The Soul of the Matter (22 page)

Chapter 46

T
he black government sedan dropped them off in front of MIT's Koch Building. A government agent awaiting their arrival opened the car door for Nancy.

Dan exited on his own, careful not to show much interest in the area. Still, his jaw clenched as they were escorted to the building's back entrance, next to where Stephen had been taken. He wondered why they weren't using the front entrance. Was it a test to see how he reacted?

Dan and Nancy followed the agent up a flight of stairs and toward Stephen's office. Yellow police tape hung limply from both sides of the door.

A man sat at Stephen's desk, his head bent, sheets of paper on the desktop. Without looking up, the agent said, “Please have a seat, Mrs. Bishop.” He then raised his head and looked hard at Dan. Agent Evans said, “Lawson, you remain standing.”

Dan stiffened, and with a half-smile said, “What happened to the retirement age?”

“The younger folks couldn't do the job,” Evans said.

Dan shot back, “The older folks couldn't teach what the prior generation taught them.”

“I hear you've had a rough patch the last few months.”

“Good news really does travel fast,” Dan fired back.

“What was the problem?” Evans stated more than questioned, as though he knew.

“Just needed to find something to do. Got plenty now.”

Nancy's head swiveled back and forth as the two spoke.

Agent Evans looked at Nancy and said, “Lawson was one of my first pupils. A penchant for misplaced idealism and disregard for risk landed him a desk job.”

“I thought it was a lack of intelligence in the intelligence section that led to my transfer.”

Sternly, Agent Evans said, “I hope you're using your intelligence now.” Turning his attention back to Nancy, Evans continued, “Mrs. Bishop, we have more information on Dr. Bishop's movements. I'd like to see if either of you can shed light on them.”

Nancy nodded slowly and said, “Anything to find out what happened to Stephen.”

“Thank you. I'll keep to the main points. The Friday of Memorial Day weekend, Viktor Weisman visited your husband in this office. Over the next several days, Dr. Bishop and Dr. Weisman communicated with each other multiple times. Tuesday night, Dr. Weisman and seven others were working at his research center. The explosion that took place was visible from Dr. Bishop's HBC office. Dr. Bishop headed over to the site. Security cameras show him crossing the bridge, dropping something and picking it up, then arriving on the scene of the raging fire, in the cordoned-off area, and then heading over here.”

Nancy interrupted. “I'm confused about the continued attempts to link Stephen's death to the explosion and Viktor Weisman. They were just friends. Of course he would go to the site to see what happened and check if Viktor was safe.”

Looking to deflect the line of questioning, Dan broke in and said, “In the intelligence community, nothing that has the remotest appearance of a connection to something else is ever considered a coincidence, regardless of evidence. Even when a theory is dismissed, someone is always ready to revive it. Except when it matters—then it's ignored.”

Evans shot an irritated look at Dan. “I'm sorry, Mrs. Bishop, but I have to ask these questions. We have a very serious ongoing situation. Can we continue?”

Nancy said, “Yes. Whatever he did, I'm confident Stephen only acted appropriately.”

Picking up where he left off, Evans said, “A short distance from the site of the explosion, security video show two men appearing to follow Dr. Bishop while attempting, but not completely succeeding, to stay out of range of the cameras. At some point, Dr. Bishop seemed to become suspicious. Once inside this office, he called you using this phone. Right after that, Dr. Bishop left this building using the back exit. Two men appeared to surprise Dr. Bishop and escorted him into the back of a brown panel truck, similar to a UPS vehicle.”

Nancy gasped. Evans stopped to give her a glass of water and time to absorb the revelation that her husband had most likely been abducted. Dan wondered if any of the security cameras had picked him up outside the building, despite his own precautions.

After Nancy sipped the water, she asked, “Have you identified the two men?”

“We're working on it. From here, Dr. Bishop was driven to the site where his body was found. Shortly thereafter, someone placed a call to 911 reporting a suspicious truck with propane tanks inside it at the same site. The call was meant to generate an emergency response to the scene as quickly as possible, perhaps with the intent to get Stephen out safely. Video shows the presence of other vehicles at the site as well. All except the panel truck left in a hurry right after the call went out over the police radios. An examination of the site indicates that Dr. Bishop ran from one location in the basement of the building to the spot where he was found. Footprints indicate that he had jumped several times at nearby windows. It looks like he was trying to escape when the scaffolding broke loose and parts of the damaged foundation fell on him.”

Dan watched Nancy steel herself and take another sip of water while Evans waited. Little of this was new to Dan. He was waiting for Evans to say something that would be hard for Dan to explain—perhaps that a security camera had an image of him from somewhere he had been that night. Dan knew something was coming.

