Jake left Sally Ann and the children in the rather nice motel just outside downtown Latrobe, while he went to trade the wagon in for another car in the Webb alias. He signed and backdated the title to show a sale from Frank Kincaid to Jake Webb. He had to use his next to last social security number. He was saving the last one for the change to the name of his heritage, Peter Brandon.

At the motel he had studied the local paper and saw that there was a Cadillac dealership a mile down Route 30 from their motel. Jake drove into the lot and was met by a salesman before he got to the show room.

“I want to look at the models in the show room. I’m interested in trading my wagon in on a new or late model Cadillac.”

“Good, come with me. I’m sure we can find something you will want. My name is Bill Shipton.”

“Glad to meet you Bill. I’m Jake Webb.”

In less than an hour Jake drove off the lot behind the wheel of a Cadillac Eldorado hardtop with only 20 thousand miles.

It was a good buy and he felt he had been treated fairly. There was some surprise when he paid in cash. Bill told him that in his five years of selling Cadillacs only one other customer had bought one for cash.

Sally Ann loved the new car. “I never thought I would ride in a Cadillac. Now I own one.”

“I paid for it with your handful of diamonds,” Jake winked.

“That means I own it for real.”

“Yes, it is yours. I’ll buy a pickup truck in a few days.”

When the children woke up and Christina was fed, the Webbs went shopping at a nearby mall. Jake found a few off-the-rack suits that with minor alterations fit him. After three pairs of chinos, Levis, a leather jacket, some insulated leather boots, a watch hat, warm socks, and underwear, he was ready to go.

He also bought some new luggage. Sally Ann shopped for the children first and when Jake found her, she turned over the children to him and went shopping. The shops weren’t like Minneapolis or Chicago but she found three outfits she really liked, a stylish coat, a jacket, and other warm clothes, including Levis and boots. A few colorful scarves, sweaters, and pumps with four-inch heels, and she was ready for her new Sally-Ann-Webb-from-Philadelphia role.

It was growing late in the afternoon but Jake called and made an appointment to meet with a realtor in fifteen minutes. Sally told him she would rather go back to the motel. He could then take her car and go see the realtor.

The realtor, Nancy Elwood, turned out to be a woman in her mid-forties who was born and raised in the area. Jake introduced himself then said, “I might buy later but now I’m looking for a short-term furnished rental with some privacy. An old farm would suit us. If we liked the farm and the area, we could end up buying.”

Jake could see he had her attention.

“I have a place like that for sale,” she said. “An empty farm house, barn, fenced pasture, and 30 acres of wooded hills. They are asking $175,000 – could you go that high?”

“Yes, I can manage that much if I want the place after living in it.”

“The place has been on the market for months. Not much moves here in the winter.”

“For immediate occupancy I’ll offer $1,000 a month on a month-by-month lease or agreement. Cash up front and a reasonable security deposit.”

“The owner no longer lives there. The farm is empty now. I’d want to have our clean-up crew go over it before any one moves in. If your offer is accepted, you could move in day after tomorrow. The owner may want to know if you can afford the sale price. She will also want to keep the place on the market.”

“No problem. I’m an investor/builder and have just made a fair amount of money that is in cash.”

“I see your Cadillac is not just a front, then.”

Laughing, Jake said, “No, I can afford it. If you find something a good bit larger while we’re renting, please let me know. I’ll finance any place we buy myself.”

Ms. Elwood called Jake at the motel the next morning and said, “The owner approved. If you could stop by with the first month’s rent plus a $500 security deposit, you could move in tomorrow. There is some furniture in the house you may use.”

“I’ll be there in an hour,” Jake said.

After an hour on Route 30 East, just past the town of Jeannette, Frank had finally settled down enough to tell Alice what had happened outside the bank. “The KGB was waiting for us. The woman attendant you said was nervous was working with them. She signaled a man, who was trying to look busy, that you had asked for the right numbered box. He put on his hat and hurried outside. Before I went in the bank, I saw a car with the engine idling. That made me suspicious and when the man in the bank hurried outside after getting the attendant’s signal, I went out after him, grabbed his arm, put my gun in his ribs, and spoke to him in Russian. He understood perfectly. I walked him up to the car with the idling engine and when he opened the door, pushed him inside. I had to shoot him and the three other armed men in the car.”

