Thursday August 26, 1977

 

It took Peter most of the morning to find James B. Casey in Frederick, Maryland. Peter had seen Jim Casey on only one occasion but they hit it off well. Peter had a genuine desire to help the Caseys escape from their espionage past. He thought, True, they are here illegally. So what? There are millions of illegal immigrants in America. These people are paying taxes. So far they have done nothing to hurt America. From a KGB viewpoint, they have adjusted too well. There are no kids, and both husband and wife are agents. They will have the smarts and experience to keep the identities I gave them and stay right here or go anywhere they want to go. They don’t need the hand of American security forces watching them. In five years no one, not even me with my inside knowledge, could find them.

Peter called Jim Casey and Jim asked him to come to their house for dinner. Peter accepted but wondered why Casey was breaking protocol. A handler of agents like Peter never went to the home of one of his agents. The security risk was too high for the agent in case the handler had made a mistake and had picked up some FBI surveillance. Years of work, risk, and preparation on the part of the illegal agent could vanish with nothing positive to show.

For the next hour Peter debated what he should do. He had too much at stake to walk into a possible trap. He decided to play it safe and called Frank Batcher at his office number. He used the telephone name Frank had given him and was put through immediately. He explained the situation to Frank and recommended that a team show up instead of him at the Caseys’ home at 6:45 PM.

Peter parked his car three blocks from the Casey house and walked to a place he could see the house from a distance.

At exactly 6:45 he noticed two casually dressed couples walking toward the Casey house. He suspected the back of the house would be covered as well. The couples continued on their walk and a single male pulled up, parked his car, and hurried up to the front door and rang the bell. The door opened, and the two couples came up at a hard run and pushed inside. A quick burst of gunfire and it got quiet. There were now two ambulances at the curb. Two stretchers came out with covered bodies. A squad car arrived and the two officers surrounded the house with crime tape. From his vantage point 75 yards away, Peter saw two handcuffed men and a woman led out and put in a black van that had just arrived. He had seen enough. Somehow the KGB had found the Caseys or the Caseys had alerted the KGB. He had to be more careful. No longer could he think the danger was less than it had been. The search was still active and had found a loose thread somewhere. He had almost disregarded his instincts. Never again. This was a close call. He would start back to Amelia Island now, after making sure he wasn’t being followed.