by Rick Acker
They chatted about the game as they walked through the firm. Connor’s mind was elsewhere, of course, but that hardly mattered. He had learned to make conversation at the same age that he learned to walk, and both skills were equally unconscious for him.
Connor closed the conference room door behind them and sat at the table. Julian poured himself a cup of coffee, picked up a cookie, and sat down opposite Connor. He pulled out a notepad and pen and looked up expectantly. “Well?”
“One of my clients just disappeared. I need you to help me find her.”
Julian stopped in the process of breaking a piece from the cookie. “What’s her name?”
“Allie Whitman. You did some work for her.”
A frown tightened Julian’s forehead, drawing his gleaming scalp taut. “I remember. What happened? Is there a police report?”
Connor pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Not yet. Probably not ever.”
“Why not?”
“No crime. They’ll probably conclude that she disappeared voluntarily—at least that’s what I see happening based on what I know.”
The detective nodded and popped a piece of cookie into his mouth. He brushed crumbs off of his notepad and jotted something down.
“You don’t seem surprised.”
He shook his head as he chewed. “I’m not,” he said around a mouthful of oatmeal and chocolate chips. He swallowed. “Disappointed maybe, but not surprised.”
The shadow on Connor’s heart deepened. He waited for a moment, but Julian didn’t elaborate. “Can you tell me why you’re disappointed?”
Julian shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t say anything more than that. Client confidentiality. You understand.”
Connor nodded. “I understand.” He very much wanted to know why Allie had vanished, of course, but he appreciated Julian’s scrupulous ethics. The two of them shared the same uncompromising moral compass, and it was one of the reasons they worked well together.
But client confidentiality surely didn’t cover everything. “Any idea where she is?”
“None.”
“Do you know whether she engaged in any… financial crimes before she left?”
Julian’s eyebrows went up. “No idea. Do you want me to look into that?”
Connor nodded. “It’s… Well, it’s possible that she might have taken money from accounts belonging to me or my family. Not certain, you understand. But possible.”
The detective shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, man. Truly sorry.”
“Don’t be. Not yet. We don’t know whether she stole a dime.”
“You used to trust this girl, didn’t you?”
Connor looked down at the table. An inscrutable black reflection looked back. “Yeah, I did. We worked together pretty closely.”
“And then she pulls a Houdini on you and leaves you wondering whether you’ve been grifted.” He shook his head again and looked Connor in the eyes. “That’s what I’m sorry about.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Connor took a deep breath, leaned back, and crossed his arms. “All right, so our private banker is looking into it too. I’ll put you in touch with him.”
Julian looked at him silently for a moment, then nodded. “Got it. Anything else?”
There was one more question gnawing at the back of Connor’s mind. “Just one more thing—do you know whether she’s safe?”
Julian thought for a moment. “No.”
40
MITCH STOOD IN FRONT OF EILEEN, A HAMMER IN ONE HAND AND A PAIR of wirecutters in the other. In two minutes, he could turn her into a worthless hunk of metal. If he cut the right wires and smashed the camera lenses and key circuitry, the ROV would be nothing but scrap.
No one would stop him. He and Ed had been tinkering with Eileen off and on the entire trip, so the North Koreans wouldn’t think twice if they saw him “working” on her now. Once he was done, it would be impossible to retrieve missiles—or anything else—from the sea floor.
What would the North Koreans do when they found out? And almost as frightening, what would Ed do?
“What’s on your mind, Mitch?”
Mitch turned and saw Ed, a coffee mug in his hand and a suspicious look on his face.
“I was just wondering what we’re gonna do now.”
“And you were thinking of trashing Eileen.”
Mitch shrugged and looked past Ed’s shoulder. “I—”
“Don’t worry about it. I was thinking the same thing.” Mitch blinked. “You were?”
“Yeah, but—” He patted the ROV. “I’ve got a soft spot for hard women.”
“I know. I met your ex-wife.”
Ed relaxed and his face split into a gargoyle grin. “I remember. She thought you were cute. Should’ve known right then that she was a nut job.”
“You should’ve known that when she said she’d marry you.”
Ed barked a laugh and punched Mitch in the shoulder. “Seriously, don’t talk about scrapping Eileen. At least not in front of her.”
Mitch wasn’t sure whether that was a joke, so he changed the subject. “So, what are you thinking we should do?”
Ed scratched his stubbly jaw. “Here’s the thing: let’s say Eileen had a cable break underwater or something. What are we after she’s gone?”
“Uh, an ROV pilot and co-pilot without an ROV?”
Ed nodded. “And that’s just a long way of saying ‘dead weight,’ isn’t it? You know what else we are? Witnesses.”
