The Zul Enigma

by J M Leitch

  ‘I know,’ Rebecca said. ‘I’ve never seen so many polls. Not even before an election.’

  ‘I’m surprised how many people don’t think he’s human.’

  ‘I thought you’d be pleased,’ Joseph said, holding out his glass for Carlos to fill.

  ‘I’m surprised. Pleasantly. I thought Zul’s appearance would destroy the progress we’d made so far with the Global Consciousness initiative, especially when reports about the bickering at the Emergency Session started coming out.’

  ‘But the reverse happened. If anything, Zul’s appearance added magic,’ Rebecca smiled and lifted her glass, ‘so let’s drink to the continued success of the initiative.’

  ‘What do you make of Anderson’s suicide?’ Joseph asked.

  ‘Ironic it happened on Independence Day.’ Rebecca gave Carlos a disapproving look. ‘What? He was paranoid from the start Zul would bring him down… and he did.’

  ‘Forget Zul.’ Rebecca leaned forward. ‘I heard a rumour today that some of Anderson’s own people wanted to shut him up.’

  Joseph tilted his head. ‘Why would they want to do that?’

  ‘If only I knew,’ Rebecca laughed, ‘then I’d have a story.’

  ‘The budget cuts,’ Carlos shouted, flinging his arms in the air.

  ‘Shush!’ Rebecca looked over her shoulder, ‘people are staring.’ Then she whispered, ‘What about the budget cuts?’ and both she and Joseph bent in closer.

  ‘We all know he planned to sneak the NASA legislation through this week…’ Carlos wagged a finger at Rebecca. ‘This is off the record, okay? What if he still intended spending the money on space related research but instead of with NASA he wanted to spend it somewhere else?’

  ‘Like where?’

  ‘DARPA!’

  ‘DARPA?’ Joseph exclaimed. ‘Do you know what kind of projects they handle?’

  ‘Yes,’ Rebecca gasped, ‘sophisticated military projects. Like man-to-man battlefield communications using neural signals in the brain instead of vocalised speech…’

  ‘Silent Talk,’ Carlos interrupted, ‘and DARPA isn’t involved with anything that doesn’t have a military application. Perhaps Anderson was about to disclose an objective that not many people are aware of,’ he said picking up his wine glass and staring at the red liquid swirling inside.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Rebecca asked.

  ‘Hey, it’s pretty much common knowledge that the US military wants control of space, but the thing that’s never discussed openly is the next logical step – space ownership – in other words the ability to control the whole world from space. By giving NASA’s budget to DARPA, Anderson would have been telling the world that the US government was only interested in spending money on space projects with military objectives. Now even if the US Military approved of such a policy, they wouldn’t have wanted the whole world knowing about it.’

  ‘Because it might have drawn public attention to their intention to own space?’

  ‘Sí.’

  ‘But does the American military support space ownership?’ Rebecca asked.

  ‘Not unanimously, maybe,’ Carlos replied, ‘but I believe there’s a faction pushing for it very strongly. But for sure they don’t want it made public.’

  Joseph shook his head. ‘But why do you think that’s what he was going to do?’

  ‘A comment at the Pentagon when I was there for a meeting back in March. I didn’t get it then, but now… Come on, Joseph, I’ve been warning Greg about this for years.’

  ‘So,’ Rebecca said, ‘you think this space ownership faction wanted to shut Anderson up before people started adding two and two together and turned it into an ugly, public debate?’

  Carlos nodded.

  ‘I could use this,’ Rebecca said in a low voice.

  ‘It’s only my view…’

  ‘But it’s a good theory, Carlos’ she interrupted, ‘and I want to follow it up.’

  He shrugged. ‘Up to you… but I tell you right now you won’t get very far.’

  ‘You might be surprised.’ She bunched up her serviette and threw it on the table. ‘I won’t fly back to Vienna with you this afternoon Carlos, I’m going to stay on here in DC. Excuse me gentlemen,’ she said, ‘but I have some calls to make,’ and she picked up her handbag and left the table.

  ‘Youthful optimism!’ Joseph said looking after her as she walked off. ‘She’s very pretty. Are you…?’

