stamp on the camcorder. That kind of thing is faked all the time.”
“There’s got to be something.” Kevin went over to the camcorder to rewind it to the beginning and play it back again.
“Really, Fred,” said Tarnwell, “I think one viewing is enough to see that there wasn’t anything there.”
Just as Kevin reached for the camcorder, a new picture flickered into focus on the screen. He stopped and stepped aside to let the others see. It was the lab again, freshly cleaned and the damaged equipment replaced, but this time it was from a different point of view. The tripod was visible across the room. The camera was on the other side of the lab, probably on one of the lab shelves. The picture moved around as adjustments in the camera view were made. Then a voice said “Dammit!” Kevin recognized it immediately and realized why it was cursing. The lab’s camcorder had a broken recording light. It was difficult to tell whether the camcorder was recording unless you looked through the viewfinder. With it on the shelf, the viewfinder was probably difficult to get to.
Finally, the camcorder stopped moving. Michael Ward walked past the camera into the field of view, tinkered with a piece of equipment, and left the room.
“Do we need to see this again?” Tarnwell said.
Kevin looked at Sutter. “This is something different. I haven’t seen this before.”
“Keep going,” Sutter said.
Nothing was happening on screen, so Kevin hit the fast forward button. After about a minute, the lab door opened. Kevin released the button and watched the screen intently.
Michael Ward walked in and opened the lab’s door wider.
“Come on in,” he said.
Another voice could be heard outside the door.
“David, wait for us out here.” Even muffled, the Texas drawl was unmistakable.
Ward’s guest followed him into the lab. Although Ward was six feet tall, he looked puny next to the massive frame of Clayton Tarnwell.
CHAPTER 38
“We’ve got about half an hour until my graduate student gets here from his class,” Ward said as he closed the door. The wide-angle lens of the camcorder captured almost the entire lab.
“That’s all right,” the Tarnwell on screen said. “I don’t have much time anyway.” He looked into the test chamber. “Good. Nothing here but the test stand. All right, you can go ahead.”
As Ward began the start-up of the experiment, Tarnwell wandered around the room, casually observing the equipment. When he looked directly at the camcorder, Kevin held his breath, afraid that Tarnwell had seen that it was recording. But after a second Tarnwell continued. Without the camcorder’s recording light, he had not been suspicious.
With a nod, Ward indicated he was ready.
“Let’s see it,” Tarnwell said.
A hum emanated from the TV for a minute or so, then it was quiet. Ward walked over to the test chamber and opened the door. After a few second’s inspection, he turned to Tarnwell.
“Take a look for yourself,” he said.
Tarnwell peered into the chamber. He began to reach in, but Ward grabbed his hand.
“Be careful. It’s hot. Here.” Ward handed him a pair of tongs. A minute later, Tarnwell held a metal pin in his hand. A target on top glistened.
Tarnwell looked in awe at the diamond coated sample in his hand, then walked over to a lab table and set it down. From a briefcase, he removed a device similar to the one Dr. Downs had used minutes before. Tarnwell placed its sensors on the sample.
“Jesus, Michael,” Tarnwell said when he was done. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
“Incredible, isn’t it?” said Ward. “I’ve been working on perfecting it for three months. I could produce 50 carats a day if I ran it around the clock.”
“Which makes me wonder why I’m here,” Tarnwell said. “Why not just make them yourself?”
“Two reasons. The first is that I have other people in here all the time. Usually, the only time I get work done in here is late at night when no one else is around. That’s why it’s taken me three months to get as far as I have.”
“And the second?”
Ward took the sample from Tarnwell and put it back in the chamber. “It’s difficult, but I can cut sections off the target. I looked into selling some of them, but unpolished stones raised eyebrows. They wanted to know where I got them. After a couple of times and a lot of questions, I stopped. I figured better to sell the whole thing at once rather than keep making them myself. The only catch was to find someone who I trusted that had enough money to make it worthwhile.” Ward smiled. “Of course, the first person I thought of was my old college buddy.”
“I appreciate that.” Tarnwell repacked the testing equipment. “Of course, you realize that this is highly illegal.”
“Of course.” Ward smiled, and Tarnwell returned it.
“Good. Now that I’ve seen…what did you call this process?”
“Adamas.”
“Now that I have seen and verified Adamas, how about we talk business.”
They walked toward the lab door together.
“I think you can see the value of something like this,” said Ward. “You’ll easily net over a billion dollars in the first year of production.” He stopped at the door.
“So what are you thinking of?” said Tarnwell.
“Let’s start talking about a nice round number. Fifty million.”
Tarnwell didn’t blink. “Why don’t we talk about it over dinner?” He opened the door, and the two of them left. After a few seconds of fast forwarding, it was obvious that the tape would run out recording the empty room. Kevin pressed the STOP button. He looked at Sutter and then Tarnwell.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Clay?” said Congressman Sutter.
Tarnwell didn’t move. He stared at Kevin, his eyes closed to slits, his lips curled in a sneer.
“Van Dyke told us about the merger,” Kevin said. “You bet it all, didn’t you? Without Adamas, your company is nonexistent. And I think it’s safe to say that you’re going to jail for murdering Ward.” He waited a beat, then said, “I’m glad.”
Tarnwell sat seething. Then without warning, he launched himself from the chair. “You little shit!” Kevin was surprised by the move, especially for a man of Tarnwell’s size. Before Kevin could react, Tarnwell knocked him to the floor, straddled him, and gripped Kevin’s throat, his meaty thumbs digging into Kevin’s larynx. He had an insane look in his eyes, as if he didn’t give a damn anymore. He probably didn’t, which terrified Kevin. He was a man with nothing to lose.
Tarnwell whispered to him. “You’re gonna die this time. And guess what. I’m going to plead insanity. You’ll be dead and I’ll be out of the asylum by next year.”
Kevin gasped for breath as he tried to pry Tarnwell’s hands off. Then he reached for Tarnwell’s eyes, but his arms were five inches shorter than Tarnwell’s.
He saw the Capitol policeman who had been waiting in the outer office grapple Tarnwell from behind.
“Let him go!” the cop yelled. He had his baton out and was ready to hit Tarnwell with it. Tarnwell released the grip on one hand and elbowed the cop in the eye. An audible crack issued from the breaking bone, and the cop reeled backward, screaming in pain and dropping the baton to Kevin’s left. Kevin reached for it, but it was just out of reach.
With renewed fury, Tarnwell choked Kevin using both hands. Someone yelled, “Get security!” Kevin’s vision began to tunnel from lack of oxygen to his brain. He felt his eyes bulging. In another few seconds he’d pass out.
Suddenly, Tarnwell released him. As his vision returned, Kevin saw why. Erica had kicked Tarnwell in the
