"Let me see," Larry said anxiously, pushing through the ring of gas company workers.
"That look like a phone line to you?" Jane demanded.
"Yeah. But an old one. It's a copper analogue line. All the cable on the island is fiber-optic."
"Is it a problem?"
"I gotta call this in. Don't do a thing till I get back." Three minutes later Larry Lugerman came back, relief on his youthful face. "It's okay. They have no record of it."
Jane Kotzwinkle looked at him pointedly. "So?"
"That means you can cut through it, work around it, do anything you want."
"Just because they don't have a record of it?"
Larry shrugged. "If there's no record, it doesn't exist, as far as we're concerned."
"But it's a phone line. You said so yourself. How can it not exist?"
"It's probably an old test line upgraded or abandoned years ago that some lazy SOB forgot to remove."
"You're the authority," Jane said aridly, picking up a pickax and chopping away. The line parted. Nothing happened. There was no spark of complaint, not that anyone expected a spark.
As a piece of the copper wire came flying out of the hole, Larry picked it up and said, "Boy, this is really old. They haven't used two-wire lines like this for carrying voice since I don't know when." He noticed the red rubber sheathing, looked into the hole and saw that every line in the cable was protected by the exact same red rubber coating.
"This makes no sense," he muttered. "They always color code the individual lines. Otherwise, how would the linemen know which lines were which?"
Nobody paid him any mind. They were busy excavating the gas pipeline. After a while Larry dropped the utterly fascinating copper telephone wire and stared at Jane Kotzwinkle's ass as she bent to her work.
He was wondering if she was up for lunch.
Chapter 12
After Harold W Smith got IRS agent Bryce Ballard squared away and out of his office, ledgers in hand, he returned to his desk to punch the concealed stud of the CURE computer system.
His finger stopped short of the button when a muffled ringing came from the right-hand desk drawer. It was the red presidential phone.
Smith dug it out of the drawer and brought the receiver to his ear. "Yes, Mr. President?"
The Chief Executive's tone was hoarse and urgent. "Smith, I need an update for the hounds of hell."
"The White House press corps. Someone leaked the Harlequin story. I've gotta to issue a statement to settle things down."
"Mr. President, I regret to say I've not been able to get to the matter."
"What?"
"Sir, an IRS revenue agent unexpectedly walked in."
"For God's sake, why?"
Smith cleared his throat unhappily. "Er, it appears I have been targeted for audit."
"What the hell do you do up there that the IRS would want to target you? Scratch that. I don't want to know. If I don't know where you operate out of or your cover, I have limited deniability."
"Very wise, Mr. President."
The President pitched his voice low and conspiratorial. "Want me to pull a few strings? Squash the audit? I can do that-I think."
"I am tempted, Mr. President, but for the White House to order the audit squashed would be so highly unusual as to call undue attention to my cover operation."
"Yeah. Good point. Now, let's get back to this submarine thing."
Smith hesitated. "Mr. President, there has been another difficult development."
"Yeah ... "
"It appears that the CURE operating fund has been possibly, ah, embezzled."
"Embezzled! I thought you and only you controlled that fund."
"I do. It appears to be a bank embezzlement."
"Well, can't it wait until this Harlequin incident is dealt with?"
"Without operating funds, I cannot replace the missing gold the Master of Sinanju is demanding in order to start the next contract."
"You telling me you don't have any agents?" the President asked sharply.
"I'm afraid so."
"And you're caught between contracts?"
"Yes."
"Smith, what kind of operation are you running there?"
"One that has suffered a regrettable cluster of setbacks," Harold Smith admitted, trying to keep the embarrassment out of his voice.
"Well, they couldn't have come at a worse time."
"I know."
"You know I have serious reservations about this operation," the President continued. "If it wasn't for the fact that the past President I most admire set you up, I would have shut you down my first week in office."
"I have had that sense," Smith admitted.