Continuing, Evans said, “Constructing this timeline was straightforward, though it took time to examine the video and other records. But we're still left with many questions. Lawson, what do you think they are?”

“Aren't they obvious?” Dan answered, recognizing that his answers would be assessed for signs of information he hadn't shared as well as his earnestness to help.

“Probably, but with your knowledge of Dr. Bishop, you might be able to shed better light on what transpired,” Evans replied matter-of-factly.

“Well, then, who followed Stephen and why? Did Stephen know them? Did they abduct him, or did he go willingly? What took place in the building's basement? Why did they leave without Stephen? Was he dead or dying before they left?” At the last words, Dan's voice lowered, then he said, “And of course, who placed the call to 911, and why?”

“That's right. Let's start with the last one. What can you tell me about that, Lawson?”

“Nothing. Got anything on the other missing pieces?” Dan replied. Nancy looked at him.

“Mrs. Bishop, what about you? Do you have any idea who might have placed the call? Records indicate you spoke with Dan Lawson around the same time.”

“That's not new information. I told the police in the very beginning that I had called Dan when I became worried about Stephen. I don't know who placed the 911 call,” Nancy answered, her voice choked with tears.

Dan walked over and put his arm around her. He looked at Evans and asked, “What more do you need from her?”

“We'd like her to take a good look around and see if anything's missing or there's anything unusual.”

Composing herself, Nancy said, “That's fine. I can do that.”

“Thank you,” Evans said, getting up and walking toward the door, a stack of papers in his hand. Looking back over his shoulder, he said, “Lawson, let's give Mrs. Bishop her privacy as she looks through Dr. Bishop's office.”

Dan followed him into an adjoining room.

Evans pulled several pages from the stack he was carrying, and handed them to Dan. They were pictures of a woman, stooped in
pain, outside the burning fusion center. Pointing at an enlarged image of her head, Evans asked, “Do you recognize her?”

“No. Who is she?”

“Sousan Ghardi, an Iranian-born scientist. She was a director at the lab and, as far as we know, the only survivor of the blast.”

“Why
are
you trying to connect Stephen to this?”

“Too many coincidences and a worsening situation. The lab explosion is causing serious international problems. High-yield fusion took place in a reactor that wasn't supposed to be capable of it. Fuel was used that shouldn't have been. This was a civilian program gone rogue. We don't know how they did it. Our adversaries think that the US pulled a fast one with a new weapons program and got caught. Tensions are dangerously high and getting worse. Spooks and goons are running rampant. Middle Eastern countries feel threatened by a new power program that could kill world oil dependency. All of this is off-the-record and not to be shared with anyone.”

“I take it you think this Sousan Ghardi played a role in this?”

“It's one of our stronger hypotheses. It would help a whole lot if we could ask her about it.”

Evans handed Dan another picture and said, “At a different location, we got a good shot of someone we think was near the scene at the time of Stephen Bishop's death. You recognize him, don't you?”

It was a solid, hard-looking man, possibly with eastern European features. His face was fuzzy, though the image was sharp enough to show a prominent scar. Before Dan could look closer, Evans said solemnly, “We crossed paths with him early in your career. He's known internationally as Sergei.”

With a shocking flash of recognition, Dan involuntarily reached for the scar on his left arm, recalling the KGB agent, the pleasure he took in killing Pavel and Katya Sarasov. That night, Sergei had the coldest look Dan had ever seen.

“Yeah, it's the same guy,” Evans said. “You got anything we can use to nail him?”

“No, but you can bet I'll be looking. He's another one who has got
a lot to answer for,” Dan said sharply, still determined to keep Stephen's work out of Evans's reach.

“Stay out of this unless you want to wind up like your friend. Sergei is not someone you mess with and survive, especially twice,” Evans warned.

“Don't forget, I bailed you out of a few jams, including that night,” Dan remarked.

“It's gratitude for that, and probably misplaced trust, that keeps me from letting others in my agency have their shot at you now. Make sure you don't do anything that makes either of us regret that.”

Briefly, Dan considered telling Evans what he knew, but Dan was sure Stephen had died trying to protect the secrecy of his work. Dan had an obligation to fulfill, and it began with finding Galileo.

Before Dan could reply, Nancy walked in said, “Nothing seems amiss, Agent Evans. Stephen didn't spend much time here after he took the HBC position.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Bishop. Lawson, I'm sure we'll be touch.”

That they would be, soon, and asking tougher questions, Dan thought.

Chapter 47

D
AY 11

E
ARLY
M
ONDAY
M
ORNING

D
an arrived at the Bishops' house as the sun was rising above the treetops, replacing the shortening shadows with its bright light.

Inside the house, a curtain of darkness was descending. Dan heard Nancy's deep sobs in the study. She looked up from the window seat and tried to speak as Dan entered the room. Her lips moved in only small, quivering contortions.

