Critical Reaction (43 page)

“That’s got to be it,” Ryan repeated to the group still assembled in the living room.

No one was paying attention to the fact that Ryan still wore his drenched running clothes. With the theory he’d just related between gasping breaths, Ryan had everyone’s attention in the room.

“You really think so?” Poppy asked.

“Yes,” Ryan said. “You assumed the body you saw that night coming out of the Sherman Retirement Home could be Lewis—until you rejected the notion because of the time lapse since the explosion. But what if the body was someone else injured in the LB5 explosion who
survived
for nine months? What if it was the guy Vandervork’s girlfriend says he claimed to have shot? Or somebody else who picked up a serious radiation dose in the explosion? As you said, anyone immediately
killed
by the explosion would have been put in the ground a long time ago—and there’s no way they would have stored a body at the retirement home all this time. But they might have cared for someone there.”

Emily raised a hand, struggling with a thought. “But, Dad, why take the body out onto the reservation at all? Why not just bury it in a graveyard?”

“Perhaps,” Dr. Trân intervened, “because the body was too contaminated to be disposed of by other means. Like the other debris from the explosion.”

“So they could have some kind of mausoleum out there where they’re burying people?” Poppy asked softly. He turned his gaze on Ryan. “Does that mean Lewis could be there, too?”

“Maybe,” Ryan said, “except he wasn’t hurt or irradiated in the explosion. The only reason he’d be there is if he died after.”

“You mean ‘was killed after,’” Poppy said.

Emily shook her head. “But what about the call Lewis made to his girlfriend the night of the explosion?” she asked. “And the texts later. And his apartment and job out at Savannah River that
Poppy told us about. Doesn’t that mean he was okay for weeks or months after the explosion? And why murder him way after the fact, then ship him back here just to put him in that hole?”

“The phone call to his girlfriend proves Lewis was alive that night after the explosion,” Ryan said, thinking out loud. “But maybe he was killed later that very first night, to prevent him from telling what he saw. If they did, they could’ve checked Lewis’s cell phone and seen that he’d called Beverly Cortez, then followed up with threats to keep her quiet. Even used his phone to create a text trail out to Savannah River, where they got an apartment and a fake job in his name.”

“We’re still talking murder here, aren’t we,” Poppy said quietly. No one responded.

Poppy picked up a folder from the floor beside his feet. “Well, I’ve got another mystery for you then. You never asked me about it the last few days, but my son got that LB5 weapons log I told you about—from central HQ. Like you thought, there’s nothing on here about Lew’s rifle being checked out for the supposed inspection. In fact, Lew’s gun isn’t even listed on the log at all here.”

Emily walked over and looked over Poppy’s shoulder at the chart. “What do you mean? There are three places on the chart for weapons at the LB5 roof station and three serial numbers listed. Nothing’s missing.”

“Yeah,” Poppy said, exasperated, “but the serial numbers on our weapons were consecutive, because we bought ’em for LB5 especially, and I logged them in myself seventeen years ago. When Lew arrived at LB5, he glommed onto one of them and named it after his girlfriend. There’re only two rifles here with consecutive numbers. The third one, Lew’s, is gone. I’ve never seen this other number they’ve got here.”

“Why would Lewis’s weapon be missing?” Kieran asked. “And where would they put it?”

“How about with Lewis?” Ryan said.

He looked over at Emily, who was lost in thought, piecing it all together.

Ryan didn’t have to. The story was already assembled in his mind and it was starting to make sense—like the critical point in a case when a piece of evidence vanquished the last doubt in his mind about what really happened. Except, he reminded himself, in litigation, he could then use that evidence to convince the jury. Here the essential proof was still beyond his reach, in the dirt of the desert or hidden in Ted’s stable.

Since the failed inspection at LB5, they really had only one avenue left to confirm their theories: they had to get to whatever was in the ground beneath that door on the reservation, or face the case collapsing in a matter of days. With it would fall Kieran’s hope for final proof of his exposure, for compensation, for a chance to leave Sherman with his family. Along with Ted Pollock’s hope of shutting down the project out there, or preventing future projects.

