Steven James - The Rook

Yes. Things were going well. Very, very well.

He glanced out the window at San Diego, the desert by the sea that humans had staked out as paradise. Victor liked looking down on this city. All the antlike inhabitants. Drones busily going about their petty suburban lives-

“Mr. Drake, sir.” A sultry female voice interrupted his thoughts.

He’d hired the woman behind the voice just for the way she sounded.

He pressed the intercom. “Yes?”

“I have General Biscayne on the line.”

Victor’s fingers stopped tapping.

Biscayne.

Again.

Who cares if you work at the Pentagon? You do not go calling one of the world’s richest men whenever you want to. No, you do not.

On the other hand… the billions of dollars that the Pentagon’s research and development arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, was spending on this project could buy the general a few extra minutes of micromanaging.

“I’ll take it on my private line,” he told the voice he loved.

Victor swung the office door shut, snatched up his landline phone, and tried to hide the irritation in his voice. “General. Good of you to call.”

“I wondered if you might have gone home for the day.”

“I like to work late.” Victor calculated the time in the Eastern Time Zone. “You must like to as well.”

“Hate it. Just got out of a marathon DARPA meeting, and we are, how shall I say, anxious to see the progress on Project Rukh.”

“Well, I have good news, General: we’ve nearly completed the prototype. It’ll be ready in only a couple of-”

“Actually, we want to see it now. ASAP. Give it a test run. See how well it performs.”

Just the idea that they questioned whether it would work was insulting to Victor. Just the idea! You don’t build the country’s most profitable biotech firm by delivering faulty products-which was why Victor had arranged for his own internal tests. “When we deliver it to you, General, I guarantee it’ll work.”

“Well, if it does, I guarantee you that Drake Enterprises will be well-positioned when the bidding comes for DARPA’s next project. But, if the device is not ready, we’re pulling the plug on this thing. You’ve had two years to make it work, and so far we have nothing but a 2.5 billion dollar microwave-not exactly what you were contracted to build.”

Victor could feel his grip tightening around the phone. He knew that if he lost the contract and word somehow leaked to the press-which the government would make certain happened-stocks would plummet and he would lose billions.

Not only that, but in the obligatory investigation that his board of directors would call for, it was possible, just possible, that some inconsistencies might be found in the third quarter earnings statements from 2007. And after Enron and WorldCom, that might not fare so well for Drake Enterprises and its CEO.

Even worse, someone might uncover evidence of the tests.

“Drake,” snapped the general, jarring him back to the conversation. “I’ll be arriving on Thursday. I’ve scheduled a Project Rukh Oversight Committee meeting for 1400 hours sharp. I want you there.”

“General, that won’t be necessary. I can assure you that-”

“I want to see firsthand what our taxpayer money has gone toward producing. And I’m telling you now, the device had better work.”

“But not in two and a half days. That’s not possible. We have thousands of pages of research to evaluate before final delivery. It’s not enough time-”

“You’ve had two years. That’s plenty of time.”

Victor had to try his hardest not to let on that he was speaking through gritted teeth. “Well, then. I look forward to your visit-”

And before he could finish his sentence, the general hung up.

Drake slammed down the receiver. No one hangs up on Victor Drake. No one!

He yanked out a desk drawer, twisted open a bottle of pills, swallowed five of them, and then pocketed the bottle for later.

Smacked the drawer shut.

So.

All right then.

They wanted to make sure it worked. Well, OK.

One more test.

One final test.

Tonight.

That would at least give Dr. Kurvetek Tuesday and Wednesday, two full days, to evaluate the results before the general arrived.

Victor called the team members and told them that he needed their services one last time and that they had better bring in some definitive results. He only used four men because he’d learned over the years that it’s difficult to keep things confidential, so the fewer people who know your secrets, the better. He asked the fourth man, “Do you have the site picked out?”

“Have I ever let you down?”

“All right. You know the drill. Just don’t get there early.”

A pause. “The money better be transferred within twenty-four hours this time. I don’t like to wait.”

“It will be. Don’t worry about that.”

Victor ended the call and elevatored down to the parking garage, all the while trying not to think about the general’s veiled threats concerning future contracts.

Just forget him. Forget Biscayne. Go home and relax. By morning, the test will be completed and you’ll be able to give him exactly what he asked for.

Victor fired up his Jaguar, roared out of the garage, and aimed his car toward his estate on La Jolla Farms Road.

While his four team members prepared for the test.

As Tessa and I ate, I tried to steer the conversation away from my work, but when we were nearly done with our salads, Tessa steered us back. “So, Patrick. Is it true you have the highest clearance record for cases involving serial offenders in the history of the FBI?”

“Wow. That was random.”

“You’re not allowed to say that. You’re over thirty.”

I took a slim breath. “Tessa, where did you hear that statistic?”

“Fox News. A couple of weeks ago. After that whole thing with Ramirez.”

Julio Ramirez had abducted young boys from playgrounds in Maine. He would take them to his home, do the things to them that parents have nightmares about, then lock them in a pit in his basement until they starved to death. Eight in all. My friend, Special Agent Ralph Hawkins, and I had caught him just after the first of the year.

“Well, I’m not sure if that stat is exactly accurate.”

She punched her fork into her salad and stuffed an olive into her mouth. “They said it was.”

“You can’t always trust what you hear. Look, I don’t really want to talk about all this right now. Let’s plan our schedule for the next couple-”

“They only call you in when everyone else is, like, totally stumped-which is pretty cool, by the way, I have to say.”

“Thank you. Now, let’s talk about-”

“But don’t get a big head or anything,” she said. “Because, I don’t really get it.”

“You don’t get what?”

“What you do.”

I didn’t like where this was going. “I thought you read the two books I wrote?”

“Well, I did. Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

She dropped her gaze. Let it wander around the table. “I did read ‘em, I mean… until I fell asleep.”

A needle through my ego. Punctured. Drifting to the ground.

“You fell asleep reading my books?”

“Look, I didn’t mean to, OK? It’s just… I couldn’t help it.”

She stuffed some lettuce into her mouth. “No offense or anything, but don’t quit your day job.”

How nice.

“Anyway.” Talking with her mouth full again, “What I mean is, maybe you can explain it better in person than on paper.”

Boy, she really knew how to lay on the compliments.

I decided to go for it, though. I might not get another chance.