Total Control (18 page)

Sawyer sat in one of the folding chairs. "We're not sure that's the case, but Lieberman was the only passenger on the plane warranting that kind of special attention."

"Why the hell go to all this trouble to kill the Fed chairman?"

Sawyer pulled his coat tighter around him as the cold wind swirled inside the tent space. "Well, the financial markets took a tremendous beating when the news broke of Lieberman's death. The Dow lost almost twelve hundred points, or about twenty-five percent of its total. In two days. That makes the Crash of 1929 look like a hiccup. The overseas markets are being battered too." Sawyer stared pointedly at Kaplan. "And wait until news leaks that the plane was sabotaged. That Lieberman might have been deliberately killed. Who the hell knows what that will trigger?"

Kaplan's eyes widened. "Jesus! All that for one guy?"

"Like I said, somebody killed Superman."

"So you got a lot of potential suspects--foreign governments, international terrorists, crap like that, right?" Kaplan shook his head as he contemplated the number of bad people on the increasingly small sphere they all called home.

Sawyer shrugged. "Let's just say it's not going to be your run-of-the-mill street criminal."

The two men fell silent and again stared over at the crash site.

They watched the crane's cable reverse its direction, and within two minutes a bucket carrying two men appeared above the pit. The crane swung around and gently rested the bucket on the ground.

The two men clambered out. Sawyer and Kaplan watched with growing excitement as the pair raced toward them.

The first to arrive was a young man whose white-blond hair partially obscured a choirboy's features. In his hand was clenched a plastic baggie. Inside the baggie was a small, metallic, rectangular object, heavily charred. The other man lumbered up behind him. He was older, and his red face and labored breathing spoke of the rarity of his finding himself racing across wide cornfields.

"I couldn't believe it," the younger man almost shouted. "The starboard wing, or what was left if it, was sitting right on top, pretty much intact. I guess the left side took the brunt of the explosion with the full tank. Looks like when the nose burrowed into the ground, it created an opening slightly larger than the circumference of the fuselage. When the wings hit the sides of the pit, they crumpled back and over the fuselage. Damn miracle, if you ask me."

Kaplan took the baggie and stepped over to the table. "Where'd you find it?"

"It was attached to the wing's interior side, right next to the access panel for the fuel tank. It must have been placed inside the wing on the inboard side of the starboard engine. I'm not sure what it is, but I can damn sure tell you it doesn't belong on a plane."

"So it was placed to the left of where the wing sheared off?" Kaplan asked.

"Exactly, Chief. Another couple inches and it would've been gone tOO."

The older man spoke. "From the looks of it, the fuselage shielded the starboard wing from a good deal of the initial postcrash explosion.

When the sides of the crater collapsed, all the dirt must've cut off the fire almost immediately." He paused and then added solemnly, "But the forward section of the cabin's gone. I mean nothing's left, like it was never there."

Kaplan handed the baggie over to Sawyer. "Do you know what the hell this is.TM

Sawyer's face broke into a dark scowl. "Yeah, I do."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sidney Archer had driven to her office and was now seated at her desk; her office door was closed and locked. It was a little after eight in the evening, but she could hear the faint buzz of a fax machine in the background. She picked up the phone and dialed Kay Vincent's number at home.

A man answered.

"Kay Vincent, please. It's Sidney Archer."

"Just a minute."

As Sidney waited, she looked around the confines of her office. A place normally of deep comfort to her, it looked strangely out of focus. The diplomas on the wall were hers, but at this moment she could not seem to remember when or where she had earned them.

She had become purely reactive, battered by one shock after another.

She wondered if a new surprise was awaiting her at the other end of the phone line.

"Sidney?"

"Hello, Kay."

The voice sounded ashamed. "I feel so bad, I didn't even ask you this morning about Amy. How is she?"

"She's at my parents' right now." She swallowed hard and then added, "She doesn't know, of course."