If they could only get access to the key to that door.

Ryan turned to Poppy. “What was the name of that HR guy again?”

The guard’s lips curled in disgust. “I’ll never forget it. Adam Worth.”

“Look,” Ryan began slowly, “the only person we know who’s likely got a key into that hole on the reservation is this Worth—if we assume that’s where he put the body Poppy saw.”

“How does that help us?” Emily asked. “We can’t subpoena it for trial.”

“No,” Ryan agreed. “So we’ve got to give Adam Worth a reason to use it.”

CHAPTER 48

Adam had just finished toweling off in the Covington locker room when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out of the locker.

“Yes, Eric,” he said cheerfully.

“Adam, I just got personally served with an amended exhibit and witness list for trial by Emily Hart.”

The case held no anxiety for Adam anymore. Especially after looking Ryan Hart in the eye on the extra-long run he’d just completed. “What’s it say?”

“The new exhibit list claims they’ll be introducing ‘debris from the October sixteenth explosion, including nuclear trigger casings and related detonation evidence.’ You have any idea what they’re talking about?”

Adam sat down, a wave of nausea rolling over him.

King went on. “It also says they will be producing a rifle. It’s got a serial number here if you want it.”

No. No.

“And the witness added to their list,” King said carefully, “Adam, it’s you. The Hart lawyer also served me with a subpoena to have you at the trial on Monday morning.”

How could they have gotten into the white train? How could they possibly have found it—let alone gotten through the magnetic lock to collect the debris? The chamber had to be thirty feet underground, through stone and concrete.

“Adam?”

“I’ll call you back,” Adam said, ending the call.

He had to know what they’d found. However they’d accessed the pit, they couldn’t have transported much material away: that would require multiple vehicles. And they couldn’t possibly have gotten so many vehicles onto the reservation without being detected. Adam had to find out what they’d recovered and whether it was enough to really prove the existence of a nuclear trigger.

And now he had to empty the pit. Demolish it if possible.

Oh no.
Had they seen the bodies, too? If they got into the pit? Of course they had, how could they miss them?

Adam glanced around. The locker room was empty. He pressed the speed dial to reach the Chief.

“Yeah,” Mel Emerson answered.

“We’ve got to get out there tonight,” Adam said. “You’ve got to get your whole team together, and we’ve got to empty the white train
tonight.
”

A heavy sigh came over the line. “We hadn’t planned for this for another month, sir,” Emerson began. “We just got the testing equipment from LB5 on railcars for New Mexico two nights ago. We’d have to drum up more hazard railcars for the debris—not to mention figuring out where to dispose of the bodies. Plus, it’ll take some doing to be sure our people are covering the monitors at Hanford Security tonight. And if we start at the usual time, it’s going to take every minute of dark to do this in one night. I don’t know, Mr. Worth—it’s going to take a lot of work.”

“Just do it!”
Adam shouted over the phone, his voice echoing in the showers and lockers around him. He struggled for a moment to calm his voice. “We’ll just have to start earlier. And get as many people as you need to do it quickly.
Tonight
, Chief.”

“All right,” Emerson grunted in frustration. Then the line went dead.

Adam hesitated a moment before reaching into his locker. The coin purse was there. He’d planned to stop taking the blue tabs now, as matters were winding down. But this wasn’t over yet.

Adam unzipped it and pulled two, then a third pill, out. It was going to be a long and difficult night.

CHAPTER 49

Emily had to remind herself that this part of the plan was her idea. Not only that, she had insisted she be the one to carry this out, over her father’s and Kieran’s strong objections. She had no one else to blame for the chilly night air that breached her jacket, or the fear that gripped her chest.

In the end, they’d relented only when she’d agreed that someone else—Heather, as it turned out—would come with her. She looked over at the young woman now. Even in the darkness Emily could see that Heather didn’t look the least concerned.

