Decency (31 page)

Tom, I hope I’m doing the right thing. I think I just got fired from my own law firm. That must mean I’m doing something awfully right or awfully wrong…

Better give Bonnie the news when she finishes with Mason so she can get together all of the material she has to give back to me.

Then the next order of business is to get out to the Richardsons’…

Key witness backs out of an already weak case and I get fired. What a way to start the day.

Jannie had taken up her position outside Kelly’s office ready to give her phone messages and take notes after the partners meeting.

“Good morning, Kelly. How was the trip?”

“It was productive, I think. Come on in Jannie, I have some news.”

Jannie took the chair in front of the desk as Kelly sloughed off her suit jacket.

“Jannie, I just got fired from the firm.”

“I can’t believe they actually did it.”

“What do you mean?”

“While you were gone there was some scuttle-butt among the secretaries. Some had heard their partners grousing about the Pierce case.”

“Well, it’s true.”

“Can they really do that? I mean it’s really your firm.”

“Each partner has a vote on certain matters, like ultimately whether the firm will continue to represent someone. The partnership agreement allows it. To insure no one carries a slow paying client past the point of reasonableness. I was out-voted…thirteen to one.”

“I’d say. I think they’re gutless.”

“If I drop the Pierce case there wouldn’t be any big disagreement and they would probably want me to stay.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Well, I’m telling you this because I’m keeping the case and won’t be staying. I want you to come with me. But your position here is more secure. I’ll certainly understand…”

“Kelly, I never did work for the firm. I work for you.”

“
With
me. I keep telling you that and I mean it…and thanks.”

“Well I mean it too.”

“It’ll be a few days at least, before we move everything to other space. That will give you time to think it through. Really. As you know, I had eased out of my case load and then this Pierce case came along. There isn’t going to be much of a client base to support salaries, for a while anyway.”

“If you find you can’t afford me, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Okay?”

Kelly looked at her carefully. “Thanks, Jannie. It means a lot to me.”

“Sure. What’s next?”

“I need to get together with Bonnie. Also, as long as we’re here don’t talk about the Pierce case in these offices. Not on the phone and not at all. If someone is listening, I don’t know how but they can get the conversation just like the whole room is a microphone. Also, don’t use the fax machines or the computers to handle Pierce case information. I know that sounds like, ‘Don’t work on the Pierce case,’ for all practical purposes.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“For now, only use a cell phone…do you have one?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, use it. And only from inside the elevator or somewhere away from these office spaces. I’ll reimburse the expense.”

“Do you really think it’s…clandestine?”

“We’ll see. One thing though, would you please be sure I have nationwide calling on my cell phone at the lowest rate? I’m going to be in Nebraska some more.”

“Can do. Want some coffee?”

“Thanks, wouldn’t hurt. We still have some of that blend from Yoakum’s recipe, don’t we? The strong stuff?”

As Jannie left for the coffee room, Kelly slipped the Van Morrison CD from its case, started the player and listened to the first track,
The Bright Side of the Road
. Morrison said it just right. We all need someone to share our load and help get us to the bright side.

Tom, I’m going to keep counting on that bright side of the road big time…

Kelly’s cell phone rang and she stopped the CD.

“This is Kelly Hawkins.”

“It’s Bonnie. Mason is here. We’re in the J. W. Marriott. A conference room. You need to see this. Can you come down right away?”

“Be there in ten minutes.”

20

The J. W. Marriott Hotel reigned over an entire quarter of a city block at 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue. It well served the purpose the chain’s executives apparently had in mind, to commemorate the founder by naming the flagship after him and putting it as close to the White House as possible.

The clerk at the reception desk pointed Kelly in the direction of the conference room where Bonnie had set up shop, rather expensive shop, given the cost of the hourly rental of the conference rooms.

Opening the door, Kelly found Bonnie and Christian Mason studying the gray scale screen from the old Toshiba’s feed.

“Kelly! You just won’t believe all of this! The files are complete records of the way Samantha tried to unearth the mole. They have dates and times and names of people involved. We’re about finished with the last file. Christian can explain it step by step.”

“Hi, Christian, I feel like I already know you.” Kelly extended her hand to meet Samantha’s “buddy” personally for the first time. “You work today don’t you, Christian?”

“Yeah, Bonnie called though, so I took some annual leave. This is a lot more fun anyway.”

The excitement in their voices suggested a lot and Kelly noticed they kept within a foot of each other.

“What have we got? Start from the beginning.”

Mason did not know the extent of Kelly’s familiarity started with basics.

“First, you were absolutely right. There is no other computer that will read the files. This one has its own unique operating system. Samantha apparently wrote it as the ultimate security device. Unless you put the disk in this computer it won’t be read. The only problem is it is so slow.

“What the files show is the steps she took to document what was going on…how she discovered an anomaly in the Echelon dedicated computer system. She tried official reporting routes. Those didn’t work. She pinned the anomaly down to an unplanned feedback loop. She again informed Security and the IG.