  ‘We’re just friends.’

  Joseph raised an eyebrow.

  ‘I mean it,’ Carlos growled.

  Joseph picked up his wine. ‘So how did you feel when you saw Zul appear?’

  ‘For a moment I thought he was going to say it was a hoax.’ Carlos put one hand on his heart and nodded, ‘so I was very happy when he began describing the evolutionary process.’

  ‘It’s forced NASA to fire up another investigation.’

  Carlos grinned. ‘I can imagine. They can’t ignore it now Zul’s gone public.’

  ‘Weren’t you worried he’d go into too much detail?’

  ‘Sí. Terrified. But logic told me he wouldn’t. It wouldn’t help get us humans where we need to be.’ He lifted his glass. ‘And what do you think now?’ he asked Joseph.

  ‘Same as before. Until there’s proof, we can’t be sure either way. What about Greg?’

  ‘Since Monday, he’s taking Zul much more seriously.’

  ‘And the Clean Up Plan? How’s that coming along?’

  ‘He’s more serious about that too.’

  ***

  The moment Carlos walked out of the Rathaus metro station, he saw Rebecca waving at him.

  ‘Carlos! Hi!’ she called.

  He walked over and she put a hand on his arm as she stood on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

  ‘Been waiting long?’ he asked.

  ‘I was early so I had a walk around. I can’t believe it. The whole place is transformed.’

  ‘The festival runs from July to the beginning of September every year,’ he said.

  ‘Just look at all the chairs set out in the plaza. And the jumbo screen. The concerts will be amazing. And all the different kinds of food set out…’ Carlos smiled at her excitement.

  It had been sunny all day and with twilight approaching, the sky was striped with a sunset pallette of pinks, oranges and purples. A medley of Strauss waltzes poured from the banks of speakers and flooded the square as a prelude to the main event, which that particular night was to be a performance of Georges Bizet’s Carmen.

  ‘I’m starving,’ Carlos said.

  They decided on an Indian food stall and were so hungry they didn’t exchange a word until they’d finished eating. Carlos wiped up the spillage with paper napkins, cleared the empty plates and went to get them another round of drinks.

  ‘How did you get on with your investigation?’ he asked, sitting back down.

  ‘I got in to see Anita Goodwin,’ Rebecca began.

  ‘Hey! How did you manage that?’

  ‘Ah ha!’ Rebecca said, ‘my little secret.’

  ‘And…’

  ‘And she confirmed what you said – about Anderson wanting to re-route the NASA cuts to DARPA.’

  ‘So I was right. And where does she stand on that? Did she say?’

  ‘She said she and the majority of the administration had tried to persuade him against it. Of course, with him gone, it won’t happen.’

  ‘Thank Christ for that. Anything else? What about the theory to bring him down?’

  ‘She said she’d heard a rumour but didn’t believe it. Then I asked her about a covert military strategy pushing towards securing space ownership but she denied knowing anything about it, although she admitted it’s the direction Anderson was heading, which scared a lot of people.’ Rebecca sipped her spritzer. ‘I also talked to Barbara Lord.’

  ‘My friend… ex-Director of National Intelligence?’

  ‘The same. You see, I wondered if there was a connection between Anderso
n firing her and the plot to destroy him. I thought if he had an inkling someone was trying to bring him down, he might have thought she knew about it. I wanted to mention it to her and test her reaction, even though I knew she’d never admit it.’

  ‘Clever you!’

  ‘Well… not so clever me… she said she didn’t think there was anything to the rumour either. And I believe her.’

  ‘So do you have a story?’

  ‘Yes, and no. There may well be a faction in the military pushing towards space ownership and if there is they wouldn’t want it to become general knowledge. If such a group does exist, they may have been afraid the President’s intention to take funds from NASA and give them to DARPA would raise some eyebrows, since every new space project from then on would have a purely military focus. So it’s feasible they wanted to “off” the President before he rocked the boat and it’s feasible they came up with a plan to do it themselves or they could have brought in an outside agency to do the job for them.’

  ‘That sounds like a story.’