“My God, Frank! And I thought I did all the work! Are you okay? What does that mean? Are we in more trouble?”

“The KGB will now be hunting to kill us. I think we were already on the kill list, but now for sure. The men in the backseat were armed with a submachine gun and what looked like a sniper’s rifle. At the slightest resistance they would have been shooting to kill. The KGB will keep some effort going to find us for several years. We must not give them any clues.

“We left some things for them to find, assuming the KGB finds the car with the dead men inside. They will cover their tracks, get rid of the bodies, car, and maybe the safety deposit vault attendant. The only thing the KGB will have are the brass casings of the .22 I used. I couldn’t take the time to find them all. A first-class police forensic lab may be able to pull partial prints from the casings. I loaded the magazine without using gloves. I always try to avoid handling anything but the bullet part of the cartridge but never can be sure. By the time the KGB even gets around to looking at the brass, if ever, they won’t find anything. Hollow points don’t give the ballistic people much to work with.

“A police or FBI lab is very different. If they tie the dead men to the bank or the bank attendant, they will do a first-class forensic job. If they get the attendant, before the KGB they will get a description of you and Christina from her and the bank cameras. They’ll dust the vault for fingerprints but won’t find any because you were wearing gloves. The cameras will also pick me up and will link me to the KGB watcher inside the bank, because I was watching him and left immediately after him. I think that is the worst case, and it is not too bad. So, all in all, I don’t believe we are in any more danger. But we’ll have to watch the evening news for a few days.”

Driving east on Route 30 through western Pennsylvania, Frank and Alice talked over their plan for the next month. “Frank, have you ever killed anyone before?”

“No. I didn’t have time to think. These men were hunting us and intended to kill us, at the bank or somewhere later. There was no ethical problem for me. It was them or us. An easy choice. There was no thrill or remorse. Those men were hardened killers. Without the snowstorm, we would all be dead. I couldn’t take four trained men without the cover of the falling snow and iced-over windows. They had little choice. They couldn’t wait out on the street or in the bank. We would have seen them and so would’ve the bank guard. I’m sure they hated waiting in the car where they were not able to see outside. They didn’t count on such an aggressive move on my part. They didn’t know about my father and grandfather who killed men many times. Maybe it’s in my blood.”

“What do we do now?”

“We need to change cars and identities. We also need to buy more clothing so we can fit into a more affluent society. We won’t have credit cards for a while so we pay cash for everything. We must look like we are used to wealth and just don’t need credit cards.”

“Shopping sounds good. My clothes certainly don’t fit into a richer environment. My wealthy attitude is natural. I grew up in a privileged class in Poland. Just get me the clothes. I can play the role. Besides, you owe me a handful of diamonds.”

“A small handful. Wealth is also a problem for us. We must have 30 to 40 pounds of currency, gold, and diamonds with us now. We can’t keep carrying it around and I’m a bit reluctant to put it all in a number of safety deposit boxes around the country. The use of alias identification gets very complex. My idea is to buy a place and hide most of the money on our own property. The ideal thing would be a remote mountain cabin in good condition. We can hide out there for a while and think about our options. Our trail will get colder over time and the KGB will eventually pull back some of the teams now hunting us.”

“Now that we’re wealthy can we get something to eat, and a place to rest and get cleaned up?”

“Take a look at the map. I believe there is a small town called Greensburg a few miles ahead just before we enter the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains.”

“Yes. It’s about four miles straight ahead.”

“Good. Now look for a motel. I like being able to park the car right outside the door of our unit. I’m going to pull over when I can find a place to stop for ten minutes so we can change identities again. This will be our last name change for a while I hope.”

“I was just getting used to Alice Kincaid.”

“Say good-bye to Alice because you will soon be Sally Ann Webb. Your maiden name was Smythe, pronounced Smith. Your family is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You were married July 24, 1971. You have no brothers or sisters and both parents were killed in a car accident ten years ago. You were educated abroad and speak French. You majored in the history of Eastern Europe and Russia. You met your husband, Jacob Allen Webb, at a wedding of one of your friends. You moved to Chicago where our children were born.

