rely primarily on photography rather than digital imaging. They also use their Salyut space stations for spying purposes. Salyut 3 and Salyut 5 were put in orbit for that purpose. When they put Salyut 7 up in 1983, it represented a rather significant advance for the Soviets. They not only could change its orbit, but they can refuel Salyut 7 periodically by hooking it with space shots carrying rocket fuel. The Soviet's Elint ocean reconnaissance satellite, which we call Eorsat, operates at altitudes of near 280 miles. Their radar equipped satellites operate at 155 miles. These two track the movement of our naval forces constantly."

"You mentioned the navigation satellites. These must be valuable."

"Yes, NAVSAT was originally put up to allow the Polaris submarine to locate itself. Calculations made using NAVSAT can place a submarine within an accuracy of approximately 165 yards. We think that's close enough."

"What are we doing in terms of anti-satellite warfare?"

"In devising an anti-satellite system, we must first be able to locate the satellite and then identify it. Much of our time is spent in improving methods to accomplish those two tasks. We use radar and ground based electro-optical surveillance. Much of this work is classified, but we already have an air launched rocket designed to destroy satellites. It consists of a two stage missile with the last stage being a miniature homing vehicle. It's launched by an F-15, and employs an infrared homing system to close in on the target. When it reaches the satellite it will be traveling about 8 miles per second. We're also experimenting with the use of free electron lasers which will be ground based because of their size and weight. These lasers will be useful in anti-satellite warfare and conceivably could be the heart of the Strategic Defense Initiative. It's a highly complex system, but should be very effective."

"If you will, talk to me about the Soviet space efforts. This information may be useful to me within the next few weeks."

"I can give you at least a thumbnail sketch. Remember you're dealing with the world's largest country, and it can harness its resources for any purpose it chooses. Rocketry and space exploration happens to be one of their highest priorities. Many people think they were not interested in rocketry until we captured German scientists after World War II. This isn't true. The Soviets were dreaming of putting men in a low orbit around the earth at the turn of the twentieth century, long before the revolution ever took place, and certainly before Goddard's experiments with rocketry in this country in 1926."

"There's a vast difference between Soviet rocketry and space programs and those of the United States. In this country, we will determine a target and make great advances in a remarkably short period of time. Then interest will die or Congress will change its mind about funding the program and there'll be slowdowns in development. In the Soviet Union this is not true. They make small incremental changes all the time. It's fairly easy to know how well we're doing in comparison with the Soviets through their public statements. When they think the Soviet Union is technically superior to the United States, you can rest assured they will be releasing this information to the public. As soon as we catch up or go ahead, they become strangely quiet. They are as predictable as children.

"Another aspect of the Soviet mentality you want to keep in mind is that they do not view public statements the same way we do in the United States. They consider misdirection and lying as perfectly legitimate. On the other hand, if the American people catch our government in any untruth, shock waves permeate the country. For example, the Soviets deny they have spy satellites, and yet they have been in orbit since 1962. While we have a treaty to ban weapons of mass destruction being placed in space, both sides are developing anti-satellite weapons and both are ready to deploy so called anti-missile weapons in space."

"The Soviets are well ahead of us in manned space stations. Their new MIR, which by the way means Peace, is a high priority item for them. The only reason it isn't up there now is they have been unsuccessful in developing a rocket equivalent to our Saturn 5 that could take this station into the required orbit.

"The Soviets have three cosmodromes in the Soviet Union that would be roughly equivalent to our Cape Canaveral. There is Tyuratam, Tlesetsk and Kapustin Yar. The Tlesetsk Base is the most frequently used of the cosmodromes. Kapustin Yar is used primarily for the testing of non-manned military rockets."

Charles looked Nat in the eye. "Do you want me to run over their launches with you?"

Nat answered, "If it won't take too much of your time."

"Let's start with the early programs. Sputnik 1 was launched from Wurataum on October 4, 1957. It was about basketball size with four antennae and its transmissions lasted about twenty one days.

