The Adamas Blueprint

CHAPTER 37

Afraid that Erica had gotten stuck under the boat, Kevin dropped the Glock and prepared to dive in.

A bubble broke the surface on the starboard side. Then another and another. Erica’s head burst out of the water. She gasped for air and looked up to see Kevin.

“You’re alive!” Kevin said, amazed.

“So are you!”

“Are you injured?” he asked, holding out his still-cuffed hands.

“No, I’m all right.” Erica pulled herself up and over the railing. When she was aboard, he pulled her to him and hugged her fiercely.

“I was afraid you were gone.” Kevin’s hands began to shake and his teeth chattered.

“Are you okay?” Erica said.

“Yeah. It’s just beginning to sink in. I had to…” He hesitated.

“Van Dyke?”

Kevin nodded toward the back of the boat. “Dead.” The shivering got worse.

“Are you sure?”

He didn’t answer. She went behind the console and sucked in her breath when she saw the body.

“He’s dead all right.”

“I thought you were, too,” he said. “He shot you. You fell backward…”

“No, I dove backward. I thought he might assume I’d dive forward. Apparently, he did. I heard one of the bullets zing past my ear.”

“Oh, that makes me feel a lot better.”

“Let’s not dwell on it. It happened. Now let’s get you out of those handcuffs.”

They retrieved the keys from Van Dyke’s back pocket, then moved the body away from the console and laid it against the port side. Kevin draped the boat’s rain tarp over the body while Erica washed the bloody deck with a bottle of water. It took five refills from the Potomac to wash it all off.

When they got back to the marina, Erica told the rental agency they would need the boat for another day. After she paid in advance with cash, the clerk promised that it wouldn’t be disturbed.

There had been no discussion about reporting the shooting to the police before their meeting with Congressman Sutter. This was their only chance to get high-level help. Going to the police would just make them stationary targets.

The truck was in the marina’s lot, but they would never find a parking space around the Capitol at this hour. The nearest Metro station was a five minute walk. With only 25 minutes left before the meeting, they jogged.

The white limestone steps of the Rayburn building, one of the three House of Representatives office buildings, gleamed in the morning sun, forcing Kevin to squint until he and Erica were under the shadow of the portico. He glanced at his watch. 7:56. Right on time. The walk from the Capitol South Metro stop had been short. Kevin breathed a literal sigh of relief. The worst was over. Now it was just a matter of getting someone to believe them.

The guard at the door of the Rayburn building had shown them where to find the building’s directory. Sutter’s office was on the second floor of the north wing. They walked briskly but calmly upstairs and found the congressman’s office.

The outer area of the office was somewhat small, to be expected of a congressman who was in only his second term. The larger offices would go to the more senior members. Four chairs lined a wall under pictures showing various scenes from the congressman’s district. A wide-angle shot of downtown Houston, a medical researcher pretending to study a test tube for the camera, an aerial view of South Texas University. The last made Kevin feel a little more confident about doing this. He turned to the desk facing the chairs.

Behind it sat a slightly frumpy woman in her fifties. She gave a smile that showed perfect teeth.

“May I help you?” she said in a pleasant voice.

“Yes. My name’s Kevin Hamilton. I have an appointment with Congressman Sutter.”

“Kevin Hamilton?” The secretary looked at him as if he’d told her his name was Madonna.

“Yes, Kevin Hamilton. This is a friend of mine, Erica Jensen. Our appointment was for 8:00. It’s very urgent that we speak with the congressman.” Kevin tried to see the appointment book. There was none. It must have been on the computer. “It should be down for 8:00 this morning. I called last Wednesday.”

“Yes, Mr. Hamilton. I was the one who spoke to you. Until a few minutes ago, I wasn’t expecting you until 9:30. Now I’m surprised you’re even here.”

What was this woman talking about? Kevin looked at Erica. She seemed just as puzzled as he was.

“I’m sorry,” said Erica to the secretary. “I don’t understand.”

“When I called Friday to tell Mr. Hamilton that the meeting had been delayed until 9:30 this morning, I assumed he had received it.”

“Wait a minute,” said Kevin. “You called my apartment?”

