you or Bob Rose isn't an officer of the law and anything you find without a warrant would be admissible in court doesn't mean I would in any way suggest or sanction such a thing in a way that would taint it in the eyes of any court!'
'Right, Sheriff.' Paul put away the paper. 'What was I thinking?'
'About what, sir?'
'Uh… nothing. Excuse me. I've got to make a phone call. After I look up some contact information.'
Warrant Officer Rose couldn't get away to meet Paul until early evening. He heard Paul out, looked at the site address, and seemed to be thinking about it all. Paul tried to look as earnest and convincing as he possibly could. 'Can you try this for me, Warrant?'
Rose squinched up his face a bit. 'It's a little shaky. I mean, yes, I'm supposed to check sites for security effectiveness, but this site isn't really anything I have any reason to go poking around in.'
'I just need to see what's there.'
Rose sighed. 'Okay. Just hold on. Sit over there somewhere and let me work. If I do get access we might have only a very brief chance to look, so don't wander off.'
'Yes, Warrant. I owe you big time for this.'
'I haven't done anything, yet. Did Sharpe tell you I could help you?'
'Uh, no. Petty Officer Sharpe is an officer of the law. He couldn't even suggest such a thing to me.'
'Good. Wouldn't want to break any rules.' Rose wriggled his fingers over the keyboard. 'Now, let's see what kind of defenses this place has.'
Paul had to sit a fair ways back, out of Rose's line of sight, so as not to distract him, but that also left Paul unable to see what Rose was doing. He just had to wait, hearing occasional words or sounds from the Warrant which he strained to interpret.
He was actually dozing in and out sometime later when Rose's voice brought him fully alert. 'We're in! Hurry!'
Paul scrambled over, peering at the display. 'What is it?'
'Some kind of memo.'
Paul scanned, his eyes skipping rapidly across the surface of the document and picking out a word here and there. He raised his gaze to the top again to actually read the document when the screen blanked. 'What happened?'
Rose shrugged. 'They kicked us out. Real nice security on that site. Did you see anything?'
'Yes. Did you?'
'A couple of things.'
'Wh- Wait.' Paul thought for a moment. 'Could you write down anything you saw? I'll do the same and see if we saw the same sort of things.'
'Good idea.'
Paul hastily wrote down the scattered words he'd picked out. 'Here's my list. I saw a name on the memo header. McNamara.'
Rose nodded and pointed to his own writing. 'I saw something like that. Sounds right.'
'I saw SEERS in the subject line.'
'Concur.'
'And I saw the words 'further testing required.''
'I just thought I saw 'testing required.' That's close enough.'
'And 'failure.''
'Not just 'failure.' I know I saw 'catastrophic' in there.'
It was Paul's turn to nod. 'I did, too.' There were several other fragmentary phrases and words which didn't match on their lists. 'But those are enough. Is there any chance you can get back into that site?'
'I doubt it. They're probably sealing the backdoor I just used. And they'll be watching for me.'
'Then this'll have to do. Thanks, Warrant. If any lawyers call you, will you confirm this?'
'Navy lawyers, you mean.'
'Right.'
'Sure. Where are you going now?'
'To see a lawyer.'
Lieutenant Bashir answered the door to his living quarters, listening skeptically. He examined Paul's list of words. 'You're sure? I mean, this isn't definitive.'
'Isn't there a way to get into the site and know for sure?'
'Yeah, with a court order. Do you have any idea how hard that'd be to come up with at this stage in the trial?'
'No, I don't.'
Bashir actually laughed for a moment at Paul's reply. 'You can't be more honest than that. Listen, Paul, there's only one way we've got a chance of getting a court order in time to make a difference. We need another lawyer to help us.'
'Who?'
'Commander Carr.'
Carr was at home, too, in casual clothing. Paul found himself noticing how nice her legs looked in shorts and jerked his eyes away guiltily.
Carr eyed them both, then invited Bashir and Paul in. 'Sit down. What's this about? If it's a plea bargain at this late point, Ahmed, then Mr. Sinclair shouldn't be here.'
'Not a plea bargain.' Bashir gestured to Paul. 'Explain the situation, please.'
When Paul was done, Carr shook her head. 'That's a very thin, reed. Some memo, maybe, at some web site you shouldn't have been accessing, with a few words which, if interpreted very liberally, might be worth looking at. Or maybe not.'
'Ma'am.' Paul pointed to his list of words. 'It was a memo. I'm sure of that. I saw the subject line. And even though I didn't have time to read it in detail I did have time to skim it for an impression. And that impression was unquestionably that it was talking about unresolved problems with SEERS.'
'As of when?'
'Sometime late last year. I didn't catch the exact date.'
'How did you find this site?'
'Uh, I'd rather not disclose my sources.'
Commander Carr looked away. 'Can you at least tell me who this memo was addressed to?'
Paul nodded. 'McNamara. Some guy named McNamara. I couldn't get his title in the time I had to read.'
Carr's eyes locked back on Paul. 'McNamara?'
'Yes. W. McNamara. I'm sure of it. I don't know what the W. stands for.'
'William.'
Lieutenant Bashir raised his eyebrows. 'You know him, Commander?'
'I know of him.' Commander Carr looked unhappy as she massaged her forehead with one hand. 'Deputy Assistant Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Development. I know that because his office provided the background material on the Maury 's new engineering equipment.'
'But obviously that material didn't include any memos talking about catastrophic failures.'
'No, it didn't. Not that I recall.' Carr pulled out her data pad and typed rapidly. 'Let's do a search of the evidence archive. Zero hits. Those words didn't appear in anything I saw, in any context.' Carr leaned close to Paul, her eyes boring into his. 'Paul, I know how badly you want Lieutenant Shen to be acquitted. I know how badly you want to find proof she didn't cause the disaster on the Maury. Are you willing to swear to me that you actually saw those words on a memo addressed to Undersecretary McNamara?'
Paul nodded, keeping his eyes on Commander Carr's. 'Yes, ma'am. I don't pretend to know the entire contents of that memo, but I do know what I've told you.'
'You're aware of the penalty for perjury?'
Bashir almost jumped up from his chair. 'Commander! That's-'
Paul gestured him back. 'It's okay. Yes, ma'am. I'm aware of it. I'm not lying. I'm not engaging in wishful thinking. I saw that much of the memo. I had independent confirmation those words were there.'
