The 22nd Secret (116 page)

“Can’t we stop it? Override it in our systems.”

“No, it's impossible to stop or override. That’s the official version. That’s what the President has been told. He’s the only person outside of Pam, Dr. Woolum, you and a few others that know who Pam is and what really happened in China. Everyone else, the directors of the CIA and FBI, believe that Patty Lawrence gave away the secret of Level 21. They’re no longer in the loop. Every time an Administration changed, a new President and new CIA and FBI directors had to be briefed on Level 21. Now there’s that many less who know the official version of things.”

“You keep saying the official version. What do you mean by that?”

Tom swigged his beer and paused to make sure Jim was paying attention. “This is one of those little bits of information I told you would be worth killing for. Besides Dr. Woolum, Pam and myself, no one knows this. Not even the President. Now you’re going to know this. Pam knows how to stop it. She knows how to control it. She can make that program do whatever she wants. Think about that, Jim. Think about what that would mean to China, Iraq, or Iran. Think about what that would mean to our own military. It’s one thing to say this thing is impossible to control, and nobody’s going to have the ability to use nuclear weapons. It’s something entirely different to say Pamela Koller has the keys and can unlock anyone’s nuclear program within minutes.”

Jim swigged his beer and spoke quietly, staring into his Coors bottle.

“I can’t imagine the burden that must be on her. No wonder you wanted to make sure I understood what I was getting into.” He looked at Tom. “I understand what you mean now by sacrifice. You can count on me. Pam can count on me. I guess I should be honored she chose me.”

“There’s more, Jim, a lot more. You asked about the mafia. Again, this whole thing was Pam’s idea very clever. Well, hell. I suppose it was genius. We couldn’t just call up the Chinese and ask them if they knew about Level 21, and by the way if they didn’t, would they mind if we sent someone over to install the latest upgrade, at no charge. Henry facilitated the cover with the Chinese that he was willing to help them disable the Level 21 technology in return for financial gain in partnership with the mob. He had Tino make contact with a young Chinese nuclear scientist named Chen Wen Bin. Tino was highly connected in China.”

“I remember him. He was Patty Lawrence’s lover.” Jim said as he took a sip of his beer realizing what that meant to his relationship with Pam.

Tom sipped his beer. “Jim, you’re not going to like this. There was a time in her life that Pam enjoyed this kind of thing, but that changed when she met you. She seduced Chen in order to create a plausible reason for him to take her to China, and for her to teach him how Level 21 worked and how to disable it. The Chinese government, the American Mafia, and Henry Lo threatened the lives of the two young lovers and their families if Pam didn’t cooperate. That’s what the Chinese thought, anyway.”

Tom could tell this part of the story was hard for Jim to hear. Jim stared into the table and shook his head.

“If it’s any comfort to you, she didn’t love him. It was what she had to do to make the Chinese believe she was helping them to protect her family and their own lives.”

“You said she showed Chen how to disable Level 21. I thought she needed to go to China to install the upgrade?”

“The fact the Chinese went to such efforts to get her proved they knew nothing about the presence of Level 21 or had any similar technology. Since they knew nothing about Level 21, except what Pam showed them, it was easy to convince them the upgrade was actually the program that disabled the Americans’ control over their systems. Pam actually gave them more disinformation than anything they could practically use. Pam says with what she showed them it will take them years just to figure out they’re completely wrong on the theoretical level. Dr. Woolum believes we’ll be ahead of the rest of the world on this technology for at least the next twenty years.”

“Wait just a fucking minute,” Jim said, recalling the time Tom had threatened Bill and him about Paula’s whereabouts. “If you knew about all of this, I mean China, Pam and all, what the fuck were you doing running around up here trying to find her? Digging out that plane and all that crap with the Chinese ship?”

“Well, we had three bits of luck after the crash, besides the fact Pam survived, of course. Obviously, the crash was not supposed to happen. The Chinese devised the plan for Pam’s defection. Tino was to fly her to Otter Bay, to the research vessel. The Chinese figured that way, anyone who knew what was happening would assume she would be on that ship. Henry and I had a worm in the Chinese espionage organization that kept us up to date on their plans. Those plans included the murder of Tino and his pilot and the use of the research vessel as a decoy while Pam and Chen flew out of Anchorage under diplomatic covers.”

“You said you had some good luck?”

“I said, besides Pam’s surviving the crash we had three bits of luck. First, the plane crashed near here and you were out there riding around and saw it. Otherwise, she probably would have frozen to death before anyone found her. Remember, the plane was miles off its flight path. The second was that I was assigned by the Director of the CIA to head the investigation and locate her. If I found her alive, I was to kill her.”

“And they didn’t have a clue you even knew Patty Lawrence. Hell they still don’t know.” Jim laughed to himself. “You sat there and took all that heat from Congress for fucking up and letting Patty Lawrence defect and you actually made it happen.”

“Henry gave his life to make it happen. He knew what the Chinese had planed for Tino and his pilot. He knew they wanted no witnesses at Otter Bay. When I investigated the scene, I figured he missed walking away from there by a tenth of a second.”

Both men remained silent thinking about what Henry had done. The courage he must have had, the dedication to Pam and what she was trying to do for humanity.

“I remember thinking there was no way one man could have gotten both those guys right in the forehead. They were standing ten yards apart from each other, with their guns pulled ten yards from Lo.”