"There were only 3 in that series and they concluded in May of 1958. If you remember, it was Sputnik 2 that carried Laika into orbit. So the first space traveler was a dog, and they did mercifully kill the animal with an injection after a few days. They didn't leave Laika in orbit to starve to death or run out of oxygen.

"In 1967, they began the Interkosmos series. They were 22 in number starting in October of 1969 with the last one going up in February 1981. We assume they have completed this series. They included experiments from many Iron Curtain countries in that series so it could be considered a scientific program. The Elektron series was the first multiple payload launches. One and two were sent in January of 1964 and three and four were sent up in July of 1964. The work of the four launches in this series appeared to be totally scientific.

"Another interesting series was the Korabl Sputnik series. There were five spacecraft in this series. The series started in May 1960 and concluded in March 1961. These tests were used to recover satellites from earth orbit. This series provided practice in bringing their cosmonauts back from space if they were in trouble. Now I will give you some idea of the scale of their military effort. The Kosmos series is numbering close to 1800 right now. Most of this series was for military purposes, but as I said a few minutes ago, it is difficult to separate the military from civilian and scientific projects in the Soviet Union. The Kosmos series is still going on.

"The Luna series are the moon flights. There were 24 of these. Luna 1 was the Soviet's first attempt to strike the moon. They had a little medallion aboard with a Soviet coat of arms. Unfortunately for them, they missed the moon by 3600 miles and Luna 1 went into solar orbit."

He smiled, "I believe they can take some pride in placing the first man-made vehicle into solar orbit. But Luna 2 actually did hit the moon. "The first three of the Luna flights used their A-1 booster, but by the time number 4 was ready to go in April of 1963, they had their bigger launch vehicle on the pad. It's the A-2E. This rocket was used through number 14; from that point on they used B-1E booster. Frankly, these were simply stacked booster units.

"Their 3E series of boosters related to placing space stations in orbit. There were forty Soyuz missions, fourteen Soyuz Space T missions and seven Salyut missions. These 60 missions are preparatory to building a permanent space station which will be constantly manned and will become the launching station for deep space.

"The Soviets have had surprising success with their Venus probes. The Vega vehicles were both launched in December of 1984, one on the 15th and the other the 21st. Vega 2 was able to collect and chemically analyze a sample of Venusian soil. Vega 1 actually landed on Venus too, but they didn't get much information from it.

"The Venera series is basically a deep space program. The Russians have landed on Venus several times; we'll have to give them credit for that. Somehow they've had little success landing on Mars. We have to chalk that as a failure. The switch to the B-1E booster in 1975 is chiefly responsible for their deep space successes.

"Another early series we shouldn't overlook is the Vostok series. They used the E-1 rocket to put Vostok 1 in space. This was the flight with Yuri Gagarin aboard. Gagarin only made one orbit which lasted less than two hours, but that moment in history has always been important to the Soviets. Their second man in orbit, German Tito stayed up twenty four hours completing seventeen orbits. The final of the Vostok flights, Vostok 6 was historically significant also. This flight took six people along, including Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly in space.

"There're some other things we could talk about, but unless you want to get into interstellar vehicles, you're now more knowledgeable on satellites and space launches than most people. If you're ever acknowledged for your expertness in this field, I hope you'll give proper credit where credit is due."

Nat assured Charles he would. A few more minutes of conversation followed. Charles took Nat back down the elevator, collected his visitor's pass, and bade him farewell from the TRW laboratories.

10:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 24

The Cameron Village Camera Shoppe

Raleigh, North Carolina

The Cameron Village Camera Shoppe had been closed for two hours. Freeman Hill was standing in the doorway leading to the back of the shop. Looking for the tell-tale flash of lights indicating an automobile was parking in front of the store. He was expecting one of the Raleigh KGB agents to arrive at 10:00 p.m. to report to Wells Compton relating to Nat Turner. Thirty KGB agents were assigned to Compton's station to work the Raleigh area. The station was large because of the close proximity of Research Triangle Park and its many research laboratories. This group also had the responsibility for most of eastern North Carolina and its military bases. The organization was well in place and had proven to be effective over the years. Troop movements and governmental research were certainly high priority items with the KGB. Each of the thirty agents was responsible for securing and running penetrations into all the sensitive facilities located in the Eastern half of North Carolina.

