"What now?" Charlyne asks.
Amanda never even looks up from her prone position on the bed.
"You leave, that's what,"
"Wait. Are you kidding?" David says.
"Dead serious. Leave. Goodbye."
David and Charlyne both look around the room and realize it's Kent's room. Neither has ever been there. They see the guitars, random books all over the bookcase, recording equipment. They both look at each other, not knowing what to do. David motions toward the door and they head out to the great room.
"What’re we gonna do? We need to tell somebody," Charlyne says.
"Yeah, call her aunt."
Charlyne calls Barbara as they walk out on the front porch. "We don't really want to leave her alone, but she wants us gone, so we don't know what to do." Charlyne explains.
It's agreed that Barbara will drive over to the farm and talk to Andy. Charlyne and David sit on the front porch biding their time.
"I do have trouble believing he’d commit suicide," David says. "He was a little out there, yeah, but not like that.”
"Me either. I mean, I can't believe what Amanda’s already gone through, and now this."
Barbara pulls into the gravel driveway, and just a couple minutes later Andy pulls in also. They gather on the porch and exchange information with Charlyne and David. Andy explains that he tried to reach Kent's father, but was unsuccessful. While they’re standing there, a man walks over toward the porch. It's Manuel.
"Hi, I'm Andy Michaels. My niece Amanda was friends with Kent."
"Oh, uh…I suppose you’ve heard the terrible news?" Manuel asks.
"Yeah, and now my niece is in Kent's room and refuses to leave."
"Why is she in there?"
"We’re not exactly sure, she just demanded to come here. We're going to talk to her. She’s depressed and not being very rational."
Everyone walks inside, and Charlyne points out the room. They see Amanda still lying on the bed.
"Amanda, we're trying to understand why you’re here," Andy starts.
"Get out! I don't want you here. I don't want you asking questions. I'm okay, but I'll be better if you all get out…now!"
Andy and the rest of them retreat to the front porch.
"We can't leave her here. She could be suicidal." Barbara says.
"I agree; we can't leave her. One of us has to stay."
They walk over toward Manuel.
"She's insisting on staying in Kent's room. Can you call Mr. Perless and see if it's okay for her to stay here ‘til tomorrow?"
Manuel nods. "I think it’ll be fine."
A plan is cobbled together in which Andy is going to stay the night. Barbara will return later with some of his clothes, and come back in the morning to relieve him. Barbara resolves to take a few days leave from work to sort out Amanda’s situation.
Chapter 53
Why & How?
“Two questions. Why’d they kill him, and how? The director is going to be all over my butt!” Solarez says to his trusted field agent.
“We had ears on him, but not eyes,” the agent responds, referring to listening devices versus visual surveillance.
“Where were our people?”
“Two agents were posted there. We’re still not sure how their agent got inside, but they used gas. As soon as our guys figured out what was going on, they called in and followed instructions.”
“And that’s when they neutralized their own agent?” Solarez asks.
“Correct. They took the kid much more seriously than we thought, serious enough to kill him. We’ve listened to all of the kid’s audio, checked his cell phone records and internet activity.”
“No one was reviewing what the kid was doing in real-time?” Solarez asks.
“No, we didn’t think he was a significant target. We assumed he simply stumbled into his friendship with Amanda Michaels.”
“Who says he wasn’t their asset?” Solarez demands.
“It’s unlikely, but not impossible. His online searches show he’d bungled his way on to BBS and the fact that Ron Michaels worked there. Whether he really had connected the dots I can’t say, but they decided he was too close when he set up a meeting with a reporter.”
“Who?”
“Perry Carson, with Capitol Law magazine. Perless was to meet with him the next day. The local detectives know that, but they’re convinced it was a suicide or accidental overdose. We had an agent copy the entire laptop and phone before the local cops got there.”
“Did they wipe the laptop and phone clean?”
“No, they must’ve figured it would look too suspicious, so they hid the search history but left the hard drive.”
Solarez gets up from his desk and paces a few steps, pondering. “Unfortunately, we’re no closer to figuring out who their mole is.”
“Nope. But, if we tighten the noose, something’s bound to give.”
“When and how we do that is the trick,” Solarez says.
Chapter 54
Winds Change
Andy checks his voicemail. The fourth message is from Paul Franklin.
"Andy, it's Paul Franklin. Please give me a call as soon as possible about the Hemispheres crash cases."
Andy calls Franklin back and is put on hold by his receptionist. A few seconds later he hears Franklin's voice.
"Andy, I'd like you to send me a settlement demand on all of your cases by the end of the week."
"Franklin, don't mess with me. I don't have any tolerance for this right now."
"Michaels, I'm not kidding. I seriously want a settlement demand for each of your clients."
"We haven't even finished discovery yet. This is completely…well, just not normal," Andy says, trying to pry something out of Franklin.
