Enemy In the Room (41 page)

Knox stared at him. Finally he said, “Why do
you ask, David?”

He breathed heavily again, and noticed out
of the corner of his eye that Burke had not moved. “I was wondering
if it would change the allocations for the spaces we’ve just
acquired.”

Knox seemed to relax a little. “No. No, I
don’t expect this situation to last very long. It’s a temporary
change, which is why you shouldn’t worry about it.”

“Oh. And…our pledge to the President?”

Knox’s eyes narrowed. Again a long pause.
“David, we’re keeping our word. We said that no U.S.-produced
movies would use anyone under twenty-one. We’ll abide by that
‘pledge’, as you call it. Why are you asking this?”

David had been watching Knox intently. He
smiled. “I just wanted your assurance that I could say exactly that
if anyone I’m working with at the White House questions me on
it.”

Knox continued to search him. “David, there
is almost no way it could be found out or come up before our Moscow
visit. So I don’t think you have to worry.”

“I know, but I just wanted to be clear, to
know what I can say, so that I wouldn’t be blind- sided.”

Knox paused for a moment. “Yes, well, it’s
probably good that you and Paul do know about it, in case it should
come up in Moscow.”

“And what about after Moscow?” Burke asked,
finally participating in the conversation.

Knox smiled a little. “We’re focused now on
the boost the President’s visit will give to our Russian business.
We’ll worry about that after we get back.”

“All right,” David said, collecting his
papers. “Thanks. That’s all I had.”

Knox nodded as Sawyer rose. “Thanks, David.
Paul and I have a couple of budget items to go over.
Congratulations again on Capital Tower.”

“It’s not done yet.”

“I know, but you’re in charge, so I’m not
worried. And, oh, David—please worry about our real estate, which
you do so well, and leave these issues to others.”

David smiled broadly. “Yes. Sure. I just
wanted to know what to say.”

“Good. Now you do. See you over there, if
not before.”

“Thanks.” David turned and walked to the
door, opened it, and walked out past Phyllis Jordan. He went down
to the thirty-third floor and directly into the empty men’s room.
Looking at himself in the mirror he confirmed that he was drenched
in sweat. He wet some paper towels and wiped his face.

I guess I told him about living up to
one’s word,
was all he could think. He looked again and wiped
his hands with the cool towels.
If there is a God, what would he
think? Or even what would Elizabeth and Rob think? Rob was so proud
of me. Hey, just keep your head down and take the money. Say what
Knox says to say and let him take the flack if it’s not
right.

But I’m the one who told Van Huyck and
Kristen to believe him. I believed he was telling the truth. It’s
not my fault that he changed, is it? What about Callie?

At that moment Callie was sitting at the
conference table in her Cousin Yusef’s office, several files and
property listings spread out before them. Callie was looking
through the properties. “Here,” she offered a flyer to Yusef, “this
home might be perfect for the Payamis. It’s right next to the
school, and it has enough bedrooms.”

Her cousin took the flyer, glanced at it,
and threw it in the trashcan under the table. “No, that will not
work.”

“Why not?” Callie ventured.

Yusef sat up straight in his chair and
looked sternly at his cousin. “Because it is the listing of Jim
Forrester. And it is owned by Adam Lawrence.”

Callie was silent, a questioning look on her
face.

“Five years ago Mr. Lawrence agreed to give
the listing on their previous home to my father. But the next day
Forrester called him and told him that it was worth more than my
father had estimated, and so Mr. Lawrence reneged on his word and
gave the listing to the other agent. Since then we have never sold
any listing of Forrester’s, and we certainly would not do so with
the Lawrence home.”

“But that was five years ago. And what if it
is the perfect house for the Payamis?”

“It cannot be. And it doesn’t matter. We
will never forget what Forrester did. And as for Lawrence, he must
be taught a lesson. We will not help them.”

“Even if it also helped your own client?
Isn’t that idea of revenge a little misplaced?” She smiled.

Yusef leaned toward her. “Revenge is
important. Allah directs it.”

