by Howard Marsh
“OK, do what you want. But if you do want me to try to get my associates to help you, we only have another couple of days before the offer expires, since we need to fill that position and will have to contact the number two on the list.”
Getting help from friends was easier said than done. Everyone who Harry contacted seemed to want to keep a distance from him. They were all friendly enough, but no one could help with the funding and seemed a bit nervous even talking about it. That got Harry thinking. If Walt’s sponsors had such deep pockets and were so powerful that they could run a very elaborate and secret operation like the one that he had a glimpse of a few days ago, maybe they could also intimidate other organizations to make sure that Harry would have no choice but to join their project. He decided to confront Walt directly.
He went to Walt’s laboratory in one of the nearby buildings on campus. Walt was busy with one of his grad students, going over some circuit designs and puzzling over some test data that was obviously not what they thought it should be. A few other students and one of the postdocs were off to the side, installing some sort of weird looking contraption on a scaffold hung from the ceiling. The whole appearance of the lab had a Rube Goldberg look to it, but Harry knew that everything must have been well planned and perfectly installed. Walt was a perfectionist and was one of the world’s foremost researchers in the field of plasma physics. He approached Walt and the student and waited for an opportunity to speak without disrupting the train of thought too much.
Walt backed away from the lab table, and Harry took that opportunity to catch his attention. “We need to talk – now!”
Walt turned and smiled at Harry. “Sure, no problem, we were just about finished here. Donny, go run those tests we just talked about. I think that you’ll see exactly what I predicted. Then, you can change the damping constant and I bet it’ll work like we want.”
When they got to Walt’s office and closed the door, Harry didn’t waste any time getting right down to the subject. He approached Walt and jabbed his finger into Walt’s chest. He was clearly pissed off. “What the hell is going on? Your friends are behind all my problems. Admit it, dammit. Tell me yes or no. Is this being done deliberately by your friends to force me onto the project?”
Walt hesitated for a few seconds before replying. “Believe me, Harry. I had nothing to do with this. I wouldn’t do that sort of thing to you. But the senior leaders in our project are determined to get you to join. Our second choice is nowhere as experienced as you are in areas that are important to us. They’ve obviously called in some big chips to put pressure on you. From what I’ve heard, they’re giving you no choice but to join us. They’ll make sure that if you don’t you’ll never be able to get any significant research grants again. They’re even preparing to put pressure directly on the university to try to have you dismissed or at least assigned to duties that you wouldn’t tolerate for long.”
“Why are those sons of bitches doing this to me? I’ll keep all your damned secrets, and I’ll even agree to work with you part time if that’s what they want. Why in hell do they need me to give up my entire life for them? You seem to be doing well enough working part time for them and still having your research.”
“I can’t go into details, but your involvement will be different from mine. You’ll have to be totally on the inside. I can work both sides. When you get cleared to higher levels, you’ll understand. I think that you also may find that I’ll be a bit jealous of your role in the project, but like I said, I can’t say anymore about it until you agree to join and get the higher clearances.”
Harry was really pissed off at this point. His buddy had stuck a knife in his back, and he wasn’t going to simply give in and do what they ordered him to do. After all, he had tenure, and there was nothing that the university could do to get rid of him. If he couldn’t lead any research projects, he could still teach, and he could turn his attention to theory instead of experiments, and he could write textbooks to supplement his university salary. This wasn’t the end of the world.
He muttered a few nasty remarks to Walt and then stormed out of the office and back to his own lab. When he got there, he found a note on his desk. It was from the university chancellor’s office. He was asked to come as soon as possible to discuss a matter of extreme importance.
“What now,” Harry grumbled to himself and then left to see what the chancellor thought was so important.
“Hello Professor Ambrose,” the chancellor’s administrative assistant said as Harry entered the outer office in the executive suite. “The chancellor is expecting you. I’ll let him know that you’re here.”
It took less than a minute before the chancellor appeared and asked Harry to come into his office and close the door. “We’ve had an inquiry from the Department of Justice regarding one of your projects,” the chancellor began. “Please have a seat, and I’m sure that we can clear things up. It’s probably just an accounting mistake; I’m sure of it. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
Coffee was the last thing on Harry’s mind at this point. With all the other things that had gone wrong, thanks mostly to Walt’s friends, this was all he needed to make the day a complete disaster. “No thanks, I’d rather get down to the matter of this inquiry. What’s it about?”
“Well, I’m not completely sure myself, but we had a phone call from one of the federal prosecutors’ offices about some apparent irregularities in the expense reports for your grant from DOD. It’s the big, multi-year one, the one that funds your research on brainwave control of the mission systems on an aircraft. They claim that several hundred thousand dollars that show up as expenses in the DOD finance system are not listed in any of your monthly expenditure reports, and that this seems to go back quite a few years. They caught it when you were randomly selected for one of the detailed audits of grants that they do each year. When they checked back to the previous three years, they found similar discrepancies and now they need to do a complete audit of all your government sponsored projects dating back seven years. They said that they need to go that far back since this is now an investigation of possible fraud. They also said that the total discrepancy is more than half a million dollars.”
