Ken Follett - Code to Zero (2000)

That brought Luke back to his immediate crisis. The reminder was like an unexpected blow, shocking and painful, 'I wish you could unravel the mystery of my mind.'

She frowned, and despite the weight of his problems he noticed 'how pretty she was when her nose wrinkled in puzzlement 'It's strange,' she said. 'Maybe you suffered a cranial injury that left no visible trace, but in that case it's surprising you don't still have a headache.'

'Nope.'

'You're not an alcoholic or a drug addict, I can tell by looking at you. If you'd suffered some terrible shock, or been under prolonged stress, I probably would have heard about it, either from you or from our mutual friends.'

'Which leaves...?'

She shook her head. 'You certainly aren't schizophrenic, so there's no way you could have been given the combination drug-and-electrotherapy treatment that could have caused-'

She stopped suddenly, looking alluringly startled, mouth open, eyes wide.

'What?' Luke said.

'I just remembered Joe Blow.'

'Who's he?'

'Joseph Bellow. The name struck me because I thought it sounded made up.'

'And?'

'He was admitted late yesterday, after I'd gone home. Then he was discharged in the night - which was real strange.'

'What was wrong with him?'

He was a schizophrenic.' She paled. 'Oh, shit'

Luke began to see what she was thinking. 'So this patient...'

'Let's check his file.'

She turned and ran back up the stairs. They hurried along the corridor and entered a room marked Records Office. There was no one inside. Billie turned on the light.

She opened a drawer marked 'A-D', flipped through the file, and pulled out a folder. She read aloud: 'White male, six feet one inch tall, one hundred and eighty pounds, thirty-seven years old.'

Luke's guess was confirmed. 'You think it was me,' he said.

She nodded. 'The patient was given the treatment that causes global amnesia.'

'My God.' Luke was dismayed and intrigued at the same time. If she was right, this had been done to him deliberately. That explained why he had been followed around - presumably by someone keen to make sure the treatment had worked. 'Who did this?'

'My colleague, Dr Leonard Ross, admitted the patient Len's a psychiatrist I'd like to know his rationale for authorizing the treatment. A patient should normally be kept under observation -for some time, usually days, before any treatment is given. And I can't imagine the medical justification for discharging the patient immediately afterwards, even with the consent of relatives. This is very irregular.'

'Sounds like Ross is in trouble.'

Billie sighed. 'Probably not. If I complain, people will accuse me/of sour grapes. They'll say I'm bitter because Len got the job I wanted, Director of Research here.'

'When did that happen?'

'Today.'

Luke was startled. 'Ross got promoted today?'

'Yes. I guess it's not a coincidence.'

'Hell, no! He was bribed. He was promised the promotion in return for doing this irregular treatment'

'I can't believe it Yes, I can. He's real weak.'

'But he's, someone else's tool. A superior in the hospital hierarchy must have got him to do it'

'No.' Billie shook her head. 'The trust that's funding the post, the Sowerby Foundation, insisted on Ross for the job. My boss told me. We couldn't figure out why. Now I know.'

'It all fits - but this is almost as baffling as before. Someone in the Foundation wanted me to lose my memory?'

'I can guess who,' Billie said. 'Anthony Carroll. He's on the board.'

The name rang a bell. Luke recalled that Anthony was the CIA man mentioned by Elspeth. 'That still leaves the question why.'

'But now we have someone to ask,' Billie said, and she picked up the phone.

While she dialed, Luke tried to organize his thoughts. The last hour had been a series of shocks. He had been told he was not going to get his memory back. He had learned that he had loved Billie and lost her, and he could not understand how he could have been such a fool. Now he had discovered that his amnesia had been deliberately inflicted on him and that someone in the CIA was responsible. Yet he still had no clue as to why this had been done.

'Let me speak to Anthony Carroll,' Billie said into the phone. 'This is Dr Josephson.' Her tone was peremptory. 'Okay, then tell him I need to speak to him urgently.' She looked at her watch. 'Have him call me at home in exactly one hour from now.' Her face suddenly darkened. 'Don't jerk me around, buster, I know you can get a message to him any time of the day or night, wherever he is.' She slammed the phone down.

She caught Luke's eye and looked abashed. 'Sorry,' she said. 'The guy said: 'I'll see what I can do,' like he was doing me a darn favour.'

Luke remembered Elspeth saying that Anthony Carroll was an old buddy who had been at Harvard with Luke and Bern. 'This Anthony,' he said. 'I thought he was a friend.'

'Yeah.' Billie nodded, a worried frown on her expressive face. 'So did I.'

.

7.30 P. M.

The temperature problem is a key obstacle to manned space flight. To gauge the efficacy of its insulation, the Explorer carries four thermometers: three in the outer shell, to measure skin temperature, and one inside the instrument compartment, to give the interior temperature. The aim is to keep the level between forty and seventy' degrees Fahrenheit - a comfortable range for human survival.

Bern lived on Massachusetts Avenue, Overlooking the picturesque gorge of Rock Creek, in a neighbourhood of large homes and foreign embassies. His apartment had an Iberian theme, with ornate Spanish colonial furniture, twisted shapes in dark wood. The stark white walls were hung with paintings of sun-baked landscapes. Luke recalled Billie saving that Bern had fought in the Spanish Civil War.

It was easy to imagine Bern as a fighter. His dark hair was receding now, and his waist hung over the belt of his slacks a little, but there was a hard set to his face and a bleak look in his grey eyes. Luke wondered if such a down-to-earth man would credit the strange story he had to tell.

Bern shook Luke's hand warmly and gave him strong coffee in a small cup. On top of the console gramophone was a silver-framed photograph of a middle-aged man in a torn shirt holding a rifle. Luke picked it up. 'Largo Benito,' Bern explained. 'Greatest man I ever knew. I fought with him in Spain. My son is named Largo, but Billie calls him Larry.'

Bern probably looked back on the war in Spain as the best time of his life. Luke wondered enviously what had been the best time of his own life. 'I guess I must have had great memories of something,' he said despondently.

Bern gave him a sharp look. 'What the hell is going on, old buddy?'

Luke sat down and related what he and Billie had discovered at the hospital. Then he said: 'Here's what I think happened to me. I don't know if you're going to buy it, but I'll tell you anyway, because I'm really hoping you can shed some light on the mystery.'

I'll do what I can,'

'I came to Washington on Monday, right before the launch of the rocket, to see an army general for some mysterious purpose that I wouldn't tell anyone about. My wife was worried about me and called Anthony, to ask him to keep an eye on me. Anthony made a breakfast date with me for Tuesday morning.'

'It makes sense. Anthony's your oldest friend. You were room-mates already when I met you.'

'The, next bit is more speculative. I met Anthony for breakfast, before going to the Pentagon. He put something in my coffee to make me fall asleep, then got me into his car and drove me to Georgetown Mind Hospital. He must have gotten Billie out of the way somehow, or maybe waited until she left for the day. Anyway, he made sure she didn't see me, and checked me in under a false name. Then he got hold of Dr Len Ross, whom he knew might be bribed. Using his position as a board member of the Sowerby Foundation, he persuaded Len to give me a treatment that would destroy my memory.'