by Kirk Russell
She handed a beer to him and a bottle opener. When she did, she saw grief rise in him. Jace watched but didn’t go there yet.
“What’s it like to have two million in public money spent searching for you?” she asked as a way of setting a different tone and calling him out on something that had annoyed her, though didn’t matter to her or him, right now.
“It was nice at the lake.”
So back at her—not quite what she’d expected, but she was down with a little attitude from Indonal. It made him more interesting and tougher than she would have guessed.
“You don’t feel any guilt hiding there while people worked long hours thinking you were in danger?”
“You must not watch much TV,” he said. “On TV we were traitors, trying to sell the source code for Indie.”
So back at her again. Jace was starting to like him. He took a pull of beer and added, “No one from DARPA or DoD contradicted those news reports. But they knew why we left. Mark definitely knew.”
“You can’t put your disappearing act on Ralin. You could have gotten a message to us to say you were safe. You could have let us know it was a family fight with Ralin.”
“We thought Mark would do that.”
“Yeah, well, like I said, you can’t put it on him. You’re the ones who took off.”
“We’re also the ones who did what we promised to do, building Indie, then staying on months longer than we’d agreed to.”
“I heard that from Agent Grale. You still took off without telling anyone.”
“Mark had months to find our replacements. He didn’t even try, or maybe he did and I never heard about it. He was supposed to interview and we’d train our replacements as Indie went live. We took it up in stages, and it’s pretty much debugged.”
“What about the two military observers and the four high school kids?”
“That’s on DoD, but I’m not allowed to explain why.”
“Did you communicate with Ralin after you vanished?”
“Sure, I knew within a day or two we’d screwed up by just disappearing. I talked to Mark. Mark was all apologies and ‘let’s work it out.’ He was going to make sure the police and FBI and anyone looking for us would know we were safe.”
“He didn’t do that.”
“I didn’t really think he would, and I was fine with Cindy. Agent Grale found my trailer and pickup.”
“Yeah, Grale,” she said. “Honestly, if you and Eckstrom had sat in jail six months, I wouldn’t have minded. What you did was bullshit.”
“I know you think that. It’s why I’m wolfing through your minibar.”
She smiled, but they were right on the edge of acknowledging the truth.
“We made the country safer,” he said. “It’s going to be a fight, but we helped get the early lead, which is going to matter.”
In a softer voice, she said, “Agent Grale identified Alan’s body early this afternoon. The body was brought to our lab here in Las Vegas. I’m very sorry, Eric. I really am.”
He started to say something but was unable to for several minutes, and then talked as if he hadn’t heard her. “Alan is hoping to meet with people funding a huge medical AI project in Zurich. But I don’t know if it’s happening.”
“Did you tell that to Agent Grale or Supervisor Mara?”
“I told Agent Grale, but it’s not like I know much about it. I think Alan got the Zurich connection from Margaret. He said we’d fly to Zurich and interview.”
“Was Alan staying with Margaret?”
“I think he was, but I don’t know that for certain. I never got her phone number. I don’t know whether she’s a spy or whatever.”
Jace watched him fight a wave of emotion.
“I have all these weird thoughts. How would she know we were quitting that night, and how far before did she meet Alan? She knew him when she sat down with us. I can’t tell what’s true. Alan believed her, so maybe it was somebody else.”
“But something about her worried you.”
“That night was weird in how she sat down.”
“Could you ID her from a photo?”
“Probably.”
“How tall? And make a guess at her weight.”
“Five foot eight but in really good shape. I’ll guess 140 pounds. She’s strong.”
“We think it took two people to hang Eckstrom.”
As soon as Jace said that, she regretted it. It was unnecessary and had no place here. Indonal looked like he’d been slapped.
Indonal went quiet until she moved the conversation back to Ralin and when that went nowhere asked, “How are you feeling?”
“I feel terrible.”
“I know, and I didn’t know whether to tell you.”
“I’m glad you did.”
Jace poured more wine, then said, “We can’t find a Margaret Landis. She doesn’t seem to exist. Do you know anything more that could help us?”
She saw grief flooding his face again. How could it not? She wanted to keep him talking, saying, “Look at you: no big payday, no twenty million, but you’re in love. If you had to choose between the two, which would you take?”
Without answering he lifted his beer in a quasi-toast then opened another bag of chips. He was trying to hang in and keep talking, but the grief was overwhelming him. He was a good guy, she thought. He seemed like a normal enough guy and yet Ralin admitted he had trouble following written equations for some of the math Indonal did in his head.
It tripped her out to think that. Ralin said it was a spatial gift in geometry that only a few in the world have. She didn’t have anything vaguely like that. Strong intuition maybe, could tell when she was being lied to, but mostly that was learned the hard way. She was a good athlete with quick reflexes, but so were millions of other people. Ralin, the Einstein of AI, couldn’t keep up with the guy sitting across from her on the couch who’d just beer belched again and had tears running from the corners of his eyes.