“OK. I get it. But I’ve got a friend, a
woman I met in commercial real estate, and she’s been telling me
about forgiveness—and grace. She says that they are the only way to
heal a wound and go on. What do you think?”

Her cousin was silent for a moment, his
anger clearly building. “These concepts ingrain weakness and
defeat.” He picked up the papers. “They are foreign to our faith
and to our family. We follow Allah’s will as revealed in the
Qur’an. And Allah wills that we exact revenge from those who wrong
us. Don’t ever forget it. Now, do another search.”

He handed the papers to Callie, and stood to
end the meeting.

“All right. I’m sorry. I won’t ever bring up
a Forrester listing again.”

As she turned to leave, he said, “You are
right.”

Once Sawyer and Burke left his office, Knox
sat at his console and read through the RTI messages forwarded or
originated by the duty officer. He thought about their earlier
conversation, made two notes and called Akbar Kamali, who answered
on his encrypted video phone.

“Yes, sir? How are you?”

“Fine. But I have some good and bad news
concerning David Sawyer. He just asked about the younger actors
being registered in Mexico—says that Bud Purcell told him. I can’t
believe that Purcell would tell anyone about that—even David—but
how else would he find out? Check it out for us.

“The good news is that the Moscow reception
has been set for five p.m. Allowing for some slippage, I think our
target should be seven. What do you think?”

“That sounds about right, given the short
distance to the Kremlin from USNet’s office.”

“OK. Let them know. Does it have a camera in
the nose?”

“Yes. North says it’ll be a great show. The
Kremlin, up close and personal.”

Knox nodded and smiled. “And after it’s
flown four hundred kilometers, only we will have the ability to
abort the mission, right?”

“Yes, at that point control will
automatically pass to us, and then only we can abort it with a code
known to you, Victor and me.”

“Excellent. So the Stingers should strike
about two hours later. Let the media get worked up and the
emergencies declared, and then we’ll paralyze commercial air
traffic for the foreseeable future. Tell Salim to launch at 1 pm in
New York, which will be 10 am in Los Angeles. Imagine America with
no leadership and no air travel. It’s less than two weeks. Stay on
schedule.”

“Yes, sir. And I’ll check with Purcell about
what he may have told Sawyer. Not smart.”

“Have you checked out that security report
that David mentioned about cell phones and emails?’

“No. I haven’t received the copy that David
promised.”

“Akbar, David has been with me for twenty
years and has done a great job for us in real estate. But now he’s
trying to help the traitors in Tehran, concerned about cell phones,
and tells Paul Burke about our moves in Mexico. That could cause
real problems after Moscow, given our public initiative with the
President.

“I don’t need to tell you that the next two
weeks will change the world. With one stroke we have the
opportunity to cut the heads off of two great serpents. America
will be leaderless, on her knees in confusion and finger pointing.
The Zionists will be easy to pick off. Islam will advance more than
in the last two hundred years. All because of our plan.

“I don’t know what David’s up to, but I
don’t like it. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but we’ve got to
watch him. I want you and Victor to personally review
all
his calls, in case the lower levels don’t connect something. And we
need to keep him close. We don’t want him going anywhere or talking
to the wrong people—intentionally or not. We need to figure out
what he’s doing, and who he’s talking to. And why.”

“Yes, sir. We’ll monitor him closely.”

That Friday evening David and Elizabeth left
home for an early movie. He wanted to spend time with Elizabeth
before departing for Moscow in a week and missing the entire Fourth
of July weekend with her.

Rob was upstairs playing Street War 2100;
the Blue Team had a big party scheduled for the following Friday
night of the long weekend, and Rob and Justin had already concocted
a plan of bogus places they would tell their parents they were
going in order to join their Blue teammates.

In California, Callie was preparing to go to
class. She grabbed her keys from the table by the door.

Her younger brother picked up the phone and
dialed her number. He had called several times from his cell phone,
but she had never answered. He thought maybe the home phone might
be luckier.

She heard the phone ring and checked the
caller ID. She had dodged at least three calls from Rob. The ID was
her parents’ home.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Hi, Callie. It’s Rob.”

