Braningham looks sheepishly at his notes. "That was a very rare, unfortunate mistake. And frankly, Your Honor, I still contend that this affidavit falls under the clear provisions of the Act, just like all the others you have reviewed and signed."
"Look, everyone not living in a cave knows that Andy Michaels lost his brother and sister-in-law in the Hemispheres crash. You're asking me, with no factual basis that one might dare to call probable cause, to give you permission for an open-ended search of him, his niece, and this other person, who I have no idea what role he plays. I'm not signing this secondary order without further evidence." The judge drops the affidavit on her desk for dramatic effect.
“Why don't you guys go to the conference room and make some calls. Someone is going to tell me exactly what provision of the Patriot Act or FISA this request falls under, and more importantly, how, before I sign this order. The Fourth Amendment still means something to some of us. This boilerplate, formulaic affidavit is not enough for me, and Counsel, I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that all of the FISA judges engage in a secure conference call every other week."
Braningham and Solarez leave her chambers, have an animated conversation in the hallway, and then disappear into the conference room. Fifteen minutes later the buzzer goes off and a U.S. Marshal in the outer reception area lets the two of them back into her chambers.
"Now that you have had time to confer, which provisions of which act authorize me to sign this order?"
Braningham looks down at his notes and over at Solarez. "Judge, the anti-terrorism provisions and –"
"Are you suggesting to me that Andy Michaels is involved in terrorism? I hope you are prepared to explain."
"Judge, I don't contend that. However –"
"Are you suggesting that a terrorist act was involved in the Hemispheres crash? There has not been a word about it from either the FBI or the NTSB. Is there credible evidence?"
“We don't know yet is the best answer we can give you."
"Well then, if you’re not suggesting Andy Michaels or his niece are involved in any type of terrorism, how does this fit under any Patriot or FISA provision?" she asks.
"Your Honor, we're not of the belief that they were actively involved, but you didn't let me finish. We do believe that the basis of this request fits better under the clandestine intelligence operation provision."
"Wait a second. Isn't it either one or the other? We either have terrorism or we have a covert intelligence operation," she says, holding her left and right hands palms up in front of her as a visual aid.
"Not necessarily, Your Honor. We suspect there is active surveillance already, so we need to determine who may be monitoring their electronic communications. I don't really want to divulge any national security information unless you require us to do so."
"I'm still not going to sign. If you want to disclose more, perhaps I'll change my mind."
Braningham leans over and whispers to Solarez. "Agent Solarez will address your concerns."
"Judge, I understand why you may be skeptical. Let me tell you where this whole thing starts. Andy Michaels' brother, Ron Michaels, was a biologist with Biological Blood Services, a research group just outside Washington. Michaels has developed some very significant breakthroughs having to do with telomeres, one of the basic structures in the human cell chromosome. We were running a counter-intelligence operation involving Ron Michaels before plane went down. We believe that some of the highly classified research he developed was somehow pilfered by at least one foreign nation, and we need to know how. The purpose of this affidavit is to continue an ongoing operation involving counter-intelligence and clandestine activities. That is why we need to monitor all of the individuals outlined in this affidavit."
The judge stands up and walks several steps over to the single window of tinted bullet-proof glass overlooking Courthouse Square. She ponders for what seems like an eternity, then turns back to them.
"So, the category is biological. And the authority would be 'clandestine intelligence operations.' Are you suggesting the Michaels brothers may have been involved in assisting a foreign nation?"
"There are many unanswered questions, but the Michaels brothers are not our targets, Your Honor," Solarez says.
“As to Andy Michaels and his niece, you are monitoring them to prevent a future terrorist act and for counter-intelligence?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
"And you're convinced, Agent Solarez, that this roving electronic surveillance is going to lead you to information regarding a foreign country trying to steal biological secrets?"
"Precisely.”
“This third person, Kent Perless, what is his involvement?”
“At this time, he is only a person of interest. We’re unsure how he fits in, but he’s an acquaintance of Amanda Michaels we’re watching.”
"I’m still not going to authorize these open-ended sneak-and-peek warrants and electronic communication surveillances with no notification to the persons being searched, especially without a sunset provision. I’ll give you three months to get what you need, but then you're going to have to notify them."
"Judge, you know that an ongoing intelligence operation can be compromised as soon as we have to notify…" Braningham whines.
"Like I said, I'll modify the proposed order and give you 90 days before you have to notify the three individuals. By that time you’d better have everything you need and solid evidence of the benefit of this fiasco or you’re going to have hell to pay. And that’s just to me, not the subjects of these warrantless searches. This better not be another Maypole fiasco.”
Chapter 18
Infectious Process
Dr. Wrightson flips through the clipboard with the pathology results and blood tests. He briefly talks to Amanda, mentions she will be starting an antibiotic, and within a couple of minutes, leaves the room. Unfortunately, the blood test results indicate MRSA, a particularly dangerous flesh-eating infection. Only a few antibiotics have been proven effective against MRSA. Two medical residents stand beside Dr. Wrightson, and he assigns one to monitor the blood over the next 48 hours.
