Whistleblower and Never Say Die (42 page)

He stepped out into the hall, casually holding his pistol at his side. He’d go for the old woman first. Hold the barrel to her head, threaten to pull the trigger. There was an uncommonly strong bond between this mother and son. They would protect each other at all costs.

Savitch was halfway down the hall when the doorbell rang. He halted. The front door was opened and a new voice said, “Mr. Milo Lum?”

“And who the hell are you?” came Milo’s weary reply.

“The name’s Sam Polowski. FBI.”

Every muscle in Savitch’s body snapped taut. No choice now; he had to take the man out.

He raised his pistol. Soundlessly, he made his way down the hall toward the living room.

“Another
one?” came Milo’s peevish voice. “Look, one of your guys is already here—”

“What?”

“Yeah, he’s back in the—”

Savitch stepped out and was swinging his pistol toward the front doorway when Mrs. Lum shrieked.

Milo froze. Polowski didn’t. He rolled sideways just as the bullet thudded into the door frame, splintering wood.

By the time Savitch got off a second shot, Polowski was crawling somewhere behind the couch and the bullet slammed uselessly into the stuffing. That was it for chances—Polowski was armed.

Savitch decided it was time to vanish.

He turned and darted back up the hall, into a far bedroom. It was the mother’s room; it smelled of incense and old-lady perfume. The window slid open easily. Savitch kicked out the screen, scrambled over the sill and sank heel-deep into the muddy flower bed. Cursing, he slogged away, trailing clumps of mud across the lawn.

He heard, faintly, “Halt! FBI!” but continued running.

He nursed his rage all the way back to the car.

Milo stared in bewilderment at the trampled pansies. “What the hell was that all about?” he demanded. “Is this some sort of FBI practical joke?”

Sam Polowski didn’t answer; he was too busy tracking the footprints across the grass. They led to the sidewalk, then faded into the road’s pebbly asphalt.

“Hey!” yelled Milo. “What’s going on?”

Polowski turned. “I didn’t really see him. What did he look like?”

Milo shrugged. “I dunno. Efrem Zimbalist-type.”

“Meaning?”

“Tall, clean-cut, great build. Typical FBI.”

There was a silence as Milo regarded Polowski’s sagging belly.

“Well,” amended Milo, “maybe not
typical…”

“What about his face?”

“Lemme think. Brown hair? Maybe brown eyes?”

“You’re not sure.”

“You know how it is. All you white guys look alike to me.”

An eruption of rapid Chinese made them both turn. Mrs. Lum had followed them out onto the lawn and was jabbering and gesticulating.

“What’s she saying?” asked Polowski.

“She says the man was about six foot one, had straight dark brown hair parted on the left, brown eyes, almost black, a high forehead, a narrow nose and thin lips, and a small tattoo on his inside left wrist.”

“Uh—is that all?”

“The tattoo read PJX.”

Polowski shook his head in amazement. “Is she always this observant?”

“She can’t exactly converse in English. So she does a lot of watching.”

“Obviously.” Polowski took out a pen and began to jot the information in a notebook.

“So who was this guy?” prodded Milo.

“Not FBI.”

“How do I know
you’re
FBI.”

“Do I look like it?”

“No.”

“Only proves my point.”

“What?”

“If I wanted to pretend I was an agent, wouldn’t I at least try to
look
like one? Whereas, if I
am
one, I wouldn’t bother to try and look like one.”

“Oh.”

“Now.” Polowski slid the notebook in his pocket. “You’re still going to insist you haven’t seen, or heard from, Victor Holland?”

Milo straightened. “That’s right.”

“And you don’t know how to get in touch with him?”

“I have no idea.”

“That’s too bad. Because I could be the one to save his life. I’ve already saved yours.”

Milo said nothing.

“Just why the hell do you think that guy was here? To pay a social visit? No, he was after information.” Polowski paused and added, ominously, “And believe me, he would’ve gotten it.”

Milo shook his head. “I’m confused.”

“So am I. That’s why I need Holland. He has the answers. But I need him alive. That means I need to find him before the other guy does. Tell me where he is.”

Polowski and Milo looked at each other long and hard.

“I don’t know,” said Milo. “I don’t know what to do.”

Mrs. Lum was chattering again. She pointed to Polowski and nodded.

“Now what’s she saying?” asked Polowski.

“She says you have big ears.”

“For that, I can look in the mirror.”

“What she means is, the size of your ears indicates sagacity.”

“Come again?”

“You’re a smart dude. She thinks I should listen to you.”

Polowski turned and grinned at Mrs. Lum. “Your mother is a great judge of character.” He looked back at Milo. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. Or you. You both have to get out of town.”

Milo nodded. “On that particular point, we both agree.” He turned toward the house.

“What about Holland?” called Polowski. “Will you help me find him?”

Milo took his mother by the arm and guided her across the lawn. Without even a backward look he said, “I’m thinking about it.”

“It was those two photos. I just couldn’t figure them out,” said Ollie.

They were standing on the boathouse pier, overlooking the bed of Lake Lagunita. The lake was dry now, as it was every winter, drained to a reedy marsh until spring. They were alone, the three of them, sharing the lake with only an occasional duck. In the spring, this would be an idyllic spot, the water lapping the banks, lovers drifting in rowboats, here and there a poet lolling under the trees. But today, under black clouds, with a cold mist rising from the reeds, it was a place of utter desolation.

“I knew they weren’t biological data,” said Ollie. “I kept thinking they looked like some sort of electrical grid. So this
morning, right after I left Milo’s, I took ’em over to Bach’s, down in San José. Caught him at breakfast.”

