I was at my desk finishing a light lunch when Max called. He told me Reed Davis had talked to the counterterrorism agent I’d met at the Pentagon. They believed the attack had to have been in the works for several weeks. That said to me that the pharmas had a mole inside Rogers Pharmaceuticals.
“They must have a deep mole inside Rogers to know those plans,” I said.
“Harley told us he had begun his alternative plan three years ago; at the time the pharmas wanted to broker a deal with him to reduce the cure to focus on a single form of cancer.
“Even though he faked cooperation by establishing a parallel program to produce a single cancer cure drug, he didn’t trust the pharmas and had planned accordingly. I don’t believe he thought his subterfuge would work for long, but it did buy him some time to set up his offshore processing plant.
“According to Rufus, the offshore plant’s construction was a tightly held secret . . . yet the pharmas were ready weeks in advance of the drug’s rejection to attack and destroy that processing plant.”
Max said, “Well, as you were speaking just now, Delia brought me a message from Reed that the Carmayan government, who had taken charge of the yacht, has now turned it over to our Marines. A destroyer, the USS Gregory, will be escorting the yacht to Gitmo. Two civilian males on the yacht were transferred to the destroyer’s brig.”
“What about the babes?”
“It seems their sunbathing was a distraction for the healthy American males, so they were restricted to below decks on the yacht, clothed.”
“Our Carmayan contingent believes those two civilians are the ones who tailed Rufus from Puerto Rico,” I said. “However, their involvement in the attack doesn’t fit with everything else we now know.” I made a note to ask Crawford to be sure the interrogators pursued that.
Max snickered. “It is always disturbing when you have a pat hand you thought was a royal flush, but turns out to be only an ace high flush.”
I hated to think Max could be right. “Switching to the home front, Senator Pembroke has requested through Senator Crawford that I take down his side of the story tomorrow at 3:00, before he meets with Senator Kelly at 5:00 to resign the chairmanship of HELP. The Senate officially begins its summer break at the close of business tomorrow, making it unlikely any announcement will be forthcoming until after the weekend. My overriding concern, though, is what Pembroke will tell Kelly, and if he’ll play the Mort tape to the majority leader?”
“That would alter dynamics considerably. I best call Reed,” Max said, hanging up.
I called Barton’s office and asked if I could see him.
When I arrived, Riley was in with Barton. I filled them in, right up to and including Max’s call to Reed Davis.
“We’ll need someone at Gitmo,” Barton told Riley. “Alert Claire to Laura’s session with Pembroke. Make sure she understands why it is happening the way it is.”
“I doubt either Kelly or Pembroke will go public right away, but could she hang close to the majority leader just in case? We don’t have a handle on what Senator Pembroke is going to tell the majority leader . . . namely about the Mort tape.”
“Ouch, I see your point,” Riley said. “That could be huge.”
“What’s your guess, Laura?” Barton asked. “Will he or won’t he?”
“Won’t, sir. I think he’ll blame his health.” I didn’t want to get into a speculation game.
“I’ll go to Senator Dalton’s office after the interview. Senator Crawford will hang out at the majority leader’s office while Pembroke is in with Kelly . . . to be there for whatever happens.”
“Thank you, Laura,” Barton said, standing.
He seemed pleased.