"Listen, I had a long talk with the airline. They want me to work toward settling all the cases. This isn’t an indication of any problem with our defense. We're just going to give settling a try. These are my marching orders from Hemispheres. Hopefully we’ll settle some of them and mediate the rest. I want as much information on each decedent as possible, their ages, earnings, families, everything you've got."
"Don’t know if we can get them all done within four days, but we'll get started," Andy says, ending the call in disbelief. He buzzes Angie.
"Hey, that was Franklin. Would you believe that he wants a settlement demand on every one of our cases? Mix that in your drink."
"Holy crap! You know what that means, don't you?"
"Yep, they know something we don't."
Chapter 55
Rock Creek
"Perry Carson on line two," Myra says.
"Okay, I'll take it.” Andy answers.
"Hello, Michaels here."
"Andy, it's Perry Carson. I'm wondering if now’s a good time to finally talk. A lot’s gone down."
Andy ponders a moment. "I run most mornings in Rock Creek Park. You still run, don't you?"
"Yeah, couple times a week on Rock Creek Trail."
"How about tomorrow morning at seven? I usually drop in at Dumbarton near 27th. You know, where Dumbarton ends right there at Rock Creek Trail?"
"Yeah, I know that spot. 7:00 a.m., I'll be there."
The sun's barely up. Andy waits at the end of Dumbarton where the tree line starts to drop into Rock Creek Trail. He sees Perry running down the trail, and they join up and jog south. Neither says much at first, as joggers run past. After they run under the Georgetown overpasses and approach the Potomac, Perry finally breaks the silence.
"I heard Hemispheres wants settlement demands from everybody," Carson says.
"That's a fact. What about it?"
"Look, I've covered the legal scene long enough to know that's highly unusual. None of the lawyers have even answered the written discovery in the case. Obviously they know something bad or they would never do this. Do you know what it is?"
"Not yet, but I'm not standing still on it. My expert thinks it was electrical," Andy says, as
men crew long narrow boats along the Potomac.
"Hey, you know that kid who was friends with your niece? The detectives officially said it was an accidental overdose. Did you hear that?"
Andy takes a quick look over at Perry.
"I'd heard that it was likely an overdose. Any details?"
"Fentanyl toxicity overdose."
"Bizarre. My niece is having a tough time with it. She had developed a relationship with him.”
Through a pant, Carson says, "I don't think you knew this, but when I saw him at that party he said he wanted to talk to me about the crash. I never heard from him again. Now he's dead. I called the detective in Loudoun County and told him. But once they got the tox report, I guess it didn’t matter.”
They're looping around the Lincoln Memorial halfway through their run, and many runners are out. Andy stops when they near the lower end of Georgetown at the Potomac.
Still huffing, Andy says, "So that detective didn’t think Kent’s wanting to talk to you was connected?"
"Said it was interesting but that all he had to go on was a fentanyl patch he found on the body. He asked me if I knew what Kent wanted to tell me. Maybe he was just a publicity hound."
"Do you have any leads connecting him to the crash?"
"Nope. But, after Kent approached me I pitched a story to my editor about Kent, Amanda, and the crash, and he gave me the green light. I thought the story was even more justified after he died, but my editor killed the story entirely.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
“Next to never.”
“Did you ask him why?”
“Said it was too speculative since no one knows why the plane crashed.”
“Let’s keep digging, and sharing info.”
Andy gets up from the bench and takes off. When they reach Dumbarton Oaks, Andy breaks off at 27th Street, and Perry waves and keeps running north up the trail.
Chapter 56
Bumblebee
“We’ve got a big problem,” the field agent tells Solarez, plopping down in a chair in his office.
“Great. What do you mean ‘a big problem’?” Solarez says with a grimace.
“Our mole attended a meeting and someone referenced the wiretaps approved by Bondakopf. We’ve got a security breach. Could be an informant or a bug.”
“You’re kidding. We sweep the courtrooms every morning and again before each hearing. How could they be compromised? It’s gotta be a leak.”
The agent disagrees. “Actually, we’re pretty sure it’s a bug stuck outside the courtroom somewhere. It’s possible it’s inside, but we have no idea how or where it would be.”
“If this is true, our asses are grass.” Solarez says, thinking about his offered resignation that the director still holds. “Actually, we won’t say anything ‘til we know for sure. Do a sweep right away, inside and out. Use anyone you need to draw up a plan for a complete sweep, inside and out. This goes well beyond the Phoenix operation. Hell, this affects every hearing, every national security operation in the FISA courts.”
“It’s gotta be discreet so they don’t know we’re onto them,” the field agent says.
“Right. Wait, I wonder if the bumblebee is online yet. See if it is and if we can use it.”
Manned by experienced pilots working for the CIA, the borrowed news chopper hovers unobtrusively just above the federal courthouse near dusk. Several covert agents walk down the sidewalk near the courthouse. The small side door of the chopper opens, and the man in the front seat next to the pilot opens a small box. Operating a large laptop, another “pilot” in the backseat prepares for takeoff.
