The Zul Enigma (52 page)

‘How did you get on with
your investigation?’ he asked, sitting back down.

‘I got in to see Anita
Goodwin,’ Rebecca began.

‘Hey! How did you manage
that?’

‘Ah ha!’ Rebecca said,
‘my little secret.’

‘And…’

‘And she confirmed what
you said – about Anderson wanting to re-route the NASA cuts to DARPA.’

‘So I was right. And
where does
she
stand on that? Did she say?’

‘She said she and the
majority of the administration had tried to persuade him against it. Of course,
with him gone, it won’t happen.’

‘Thank Christ for that.
Anything else? What about the theory to bring him down?’

‘She said she’d heard a
rumour but didn’t believe it. Then I asked her about a covert military strategy
pushing towards securing space ownership but she denied knowing anything about
it, although she admitted it’s the direction Anderson was heading, which scared
a lot of people.’ Rebecca sipped her spritzer. ‘I also talked to Barbara Lord.’

‘My friend… ex-Director
of National Intelligence?’

‘The same. You see, I
wondered if there was a connection between Anderson firing her and the plot to
destroy him. I thought if
he
had an inkling someone was trying to bring
him down, he might have thought
she
knew about it. I wanted to mention
it to her and test her reaction, even though I knew she’d never admit it.’

‘Clever you!’

‘Well… not so clever me…
she said she didn’t think there was anything to the rumour either. And I
believe her.’

‘So do you have a
story?’

‘Yes, and no. There may
well be a faction in the military pushing towards space ownership and if there
is they wouldn’t want it to become general knowledge. If such a group does
exist, they may have been afraid the President’s intention to take funds from
NASA and give them to DARPA would raise some eyebrows, since every new space
project from then on would have a purely military focus. So it’s feasible they
wanted to “off” the President before he rocked the boat and it’s feasible they
came up with a plan to do it themselves or they could have brought in an
outside agency to do the job for them.’

‘That sounds like a story.’

‘Yes. But if that is
what happened, how exactly did they “off” the President? Did they invent Zul
and have him appear on TV in order to push Anderson over the edge and force him
to kill himself?’

‘That doesn’t sound very
believable.’

‘Exactly. The US military
would have the personnel and the resources to pull the Zul intervention off,
that’s a given. But why go to so much trouble when there are a hundred simpler
ways to bring down a President? And why depend on a plan that relied on forcing
him to commit suicide? I just don’t see it.’

‘Perhaps it wasn’t
suicide.’

‘I wondered that too. I
talked to Tony Wilson, Anderson’s Press Secretary, the guy who found his body.’

Carlos leaned forward in
his seat. ‘And…’

‘There’s an outside
chance someone could have slipped into his office when his secretary was away
from her desk, but there’s no evidence that anyone forced Anderson to shoot
himself. And he left a note. Also if someone had threatened him, he would’ve
had time to hit the emergency alarm hidden in his desk.’

‘So it’s feasible but
unlikely he was murdered.’

‘Yes. Of course it’s
still possible there was a plan to kill him that was never implemented because
he topped himself first. Or that the plan was simply to discredit him and force
him to resign.’

‘I guess we’ll never
know.’

Rebecca sighed ‘My gut
tells me there
is
a story here – a big one – but what it is
exactly I have no idea. But you know what?’

Carlos looked into her
dark brown eyes. ‘What?’ he asked.

‘I finally know what I’m
going to write my book about.’

‘Hey, that’s great.
What?’

‘The Zul enigma,’ she
said smiling.

***

‘Rebecca, hi.’

‘Erika. It’s good to see
you again.’

Rebecca pulled out a
chair and joined Erika at a little table outside Kleines Café. The café’s name
was apt – it was tiny inside – but in the heart of the old city on
a warm, sunny summer’s evening sitting outside on Franziskanerplatz, it was a
terrific place to be.

A waiter appeared and
Erika ordered a bottle of Gru-Vee.

‘What’s that?’ Rebecca
asked.

‘Grüner Veltliner. It’s
a local wine.’

After the waiter had
poured it, the two women clinked glasses. ‘Mmm, delicious,’ Rebecca said.

‘So…when did you get
back?’

‘Yesterday morning. I
stayed on a couple of extra days in DC. A potential story. But it didn’t work
out. All I had was speculation, I couldn’t find anything to nail it down.’
Rebecca shook her head. ‘Disappointing.’

‘Will you do more
volunteering now you’re back?’

‘The project in Europe’s
finished. And... I’ve had an idea for a book.’

‘A book! How exciting!
What about?’

‘I’m not ready to say
yet. But enough about me – tell me more about you. I know you have two
sons – but do you work as well?’

‘Sure. I’m a PA at a
company that supplies on-board digital signal processing and control
electronics. The former Austrian Aerospace. I work at their HQ here in Vienna.’

‘Do you speak German?’

‘My mother was German.
Although I was born and grew up in the States, we always spoke German together.
It’s sure paying off now.’

‘And how was your
romantic weekend in New York?’ Rebecca asked raising an eyebrow.

‘Oh!’ Erika said, ‘it
was amazing and Drew was amazing.’

Rebecca smiled. She
glanced up at Erika from under her lashes. ‘But I bet you were glad to see your
boys when you got back. Where are they, by the way?’

‘They’re playing tennis
with Drew. Then he’s taking them for a burger.’

‘You’re lucky. To have
someone who so adores you
and
your children.’

‘I know. Mind you, I
paid my dues. The father of my kids walked out the day I got out of hospital
with my new baby. I never heard from him again. He sure as hell never sent any
child support.’

Rebecca shook her head.
‘Was that before you met Drew?’

