Deception Point Page 74

Smart people like yourself dont have the luxury of playing stupid, Dr. harper. Youre in trouble, and the senator send me up here to offer you a deal. The senators campaign took a huge hit to darkness. Hes got nothing left to lose, and hes ready to take you down with him if he of necessity to.What the devil are you talking about?Gabrielle took a deep breath and made her play. You deceitfulnessd in your press conference about the PODS anomaly-detection software system. We subsist that. A lot of people know that. Thats not the issue. Before Harper could open his mouth to argue, Gabrielle steamed onward. The senator could blow the whistle on your lies right now, but hes not interested. Hes interested in the bigger story. I think you know what Im talking about.No, I-Heres the senators offer. Hell keep his mouth shut about your software lies if you give him the name of the swipe NASA executive with whom youre embezzling funds.Chris Harpers eyes seemed to cross for a moment. What? Im no t embezzlingI suggest you watch what you say, sir. The senatorial committee has been collecting documentation for months now. Did you really think you deuce would slip by undetected? Doctoring PODS paperwork and redirecting allocated NASA funds to private accounts? Lying and embezzling can put you in jail, Dr. Harper.I did no such thingYoure saying you didnt lie about PODS?No, Im saying I bloody well didnt embezzle moneySo, youre saying you did lie about PODS.Harper stared, exitly at a passing game for words.Forget about the lying, Gabrielle said, waving it off. Senator Sexton is not interested in the issue of your lying in a press conference. Were used to that. You guys found a meteorite, cryptograph cares how you did it. The issue for him is the embezzlement. He needs to take down someone high in NASA. Just tell him who youre working with, and hell steer the investigation clear of you entirely. You can make it easy and tell us who the other person is, or the senator will make i t ugly and start talking about anomaly-detection software and phony work-arounds.Youre bluffing. There are no embezzled funds.Youre an awful liar, Dr. Harper. Ive seen the documentation. Your name is on all the incriminating paperwork. Over and over.I swear I know nothing about all embezzlementGabrielle let out a disappointed sigh. Put yourself in my position, Dr. Harper. I can only draw dickens conclusions here. Either youre lying to me, the same way you lie in that press conference. Or youre telling the truth, and someone powerful in the agency is setting you up as a fall guy for his own misdealings.The proposition seemed to give Harper pause.Gabrielle checked her watch. The senators deal is on the table for an hour. You can save yourself by giving him the name of the NASA exec with whom youre embezzling taxpayers money. He doesnt care about you. He wants the big fish. Obviously the individual in question has some power here at NASA he or she has managed to keep his or her ident ity off the paper trail, allowing you to be the fall guy.Harper shook his head. Youre lying.Would you like to tell that to a judicial system?Sure. Ill deny the whole thing.Under oath? Gabrielle grunted in disgust. Suppose youll also deny you lied about fixing the PODS software? Gabrielles heart was pounding as she stared straight into the mans eyes. Think carefully about your options here, Dr. Harper. American prisons can be most unpleasant.Harper glared back, and Gabrielle willed him to fold. For a moment she thought she saw a glisten of surrender, but when Harper spoke, his voice was like steel.Ms. Ashe, he declared, anger simmering in his eyes, you are clutching at thin air. You and I both know thither is no embezzlement going on at NASA. The only liar in this room is you.Gabrielle felt her muscles go rigid. The mans gaze was angry and sharp. She wanted to modus operandi and run. You tried to bluff a rocket scientist. What the hell did you expect? She forced herself to hold he r head high. All I know, she said, feigning utter confidence and stoicism to his position, is the incriminating documents Ive seen-conclusive evidence that you and another are embezzling NASA funds. The senator simply asked me to come here tonight and offer you the option of giving up your partner instead of veneering the inquiry alone. I will tell the senator you prefer to take your chances with a judge. You can tell the court what you told me-youre not embezzling funds and you didnt lie about the PODS software. She gave a spicy smile. But after that lame press conference you gave two weeks ago, somehow I doubt it. Gabrielle spun on her heel and strode across the darkened PODS laboratory. She wondered if by chance shed be seeing the inside of a prison instead of Harper.Gabrielle held her head high as she walked off, waiting for Harper to call her back. Silence. She pushed her way through the coat doors and strode out into the hallway, hoping the elevators up here were not key- card operated like the lobby. Shed lost. Despite her best efforts, Harper wasnt biting. Maybe he was telling the truth in his PODS press conference, Gabrielle thought.A crash resounded down the hall as the metal doors behind her burst open. Ms. Ashe, Harpers voice called out. I swear I know nothing about any embezzlement. Im an honest manGabrielle felt her heart skip a beat. She forced herself to keep walking. She gave a casual shrug and called out over her shoulder. And yet you lied in your press conference.Silence. Gabrielle kept moving down the hallway.Hold on Harper yelled. He came jogging up beside her, his face pale. This embezzlement thing, he said, threatening his voice. I think I know who set me up.Gabrielle stopped dead in her tracks, wondering if she had heard him correctly. She turned as slowly and casually as she could. You expect me to believe someone is setting you up?Harper sighed. I swear I know nothing about embezzlement. But if theres evidence against me Mounds o f it.Harper sighed. Then its all been planted. To discredit me if need be. And theres only one person who would have done that.Who?Harper looked her in the eye. Lawrence Ekstrom hates me.Gabrielle was stunned. The administrator of NASA?Harper gave a grim nod. Hes the one who forced me to lie in that press conference.88Even with the Aurora aircrafts misted-methane propulsion system at half power, the Delta Force was hurtling through the night at three times the speed of sound-over two thousand miles an hour. The repetitive throb of the Pulse Detonation Wave Engines behind them gave the ride a mesmerizing rhythm. A hundred feet below, the ocean churned wildly, whipped up by the Auroras vacuum wake, which sucked fifty-foot rooster tails skyward in long parallel sheets behind the plane.This is the reason the SR-71 merle was retired, Delta-One thought.The Aurora was one of those secret aircraft that nobody was supposed to know existed, but everyone did. Even the Discovery channel had c overed Aurora and its testing out at Groom Lake in Nevada. Whether the security leaks had come from the repeated skyquakes heard as far away as Los Angeles, or the unfortunate eyewitness sighting by a North Sea oil-rig driller, or the administrative gaffe that left a description of Aurora in a public copy of the Pentagon budget, nobody would ever know. It hardly mattered. The word was out The U.S. military had a plane capable of Mach 6 flight, and it was no longer on the drawing board. It was in the skies overhead.