"I'm sorry I acted the way I did at work. You know how that place is. They get uptight if they think you're taking personal calls on their time."

"I know, Kay. I didn't know who else to talk to over there." She didn't add, whom she could trust.

"I understand, Sid."

Sidney took a deep breath. She might as well get right down to it. Had she looked up, she might have noticed the doorknob on her door slowly turn and then stop as the locking mechanism prohibited further movement.

"Kay, is there something you wanted to tell me? About Jason?"

There was a perceptible pause on the other end of the line before Kay answered. "I couldn't have asked for a better boss. He worked real hard, was moving up fast. But he still took the time to talk to everybody, spend time with them." Kay stopped talking, perhaps trying to collect her thoughts before plunging ahead, Sidney wasn't sure. When Kay didn't say anything, Sidney floated a question.

"Well, did that change? Was Jason acting differently?"

"Yes." The word was blurted out so quickly, Sidney almost didn't catch it.

"How so?"

"It was a bunch of little things, really. The first thing that had me concerned was Jason ordering a lock for his door."

"A lock on an office door isn't so unusual, Kay. I have one on mine." Sidney glanced over at her own office door. The doorknob was now motionless.

"I know that, Sid. The thing is, Jason already had a lock on his door."

"I don't understand, Kay. If he already had a lock, why did he order another one?"

"The lock he had on his door was a pretty simple one, a pop-out lock on the doorknob. Yours is probably one of those."

Sidney again glanced at her door. "That's right, it is. Aren't all office door locks pretty much the same?"

"Not these days, Sid. Jason had a computerized lock put on his system that required a smart caM."

"Smart card?"

"You know, a plastic card with a microchip thing in it. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but you need it to get into the building here, and certain restricted access areas, among other things."

Sidney fumbled through her purse and pulled out the plastic card she had taken from Jason's desk at home.

"Does anyone else at Triton have those kinds of locks on their office doors?"

"About a half dozen. Most of them are in finance, though."

"Did Jason tell you why he had ordered the additional security for his office?"

"I asked him, because I was concerned that maybe there had been a break-in and nobody told us. But Jason said he had taken on some additional responsibilities with the company and had some items in his keeping that he wanted additional protection for."

Tired of sitting, Sidney stood up and paced. She looked out the window into the darkness. Across the street, the lights of Spencers, a posh new restaurant, gleamed back at her. A stream of taxis and luxury cars disgorged elegantly dressed parties who sauntered into the establishment for a night of fine food, drink and the latest city gossip. Sidney pulled the blind down. She let out her breath and sat on her credenza, slipping out of her shoes and absently rubbing sore and tired feet.

"Why didn't Jason want you to tell anyone that he had taken on additional responsibilities?"

"I don't know. He's been promoted three times already in the company. So ! know it wasn't that. You wouldn't be secretive about something like that anyway, would you?"

Sidney pondered this information for a few seconds. Jason hadn't mentioned a promotion to her and it was inconceivable that he would not. "Did he tell you who had given him the additional responsibilities?"

"No. And I really didn't want to pry."

"Did you tell anyone else what Jason had told you?"

"No one," Kay said firmly.

Sidney tended to believe her. She shook her head. "What else had you concerned?"

"Well, Jason kept a lot more to himself lately. He also made excuses for missing staff meetings, things like that. This had been going on for at least a month."

Sidney stopped rubbing nervously at her foot.

"Jason never mentioned testing the waters with another company?"

"Never." Sidney could almost feel the firm shake of Kay's head through the phone line.

"Did you ever ask Jason if anything was bothering him?"

"I did once, only he wasn't real receptive. He was a good friend, but he was also my boss. ! didn't want to push it."

"I understand, Kay." Sidney slid off the credenza and replaced her shoes. She noticed a shadow pass under her door and then it stopped.

She waited for a few more seconds, but the shadow did not budge.

She clicked the button on her receiver to portable use and disconnected the cord. A thought had occurred to her.

