The 22nd Secret (115 page)

“It’s not that simple. Jim, I know you love your county. I think if asked, you’d make any sacrifice our nation asked of you. At least that’s what that file says. Are you ready to make that sacrifice now, today?”

Jim swigged his beer. “I don’t understand a word you’re saying.”

“In order for me to tell you the truth about the person you knew as Paula, I think you need to understand what’s going to happen to you. What that truth will mean to the rest of your life.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Is she alive?” Jim asked, taking another thirsty swig and setting the bottle on the table.

“Pam Koller is alive and well. She’s been living in Hawaii since her escape from China about a month ago. Jim, I’ve seen Pam happy, sad and everything in between. I’ve seen her angry enough to kill and scared out of her mind. I’ve seen her on the hunt for what a woman needs from a man and I’ve even seen her on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But I’ve never seen her act the way she has since returning from China. She’s scared.” Tom paused and looked Jim squarely in the eyes. “Scared you won’t forgive her. Scared you won’t be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be with her, not for a day or two but forever. Jim, she loves you. She needs you to love her back. She told me about your dreams of being together, the dreams you shared while you were snowbound together last year. Pam’s afraid you’ll think that was Paula manipulating you so Patty Lawrence could evade capture, but it wasn’t. That was Pam Koller falling in love with Jim Mitchell.”

“How do I know that? How am I supposed to know how she really felt? Why doesn’t she fly up here and tell me all this herself?” Jim’s calm voice belied the thoughts racing through his mind. He thought of Paula alive and in love with him, of wanting to spend eternity with him as they planned. Although there was still something missing in Jim’s memory, Paula’s last words suddenly made sense. They rang through his mind like a bell on a cold Alaskan morning.
No matter what happens always, always, forever remember I love you
.

“I’m not sure she could handle the rejection if you chose not to see her. If you no longer felt toward Pam what you felt toward Paula. Besides, why should either of you go through that torment if you’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to share her life?”

“You keep talking about sacrifice. What’s that supposed to mean? What kind of sacrifices?”

“Well, for example you wouldn’t be able to live here any longer.”

Tom took a thirsty swig from his beer and Jim followed. Tom knew Pam’s question would soon be answered. Jim’s mind began to balance his uncontrollable desire to be with Paula, at any sacrifice, and the reality of what Tom was saying.

“Why? What’s wrong with this place?”

“Nothing, except it’s too dangerous for Pam. Thanks to Congress, there isn’t a person alive that doesn’t associate this place with Patty Lawrence. In order for Pam to be sitting out there in your friend’s plane, a team of Army Special Forces has set up a perimeter around your lodge. They’re there, but you’ll never see them. Think of it this way, the most important piece of military technology in existence today is here with us. What kind of security do you think it would take to protect it? The best would be secrecy, nobody anywhere knowing where it is. That’s a whole lot safer than everyone everywhere knowing where it is. Pam is the single most valuable military secret known to man.”

Jim suddenly realized what he had heard. “She’s here, in the plane?”

Tom put his hand on Jim’s shoulder as he tried to stand. “Sit down, Jim. There’s a lot we need to talk about before I’m going to be able to let you see Pam. I’ve told you more about Pam than I should have without your word that you want her back and will be willing to make whatever sacrifices it takes to be with her.”

“How can I answer that? What sacrifices? Give up the lodge? How will I make a living?”

“If you’re with Pam, you’ll never have to worry about money. She lives on what you might call a government expense account. Pam gets whatever she wants and always will.”

“But, I don’t know.”

Tom picked up the two files and returned them to his attaché case. “Let me tell you one thing, Jim. You let Pam fly away from here today and you’ll be making the biggest mistake of your life. I’ve known Pam a long time. I helped start that file on her when she was seven years old. I’ve worked closely with her for the past five years. She is the greatest human being I have ever met. If she wanted me, I wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever it took to be with her.” Tom stood up and started to put on his coat.

“What if I say okay? What if I say I’ll do whatever it takes to get a chance to see her, to talk with her.”

“I’ll go tell her that if you want. I know her well enough to know she’ll come right in here and tell you she loves you, and she wants to spend the rest of her life with you. But if I were you, I’d want to know what that means. What spending the rest of your life with Pamela Koller will be like.”

Tom set his coat down and sat down again. “What I’m about to tell you is like the 21st century version of the tree of knowledge. Once you know this there will be no turning back. Once you know who and what Pam is, her life will be in your hands. Most governments would consider the knowledge you will have after our conversation worth killing you for. Jim, this is the point of no return. I either walk out of here and leave with Pam, or your life will never be the same again. Secrecy and new identities will be your best protection. Pam’s too. What I’m about to tell you about the woman you knew as Paula is only known by Dr. Woolum, the head of computer research at Los Alamos, the President of the United States, myself, and two other people.” Tom held out his hand for Jim to shake. “Give me your word, regardless of whatever happens, that you will never tell another sole about Pam. It could prove to be deadly for both of you.”

“I swear I would never do anything to hurt Paula. I mean…Pam.” They shook hands. Tom finished his beer and set it down.

“You know, it’s funny how the actions people took in the past when seen from the perspective of the present sometimes lead to unexpected results. Hitler for example, would you have believed that not only did he kill millions of people but 55 years later his actions would bring about the end of the threat of nuclear annihilation. One of the important Nazi programs was an attempt to improve the Aryan race through selective breeding. Individuals were selected for certain qualities they believed would eventually lead to a superior race of people. They were mated and had children. After the war, some of those children were brought here to the United States and a number of them ended up in small communities. One of those communities was in Idaho. Pamela Koller is the child of Roland and Hilda Koller, both of whom came out of that Nazi program.”