‘No. I dated him before
I got married. When my husband left, Drew helped me with money. And he’d pop in
when he was nearby to make sure I was okay… usually with a surprise… a bottle
of perfume or a bottle of wine. And he’d baby-sit for me.’

‘So your boys have known
him all their lives?’

‘Sure,’ Erika smiled.
‘He was like their favourite uncle, as well as being my best friend. He helped
me get a job back then too. He asked around all his friends and Joe Fisher who
was working at Northrop Grumman in Maryland at the time, told him they were
looking for admin staff. Joe got me my job here too.’

‘Carlos and I had lunch
with him in DC last Thursday.’

‘They were all at NASA.
Back in the old days.’

‘He’s a bit of a cold
fish, don’t you think?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘A bit… well… reserved.’

‘That’s Joe… you’re
always wondering what’s going on up here,’ Erika said, tapping herself on the
side of the head.

‘I know what you mean,
he’s obviously very bright.’

‘Tell me, has Carlos
said anything to you about Drew?’ When Erika saw Rebecca start chewing on her
lower lip she knew the answer. ‘So he did.’

Rebecca nodded, her face
grave. ‘He told me everything after we bumped into you that night. It was a
terrible shock for him.’

‘I really put him on the
spot. I did it deliberately. Thing is they had such a great friendship. I mean
they were…’ Erika took a breath and then blew the air out of her mouth, ‘…
well… so close. If only Carlos could just forgive and forget. I mean, shit
happens, you know?’

‘Carlos misses the
friendship. He told me that. But, well, he is Spanish. In the old days, he’d
have killed Drew for what he did.’

‘But she told him it was
over.’

‘Maybe, but from what Carlos
said they had such a volatile relationship that didn’t mean very much,’ she
raised her shoulders in a shrug. ‘How many times had they split up before?’

‘I guess.’

‘You knew Elena, didn’t
you? What was she like?’

‘She was the kind of
woman who turned men’s heads. And she loved men’s company. She was gregarious
and fun and exotic. She was part Spanish, did you know that?’

‘He said.’

‘They were similar in
many ways, highly opinionated, headstrong, passionate. They made an electric
couple, which was great when they were in sync but when they crashed it got
very messy. And she could be selfish, you know? The “I want, I want” kind of
gal? She loved Carlos, there’s no doubt in my mind, but she also saw him as a
go-getter. She knew as long as she stuck with him, he’d provide her with the
good life.’

‘So why didn’t she want
to go to Vienna?’

‘She didn’t want him
go-getting overseas. What a lot of people didn’t know about Elena was that deep
down she was very insecure. I think that’s why she was such a flirt. The
thought of living so far away from her family and friends terrified her.’

‘You’re painting quite a
different picture to the one Carlos did.’

‘I don’t think he saw
it. She didn’t want him to. She knew he was attracted by capable women, not the
weak and whiny kind.’

Rebecca lifted her
glass. ‘You said she was a flirt?’

‘Big time. She had this
radiating sensuality that she played up to the hilt.’

‘Did she flirt with
Drew?’

‘Sure she did. She put
out with all the men.’

‘So you think she
encouraged him… you know…’

‘I’d put money on it.
Don’t get me wrong. She wasn’t the unfaithful type. But when you think about
it, after walking out on Carlos that time in the US – threatening divorce
and all – why would she go to Drew?’

‘Because he was a
friend.’

‘Is that what you’d do?
Go cry on the shoulder of your husband’s best male friend?’

Rebecca dropped her
eyes. ‘No. I suppose not.’

‘I think she went to
Drew because she wanted reassurance, you know? And to spite Carlos. But the
game went too far. When she realised she didn’t want Drew, not for keeps
– he was no prize compared to Carlos – she dumped him and went
back. Sad thing is she broke Drew’s heart. Did Carlos tell you she knew she was
pregnant? When she left him that last time.’

‘He said he thought she
must have known. But she didn’t tell
him
. He had to read about it in the
autopsy report. Can you imagine how he must have felt?’ Rebecca shook her head,
her eyes reddening around the rims. ‘What
was
she thinking? Running off
to Drew when she was pregnant with Carlos’s child? I mean… there’s no way that
could ever have worked out happily… whether she kept the baby or not,’ then
Rebecca gasped. ‘My God! Did Drew know?’

Erika screwed up her
eyes trying to make a decision. ‘Look. He didn’t tell Carlos he knew about the
baby… confessing to the affair was bad enough… so please don’t say anything,
but yes, she told Drew when she called him from Vienna.’

‘Thank goodness. For one
terrible moment I thought perhaps she planned to pass Drew off as the father.’

‘No. She wouldn’t have
done that, because she never planned to stay with Drew. She’d’ve gone straight
to her parents. And Carlos would’ve come chasing after her and she would’ve
used the baby to persuade him to quit his job at OOSA and move back to the
States. She’d’ve ended up getting exactly what she wanted. I guarantee it.’

‘You seem to have known
her very well.’

‘I know people. Drew
blamed Carlos at first. For her death. But later he blamed himself. If she
hadn’t wanted to go to him she’d still be alive today.’

‘But something good came
out of it for Carlos,’ Rebecca said, always looking for the positive in every
situation. ‘It made him question his values. He’s realised what he was like
back then and he wants to change. He is changing. He’s trying really hard.’

Erika filled their
glasses and ordered another bottle.

‘What about you and
Carlos?’

‘Well… we’re just
friends.’

‘Is that
it
? I
saw the way he looks at you… and the way you look at him!’

‘Don’t say anything,
please, but I’m really falling for him.’

‘That’s what I thought.’

Rebecca smiled. ‘He’s so
passionate about his beliefs… so passionate in his mission to bring meditation
to the world, but at the same time he’s questioning what kind of man he is. He
totally sees his flaws and is trying to work on them. I love that in him.’