TOTAL CONTROL By: David Baldacci

minute, and when he returned, he was not alone.

Sidney instinctively jerked back as Kenneth Scales stepped into the

room. He stared at Sidney Archer with eyes that bespoke intense hatred.

She looked over at Gamble. He looked down and sighed while he stuffed

his handkerchief back in his pocket, touching his face gingerly. “I

guess I deserved that. You know, I had no intention of killing you, but

you just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?” He ran a hand through his

hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll set a big trust fund up for your kid. You

should be grateful I think everything through.”

He waved Scales forward.

Sidney shouted at him. “Oh, really? Did you think through the fact

that maybe if I could figure it out, so could Sawyer?” Gamble stared

blankly at her. “Like the fact that you blackmailed Arthur Lieberman by

setting him up with Steven Page. But just when Lieberman was up for the

Fed nomination, Page contracted HIV and threatened to blow the whole

thing. What did you do? Just like you did with Lieberman. You had

Page killed.”

Gamble’s response stunned her. “Why the hell would I have him killed?

He was working for me.”

“He’s telling the truth, Sidney.” She jerked her head around and stared

at the source of those words. Quentin Rowe walked into the room.

Gamble stared at him, his eyes wide. “How the hell did you get up

here?”

Rowe barely glanced at him. “I guess you forgot that I have my own

private suite on the corporate jet. Besides, I like to see projects

through to their completion.”

“Is she right? You had your own lover boy killed?”

Rowe looked at him calmly. “It’s not any of your concern.”

“It’s my company. Everything concerns me.”

“Your company? I don’t think so. Now that we have CyberCom, I don’t

need you. My nightmare is finally over.”

Gamble’s face grew red. He motioned toward Richard Lucas. “I think we

need to show this little prick some respect for his superior.”

Richard Lucas pulled out his weapon.

Gamble shook his head. “Just rough the little sucker up some,” he said,

his eyes glowing maliciously. The glow quickly ebbed as Lucas swung the

pistol in his direction and the cigar fell out of the Triton chief’s

mouth. “What the hell. You sonofabitch traitor–”

“Shut up!” Lucas roared back. “Shut your mouth or I’ll blow you away

right here and now. I swear to God I will.” Lucas’s eyes tore into

Gamble’s face and Gamble quickly closed his mouth.

“Why, Quentin?” The words floated softly across the room.

“Why?”

Rowe turned to find Sidney’s eyes on him. He took a deep breath.

“When he bought into my company, Gamble drew up legal documents so that

he technically controlled my ideas, everything. In essence, he owned

me.” For a moment he stared at the now docile Gamble with in-concealed

disgust. Rowe looked back at Sidney, reading her mind. “The oddest

couple in the world. I know.”

He sat down at the desk in front of the computer. He stared at the

screen as he continued to talk. The proximity of the high-tech

equipment seemed to soothe Quentin Rowe even more. “But then Gamble

lost all his money. My company was going nowhere. I pleaded with him

to let me out of the deal, but he said he’d tie me up in court for

years. I was stuck. Then Steven met Lieberman and the plot was

hatched.”

“But you had Page killed. Why?”

Rowe didn’t answer.

“Did you ever try to find out who gave him HIV?”

Rowe didn’t answer. Tears spilled down onto the laptop.

“Quentin?”

“I gave it to him. I did it!” Rowe exploded out of his chair, staggered

for a moment and then collapsed back into the chair. In a painful

voice, he continued. “When Steven told me he had tested positive, I

couldn’t believe it. I had always been faithful to him and he swore the

same to me. We thought it might have been Lieberman.

We got a copy of his medical records; he was clean. That’s when I took

an examination.” His lips started to quiver. “And that’s when I was