“As long as this is being treated, put the usual infection warnings on her door, discuss it with all the nurses, and be sure everyone thoroughly sanitizes their hands before they come into the room and after they leave. This kind of infection must be treated very seriously,” he explains to them. “We’re going to administer vancomycin, one of the best antibiotics for fighting this infection. Let’s have blood draws twice a day for the next 7 to 14 days. She had multiple open wounds with numerous stitches and, unfortunately, MRSA is insidious in a hospital setting.”
The next morning, the resident monitoring Amanda’s blood has startling news.
“Dr. Wrightson, the blood test done this morning on the Michaels patient shows no counts for the MRSA infection. I couldn’t believe it so I ran it again. What am I missing?”
“It’s a mistake. You must have the wrong chart. Or you could be looking at an earlier test before she developed the infection.”
“I checked everything twice — date, time, and patient. I also searched through all the blood records. Did you know that she had no blood administered between the crash site and the hospital?”
“That’s probably a paperwork mistake. You know rescue squads are notorious for poor notes because of what they do and the conditions they work under. You’ll have to talk to them.”
“But remember, she was the only patient airlifted out of that crash site, it’s not like they were triaging a bunch of people.”
“MRSA doesn’t just disappear. In fact, part of the reason it’s so dangerous is because it multiplies. Double-check everything again and let me know what you find.”
Chapter 19
Team Scrapbook
Barbara and her husband spent several hours poring through family pictures collected from Ron and Rochelle’s home and organized them into several scrapbooks for Amanda. They also found a few CDs wit
h family videos. Barbara purchased a new cell phone for Amanda and found her laptop at the house, full of Amanda’s own pictures, email and schoolwork. Both Barbara and Andy have since gone through the scrapbooks with Amanda several times, but have made no progress in restoring her memory of anything before the crash.
A daily stream of well-wishers continues to visit Amanda. Alex Erickson brings his wife Denise and their three kids to see their favorite babysitter, but the kids are upset and confused—despite having been warned of Amanda’s amnesia. Becca brings Amanda two blouses from her shop, which fully button to get around the halo. But Amanda shows zero interest in them. Barbara, always the optimist, remains excited about Amanda’s soccer teammates coming by as a group with a new scrapbook.
“We brought something very special with us,” Iris Bailey says, waving a thick scrapbook in front of Amanda. Iris is followed by several other players from the MA soccer team, all of whom have played with Amanda and had classes with her. David Owlsley, arguably the smartest student at MA, and John Parkinson, who dated Amanda before the crash, are also there.
Iris sits on the hospital bed on one side of Amanda, and Charlyne and Amber sit by the other side of the bed, sharing a chair.
One of the few players on the team who has played club soccer with Amanda since they were 12, Amber has helped put the memory book together, including captions of places and names shown in the photos. Amber and Amanda are both Type A personalities and are like oil and water. “Look at this group picture here. We were what, 12? This was where I met you, Amanda. Do you remember Coach Bobby?” Amber asks, pointing to a picture of young girls in a team picture. “This is you right here, and I’m right next to you. We all had the same color ribbons in our hair.”
Amanda stares at the picture, trying to smile. She recognizes no one and can’t remember anything.
Iris knows that the moment is uncomfortable. She flips the page to the next picture. “This was when we played for the Loudoun Strikers team. Do you remember this Memorial Day tournament? It was raining ridiculously. One time you took a shot and completely wiped out and landed on your butt in a mud puddle. But the shot still rolled in past the goalie.” Iris excitedly says. “Or how about this group picture of the whole MA team and Coach Ricci?”
“Coach Ricci?” Amanda asks.
Iris steals a glance over at Amber and Charlyne.
“Coach Ricci is one of your favorite teachers. He teaches English. We’re hoping to win the State Championship this year. You are one of the starting forwards, along with Amber. We hope to have you back with us,” Charlyne says, knowing it may never happen.
“School’s not the same without you,” John says after the soccer players exhaust their efforts to jog Amanda’s memory. “We all miss your sense of humor. The teachers keep asking how you’re doing, especially Coach Ricci.”
Amanda looks at John and decides he’s is a really good-looking guy. He’s tall, has dirty blonde hair, and is wearing a faded T-shirt and pair of jeans. “What do you do for fun at school?” she asks him.
John looks at her and David with a perplexed smile. “Uh, I play baseball, and hang out.” He thinks it’s too bizarre that she asked that question when they were virtually inseparable before the crash.
“How long did I go out with you?” Amanda asks John, as serious as can be.
“Well, we started dating the spring of ninth grade and have been together pretty much since then.”
“I don’t know what we would have in common.” The comment is biting and sarcastic, and it hits John like a ton of bricks.
John is ready to defend their relationship, but David puts up his hand like a crossing guard, motioning John to keep quiet. He flips down the screen of his laptop on his lap, saying, “Amanda, maybe it will start coming back to you. You don’t remember now, and your emotions are out of whack too. Let’s just move on to something else.”
