by C. G. Cooper
So far so good, he thought. A small team was on its way to the laboratory to clear any evidence of stem cell research. This Knight fellow would be released due to a lack of evidence, and Stone would have his man for the vaccine research--the job no scientist in the department would want to touch. Of course, he’d need a tiny bit of persuading.
Piece of cake.
Stone congratulated himself on a job well done. This was the hardest he had worked in weeks, months even. There was only one more thing to do, and then maybe he could get home to that Chablis.
Stone picked up the phone and pressed the speed dial button for Armand Heller, the nation’s Secretary of Health and Human Services.
“Mister Secretary,” he began. “I am so sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Late night for you?” asked Heller.
“Well, you know how it is. The government never sleeps.” He sounded so oily he wanted to vomit. “I just wanted you to know that I have my best people on this.”
“Your president is counting on you. He’s expecting a full investigation.”
No shit. “Oh, yes, of course, Mr. Secretary. I assure you no stone will be left unturned.”
“Anything else, David?”
“That’s all. Just giving you an update.”
“I appreciate that. Thanks, David. Have a good night.”
“You as well, Mr. Secretary.”
Stone dropped the receiver into its cradle. He sat back in his chair and swiveled gently back and forth.
Tomorrow he would have another conversation with Heller to present his star doctor and head of the research team; Heller would offer a congratulation and perhaps an invitation to dinner.
But for now, Stone had one last pressing matter--and that matter was chilling in his wine rack.
6
Knight sat up on his cell bunk as the door opened.
“Knight,” said the guard, “get up. You’re free to go.”
Knight swung his feet off the bunk and sat upright, looking sideways at the guard. “Wait, what?”
“You’re free to go. Come on.”
“I don’t understand. Someone post my bail or something?”
“Nah,” said the guard, as if it was a ridiculous question. “You’ve been cleared. You’re going home. Right this way, we’ll get you processed outta here.”
Knight stood up and took a hesitant step through the open door. Special Agent Childs spotted him from down the hall, excused himself from the person he was talking to, and walked over. “Sleep well, Doc?”
“Like a baby,” Knight said confusedly.
Childs smiled. “Try again. We’ve been watching you.” He pointed to the small viewing hole in the heavy cell door. “We haven’t found any evidence. The investigation is ongoing, mind you, but for now, we can’t hold you here.”
All Knight could think of to say was, “Thanks.”
“Anytime,” Childs said. “All they have to do is return your belongings and sign you out.”
The guard escorted Knight, with Childs following close behind, along the corridor of police cells, then up some stairs and past the interview room where Knight had spent most of the previous day. They entered the property store through a side door.
The sergeant standing behind the wire dropped a gray tray onto the counter and slid it through the small gap in the barrier. Childs snatched up the tray just as Knight was reaching out for it.
“Not much in here, Doc. Your wallet, keys, cell phone...” He stared Knight in the eye. “And a memory stick.” He pushed the memory stick around in the plastic tray before picking it up. He tossed it into the air and caught it, holding it tightly in his clenched fist. “You always carry one of these around with you, Doc?” Childs held his fist next to his ear and gave it a little shake. “Lotta important stuff on here?”
Knight held out his hand. “Data,” he replied.
“Mm,” Childs nodded, his mouth closed tight. “Sciencey stuff.” He slowly lowered the memory stick toward Knight’s open hand. “Anything interesting?”
“All data is interesting to the person studying it, Special Agent Childs.”
“I’d like to have a look at it. Maybe I’d find it interesting.”
“Maybe.” Knight snatched the memory stick out from the agent’s grip and shoved it deep into his pocket.
Childs smiled. “Then we are all done here.”
The sun streaming in through the large window at the front of the police station made him squint.
Knight pulled out his phone to dial a cab. The phone was out of charge. He turned to Childs. “I need to call a cab.”
“You won’t need it. Someone has come to collect you, Doc.” Childs indicated the chauffeur standing in the waiting area, suit and cap and all.
Knight looked at the chauffeur and then to Childs. Childs smiled broadly. “You must have friends in high places, Doc.”
The chauffeur stepped forward. “Dr. Knight?”
“Have a safe trip, Doc,” Childs sneered.
Childs stood on the steps in the morning sun and watched Knight follow the chauffeur to the NIH staff car. He watched as the chauffeur opened the door to let Knight in. An agent, Simonson, came sauntering out of the police station and stood next to him.
“I’ve got all the damn evidence I need on that memory stick,” said Childs, watching Knight being driven away from the station.
“If we had a warrant, we could bust those servers.”
“Yessiree. If only we had a warrant.”
Childs stared as the car drove away from the front of the police station.
“Watch him,” he said and went back into the station.
7
Stone breezed into the office. He did not feel like a man who’d had three hours of sleep too few and one glass of wine too many. Nor did he feel like a man who had just covered up a serious biomedical crime. A man with power and control, that’s what he felt like. He ordered his assistant to place a call to Secretary Heller as he strode past her desk.
