Chapter 28: The Plan

“CONGRATULATIONS on completing another season of work,” Mr. Martin said.

“Completed?” I asked. “We still have all of May.”

“True, but I’m canceling any further trips from this location.”

“Have we done something wrong?” Ronda asked. We were both a little alarmed.

“No, on the contrary. Your performance has been stellar in all aspects of your job. Some of your photographs have provided key information to our analysts, Nate. Ronda, you have become one of the most respected and desired couriers in Europe. As I count it, you have done fifty-four installations, two special assignments, and half a dozen extra courier runs this year. Plus, you were hijacked and taken over a country with which we did not yet have diplomatic relations. Not a bad record for eight months of work.”

“Thank you, sir. But does that mean you don’t want us to make any more deliveries this spring?” I asked.

“There will be a few courier runs this month, but I don’t want you to do any installations. Let me just say that there is no place on your map that is still within 3,000 miles. We need to strategize where you are going to be based next fall to best serve them. I would say that you may need to move once or twice to handle the rest of the Middle East and Africa. And we are targeting countries carefully. We might need to adjust your schedule as new embassies are opened, not just the ones on your map right now. We expect three new embassies to open in the Persian Gulf area this summer. None of the three show up on your list yet. Things are shifting in Africa. We no longer have an embassy in any of the white ruled countries of Africa except South Africa. And you know we can’t take Polaroid equipment into that country. Technically, taking it to the embassy would mean it was not in South Africa, but we’re adhering to the spirit of that ruling, not the letter.”

“That takes out the whole southern part of the continent.”

“Yes, except the interior. We do have some embassies there. But we’re watching the political developments in the entire continent. Twenty-six of the countries on your list have been independent for less than fifteen years. Some for less than five years. Tribal warfare is worse than it was three hundred years ago before Europeans began colonizing Africa,” Martin said.

“What does that mean?” Ronda asked.

“In 1972, Tutsi warriors, who dominate the government and army in Burundi, killed between 150,000 and 200,000 Hutus, who were mostly the educated and professionals. Five years ago, the Somalis living in Northern Kenya attempted to secede and join Somalia. Thousands homeless and disenfranchised. We’ve had no diplomatic relations with Uganda since Idi Amin grasped power, but that didn’t stop Tanzanian backed rebels from invading southern Uganda in a failed civil war. Eastern Ethiopia, a region called Eritrea, has been in rebellion, seeking independence for twelve years and we see no end to the situation.”

“Uh ... What is your stance on sending us into locations like these?” I asked.

“Most of the embassy staff are long-time professionals who requested duty in their current posts. You were not brought into the State Department to risk your lives in civil unrest. We will weigh the long-term benefit of having the new technology installed in those areas against the risk that it might fall into unfriendly hands or cause injury to our people. In other words, I don’t want you anywhere near where people are shooting at each other.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“On the other hand, in addition to the Middle East and Africa, we have several Asian countries that you have not made it to, yet. Burma, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines. That’s why I’d like you to consider carefully where you’d like to be stationed next fall. We may need to move you around.”

“I guess we have some work to do,” I said.

“Also, consider a maintenance call to each of the current installations. You need to get your family ready to move back to America within a month. And I assume you would like to celebrate the anniversary of your friends at Plympford before you leave the country. They certainly didn’t waste any time popping an heir out, did they?”

“I think there was a fair amount of pressure on them, but they were happy about it.”

“Well, pay them a visit when you can schedule it. I’ll expect to see you in Chicago May 20 for debriefing and a trip to DC. You’ll be free to take your furlough by the 25th.”

For the next week, we worked on planning the next year, writing a report on each of the areas we visited, and following up on installations in the Americas and Asia. That meant some late nights, compensated by late mornings going to work. Then, while I worked phones calling Japan and Australia in the middle of the night, Ronda was given a three-day courier assignment. I believe the plane made ten stops on that circuit through western Europe.