“I am in love,” he said. “I’ve never really been in love, but I’m in love with her.”
She reached over with her glass and clinked it against his near-empty beer bottle.
“Wish I had that,” Jace said, then, “Don’t be too hard on Ralin. He made all the connections. He made the money happen and talks a good game. He looks the part and, in his way, he’s helping America come to terms with the whole idea of artificial intelligence without thinking it’s going to take over the world.”
“It may take over the world,” Indonal said.
“Uh . . . ?”
“It won’t be in a bad way if we’re smart about it. It’ll just mean people don’t have to work in factories and medicine, and many other things will take some huge steps forward and be more affordable. We’ll have to figure out new jobs, but it’ll be cool to have the freedom to rethink a lot of stuff. The military apps are scarier. Everything ‘war’ will speed way up and become autonomous. There’s no way humans will be fast enough, and when fighting starts everything will happen very fast.”
“You built the thing, but you talk like a bystander,” she said.
“We built one aspect. It was going to happen anyway and better it happened here.” He stopped, maybe waiting for her to respond, then asked, “Who does the FBI think killed Alan?”
“We don’t speculate if we don’t know.”
“Spies for another government?”
“They’re in the mix.”
“Is that why I’m in the hotel here?”
Without answering that directly she said, “It’s assumed that whoever killed Alan knows about you.” She watched his face. “When this is over, get out on a lake in a boat with your girlfriend like the first time.”
He smiled and asked, “She told you about back then?”
Jace nodded.
“We’re ta
lking about getting married,” he said. “It’s not like we haven’t known each other long enough.”
“Have you asked her?”
“Not yet.”
“Tell me after you’ve asked her. It’s all talk until then.”
He lifted his beer to that, and Jace felt something change inside her about him. Advanced geometry in his head, but he was still human. She knew he sensed something terrible in Alan’s murder and his grief was genuine, but he was still trying to be here. She started to say something more, then stopped and reached across and laid her hand over his and kept it there as silent tears ran down his face.
33
August 10th
It was a beautiful morning, cooler, with a clear blue sky that made me remember how much I love the desert. No heat advisory warnings today, no late-season monsoon talk or flash flood warnings. I hurt as usual and felt burdened over stupid decisions I’d made with Potello, but not the criminal ones I was suspected of.
Jo was right. My honor was everything to me. I’d sell my house and use that money to fight if I needed to. I bought coffee, took a call from Jace, and then one from Sylvie Ralin, Matt’s estranged wife.
“I have to tell you something,” Sylvie said. “It’s not your problem, and I’m sorry to bother you with it, but I can’t take this anymore. I can’t handle the way it makes me feel. I just can’t do it any longer. I wanted to save my marriage and it’s very hard to say I’m giving up. I made a mistake eight years ago that Mark has never forgiven. He never will, and I’m done trying. I’m filing for divorce today.”
I heard sadness in her voice. I heard defeat.
“I’m sorry I have to bring it up, and I know I shouldn’t be calling you.”
“It’s fine to call me.”
“I don’t want to burden you with personal problems.”
“That’s okay, you can talk to me.”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with the project. The idea that Mark has to be watched is ridiculous. After we moved here from Palo Alto, I was ready to leave the marriage. The head of DARPA convinced me to wait. She talked to me about her own marriage and the mistake she made splitting up with her husband during a difficult time.
“She said give it eighteen months. Make sure he agrees. If it doesn’t work after that, leave him and never look back. That advice made a real impression on me. Maybe she was just protecting the Indie project, but I think she meant it. It rang true then and still does, but for us it’s over. I’m done.”
“Has it been eighteen months?”
“More,” she said. “It’s been too long.”
I heard her stifle a sob. She was quiet, then took me through her move to Vegas with the kids, loading the car, finding a house, getting the kids into schools and settled while keeping her business going. Then she told me something that happened yesterday that she called the last and final straw.
“I got a call from a young woman, a grad student at Stanford,” she said slowly. “I don’t even know how she got my phone number. She said Mark isn’t returning her calls, and she wanted to know if Mark’s visits to my house were more than just to see the kids.”
She stopped there a moment.
“We aren’t even divorced yet. We’re separated and supposedly trying to salvage our marriage, and here’s this young woman in tears asking me if Mark is cheating on her. She asked if he was at the house and if she could talk to him. I said he’s not here and that he’s in London with his girlfriend there, and she hung up. Was that mean of me? I don’t even know anymore.
“I’m sorry, Agent Grale. I’m sorry to trap you with my problems and waste your time, but I just can’t do this any longer. I’ve been fooling myself. But if I file for divorce, will the FBI agents watching the house stop protecting the kids?”
“The threat doesn’t change, so no, I don’t think they’ll pull the agents. Although I also know they’re reassessing how to best protect the families and those commuting to Indie to work.”
“What, like on base? That would mean pulling the kids out of their school.”
