Mackenzie's Mission

We're calling it quits for the night, despite what I said earlier. I think we've eliminated everything it could be except the program, so that's our logical next step, and we can't do it here. I'm going to clean up and have a good meal while I think about this, then I'm going to have a talk with Colonel Mackenzie. Let's get some rest.'

Captain Ivan Hodge, head of security, said without preamble, 'We have a very suspicious pattern here, sir.'

Joe's stem face showed no emotion, though he wished the captain hadn't found anything.

Major General Tuell's flinty eyes became even flintier. As base commander, he was ultimately responsible for everything that happened, and he was intensely concerned with whatever had caused the crash of an F-22. 'Show us what you've found.'

The captain was carrying a thick log. He deposited it on Joe's desk and flipped it open to a premarked page. 'Here.' He noted an entry he had already highlighted in yellow. 'This is the security code number for a member of the laser team, Caroline Evans. She arrived last Tuesday as a replacement for a worker who had a heart attack.'

Joe's guts knotted up and his eyes went blank as he waited for Captain Hodge to continue.

'She has a pattern of arriving in the morning before everyone else and being the last to leave,' the captain said, and Joe relaxed a little. Caroline was a workaholic; hardly damning circumstances, and he himself had walked in on her unannounced several times, catching her doing nothing suspicious… although she had quickly cleared the computer screen that one time.

He had briefly wondered about it, then forgotten it, until now.

'You yourself have that pattern, sir,' Captain Hodge said to Joe. 'In itself, it doesn't mean anything.' He flipped to another premarked page. 'But here, on Thursday night, the sensors show Ms. Evans entering the laser work area shortly before 2400 and not leaving until almost 0400. She was alone the entire time. She reentered the building at 0600 for her normal workday. The birds went up that morning and for the first time experienced some malfunction with the lasers, isn't that right?'

The ice was back in Joe's eyes. 'Yes.'

'She left the area late that afternoon with the other members of the team and didn't return until Sunday night, again shortly before 2400. Again, she was the only person there. She left the building at 0430, returned at her usual time of 0600. This time, Major Deale's aircraft was shot down. Hell of a lot more disruptive than the lasers not working at all. These midnight appearances in the work area, combined with the fact that the trouble didn't start until she arrived, don't look good.' The captain hesitated as he looked at Joe. The colonel's expression was enough to make any sane man hesitate, and Captain Hodge considered himself very sane. Nevertheless, it had to be said. 'I understand you've taken a… uh, personal interest in Ms. Evans.'

'We've gone out together a few times.' They'd done a hell of a lot more than that, he thought savagely. She had given herself to him with a completeness that had shattered his memories of other women, reduced them to nothingness. And after they had returned from Vegas Sunday night she had slipped out to the work area and… done what? Secretly activated the laser on Bowie's aircraft? Had the laser on the bird he'd been flying been activated, too? Could he just as easily have been the one who shot down a friend?

Captain Hodge looked uncomfortable. 'While you were with her, did she say anything? Ask any questions pertaining to Night Wing?'

'No.' He was certain of that. Work had been mentioned in only the most general way. But then again, why should she have to ask him anything? 'She has the clearance to find out anything about the project that she wants without having to ask anyone else.'

'That's true. But did she say anything that, in retrospect, you could construe as being a reason for wanting the lasers to fail? Or for wanting to scuttle the Night Wing project?'

'No.' But she wouldn't; Caroline was too smart for that. Caroline was brilliant. Caroline was perfectly capable of activating the lasers; she was not only an expert, she had access to the codes. 'She has the knowledge and she had the opportunity,' he heard himself saying. 'Do you have anything else? Motive, anything suspicious in her past, any current money problems?'

'Her background is clean as a whistle,' the captain admitted. 'We're going to do a total recheck to make certain it's correct and none of it has been fabricated, but that's only a precaution. Everyone connected with this project has been verified down to the fillings in their teeth.'

'Clarify this for me,' Major General Tuell said. 'She could activate the lasers from the work area, without actually being in contact with the lasers themselves? The birds are under twenty-four-hour guard.'

'Yes, sir,' Captain Hodge said. 'By computer command. And Ms. Evans carried a double major in college. She got her doctorate in physics, but she also has a master's in computer sciences. She knows her way around computers.'

'I see.' The general sighed. 'What are your recommendations?'

'We won't file formal charges, sir. We can prove opportunity, and the timing is very suspicious, but we haven't as yet proven that the computers have actually been reprogrammed to arm and fire the lasers. There's still a possibility that it's a mechanical snafu.'

'But you don't think so?'

'No sir. The problems began when she arrived, and in both instances they occurred after she had made midnight visits to the work area. She's a civilian. I recommend that the FBI be notified and that she be restricted to base, but not yet taken into custody. As a precaution, I would also restrict the entire laser team from the work area until this is settled.'

'Why is that, Captain?'

'As I said, sir, as a precaution. She may not be the only one involved.'

'The logs don't show anyone else entering the work area at suspicious times.'

'That doesn't mean they didn't know about it. I think Colonel Mackenzie will agree with me that it's less expensive to halt testing for a few days than to lose another F-22, or maybe even one of the prototypes.'

'Yes.' Joe's voice was hard. 'Are you going to question Ms. Evans?'

'Yes sir.'

'I'd like to be there.'

'Of course, sir.' Captain Hodge thought wryly that Colonel Mackenzie didn't have to have permission; he had supreme authority on this base with anything concerning the Night Wing project. He would defer to Major General Tuell, but it would be by choice.

'When?'

'I can have my people escort her here now, if you'd like.'

'Then do it.'

Major General Tuell stood. 'Gentlemen, I'm leaving this in your hands. I trust you'll both make certain of our position before charges are filed. However, do whatever has to be done to solve this. The project is too important.'

They both saluted, and he returned it. As he left, Captain Hodge gestured to Joe's telephone and said, 'With your permission, sir.'

Joe nodded curtly. Captain Hodge lifted the receiver and pressed a code. 'Have Ms. Caroline Evans, C12X114, escorted to Colonel Mackenzie's office. Verify.'

Whoever had answered the phone repeated the code number. Captain Hodge said, 'Correct. Thank you.'

He hung up the phone and turned to Joe. 'Ten minutes,' he said.

Chapter Ten

Caroline had never felt so small and exposed and terrified. She sat in a chair in Joe's office and tried to catch his eye, to silently plead with him to believe her, but he wouldn't look at her. Or rather, he was looking at her all right, but it was with a cold, totally impersonal gaze, as if he were observing a bug. He wasn't seeing her, Caroline. It was the look on his face more than anything else that frightened her. It was as hard as stone.