She touched his arm. “Listen to me. Steve was what I call a wild child—disobedient, impulsive, fearless, bursting with energy—wasn’t he?”
Charles smiled ruefully. “That’s the truth.”
“So were Dennis Pinker and Wayne Stattner. Such children are almost impossible to raise right. That’s why Dennis is a murderer and Wayne a sadist. But
“I pray you’re right.” Charles opened his billfold to replace the photo.
Jeannie forestalled him. “May I see it?”
“Sure.”
Jeannie studied the picture. It had been taken quite recently. Steve was wearing a blue-checked shirt and his hair was a little too long. He was grinning shyly at the camera. “I don’t have a photo of him,” Jeannie said regretfully as she handed it back.
“Have that one.”
“I couldn’t. You keep it next to your heart.”
“I have a million photos of Steve. I’ll put another one in my billfold.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”
“You seem very fond of him.”
“I love him, Charles.”
“You do?”
Jeannie nodded. “When I think he might be sent to jail for this rape, I want to offer to go instead of him.”
Charles gave a wry smile. “So do I.”
“That’s love, isn’t it?”
“Sure is.”
Jeannie felt self-conscious. She had not meant to say all this to Steve’s father. She had not really known it herself; it had just come out, and then she had realized it was true.
He said: “How does Steve feel about you?”
She smiled. “I could be modest.…”
“Don’t bother.”
“He’s crazy for me.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Not just because you’re beautiful, though you are. You’re strong too: that’s obvious. He needs someone strong—especially with this accusation over his head.”
Jeannie gave him a calculating look. It was time to ask him. “There is something you could do, you know.”
“Tell me what it is.”
Jeannie had rehearsed this speech in the car all the way to Washington. “If I could search another database, I might find the real rapist. But after the publicity in the
“What?”
Jeannie leaned forward in her lawn chair. “Genetico experimented on soldiers’ wives who were referred to them by army hospitals. Therefore most or all of the clones were probably born in army hospitals.”
He nodded slowly.
“The babies must have had army medical records, twenty-two years ago. Those records may still exist.”
“I’m sure they do. The army never throws anything away.”
Jeannie’s hopes rose a notch. But there was another problem. “That long ago, they would have been paper files. Might they have been transferred to computer?”
“I’m sure they have. It’s the only way to store everything.”
“Then it is possible,” Jeannie said, controlling her excitement.
He looked thoughtful.
She gave him a hard stare. “Charles, can you get me access?”
“What, exactly, do you need to do?”
“I have to load my program into the computer, then let it search all the files.”
“How long does it take?”
“No way of knowing. That depends on the size of the database and the power of the computer.”
“Does it interfere with normal data retrieval?”
“It could slow it down.”
He frowned.
“Will you do it?” Jeannie said impatiently.
“If we’re caught, it’s the end of my career.”
“Will you?”
“Hell, yes.”
48
STEVE WAS THRILLED TO SEE JEANNIE SITTING ON THE PATIO, drinking lemonade and talking earnestly to his father as if they were old friends. This is what I want, he thought; I want Jeannie in my life. Then I can deal with anything.
He crossed the lawn from the garage, smiling, and kissed her lips softly. “You two look like conspirators,” he said.
Jeannie explained what they were planning, and Steve allowed himself to feel hopeful again.
Dad said to Jeannie: “I’m not computer-literate. I’ll need help loading your program.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“I’ll bet you don’t have your passport here.”
“I sure don’t.”
“I can’t get you into the data center without identification.”
“I could go home and get it.”
“I’ll come with you,” Steve said to Dad. “I have my passport upstairs. I’m sure I could load the program.”
Dad looked askance at Jeannie.
She nodded. “The process is simple. If there are any glitches you can call me from the data center and I’ll talk you through it.”
“Okay.”
Dad went into the kitchen and brought out the phone. He dialed a number. “Don, this is Charlie. Who won the golf? … I knew you could do it. But I’ll beat you next week, you watch. Listen, I need a favor, kind of unusual. I want to check my son’s medical records from way back when.… Yeah, he’s got some kind of rare condition, not life threatening but serious, and there may be a clue in his early history. Would you arrange security clearance for me to go into the Command Data Center?”
There was a long pause. Steve could not read his father’s face. At last he said: “Thanks, Don, I really appreciate it.”
Steve punched the air and said: “Yes!”
Dad put a finger to his lips, then went on speaking into the phone. “Steve will be with me. We’ll be there in fifteen or twenty minutes, if that’s all right.…Thanks again.” He hung up.
Steve ran up to his room and came back with his passport.
Jeannie had the disks in a small plastic box. She handed them to Steve. “Put the one marked number one in the disk drive and the instructions will come up on the screen.”
He looked at his father. “Ready?”
“Let’s go.”
