some clothes and two minutes later opened the door of the Ford Explorer.
“Shit.” The mail tumbled out and she bent down automatically to retrieve
it. Her hands quickly sorted through the fallen pieces until she
abruptly stopped as her fingers closed around the package addressed to
Jason Archer. Her husband’s handwriting on the package made her legs
wobble. She could feel the slender object inside. She looked at the
postmark. It had been sent i}from Seattle on the very day Jason had
left for the airport. She involuntarily shuddered. Her husband had
many mailing packs like this in his home office. They were specifically
designed to send computer disks safely through the mail. She did not
have time to think about this latest development. She threw the mail
back in the truck, climbed in and roared off.
Thirty minutes later, a disheveled Sidney Archer, escorted by Richard
Lucas, entered Nathan Gamble’s office. Right behind them was an
astonished Quentin Rowe. Sidney marched right up to Gamble’s desk and
tossed the Post in his lap.
“I hope to hell you have some really good defamation attorneys.”
Her intense fury made Lucas step hastily forward until Gamble waved him
off. The Triton chief gingerly picked up the paper and glanced down at
the story. Then he looked up at her. “I didn’t write this.”
“The hell you didn’t.”
Gamble put out his cigarette and stood up. “Excuse me, but why am I
thinking that I should be the one who’s pissed off?”
“My husband blowing up planes, selling secrets, ripping you off.
It’s a pack of lies and you know it.”
Gamble stormed around the desk to face her. “Let me tell you what I
know, lady. I’m out a ton of cash, that’s a fact. And your husband
gave RTG everything it needs to bury my company. That’s also a fact.
What am I supposed to do, give you a goddamned medal?”
“It’s not true.”
“Oh, yeah!” Gamble wheeled a chair around. “Sit down!”
Gamble unlocked a drawer in his desk, pulled out a videotape and tossed
it over to Lucas. Then he hit a button on his desk console and part of
the wall moved back, revealing a large TV and VCR combination unit.
While Lucas popped the tape in, Sidney, her legs shaking, sank into the
chair. She looked over at Quentin Rowe, who stood stock-still in the
corner of the office, his wide eyes glued to her. She nervously licked
her lips and turned to the TV.
Her heart almost stopped beating when she saw her husband.
Having only heard his voice ever since that horrible day, she felt as
though he had been gone forever. At first she fixated on his fluid
movements, so familiar to her. Then she focused on his face and gasped.
She had never seen her husband more nervous, under more strain. The
briefcase handed across, the plane roaring overhead, the smiles of the
men, the papers examined, all of these things were in the background for
her, far in the background; she kept her eyes on Jason. Her eyes
drifted to the time and date stamp and her heart took another jolt when
the significance of those numbers hit her.
When the tape went dark, she turned to find all eyes in the room on her.
“That exchange took place in an RTG facility in Seattle long after that
plane went into the ground.” Gamble stood behind her. “Now if you still
want to sue me for defamation, go right ahead. Of course, if we lose
CyberCom you might have trouble collecting any money,” he added grimly.
Sidney stood up. Gamble reached behind his desk. “Here’s your paper.”
He tossed it to her. Although she could barely stand, she managed to
catch it neatly. In another moment she had fled the room.
Sidney pulled into her garage and listened to the door winding its way
back down. Her limbs quivering and lungs expunging air heavily laced
with sobs every few seconds, she gripped the newspaper.
When it fell open, revealing the bottom half of the front page, Sidney
Archer received yet another shock. This one contained a distinct
element of uncontrollable dread.