Betsy smiled politely. “One more. Am I in trouble? Are there charges against me?”
“That was two. The answer to the first question is yes. Dr. Millikan feels that you have committed security violations—passing information around to those with no need to know, or, to be specific, to Mr. Hennessey. That’s a hard one to make stick. You are very conscientious about basic security procedures. As to the second question, no. There are no charges against you. You never handled budget, which is where most of the problems come from. You never hired or fired anyone, which is another common source of trouble. You were never in Operations, so you didn’t kill the wrong people or overthrow the wrong government.” He paused, reached under the table, and brought up a thermos and two cups. “You’re going to be talking a lot, so I brought something to wet your whistle. I hope you like hot chocolate.”
“That would be lovely.”
“Now I’m turning on the tape recorder. This should be the only recording of this conversation, because this is supposed to be one of the designated secure rooms in this building.” He cleared his throat and turned on the machine; the reels spun smoothly and silently, exerting a sort of hypnotic effect on Betsy. He spoke for a few moments, rattling off the who-what-where-when-why of the interview. Then he turned off the machine and stared directly into her eyes for the first time since she’d entered the room.
“You know we’re quite close to war in the Gulf. You also know that you were largely on the mark with your views. Based upon your unofficial consultation work with Mr. Hennessey, I think you think that some elements of this crisis are to be found in the middle part of this country. I will ask you to tell me your views on this. You have total immunity on this subject. You must trust me when I tell you that.”
Even after all she’d gone through, Betsy believed the words of this strange, tall old man. She wanted to ask many questions about where this report would go after he’d finished it. It was strange that the interview was happening in the NEOB and not at Langley.
He reached for the switch on the tape recorder. She held up one hand to stop him and said, “What’s the downside for me?”
“If your hypothesis is wrong, you will be scapegoated, for internal USG consumption. It is almost inconceivable that any actual penalties will be levied against you. You’ll never work for government again.”
“Sounds like a good deal to me,” Betsy said. “Roll that sucker.”
He started the machine again. “Ms. Vandeventer, I understand from your file that you will be leaving your current position at the end of the year.”
“That is correct.”
“What were your duties?”
Betsy recapitulated her five years at the Agency, out of practice describing her work only in the most general terms.
“Ms. Vandeventer, I should have reminded you that this interview is classified at the very highest level, so feel free to go into detail, complete with any discussion of sources and methods that may be relevant, and any commentary you may wish to make, pro or con, on Agency personnel and practices.”
Twenty minutes later she was still talking. Holmes refilled her hot chocolate and gently reminded her to move on to the fateful briefing with the Agricultural attaché.
Betsy burned her lips on the chocolate, fresh and boiling hot from the thermos, and forged on. With the exception of a time-out to turn the tape over, Holmes did not interrupt her. He simply looked at her through the scratched and smudged lenses of his glasses and made incredibly intricate doodles on his tablet. Finally she told the tale of her final polygraph test and summarized the ensuing several weeks of meaningless make-work.
“Is that all?”
“I believe so.”
“Then one last question. During your time at the Agency you were strongly enjoined from doing forward-leaning analysis. When you broke this rule, you were severely reprimanded. Now I would like you to do some forward-leaning analysis for me. Based on everything you’ve seen and experienced in the last year, what is your analysis of our current situation vis-à-vis Saddam?”