Call to Treason (46 page)

    If a man is lucky, there is at least one moment in his life that Rodgers called the cornerstone. It is when a man has to make a decision based on principle not on personal security. It was a single building block that shaped the rest of his life. It was a moment he would look back on with pride or with regret. Rodgers had seen cornerstones in combat, when the decision was typically more one of instinct than a deliberative process. Some men froze under fire, others put the risks behind them and charged. The ones who choked never got over it. The ones who acted felt like gods for however many decades or seconds remained of their lives.

    Admiral Kenneth Link was facing a cornerstone. Rodgers could see it in his bloodshot eyes. He was trying to decide whether to finish the lie he had just begun, which he might or might not be able to make stick.

    Or whether to embrace the truth and acknowledge the war he had apparently been fighting.

    "Did Stone tell you that Senator Don Orr and Kat Lock-ley planned the murder of William Wilson?" Link asked.

    "He did."

    "Do you believe him?"

    "I'm not sure," Rodgers admitted. "Why would the senator and Kat have done that? And why would he have confided in you?"

    "We were his staff, his close advisers," Link said. "And he felt that his plan left him bulletproof. As for why he would do it, hate, for one thing. Politics for another. Orr felt that a tawdry death, a heart attack in the middle of sex, would destroy not just the man but the head of steam people had built for his fiscal plans. He believed that having it happen right after the Georgetown party would call attention to the USF. It would give him a platform to enunciate the differences between himself and the other Euro-friendly presidential candidates."

    "But Op-Center screwed that up."

    Link nodded. "Orr did not anticipate that Darrell McCaskey would discover the puncture wound. The son of a bitch wanted attention, not a murder charge."

    "If you knew this, why didn't you go to the police?" Rodgers asked.

    "We did," Link said. "Detective Howell was reluctant to move against Orr without conclusive evidence."

    "He could have seen the wound."

    "That would not have implicated Orr," Link said. "Just Lucy, who was doomed anyway because she gave Wilson and Lawless the injections.

    Besides, Howell was being blackmailed "

    "The gay date rape charge."

    "Yeah."

    "You could have gone to the FBI, or given the information to Scotland Yard," Rodgers said.

    "Lucy still would have taken the hit," Link said. "And if she pointed fingers, Kat would have been implicated. Willingly, I might add. She is devoted to the senator. Orr might have been splashed with blood by association, but maybe not enough to derail him. Which voters would have mourned an arrogant, successful, anti-American British entrepreneur? No, Mike. We needed to stop Orr permanently."

    "And how would you have done that? By killing him?"

    "If necessary," Link admitted. "You don't understand, Mike. I've been watching this guy since I was in naval intelligence. I used to sit in on hearings of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The man I saw in these meetings was not the benign Texan ordinary Joe he presented to the voters. He reminded me of Joseph McCarthy. Xenophobic, suspicious, aggressive. He said that whenever he went home, he took walks in the desert and had visions of what he thought America should be. "Fortress America," he called it. Our national borders not just secure but closed, our resources maximized, our enemies cut off from financial aid, crushed, or left to beat each other to death. What he was selling to the American public was a cleaner version of that. But I knew he intended to accomplish that by any means necessary."

    "So he was McCarthy and Stalin," Rodgers said. "Neat trick."

    "You don't believe me? Ask anyone who was at those meetings," Link went on. "Ultimately, I was the only one in a position to do something about it. I watched him with the help of Kendra and Eric. When the mood of the country turned isolationist and Orr saw a real opportunity to win the presidency, he took it. That was when we made our move as well."

    "You got close to him in order to stop him."

    "That's right," Link said. "I had two options. I could have taken him out before he hit Wilson, but that would have made him a martyr to like-minded isolationists. So we chose to let him hook himself, then just reel him in. At the Company we ran operations like this worldwide."

    "I understand all that," Rodgers said. "What I don't understand is why you tried to run this on your own."

    "How many people do you let in on a top secret operation?"

    "That depends," Rodgers said. He was growing angry.

    "If my option was to trust someone like Paul Hood or blow up his goddamn organization, I'd trust Paul Hood with my secret."

    "But you were also working with Orr and Kat!" Link said. "You went out with her. We didn't know how you felt about them. If we told Hood, he might have told you, and you might have told the senator. You and I weren't exactly getting along, Mike. I was pushing to find out where you stood."

    "Talking would have worked better."

    "Maybe."

    "Not maybe," Rodgers snapped. "Your decision killed one of my people!"

    "I'm always sorry about collateral damage!" Link shot back. "But politics is war, and in wartime, people die. Innocent people. I read your file, General. You have seen that firsthand. We're soldiers, and our primary job is to defend our nation. Sometimes decisions have to be made quickly. They have to be made by people under stress, by people who are trying to keep one eye on the end game and one eye on the best way to get there. That is what I did."

    "You rolled a tank over your own soldiers," Rodgers said.

    "That happens, too, doesn't it?" Link said.

    "In retreat, when the battle plan is in disarray," Rodgers said.

    "Whatever disarray we experienced was Op-Center's doing!" Link said, raising his own voice. "We needed a few more days to carry this operation out, to make sure that Orr was stopped. I made a command decision about Op-Center. We used the EM bomb instead of conventional explosives because we didn't want casualties. Your man was not supposed to be in the room when it went off."

    "Another indication that you made the wrong decision," Rodgers said.

    "We stopped Orr, didn't we?"

    "Sure." Rodgers motioned the marines over. "Can you stand, Admiral?"

    Link rose. "Where are we going?"

    "I'm taking you to the San Diego PD," Rodgers said. "This is for them to sort out with the D.C. Metro Police."

    "Right. I would like to know one thing, though. You do understand what we did, don't you?"

