“What do you mean?”
“He was trying to make something happen.”
“Something has happened. Judy tried to steal the Athena file and killed Henry getting away.”
“That wasn’t it,” she said, speaking with conviction. “Henry had ordered the file changed, the documents moved. You knew— everyone with access knew. Camacho must have warned Henry.”
“But if Camacho knows a Soviet spy and talks to him, why doesn’t he arrest him?”
”Something is supposed to happen. Something involving the spy and X. And it hasn’t happened yet”
On Friday morning at 7 A.M. Jake met Rob Knight in a bagel joint on Independence Avenue, two blocks east of the Capitol As they huddled at a tiny table in a corner munching bagels smeared with cream cheese and sipping coffee. Knight filled Jake in on the testi- mony of Royce Caplinger and Vice Admiral Dunedin before the Joint subcommittee of the Senate and House Armed Services Com- mittees the previous day. Neither had been asked about Vice Ad- miral Henry’s death or Smoke Judy, perhaps because the Director of the FBI had spent thirty minutes with the committee before Caplinger went on.
“Dodgers will go first this morning. Duquesne will be done with him in an hour or so. He’s going to question him very lightly on just the technical aspects of Athena, then praise him to the skies as the intellectual heir of Edison, Bell, and Einstein. That’s his plan, anyway.” Knight grinned impishly.
“You really enjoy this, don’t you?”
“It’s the ultimate theater. The stakes are money, the mother’s milk of politics, great heaping mountains of it. And the actors are politicians, without a doubt the lowest form of animate life. Char- latans, mountebanks, liars, hypocrites — they’d cut off your nuts for another term in office, or even a favorable article in a hometown newspaper. If you rendered the whole lot of ‘em, you couldn’t skim enough scruples to fill a thimble.”
“They’re not all like that,” Jake protested.
Knight made a gesture of frustration. “I suppose not.”
“When do they want me there?”
“Well, you’re going to watch Dodger’s performance. You go af- ter him. Normally these things are closed- door, but I got some members to sign two passes.” He displayed them, then handed one to Jake.
They wandered outside, then across to the Library of Congress. On the second floor of the giant anteroom they found a wooden bench in a corner and reviewed the documents Jake would refer to if necessary during bis testimony.
After thirty minutes, Jake announced he was ready and stowed the documents in the briefcase he had chained to his wrist.
“Nervous?”
“Yeah. My stomach feels like…”
“Well, that’s normal. I’ve seen vice admirals preparing for these soirees sweat like they were going to the gallows.”
“Too bad about Admiral Henry.”
“Yeah. Think they’ll ever catch Judy?”
“Oh, he’ll turn up, sooner or later.”
“What are you going to say if they ask you about him?”
“The truth. Just watch.”
“Don’t get rattled. If you can’t remember something, just say so. And don’t feel bad about fumbling for a document I’ll be right there with you, and I’ll help you find it.”
They chatted for another five minutes about this and that, about their careers, about mutual friends, about ships they had been on. Finally Knight announced that it was time.
They crossed the street and walked past the limos and congress- men’s cars parked in the Capitol’s back lot. They went up the marble steps and into the rotunda.
The place was packed with tourists standing in knots of thirty or more, cameras clicking, guides roaring their patter over the hub- bub, the noise echoing in the huge open space above. The two naval officers in service-dress blue uniforms threaded their way through and turned right, passing between the statues into the main corridor.
They went up one flight of stairs and stopped finally beside a door manned by armed security guards, where they showed their passes. The guards consulted a list and said they could go in.
“You ready?” Knight asked again.
“Let’s go to the head first.”
“Good idea.” Knight asked a guard for directions to the nearest men’s.
Standing shoulder to shoulder at the urinals. Knight said, ‘Think of all the great men who have relieved themselves here— senators, congressmen, generals, tycoons, kings. Makes you hum- ble, doesn’t it?”
The hearing room was a disappointment to Jake. He had ex- pected some spacious room richly decorated in a courtroom motif, but what they got was another drab, windowtess hearing room that needed paint and more lights. He and Knight took a seat against the back wall and watched the elected persons make their way in. They conferred with one another and found chairs on the dais that dominated the room. Duquesne came in, nodded at Jake and placed his briefcase at the speaker’s stand in the center of the dais. Then he went from political person to political person shaking hands, murmuring softly.
“It never stops, does it?” Knight whispered.
“They’ll be shaking hands and kissing babies at their own funer- als,” Jake agreed.
Dodgers didn’t even glance around when he was led in by two men that Jake assumed were senatorial aides. They placed him at the little witness table and sat down on either side of him.
With a glance at the clock, Duquesne took his seat. “By mutual agreement, this is a meeting of the Senate and House Armed Ser- vices Committees’ joint subcommittee on stealth projects. Dr. Dodgers, I understand you are here by subpoena. Please pass it to the clerk, and state your full name.”
“Samuel Brooklyn Dodgers.”
“Is that his real name?” one of the congresswomen asked Du- quesne, who repeated the question to Dodgers.
“Yes. I had it legally changed some years back.”
“Do you wish to make a statement to the subcommittee?”
“Yes, I do.”
Duquesne looked surprised. “Is it written? Do you have copies with you?”
“No, sir. I just have a few preliminary remarks.”
“Go ahead then. You have five minutes.”
“As you know, I am the inventor of a radar suppression device that the U.S. Navy has licensed and is putting into production under the code name Athena. I have been working closely with the navy on my invention, and I must say, they are very enthusiastic, as I am. My invention renders radar obsolete, makes it useless, which will revolutionize warfare as we know it. I feel my invention is the greatest instrument for God’s peace ever invented. It will give the United States an insurmountable military advantage that will allow us to lead the world to God’s new kingdom here on earth. We can once and for all demand that the heathen nations—“
Senator Duquesne interrupted as his colleagues began whisper- ing among themselves. “Please limit your remarks to the subject at hand. Dr. Dodgers.”
“Yessir. Athena will allow us to convert the Jews and Moslems and pagans to God-fearing, righteous Christians who won’t start wars or—“
“Dr. Dodgers,” Duquesne said, “I must insist. Your invention is not the only matter before this joint subcommittee. We are short of time. We have another witness to follow you.” Duquesne gestured at Jake. For the first time Dodgers turned and saw him. “We could get right to the questions, if you don’t mind.”
“One more point, sir. The naval officer who is in charge of Athena is here today. Captain Jake Grafton. I see him sitting back there against the wall. I wish to say here and now that he is a godless sinner, a mouther of obscene blasphemies, an agent of Sa- tan. I have complained to the navy and various members of Con- gress to no avail. I am a man of God and a man of peace. I cannot continue to work with this—“
Duquesne whacked his gavel. ‘Time! Thank you. Dr. Dodgers. We’ll get right to the questions.”
The aides whispered fervently in Dodgers’ ear. Duquesne gave them the time. When Dodgers seemed to be settled down, Du- quesne led him through a set of simple questions about Athena: what it was, how it worked,
