“Mr. Jordan,” Senator Straworth smiled as he began grilling Joshua, “you just said you have a concern about your RTS technology getting into the wrong hands. Correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And who exactly do you think of as the ‘wrong hands’?”
“I think the wrong hands are anyone outside of the United States.”
“By ‘outside the United States’ do you mean our allies too?”
“Yes, sir,” Joshua answered forcefully.
“So you would deny our allies the same defense measures as we have?”
“No, sir.” Joshua’s lawyer leaned in to whisper something urgently to Joshua, but Joshua just shrugged him off. “I believe we should share our technology with our most trusted allies, but we shouldn’t just hand it over to them.”
“Hand it over to them?” Straworth feigned ignorance.
“This isn’t just another weapons system we can sell to the highest bidder. This system—my system—can alter the nuclear balance for the better of our country, for the better of the world, but only if we maintain strict control over it. Imagine if every missile, any missile, fired at us could be turned back on itself. With my Return-to-Sender system, there is a probable certainty that any missile attack by a rogue nation would result in their own self-destruction. So the threat of a nuclear missile attack on our country or our allies drops to almost nothing.”
“If your system works the way you say it does,” injected Straworth.
“I think we proved that two weeks ago, don’t you?” Joshua shot back. “Just as when we put nuclear weapons into Western Europe to deter the Soviet menace in the 1980s, we did not turn over our nuclear arsenal to the Europeans, even though they were our allies. That way we could assure the world the weapons wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
“And I am here to assure you, Mr. Jordan,” said Senator Straworth, “that we have the same concern today.”
“That’s good to know.” Joshua relaxed. This was easier than he thought.
“But I think you have things turned around, Mr. Jordan.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” the senator said, his voice now building in intensity. “You see, protecting military secrets, with all due respect, is not the province of some private businessman like yourself. It is the province of the United States government. That’s our job. Not yours.”
“I think you’re forgetting something,” Joshua said.
“And what’s that?”
“I’m part of the United States government. Not because I work for the Pentagon, but because I’m an American citizen. I’m part of ‘we the people’ in the Preamble to the Constitution. In that respect, Senator, I guess you could say that you work for me…and for all of us.”
Straworth could now see that the gloves had come off.
“That’s right, Mr. Jordan, that’s right. I do work for you. I was elected by Americans just like you and put into a position of authority to make the tough decisions that affect my country’s security. That is the job I’ve been given by the people of this country. That’s not the job you have been given, sir.”
The senator’s face was turning crimson, and he was just getting started. His voice boomed out. “There’s a certain hubris, sir, in your refusal to produce your documents on this project, an arrogance in your taking it upon yourself to decide when and how military secrets ought to be shared with the United States Congress. An attitude that, quite honestly, I find shocking, and dare I say it—unpatriotic—”
Harry Smythe leaped forward to his microphone before Joshua could get to his. “Sir, there’s no need to impugn the patriotism of my client.” The lawyer held his hand over Joshua’s mic to make sure his client didn’t start cursing.
Straworth continued, “It is precisely because of your previous record of patriotism and service to this country that I find it particularly puzzling why you won’t comply with a simple request from your government—”
Joshua had heard enough. He ripped his lawyer’s hand off his mic. “Because I don’t want to give a single piece of technology that could save our country to the very people who are trying to destroy it!”
Senator Straworth sat back, like a spider watching his prey fly straight into his web. He smiled, then leaned forward again. “Do you mean the United Nations and the signers of the Six-Party Missile-Defense Treaty?” intoned Straworth.
“Exactly,” blurted out Joshua.
“You mean our allies then?”
“Allies?”
“Yes,” confirmed the senator.
“Allies like China and Russia?” sneered Joshua.
Harry Smythe knew he couldn’t stop his client, so he simply sat back to watch these two men going at each other like heavyweights in the ring.
“They are our allies, Mr. Jordan,” said Straworth, now clearly enjoying himself.
“That’s right,” said Joshua, “but only because we need oil from one and owe trillions of dollars to the other.”
“So we should just throw out all our alliances because of an injured sense of pride?” the senator said, toying with him now. “So who can we trust in this world then?”
“That is the question, isn’t it, Senator?” Now it was time for Joshua to fight back. “Who can we trust?” He turned to his lawyer. “I can trust Harry here because I know he’s taken an oath; if he repeats anything I tell him in confidence, he could lose his law license, maybe even go to jail. I trust my wife because I know she loves me and would never betray me. I trust the Constitution because I know it has the greater good of our country at its heart.”
He paused for a second, thinking carefully before going on. “But the question is, who can I trust in this room?…Truth is, I just can’t come up with a satisfactory answer to that question.”
The room exploded in an uproar, all the senators and representatives on their feet talking and yelling at once. Senator Straworth pounded his gavel hard and brought the chamber back to order.
“Mr. Smythe,” Senator Straworth’s eyes were steely as he glared at the attorney, “please inform your client of just how close he is to a contempt citation.”
“I’m right here, Senator,” Joshua shot back, “so you can talk to me directly. And I’m well aware of the implications of contempt.”
“I don’t think so, sir. Otherwise you wouldn’t have insulted these honorable members the way you have. It is outrageous the way you have come in here today, thinking you could bully this committee with your self-centered assertions about duty and honor. I say to you, sir, it is your duty to turn over your work on the RTS project. It is your duty, sir, for the good of your country. And I warn you, if you or your lawyer tries to stall us on this, we will subpoena you with the full weight of both houses of Congress and the United States government, and it is your duty to honor any such subpoena as a citizen of this great country you profess to love. Anything less, Mr. Jordan, would be an affront to this committee and the honorable men and women who serve on it and to everyone in America, as well as an outrage and a crime. If necessary, we will put you in jail, sir, if you persist in your refusal to cooperate.”
The senator let that sink in for emphasis. “And I’m sure my feelings are shared by all my colleagues on this committee.” The senator sat back in his high-backed chair, feigning disgust.
“I’ll tell you what I find to be an outrage and a crime,” Jordan spoke calmly. “But, Senator, it has nothing to do with this committee. What it has to do with is the fact that out there, right now, in terrorist cells, in dark rooms, in rogue nations, and in the palaces of dictators and international drug lords, there are men who are willing to do absolutely anything to get their hands on my technology.”
Joshua had one more word on the subject. He spit it out like a bit of rotten apple.
“Anything…”