It was nerve-wracking to have Ronda gone for three days, hopping from country to country with our crew. I gained a new appreciation for what Patricia and Anna went through when Ronda and I were gone. I just wanted to hug them all the time.

When she got back Wednesday night, she was exhausted and so was the crew. Thursday, we loaded what we needed for a family getaway and caught the bus to Coventry where Jane’s driver, Dora, met us to go to Plympford.

The babies had grown in just a month. As soon as we had our things in our room, Peter placed James in my arms and I hefted the little darling. He wasn’t as big as Alex had been when she was born. He’d gained some weight since birth, but was still only about ten pounds. I danced him around the room, generally making a fool of myself while my wives caught up with Jane and Audrey.

When he began to fuss, I handed him back to Peter and was quickly presented with Audrey’s little one, Annie. I was certainly getting my baby fix if I needed one. When I’d danced with Annie, I gave her back to Audrey and had my own little Alex tugging on my pants leg saying “Dance!” I picked up my one-year-old daughter and sang to her as we danced around the solar.

I’d been too busy to properly greet the parents, but finally, Alex wanted to get down and explore. I got a good hug from Jane and from Audrey.

“There’s like a whole bunch of babies in here!” I laughed. “Those two are going to keep you busy for years.”

“Don’t we know it,” Jane said. “But I’m finding motherhood suits me well. I suppose I’ll have to start working again, but my clients had better get used to me carting my equipment in my hands and my son on my back.”

“Daddy!”

I turned to find Toni standing with her arms folded facing me.

“What is it, honey?”

“Don’t I get to dance with you?”

“Of course you do! Did I forget my best dance partner? How could I do that?”

I picked her up in my arms and began two-stepping around the room. It was our favorite dance step when she was tiny. Now, though, she weighed about forty pounds, which was pretty much a pound per inch of height. It wasn’t long before she wanted to be on her own two feet as I bent double to waltz with her. She really liked to spin and twirl.

By the time I was finished dancing with my daughter, we were ready to move to the dining room for dinner.

Our weekend was filled with caring for the children, playing with dogs (and Brian), visiting and brushing the horses—no riding yet; they’d just been brought in from winter pasture—and generally celebrating Peter and Jane’s first anniversary.

We also discussed what the next year would bring in terms of where we’d be working and living. This was truly a momentous decision we needed to make. We had an atlas and a compendium of State Department reports on the likely places.

“Please consider this your home when you can get away for a week or two. Come here and let us pamper you,” Jane said. “It was so wonderful to have you in London this year. I’ll be very lonely without you.”

“We are certainly going to miss you as well,” Anna said. “Moving here was like moving into a community where we already had friends and things to keep us busy. I even got a chance to take a course in international finance in London.”

“We might need a financial manager as we diversify our holdings,” Peter said. “An investment manager to keep me from going overboard on backing theatrical productions.”

“Peter invested in Damien’s production of The Bacchae, and it was so successful, he’s backing the opening in New York,” Jane said.

“I guess Damien and Kathleen won’t be seeing us in Stratford this summer,” I said. “It will be strange not having them there.”

“Well, the good part is they’ve leased their home to us for July and August. We’ll be neighbors for two whole months this summer,” Jane said.

“I foresee at least one photo session,” Patricia said.

“But not as tight a schedule as we’ve had the past couple of years,” Anna said. “The Festival has hired a full-time photographer. Nate won’t be doing the production photography this year.”

“That’s a shame. Will you have enough work, Nate?” Jane asked.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” I said. “The Festival didn’t really pay us that much. We made most of our money selling prints to the cast and crew. And those are commodities. Prices are constantly compared to what you’d pay in a photo booth. Most of our income in Stratford is from paid sittings and from selling our artwork, there and in Chicago.”

“Zefford Gallery in Chicago is our licensed distributor in the US. He’s been shipping Nate’s photos all over the country,” Anna said.

