they couldn’t possibly have seen. Trust me, Ames will manufacture all the mud that he can, and then drag everybody involved right through the middle of it. Even if none of it is legit, some of it can stick. Remember, this is a civil case, not a criminal one. Reasonable doubt doesn’t apply in the same way. All he really needs to do is to get the jury to doubt, even just a little bit.”
Howard frowned again.
Tommy sighed. “You’ve shot a few other people in the line of duty, haven’t you, John?”
“Yes. But every one of them was justified.”
Tommy shook his head. “Not necessarily. And certainly not in the eyes, ears, and minds of a civil jury. Any Net Force operation in which any person was severely hurt or killed will be fair game for Ames. He will haul every one of them out and do a body count. He will show morgue pictures, offer testimonials of the families, whatever he can get past the judge.
“Ames is going to paint the picture that every Net Force op who ever stepped into the field was a bloodthirsty killer who couldn’t wait to go out and shoot, stab, or stomp somebody. More than that, he is going to show that these ops were not only directed by, but
“My God,” Howard said. “Can he really do that?”
“If he can convince a judge that such things go to establishing a pattern of behavior, or that a particular incident can be linked directly to his case, yes, indeed. As I’ve said, civil law is not the same as criminal, and the standards are not as high. And for Ames, no stoop is too low. When he’s on a roll, he has to jump up with his arm outstretched to reach a snake’s belly.”
“My God,” Howard said again.
“If you have an in with Him, I’d pray for intervention,” Tommy said. “Ames stepping into an open manhole or suffering a fatal heart attack would be good. Anything less won’t slow him down. He’ll spin fantasy so thick it’ll seem like you’ve been dropped between Sleeping Beauty’s castle and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride… ”
Michaels shook his head, too. How could somebody do stuff like this and get away with it?
“There’s another thing you need to know,” Tommy added after a moment.
“What is it?” Michaels asked.
“You have to be very careful in your ongoing investigation of CyberNation. Every ‘i’ needs to be dotted, every ‘t’ crossed.”
“We do that in all our investigations,” Michaels said.
Tommy nodded. “I know, but understand this: If you bend the smallest rule, it will cost you. Ames obviously knows about the investigation, and you can be sure that he will wave it back and forth like a flag in a Fourth of July parade. He’ll claim Net Force is harassing his clients because of the suit, that there is no other reason to have such a procedure going since they are all law-abiding and upstanding corporate folk just trying to make an honest living.”
“But our investigation predates this suit.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Tommy said. “Remember, Ames deals in perception, not reality. And as far as your normal investigations, can you honestly say that there have never been any instances where you or one of your people didn’t step outside the lines, even a little bit, in order to crack a case or put away a bad guy? Well, Ames will have copies of all your files — everything that isn’t classified, anyway — at his fingertips, and he’ll be going through them looking for any sign, any hint, of anything he can wave in front of the jury.”
He turned to Howard. “For example, General, every time you got tired of being a desk jockey and went into the field yourself, Ames will use that to show that you like to be personally involved. That you like waving guns around and shooting people.”
“But that’s my job,” Howard said.
Tommy shook his head. “Generals don’t lead the charge into battle anymore. They sit back and direct from afar.” He turned to Alex. “And it’s even worse for you,” he said. “You’re not even military. By being hands-on, you demonstrate a certain zeal, which can easily be fanned up to look like full-blown fanaticism.”
Michaels leaned forward. “Are you suggesting we drop this whole CyberNation investigation? And has it occurred to you that this whole lawsuit might be nothing more than an attempt to get us to do that? Stop our inquiry? Or force us to back off enough so CyberNation can do whatever illegal activity it wants without having to look over its shoulder?”
“Of course it occurred to me, and that’s not what I’m suggesting. I wouldn’t object if you put it on hold until this was over, but you don’t even have to do that. What you need to do is exactly what I said: Proceed very carefully and pay extra attention to all the little details here.”
Michaels looked at Howard. Neither of them had anything to say.
“I told you this was going to be a big can of worms,” Tommy said. “And we don’t even have it halfway open yet.”
Michaels sighed and nodded. “I’ll pass the word along to be careful.”
“Good. Well, I’m off. Have a nice day.”
After Tommy left, Michaels looked at Howard. “I think we need to have a staff meeting.”
“Yes, sir,” Howard said. “I believe that would be a very good idea.”
16
There were four of them in the conference room: General Howard, Jay, Toni, and Michaels himself.
Alex said, “So that’s the situation regarding the legal stuff. Obviously we are not going to drop our investigation of CyberNation, or even put it on hold, especially in light of what Jay has turned up. We are, however, going to take Tommy Bender’s advice and make sure we are squeaky clean on this one.” He looked at Jay as he said that.
There was a moment of silence. Toni broke it by asking, “How sure are we about the clerk, Jay?”
“I’m positive about the money transfer. I haven’t been able to find any reason why a Supreme Court justice’s clerk should be getting any money from CyberNation. I’ve also gone through this guy’s files looking for anything to indicate that he might be a special case — like if he’d done some legitimate work for CyberNation and was still receiving payments from them — and I’ve found absolutely nothing. I am convinced this is a bribe.”
Howard said, “We had better be absolutely certain before we go public on this one. The judge will chop us all into tiny pieces if we are wrong. They don’t like even the smallest hint of improper behavior over there.”
“Amen,” Toni said.
Michaels looked at Jay. “Get us something bulletproof, Jay.”
“I will.”
“Anything else that we should know about coming down the pike?”
Jay shrugged. “Just about these worms and viruses that have been hitting the web recently. I am convinced that the same guy is doing them, and they are getting progressively worse — which means I think there is more to come. There is not much you guys can do to help with that, it’s pure net stuff, but I thought you should know.”
Michaels nodded. “Look, I know this lawsuit is a real pain, and that we all have better things to do. I also know that there is a very good chance this might all be a big smoke screen on CyberNation’s part to keep us from focusing on our investigation. Still, we have to pay attention to it. We’re under the microscope on this one, even more so than normal. Let’s not do anything that could come back to haunt us.”
He got a group murmur of assent.
Alex looked around the room at his team, the people he trusted most in the world. This was where he was supposed to say something inspiring, but he realized that he just didn’t have the words.
Besides, he realized something else as well: There was a reason why these were the people he trusted most in the world. Every one of them was a consummate professional, the best at what they did. They didn’t need inspiration from him. They just needed his confidence and support.
“All right, guys,” he said. “Let’s go get ’em.”
