Chapter 9
Jack and Sloane stood just inside the holding pen with their backs to the wall. Although they were totally convinced of their ability to defend themselves should any of the twenty other criminal defendants who shared the large caged area with them make the mistake of attacking, they saw no reason to appear to offer them an easy target. They were careful, however, not to lean against the wall in case the filth and grime accumulated over fifty years of constant use by a transient population and insufficient investment by the City in cleaning and maintenance ruined their expensive suits. Although their fellow prisoners all seemed wrapped up in their own worries and concerns they remained cautious and chose their words carefully.
"Do you think we re-assured Sydney and Nadia about the way the hearing is progressing?" Jack asked.
Sloane shrugged. "I doubt it Jack. We've had a lot of experience at shading the truth but they're both highly intelligent young women. A lot will depend on how the Judge rules when the Court re-convenes. I would give a lot to know where Allen got that SD6 story from."
Jack nodded, acknowledging the truth of Sloane's observation. He chose his next words more carefully than usual, "We'll probably never know for sure, but I gather rumours about such an organisation have been going around the intelligence community for some time, as has speculation about the reasons for our departure from that world. If he still has contacts there, he could have heard the gossip and convinced himself they were connected. I'm more worried about Rodriguez. We know from Sydney and Nadia that they have him, but he's not on their witness list. I hope that means they haven't been able to turn him. If they have, his testimony could be …interesting."
Sloane was about to reply when a guard came up to the bars. He produced two sets of handcuffs, "Bristow, Sloane," he called, "Court's about to re-start." He banged the edge of cuffs against a long narrow slot set into the gate. "You know what to do, back up to the slot and put your hands through."
Sloane gave Jack a mirthless grin, "Time for Act Two." he said as he moved to comply.
Ten minutes later they stood rubbing their wrists as the defendant's entrance door to the court opened and their guards guided them inside. Their arms dropped to their sides and their faces became impassive as they automatically dropped into professional mode. A quick glance at the public area showed that it was again full but they had expected that. They were both more interested in looking at their daughters sitting in the front row with Vaughn and Weiss and proud to see them sitting with their heads held high and a defiant look on their faces.
Judge Reinhardt entered and they waited to hear her ruling.
She looked round the Court, meeting their eyes for several seconds, before speaking. "I am pleased to see that people are now behaving in a manner appropriate to a Court of Justice. Any further disruption will lead to the individuals responsible being ejected from the Courtroom. Mr Allen, please resume your seat in the witness stand. Just before we recessed, the Defence raised an objection to testimony offered by this witness. I am sustaining that objection and ruling that the reference to SD6 was irrelevant and non-responsive and ordering it stricken from the record." She turned to Allen, "I must also warn you, sir, against any further mention of SD6 or anything else unrelated to this specific case. Mr McCoy, do you have any further questions for your witness?" Seeing McCoy nod, she went on, "Very well. Mr Allen, please remember that you are still under oath."
Sloane noted the puffy look on Allen's face as he sat on the stand and the slight trembling of his hands. He's been drinking during the lunch break he concluded. Good, that talk about SD6 may actually work to our advantage. He leaned over and whispered in Wilson's ear.
MCoy rose and approached the witness, "Mr Allen, where were you on September 11, 1973?"
"I was at work in the CIA's Manhattan office."
"Did anything unusual happen on that day or in the week or so preceding it?" McCoy followed up the question.
Allen nodded, "Yes. About a week before, all leave was cancelled and people already on leave were recalled. Throughout the week there was an air of anticipation among the operations and communications people; as if they were waiting for something. When I left on the evening of the 10th, the Operations Command Team were all still at the office and when I returned the next morning they were still there. They hadn't changed their clothing or shaved so they must have been there all night.
"Objection." called Wilson from the Defence table, "That's opinion and speculation."
Judge Reinhardt paused, "The reference to the air of anticipation is opinion so I'll strike that but the other is a reasonable inference based on observation. I'll allow it."
"On September 11 itself, the place was a madhouse." Allen went on. "I got to the office at around 8 o'clock and the place was jumping. I asked a guy I knew in Communications what was happening and he told me that the coup had finally begun. I asked him "What coup?" and he looked at me like I was insane. "The one in Chile," he said, Allende's dead and our guys are taking out all his sympathisers now."