Harry was dumbstruck. Now he was being investigated for defrauding the government? This whole pattern of problems was looking more and more like an elaborate scheme to get him to knuckle under and just join the project.
“I don’t know what to say,” he finally replied, after gaining his voice back. “I document all my expenses and run them through our own finance system to make sure that everything checks to the penny. Can I see the figures that they claim are undocumented?”
“I don’t have them here. All I have is their message that they will need to meet with you and with our comptroller and go over all the records. They want you to speak with one of their accountants, a Mr. Osborne, at this number to set up an appointment.” And he passed Harry a piece of paper with Mr. Osborne’s phone number on it.
Harry left the chancellor’s office and called the number as soon as he got to his office. Mr. Osborne answered and thanked him for his prompt reply. “We’ll need to sit down with you and discuss the problem. I’m sure that there’s a simple explanation. Can you come to my office tomorrow? I’ll fax you the address and directions. Also, could you bring your records from the bank account that you have in Luxembourg? We’ll need to look at that too. And, I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but you should have listed that account on your income tax returns. But we can straighten all that out too.”
“Luxembourg? What bank account in Luxembourg? I’m not sure that I could even locate Luxembourg on a map of the world. I don’t have a bank account there.”
“Professor Ambrose, this may all be a case of mistaken identity, but we’ve obtained records of an account in your name at that bank, and it contains over three hundred thousand dollars in Euros. We need to ask you a few questions about that and about electronic transaction records that seem to point to your Internet account.
Can you come to the office tomorrow at 10:00 am?”
“Yes, I’ll be there, but I’m not sure what I can do to clear this up. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“OK. See you at ten tomorrow,” and with that Mr. Osborne hung up the phone.
Now things were definitely out of control, and it was pretty clear that Walt’s friends were behind this. They obviously were plugged into the government and into the international financial community at very high levels, and they were pulling out all the stops. Time to talk to Walt again. He picked up the phone and dialed Walt’s extension.
Walt answered on the third ring. “Professor Ferguson speaking.”
Harry didn’t even bother to say hello before starting in on Walt. “Your bastard friends are now cooking up more trouble for me. They have the Justice Department, and God knows who else, after me. They’re framing me for defrauding the government of over half a million dollars. They even set up a phony bank account in my name in Luxembourg. What the hell is going on, and how can I make them stop?”
“Harry, I’m really sorry that I got you dragged into this, but there’s nothing that I can do about it. The higher ups decided that they are going to do whatever it takes to get you to join the project, and it looks like they’re willing to destroy you if you don’t agree. Believe me, they can do whatever they want. Why don’t you just agree to join and get it all over with? Like I said, once you know more about it, you’ll be glad to be part of it. I just don’t like the strong arm tactics. I’m really sorry about that.”
“A lot of good your apologies will do for me, Walt. It’s pretty clear that your friends will leave me no options. The next step is probably to frame me for some murder or maybe espionage. Why are they doing this? Even if they got me to cave in, I’d be a disgruntled employee, and they must realize that it’s one of the biggest risks to security. Why don’t they just leave me alone?”
“Harry, I’ve been trying to tell you that you’d want to work on the project once you knew more about it. They’re not worried about any disgruntled employee, and they’re not just going to walk away. They’re not giving you any other choice. But you’ll understand and cool off once you do get into it. I wouldn’t try to fool you about that.”
Harry was silent for a moment. This was going to be the end of his world. He could sense that. Now he was at the mercy of people he never met and who had subjected him to the kind of extreme pressure that could only be described as torture. But what choice did he have? “OK, I surrender. Where and when do you want me to go?”
“You’re making the right choice, Harry. Come to my office at nine o’clock tomorrow morning, and I’ll take you from there.”
“I’m not making any choice. Your friends aren’t giving me any choice. And I can’t come at nine tomorrow. I have to meet some accountant in the prosecutor’s office tomorrow at ten. That’s one of the turds that your buddies threw into the punchbowl.”
“Forget the prosecutor and all the other crap that they’ve thrown at you. None of it will matter anymore. It will all get erased, zap, right into the bit buckets. And the university will also find that the elimination of your research grants was also a big mistake. Who do you want to take over your projects, Juliet or Greg. I can make all the arrangements. Don’t you do anything out of the ordinary. Just finish the day as usual and go home. We’ll handle everything at the university from now on.”
It was that cut and dry. Harry replied, “Have Juliet take over for me,” and he slammed down the phone and just stared at the wall. He knew that his life was now under the control of some dark and powerful force, hopefully with the pleasant effect that Walt kept talking about, but he had his doubts. He was now being forced from the comfortable university “cocoon” that he had built for himself and was emerging into a totally unknown world populated by people who appeared to be totally ruthless and powerful. And they obviously had plans for him that he couldn’t even guess.