A chill went through Mitch. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I kinda guessed.”
“Would it be so, you know, awful if they just got the missiles or whatever it is they want from down there? I mean, North Korea already has nukes, right?”
“Yeah, but not in America.”
“Couldn’t they just put one on a missile?”
“You don’t read the news much, do you?”
Mitch’s face got hot. “Not as much as you, but—”
“Two things. One, they haven’t been able to build a missile that’s anywhere near able to get across the Pacific, and they’ve been trying for years. Two, we’ve got all sorts of defenses in Hawaii in case they ever manage to build a decent rocket.”
“Okay, so—”
“And here’s the other thing: let’s say they manage to shoot a missile at America and it gets past Hawaii and blows up L.A. or something, what happens then?”
“Um, there’s a war?”
“Yeah, for as long as it takes for our missiles to reach North Korea. Then there’s a big, glassy crater where their country used to be.”
Mitch pondered that for a moment. “Okay, so if they’ve already got nukes and they don’t want to blow up L.A., why are we out here?”
Ed nodded and glanced over one of his lumpy shoulders, as if he felt eyes on his back. “Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. Here’s what I think: firing a missile starts a war, which they lose. But things might turn out different if they just happened to know of a couple bombs already hidden in the U.S.—not that they planted them or anything, but they know who did. They know some terrorists who know some terrorists who managed to get some bombs into the country. Something like that. And if America does them a favor or two, they’ll let Washington know where the bombs are. Maybe they even have a bomb go off first to get the country’s attention, so the U.S. will be willing to do pretty much anything to keep another one from going off.”
“Oh.” Mitch thought through Ed’s theory. It made sense. Too much sense. Then a new fear hit him. His stomach muscles suddenly tightened and the hairs on the back of his neck went up. “That plan doesn’t work so well if we’re still around, does it?”
Ed shook his head and took a swig of his coffee.
The cold realization sank into the pit of Mitch’s stomach. They weren’t just in danger once they stopped being necessary for the ROV. They were dead men walking. “So why not just wreck Eileen and at least keep them from getting the bombs? We’re dead ei
ther way.”
Ed’s eyebrows went up, making his narrow forehead nearly vanish. “Don’t be so sure about that.”
A spark of hope lit in Mitch’s chest. “Really? Why not?”
“If we can get a call out to the Navy, they can save our behinds and take care of our Korean friends.”
“But how do we make a call? They’ve got people in the radio room 24/7, and we don’t have an excuse to go in there.”
“We don’t.” Ed drained his mug. “But an officer does. I’ve seen Jenkins head up there every couple of days. I’ll bet he’s making regular reports to the company.”
“But if one of the North Koreans is always in there with him—”
“Let’s say there was a disturbance while Jenkins was in there—a fire or a fight right outside the door. I’m thinking there’s a good chance the Korean would leave, at least for a minute.”
Mitch felt like laughing with relief. “You know, that could work!”
Ed grinned. “Yeah, I do know—that’s why I suggested it. We’ll talk to Jenkins tonight.”
41
TOM CONCANNON WALKED INTO CONNOR’S OFFICE AND CLOSED THE door behind him. “Connor, we need to talk right now.”
Connor was on an international conference call, but one look at Tom’s face convinced him to end it immediately. He made his apologies and said good-bye. Tom seated himself in one of Connor’s guest chairs and watched with a stone-faced expression. Whatever was coming, it was bad.
Connor hung up the phone. “What’s up, Tom?”
“Carlos Alvarez called. He’s suing the firm and one of your clients, Devil to Pay, Inc.”
“Suing us? Why?”
“Abuse of process. He claims that you and Devil to Pay intentionally filed a false complaint against a company called Deep Seven. He says you fabricated evidence and lied to the Department of Justice in order to extort a settlement from Deep Seven.”
“That’s nuts! That’s absolutely stark raving insane!” Connor jabbed the air with his finger. “We’ll file a motion for summary judgment right off the bat. He’ll have to show his evidence— which he won’t have. Then we’ll get him and his firm sanctioned for filing this kind of crap.”
Tom’s expression didn’t change. “Connor, I’ve known Carlos Alvarez for nearly twenty years. He is many things, but he is not a liar.”
Connor stared at his friend. “Are you saying I am?”
“Of course not, but this situation is…” He frowned and shook his head. “Well, it’s perplexing.”
“So let’s get it resolved quickly. Let’s file that summary judgment motion.”
Tom looked skeptical. “What will DOJ say? Will they back you up?”
“I’m sure they will.”
“Have you asked?”