“Your husband made enough money in investments and wanted to try a new lifestyle and raise a family away from big urban areas. You didn’t like Chicago and were glad to move east. Your credentials are in the brown envelope in my overloaded briefcase. Better wait until we stop and I’ll dig them out for you. Call me Jake. You can be Sally or Sally Ann.”

“I’ll be Sally Ann. I like the flare. Now give me my diamonds and buy me some proper clothes.”

“In due time, Sally Ann.”

The next morning it was still snowing but not nearly as heavily as the night before. By ten o’clock they were moving with light traffic past the Mellon Bank. Frank saw a few people dressed for stormy weather going into the bank. He went over the plan again with Alice and gave her chance to ask questions. By the time he found a parking place on the street around the corner and a block from the bank, Alice was ready.

“Give me five minutes then start out for the bank,” Frank said. “We’ll only be gone about 15 minutes. Jack will be fine in the car. He’s all bundled up and half asleep.”

By the time Frank got to the bank, his topcoat and hat were covered with snow. He saw a car a half a block from the bank with the engine idling. A sure indicator someone was in the car waiting for someone in the bank to come out. Something to consider but not enough to abort when we are this close and maybe already under surveillance. As he got closer to the bank, he could see that the car was covered with snow and ice. Only the passenger door on the side he could see had been opened.

When he entered the bank lobby, he was looking for someone acting busy and watching the door. Frank opened his coat, took off his hat, brushed some snow from the brim, and started working on a bank form at a standup desk. From his position he could see the door and spotted a suspected surveillant. When Alice carrying Christina and a briefcase pushed through the revolving door, Frank’s suspect noted her arrival and watched Alice ask the woman at the desk nearest the safety deposit box vault. When Alice was escorted into the vault area, he continued to watch the area with a growing intensity. A few minutes later, the female attendant came out, looked at the man watching, and nodded her head slightly. The man immediately put on his hat and moved quickly toward the exit.

Frank was convinced the man was KGB and followed him closely out the door. Outside, he quickened his pace and caught the man by the left arm, jamming the .22 Hi Standard into his right side, saying in Russian, “Do what I say or you will die here. Don’t look at me or make any signals. I know where your companion is waiting for you. We are going to walk over to your car now.”

The snow squalls picked up, reducing visibility. Frank pushed the barrel of his gun hard into his ribcage and said, “Open the door and get inside. I’ll put a bullet in one of your tires and nobody needs to die. Do exactly as I say or you’re the first to die.”

His captive opened the door and Frank pushed him hard inside into the driver. He shot each man twice in the head and then turned to the two men in the back and shot them both before they could bring their weapons up. He reached over, turned off the engine, and locked the doors. With any luck, it would be hours before anyone found them.

Frank crossed the street to a point where he could see the bank door and their car. Ten minutes later, Alice came out of the bank and began walking to the car, carrying Christina and the heavy briefcase. Frank moved to meet her and relieved her of the heavy bag. Alice took his arm. “It went just like you planned it. Everything is in the bag. The attendant seemed a little nervous. I didn’t see her after she put the box back and returned my key. Did you get cold just standing around while I did all the work?”

“No,” Frank said. “I managed to keep busy.” Back at the car, they found Jack still asleep. “We’re going to take a different route to Washington, D.C. One of the oldest roads and most important roads in the Colonial era of America is Route 30 that runs over the Allegheny Mountains through a number of small agriculture and manufacturing towns. We may stay overnight in one of those towns. By tomorrow all the main roads should be cleared of snow. Our bank robbing days are now over.” He let out a sigh.

Christina soon fell asleep in her mother’s arms and Frank could see that Alice was dropping off. Jack was sitting in his car seat, looking out the window and chewing on a big pretzel.