Stone flung his heavy office door shut behind him. He threw his briefcase onto his desk and dropped into his huge chair. In a moment, the light on his phone started to blink, signifying that Heller was on the line. He waited another delicious moment before answering.
“Mr. Secretary? How are you this fine morning?”
“Not bad. Yourself?”
“Oh, not bad. Not bad at all. We had an interesting development in that case involving the doctor. What was his name—Knight?”
“What about him?”
“Well,” fake chuckle, “the whole thing was the result of some disgruntled employee, a college kid, an intern, phoning in a false tip. Even sent along a forged report to constitute probable cause.”
It was comically easy to deceive the government. Stone melted into his chair.
“We’ve been getting a lot of that. The media blows these guys up to celebrity status. We used to call them rat finks. Now, you rat someone out and you’re considered a hero.”
“Whatever happened to good, old-fashioned integrity, eh?” Stone said.
“Exactly my point. Do you know we actually had a case like this a while ago? A tech working in vaccination program called the FBI and told them that his supervisor was tampering with the vaccines and directing his team to do likewise. All because he was leaving a job he hated and wanted to give an eff you to the place on his way out.”
“Disgraceful,” said Stone.
“Terrible,” said the secretary. “Well, at least we get them. That’s the point, right?”
“Absolutely. Can’t have these scumbags walking the streets.”
“That’s for sure.”
“As a matter of fact,” said Stone, sliding his briefcase toward him and popping the clips, “I happen to have the report that was delivered last night. Here it is. Says here, ‘A brilliant mind, but a troubled young man.’ He was having a problem with drugs, it seems. His friends at work said it was booze and marijuana at first, then morphine and
heroin.” He flipped a page in the file.
“Tragic,” mused Stone’s boss.
“Yes, it is, sir. He was showing up late and then missing work altogether. His supervisor had given him plenty of warning to improve his attendance, but it just came to a point where they had to let the young man go.”
“Perhaps he’ll get some help.”
“Well, the laboratory supervisors have provided avenues for help and support, and even a promise of a return to work if the young man can sort through his addiction problems. The young man will face charges from the FBI for making spurious allegations, but they are not expected to pursue him too vigorously. Anyway, back to our friend at the lab. He was merely researching cell structural proteins.”
“All righty. Well, if that’s all, David. I’ve a great many things to do this morning.”
“No doubt, no doubt, sir. We’ll talk soon.”
Stone flipped the file to its first page. The man in question, Glen Markham, smiled brightly from the photocopied picture of his employee badge.
It was a shame, thought Stone, that the young technician would be unable to break his frightening addiction to this insidious drug, and that he would be found dead of an overdose a few days hence.
8
The driver dropped Knight off at the front of the NIH building. A security guard was waiting at the bottom of the wide stone steps leading up to the entrance.
“Follow me,” said the guard.
Knight nodded at the guard and fell in step behind him.
The lobby of the building was spacious and bright. A huge glass front let light pour into the reception area. Offices on higher levels overlooked the entrance. Above Knight, for floor upon floor, were the offices of the low-grade administration staff, who were all locked behind their glass walls.
The guard motioned with his chin toward the elevator. “You’re going to see Mr. Stone. Head on up to the sixth floor.”
Knight stepped in, a strange sense that he was being sent into some shadow part of the building that no one knew about. As the elevator rushed upwards, the transparent doors allowed him the view across the wide reception hall that fell away below him and into the offices where government workers sat at their desks or walked back and forth, carrying piles of paperwork.
When the elevator came to a stop, Knight stepped onto the sixth floor. This Stone person had the biggest office on the grandest, most luxurious floor in the building. Huge windows looked out across the city. The floor was covered in thick, lightly colored carpets and every door was a bright, highly polished timber.
“I’m here to see Mr. Stone,” Knight said, approaching a huge reception desk.
The receptionist glanced upwards. “Dr. Knight?”
“That’s me.”
“Have a seat, please. Professor Stone will be with you in a moment.” She pointed to a set of low chairs and a matching table.
Knight sat and looked out the expansive window to the city beyond. Nervously, he fingered the memory stick in his pocket. There was so much incriminating data sitting there, yet it felt so light and insignificant. There were people out there who would give anything for its contents.
“Dr. Knight?” Knight looked over to the receptionist. “Professor Stone will see you now. Go right through there,” she said, pointing.
Knight walked toward the timber double doors. As he reached out for the right-hand door handle, the left-hand door flew open, revealing a tall, thin man with twinkling eyes and an almost elfish grin.
“Dr. Knight. I’m Professor David Stone. Pleasure to meet you. Come in, please.”
“Nice office,” Knight said, turning slightly to regard the sparsely furnished room.
“Do you like it?”
“It reminds me a little of my apartment.”
