with the intention of uncovering such a large scandal. But the more I saw, the more I heard, the more I learned, the more horrified I became. I realized that I was way over my head. I became frightened. The power of the Capitol Group is overwhelming. They could destroy me as easily as a tank could crush a bug.”
The people across the table weren’t buying this, not one bit. But they also suspected that they would never be able to prove Jack was lying. Any man who could pull off such a staggering swindle wasn’t likely to leave sloppy evidence around. Whatever they thought of, he had undoubtedly thought of first.
Mia stood up and announced, “My client is tired. It’s been a very exhausting few days. You can ask all the questions you want later.”
“Where are these tapes and when can we have them?” Harper asked with a gleam in her eye.
“Tonight. They’re in a moving van shuttling around the streets of northern Virginia. Frankly, I’d like to get them off my hands. Tell me where you want them delivered.”
Harper finally raised the point Mia and Jack had been anticipating from the beginning, the most important point. “What about legal admissibility? These tapes were made without the permission of both parties.”
Graves glanced at Mia and, by unspoken agreement, he handled this. “When Mia first came to us she mentioned she had an inside source. She provided us with the film showing Jack’s home being burgled and the crude attempt to frame him. In her view he was still at risk, and so was she.”
“Then what?” Harper asked.
“Well, it looked serious, so I took that film to Justice. They went to a federal judge for permission to tape all Jack’s phone conversations and plant bugs in CG’s headquarters.”
“On what grounds?”
“Conspiracy, burglary, attempting to fix a federal bid. You might even say Jack was acting as our agent. The bugs and tapes were legally authorized. The fruits are quite admissible in any court in the land.”
Harper and Rutherford II showed no hint of surprise at this astounding revelation. Nothing Jack did surprised them any long-er. Of course he got a judge to authorize his actions. Of course he had the FBI in his pocket. If the president walked in the room and kissed Jack’s ass, they wouldn’t bat a lash.
And though they knew they’d never be able to prove it, they were sure Jack had this whole thing planned out before he ever made that first call to the Capitol Group.
“Will Mr. Wiley testify?” Rutherford II asked Mia. In his mind he was already plotting the next move.
“In two days, you will have six hours to conduct a lengthy deposition. I suggest you film it. A lot of trials will come out of this, and Jack doesn’t intend to spend the rest of his life bouncing through witness chairs. He promises to appear in court, to verify the accuracy of his filmed testimony and get it entered into evidence. That should be sufficient to use it as many times as you like. Name the time and place, Jack and I will be there. He’ll swear to the provenance of the tapes, and he’ll detail the story he just told.”
“I’ll call as soon as it’s arranged,” Harper said.
“Just so we’re clear,” Mia mentioned, as if it was an afterthought, a niggling little last-minute detail, “Jack just saved the Department of Defense from a twenty-billion-dollar scam.”
For the first time, their brains concentrated on how much this was going to cost. The math was done quickly inside their heads and the sum was staggering. The howls were immediate and loud. “We’re not about to pay out two billion dollars,” Rutherford II shouted adamantly.
“You already signed the contract,” Mia reminded him.
If Mia took the lawyer’s standard one-third cut, her share would be in the neighborhood of six hundred million dollars.
No wonder she had resigned, Harper realized with a shock.
Mia looked at their faces. “You know the old cliche-think how much you’re saving, rather than spending.”
“The answer’s still hell, no.”
“You don’t want the tapes?”
“At that price, forget it. You’ve told us enough anyway. We’ll find other ways to pursue the case,” he answered smugly.
“I’d be interested to learn how.”
“We’ll take your client to court and sue. Or, if we want to play hardball, we’ll have Mr. Wiley here detained as an uncooperative material witness, or charge him as a coconspirator. You’re not the only lawyer in this room, young lady.”
“Maybe I failed to mention that every tape was copied three times. Two other moving vans are cutting fairy circles around the Beltway at this moment, one for our friends in the printed press, one for the TV news stations.”
They searched Mia’s face to see if she was bluffing. Not a wrinkle of doubt or uncertainty. She looked quite cool and confident.
“Are you threatening blackmail?”
“Aren’t you? Lawsuits, prison? But let’s not think of it that way.”
“What would you call it?”
“Lawyer talk. I thought we were just discussing alternative scenarios.”
“I know a threat when I hear one.”
“Then call it a polite reminder.”
“Ripping the government off of two billion dollars is anything but polite.”
“Honor the contract, Mr. Rutherford. You’ll get the tapes either way, I promise. My client wants this scam exposed. Fine with us if comes out in dribs and drabs as the story’s fed over the news wire, dissected and discussed by every talking head in TV land.”
Rutherford II paused for a moment, then tried a fresh tack. “Are you aware of the highest amount ever paid to a whistleblower? How unreasonable this is?” he asked.
“One hundred million. Believe me, I’ve studied the act in great detail. Two billion, or we’ll finish this discussion in court.” She waved the contract like a loaded gun.
There was a long pause as Harper and Rutherford unhappily put two and two together. Jack had not just become Mia’s client; the pair had been in this together from the start. It explained so much, from Mia’s earlier discovery of the report detailing the polymer’s fatal flaw to what was happening here now. She had had many months to think this through, and she had used that edge to sucker them into this deal.
Oh, what they would give if only they could go back ten minutes in time, a do-over.
Suddenly Jack leaned up against Mia and whispered in her ear. She said, “Excuse us a minute,” then they both got up and carried the private conversation to the far corner of the room. All eyes remained on their faces. Mia whispered something at Jack, a hiss more than a whisper. Jack leaned closer and whispered more fervently, and they went back and forth awhile. Their discussion, while quiet, was obviously an intense argument. Eventually, Mia produced a sulky nod, then backed away from Jack. They returned to the table and fell into their chairs.
Mia looked upset for a few seconds, and it required a considerable effort to collect herself. “Oddly enough, Jack agrees two billion is a shocking sum. Too shocking.”
“Thank God somebody’s being reasonable.”
She gave Jack a dirty look, then faced Rutherford II again. “He’ll settle for one billion. Our final offer. A pitiful five percent of what the Capitol Group would’ve stolen were it not for Jack.”
“That’s still ridiculous.”
“Then I’ll see you in court for the full two billion.”
Now it was their turn to whisper. Harper and Rutherford II got up and moved to a different corner, where they murmured back and forth at a furious pace. What are our chances if we refuse to back down and go to court, Harper asked Rutherford, the lawyer. An uncertain shrug-a contract’s a contract, he whispered unhappily. He and Harper both would have to admit incredible stupidity, they’d have to argue that they had no idea what they were signing, a humiliating and feeble assertion coming from the mouths of an experienced lawyer and a senior law enforcement official. Then pray for a cheapskate judge and a long-shot verdict.
Two billion was so far over the top, it could happen.
And what if we concede to one billion, she asked, and they began chewing over that option. Well, at least half that cost would be recouped in the penalties they would impose on CG. They would also sue to claw back the $5.5 billion already paid into CG’s coffers. Clawbacks typically got back only a modest fraction of the total spent, but if these tapes were half as compelling as Mia and Jack claimed, they stood an excellent chance of getting far more;