Frank had been in worse storms in the USSR but not in heavy, fast-moving traffic. Four-wheel drive doesn’t help you stop. He kept moving with traffic but focused on keeping 50 yards between the wagon and the trailer truck in front of him. Some cars were flying by even though the snowfall and winds were picking up, and traffic news was full of warnings not to drive unless absolutely necessary. The farther south they went the worse the storm became. He could feel the gusting winds rocking the wagon’s body. The wipers front and back were keeping up, but he had switched both defrosters on to prevent a buildup of ice.

They passed several accidents. Some of them with the emergency vehicles were blocking a lane of traffic. The frantic lane changes of some drivers and the increasing fury of the storm convinced Frank to pull off at the next exit and wait until the worst of the storm passed even though they were still 100 miles from Pittsburgh. The banks would be closed by now anyway and might be slow in opening tomorrow, he thought. We will need to be well rested for tomorrow.

The storm kept getting worse. Frank saw cars pulling off the turnpike onto the shoulder. He reached across the front seat and gently shook Alice’s shoulder. She was immediately alert and looking around. Frank said, “Just need your help. I’m looking for an exit off the turnpike. It’s too dangerous to continue driving in this storm. The traffic is getting heavier and the storm is getting worse. Here’s where we are on the map. Look for an exit that looks like it may lead to a cluster of motels and fast food restaurants. We’ll check in, get a good night’s sleep, and be ready to get back on the turnpike in the morning if the storm has passed.”

Alice studied the map. “Five miles ahead there is an exit that leads to a string of small towns, Beaver Falls, Elwood City, and a town with an Indian name spelled A-L-I–Q-U-I–P-P-A.”

Frank laughed. “Your Polish tongue isn’t up to Indian names. That’s pronounced ALI-QUIP-PAH. Help me find the exit. It’s hard to read through all the falling and blowing snow.” Ten minutes later Alice said, “Slow down. Signs ahead. This should be our exit.”

“Okay. Hang on in case we slide a bit. I’m following the guardrails. Can’t make out anything else.”

Up ahead, Frank saw a cluster of neon lights and, using them as a guide, pulled into a small strip mall with a motel at either end. He picked the one that looked the best and pulled into the parking lot half-full of snow and ice-encrusted cars.

Frank walked through calf-high snow to get to the office. He took a two-bedroom unit and paid cash in advance. Alice was glad to get inside with the children. “Traveling in style. Imagine rooms with a bath. I’m going to get the kids bathed and in bed as soon as they have been fed. That means you’ll have to go out and bring in something. You know Jack loves cheeseburgers, and I need something to get some energy. I’m really tired. A bottle of beer would be good also. Check on a place to have breakfast tomorrow. If we’re going to get an early start on our bank robbing career, I’ll need breakfast and coffee to go. You’re the provider. Go do your thing.”

“On my way. I hope you didn’t overlook the purpose of the second bedroom.”

“Don’t worry. I always have energy for loving a good law-abiding provider.”

“If you’re a good girl, you can select a diamond from my diamond supply.”

“A handful would be better.”

“Typical Polish girl. You can have a handful after we do the Mellon Bank.”

 

Alice checked the Kincaids out of the motel while Frank loaded the car. They were on the road by 11:00 AM. Fresh coffee from the motel and lunch from McDonald’s would hold them for several hours. The wagon’s large gas tank was full. Frank figured they were getting 17 mpg on the highway. Once on the super highway, it was a straight shot to Pittsburgh. The radio carried frequent weather updates due to impending storm conditions. They passed several plows and salt trucks in position along the throughway to keep traffic flowing. The storm was coming from the southwest at 40 mph. The leading edge of the broad storm front was behind them but the easternmost part of the front would catch them before they passed Cleveland. From there on, the travel would be hazardous.

The east and south bound turnpikes would bring them to Pittsburgh. An eight-or nine-hour drive in good weather. Frank thought, America is a huge country. Not as large as the USSR but the roads here are magnificent. Even better, the windshield wipers on the front and back, along with the heater and defroster, keep the windows clear of ice and snow.

Alice had a good mind and Frank told her about his plan and asked her for her thoughts. “You know you’re risking all our lives for the money in the Pittsburgh bank.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Frank admitted. “It is a short-term risk for our long-term safety.”

“If we’re all dead in the short term, your long term is not so attractive. Tell me the risks you see in taking the contents of the safety deposit box in the Mellon Bank.”

