Riley broke the silence, his voice barely more than a whisper. “What’s the deal?”
The man seemed to relax for the first time. “As I said — no word of Eternity Base.” He looked Conner in the eyes. “I believe you will find that your boss, Mr. Parker, has already agreed to that.”
Conner slumped in her chair. As if sensing that he had her on the ropes, the man offered a handout. “In exchange for your cooperation, we are willing to offer you an exclusive on the ‘real’ story: the dramatic rescue by a joint U.S.-Russian military task force of the survivors of your news team covering an ecological story. We have quite a bit of footage — including shots of the Russian submarine that helped rescue you — enough to make an interesting piece.”
The man stood. “Mr. Parker has also been informed of improved future cooperation between SNN and various agencies of the government. I am quite sure he is very satisfied with the possibility of several exclusive leaks of information. I am certain you will also see the advantages of your cooperation.”
He looked at Sammy. “And I even believe they still have your old
job waiting for you back at the Records Center, perhaps even a promotion.”
He walked to the door and stopped. “I will assume I have your agreement.” He stepped out.
Chapter 34
The bald man looked up from his desk as the investigator walked in. “Everything filed satisfactorily?”
The crash investigator nodded. “The FAA is satisfied it was structural failure.”
“Good.” The bald man looked closely at the young man standing across from him. “What’s wrong?”
The investigator pulled out a briefcase and laid it on the desk. He flipped open the top and extracted a burned piece of metal laced with wires.
“What’s that?” the bald man asked.
“It’s part of a helicopter autopilot relay system. We’ve traced it to a prototype designed by Bell-Boeing.”
The bald man regarded the other with unblinking eyes. “You found two bodies, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Their dental charts matched Kensington’s and his pilot’s, didn’t they?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But…?” the bald man asked, watching the hesitation in his subordinate.
The man took his lead. “But, sir, I believe it was a setup. I think the two men inside were dead when the Apache approached. Someone was flying that chopper by remote control. I think the bodies were rigged with false dental work — the whole thing. It’s hard to do, but if you have the money it’s possible.”
“And Kensington had the money,” the bald man concluded. He appeared to think about this scenario for a while. “All right. This is closed. You are to tell no one about it. Do you understand? The president would not be happy to hear this.” He pointed at the report and the wreckage. “Leave that with me.”
The investigator nodded vigorously, glad to be done with the mess.
The bald man waited until the door closed, then picked up his secure phone.
“Peter here.”
“This is Andrew. The case has been closed.”
Kensington nodded. “Good.”
“Can you tell me why you got the North Koreans involved? You almost caused a damn war.”
“We could use a war,” Kensington said. “Good for business.”
“Well, your business is over. Is that clear?”
Kensington frowned. He didn’t like being talked to in such a manner by a hireling. “Are you threatening me?”
“Jesus Christ — don’t you get it? We’ve had a nuke go off. People killed. Armies on the verge of combat on the Korean peninsula. All you can say is that you played it that way because it would have been good for business? You’re fucking nuts, and I’ve got the goods on you. So you lay low. I don’t want to hear from you again. I’ve covered your ass for the last time. From now on, no amount of money will work.” The phone went dead.
Kensington hung up the phone and went back to surveying his island paradise. The house was built into the side of an extinct volcano, the lush jungle of Hawaii stretching out below it down to the cliffs facing the pounding surf. The view was spectacular and the location was isolated. The old man’s eyes were as sharp as they’d ever been, and he used them to soak up every detail. “It is over,” he announced.
“How did you know it would work?” The other occupant of the room was seated on a leather divan.
Kensington waited a few moments before answering, as if the question surprised him. “Actually,” he said, “it didn’t work. Optimally, I would have gotten through all this without my name being revealed.”
Kensington picked up a glass and took a drink. “But it really doesn’t matter, does it? With enough power you make things work, and I came out of this alive when they were ready to kill me. I must admit, it worried me when your man was unable to stop the team from discovering the base. Then I knew it had to be destroyed, and I tried to find a way to do that. The North Koreans were very handy.”
The woman shrugged. “Mr. Vickers was the best I could come up with under the short notice. Also, you must remember I didn’t know that Riley would be a factor. Without his influence, it would have been much easier. And weren’t you worried about it getting beyond Antarctica?”
“I was prepared to make a profit out of a bad situation if it got out of Antarctica,” Kensington said.
“How did you know my people wouldn’t succeed in their mission?” she asked. “You helped them by giving me the transponder code for the base, so I could forward it to Kang.”
Now Kensington laughed. “How can anyone succeed unless I let them? When you control the information going to both sides, you can certainly assure that neither side succeeds. You should know that after working for me and North Korea for all these years. SNN was certainly the place to be to both acquire and manipulate information.” He sighed. “There would have been some good profits to be made if your people had succeeded and Orange III had been implemented. We haven’t had a good war for quite a while, but there will be other opportunities.”
He swung his chair so he was directly facing her. “Now, my dear, no more questions.” He picked up a briefcase and put it down on the desktop. “Here is your payment. Your tenure at SNN was most advantageous. I don’t understand why you are going back to your home country. I can find you work that will put your assets to better use.”
Miss Suwon got up and walked over to the desk. She looked at the briefcase, then at Kensington. “I am returning home because money is not everyone’s god.”
Kensington laughed again. “It works for everyone I’ve ever encountered.” He pointed at the briefcase. “You came here for that, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Kensington frowned. “I won’t pay you more.”
“Yes, you will.”
Kensington pressed a button. “I don’t appreciate this. You’re messing with the wrong person.”
Miss Suwon smiled, and Kensington’s confidence slowly dissolved when no guard came rushing in.
“You goddamn…” he sputtered, then collected himself. “All right. I’ll get you more money.”
“I told you,” Suwon said, “that money is not the issue.”
“But you said you wanted me to pay you more. .” Kensington’s voice trailed off.
“And you will.” Suwon leaned forward and placed her hand on his.
“Hey!” Kensington yelped, retracting his hand and looking at the back of it. “What was that?”
She turned her hand over. A small needle was cupped between her fingers. “Ricin. A most powerful toxin. You will be dead in a minute.” Suwon picked up the briefcase. “You know, we wanted those nuclear weapons. Many good men died trying to get them.”