McCoy turned to the Judge "Your Honour, the People offer into evidence Exhibits 26 to 47 comprising a memo cancelling all leave for the period in question and a record of communications traffic for that week. You will note that the heaviest traffic is with the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile, the Hotel Mirador in the same city, where, we have heard from previous testimony, the defendants were staying and CIA Headquarters in Langley. You will note that the traffic increases in volume during the week and reaches a peak on the day of the coup."
Judge Reinhardt flicked through the sheaf of papers brought her by Serena Southerlyn and nodded.
Jack Bristow watched as his namesake sat down. An impressive performance he thought. First class research and strategic analysis, he would have made a good agent. He glanced at Sloane and saw he too was regarding McCoy with grudging respect, then leaned back slightly to look at Sydney. She still sat there with her head held high but he could see the worry lines around her eyes. He attempted a reassuring smile at her.
Wilson had stood up and was looking benevolently at the witness. "Mr Allen, let's review your testimony to date. Several months before the coup you prepared a paper on regime change in Chile. One of a number of options in that paper was U.S. support for a military coup. This paper was submitted up your line management chain but you don't know what happened to it after that. Correct?"
"Like I said before, papers were written profiling individuals who could be used to spearhead a coup and there was a big increase in the office's Latin American section."
"Yes. But can you state from your own knowledge that those events were connected?"
Allen glared at Jack's lawyer, "You trying to make out it was coincidence?" he asked belligerently.
Wilson's smile grew wider, "President Allende was a Marxist. He had close ties to Cuba and was talking about inviting Soviet military advisers into Chile. You don't need to assume the CIA was planning a coup against him to explain an increased interest in his activities. Now, about your paper, it's not unusual for intelligence organisations to develop contingency plans is it?"
"No." Allen agreed sullenly.
"Please explain to the Court what a contingency plan is." Wilson asked.
"It's when you don't intend to do something but you have a strategy prepared just in case it's needed sometime in the future."
"So, even if the CIA researched the coup option, that doesn't prove they intended to follow through on it, much less actually did?"
"Yeah, well you explain to me why they shipped in your clients and why the comms. guy I spoke to said our guys were involved!"
"Yes. Let's deal with those issues. Mr Allen, have you ever seen Mr Bristow or Mr Sloane kill anyone?
"No."
"Threaten anyone?"
"No."
"Jump the queue at the lunch counter?"
"Objection." McCoy called from the prosecution table over the smothered laughter from the public area.
"Withdrawn." Wilson said. He went on, "So, your statement that they were professional assassins and enforcers is based on nothing more than the CIA equivalent of water cooler gossip. Right?"
"I know what I know. Even the field agents in the office; men I knew had been involved in highly dangerous operations treated them with respect."
"No doubt a professional respect for their abilities and achievements in service to their country." Wilson turned Allen's reply into a positive statement about his clients. He then appeared to change the subject, "Mr Allen, you say you left the CIA in 1974. What were the circumstances?"
Allen suddenly became guarded. "I disagreed with a number of things that were going on at the time so I resigned." he answered.
"Really!" Wilson's tone indicated disbelief. "Isn't it true that you were an alcoholic by that time?"
"Sometimes I had a little too much to drink. It was because of what was happening in the Agency. I'm not a drunk!"
Wilson looked meaningfully at Allen's hands, drawing the attention of the entire court to his unsuccessful attempts to stop them from shaking.
"So you weren't booked into a drying out clinic in April 1974 and you didn't resign one step ahead of being disciplined for getting drunk one evening and leaving highly classified documents in the back of a cab?"
"It was a set up. They were out to get me!"
"You don't like the CIA do you sir? In fact since your err…resignation you have publicly accused the CIA of just about every crime in the book and you are currently operating a website which states that the CIA was responsible for the assassination of, among others, President Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe and the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II?"
"They did it. One day they'll make a mistake and I'll have the evidence to prove it. Then everyone will have to believe me!"
"Isn't it convenient that this unnamed guy in Communications just happened to make an admission of CIA involvement in Allende's overthrow to you? Why isn't he here testifying himself? Could it be because you've invented that entire conversation to make us believe this latest conspiracy theory of yours?" Wilson turned to Judge Reinhardt, "No further questions Your Honour." he said and sat down.
Jack and Sloane covertly watched McCoy who was in urgent whispered conversation with his assistant. They wished they could have had the prosecution's table bugged so they could listen to the discussion.
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"They've managed to raise a lot of uncertainty." Serena noted. "How did they know about Allen's committal to that clinic and the discipline action against him?"