“The KGB could have a few people waiting for us in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. Not many. We could probably win a short, quick gunfight, but then the police, as well as the KGB would be after us. The box could be empty but still a surveillance team could be waiting for us. Big no-win for us. No more money and hot pursuit. Not a good thing. Best case, I’m counting on my Cleveland ploy to buy us time and force them to scramble to get enough people in Cleveland during a winter storm to capture us. The KGB has limitations in operating here. Personnel from their big bases in D.C. and New York just can’t pick up and go to Cleveland.

“They need U.S. government approval and would be followed by the FBI. They have few people like us they can use in this kind of a situation. They also may believe the CIA is helping us now or soon will be. Their greatest fear is that we’ll defect to the CIA. That means that they will try to avoid any open violence. Any Russian caught in an act of violence in America will be declared persona non-gratis. For a KGB officer who has trained for years to work in America, it is not a good career move to be sent back to the USSR or cause someone to be sent back. You see the odds are not all on their side.”

“How much money is in the Mellon Bank safety deposit box?” Alice asked.

“The last time I counted the currency, there was two million mostly in large bills. Hundred dollar bills were the smallest. I can’t estimate the value of the gold and diamonds. But the whole thing is larger than both boxes I’ve emptied so far.”

“Can we do this?”

“Remember a few months ago when you signed a few bank cards in that strange name?”

“Yes.”

“Well that gave you access to the deposit box in the Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh and the Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C. The plan I like the best is for you to go in the Mellon Bank carrying Christina and ask the person at the desk controlling access to the safety deposit boxes to please get the box for you. When she or he does, simply empty everything in the box into the briefcase you will carry in. There are two bricks wrapped in a towel in the briefcase, put them into the box and have the attendant put it back. The attendant will return your key and you walk out of the bank and out to the car.

“I’ll go inside the bank before you with Jack. If you see me use my handkerchief to wipe my face, it is clear for you to go empty the box. If you do not get the go-ahead signal, go up to one of the tellers and cash a hundred dollar bill and go back to the car. In either case, I’ll be close. Do not hesitate. Walk without hurrying to the car. It should be snowing hard enough to give us some cover. If anyone wants us, they will have to get close and I’ll be ready. Don’t worry, we have plenty of time to go over the plan in detail. You will know the inside of the bank exactly. I have a sketch for you. Okay?”

“Yes. Of course I can handle that. I would feel better if I were armed. The KGB will never take me or the children alive. You know, I’m quite good with a handgun. Give me the Browning 9mm.”

“It’s yours. I’ll use the silenced Hi Standard .22. A perfect weapon for close work.

“It’s 460 miles from Chicago to Pittsburgh. Should take us eight to ten hours depending on traffic and the weather. Our entire route is on what are called turnpikes here, most are toll roads. I’ll need you to drive if I get too sleepy. Just don’t speed. Move with traffic. Five miles over the speed limit seems safe. Ten miles over can attract the attention of the highway patrol. Our identities might not hold up if the police do a thorough check. I don’t want to kill or injure a cop for any reason. Having the KGB searching for us is enough.”

Alice turned from looking out the window to the southwest and remarked, “Have you noticed how dark the clouds are behind us to the south?”

“Yes, I’ve been watching them constantly. Once we pass the exits to Cleveland and turn south to Pittsburgh we will be driving right into the storm. I’ll stop for gasoline soon after we pass Cleveland. You’ll have time to take care of the children. I’ll help as soon as the car is ready to go. We can get food to go, and you can try to get some sleep. The journey will get much harder when we run into the storm front. They’re predicting upwards of a foot of snow, drifted areas would be much deeper. The farther we get from the Great Lakes region, the better. Snowfall is always heaviest near the big lakes.”

The next morning, Frank picked up breakfast from a nearby fast food restaurant and, after telling Alice the plans for the day, he left to be at the bank when the door opened. Again he parked a block from the bank and watched the area from the car for 20 minutes. He saw nothing unusual on the street. Taking his briefcase from the backseat, Frank walked up to the bank, all senses alert for the slightest anomaly in a normal street scene. Inside the bank, the tellers were taking their first customers. Frank knew the name of the young woman who dealt with customers who wanted to get access to a safety deposit box. He approached her and said, “Susan, I see I beat the crowd. Can you get my box for me? Here is my key and I.D.”

