“Why not? He seemed honest for a politician. Together, I’m sure we can convince him, and if we do, he’d probably be able to get help from the FBI to protect us.”
Erica furrowed her eyebrows. It seemed like an awfully long shot.
“Erica, we are going to get only one chance at this. Once we go to the authorities, these people are going to know where to find us. Our luck has been crappy so far, and I don’t think it’ll be getting any better.”
She digested what he proposed. After several miles, she said, “There’s only one problem with your plan. If we do get in to see Congressman Sutter, how do we convince him that we’re not holding a big piece of glass? I know I wouldn’t be able to tell a real diamond just by looking at it.”
A smile curled the corner of Kevin’s lip. “You know what else is in Washington?”
“What?”
“The Smithsonian.”
Two hours later, Kevin was carrying the laser through the fifth floor of Jacobson Hall at Virginia Tech with the help of his friend, Ted Ishio. Ted, whose father was Japanese and mother was Irish, had an exotic look strangers found hard to place. He was half a head shorter than Kevin and wore a wind-breaker over a polo-style shirt, the tail of which hung over his jeans.
“I wish I’d thought about getting the cart,” Ted said. “I’m starting to sweat like I was OJ on the witness stand.”
“It’s your fault,” Kevin said, knowing that Ted, who was in great shape, was exaggerating. “I’ve never heard of anybody wearing a jacket in September.”
“I didn’t either when I was in Texas. I’d never been north of Oklahoma until I came here. But they say it’s like this all summer.”
Actually, Kevin had been grateful when they’d stepped out of the truck into the cool mountain air. Blacksburg was nestled about 2000 feet high in the Appalachians of southwest Virginia and was protected from the blistering summer heat by the mountains. When they’d arrived at Ted’s house at 10:00, Kevin and Erica hadn’t been out of the truck since Knoxville, Tennessee, where the temperature had been 95, so they were surprised by the 60 degree evening.
Since Ted and Janice would be leaving early the next morning, Kevin had wanted to start getting the lab set up before they left. At the very least, he had to make sure he had the correct keys for everything and that he knew any idiosyncrasies with the rest of the equipment. Erica, who’d been exhausted from driving, decided to turn in for the night.
“Are you sure you didn’t get the extra heavy model?” Ted asked with exaggerated huffing.
“Oh, quit your whining. You told me it wasn’t far.”
“It’s not.” Ted slowed, pulling a key chain from his pocket. “Here we are.”
They put the package with the laser down, and Ted unlocked a heavy metal door, then opened it and flicked on a light switch. He propped it open with his leg while they picked up the package.
Once inside, Kevin could see why Ted had been so excited about the assistant professor position at Virginia Tech. A huge laboratory, probably 40 feet by 60 feet, housed an impressive array of shiny new equipment. At one end, a row of three Silicon Graphics workstations lined a wall. Normally, the wall and desks would be festooned with all sorts of personal artifacts by the grad students using the lab. Except for a few scattered papers and instruction manuals, the surfaces were empty.
“Nice, huh?” Ted said. “I told you they had only the best stuff here.”
“No students yet?”
“The semester just started this week. All my students are new, and I didn’t want them around the lab until I got back. I wish I wasn’t going, but my paper got accepted at the conference before I ever got the job.”
“Chomping at the bit?”
“That and the fact that Miami is playing here this weekend. Janice wanted to visit her parents while we were in Minneapolis, so we’re staying there until Sunday. Hey, the faculty gets discount season tickets to the football games. Since we won’t be using ours, do you want them? It’s been sold out for months.”
“I think I’ll be too busy. Besides, I’m not sure Erica likes football.”
“I don’t envy you then.”
“About Erica?”
“No, I mean the renovations to the stadium parking lot aren’t done yet. Everybody’s going to have to park in the commuter lots, one of which is right outside this building. By 10:00 Saturday morning, there are going to be 75,000 rabid Miami and Tech fans in this town.”
“Great. Just what we need.”
“Stay in here and you’ll be fine. Now, let’s take a little tour of my new domain.”
After about twenty minutes, Kevin felt more comfortable in the lab. All of the equipment was familiar to him, and he could have the Adamas process set up by the end of the day tomorrow.
Ted handed Kevin a set of keys hanging from a black Harley-Davidson keychain. Ted pointed to the keys as he spoke. “The first one is to my office. I’ll show you where that is in a minute. The next one is to the deadbolt on the lab door. This one is to the cabinets over on the far end. And this one is the key to the building. They lock the front doors around six. The other keys are to rooms you won’t need to get into.”
“Are you sure no one’s going to ask me what I’m doing here?”
“You know what it’s like during the conference. Almost all the professors will be there. The people who are left will just think I’ve got a new student. Say that if anybody asks.”
Ted locked up the lab and led Kevin down the linoleum-lined hall to another beat up wooden door. He opened it to reveal a cramped office sparsely furnished with two bookshelves and the requisite metal desk. Books were still piled in boxes on the floor, and papers overflowed the desk space not occupied by the Macintosh. Kevin bit his lip and nodded his head.
“I know. It’s not exactly what I was hoping for,” said Ted. “But it hasn’t got that homey touch yet. One thing I do have, though, is a view.”
Ted raised the venetian blinds. From directly below the window to about a hundred yards out stretched the commuter lot he had talked about. Past the expansive lot, however, was a splendid mountain vista brightly lit by the full moon and dotted by lights from scattered houses.
“Bet you have fun riding your bike here,” said Kevin, thinking of the unrelenting flatness of Houston. Ted was an avid road cyclist and would routinely bike 75 miles in a weekend.
“You know it. Even after two months, my legs are still killing me from all these hills.”
Ted paused as if he didn’t know how to say something. “You sure you don’t want to go to the police?”
Kevin hadn’t told Ted about the run-in with the police yesterday or the death of his father. He worried that it might make Ted rethink letting Kevin use the lab.
“No. At least not yet. Maybe when we’re done in the lab.”
“How long will you need it?”
“Two days. Maybe a little longer. We’ll be out of here by Sunday night.”
“No problem. Stay as long as you need.” Ted didn’t ask more about why Kevin wanted the lab, but Kevin could tell he was curious.
“Anything else you need?” Ted asked. “I saw you brought a cellular phone and laptop with you, but if you need to use my computer, you’re more than welcome.”
“We won’t be using the cellular phone. Call us paranoid, but it may be traced.”
That brought a raised eyebrow from Ted, but he didn’t pursue it. “You can use ours if you want while we’re gone. I got one of those deals. You know, get the phone free, sign up for two years’ service. Don’t worry about using it. We get 30 minutes a month included.”
“Aren’t you the yuppie?”
“Actually, I was going to tell you in a couple of weeks anyway, but since you’re here, I might as well tell you now. I got it for Janice, so I wouldn’t be worried. She’s pregnant.”
Kevin’s jaw dropped. Then he grabbed Ted’s hand and shook it furiously.
“Congratulations, you stud. I knew you had it in you, but I didn’t know it would be so soon.”
“Don’t mention it to Janice. She wants to wait until she’s past three months.”
“No problem,” said Kevin. “But you have to let me buy you a beer on the way home.” He was too tired to get