“If I do nothing but sleep all summer, that will be enough,” I said. “We’ll need to decide what we’re doing after I leave the State Department.”

“I’m still trying to talk him into staying with it,” Ronda said. “Even if he’s in a different role than now, he’s proven his value to the department. He could have a different job if he wanted it.”

“I might consider something with less travel. You know they’d want us to keep jetting around the world as couriers and photographers.”

Although Jane wasn’t ready for intercourse yet, we did get some loving in. She spent Sunday night, her first anniversary, in bed with my wives and me. We made sure she had lots of physical attention.

We got back to London on Wednesday and spent two frantic days getting all our worldly possessions packed and off to Stratford. Saturday, we boarded a flight to Chicago and checked into a downtown hotel. Sunday, Anna and I went shopping for a new car. I never actually intended to get a brand new vehicle, but we saw a new Suburban that had enough seating for our family and enough power to make the drive to Stratford an easy trip.

The family was enthused and we celebrated with our favorite Pizzeria Uno pizza. Monday morning, Anna and Patricia headed west with the girls while Ronda and I went to work in the Chicago office.

A new unit was waiting in our office in Chicago. I was surprised we even had an office in Chicago, but Josie was there to meet us and help us get settled into life in the US again. Of course, under guise of helping us complete our reports, she wanted to hear all about our adventures from the past nine months. We enjoyed telling her.

I went over the new unit with the specified revisions. The new units had built in safety straps that would tie them down to the surface they were on, the key lock on the camera, and a plug that would enable the operator to quickly and permanently disable the camera. Of course, there was a way have it repaired if it was sent back to Polaroid, but this safety feature for the consulates was considered the best protection we could provide against it falling into the wrong hands.

We consulted with Mr. Martin, who had already read our reports. Wednesday evening, we shuttled off to Washington with him to meet with his boss.

“Welcome back to Washington,” Mr. Johnson said when he came into the meeting room. Raymond Johnson was the Assistant Secretary of the Consular Bureau. Mr. Martin was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Passport Services. It was a good-sized meeting in a large conference room. Also in attendance were Assistant Secretary Abrams, who was in charge of State Department Security and generally the ID program. I’d met Deputy Assistant Secretary Marilyn Clark of Visa Services and Deputy Assistant Secretary John Phillips, head of Diplomatic Courier Services. In one way or another, we reported to all of these people. Then there was Robert Brice, the security person at the London embassy, and several secretaries with a small ‘s’ taking notes.

“Thank you, Mr. Johnson. It’s always a pleasure to return to Washington,” I said.

“We’re happy to present our report of the installations and courier work we’ve done in the past year,” Ronda added.

“Excellent. Don, why don’t you get things rolling with an overview,” Johnson said to our boss.

“As you all know, we initiated this program as a means of streamlining passport and visa creation in our embassies and passport centers around the US. We chose Nate Hart and Ronda May because of their combined expertise in international relations and Polaroid equipment. Since they began in September of 1972, they have managed the installation and staff training for twenty-eight passport centers here in the US, six installations of the photo ID equipment here in Washington, 115 embassy and consulate installations in seventy-four countries, training of over 400 technicians on the equipment, and nearly 15,000 State Department and embassy employees wearing identification badges.”

“Impressive,” Johnson nodded.

“Just that would have been impressive,” Martin continued. “But Nate and Ronda have delivered nearly five hundred courier packets to embassies and to other couriers going on. Nate has photographed twenty-seven ambassadorial events, including the re-opening of the embassy in Cairo. He has provided photographs of 150 of our senior embassy staff and his photographs of embassies and surrounding areas have been invaluable in assisting the embassy security task force in evaluating the safety of our missions. In addition to written correspondence from ambassadors and staff, Ronda and Nate have carried verbal messages considered too sensitive to trust to paper within their country of origin. And let us not forget that they were hijacked in December. Even after riding with them to Sudan and Libya, I’m impressed.”