“Actually, I’m pretty tired. I should probably get some rest.”
Just then, Barbara comes into the room and the teens say their goodbyes and head for the hallway.
“This scrapbook is great. We really appreciate you doing this. And it’s so nice that you want to have a party. We’ll talk to Amanda and let you know.”
As the group walks down the long hall toward the hospital exit, Charlyne mumbles to the others. “I’m so bummed. I can’t believe she doesn’t remember us.”
“Tell me about it,” John says. “She treats me like I’m nobody.”
Charlyne says, “Oh, I left my phone in the room. I drove myself so you don’t have to wait for me.”
The rest of the group departs, and Charlyne walks back inside. Actually, she has her phone in her pocket. She just wants to spend some more time with Amanda, alone. A few minutes later she is talking with her again.
“I really wasn’t that tired, I was just bored and bothered with the whole trying to remember stuff,” Amanda tells Charlyne, simply because she’s there.
“Can I ask you a weird question? What was I like? I mean was I your best friend? Was I nice, or a bitch, or what?” Amanda asks.
“Uh, well, we weren’t really BFFs.” Charlyne says.
“What’s a BFF?”
“‘Best friends forever.’ You were always with John. So yeah, we’ve always been good friends, but you were with him the most.”
“Like all the time?”
“Yeah.”
“John, the guy that was just here?”
“Yeah.” Charlyne opens the scrapbook and points out numerous pictures of Amanda and John.
“Do you know if I, uh, did it with John? He looked at me a certain way, and I was freaking out thinking what if I did? So, did I?”
“I don’t know. It’s not like you walked up to me and said, ‘Hey, John and I did it.’ That’s not the kind of thing you would’ve told me. I know you were intimate with him…” Charlyne thinks it’s time to get off this tangent, and fast. “Do you know you’re the only vegan on the soccer team? You turned a lot of girls onto vegan stuff.”
“Are you kidding? I didn’t eat anything but vegetables? What about cheeseburgers?”
“No. You were obsessive. Frankly it was a royal pain in the ass.” Charlyne says.
“But I love cheeseburgers and eggs and stuff like that. I can’t see eating just plants and green stuff.”
“Crazy. Now we can finally eat somewhere together, no special orders necessary.” Charlyne laughs.
Barbara slips back in and agrees: “It’s true. You’ve been a vegan since you were 16, or should I say you used to be.”
After discussing many other pictures, Charlyne leaves. Sadness envelopes her as she walks alone to her car, depressed at the loss of camaraderie. She resolves to do what she can to restore Amanda any way possible.
Chapter 20
Who Listens?
After the depressing hospital visit with Amanda, David decides to hang out with John and do some gaming at his house. They run through a virtual burned-out warehouse in a snowy war zone.
“Watch out David, there’s a sniper entering behind us.”
David’s online persona, a military warrior, whirls around and guns down the invading sniper with a machine gun.
After lobbing C4 and grenades into different rooms and terminating the virtual lives of innumerable opponents, they finish that particular mission. John scrolls through the onscreen menu looking for another war zone to conquer.
“John, I want to show you something in my car.” They put down the controllers and walk outside.
Before they get to the car, David says, “I really don’t have anything to show you in the car, I just didn’t want to talk inside.”
“Why?” John asks.
“You know I’m a computer nerd, right?”
“I wouldn’t call you a nerd, at least not to your face, but I’ll take your perfect 800 in math, reading and writing on the SAT any time. And your dad works for that computer snoop and spy company, right?”
“Yeah, my dad always
has computer gear around, and it’s been pretty useful. Look, there’s a lot of stuff about me and computers that I don’t tell anybody about. Can I trust you?” David stares at John with a very serious look on his face.
“Sure, you can trust me. Why?”
“Well, sometimes I’m just paranoid, but I have reason to be now. Can you think of any reason why there would be a bug hidden in Amanda’s room?”
“What are you talking about? Like a thing to spy on her with? How do you know?”
“Every time I’ve gone to see her I’ve brought my laptop, and I have detection equipment installed on it, along with a small USB device that works as a receptor. I did some analysis and there’s more going on than just Wi-Fi. I’m as sure as I can be. Any ideas on who’d bug her or why?”
“Who would bug Amanda’s room?” John repeats, thinking. “Well, the press has wanted to talk to her. They’re so desperate for interviews, they even tried me. So maybe the National Enquirer or something?”
“I don’t know,” David says. “But somebody wants to know everything that’s going on in her room.”
John looks back at the house from where they are standing beside David’s car. Could someone actually bug his room? Is David being paranoid? No, David is nobody’s fool.
“Have you told anyone else about this besides me?” he asks David.
“Not a soul.”
Chapter 21
Funeral News
Angie has her TV tuned into CNT as she gets ready for work. The news correspondents are discussing the crash and the video images behind them are helicopter footage of the wreckage.
Taming the Telomeres, a Thriller Page 7