“Bach?” asked Cathy.

“Another member of the Out of Tuners. Great bassoon player. Started an electronics firm a few years back and now he’s working with the big boys. Anyway, the first thing he says as I walk in the door is, ‘Hey, did the FBI get to you yet?’ And I said, ‘What?’ and he says, ‘They just called. For some reason they’re looking for Gershwin. They’ll probably get around to you next.’ And that’s when I knew I had to get you two out of Milo’s house, stat.”

“So what did he say about those photos?”

“Oh, yeah.” Ollie reached into his briefcase and pulled out the photos. “Okay. This one here, it’s a circuit diagram. An electronic alarm system. Very sophisticated, very secure. Designed to be breached by use of a keypad code, punched in at this point here. Probably at an entryway. You seen anything like it at Viratek?”

Victor nodded. “Building C-2. Where Jerry worked. The keypad’s in the hall, right by the Special Projects door.”

“Ever been inside that door?”

“No. Only those with top clearance can get through. Like Jerry.”

“Then we’ll have to visualize what comes next. Going by the diagram, there’s another security point here, probably another keypad. Right inside the first door, they’ve stationed a camera system.”

“You mean like a bank camera?” asked Cathy.

“Similar. Only I’d guess this one’s being monitored twenty-four hours a day.”

“They went first class, didn’t they?” said Victor. “Two
secured doors, plus inspection by a guard. Not to mention the guard at the outside gate.”

“Don’t forget the laser lattice.”

“What?”

“This inner room here.” Ollie pointed to the diagram’s core. “Laser beams, directed at various angles. They’ll detect movement of just about anything bigger than a rat.”

“How do the lasers get switched off?”

“Has to be done by the security guard. The controls are on his panel.”

“You can tell all this from the diagram?” asked Cathy. “I’m impressed.”

“No problem.” Ollie grinned. “Bach’s firm designs security systems.”

Victor shook his head. “This looks impossible. We can’t get through all that.”

Cathy frowned at him. “Wait a minute. What are you talking about? You aren’t considering going into that building, are you?”

“We discussed it last night,” said Victor. “It may be the only way—”

“Are you crazy? Viratek’s out to kill us and you want to break
in?
”

“It’s the proof we need,” said Ollie. “You try going to the newspapers or the Justice Department and they’ll demand evidence. You can bet Viratek’s going to deny everything. Even if someone does launch an investigation, all Viratek has to do is toss the virus and,
poof!
your evidence is gone. No one can prove a thing.”

“You have photos—”

“Sure. A few pages of animal data. The virus is never
identified. And all that evidence could’ve been fabricated by, say, some disgruntled ex-employee.”

“So what
is
proof? What do you need, another dead body? Victor’s, for instance?”

“What we need is the virus—a virus that’s supposed to be extinct. Just a single vial and the case against them is nailed shut.”

“Just a single vial. Right.” Cathy shook her head. “I don’t know what I’m worried about. No one can get through those doors. Not without the keypad codes.”

“Ah, but those we have!” Ollie flipped to the second photo. “The mysterious numbers. See, they finally make sense. Two sets of seven digits. Not phone numbers at all! Jerry was pointing the way through Viratek’s top security.”

“What about the lasers?” she pointed out, her agitation growing. They couldn’t be serious! Surely they could see the futility of this mission. She didn’t care if her fear showed; she had to be their voice of reason. “And then there’s the guards,” she said. “Two of them. Do you have a way past them? Or did Jerry also leave you the formula for invisibility?”

Ollie glanced uneasily at Victor. “Uh, maybe I should let you two discuss this first. Before we make any other plans.”

“I thought I was part of all this,” said Cathy. “Part of every decision. I guess I was wrong.”

Neither man said a thing. Their silence only fueled Cathy’s anger. She thought:
So you left me out of this. You didn’t respect my opinion enough to ask me what I think, what I want.

Without a word she turned and walked away.

Moments later, Victor caught up with her. She was
standing on the dirt path, hugging herself against the cold. She heard his approach, sensed his uncertainty, his struggle to find the right words. For a moment he simply stood beside her, not speaking.

“I think we should run,” she said. She gazed over the dry lake bed and shivered. The wind that swept across the reeds was raw and biting; it sliced right through her sweater. “I want to get away,” she said. “I want to go somewhere warm. Some place where the sun’s shining, where I can lie on a beach and not worry about who’s watching me from the bushes….” Suddenly reminded of the terrible possibilities, she turned and glanced at the oaks hulking behind them. She saw only the fluttering of dead leaves.

“I agree with you,” said Victor quietly.

“You do?” She turned to him, relieved. “Let’s go, Victor! Let’s leave now. Forget this crazy idea. We can catch the next bus south—”

“This very afternoon. You’ll be on your way.”

“I
will?” She stared at him, at first not willing to accept what she’d heard. Then the meaning of his words sank in. “You’re not coming.”

Slowly he shook his head. “I can’t.”

“You mean you won’t.”

“Don’t you see?” He took her by the shoulders, as though to shake some sense into her. “We’re backed into a corner. Unless we do something—I do something—we’ll always be running.”

“Then let’s
run!
” She reached for him, her fingers clutching at his windbreaker. She wanted to scream at him, to tear away his cool mask of reason and get to the raw emotions beneath. They had to be there, buried deep in that logical brain of his.
“We could go to Mexico,” she said. “I know a place on the coast—in Baja. A little hotel near the beach. We could stay there a few months, wait until things are safer—”

“It’ll never be safer.”

“Yes, it will! They’ll forget about us—”