(11 of 15)
"Gordon Strachan," I said. "I don't know that he knew the exact day we were going back in there, but..."
"Back in?"
"Yeah."
"How about Colson? Did he know?"
"Not unless Hunt told him, and I have no reason to believe he did."
Dean looked relieved, and I continued: "Look, if they're worried over there that someone called over from the White House and said 'go in,' or 'go back in' the Watergate, you're talking to the wrong guy. Magruder sent us in there. He was the one pushing for it. Who, if anybody, was pushing Magruder from the White House you'll have to ask him. I don't know. They certainly didn't call me. Strachan knew I was going back in, but he didn't give me the order, Magruder did."
Dean looked at me closely. "Did Magruder authorize you to use McCord?"
"No. That was my mistake. I promised there'd never be any link. I meant it when I said it. By the time the program finally got approved, McCord was the only game in town and I used him. I shouldn't have. Magruder never knew about McCord."
Dean rose to leave and I stopped him. "Wait a minute, John.
You've got to know something else."
Reluctantly, Dean sat back down.
"McCord's all right. He's a professional—FBI and CIA. So are the Cubans. They won't talk. But on a worst-case basis, you've got to know what they could say."
I told Dean about the Fielding entry to get Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatric file. He turned white.
"Jesus," he said. Then "Anything more?"
"No. But I think it's imperative we get them bailed out. That D.C. jail's a hellhole, especially in summer, and they were promised that kind of support..."
"What kind of support?"
"The usual in this line of work. Bail, attorney's fees, families taken care of..."
Then Dean said something he later claimed he did not say.
"That goes without saying. Everyone'll be taken care of." The look on his face was decidedly troubled. Well he might be. He knew that without me no investigation could reach higher. I knew I would never talk, but he and those above him couldn't be absolutely sure of that. Except one way. It occurred to me that people who would seriously consider the use of drugs against Ellsberg and the killing of Jack Anderson might well decide to go ahead with an assassination in my case. The stakes were immensely higher and, after all, it was my fault.
"Look, John. I said I was the captain of the ship when she hit the reef and I'm prepared to go down with it. If someone wants to shoot me just tell me what corner to stand on and I'll be there, O.K.?"
Dean searched my face to see whether I was joking. I wasn't and he could see that. "Well, uh," he stammered, "I don't think we've gotten there yet, Gordon."
Then Dean said, "Where's Hunt these days?"
"Lying low. The reporters are after him. Why?"
It was at this moment, and not later, on the telephone