“That’s right. Representative Sutter had a breakfast with Senator Mitchell that was supposed to run late. As it turned out, the breakfast was over early.”

“You mean he’s here?” Thank God. It wasn’t too late. If Kevin’s apartment phone was still tapped, Tarnwell would know they were planning on coming here. Once he found out they’d escaped, he’d send someone down here to intercept them. They had to hurry. He started for the Congressman’s office.

“Mr. Hamilton, the representative is in a meeting. Mr. Tarnwell said you wouldn’t be coming, so I canceled…”

“Tarnwell?” He was right. Tarnwell’s thugs might be here any minute. Despite the secretary’s loud protests, he burst through the door to Congressman Sutter’s office.

The room was about 15 by 15 feet, with a spectacular view of the Capitol through the broad windows at the opposite side of the room. Bookshelves lined one wall, while a couch sat in front of the other. A television was perched on an oak dresser to Kevin’s left. A man occupied one of the two chairs in front of the congressman’s mahogany desk. Congressman Frederick Sutter, a slender black man in his forties with a receding hairline and dressed in a gray suit, stood up from his chair at the intrusion.

“What’s going on here?” he said.

The other man stood as well now, rising to his full six foot six height. He turned, and Kevin stopped short when he saw who it was. The look on Clayton Tarnwell’s face was almost as shocked as Kevin’s, but he quickly recovered.

“Kevin,” Tarnwell said, “I see you and Erica were able to make it after all.”

“I recognize you now,” Sutter said to Kevin. “You sat next to me at a South Texas brunch, correct?”

“A dinner,” said Kevin. “You told me about your son’s football scholarship to A&M.” He turned to Erica. “This is Erica Jensen. She’s a med student at South Texas.”

“Nice to meet you.” He nodded at Erica and then looked at Tarnwell. “These are the two you were telling me about, Clay? I find that hard to believe. I remember Mr. Hamilton. He seemed like an articulate young man.”

“Yes, Fred, he does. Kevin fooled me as well. I’ve never met this girl before, but her boyfriend here is the slickest con artist I’ve ever seen.”

Kevin made a move toward Tarnwell. “I should…” Before he got two steps, Erica grabbed him, holding him back.

“Now that I’ve exposed your little game, you’re losing your cool. How pathetic.”

Erica spoke to Sutter. “I don’t know what this man has told you, Mr. Sutter, but Kevin has discovered a revolutionary new process that could change almost every industry over night.”

“He’s got her in on this thing with him too,” Tarnwell said. “Very clever, Kevin. Two voices are always better than one. But as I was just telling Congressman Sutter, your plan’s a failure. I thought the police had caught you by now, and when you’d bragged about your meeting with Mr. Sutter, I thought I’d better come down and clear up any misunderstandings you might have caused. About how you and Dr. Ward tried to swindle me into investing huge amounts of money into a experimental process with no merit.”

“He’s lying, Mr. Sutter!” Kevin said. “I can prove it.” Kevin reached into his pocket for the specimen he’d completed two days ago.

“Ah yes,” Tarnwell said. “Now he’s going to present you with a piece of glass and claim it’s a diamond. Well, Kevin, let’s see it.”

Kevin walked over to the Congressman’s desk and handed him a diamond the size and shape of an egg. It was perfectly clear, a flawless specimen, except for one thing: the safe deposit box key fused in its middle.

Kevin thought he’d need some way of confirming that he hadn’t stolen it from somewhere, that it was actually made and not dug up out of the ground. The key was the most appropriate thing he could think of.

While the Congressman inspected the specimen, Kevin took the notebook out of the backpack and tossed it onto the desk.

“It’s all in there, sir. How we discovered it, how it works, everything. You are holding an artificially manufactured 200 carat diamond in your hand.”

“This is ridiculous, Fred. Now he’s trying to make a fool of you like he did to me. It’s obviously some kind of forgery.”

“He’s right, Kevin,” Sutter said. “I don’t understand what’s going on here, but this does look a piece of glass. Mr. Tarnwell is a man who is well-respected in the Houston community, and he’s donated a lot of time and money to my campaigns. It’s his word against yours.”

