Senate Cloakroom Cabal (33 page)

I had Hernando take out names, replacing them with our typical “sources” or “a senior security person” or “government official.” He was okay with that. He had covered the action well. I suggested he might mention Sherman Rogers's condition and that the other wounded were recovering in the hospital and would soon be returning to work or going back to the States. He had mentioned that the bodies of Rogers's two employees killed during the assault had already been flown back on a Caribbean charter.

Hernando had included Rogers's rebuilding plans. His story was a keeper. This would let the bad people know they were wanted for murder— and that rebuilding had commenced.

No mention was made of the bunkers and electronic surveillance. You never know when somebody might want to make another run at Rogers's facility. Rias went off to edit and rewrite. He would then fax it to Riley, who I knew would call me if he had questions.

I walked outside and called Jerry. He had just put Tyler down.

“He's about to walk on his own, Babe, you better hurry home.”

He was teasing, but I'd hate to miss that first step. “We're flying out midmorning. A cargo plane will be coming in later tomorrow filled with lumber, carpenters, and building materials. I should be home by dinner.”

“They're wasting no time, are they?”

“No. Fortunately, the processing equipment was deep underground.” I was aimlessly wandering as we talked when I saw Ro walking with the major. I ducked behind some bushes.
Well, well,
I thought. “Look, hon, I've got to get off in case Riley has any questions for me on Hernando's article. Love you.”

“Love you, too. I'll meet you at Andrews.”

I peeked around the corner, but didn't see Ro and the major. I went into the banquet room and saw them there with Crawford. I strolled toward them.

Ro spotted me. “Oh, there you are. I thought maybe you'd gone to bed.”

“After I played editor to our reporter, I went for a walk and checked in at home.”

“Well,” she almost gushed, “we have a lot to talk about tomorrow. We've also made special arrangements for Joe's mother.”

Joe? My, things are progressing,
I thought.

“Her doctor said she's more able to travel than we thought,” Major Joe added. “Mr. Rogers's doctors will treat her here. He's taking personal charge of her care.”

I smiled. “How long will you all be here?”

“General wants things shipshape. Maybe a week, a little more.”

“You'll get to see your mother?”

“Yes ma'am,” was his upbeat reply.

Ro smiled.

77

O
ur morning flight out of Carmaya was moved up to 7:30. With a stop in San Juan for refueling, it was expected that we'd arrive at Andrews around 3:30 in the afternoon.

The
Star
was headline news on the Internet. Rias was getting his fifteen minutes of fame. He was also quoted in interviews he'd done on CNN and Fox. Editor Riley had called me after reading Rias's piece, which he begrudgingly thought was pretty good. “How much of this was you?”

“Very little. I framed it as you asked, making sure he wasn't giving anything away.”

“Barton freed the guy to do the interviews on only what he wrote. No speculations. We'll leave that to you,” Riley said sarcastically.

I had an adrenaline spike, but he was right. “He's a good man, Riley. The Marine major told me Rias was very businesslike on C-2. He got the blow-by-blow from Rogers's chief of security, who walked him around the island.”

“The story's gonna kick ass. Who you going after when you get back?”

“We've got the audio tapes. I'm waiting on MPD.”

“I'll tell you one thing, Barton's strategy to use Rias and keep you out of it will pay off. We're saying he's a freelancer, one we'd used before, but that he did this on his own and offered it to us. It keeps you out of it completely.”

I agreed Barton's decision was brilliant. “Maybe Rias could do a follow-up with Harley on the company's plans, and then do a piece on Sherman Rogers.”

“Don't you think you could get more out of the old man than Rias could?”

He had a point there. “Okay. Rias could do a piece on casualties.”

“I like that better. When do we see you?”

“Day after tomorrow. One thing, though. Harley told me he and El Presidente are about to open a Carmayan cancer treatment center, converting a four-hundred-room hotel into a residence for the patients and family members. Harley will open a website on how patients can apply, along with PDF forms for the patient and his or her doctor to complete. The severest cases will be taken first. Carmaya can't handle thousands flocking in; there'd be no place for them.