The drone, barely larger than an actual bumblebee, slowly but steadily rises out of the box and begins flying downward under the command of its pilot. The bumblebee’s high resolution video camera hones in on the various cracks and crevices near the windows of the building, sending video back over a secure wireless frequency to the chopper laptop. Near one window of the main FISA courtroom, the drone pilot moves the bumblebee in closer with his joystick. He sees a tiny protrusion in a crevice next to the window. He zooms in for a better view. After no more than 180 seconds, the tiny device is directed downwards where it softly hovers at shoulder level near one of the agents walking on the sidewalk. He quickly reaches up and grasps it with a special webbed glove and places it into his jacket pocket, all without missing a step.
“I have the insect,” he advises the team.
Within hours, all of the footage has been pored over by the field agent and his team. He places the key results on Solarez’ desk.
“Got it,” the field agent says. “Look in this picture. See that little wire in the mortar crack? That’s a bug, just millimeters away from the window. They’re probably camped out in the building here.” He points to pictures of the building across the street. “We’re going to check all the rentals from the third floor to the top.”
“Not yet. We have some interesting options. I’ll put together some suggestions for the director.” Solarez studies a few of the pictures on his desk and formulates his next move.
Chapter 57
Despondency
Andy ends the cell phone call with one of the Hemispheres crash widows about settling and his mind turns to Crossroads Farm. It's day three of Amanda's occupation of Kent's bedroom. She's been totally despondent and inconsolable, refusing to eat anything except the tiniest scraps of food and occasionally drinking a bit of bottled water. She stays inside the bedroom, and only grudgingly talks to anyone.
According to Barb, Amanda plays nonstop music and hasn't changed clothes since arriving. She's wearing one of Kent's T-shirts and a pair of his pajama pants.
In the midst of this personal crisis, Andy and his staff have been working 12-hour days to put together demand packages for all of the Hemispheres cases.
Andy parks his Mini Cooper along the drive in front of the farmhouse. Barbara's already on the porch. She starts talking before he reaches her.
"Andy, we don't have any choice. You have to sign the papers."
"This is a serious step. Committing her involuntarily, even for a few days, is going to be bad, bad, bad."
"She's not eating, she won't communicate. She needs counseling. We're the only family she’s got left and we need to help her."
"Let me go talk to her."
As they near the bedroom, Andy hears loud music. He turns to look at Barbara before he opens the door.
"Alright, I'll be out in the great room."
Andy knocks but there's no response. He cracks the door open. Amanda is lying in bed, her head on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling.
"Amanda, we need to talk!" Andy says loudly above the music.
Amanda says nothing, so Andy walks to the side of the bed. Her pajama bottoms look wrinkled and he recognizes the Beatles’ Abbey Road shirt she’s wearing.
"We’re really worried about you. You're not eating, not talking, not going to school. Something's got to give."
Amanda still stares at the ceiling.
"Have you ever listened to this song? Really listened?"
Andy recognizes "She Said, She Said" by the Beatles.
"She says ‘I know what it's like to be dead.’ Then he says she's wrong. When he was a boy everything was right. That's what I feel like. Everything was right before the plane crashed. Now everything is wrong and I know what it's like to be dead. I died. And I still remember some of the things I saw when I was dead. I’m not scared of it, it was really peaceful. Peter Fonda was tripping on LSD and he told Lennon he knew what it was like to die because he accidentally shot himself in the chest when he was young and nearly died. He freaked Lennon out. Fonda knew what I’m talking about…"
Andy has never heard this kind of crazy talk from Amanda before. He's no shrink, but maybe Barb is right.
"I know that you weren't breathing and all that, but I don't think you were dead.”
“I was as dead as dead gets. You don’t know, you have no freaking ide
a. I know. I’ll never, ever forget what it was like, I remember everything. Justin, the four Dorothys, and my dad working in his office lab.”
“Four Dorothys?”
“Yeah, I was one of them. We were floating up and up. I am still trying to figure that out. Hey, did my dad have a home office with a lab in it?”
“Uhh, he had a small office he used for doing biological stuff. Look, I understand you’re devastated about Kent, but we’re worried. If you won’t go back to school and insist on staying in this room day in and day out, we’ll have to get you some help."
"I don't need help. Haven’t you ever wished you could get back to some time, some place, where everything was alright? That’s what I’m telling you. Can you understand that?"
Andy shakes his head. He's got to break the news to her about the settlement discussions.
"Amanda, I know it's the furthest thing from your mind, but I need to talk to you about your case." No reply. "The Hemispheres lawyer called me and he wants a settlement demand number on your case and lots of information. Angie and Aunt Barbara have collected family pictures, information about you playing soccer, your school grades, medical records, everything we need for your case. Do you want to help put it together?"
Amanda sings along with the closing chorus to the song. "And you're making me feel like I've never been born…" She has the vinyl album cover in her hand and is studying the reverse side, ignoring him.
Taming the Telomeres, a Thriller Page 18