“I think he got one just as he went for his gun and the other the same instant he got shot in the chest.”

“Still, pretty damned amazing.”

“Henry was very good at his job. He protected Howard, Marty, Allan and eventually Pam for almost fifteen years. Now that the Chinese think they got the Level 21 Technology, no one’s going to have much interest in anyone, except Pam. You need to keep the example Henry set in mind when you’re with her.”

“Thanks, I will
.
But why Pam? If no one’s going to have any interest in anyone and even the President thinks what Pam has done is irreversible, why her?”

“The third bit of good luck was your bridge.”

“My bridge?”

“It delayed me getting here for four hours. Otherwise, I would have had a hell of a time stalling until Pam and Chen’s plane took off. I remember thinking during those couple of days that timing was everything. Keep in mind, even today people think I just screwed up. Except for you, the President and a couple of other people, nobody knows what Henry, Pam and I actually did.”

“It still doesn’t explain why Pam is in so much more danger than the rest of you?”

Tom drank the last of his second beer and looked at the empty bottle. “You know, Coors is a really good beer.”

“You want another?” Jim asked.

“You?”

“No, but I’ll get you one if you want.”

“No thanks, Jim.” Tom set the empty bottle down and looked Jim straight in the eyes. His tone grew serious. “There are a couple of things I haven’t told you yet. Remember, I told you the President knew the official version of things. What I’m about to explain to you is the
real
version. This is what’s going to require you and Pam to disappear. You’ll have to find someplace you can live where people will know you as someone other than Jim Mitchell and Pam Koller. Your faces are not all that recognizable. Pam and your pictures were not exposed all that much on TV and, well, people just don’t remember things like that much. Oh, around here they’ll remember you, and if you start showing up with Pam in public people will put two and two together and realize that’s Patty Lawrence. Your friend, Bill, he already thinks that’s who’s sitting out there in that plane with him.”

“Okay, so what
really
happened?”

Tom looked up at the Indian rugs on the ceiling, like he was looking into the past.

“It was Pam’s 22nd
birthday. We were already planning her trip to China when she first told Howard and me about it. She called it her little 22nd
birthday secret. After a while we just started calling it the 22nd
Secret. You know that Pam’s upgrade to Level 21 spreads by itself, and will in a few years even affect our systems. What not even the President or you know is that in about a year starting in China, where she first started her program, it’ll start infecting other things, infecting things other than nuclear missiles. The Chinese may never know the truth about their missiles. They’d have to launch an attack on somebody in order to realize they didn’t work. But it’s very possible someone will try and use, say a surface-to-air missile, or an air-to-air rocket, and when they don’t work. Well, the cat will be out of the bag. Military people, entire governments are going to be real pissed off. It may take them a while to figure it out, but somebody someday is going to point the finger at Patty Lawrence.” Tom looked down from the ceiling and straight into Jim’s eyes. “Jim, even though Pam would be more than willing, she can’t stop the insanity of war. But she can, and has, stopped them from using computers to make the job of killing more efficient.”

“Son of a bitch,” Jim had not fully realized the position Pam was in but he could understand the magnitude of what she had done.

“Howard and I refused to allow her to continue with her plans to initiate this program in China if she insisted on letting it spread unchecked to the United States. Our advantage in high tech weapons would be lost. The Chinese and possibly the Russians would have superiority in non-computer-based weapons. Pam agreed to set up the program to only effect our nuclear missile systems, but no one really knows what’s going to happen, or for that matter, if she told us the entire truth.”

“You know, I’m beginning to understand why you wanted to make sure I knew what it meant to be part of Pam’s life. She’s one special lady. When they figure out what she’s done, every government in the world will be hot after her. Her control over this technology would allow any country’s military to conquer the world.”

“Jim, there’s one thing you’re going to have to keep to yourself. If in a few years we find out Pam was lying and didn’t stop her program at just our missiles, you’re going to have to convince her of the importance of allowing us to maintain superiority. She hates the military and as brilliant as she is sometimes gets a little idealistic. I think you know what I’m saying.”

“I understand. What if I can’t get a hold of you?”

“Howard and I will stay in touch and there’s always the President. If that happens, I’m sure he’ll be anxious to talk with you. There’s just one more thing you need to know about Pam.”

“Oh well, what the hell. Go ahead and top that. There’s a 23rd secret, right?”

“No, but this will probably affect your personal relationship with Pam more than any of the other things I’ve told you. Your military file said you rated very high on ESP tests.”

“That shit? That’s late night physic network crap. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now.”

“Believe it, Jim. Besides her intellect, Pam inherited astonishing powers of suggestion. Her abilities have been scientifically documented. You need to look at Pam as kind of an evolutionary prediction of what human beings will be like thousands of years from now. I have personally experienced what she can do and I believe you have also.”

“What do you mean? I have?” Suddenly Jim’s mind began to search for the empty memories of Paula.

“I don’t know this to be a fact, but my guess is she gave you a psychic suggestion that made you help her, and ultimately me and Henry, deliver her to the Chinese. Remember when I questioned you? You couldn’t tell me why you helped Paula. It never made any sense for someone like you to do something like that, unless Pam planted the suggestion in your mind. It was one of the first clues I had that Pam was still alive and here with you. Your story might have seemed perfectly logical to you, but it never made any sense to me.”