05 One of the Men

One of the men leaves the room and after a brief interval another walks in and sits down at the table opposite the first man.

Good afternoon

Good afternoon

“You understand, Mr Benson, that in consenting to hear you out we are extending you a special courtesy in light of your twenty year association with the firm.”

“Yes, but I am also acting under the assumption that such requests are ordinarily granted as a matter of course and in fact I was told to do this in regards to concluding my last assignment.”

“I am unaware of any further obligations on your part regarding that assignment.”

“I was told that if there was any confusion I was to use the phrase “The Devil’s pass card.”

The new man reaches down to his side and pulls up a briefcase within which is a notebook computer. He types in a few words and as he does he speaks in an off hand manner.

“There are no requests that are ordinarily granted – every request, like every agent is is handled on a unique basis.”

“Is this saying that you’ve never heard the phrase before?”

The question is ignored.

“You don’t have any children. Never married. Dedicated to the firm is that it?”

“I like to think we share common goals.”

There is long pause as the interrogator looks off to the side, as if the idea of common goals were in comprehendible to him.

Your problem, Mr Benson is you’re either very good at staying alive or extremely lucky. Most people in your shoes have settled down to a long term embassy sinecure and within a comparatively short time cease being valuable assets to anyone. Either that or their visibility is so high they can’t function without risk factors that rule out their usage in center stage operations. Our plan was to place you in a comfortable zone of operations until ..

Until I was dead, right?

There’s no reason to get upset. It’s a slow and steady progress whereas, as time goes by the protective measures will be less and less obtrusive. Many guys go for it, especially when we give them the choice of where they are to be posted.

“And the Devil’s pass card?”

“That’s more of a philosophical thing, an idea that is by no means common currency. Was it explained to you?”

“The person who mentioned it was under duress at the time.”

The would be interrogator sat back and lit a cigarette after taking an ashtray out of the suitcase. “I’d offer you a smoke but I know you’re trying to quit.”

“Indeed Sir, that is exactly correct”

“Huh?”

“I am trying to quit. Cigarettes.” He then looks to the ceiling which is covered with what looks to be black felt, and waves at it.”

“You think that’s going to happen?”

“It already has.”

“I quit almost a year ago”

“Cigarettes?”

“Absolutely”

Somehow the interrogator feels like he’s temporarily lost control of the situation. So he switches technique to an old CIA trick. He invents a new name for the subject.

“Listen Ned, you don’t mind me calling you Ned, it seems to go well with Mr Benson and I don’t want to keep calling you by that name.”

“Well Boss, we are after all more or less on the same side.”

“It’s good to hear that. In fact that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”

“It can’t have been much of a day.”

“No it hasn’t - not really. Somedays you eat the bear, somedays the bears eats you.”

The man now known as “Ned Benson” had heard the saying before, it was an American Indian saying but he didn’t mention this. Instead he looked at his wrist as if to tell time but he wasn’t wearing a watch. As a rule he tended to minimize the wearing of metal or electronics on his person. After glancing at his wrist he looked again at the ceiling.

The interrogator spoke, “Ned, you want to get out of here. I want to get out of here and everyone else does too. Why don’t you tell us what you want and we’ll take it from there. Okay? Is that fair enough?

This was his moment. He felt reasonably confident he’d be allowed to leave the interrogation room, but how the agency decided to handle things might or might not result in the spilling of rather more blood then he was comfortable with, especially his.

“It’s a matter of professionalism actually. In simple terms if you have to use an external force to keep in operation a system that functions on a separate basis then that system is going to eventually wear out and need replacement.

In political terms if you have to use, let’s say force, to enable a system to keep working then that system has got problems.

It’s almost an echo of the inalienable rights solution. In order for a system to claim true validity it must allow every part of the system to walk away - hence the Devils Passkey.

God grants to the Devil the right to rule in hell. He doesn’t like it and he could, with a snap of his metaphysical fingers, correct the situation, but if he does that then heaven is no longer heaven. And the issue is not who’s going to rule in hell, but the nature of the rule of heaven.

The interrogator snubbed out the cigarette.

“That’s your story?” He said, “That’s what you want down on the record?

Instantly “Mr Benson” realized his man did not understand what he was saying. He looked up at the ceiling one last time. The small red light at the corner of the one door to the room went off. Next to it a small white light turned on.

The interrogator saw this and said

“Okay, you are free to go”

They shook hands and left the room together.