  ‘Yes. But if that is what happened, how exactly did they “off” the President? Did they invent Zul and have him appear on TV in order to push Anderson over the edge and force him to kill himself?’

  ‘That doesn’t sound very believable.’

  ‘Exactly. The US military would have the personnel and the resources to pull the Zul intervention off, that’s a given. But why go to so much trouble when there are a hundred simpler ways to bring down a President? And why depend on a plan that relied on forcing him to commit suicide? I just don’t see it.’

  ‘Perhaps it wasn’t suicide.’

  ‘I wondered that too. I talked to Tony Wilson, Anderson’s Press Secretary, the guy who found his body.’

  Carlos leaned forward in his seat. ‘And…’

  ‘There’s an outside chance someone could have slipped into his office when his secretary was away from her desk, but there’s no evidence that anyone forced Anderson to shoot himself. And he left a note. Also if someone had threatened him, he would’ve had time to hit the emergency alarm hidden in his desk.’

  ‘So it’s feasible but unlikely he was murdered.’

  ‘Yes. Of course it’s still possible there was a plan to kill him that was never implemented because he topped himself first. Or that the plan was simply to discredit him and force him to resign.’

  ‘I guess we’ll never know.’

  Rebecca sighed ‘My gut tells me there is a story here – a big one – but what it is exactly I have no idea. But you know what?’

  Carlos looked into her dark brown eyes. ‘What?’ he asked.

  ‘I finally know what I’m going to write my book about.’

  ‘Hey, that’s great. What?’

  ‘The Zul enigma,’ she said smiling.

  ***

  ‘Rebecca, hi.’

  ‘Erika. It’s good to see you again.’

  Rebecca pulled out a chair and joined Erika at a little table outside Kleines Café. The café’s name was apt – it was tiny inside – but in the heart of the old city on a warm, sunny summer’s evening sitting outside on Franziskanerplatz, it was a terrific place to be.

  A waiter appeared and Erika ordered a bottle of Gru-Vee.

  ‘What’s that?’ Rebecca asked.

  ‘Grüner Veltliner. It’s a local wine.’

  After the waiter had poured it, the two women clinked glasses. ‘Mmm, delicious,’ Rebecca said.

  ‘So…when did you get back?’

  ‘Yesterday morning. I stayed on a couple of extra days in DC. A potential story. But it didn’t work out. All I had was speculation, I couldn’t find anything to nail it down.’ Rebecca shook her head. ‘Disappointing.’

  ‘Will you do more volunteering now you’re back?’

  ‘The project in Europe’s finished. And... I’ve had an idea for a book.’

  ‘A book! How exciting! What about?’

  ‘I’m not ready to say yet. But enough about me – tell me more about you. I know you have two sons – but do you work as well?’

  ‘Sure. I’m a PA at a company that supplies on-board digital signal processing and control electronics. The former Austrian Aerospace. I work at their HQ here in Vienna.’

  ‘Do you speak German?’

  ‘My mother was German. Although I was born and grew up in the States, we always spoke German together. It’s sure paying off now.’

  ‘And how was your romantic weekend in New York?’ Rebecca asked raising an eyebrow.

  ‘Oh!’ Erika said, ‘it was amazing and Drew was amazing.’

  Rebecca smiled. She glanced up at Erika from under her lashes. ‘But I bet you were glad to see your boys when you got back. Where are they, by the way?’

  ‘They’re playing tennis with Drew. Then he’s taking them for a burger.’

  ‘You’re lucky. To have someone who so adores you and your children.’

  ‘I know. Mind you, I paid my dues. The father of my kids walked out the day I got out of hospital with my new baby. I never heard from him again. He sure as hell never sent any child support.’

  Rebecca shook her head. ‘Was that before you met Drew?’

  ‘No. I dated him before I got married. When my husband left, Drew helped me with money. And he’d pop in when he was nearby to make sure I was okay… usually with a surprise… a bottle of perfume or a bottle of wine. And he’d baby-sit for me.’

  ‘So your boys have known him all their lives?’