“The hospital can only dedicate about fifty beds to the sickest. It will be mostly a large outpatient operation. The Germans, on the other hand, can take upwards of twelve hundred right now, and can expand. Harley has oncologists, surgeons, nurses, and volunteers lined up for Carmaya. Two teams flew in with their cargo plane this morning.”

“That sounds like an article for tomorrow's paper,” he said.

“Fine with me. Where's Claire on this? Does she have a handle on the corruption angle?”

“She'll report on how the Senate is handling revelations with the discovery of the German hospital, meaning you've got the corruption, conspiracy, and the murder. The rest of the media doesn't know about Kelly and Pembroke, so they are all yours. Those tapes of yours are going to seal their fate.”

“When MPD and the FBI let me go public with them. In the meantime, Kelly will put the blame on the FDA scientists, while spraying himself with Teflon.”

“Yeah, he may deflect, but you've got the right ammo.”

“For one, we have that FDA guy, Kelso, who Stroble gave up. Captain Walsh told me that the FBI has him under surveillance. They're also investigating a driving accident that killed one of the top FDA people working on Tutox a few weeks back. Because we know the pharmas won't stop at murder, Kelso could be a target. There's a lot happening, Riley. Maybe when law enforcement is ready to move, we should have our science reporter primed. Maybe I should talk to him or—”

“Her. Grace Herman. She and I've already talked. Yeah, you two should spend some time together ASAP.”

“Great. Reed Davis, the FBI SAC, would be her prime contact there. I'd like her to keep me in the loop before—”

“I'll take care of that,” Riley interrupted. “Everything on this goes through me.”

“Good. The guy could spook if he thought he was a target.”

“She's been around,” he said sharply.

“I'm sure she's great. Has she ever been involved in a murder investigation?”

He didn't answer. I waited. “I'll talk to her,” he said less argumentatively.

“Once the FBI moves in on him—”

“You brief her, and I'll handle the rest.”

As gruff as Riley acted, I found him easy after Lassiter.

The steward put out some snacks and drinks after the captain announced our corporate jet had reached cruising altitude. I helped myself to coffee and a bran muffin. Ro, Michael, Gavin, and I convened at the mini conference table. Rufus was staying on C-1 to coordinate the Carmayan hospital staff, the Rogers medical people, and the upcoming expansion.

“Dad'll be chief of operations,” Ro said cheerily. “Dad said Johnny's having the time of his life and making friends. Nobody knows his background, and they accept him as he is. Dad's worried he might not get him back.”

That was a feel-good story that should never be written. Johnny's past belonged buried.

“Who's going to start?” Ro looked at the three of us.

I opened. “How about what Gavin and his two assistants uncovered?”

Crawford laughed. “That should be the other way around.”

“Well, you three did find some interesting stuff, right?”

“Maloney and Trautman are good. I looked over their shoulders. We went through every piece of the invaders' equipment. The biggest trove was in the three rubber rafts.”

“The ones that were in the cove?” I asked.

He nodded. “We suspect they were dropped off and that the mother ship remained close for a quick retrieval. We requested DOD do a satellite search for powerboats within a fifty-mile radius of Carmaya. We found a recent satellite map of C-2 in one of the rafts. It showed the compound. I asked Mr. Shaw to check the tourism office about maps of the archipelago. He found none that had any detail. They were crude and not to scale.”

I looked at Crawford. “Aren't satellite photos something DOD does?”

“The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, actually—a subset of DOD. However, their stuff is not for private consumption. There are private companies with satellites, and Major DeMarco has requested that DOD check them out.”

I was surprised to hear of professionals making those kinds of mistakes. “For a precision operation that included great detail, it seems awfully sloppy for the map to be so easily found.”

“I don't expect they thought they'd lose,” Ro said softly.

I smiled. “Highly trained military types are trained not to overlook the small things.”

“Do I smell a conspiracy?” Michael asked animatedly.