“Sure. Follow me. They changed the forecast last night, did you hear? It looks like a storm is going to hit us this afternoon. Are you traveling anywhere?”

“Yes. Unfortunately I have to drive to Cleveland for a day or so. I’ll still be in the heavy snowfall area. I hope I can beat the storm.”

“You better get started. It’s a good five hours to Cleveland in good weather.”

Using both keys, Susan pulled the large box part way out and said, “You take it from here. That is a heavy box. Must be full of gold.”

“Don’t I wish? Legal documents and ledgers weigh a ton. But if we lost our business records, this off-site storage could save our business.”

Susan nodded, then left Frank with his box. When the door closed, he transferred the bundles of currency, bars of gold, and diamonds to his briefcase. He also took the identity documents and the .22 silenced High Standard automatic and extra magazines. Frank inserted a loaded magazine into the handgun and slipped it under his belt in the small of his back. He transferred the two bricks from his briefcase into the box and called Susan. When she came in he slid the now lighter boxH into its slot and said, “Thank you. Now I have to get on the road to Cleveland.”

“Good luck,” she said with a smile. “See you next time.”

Frank left the bank and walked a pre-planned route to check for any surveillance. When he was sure no one was following him, he slipped into a street phone booth and called the bank in Cleveland. When he was put through to the assistant manager in charge of customer services, he identified himself by the name on the safety box and inquired about bank hours and the weather. “I’m trying to get there before the bank closes. I’m in Chicago now.”

Harry Barnes, the assistant manager said, “We plan to close at five unless the weather is terrible, and then we may close earlier so employees can get home safely. Oh, by the way your partner called to see if you had checked your box today or yesterday. He said he put some documents in the box you should see. He also said he would be in sometime today. Maybe you two could meet here at the bank. I can make a conference room available.”

“No, I probably won’t get there until mid-day tomorrow because of this weather. I’ll try to get him on the phone. Thank you for the offer,” Frank said. He hung up.

I guess I was right about the KGB checking on the boxes when I’ve opened them. I hope they will believe I’m coming to Cleveland and will set up to deal with me there. By tomorrow afternoon, they will be getting nervous about my no show. Bad weather may lead them to wait one day longer. By that time I’ll have emptied the box in the Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh. I’ll never get to the Cleveland or Washington, D.C. boxes, and they will no longer stop at trying to capture me. The effort will be to stop me permanently. A sniper set up in Pittsburgh is probably their best shot. At least I now have a better understanding of how this game is unfolding. They cannot use the bank authorities or the police but they can empty the box. I need the contents of the Pittsburgh safety deposit box. I’ll have to move faster than they can. The coming storm may help me. They won’t drive and if the airlines are delayed or cancelled for several hours, I can beat them. It will be close. It is worth the risk. I’ll need the money to escape and hide. In another two weeks, they will have at least one team hunting me full time.

An hour later the Kincaids pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot for lunch on the outskirts of the city. Sue left to change the baby while Dick ordered cheeseburgers, fries, and Cokes. Christina had been breast fed while Dick was in the bank.

The Kincaids arrived in Chicago too late to visit the Chase Bank, just off North State Street, near W. Kinzie Street, so Frank picked a mid-priced motel just outside the city. A stiff wind was blowing and the temperature was forecast to drop to 30 degrees before morning. If he could get out of the Chicago bank by 10:30 a.m., they could make Cleveland before the banks closed for business. He hoped for decent driving weather tomorrow. He couldn’t push the speed limit. Their credentials, while good, would not hold up to an in-depth police inquiry.

He had heard a few senior officers at the KGB School talk about how much complexity was added to an operation if any family members were included. They were right, he thought. I’ll need a lot of luck to pull off this escape. The KGB will never stop hunting for me. This is a very large country with scores of cities large enough to hide in. It is also a country full of immigrants. The sensitivity of the police to avoid any charges of police abusing anyone’s civil rights also helps people like us.

