Chapter 77

 

The next morning Miss Black accompanied Fred to the Science Division. Mr. Dodd was all smiles as he greeted them at the door.

Fred said, “Please tell your secretary that we don’t want to be disturbed.”

Dodd’s smile faded. He said, “This sounds serious.”

“It is; it’s very serious,” Fred said.

After Dodd relayed Fred’s requirement to his secretary, Fred began. “Mr. Dodd, I know that your division has developed some type of coded program, basically an ESP chip that can be inserted into one’s brain to provide them with limited ESP capability.”

Miss Black interrupted. “Lieutenant, you have no authority—”

“—Please Miss Black, be quiet for a moment. We are not releasing any state secrets, I’m sure Mr. Dodd knows all about this, after all this is the area where the capability was developed.”

Dodd said, “I can’t talk about that.”

Fred said, “Yes you can, you must. Either you, or one of your people, released an unauthorized copy of it to the Chinese.” Fred was bluffing but he had to get Dodd to talk about the chip. If a threat was the only way, Fred thought, so be it.

“But you’re talking about a top secret project,” said Dodd. “I have no authority to discuss it with you.”

Miss Black interrupted as Fred had hoped she would. “Yes, you can talk about it.” She showed him her CIA badge. She turned toward Fred, “I hope you’re happy now that my true identity has been revealed.”

Fred said, “The time has come to open this up; up to now your clandestine efforts haven’t borne fruit.” He directed his next statement to Dodd. “You now have authority to talk. How many of the chips did you make?”

Dodd paused, still not sure if he should release classified information. Finally he said, “We made two of them.”

“And where did they go?” Fred asked.

“One went to the CIA as a deliverable product,” Dodd replied.

“And the other . . .”

“We had to make a duplicate in case there was a problem found in the original. We could then test it out in our lab to see where the problem was.”

“That was not my question,” Fred said. “Again, I ask you; where is the other chip?”

‘“I shouldn’t tell you this.”

Miss Black said, “Look, Dodd, you have no choice. Who received the second chip?”

“Well, the contract didn’t authorize us to produce a duplicate, so I’m reluctant to say.”

Miss Black said, “Come on, we know there was a second made, we are well beyond that stage! Now who has it?”

Dodd said, “But I will be fired for this!”

Exasperated, Fred said, “Better fired than spending the rest of your days in prison. Now who did you give the damn chip to?”

“It was Mr. Schultz,” Dodd sighed.

Fred said, “Thanks, I suspected as much. Now, Miss Black, I need to see Mr. Schultz alone. I promise I will provide you with all the information you need, as well as the guilty party, within a few hours.”

Miss Black said, “Lieutenant, we now know the guilty party is Mr. Schultz; and we don’t have any time to waste.”

“You promised that you would trust me on this,” Fred replied. “Believe me, I will have your guilty party by tonight.”

Miss Black fell silent, but her silence communicated tacit concurrence.