Dr. Alighieri was there with her arm around Nancy's sagging shoulders. For the first time, Dan looked at Trish without feeling dissociated, like there was something that had shifted reality around her. Instead, she looked like her substance had changed and she was no different from anyone else—just as ordinary, just as broken, as Nancy. There were tears at the corners of her eyes, and sadness had cast its pall on her as well.

With slow movements, Trish walked over to Dan and whispered near his ear, “Ava's cancer has returned. It shouldn't have, but it did, appearing unnaturally fast in her bloodstream. She's in the hospital now. We don't know. We just don't know.” He could tell that Ava was not merely another patient for her.

His body went cold. He couldn't hear anything. Color went out of his vision.

After a moment, Dan gathered himself, sat down next to Nancy, and put both arms around her. She tilted her head against the left
side of his chest, as though his heartbeat could compensate for the life she felt draining out of her world.

In a few minutes, exhausted by the effects of her sobbing, she breathed regularly, sat up with stoic posture, and wiped the last tears away.

Trish's eyes alternated slowly between Nancy and Dan.

After taking and holding a deep breath, Nancy said, “Dan, the last time Ava was sick, Stephen was working on getting a treatment that was a potential miracle cure, in case all else failed. We were lucky and didn't need it then. We may now. Stephen and I need you to find it for our daughter's sake. You were a good field agent once, and I'm sure you know people who can help. I don't know how much more Ava can suffer, or what I'll do if she doesn't get better. Will you help us?”

Again, Nancy spoke of Stephen in the present tense, as though he still existed. Whether or not that was true, Dan now had another obligation to fulfill, another answer to find. For a long time, his life hadn't felt valuable or important. Even though that had only started to change, he was completely willing to sacrifice everything for Nancy and Ava. That purpose, that intent—even if it was solely temporal and transitory—filled him with more determination and energy than he had ever had before. He would not allow fear and despair to drag him down, nor keep him from what he needed to do.

“Of course, I'll start immediately,” Dan said, thinking of the organization that Stephen had mentioned was helping with foreign development of potential treatments.

“Thank you.”

“What do I need to do? Contact places that might have it?”

“Trish has already done that. None of them know about it, including HBC. I don't know how to say this, though I don't think it will be a much of a surprise to you, but Stephen was involved with non-conventional researchers. He wouldn't tell me more. One of them must know something about the treatment.”

Without acknowledging what he knew, Dan asked, “Where should I look and how will I recognize it?”

“I don't know.” She sighed. “Perhaps something in Stephen's jour
nals will guide you. Talk to his associates. Maybe someone at the National Institutes of Health will know something. Keep in touch with HBC. They're still looking. Or maybe you have other information sources that can be helpful,” Nancy said, referring to his intelligence sources. “And Trish will help, too. She was working with Stephen to set up trials to test the treatment once he got it. She may be able to recognize it. ”

Dan thought of Stephen's work and the information he was trying to decode. He wondered what Nancy knew about that. He was also mulling over what he had read in Stephen's journals, the places he'd have to visit trying to find Galileo, the chances he would have to take, his past discomfort with Trish.

Turning toward Trish, Dan said, “Thank you, but I work better alone. I have unconventional methods and need to be able to move fast. Besides, you'll obviously have to stay at the hospital and take care of Ava. When I find it, I'll get it to you right away.”

As Trish started to reply, Nancy interrupted and said, “Dan, your chances of success are far greater with her than without. She knows Ava's cancer, has research experience, and can evaluate medical information. You can't do any of that. And she can supervise Ava's treatment from anywhere, at any time.”

Too true,
Dan thought. For some reason, Dan had felt Galileo would provide him with whatever missing information Dan needed to access Stephen's work and whatever could come from that, including a treatment. But he couldn't count on passively waiting for someone who might or might not appear, whenever that might be. Or if, in the end, this Galileo would know anything about the treatment Ava needed.

“What about your hospital responsibilities?” Dan said to Trish.

“I'm on sabbatical for the summer. Years of nonstop, intense learning followed by a practice in pediatric oncology takes its toll.”

“It will probably involve traveling and meeting with unusual people and organizations.” Thinking of Sergei, and others, Dan added, “And it may get intense at times.”

“I climb rock walls,” Trish replied with a stone face.

Nancy added, “Good. You'll need those skills working with Dan.”

The words sounded to Dan like echoes of Stephen.

“One more thing,” Dan added. “I'm going to clear my friend's name.”

“I know you will. The best friendships, like yours, transcend death,” Nancy said as she stood up and gave Dan a hug.

“Let's continue this conversation later, after I've had time to think,” Dan said as he headed toward the basement. Nancy and Trish followed as he walked downstairs and into the theater room.