"Wilson's been given access to his confidential CIA personnel file." McCoy responded viciously. "That's a violation of his right to privacy but we'll never be able to prove it. We'll have to bring on Rodriguez. I didn't want to tip our hand at this stage but if Reinhardt rules against us, the case will never get to trial anyway. It's a good thing I had him prepped and ready just in case we needed to use him."
He rose, "Your Honour, the People would lie to call an additional witness who will testify that he was present at meetings where the defendants and General Pinochet jointly planned the coup."
"Objection." Wilson and Shapiro both yelled.
"This witness is not on the People's list. We have no time to prepare for cross-examination." added Shapiro.
"Approach, Your Honour?" asked McCoy.
Reinhardt motioned both sets of lawyers' forwards and they crowded around her Bench, speaking in low voices.
"Your Honour, we want to call Diego Rodriguez who was Pinochet's driver in the summer of 1973. The defendants' daughters were present when he was taken into custody and he has deposed that he told them their fathers' were involved in the planning of the coup. I find it hard to believe they haven't passed this information to Mr Bristow and Mr Sloane's legal team." McCoy stated.
"Sure they told us." Wilson confirmed. "But that doesn't mean it's true. Rodriguez could have lots of reasons for lying to them but I'm sure the D.A.'s office has offered him incentives to stick to that story."
Reinhardt looked inquiringly at the Executive Assistant District Attorney.
McCoy pursed his lips, "Mr Rodriguez was an accomplice in Mr Selzer's murder. We have given him immunity in exchange for his testimony against the defendants. This hearing, however, is about whether or not the CIA initiated the coup. The murder charge is a completely separate issue."
"Yeah, except they go together like a horse and carriage." Shapiro pointed out cynically. "Judge, Mr Rodriguez's immunity deal is dependant on him telling a court our clients killed James Selzer. The only way he gets to do that is by saying they helped plan the coup. We can't impeach Rodriguez without mentioning the murder. It's heads I win, tails you lose!"
Judge Reinhardt smiled slightly, "You're absolutely right Jerry, but, unfortunately for you, Jack is right as a matter of law. This hearing is solely about whether or not the CIA was behind the coup. Whether your clients killed James Selzer is a completely different legal issue. Now, as you are clearly aware of what he will testify to, I'm going to hear what he has to say. Stand back."
As the lawyers resumed their seats McCoy watched as Wilson and Shapiro leaned over to brief their clients on the outcome of the sidebar. Much against his will he found himself admiring their nerve. In his experience, most other defendants would have shown anger or panic at an unexpected and damaging witness being introduced so late in the day but, apart from a slight tightening of their lips, Bristow and Sloane remained calm and self possessed. As Serena Southerlyn brought Rodriguez into the court, however, he noticed how their eyes became cold as they followed his down the aisle and onto the witness stand.
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"Open your mouth; turn your face to the right, now to the left. Raise your arms above your heads. Bring them down and hold them out straight in front of you, spread your fingers, palms up. Turn round and bend over."
Jack and Sloane once again stood naked in the receiving room at Riker's Island as they were processed back in along with the others who'd been on their bus back from court.
Once the guards were finished the cavity search they showered and walked into the clothing issue area where they quickly dressed in the jail uniforms they were given. As they waited to be escorted back to the cell block they had left only that morning, Sloane recognised a guard lieutenant and stepped forward.
"Excuse me sir," he began respectfully, "but as you can see from our papers, my colleague and I have been committed without bail until our trial. That's unlikely to take place before the New Year. We're used to being occupied and the weeks are likely to drag. We would like to put our name down for a work detail. I understand there are vacancies in the Garbage Squad."
The lieutenant looked at Jack who, after a short pause, nodded his agreement.
The Lieutenant flicked through his papers, "I see here you've both got university degrees. Are you sure you want the Garbage Detail? We can find you both something more suitable to your academic qualifications."
Jack smiled, "No, that's fine. We'd like to keep fit and active and the Garbage Squad is ideal for that purpose; besides if we got jobs in the Library or as Inmate Tutors, it would be as if we were making a statement that we expected to be here permanently."
The Lieutenant shrugged, "OK," he said "If you want to spend the next couple of months hauling trash why should I stop you?" The line of inmates began to file out. "I'll register your request with Assignments, now, get back into line and move on."
T.B.C.
Glossary
Impeach - Discrediting a witness by showing they are not telling the truth.
Immunity – An agreement not to prosecute for the crime in question.
Sidebar - A conversation between a judge and lawyers at a trial that the public and the jury cannot hear.