“Then she found a new self-copying function that was not authorized in the Echelon software and informed Security and the IG. That resulted in her being suspected of responsibility for the whole thing.

“One of the people that helped her, Carl Foley, died and it was ruled a suicide. His psych eval was done by Cochran, the same one as for hers.

“At that time, she needed someone to witness inserting a program to track where the unauthorized software was accessed. She found me. I put the program in.

“We found it was linked to the Security office itself. We tried various ways to code for the identity of the person accessing the unauthorized software. By stepping up the pass rate, the number of times the identification code would run, we were able to get it down to three personal identifiers. But we didn’t know who they belonged to.”

“The advantage of having these files is that everything is cross-referenced and very, very specific as to dates, times and where applicable, names.

“Now we get to this file, which has some stuff on it I didn’t know anything about. It takes this old machine about thirty minutes to grind through decrypting a page so we’re taking it a paragraph at a time.

“The first paragraph said she found out why the Security and IG people didn’t react to her reports. They were letting it appear as though she was suspected in order to keep the real target, one of her subordinates, from guessing he was identified as the target…”

Kelly broke in.

“Well, that’s progress. Now we can show she was not duped for the whole time.”

Bonnie grinned, a very big grin. “There’s more.”

Christian took off again.

“The way she found this out was pure genius. She believed it was too far out of the normal procedure that Security and the IG did not even acknowledge doing anything with her reports. They should at least have polygraphed her according to the way things normally were handled and performed other investigative steps that just weren’t happening.

“So she assumed that there must be a reason why. She figured they were using a ruse for some purpose that she didn’t know about and that they did not know she had realized it. She reasoned that whoever was controlling the ruse could not be in IG because they only have the access that Security lets them have. So, she was going to go to each one of the people in Security who could have some connection to the case and tell them the operation was blown. If the reaction was, and these are her words, ‘Okay, thank you very much, now go away little girl,’ she would be pretty confident that person was in on it. And, she could work it from there.

“She picked the first one she went to on the basis of who would have the most to gain by scoring a big case. She figured that had to be the FBI agent detailed to NSA. An FBI agent who makes a case in NSA would get a great reputation.”

“Mr. Fitzgerald.”

“Yeah. But his reaction surprised her. He said she was one of the smartest people he ever saw. He wanted to work closely with her to ‘develop capabilities’ within the agency. She told him, in what she called her ‘most feminine’ voice, that she would love to do so.

“Two days later he gets back in touch with her. She says he was either very attracted to her, or pretended to be. She told him that she couldn’t be sure he was being straight with her. She demanded that
he
prove that
she can trust him
because she knew he’s a mole and wants to know who for!”

“That’s gutsy, turn the tables.”

“She said what he told her next just about made her retch. He told her that he worked for the ‘People’s Republic of China.’“

“An
FBI
agent? A real FBI agent
spying
for China?”

“I know, but there was Hanssen.”

Bonnie jumped in again. “The next part is the best of all.”

“She says, while trying to keep from vomiting, she flattered him and then, get this, she tells him that ‘anyone can claim to be spying for some other country. It can’t be proven one way or another.’ And she tells him he has to give her actual evidence proving it!”

“The woman was amazing.”

“He went for it. He tells her his code name is ‘Green Lilly.’ And that’s where we got to before you came in. There’s at least one more paragraph. We’re waiting for the decryption to finish.”

For another three minutes the whole group stared at the screen. Eventually, it started displaying text the old fashioned way, line by line.

“I flattered him again, then turned the conversation casual. As soon as he was comfortable I asked to see an actual transmittal from China addressed to him as ‘Green Lilly.’ He surprisingly agreed. But I think he may back out of it because I sensed a little fear on his part that he may have already gone too far. We are scheduled to watch the transmission come in next Tuesday. By then, I will have put this turn of events in one of my coded letters to my folks. I’ll include the existence of this computer system. This system is important, obviously, because the dates of the files will show they were created over time and not made up as a defense in case anyone doubts me. It should not be a problem, what with the agency not really intending to terminate me, but that could change if Fitzgerald somehow manages to get them to think otherwise. This will be here just in case he does. Or I get hit by a bus.”


They all fell silent, not wanting to mention, or think about, the irony of her last sentences. Then they turned to Kelly, expecting her to decide what to do.

Tom, there are about five hundred things I need to do right now and I’ll fail if I don’t do them in exactly the right order. Please, help me…

“Christian, thanks for your good work. You really opened this up.”

“Hey, it was the least I could do.”

“Bonnie, we have a awful lot to do. We need to have Christian make an affidavit about this. We’ll set up shop right here. I’ll explain why later. We’ll need some regular computer and printing equipment. I’m sure the hotel will rent us some. Would you go make the best deal you can?”