MFU Whitman - The Affair of the Gentle Saboteur Read Online Free PDF Page A

Old Man said.
     
    The other suitcase contained maps, photographs, and booklets of minute detail relevant to five famous sites on the eastern seaboard—including the Statue of Liberty.
    "Time we brought in the star of the show," Waverly said.
    McNabb packed the suitcase and put it in a closet.
    Waverly looked at his watch, then looked at Solo. "And where's our Mr. Kuryakin?"
    "I hope not still asleep."
    "Perhaps you ought to call him."
    Solo called. There was no answer.
    "Probably on his way."
    "We won't wait." The Old Man punched a button on the console.
    The loudspeaker announced, "Detention. Tom Dailey."
    "Waverly. Bring up Albert Stanley."
     
    Stanley was small between two burly, armed guards. He nodded to Solo, smiled toward Waverly. His face was composed. His brown eyes were round, innocent, gentle.
    "Here, please," Waverly said, indicating a chair by the desk.
    The guards let him go forward. He sat in the chair facing Waverly. Primly he crossed his legs. He flicked lint from a knee with slender, graceful fingers.
    Waverly glanced at the tape recorder. It churned silently.
    "You know where you are, Mr. Stanley?"
    "I assume at a depot of UNCLE. United Network Command for Law Enforcement." The voice was soft, smooth, unexcited, the diction clear and precise.
    "And you know who I am?"
    "A man I greatly admire. Alexander Waverly."
    "And I know who you are."
    "Thus we start even," Stanley said.
    Waverly filled his pipe, lit it.
    "You've been treated fairly?"
    "Perfectly so."
    "And so it shall continue—if you cooperate."
    "I believe in cooperation, Mr. Waverly. He who cooperates today lives to cooperate another day."
    "Quite the philosopher, aren't you?"
    "I pride myself that I am, Mr. Waverly."
    The Old Man puffed on his pipe. "All right, let's have it. What the devil are you doing here?"
    "Here?"
    "In this country. In the United States."
    Stanley smiled. He had little yellow teeth. He lifted a hand and wriggled a finger at Solo. "This young man can tell you. If I may so presume, he has told you."
    "I'm not asking him. I'm asking you."
    "Quite. Well, to begin with, the Statue of Liberty..."
    "And Grant's Tomb, the Verrazano Bridge, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial."
    "Ah, I see you've studied my maps. Yes. They would have followed one another in quick succession, perhaps several in one day, had I not been—er, apprehended."
    "But why? In heaven's name! Why?"
    "They are great works, world famous shrines in this country, national monuments—even the bridge, the longest and heaviest in existence."
    "To what purpose their destruction?"
    The little man patted his pockets. "May I have a cigarette, please?"
    McNabb brought him a cigarette and held the match for him.
    "Thank you."
    McNabb made no reply, but moved off to the side of the room.
    "Mr. Waverly," Albert Stanley said. "The Cold War. Propaganda, influence, spheres of influence, world opinion. There are many uncommitted nations Asia, Africa, South America. The two great powers hold off from each other in hot war—there is a stalemate, a balance of weaponry, a balance of terror. But each seeks to win the uncommitted nations, to tilt the delicate balance of the Cold War, to loosen allies, and to defeat treaties by the use of different kinds of weapons—ideas, propaganda, subtle acts, even sensational acts. Our purpose at this time is to make the United States a laughingstock."
    "By the commission of this terrible kind of sabotage?"
    "Precisely. First these five sites here in the East; later on five more in the Midwest; more, later on, on the Pacific Coast. We believe the time to be ripe to create confusion and terror within the United States itself, to make it an object of world ridicule, and to precipitate the United States into unwise and unfortunate acts—and thus, aside from influencing the uncommitted nations, to cause division and foment discontent between the United States and its allies."
    Waverly sat back, his teeth clenched on the stem of his