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Authors: James M. Tabor
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crevasses all around. Stop. Make them wait. “Rhodes and Rivers. What a coincidence.”
No one smiled.
“What’s in that folder?” she asked. “The charges?”
Rhodes pushed a single sheet of BARDA stationery across to Hallie. It had today’s date. She read it, looked up in disbelief.
“This is a letter of resignation.”
“Better for the gubment.” Rivers poked a finger at her. “Better for
you
.”
“Jesus Christ. Look, I need to think about this. To talk to a lawyer, at least. You can understand that. Isn’t that my right?”
“Absolutely.” Rhodes looked at her calmly. “But you should understand that we can make this offer here, now. On the table for this meeting. If you walk, it goes away.”
“It was me, I’d take it.” Now Rivers tried to sound collegial,supportive. She found him less nauseating the other way, but ignored him regardless.
“All it needs is your signature, Dr. Leland.” Rhodes waited, watching her.
She was furious and terrified and confused. Her face felt hot. It was hard to get a good breath in the small room, its air thick with the men’s smells.
“Who was I supposed to be selling data to?”
Rhodes glanced at Rivers. “I’m not at liberty to divulge that.”
Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She had no frame of reference, no experience to fall back on that might help her know how to react. But she did know that Washington was always all about leverage, and suddenly something occurred to her.
“What’s CDC afraid of? Why are you doing this in secret?”
For the first time she saw a glimmer of uncertainty in Rhodes’s eyes. He twisted the Penn State ring, looked at Rivers, who shrugged, more concerned with the little wart on his left palm that he was picking with the fingernails of his other hand. Rhodes took a while, appearing to consider his words very carefully.
“You know how important secrecy is to BARDA’s mission. Therefore to CDC’s. A very public security-breach trial could do irreparable harm. There are people in the government who would like for BARDA to go away. Every dollar spent here is a dollar not spent on guns and tanks. If you get my drift.” With his two index fingers, he drew a pentagon in the air.
Leverage
. Now she had some. Now they were afraid.
“I could walk out of here right now, gentlemen. Make just three calls. My lawyer, my senator, and the
Washington Post
.”
Like there really is a “my lawyer,”
she thought. But they would not know that. Or … maybe they would.
“That’s true, Dr. Leland.” Rhodes’s hands were folded on the tabletop again. “But you may know how much Washington lawyers cost. And as I said, if you walk out of here, we have no choice. It goes to the U.S. attorney immediately. There will be preliminaryhearings, discovery, perhaps press conferences. Possible criminal charges, as Agent Rivers said. Think carefully. A government scientist selling top secret biological research—”
“Alleged,”
she snapped so sharply that Rivers looked up from his wart.
Rhodes nodded, smiled, happy to stipulate the parsing that, she herself knew, would make not a whit of difference. “Yes, alleged to be selling top secret research. Even if you are cleared, your career will be over. Why would anyone hire you when there are thousands of untainted microbiologists out there?”
“I’m telling you, Doc, you’re better off taking what we’re offering.” Rivers’s smile showed yellow smoker’s teeth and a serious lack of flossing. She almost screamed at him to shut up. But she knew that Rhodes was right.
She could not afford a pricey lawyer. Her mother had some money, but Hallie would never ask for it. Even if she got a lawyer, the story would be in the
Post
and on the news programs for days. National news. International, probably. The media liked few things better than espionage stories. Genocide, maybe, and senators getting caught with bimbos or, even better, seducing pages of the same sex,
No one smiled.
“What’s in that folder?” she asked. “The charges?”
Rhodes pushed a single sheet of BARDA stationery across to Hallie. It had today’s date. She read it, looked up in disbelief.
“This is a letter of resignation.”
“Better for the gubment.” Rivers poked a finger at her. “Better for
you
.”
“Jesus Christ. Look, I need to think about this. To talk to a lawyer, at least. You can understand that. Isn’t that my right?”
“Absolutely.” Rhodes looked at her calmly. “But you should understand that we can make this offer here, now. On the table for this meeting. If you walk, it goes away.”
“It was me, I’d take it.” Now Rivers tried to sound collegial,supportive. She found him less nauseating the other way, but ignored him regardless.
“All it needs is your signature, Dr. Leland.” Rhodes waited, watching her.
She was furious and terrified and confused. Her face felt hot. It was hard to get a good breath in the small room, its air thick with the men’s smells.
“Who was I supposed to be selling data to?”
Rhodes glanced at Rivers. “I’m not at liberty to divulge that.”
Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She had no frame of reference, no experience to fall back on that might help her know how to react. But she did know that Washington was always all about leverage, and suddenly something occurred to her.
“What’s CDC afraid of? Why are you doing this in secret?”
For the first time she saw a glimmer of uncertainty in Rhodes’s eyes. He twisted the Penn State ring, looked at Rivers, who shrugged, more concerned with the little wart on his left palm that he was picking with the fingernails of his other hand. Rhodes took a while, appearing to consider his words very carefully.
“You know how important secrecy is to BARDA’s mission. Therefore to CDC’s. A very public security-breach trial could do irreparable harm. There are people in the government who would like for BARDA to go away. Every dollar spent here is a dollar not spent on guns and tanks. If you get my drift.” With his two index fingers, he drew a pentagon in the air.
Leverage
. Now she had some. Now they were afraid.
“I could walk out of here right now, gentlemen. Make just three calls. My lawyer, my senator, and the
Washington Post
.”
Like there really is a “my lawyer,”
she thought. But they would not know that. Or … maybe they would.
“That’s true, Dr. Leland.” Rhodes’s hands were folded on the tabletop again. “But you may know how much Washington lawyers cost. And as I said, if you walk out of here, we have no choice. It goes to the U.S. attorney immediately. There will be preliminaryhearings, discovery, perhaps press conferences. Possible criminal charges, as Agent Rivers said. Think carefully. A government scientist selling top secret biological research—”
“Alleged,”
she snapped so sharply that Rivers looked up from his wart.
Rhodes nodded, smiled, happy to stipulate the parsing that, she herself knew, would make not a whit of difference. “Yes, alleged to be selling top secret research. Even if you are cleared, your career will be over. Why would anyone hire you when there are thousands of untainted microbiologists out there?”
“I’m telling you, Doc, you’re better off taking what we’re offering.” Rivers’s smile showed yellow smoker’s teeth and a serious lack of flossing. She almost screamed at him to shut up. But she knew that Rhodes was right.
She could not afford a pricey lawyer. Her mother had some money, but Hallie would never ask for it. Even if she got a lawyer, the story would be in the
Post
and on the news programs for days. National news. International, probably. The media liked few things better than espionage stories. Genocide, maybe, and senators getting caught with bimbos or, even better, seducing pages of the same sex,
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