“No. I didn’t have any reason to until about two minutes ago. Why?”
“Carlos says they won’t.”
Would Max really leave him hanging like that? He couldn’t believe it. But then a few days ago he would never have believed that Allie would betray him either. “I find that very hard to believe, but I’ll let you know what they say.”
A slight frown creased Tom’s forehead and the corners of his mouth. “I’d like to be on that call.”
That hit Connor like a kidney punch. “Of course.” He sat back in his chair and looked out the window. “You need an independent witness on the line.”
“It’s not that we don’t trust you, Connor. I—”
“Don’t lie to me, Tom.” He turned and looked his friend— no, the office managing partner—in the eyes. “I thought you were better than that.”
Tom reddened. “Don’t push it, Connor.”
“Just play it straight with me.”
Tom took a deep breath and blew it out. “You want it straight? All right, I’ll give it to you. The Executive Committee held an emergency meeting over lunch to talk about this. They’re taking it very seriously, and they voted to put me in charge of the firm’s internal investigation. I’ll make my preliminary report in two days. Whatever I say, you’ve got a problem.”
“Even if you say that I’m telling the truth? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Oh, it makes sense, Connor. You may not think it’s fair, but it makes perfect sense. Let’s say I tell ExComm that you’re clean as a surgeon’s scalpel. The bottom line is still that you got us sued. The firm still has to report this to our malpractice carrier, still has to deal with the bad PR, and still has to spend time and money investigating you.”
Connor shook his head in disbelief. “But that could happen to anyone, Tom. Besides, shouldn’t that be weighed against everything I’ve done for the firm?”
“Like refusing to represent an important client you didn’t think was up to your moral standards?” Tom’s face was hard and unforgiving. “They took their business to another firm. Did you know that?”
So that’s what this was about. Now he understood why the Executive Committee was looking for an excuse to punish him. “I didn’t. I’m sorry to hear about it.”
“Are you sorry that you refused to represent them?”
Connor chose his words carefully. “I’m sorry that my refusal to represent them hurt the firm.”
“So am I. So is ExComm.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “All right, are you ready to call DOJ?”
Connor felt cold and numb. “Sure. The guy you’ll want to hear from is Deputy Attorney General Max Volusca. Let’s give him a call. I’ll put it on speakerphone.”
Connor pushed the speakerphone button and a jarringly loud dial tone filled his office. Connor hurried to turn down the volume. “Sorry.”
He pushed the speed dial button for Max Volusca, and a few seconds later the deputy attorney general’s deep voice boomed from the phone. “Department of Justice, Max Volusca speaking.”
“Max, it’s Connor. I’m here with one of my partners, Tom Concannon. Do you have a minute?”
“Sure.”
Tom leaned forward. “Thank you, Max. We’d like to talk to you confidentially about a company called Deep Seven. You’re familiar with them, I take it?”
“We investigated them not too long ago. Connor can tell you all about it.”
“Actually, I’d like to ask you a few questions about that investigation.”
“We don’t normally reveal what happens during investigations, but you’re welcome to ask. Fire away.”
“Do you know a lawyer named Carlos Alvarez?”
Max’s chuckle rumbled through the speaker. “Oh, yeah. I know Carlos Alvarez.”
“Did he ever make any allegations to you about the, ah, candor of this firm and one of its clients?”
Max’s voice turned serious. “Why do you ask?”
“Because he made such allegations to me, and they touch on this firm’s relationship with the Department of Justice.”
Long seconds ticked by. “I’d rather not get involved in this.”
There was a roaring in Connor’s ears. Tom shot him an accusatory look. “I’m sorry, Mr. Volusca, but this is a very important matter. Deep Seven has threatened litigation and we need to be able to accurately evaluate their claims.”
“I’ll tell you what I told the other side: we don’t comment on the reasons why we don’t intervene in cases.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Carlos seems to think that we turned down the Deep Seven case because we decided that the disclosure statement and complaint we received were full of lies. He called me up and wanted me to confirm that to him. I told him to go pound sand.”
The tight lines on Tom’s face began to smooth. “So you didn’t decide that our submissions were fraudulent?”
“Look, I just said that we don’t disclose why we make our decisions. Maybe we declined to intervene because we didn’t think there was much money involved. Maybe we thought you guys could handle the case fine without us. Maybe it was a Monday and we didn’t feel like taking on another new case. Or maybe we decided your c
lient was lying to us.”
Connor leaned forward and cleared his throat. “Max, you told me that your investigation only found three fraudulent invoices from Deep Seven and that they only totaled around twenty thousand. That’s not a lot of money, is it?”