"Kay, has anyone actually been into Jason's office?"

"Well..." Kay's hesitation allowed Sidney to come up with another inquiry.

"But how could they, with all the extra security measures on his office door?"

"That's the problem, Sid. No one had the code or Jason's security card. The door's three inches of solid wood set on a steel frame. Mr. Gamble and Mr. Rowe haven't been in the office this week and I think no one else really knew what to do."

"So no one's been in Jason's office since it... it happened?" Sidney looked down at the smart card.

"Nobody. Mr. Rowe was in late today. He's having the company that installed the lock come tomorrow to open it."

"Who else has been around?"

Sidney could hear Kay let out her breath. "They had someone over from SecurTech."

"SecurTech?" Sidney shifted the phone receiver to her other ear as she continued to eye the shadow. She inched toward the door. She was not concerned that it was an intruder. Plenty of people were still working at the office. "That's Triton's security consultant, isn't it?"

"Yes. I was wondering why they were called in. The word is it's pretty normal procedure when something happens like this."

Sidney was now to the right of the door, her free hand inching toward the doorknob.

"Sidney, I've got some things of Jason's at my workstation. Photos, a sweater of his he let me borrow one time, some books. He tried to get me interested in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature, although I'm afraid I never did."

"He did the same thing with Amy until I pointed out it would probably help to have her learn her ABCs before she plunged headlong into Voltaire."

The two women laughed together, which felt very good under the awful circumstances.

"You can come by whenever you want to pick them up."

"I will, Kay, maybe we can have lunch... and talk some more."

"I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."

"I really appreciate what you've told me, Kay. You've been a big help."

"Well, I cared a lot for Jason. He was a good, decent man."

Sidney felt the tears start to bubble to the surface, but when she looked at the shadow under her door again, her nerves hardened. "Yes, he was." The last word she uttered contained a dead-cold finality.

"Sid, you need anything, and I mean anything, you just call, you hear me?"

Sidney smiled. "Thank you, Kay. I may just take you up on that."

As soon as she clicked off the phone and laid it down, Sidney yanked her office door open.

Philip Goldman did not appear startled. He stood there calmly staring at Sidney with his balding head, expressive face, protruding eyes, slender, rounded shoulders and the beginnings of a belly. His clothing appeared to be and was indeed very expensive. Standing in her shoes, Sidney was taller than Philip by two inches.

"Sidney, I was passing by and noticed the light on. I had no idea you were here."

"Hello, Philip." Sidney eyed him closely. Goldman was a slender notch below Henry Wharton in the Tyler, Stone partnership pecking order. He had a substantial client base and his life was focused on his own professional career enhancement.

"I must say I'm surprised to see you here, Sidney."

"Going home right now isn't such an appealing idea, Philip."

He slowly nodded his head. "Yes, yes, I can well understand that."

He glanced over her shoulder at the phone receiver lying on the shelf of one of the bookcases. "Talking with someone?"

"Personal. There are a lot of details I need to go over now."

"Of course. Death is terrible enough to confront. Sudden death even more so." He continued to stare pointedly at her.

Sidney felt her face flushing. She turned away, grabbed her bag off the couch and pulled her coat from behind the door, partially closing the door on Goldman, who had to step back quickly to avoid being struck.

She put on her coat and poised her hand over the light switch.

"I've got an appointment I'm late for."

Goldman stepped back into the hallway. Sidney made a show of locking her office door before shutting it.

"This may be an awkward time, Sidney, but I wanted to congratulate you on your handling of the CyberCom transaction."

She jerked her head around. "I'm certain we should not be discussing that subject, Philip."

"I know, Sidney," he said. "However, I still read the Wall Street Journal and your name has been mentioned several times. Nathan Gamble must be very pleased."

"Thank you, Philip." She turned to face him. "I have to go now."

"Let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

Sidney quickly nodded and then moved past Goldman. She walked down the hallway toward the firm's main entrance and disappeared around the corner.