The horses carrying Emily and Heather bareback were padding softly through a night dimly lit by a young, waxing moon. This evening somehow felt so different than the last to Emily. Even the animals had sensed it early on, backing nervously away from their entry point on the fence line before stepping onto the grounds. Maybe it was because last time they’d come onto the reservation Emily’s fear had been leavened by the excitement of what they were doing, and the presence of Ted and her father. Or maybe because then detection was only a risk.

This time, detection wasn’t a risk. Detection was their goal. And an idea that made great sense in the Annex with an afternoon sun passing through the windows seemed a frail notion out here in the still isolation of night.

They came around a hillock. A hundred yards away was the
security station. No light shone from the guard window. But there was a car parked behind it, so someone must be there tonight. Emily wasn’t sure if she was pleased or disappointed.

When Ryan explained his idea of serving new exhibit and witness lists to induce Worth out to the pit to check for the “missing debris,” Kieran and Poppy were certain that it would work. Maybe her father’s core of realism was taking root in her, but Emily immediately saw this plan more skeptically. How could they be sure that Worth, even if he came, would come immediately,
this very
night
? What if he waited until Sunday night? What if he waited until they were forced to offer their nonexistent “evidence” of debris and the rifle at trial?

Which was why Emily proposed they seed the trap with stronger bait—by making it appear that they were collecting more evidence from the hole this very evening. To do that, someone had to be seen on the grounds tonight, heading in that direction. And since Poppy had learned that this guard station was associated with Worth, they decided to try the tactic here. Once they detected Worth entering the grounds, her father, Poppy, and Kieran would come onto the reservation and catch the HR man with the key in his hands.

A cloud of breath escaped from Heather’s mouth as she leaned down and gave her stallion an encouraging pat. “Ready?” she whispered.

How could the girl look so calm? Emily gritted her teeth. “Yes.”

Heather kicked her stallion hard in the flanks. The animal gathered itself and launched into a gallop, its hoofs digging into the hard soil.

Emily took a last breath. Then she did the same.

The mare leapt forward underneath her, Emily clinging to its mane. The horses rounded the hill, coming into full view of the guard station.

Huddled low on the horse’s back, Emily cast a glance across
her shoulder. The light on the guard station came on. A figure appeared, silhouetted in the light. Then the light disappeared again.

They kept up the gallop until they’d moved out of sight of the guard station once more. Then they slowed the animals to a trot and at last a walk.

Emily, out of breath and still clinging to the mane like a lifeline, nearly laughed out loud at the surge of relief from finishing the task. Now, if the guard called Worth, it should take him at least an hour to get out there from Sherman. That would give Heather and her enough time to leave a trail to the pit and continue on to escape further west.

Emily pulled her cell phone from her jacket pocket. Poppy’s son, Michael, was hidden in his car within view of the guard’s station, watching for Worth to arrive. Still, to be safe, they’d agreed that Emily would let them know when Heather and she had passed by the station.

“Dad?” she said as her father answered. The line was crackling with poor reception.

“Yes,” he responded at last.

“The guard saw us. Be ready to come onto the grounds.”

CHAPTER 50

“Yes, Mr. Worth,” the guard was saying over the phone. “It was two horses, riding in the direction of the pit. They just passed. They were moving fast, probably surprised the station was manned.”

Adam was seated in the passenger seat of the lead SUV, his foot tapping a rhythm on the floor. Well, horses explained how the Harts got onto the grounds before without detection. But this still made no sense. Why would the Harts alert them to their access to the white train by serving the exhibit list—then go back out there again?

Unless they’d decided they had too little evidence to impress the judge.

“Thank you, Stu,” Adam said. “We’ll be there shortly.”

This made tonight’s operation more interesting. He glanced at his watch. The caravan of SUVs and vans was already within fifteen minutes of the guard station. At this rate, they should be able to catch the riders on the reservation—maybe even before they reached the white-train pit, if they still were headed there.

He turned to Emerson behind the wheel and quickly told the security chief what the guard had said.

“Sir, you might want to call and let the rest of the guys in the trailing SUVs know so we can hurry up the pace.”

Adam agreed and began to make the calls.