One of the best agents reporting to Compton was Wade Odom. He was due at any moment to make a report. Wade had been in Raleigh for five years and had proven to be highly effective in devising methods for the surveillance of individuals. He was the obvious choice to head the team watching Turner. Typically the agents did not work out of the Cameron Village Camera Shoppe. Most of the communication was handled through public telephones and meetings at remote locations. The importance of this assignment, however, called for regular meetings between Wells Compton and Wade Odom.

At 10:02 Hill observed an automobile pull up to the curb and park in front of the camera shop. The driver of the automobile turned the lights of the machine off and proceeded to the front door. By the time the driver reached the door, Hill had the alarm turned off and the restraining bolts released. He opened the door allowing Odom to enter, and immediately closed the door behind him, reestablishing electrical contact for the security system and replacing the bolts in their proper closed position. The two men exchanged greetings and walked through the door to the back of the building turning left into Compton's office.  Compton stood, shook hands with Wade and started to talk while pouring a cup of coffee for the new arrival.

"How did the day go?"

"Things went all right. It was an easy day, but, of course, stakeouts can become boring if the person under surveillance is not moving much. I was dreading the stakeout of Cameron College. Their security force is always looking for strangers! There is no way to pose as an employee of the institution, they all know each other. A bakery and waffle shop are situated across from the campus, but the trees block out any view of the parking lot. The waffle shop is at least a quarter mile away. Surveillance requires high powered field glasses from this point, and a person is quickly noticed if he stays for more than a few minutes in front of the shop without going in to eat. I was expecting to have to rely on resourcefulness to handle this assignment. Fortunately, Turner spent little time in the office.

"Surveillance at home will not be difficult because the house is surrounded by fifty acres of forest on the north side of the campus. However, there're two problems with the surveillance at the residence. The first will amuse you, but it is annoying. They have two small dogs. One is a fox terrier and the other is a cocker spaniel. They're small dogs and I'm confident would not hurt anyone, but in their mind they're protecting their home place from strangers. They'll chase joggers and bicycle riders who use the drive as a back entrance to the campus. They'll worry a surveillance team to death.

"The second problem is more serious. While it is easy to secure a vantage point from the woods, there's nowhere close by to park a car. The most acceptable place to leave an automobile is at least three blocks from the point of surveillance. This is unacceptable. I ended up having to have two agents join me. It was necessary to have one watch the exit to the city street and one watch the exit to the college. I decided to put a third man in the woods this morning and made the assumption that by 8:00 something would happen and the men could be released for other duties."

Wade continued. "Now I've complained about my problems enough. Let me give you a quick rundown on today's activities. At 7:30 Turner left home and went to his office which is a ride of no more than two minutes. He drives a black Saab 9000 Turbo. He was in his office less than an hour and left campus with me close behind. He drove out Interstate 40 into the Research Triangle Park. He had an appointment at the Hercules Research Labs.

Compton broke in. "That's interesting. Hercules! Were you able to find out who he talked with?"

"Yes, we have penetration at Hercules, but I was inquisitive so I checked it out myself. Security procedures at these labs make it easy to identify the person whom the visitor is to see. When someone comes for a visit they're required to register by signing their name and indicating the person they're visiting. I wait until the person I have under surveillance leaves the reception area and identify myself to the receptionist as an employee of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. I tell her my purpose is to obtain employment information indicating compliance with EEOC regulations. From that moment on I get royal treatment. All of the research labs have governmental contracts and they do not want to have a problem with the Equal Opportunity Commission. When the receptionist asks me to sign in for my visit with the personnel manager, I look at the register and note who the person I am following is there to see. This is exactly what I did today and found Nat Turner was there to visit John McCotter, the chief research scientist for Hercules."