After the Kincaids were settled in their motel room, Frank took Jack with him to pick up Chinese takeout from a place near the motel. Both Christina and Alice were sound asleep when they came back. Frank let them sleep. Tomorrow would be a hard day. He wanted to hit the Chicago bank as early as he could, rush to Cleveland, and then take off for Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. Frank was certain the KGB would have some alerting system when he went into a safety deposit box. In the last five months he had opened all the boxes but took nothing more than a few hundred dollars. If the KGB had an alerting system and had checked the boxes back then, they would have found he had taken nothing.

If the KGB safety deposit box monitoring system worked, they would note that he went to the bank in Minneapolis and then went on to Chicago. A red flag would go up and they would guess that Cleveland was next. In a few more days they may also know his house in St. Cloud was empty with no forwarding address left behind. That would be enough to cause alarm bells. The next nearest bank was Cleveland, Frank thought, going through all this in his head. Someone might be waiting for me there after I hit the Chicago bank. The Cleveland bank held the smallest amount of greenbacks, gold, and diamonds. He quickly devised a plan to try and throw off the KGB once he hit the Chicago bank. He would call the assistant manager at the Cleveland bank tomorrow, whom he had taken to lunch during his last visit, and tell her he would be coming in tomorrow or the next day and ask if they could have lunch together.

Then, instead he would go straight to Pittsburgh where the largest amount of dollars, gold, and diamonds were stored. He knew emptying the Washington, D.C., bank box would be too dangerous. There were enough KGB agents in D.C. to be waiting for him during banking hours. If he could get the valuables from Pittsburgh, he could pass on Cleveland and D.C. and would still have an estimated four million dollars in currency and an unknown value of diamonds and gold. With this new plan, Frank managed to get some sleep.

He had cased the bank thoroughly and been inside one time a few years ago when he was setting up his network. A parking space opened up on South Sixth Street, and he maneuvered the station wagon smoothly into the space. He was within two blocks of the bank. He kissed Alice and walked up to the bank with his briefcase. Each safety deposit box had two names on the access card, Mr. Charles P. Brown and Mr. Robert Garrett. In this bank, he was Mr. Garrett and had all the identification papers he would need.

Changing names and keeping them straight required focus. The penalty for failure was so high, it wasn’t difficult maintain the discipline required to slip in and out of the different roles. It was the short-term aliases that were the hardest. He had checked his documents before he left the car. He left his Kincaid identity in the glove compartment. It was against protocol to carry more than one identity at a time. No cover story would help if he got caught with two or more identity documents. The Garrett identity was only for this bank. The other name on the access card was so the KGB could check the box and add or subtract contents whenever they wanted. He wasn’t sure but believed whoever Mr. Charles P. Brown was would get notified regarding Garrett’s access to the box. Frank hoped that would take at least three days.

He walked in the front entrance, passed the bored guard, and crossed the highly polished floor to an open teller window near the safety deposit box vault. He told the teller he wanted his safety deposit box and showed her the key. The woman teller signaled and an attendant hurried up. He showed his I.D., a Minnesota driver’s license, and was escorted down to the vault. Once inside, the attendant inserted both keys and pulled the large box out and carried it to small private cubicle.

When the attendant left, he opened the box and began transferring the packets of dollar bills, in denominations of twenties and hundreds and thousands, to his briefcase. His previous count of $300,000 he was sure was still correct, but he wasn’t going to count it again. The small cloth bag of several ounces of diamonds went in his briefcase next. He had no idea of their value. The same was true for the twenty small gold bars. The last items to go in the briefcase were two sets of identity documents and a Browning nine-millimeter handgun with two loaded magazines. He remembered the Browning magazines held 13 rounds. To cover the difference in weight, he took a cloth-wrapped red brick from his briefcase and a heavy wrench and put them in the box. The difference in the weight of the box would probably not be noticed by the attendant.

He called the attendant and when the box slid into space 214, used his key to lock the box in slot. He thanked the attendant and left. He was in the bank less than 15 minutes and was on his way to being a wealthy man, thanks to the generosity of the KGB.