That created a spontaneous laugh from all.

Crawford went on. “Maloney thought the map should have been destroyed. He was sure the assault team had the layout memorized. He and Trautman are doing a re-creation today. They have two distinct scenarios, but didn't share them with me. We'll get to see them after the fact.”

“Okay,” I said. “A combat team and satellite maps takes some doing. The Marines on Gitmo didn't have time to get one.”

“Right. The attackers planned to be in and out fast,” Michael said enthusiastically. “Like a quick extraction . . . that sort of thing.”

Ro was intent. “But how did they get to that point so fast?”

Michael replied, “Maybe the pharmas had a spy in Rogers.”

I nodded. “Good point. Harley was covert about his plans here and in Germany. However, Captain Walsh told me the FBI has a wire tap on Horowitz and picked up him saying that he knew, not suspected, that Rogers was up to something.”

Ro said, “Try this. The attack was planned before the German news came out, which was a huge surprise to the pharmas. Maybe they knew about Carmaya and had already planned to destroy the facility, but were unaware of the German operation. When the
Star
broke the story, their plans were escalated and things were overlooked.”

I liked that. “That's highly possible.” I felt our group intensity growing. “This, however, is not a cut-and-dry case. We have to check up on everyone.”

Ro smiled. “I think your serial-killer investigation proves that point.”

I appreciated that. “We need to research Tutox, Kelly, Pembroke, and the others . . . hold on. I just realized I'm always saying Kelly, Pembroke, and the others. Who are the others?”

78

W
e arrived at Andrews a little after 4:00, slowed by a large storm over the Atlantic. It seems Crawford's intelligence on the satellite map and AMOP attracted considerable Pentagon attention. By the time we landed, a meeting had already been scheduled for 10:00 the next morning at the Pentagon. When Ro and Crawford had received that message while we were airborne, they had both insisted I be allowed to attend with them. The reluctant general, after some grumblings, had finally acquiesced.

Jerry was waiting for me at Andrews along with a large passenger van from General Services. We took Ro and Crawford in our car. Michael and five Rogers employees went with the van. Jerry had brought copies of
The
New York Times
,
Washington Post
, and
Washington Daily Star
.
The Times
was a little reserved in its reporting; they had no reporter on Carmaya. The
Post
gave a paltry six inches on page one before jumping deep into the A section. Their slant was mostly on Senate reaction. They had not interviewed anyone at the FDA.

The
Star
gave headline treatment to Rias's exclusive story. Riley added a sidebar on the American patients clamoring to get to the German and Carmayan cancer centers. The State Department had asked the media to warn people not to go to Carmaya independently—that Rogers Pharmaceuticals was providing forms on its website for applications. The tiny island of Carmaya could not service hordes of patients, and those disregarding this request would be turned around at the airport and sent home.

Riley promoted that the
Star
would have more in-depth coverage in tomorrow's paper regarding plans for the treatment center and Tutox, as well as more details on the island assault. One would be the piece I had finished on the flight. I'd fax it to Riley as soon I got home. I also posed a question to him: Had there been any comment from the American Cancer Society?

79

I
got up early the next morning to have time to play with Tyler.

The Washington Daily Star was carrying two major stories on Carmaya: Rias's and mine. Jerry had the Today show on, and they were reporting that Senator Dalton had been in Carmaya because her father had been a casualty in the attack. NBC had wanted to talk with Senator Dalton, but she was not available. That must have been Michael's doing.

Neither Rias's nor my story had anything about Rufus, yet one reporter had found him helping at the hospital. Rufus hadn't gone on camera, but did say that he and Harley Rogers were lifelong friends and that he had been visiting, doing some fishing and diving, and had been with Sherman Rogers at the time of the attack.

Jerry clicked the remote with great dexterity, hitting all the networks. Our articles were a subject of much discussion and speculation. Nobody had tied the US Senate into any of this. Any mentions of Tutoxtamen were relative to the FDA's rejection of the drug and Travis's report about the positive results of the drug in Germany.