    The marines arrived, and the admiral suddenly seemed like a different man. It was not uncertainty in his voice, or regret. Perhaps it was a hint of fear as the reality of his situation settled in.

    "Why does it matter what I think?" the general asked.

    "Things didn't exactly work out the way I planned," Link replied. "I've got one hell of a drop in front of me. A lonely drop." He grinned uneasily. "You're a scholar. Who was it who said that solitude is great if you're a wild beast or a god?"

    "Francis Bacon said that," Rodgers told him. The general moved in closer. "Admiral, I understand what you did. I just don't agree. A nation is defined by its laws, not by vigilantes and rogue operations.

    You hurt people to enforce your own vision of the greater good."

    "What about saving the nation from a tyrant? You don't think that was a worthwhile goal?"

    "It has been one of the greatest goals of some of the greatest men in history," Rodgers said. He was trying to give the admiral something.

    "I just don't agree that the shortest path is always the best one. The singular thing about this nation is that we make mistakes but invariably correct them. Maybe Orr would have become a political force. He might even have become president. But the national mood would have shifted. We are a rough and impatient people, but we ultimately do the right thing."

    Link's grin turned knowing. "So you would have ratted us out to Orr, wouldn't you? Talking instead of pushing is that what you would have preferred?"

    Rodgers did not answer. He did not know.

    "I am content, then," Link said. "I did the right thing."

    The Apache had landed in the clearing, and Rodgers told the marines to escort the admiral toward it. The general followed them. He thought about Link's question as he walked.

    He had a feeling he would be thinking about it for quite some time.

    

    San Diego, California Thursday, 8:33 a.m.

    The Apache landed at Pendleton, where Link was handed over to the military police. They, in turn, made arrangements to have him transferred to the San Diego police. The charge, for now, was fraudulent claim of kidnapping. It was based entirely on Rodgers's report that Link had maintained the deception for roughly one minute after he had been rescued. It was a very minor charge, but it was all they had for now. More would follow after Eric Stone had seen an attorney and made his own statement. He and Kendra were also in custody of the SDPD.

    After the admiral's arrest, Rodgers returned to Senator Orr's suite.

    Kat and the senator were still there. The senator had recovered somewhat and was lucid enough to thank Rodgers for his quick action.

    "I hope you don't believe any of Eric's ranting," Kat said.

    "Yes," Orr added. "I understand he was quite out of his head."

    Rodgers said no, of course not. This was obviously a plot created by Admiral Link, who had a long-standing grudge against the senator. They agreed that Senator Orr would not attempt to speak to the convention until the next day. Kat went down and, from the podium, told the attendees that the situation was still being investigated but that Link had been recovered and Senator Orr would speak to them the next day.

    Rodgers went with her to make sure she did what she said she was going to do. While Orr rested, Kat went back to her suite to write Orr a speech. Hotel security was stationed outside their door to protect them against further attacks.

    And to make sure they stayed in their rooms.

    Meanwhile, Rodgers called Darrell McCaskey. Rodgers brought him up to speed and told him what he needed to tie this one up.

    The following morning, at Rodgers's suggestion, he met Kat and Orr for breakfast in the senator's suite. There was a knock on the door, and Kat went to answer.

    "I'm starving," she said with a big smile.

    The smile crashed when she opened the door. Detective Robert Howell was standing there with a detective and six officers from the San Diego Police Department. He was holding two manila envelopes. The local detective stepped forward. She was a young woman with steely eyes and a gentle but insistent voice. She was also holding a pair of envelopes.

    "Ms. Kat Lockley?"

    "Yes."

    "I am Detective Lynn Mastio. We have a warrant issued by Judge Andrew Zucker this morning in the county of San Diego ordering your detention on the suspicion of planning and abetting two acts of homicide."

    Senator Orr stepped forward. He looked from Detective Mastio to Detective Howell. "Bob, does this young lady know who I am?"

    "I do, sir," Detective Mastio replied. "You are Senator Donald Orr. I have a warrant for your detention as well, Senator."

    "Detention?" Orr snapped. "Are you saying we are under arrest?"

    "No, Senator. Formal charges will not be filed until we have had a chance to further review the evidence that has been presented, Senator," Mastio replied.

    "We have a convention to run!" Kat said. "You have no right to walk in with accusations based on hearsay and interfere with our work."

    "I'm sorry," Mastio told her. "We do have that right."

    Orr turned back to Howell. "What the hell are you doing here?"

    "I have extradition papers," Howell said. He raised the envelopes. "If you are arrested for crimes that may have been committed in our jurisdiction, we will be bringing you to D.C. for arraignment."

    "This is the most outlandish and offensive thing I have ever heard!" the senator barked. "I am the one who was assaulted here! Link and his accomplices are the ones you should be talking to!"

    Orr seemed anxious to turn away, to throw his position and reputation against the problem and make it go away. Howell seemed equally determined to prevent that. When Rodgers had called McCaskey to suggest the detective fly out, Op-Center's top law officer seemed eager to make that happen.

    "I find it odd that neither of you asked who was murdered," Rodgers said, stepping forward.

    "I assume this has to do with that idiot Englishman," Orr said.

    "What this has to do with are the rights of a murder victim," Rodgers said.

    "How dare you lecture this man about rights!" Kat yelled. "He defended his nation in Vietnam and has spent a lifetime legislating on behalf of citizens like us, improving the standard of living for all Americans and for women in particular."

    "The senator's patriotism is not at issue," Rodgers said. "Robert Lawless was an American," Rodgers remarked. "What happened to his rights? Lucy O'Connor is an American woman. Did she have any idea what she was getting into?"

    Kat turned on Rodgers. "You are the worst of them all.

    We took you in when you had nothing. I was responsible for Lawless and for Lucy. The senator had nothing to do with this."