“Does it really?” asked Stone. “Of course, furnishings do tend to get in the way, don’t they?”
“I have little time or patience for ornamentation if that’s what you mean.”
The man smiled his elfin grin and held his arm out toward a chair. “Have a seat, Doctor. Can I get you anything? Coffee?”
“I’m fine.”
“It’s been quite a night for you, I understand.” Stone took a seat behind the desk and swiveled gently in his chair. “They should never have locked up a respected and, well, forgive me for saying, such a brilliant scientist such as yourself, without having irrefutable proof of guilt. I was just saying so to the Secretary of Health and Human Services only a few moments ago.”
Knight felt tiredness grow and wash over him. He had no time for these games. “Why have you brought me here?”
Stone laughed. “Alex. Can I call you Alex? I would have thought you’d be a little more appreciative of all I’ve done for you.”
“And what is it that you have done for me, Professor?”
“Maybe we should talk about what you’ve done. Working on illegal research.”
“I’ve been conducting research funded by our government.”
“Mmm. The only problem is the FBI seemed to think that you were conducting illegal research, specifically stem cell research. And I think they had probable cause to suspect such a thing.”
“There is no evidence of that. As a matter of fact, I’ve been released due to a complete lack of evidence.”
Stone opened his briefcase and took out a file. “Yes, Doctor, you were wrongly accused. There was nothing found in your laboratory to support the claims of illicit research. Your work has been found to be purely academic research into cell proteins. There was a surprisingly small amount of data on your server considering the time you’ve been spending on the study. You might have been a little less than prudent with government money than you should have been, but that’s not a crime, is it?”
“Cell protein research, that’s correct. I’m not sure why anyone would think I was doing anything else.”
Stone looked him in the eye. The elfin grin was gone. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” Stone reached into his case and took out another file. “We do have this, however.” He placed the file on the desk and opened it. “A lab technician. Do you know him?”
Knight looked at the photo and recognized the man, a young member of his team. A happy and fresh-faced graduate. Knight had never spoken to or worked with him, but he recognized him as one of the junior laboratory technicians.
“Yes, I know him,” Knight said.
“He was fired from your division. And he was annoyed for being fired. He contacted the FBI and told them all about the stem cell research. There is some evidence to suggest he was looking for money. Ostensibly to finance his drug habit.”
“Drug habit?”
“He is no longer your concern, Alex. Nor is he my concern. But you are. You are very much my concern.” He crossed his legs and put two fingers thoughtfully to his chin. “What are we going to do with you?”
“What are you going to do with me?”
Stone leaned forward. “Alex, the truth could yet be discovered. The stem cell data could yet find its way to the FBI. You could still find yourself in prison. It must be terrible to spend so many years in a small cell. So much worse to spend those years with a huge, violent, and sexually-frustrated cellmate.”
“You’re really playing the homophobic prison card?” Knight retorted.
Stone grinned. “I suppose you’re too smart to fall for that. And, of course, it’s an unlikely scenario anyway. After all, you’ve been cleared. You’ve been conducting cell protein research.” He tilted his head reflectively. “How would you like a new challenge? A fresh start, so to speak.”
“I’m fine with my old job, thank you.”
“Yes, I thought as much, which is why I want to show you this.” Stone took another file from his case and handed it over the desk. The front bore the presidential seal.
Knight rifled through it. “What is this? Vaccines?”
“Precisely. It’s an outline brief for a study into the safety of vaccines. We call it the
Vaccine Verification Program, VVP for short. I thought you might be just the man for the job. Well, Alex, how would you like to work for the President of the United States?”
“You must be joking. Vaccines?” Knight handed the file back to Stone. “Why me? I’m a laboratory scientist. A research scientist.”
“It’s not a high-profile position. It’s a backroom job. You’ll be able to keep your head down for a while. There may even be a bit of sampling, a bit of testing. You’ll still get to work in a laboratory from time to time.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to decline, with all due respect to the president.”
There was a vicious twinkle in the man’s eye. “That’s a fine way to treat your benefactor.”
“Benefactor?”
“Yes, you see, that absence of evidence you referred to earlier? That was due to yours truly. They found nothing because I ensured they wouldn’t.”
Knight narrowed his eyes at the man.
“So, Alex, you ought to think twice about refusing what I consider to be a non-negotiable proposition,” Stone continued, undaunted. “Non-negotiable, in that you will not refuse it. I have everything I need to put you in jail for a very long time. At the very least, you’ll be fined beyond your capacity. You won’t be able to find a job testing urine for marijuana, let alone cell protein research.” He hocked his throat, as if this last phrase were a bad taste.
“Is that a threat?”
“What do you think?” Stone sneered. “An intelligent man such as yourself should know the difference between a threat and a hugely beneficial job offer, so let’s not start out on the wrong footing. Let’s be friends and let’s get you started. Is there anything you need?”