“I know, sir,” Kevin said, “but if you’ll just be patient, I’m sure we can prove to you in another minute that that is a real diamond.” Kevin repeatedly looked at the door to the outer office. Where was he?

“I’m sorry, Kevin. This seems like a matter for the police.” Sutter picked up the phone and told security to come to his office.

“No, you’re our last hope. Tarnwell will have us killed before the night is over.”

“Will you listen to this?” Tarnwell said. “The lies just go on and on. I promise you, Fred, that I am going to ask the DA to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Sir, you have to help us,” Erica said. “Kevin’s telling the truth.”

Sutter only nodded. The look on his face told Kevin that he didn’t believe them. “Let’s just wait for the Capitol police and explain it to them.”

“Mr. Sutter,” Erica said, “you have to arrange protection for us.”

“I don’t have to do anything.”

“It’s so I won’t have them killed,” Tarnwell said. “Come on, Erica. Don’t make this any worse for yourself.”

Kevin’s attention was drawn to a commotion in the outer office. A man with a scraggly beard and gray hair tied in a pony tail was arguing with the secretary.

“No, I’m telling you,” the man said. “Your office called and asked me to be here at eight this morning. I admit I’m a little late, but I’m here.” He wore a short-sleeved dress shirt, solid blue tie, and blue polyester slacks that were a little too tight and a little too short. A battered leather briefcase was in his left hand.

“We have no appointment for you, Mr. Downs.”

At the sound of Downs’ name, Kevin raced to the outer office.

“It’s Dr. Downs,” the scruffy man said. “Fine, I have better things to do than subject myself to silly pranks.” Kevin caught his arm as he turned to leave.

“Dr. Downs, I’m the one who asked you to come.”

“What? No, no, a woman called me.”

“That was a friend of mine. I asked her to call you because I didn’t think you’d come unless the Congressman asked you.”

“You’re right about that.”

“I’ll explain everything in a minute. Could you please come into the Congressman’s office? I can tell you this is not a prank. In fact, I’m relieved you actually came.”

Downs looked dubiously at Kevin, then grudgingly he said, “All right. But just for a few minutes. If you wanted some diamonds appraised, you should have gone to a jeweler.”

“I think this will interest you professionally, Dr. Downs. Did you bring the equipment that my friend requested?”

“Of course.”

They walked back into the Congressman’s office.

“Now who is this?” Congressman Sutter said, throwing his hands up.

“Congressman,” Kevin said. “I’d like to introduce, Dr. Quincy Downs, a geologist from the Smithsonian.”

“The Smithsonian? Oh, well why didn’t you say so?” The Congressman buzzed his secretary.

“Yes, Mr. Sutter?” she answered.

“Marian, call the Smithsonian and ask if they have a Quincy Downs listed. If he’s there, I want to speak with him.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’s going on here?” Downs said. “I was the one called over here, and now you don’t even believe me?”

“We’ve had a very strange morning here. I want to know if you’re really who you say you are before we go any further.”

Tarnwell seemed to believe it. His face was slowly losing its color.

Marian buzzed back a minute later. “A secretary over at the Natural History Museum said Dr. Downs is a geologist over there. He’s not in at the moment. She said his schedule had him down for an appointment in your office this morning.”

For the first time since arriving at the Congressman’s office, Kevin smiled.

“Will someone please tell me what I’m doing here?” Dr. Downs said.

“Now that we’ve established you’re a geologist…” Sutter held up the diamond specimen and pointed at Kevin. “This man claims that this clear material is a diamond.”

Downs took the specimen from the Congressman. He looked at it for less than five seconds and declared, “This can’t possibly be diamond.”

“What? Why not?” Kevin said in horror.

“Look at it. It has a key in the middle, which means it would have be artificial. I’ve seen a few artificial diamonds, but this one’s ten times as big as the largest I’ve ever heard of.”

Kevin protested. “But you haven’t even tested it.”

“Why bother?”

“I agree, Fred,” Tarnwell said. “There’s no reason to let this go on any longer.”