“Robbie…” She was the only one who called
him that, ever since they were little. “Hey, I’m sorry I’ve been so
busy.” She put down her keys. “I got your call, and I planned to
call back this weekend.”

“No problem. How are you?”

They talked for several minutes about
school, his summer job, and their father’s upcoming trip.

“Sounds pretty exciting, doesn’t it?” he
concluded.

“Yeah, I guess. If you’re into politics.”
She moved to sit on the sofa.

“Or government.” He paused. “Listen, Callie,
did you get my message about the adult movie? Isn’t that wild? This
guy won’t leave me alone until I talk to you. I told him there’s no
way it’s you.”

She was silent. Then she took a deep breath
and said. “Well, Robbie, like, actually he’s right. It
is
me.”

“Callie, no…that’s
you
?”

“Yes.”

He felt his stomach turn as he remembered
the vision on the screen. “Gross.”

“Why gross? I bet you’ve watched lots of
adult movies.”

Now he was silent for a moment. “Well, I
guess. But they weren’t my sister.”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Dad:
‘they’ are all somebody’s daughter or sister. This one just happens
to be me.”

“
Dad
knows about this?”

“He does. But not Mom, I don’t think.”

“What did he say?”

“What do you think? He wants me to
quit.”

“So do I.”

“Rob, Dad cut me off. And do you know how
much money I make?”

“I don’t care. It’s still gross. You’ll get
some disease.”

She heard the pain in her brother’s voice.
“What if it were Jamie Tatum?” she asked, referring to a girl in
his high school class.

“Callie, it’s not Jamie. It’s you. But it’s
the same thing. I don’t want my sister or a friend doing that gross
stuff on camera for thousands of guys to watch.”

“But someone you
don’t
know
can
do it, right?”

He paused again. “Maybe it doesn’t make
sense. But I’m not their brother. I’m
your
brother. And I’m
asking you, please, stop, no matter how much money you’re
making.”

“Are you still doing those internet games
you told me about?”

He closed his eyes. “Yes.”

“A lot? Like it keeps you from
studying?”

“Sometimes.”

“Why don’t you stop?”

“Callie, look…it’s …it’s not the same.”

“It’s probably closer than you think.”

“Thousands of guys aren’t fantasizing about
me while I play that game.”

“Isn’t your game one big fantasy?”

“Maybe, but it’s not the same.”

“What I do is not all bad.”

“Gross!”

“Robbie.
Neither
of us is perfect.
What do you want to do now?”

“I’ll think about stopping, if you will,” he
said, not really meaning it, but wanting his sister out of porn
movies.

“Fair enough. I’ll think about it. We’ll
talk again.”

“Yes.”

“OK. But now I gotta go. I’m going to be
late for class.”

“Please don’t do another one.”

“I said I’d think about it.”

“Gross!”

“You already said that a few times.”

He smiled for the first time. “Then you did
hear me? I meant it every time. Here, I’ll say it
again—
Gross
!”

“I get it, I get it. I’ll really think about
it. But I doubt anything will change.”

“Callie, please.”

“We’ll talk. Bye.”

Callie remembered Rob when they were
younger. How much she had wanted to teach him to do the right
thing. And now she was disappointing him. She lingered for a
moment, thinking again of her brother. Then she shook her head,
locked the door, and left for class.

Early that Sunday afternoon David was in his
study, dressed in shorts, reading through property reports, lease
abstracts and tenant fit-out proposals so that he could leave a
long to do list with his team when he departed on Friday. Elizabeth
was across the street at a neighbor’s, learning how to bake healthy
whole grain bread. Rob was out. The doorbell rang.
Who can that
be
?

When David opened the door, he found Kristen
Holloway. She was wearing a light, conservative summer dress,
carrying a brown pocketbook, and appeared to be tanned and
healthy.

“Hello, David.” She smiled.

“Hello!” He opened the screen door and
stepped aside. “Come in and get out of the heat.”

She stepped in, and he gave her a friendly
hug. “How are you? And what brings you here?”