“As am I,” Johnson said. “Congratulations on your accomplishments. You’re a valuable part of our Consular Bureau. Now, we want to make sure you are being used to the best advantage. As you can see from the array of people in this meeting, a lot of people have a stake in what you are doing. You are the closest thing this department has to non-ambassadorial analysts. So, we’ll open the floor to suggestions, and then I’ll turn to Nate and Ronda for some responses.”

The first person to speak up was Robert Brice. He’d been with us in London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, Warsaw, and Bucharest, teaching us what to look for regarding embassy security.

“I understand that Nate and Ronda are not security experts, but their reports and photographs on the embassies they’ve visited—especially those behind the Iron Curtain—have been critical in assisting the embassy security task force. Having a generally innocuous technology to install in chanceries is an excellent cover for them to observe conditions in the embassy without arousing suspicion or interest—either on the part of our own staff or any foreign government. I would like to expand the kind of equipment they are carrying in their next round so our most vulnerable missions in Africa, the Middle East and Australasia can have security upgrades without calling attention to them,” Robert said.

I wasn’t sure about that. I’d need to find out what kind of equipment Robert felt we could transport that wouldn’t be obvious. Certainly, the kind of video surveillance that we saw in Dublin would require a huge inventory of equipment.

“We’d like to increase the number of courier runs,” John Phillips said. “We’re especially interested in having you make multiple stops on your way to and from your installation destination. As you move into Africa and the Middle East, we have more and more difficulty making deliveries. They’d be merely touch and go, but if you are going across Africa, for example, you might make stops in four of those little countries. And don’t be surprised if some of them are either a place where you have already been, or places where we don’t have an official diplomatic presence.”

Ronda was busy scribbling down information as each of the people added their own desires to the list of things they could do. I was getting to the point of being overwhelmed when Mr. Martin turned to me.

“Need another cup of coffee?” he asked.

“Yes. May I be excused to get some?”

“Sit tight. Dorothy, could you bring in some coffee?”

The woman who’d been assigned to me as my guide and contact the first day of classes in DC jumped up and headed out to get coffee for everyone.

“Okay,” Mr. Johnson said. “Nate and Ronda, you’ve heard the input from the people who are benefiting from your labor. I will add that I have a request from DOD for equipment installations at four bases in the US that are staging areas for overseas deployment. We are issuing red passports to all personnel stationed in foreign countries, but they are doing it the old fashioned way. We’d like to get the passports they issue into conformity with our new technology.”

Ronda added that to her list and then looked up.

“I think the list of job responsibilities we’ve compiled here requires about four more people,” she said. “We also intend to visit several existing installations in places like India and Japan and the Eastern Bloc to retrofit the equipment with the new self-destruct mechanism. This has only recently become available. We should consider retrofitting equipment in Central and South America where the political situation is less stable, as well.”

“That is an important item in your primary mission,” Martin agreed.

“I don’t see a problem with increasing the courier stops,” I said. “As long as they are in areas where it is safe for us to land and don’t interfere with that primary mission. Please keep in mind that we intend to have all planned installations of the passport and visa technology completed by next spring. It has not been a problem to photograph our ambassadors and chiefs of mission, nor to do what I’d have to call a light survey of security, based on what Mr. Brice taught us in the field.”

“I think the biggest problem we have with any of the added responsibilities is the stretch of territory we have to cover next fall and winter,” Ronda said. “We have an equatorial band extending from West Africa to Indonesia and the Philippines, and north as far as Afghanistan. It’s 9,000 miles from West Africa to the Philippines. We’re going to be stretched thin.”

“So, what is your recommendation for your station in the fall?” Martin asked.

“After consulting with our family, we’ve decided that a single location for the year and longer trips will be better for the family than picking up every three months to move to a new location,” I said. “Our oldest is in what would be first grade in the US, though her teachers in London gave her a high recommendation for advancing. I think the exposure to another culture will increase her learning ability and not hold her back.”

“And this location?”