Chapter 2
Harry arrived at Walt’s office precisely at nine the next morning and was surprised to see another man there with Walt and Brad Lincoln.
“OK, so I’m here like you said. Who the hell is this other guy?” His manner was gruff, not surprising considering all the trouble that Walt and his friends had been making for him. Harry was definitely not a happy camper, and his attitude made that very plain.
“Calm down, Harry,” Walt replied. “Charlie is another of our security officers. He and Brad are just here to help you make the transition. There are a few things that we need to tell you before we drive out to a facility where we can give you the next set of briefings. These are ones that I’m sure will convince you that joining us is the right move. But first we need to go back to the office where you first met Brad. We want to tell you what comes next, and there are a few things in your background that we need to verify.”
“Whatever you say. I don’t seem to have any choice, do I?”
“Well, actually no. But you’ll see that the choice that we made for you is the one that you would have made for yourself once you know everything about the project.”
“Fine. Let’s go and get this over with.”
They walked the short distance to the room with the thick door and the heavy security, and Harry sat in one of the chairs at the table. Walt, Brad, and Charlie sat at the other three.
“OK,” Brad said. “Let’s get started. We just have a few questions, and then we’ll explain what’s going to happen next.”
Harry nodded but didn’t reply. He was still steaming and wanted as little conversation as possible.
“First off, we need to verify that you are not married and never have been and that you have no children or other close relatives.”
Harry nodded but still said nothing. He thought to himself that the bastards seemed to know everything about him so why would they even ask such stupid questions?
“Good. Now here’s what’s going to happen. We’ll drive to another one of our facilities where you’ll be briefed by several of the senior people in the project. They’ll fill you in on the history, the scientific background, the reason for secrecy, and the importance of the project. That will get you to Levels 2 and 3 and should show you why this project is probably the most important and difficult one that mankind has ever attempted. Next, you’ll be taken to a different location where we have a more secure facility, and you’ll get additional briefings at Level-4, the highest clearance. That’s where you’ll understand why we were so intent on getting you to join us and what your role will be.”
“I didn’t join you,” Harry replied, breaking his silence. “Joining implies willingness. I was shanghaied.”
“Whatever,” Brad said. “The fact is that you’re now one of us, so try to make the best of it, and have a bit of patience. You’ll soon be eager to be part of this project.”
“If you say so.”
At that moment, Charlie’s cell phone rang.
Harry was surprised. “How come he has cell coverage in here? I thought that you secured this place. Don’t you block RF transmissions?”
Walt answered. “We have our own network, and there’s a secure transceiver embedded in the roof of the building and a covert link from it, through the walls of the room to a cellular repeater over there, on that wall.”
Harry looked where Walt pointed and saw the small box.
Charlie ended his brief conversation and was visibly disturbed. “We need to get Professor Ambrose out of here. Forget the plan. Let’s go.”
“What happened,” Walt asked before anyone else could.
“Someone broke into his house, and we got word that the police and FBI are scouring the area looking for him. We have to get out of here now.”
Harry didn’t understand what was happening, but the others obviously did. Brad grabbed him by the arm and hurried him out the door, to a car that was waiting nearby. They all jumped in and drove off like a bat out of hell. It was pretty clear that whatever was happening was something t
hat they all feared a lot more than getting a traffic ticket.
When they were about twenty kilometers away from the university, they pulled off onto a small side street. There they met some people in another car, and they switched and drove off separately. The whole thing was like something out of a grade-B spy movie again. This time there were no blindfolds, but the quick switch of cars and the overall sequence of events from the time that Charlie got the call was unreal. Harry had no choice but to go along.
It took about three hours, with the last hour through some back roads somewhere near the region where West Virginia and Pennsylvania meet with Ohio. Harry wasn’t sure which state they were in, but the countryside was rural, and the last few kilometers of road were definitely country back roads. They stopped at an old farm house and got out.
“This is one of our safe houses,” Brad explained. “From here, we can get safe transportation to the next stop. It looks like we evaded any tail that they were going to put on us at the university. We probably got out just in time.”
“What the hell is going on,” Harry demanded. “What the hell have you got me into, and why are you running from the police. Did you get me dragged into some sort of criminal enterprise?”
“It’s nothing like that,” Walt replied. “I told you that we’re not a government sponsored operation, but there are several governments that have their suspicions that we exist and are up to no good. The US government has a small task force from CIA and FBI trying to find us, but we’ve managed to use our connections in the government to keep steering them away, and we keep very tight security, as you already know. Unfortunately, it looks like our presence at the university has been compromised. They seem to know that you’re involved somehow with us. We probably overdid it with the pressure on you, and they could see that something strange was happening. We’ll have to destroy the small conference room that we first met in, but that’s not a big problem. We have other ways to meet nearby. Let’s get into the house. You’ll have to leave pretty soon to get to the other location for your briefings, and I have to get back to the university. I just hope that they haven’t connected me with this.”
