Martin couldn't speak. His pent-up emotions overflowed with joy at seeing Denise. She was alive and safe! How could he take responsibility for her death?
"The FBI tried to convince me you had become a dangerous traitor," said Denise. "I didn't believe it for an instant, but tell me it isn't true. Tell me this is all a bad dream."
Philips closed his eyes. When he opened them he found his voice. He spoke slowly, choosing his words with great care, because he knew Denise's life was in his hands; they had him shackled for the moment, but he would find a way to break their hold someday, even if it took years. "Yes," said Philips. "It's all a bad dream. It's all a terrible mistake. But it's over now."
Martin tilted Denise's face up and kissed her mouth. She kissed him back, secure that her feeling about him had been correct, that as long as she trusted him she would be safe. For a moment he buried his face in her hair. If individual life was important, then so was hers. For him more than anyone.
"It's over now," she repeated.
Philips glanced at Michaels over Denise's shoulder and the computer expert nodded approval. But Martin knew it could never be over…
THE NEW YORK TIMES
SCIENTIST SHOCKS SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY; SEEKS POLITICAL ASYLUM IN SWEDEN
STOCKHOLM (AP)-
Dr. Martin Philips, the physician whose research has recently propelled him into international celebrity status, disappeared yesterday afternoon under mysterious circumstances in Sweden. Scheduled for a lecture at 1 P.M. at the famed Carolinska Institute, the neuroradiologist failed to appear in front of a packed audience. Along with the celebrated scientist, his wife of four months, Dr. Denise Sanger, also disappeared.
Initial speculation suggested the couple sought seclusion from the attention that has been showered on them since Dr. Philips began unveiling his series of startling medical discoveries and innovations six months ago. That idea was abandoned, however, when it was learned that the couple had had surprisingly massive Secret Service protection and that their disappearance definitely depended on Swedish authorities' cooperation.
Inquiries to the State Department have been met with strained silence, which has been made more curious when it was learned that the affair had unleashed feverish activity on many U.S. government levels, seemingly out of proportion to the event. International curiosity, already peaked, was honed to a razor's edge by the following prepared statement released late last night by the Swedish authorities:
Dr. Martin Philips has asked for and has been granted political asylum in Sweden. He and his wife have been placed in political seclusion. Within twenty-four hours a document written by Dr. Philips will be released for the international community outlining a gross abrogation of human rights perpetrated under the aegis of medical experimentation. Until now, Dr. Martin Philips has been constrained from voicing his opinions by a consortium of vested interests including the United States government. After the document has been released, Dr. Philips will hold a press conference by video under the auspices of Swedish TV.
Exactly what the "gross abrogation of human rights" involves is not known, although the strange sequence of events surrounding Dr. Philips' disappearance has stimulated serious speculation. Dr. Philips' area of expertise involves computer interpretation of medical images, which hardly seems open to gross violation of experimental ethics. However, the reputation of Dr. Philips (his winning this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine is considered inevitable by most reputable researchers) guarantees him a large and attentive audience. Obviously the affair had to deeply offend Dr. Philips' sense of morality for him to jeopardize his career by taking this drastic and dramatic step. It also suggests that the-field of medicine is not immune to having its own Watergate.