“I’ll see what I can learn.”
“I won’t stop him from seeing his children, but don’t drop him here anymore, no matter what he says. I’ll work it out with him so he gets to see the kids as much as possible. But I am so done with it.”
“Hang in there, Sylvie.”
I was barely off the phone with her when Mara called. “Metro wants to reinterview you this morning.”
“Yeah, my lawyer told me yesterday. I’m heading there soon.”
“Good luck.”
***
I found myself in a Metro police interview room sitting across from officer Wycher again and an undercover officer named Mary Fallon. I’d never met Fallon but recognized her name. She’d taken significant personal risk to bring down a drug ring a few years back. My lawyer, Brady, seemed to know her personally. They exchanged hellos and chatted before we got going.
Lighting in the room threw shadows in the hollows of Wycher’s cheeks and made him look gaunt. He looked smaller and more compact than last time, but he was just as certain about himself and hostile. He gave me a tight-lipped smile and leaned back, watching me as Fallon launched into questions.
“Some of these will be very direct,” she said and tucked her hair behind her left ear and straightened. “Please don’t take offense that we’re the ones to deliver the news. Guess what? You’re not going to be charged with anything. You’re probably more shocked than we are.” She smiled at her next thought. “You could have blown off this meeting.” She nodded toward Brady. “It would have saved you money on your lawyer.”
“No has told me that,” I said and to my right, Brady said, “Nor me. Why wasn’t I called?”
“Because you would have skipped this meeting,” Wycher said. “So the captain said we couldn’t tell you. Like I told you before, he’s not a big fan of the FBI.”
“Tell your captain I’m going to bill him for this meeting,” Brady said.
Wycher smiled big. He loved that he’d gotten under her skin.
“Good luck with that,” Wycher said.
“And I’ll copy the chief,” she said. “I’ve known him a long time.”
“Who says I’m not getting charged?” I asked.
“The DA’s office,” Wycher said. “They wussed out on us.”
I put it together now. “Your captain asked that I not be told yet so you could ask more questions and hopefully get enough to change the DA’s mind.”
“You’re too canny, Grale. Is that the right word? We didn’t expect to get anything but more of the same. You’re going to get to keep your pension, but how you wriggled out of this I can’t figure.”
“I can. It’s easy, Wycher. You talk a lot, but you didn’t come up with any evidence. You didn’t build a case.”
I watched his face harden, and it made me happy.
“We’re not thrilled,” Fallon said.
“I’ve told you the truth, but I have no faith in you either. All you want is to take me down. You’ve been driving hard for it, and now someone higher up undercut you. Your captain backed you, but the DA’s office called bullshit on the lack of evidence. Is that right? You’re champions of truth, and you got robbed. That’s assuming what you’ve said about the charges getting dropped is true. Have they really been dropped?”
“Oh, they’ve been dropped,” Wycher said. “Call the DA’s office if you want and then get up and walk away or”—he pointed a finger at me—“we can watch some video of you and Poco.”
“Play the video,” I said, and he did, a clip that was roughly two minutes long.
“That’s you looking around as you walk up alongside his car,” Fallon narrated. “Just the two of you, and oh, look, let me freeze this. Isn’t that you paying with cash? Yeah, there we go, those are twenties. Didn’t you say
all your buys were with a credit card? Didn’t you tell us that? Oh, and then you’re leaning against his car door as if you didn’t want him to get out. You want to do the deal and get gone, right?”
“I’m leaning because my back hurts.”
“And here he is handing over the pills, and that’s you ripping the top off the prescription bottle as he drives away.” She backed up, froze on me with my hand reaching out, and asked, “Do you agree this transaction was in cash?”
“Yes.”
“Do you always carry bottled water when you do a buy?”
“Not always.”
“Do you always scan the street like you’re being watched?”
“I scan the street when I take out the garbage. That’s just the way I am.”
That got an unexpected smile from Wycher. Fallon followed with, “You reach in your car for bottled water to wash down the pill even though you live no more than half a mile away. Is that because you crave the pill so bad?”
“I’d run out of pills and was hurting.”
“You run out a lot. How does it happen you’re running out and needing more pills so often?”
“I have a degrading condition due to a bomb injury. The pain has gotten worse, but I try to take the minimum number of pills. I count every one and keep track.”
“Your girlfriend or wife or whatever, she’s a doctor, right?”
“Yes.”
“Has she ever seen your injury?”
I sat on that comment several seconds, and Brady whispered, “Let’s go, this is spite.”
“Forget that last question,” Fallon said, “but let’s replay the video again, if you’re up for it.”
“Why replay?” I asked.
“Because you’ve got a look and a way that we associate with junkies, and leaving your neighborhood is a textbook move for a high-performing drug addict.”
“I’m not the user you think I am. I’ve been telling you the truth. I made a bad mistake with Potello, and a lot of that was my pride. That’s about all I have to say about it.”