Tom paused until Jim looked him straight in the eyes. “By the time she was five she could do calculus and speak three languages. Pam’s IQ has never been measured. There’s never been a test designed for someone like her. She went to college at age fourteen, even though her parents tried to hold her back. When she was seventeen, the academic world had nothing else to offer her. She had grown beyond any known human comprehension. Dr. Woolum recruited her to work with him on an ultra-secret Star Wars technology known as Level 21.”

“That file you had on me and the one on Pam said that, said Level 21 Technologies.

Would you like another beer?”

“No thanks. I’m not going to hurt myself by trying to explain how Level 21 works. If you want to know, ask Pam. She’s an expert, but it’s like an undetectable computer virus that we embedded in the Chinese missile technology that we allowed them to steal from us.”

“We allowed them to steal?” Jim asked in disbelief.

“That’s right. This program was so secret that only a handful of people knew about it. Officially, the government has classified it as
does not exist
. Besides the three scientists who originally discovered the theory, the only other people to know about this were the President and the Directors of the CIA and FBI. In an official capacity, I didn’t even know. Secrecy was the key to success for this technology. Martin Weiker, one of the scientists, was a boyhood friend of mine. At the time, I was working security at Los Alamos. Before the government officially made Level 21 a top secret project, me, Martin, Howard and Allan all ran together. None of us thought anything really important would come from their work, so in the beginning there was no reason to make it that secret. I secretly kept in touch with them even after I was promoted and transferred to Washington. There was always the fear that politicians or the security at Los Alamos would mess things up, so Howard asked me to quietly keep an eye on things in Washington. I recruited a young man that was already in security at Los Alamos to stay close to Dr. Woolum. That was Henry Lo.”

“There were a lot of really bad things said and implied about Henry Lo during the Congressional Hearings,” Jim said. “I guess some of that wasn’t true?”

“Certainly some of it wasn’t true, but some was. Jim, this is a reality you’re going to have to face the rest of your life. There were leaks at all levels, mostly at Los Alamos. Some were very close to the President. You recall a suicide by a top official close to President Clinton?

Henry was better at this sort of thing than I am, well was. I guess I’m about to retire now that you’re getting involved. Anyway, Henry just had a knack for making people disappear.”

“Hold everything. I had no idea becoming a murderer was one of these sacrifices you were talking about.”

“Times are changing, Jim. That was our time, Henry’s and mine. Yours will be different. More subtle, stealthy more technologically driven than violent. But you do need to understand that Pam’s life will be in your hands. That means the most important military weapon known to man will be totally dependent on you for protection. You’ll need to carry a gun and be willing to use it, especially if you’re ever in public with her. She won’t like it, but I’m going to insist you understand what may be necessary. You have a hand gun, Jim?”

“Yeah, I got a Luger. My Dad got it off a captured German officer. I keep in it perfect condition. It’s locked up over there in the gun cabinet. I don’t know what happened to the .38 I gave Paula.”

“You might want to shop around for something a little newer and easier to carry. You’ll find places where you could keep it in a room like this, where you can get to it quickly. Locked in the gun cabinet isn’t one of them. At least for the next month or two it won’t be as much of a problem, the Army’s watching you and Pam pretty closely. Keep it in mind if you go out in public, and remember Pam’s going to really be against it. But trust me, you need to do this.”

“I understand and agree. I need to do this regardless of what Pam thinks.”

“I think if forced into the situation, you would instinctively protect her. Really that’s all that Henry and I ever did. We reacted to the situation and did what we had to do. We kept Level 21 secret until Henry told the Chinese through the mafia about it.”

“Why? Why after doing so much to keep it a secret, why did you do that?”

“It was Pam’s idea. I told you we had secretly embedded programming in the Chinese missile systems that would prevent them from targeting civilian populations. They could test fire their missiles as much as they wanted, but if they targeted a civilian population with a nuclear warhead, the missile would self-destruct. At least that was the theory. We really didn’t know if it would work. There wasn’t any way to actually test it. The only way would have been for the Chinese to launch a nuclear attack. Hell, we didn’t even know if the Level 21 Technology was present in their systems. Maybe they knew about Level 21 or something like it and had infected our systems. Besides, Pam had developed an upgrade of the original Level 21 programming.” Tom closed Pam’s file and stared at it. “You know, I think I’ll take that beer now.”

Jim got up and grabbed two more beers from the bar. He opened both and sat one in front of Tom.

“Well, what do you think so far?”

"You got any questions?”

“I think you and your friends got some kind of balls. I still don’t understand why Pam had to go to China and what did the mafia have to do with any of this?”

“I told you, we had to have someone check out their systems to make sure we had actually been successful in imbedding Level 21. That person had to know how it worked and what to look for. There were only four people in the world who could do this, and Pam was one of them. Remember, this was Pam’s idea. The real reason it had to be her was this upgrade she had developed. It took Pam’s genius to develop it, and to this day, she is really the only person alive that can really work it. At least that’s what everyone thinks. It grows, I’m not sure I can explain this. Shit, I don’t understand it myself. Once it’s started, it spreads quickly, infecting system after system and eventually infecting every missile system on the planet. Including older systems like those used by Iraq. Eventually, it will even reach the United States and render our nuclear weapons useless. It had to be initiated in China, so as it spread, it would take out everyone else’s systems before ours.”