  ‘Sure,’ Erika smiled. ‘He was like their favourite uncle, as well as being my best friend. He helped me get a job back then too. He asked around all his friends and Joe Fisher who was working at Northrop Grumman in Maryland at the time, told him they were looking for admin staff. Joe got me my job here too.’

  ‘Carlos and I had lunch with him in DC last Thursday.’

  ‘They were all at NASA. Back in the old days.’

  ‘He’s a bit of a cold fish, don’t you think?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘A bit… well… reserved.’

  ‘That’s Joe… you’re always wondering what’s going on up here,’ Erika said, tapping herself on the side of the head.

  ‘I know what you mean, he’s obviously very bright.’

  ‘Tell me, has Carlos said anything to you about Drew?’ When Erika saw Rebecca start chewing on her lower lip she knew the answer. ‘So he did.’

  Rebecca nodded, her face grave. ‘He told me everything after we bumped into you that night. It was a terrible shock for him.’

  ‘I really put him on the spot. I did it deliberately. Thing is they had such a great friendship. I mean they were…’ Erika took a breath and then blew the air out of her mouth, ‘… well… so close. If only Carlos could just forgive and forget. I mean, shit happens, you know?’

  ‘Carlos misses the friendship. He told me that. But, well, he is Spanish. In the old days, he’d have killed Drew for what he did.’

  ‘But she told him it was over.’

  ‘Maybe, but from what Carlos said they had such a volatile relationship that didn’t mean very much,’ she raised her shoulders in a shrug. ‘How many times had they split up before?’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘You knew Elena, didn’t you? What was she like?’

  ‘She was the kind of woman who turned men’s heads. And she loved men’s company. She was gregarious and fun and exotic. She was part Spanish, did you know that?’

  ‘He said.’

  ‘They were similar in many ways, highly opinionated, headstrong, passionate. They made an electric couple, which was great when they were in sync but when they crashed it got very messy. And she could be selfish, you know? The “I want, I want” kind of gal? She loved Carlos, there’s no doubt in my mind, but she also saw him as a go-getter. She knew as long as she stuck with him, he’d provide her with the good life.’

  ‘So why didn’t she want to go to Vienna?’

  ‘She didn’t want him go-getting overseas. Wh
at a lot of people didn’t know about Elena was that deep down she was very insecure. I think that’s why she was such a flirt. The thought of living so far away from her family and friends terrified her.’

  ‘You’re painting quite a different picture to the one Carlos did.’

  ‘I don’t think he saw it. She didn’t want him to. She knew he was attracted by capable women, not the weak and whiny kind.’

  Rebecca lifted her glass. ‘You said she was a flirt?’

  ‘Big time. She had this radiating sensuality that she played up to the hilt.’

  ‘Did she flirt with Drew?’

  ‘Sure she did. She put out with all the men.’

  ‘So you think she encouraged him… you know…’

  ‘I’d put money on it. Don’t get me wrong. She wasn’t the unfaithful type. But when you think about it, after walking out on Carlos that time in the US – threatening divorce and all – why would she go to Drew?’

  ‘Because he was a friend.’

  ‘Is that what you’d do? Go cry on the shoulder of your husband’s best male friend?’

  Rebecca dropped her eyes. ‘No. I suppose not.’

  ‘I think she went to Drew because she wanted reassurance, you know? And to spite Carlos. But the game went too far. When she realised she didn’t want Drew, not for keeps – he was no prize compared to Carlos – she dumped him and went back. Sad thing is she broke Drew’s heart. Did Carlos tell you she knew she was pregnant? When she left him that last time.’

  ‘He said he thought she must have known. But she didn’t tell him. He had to read about it in the autopsy report. Can you imagine how he must have felt?’ Rebecca shook her head, her eyes reddening around the rims. ‘What was she thinking? Running off to Drew when she was pregnant with Carlos’s child? I mean… there’s no way that could ever have worked out happily… whether she kept the baby or not,’ then Rebecca gasped. ‘My God! Did Drew know?’

  Erika screwed up her eyes trying to make a decision. ‘Look. He didn’t tell Carlos he knew about the baby… confessing to the affair was bad enough… so please don’t say anything, but yes, she told Drew when she called him from Vienna.’