‘It didn’t occur to Connie that this fear of the power of global consciousness was so extreme that there were those in government circles who would be prepared to violently destroy not only RECAP and the Global Consciousness Project but also the people who ran them. She believed that by feeding this pack of nonsense to those in power, she would safeguard RECAP’s future. Indeed I suspect that was what she asked for in return for keeping silent about the alleged theory for the good of America — a guaranteed future for RECAP, albeit under the tacit control of the US government. And as ever, that was all Connie really cared about.’
Jones glanced towards Connie. Her face was expressionless. Then she heard a little gulp from the bed.
‘Oh shit, I’m so sorry, Marion,’ said Jones.
‘No, go on, please.’
‘Right. Well, as we’ve all said many times, Paul’s reputation was such that once it was known that he believed he’d solved this extraordinary mystery, then most outsiders would assume he had indeed done so. His status in the field would ensure—’
‘Oh come on, Sandy,’ Connie interrupted. ‘You don’t really think the American government, or any of its agencies, would take the steps they did, steps that led to the sanctioning of murder, without at least being able to authenticate Paul’s paper, do you?’
‘No I don’t. I think you supplied Mikey with a copy of Paul’s flawed theory well before the night of the break-in when the bomb was planted in the lab. I think you copied the paper onto a USB and gave it to Mikey. You knew that nobody except a real expert in the field — and there aren’t many of those — would be able to make head or tail of it, even if it were genuine. And I have to admit, the paper did look the part. It looked like a genuine and very advanced scientific document, as, of course, it would, coming from Paul, even with a messed-up brain. You knew exactly what would happen after you supplied Mikey with that paper. His bosses came to you to authenticate it. Who else would they go to?
‘You supplied it and then you authenticated it, Connie. Brilliantly simple. A full circle. But you totally underestimated the lengths the bastards would go to in order to keep the secret of consciousness just that, didn’t you?’
Connie said nothing. Marion was staring at her.
‘It’s true, Connie, isn’t it,’ she said.
It was a statement not a question.
Suddenly Connie’s face crumpled. She began to cry.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘So sorry. It’s been awful keeping what I did a secret. After the explosion, well, I knew it was all my fault. Everything had gone horrendously wrong. I just wished I’d died too, along with Paul.’
Jones shrugged.
‘You did a bloody good job of carrying on and pulling even more wool over all our eyes,’ she said. ‘You treated RECAP like a game, Connie, but you had no idea who you were playing it with.’
‘I couldn’t foresee that they were going to blow up the lab. I didn’t know that was going to happen.’
‘Are you sure?’ Jones rapped the words out.
‘What do you mean, am I sure?’
‘Well, it was quite convenient wasn’t it, to say the least, that you were outside the lab having a smoke when the place was destroyed. Am I supposed to believe that was just a happy coincidence?’
‘Sandy, what are you saying? Of course it was a coincidence. Do you think I would ever have done what I did, if I’d thought for one second Paul might be killed? They were after me too. I had an extraordinarily lucky escape, that’s all. It never occurred to me that Mikey’s people would go that far.’
Jones actually did believe her. Connie had, after all, in her twisted way, been trying to protect RECAP, and maybe Paul as well. But Jones was angry.
‘Really?’ she queried edgily.
‘I can’t see into the future, Sandy.’
‘But you don’t mind manipulating it a bit, eh?’
‘Sandy, when I phoned you, before the explosion, I was going to tell you everything. Come clean. Things were happening, like I said. I was beginning to get scared. I realized it was all getting out of control. And the only person I could think of who might be able to sort it out was you. Because of your influence, because of your contacts, because of your knowledge. But it was all too late. I never did get to tell you...’
Her voice tailed off. Neither of the other two said anything. After a while Connie continued to speak.
‘Anyway, even though I’d been the mole, the deep throat, if you like, I realized, of course, when the bomb went off that I had been a target too, and that my life would still be in danger. I knew too much. So I went into hiding with Marion, as you both know. And I made myself just think about RECAP. I decided it was my mission to see that RECAP was reborn, that the work would continue, and that I survived to make sure of that.’
She paused again, leaning forwards in her chair towards the bed.
‘I’m so sorry, Marion. I should have told you. At first I just didn’t want to admit what I’d done. I’d got it all so wrong. And then, after you were mown down by the truck, well, I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you. You’d been so badly injured, and that was my fault too.’
Connie reached for Marion. Marion turned away. Connie turned back to Jones. She’d stopped crying.
‘What will happen now?’ she asked.
‘Nothing much, probably,’ responded Jones. ‘It’s over, isn’t it? You won’t be brought to book for what you’ve done, Connie. The whole thing is too complex, and involves too many people in high places. You were certainly telling the truth about a cover up. That’s still going on, I can assure you. No, you could be regarded as having got away with it. In spite of all the death and suffering you caused. Apart from just two points.
‘The first is that if RECAP is ever relaunched, I, and the people I know, will make absolutely sure you never have anything to do with it again. And do not think for one moment that I can’t do that.
‘The second is that you have to live with what you’ve done, and with the woman you love knowing what you have been responsible for, including the loss of her leg.’
‘I didn’t drive that truck, Sandy, and I would rather it had been me beneath it than Marion,’ said Connie, her voice little more than a whisper.
‘You are every bit as guilty as those who did drive that truck, Connie. Possibly more so. It was you who began it all.’
Jones paused. Connie said nothing more.
‘You know what,’ Jones continued, ‘I used to think you were the most unselfish person in the world, Connie. Now I think you might be the most selfish. You have irretrievably harmed the reputation of the very area of science which has always meant so much to you. One way and another the truth about Paul’s paper will get out, like these things do, which will be not only a blow to the project but also a tragic slur on the man. Because that man was no longer there when he wrote his flawed paper.’
Connie just stared at Jones, her facial expression undiscernible now.
‘Remember the question you used to ask all the time? Can six men in a room change the world?’
Connie nodded.
‘Yes, and they’re the only ones who can,’ she murmured.
‘But not if they lie, Connie. Not if they damned well lie.’
Jones didn’t want to be in the same place as Connie Pike any more. She hadn’t fully realized quite how much Connie had always meant to her. Suddenly it all seemed so meaningless. She headed for the door, turning to look back one last time.