Kevin looked at the Congressman. “Sir, what harm could it do to test it? It’ll take just a few minutes. If it’s a fake, I’ll let the police take me away peacefully and you’ll never hear from me again.”

Congressman Sutter hesitated, but after a few seconds relented. To Downs he said, “Can you test to see if this is actually a diamond?”

“Sure. But it’s a waste of time.”

“Then go ahead.”

Downs withdrew a jeweler’s loupe and visually inspected the specimen. After about a minute, he removed the loupe from his eye.

“I can’t see any flaws, but the doesn’t mean anything. I’ve been fooled by cubic zirconia before. Fakes are getting better and better. It’s especially difficult to tell without facets.”

“See!” Tarnwell said. “It’s a fake.”

“I didn’t say I was done,” Downs said. He removed a small scale from the bag and then took out a piece of electronic equipment. He placed the specimen on the scale.

A Capitol policeman appeared in the outer office. Sutter motioned for him to wait.

“232 carats. Minus, of course, whatever the key weighs.” The electronic equipment was a 4 inch by 6 inch box with a display. Two wire leads came out of the box’s top and ended in metal-tipped probes.

“What’s that?” said Sutter.

“This measures the electrical resistance of any material. Diamond has a unique resistive signature.” Downs pressed a button to turn the unit on and placed the two probes against the specimen’s surface.

He gasped, then touched the probes twice more against different parts of the surface. “Oh my.”

“What is it?” Kevin said.

“I calibrated this instrument an hour ago.” Downs looked at Kevin. “Where did you get this?”

“I made it.”

“Is it real?” Sutter said.

“You made this?” Downs said, holding the specimen as gently as a robin’s egg.

“Dr. Downs,” Sutter said impatiently.

“It’s incredible,” Downs said. “This is as pure a diamond as I’ve ever seen.”

“But it’s huge,” Sutter said. “It must be worth a fortune.”

“With this clarity and color…If it were cut and polished into gemstones, it would be worth over $10,000 per carat.”

“That’s over $2 million,” Erica said.

“Without the key in it, it would be worth far more. A stone that size hasn’t come on the market in twenty years. It would create a sensation.”

“I guess you were wrong, Clay,” Sutter said. “It looks like he really can make diamonds.”

For a minute, Tarnwell said nothing. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this, Fred. I wanted to keep the process a secret until we had the patent in hand, and I wanted to get this mess resolved without Kevin going to prison. But now it seems like I have no choice. My scientists developed this process over six months ago. Kevin stole it.”

“This is insane!” Kevin yelled. “He is lying.”

“I was trying to settle this some other way, but I see that it just isn’t possible now. Dr. Michael Ward, a professor at South Texas, was working as a consultant for me. In particular, he was providing me with some important information on how to refine the diamond-making process. Although Michael was careful, I guess Kevin got wind of it somehow and wanted it for himself. He’d been having some financial troubles. I know how people can get desperate when they have no money, but I think we can all see how this has gone too far.”

The eyes of everyone in the room were on Kevin, and none of them seemed to be doubting the story Tarnwell was spinning.

“Unfortunately, he’s drawn Erica into this as well. Now she’s going to be responsible for this along with him.”

The situation was quickly turning sour. Kevin had to do something else. But what?

Erica whispered to him. “What about the tape?”

He whispered back. “That won’t prove anything. The Congressman won’t know one experiment from another.” Then he remembered Van Dyke specifically asking about the tape. He’d said Ward had told him something about it, something he might have used against Tarnwell. Maybe there was a chance.

“Do you have a camcorder here?” Kevin said to the Congressman.

“I’ve had about all I can take. The police…”

“Please, sir. There may be something in a tape I have that will convince you that I really did invent this.” He was taking a huge risk, but there didn’t seem to be anything else to do.

Although the color had returned to Tarnwell’s face, the mention of a videotape turned it ash gray.

“All right,” Sutter said, “but this is it. What kind of camcorder do you need?”

“8mm.”

“Marian! Does anyone around here have an 8mm camcorder?”

“I’ll check, sir,” said Marian.

“Fred,” said Tarnwell, “I really think we shouldn’t waste any more of your time.”

“It’s not every day I see a 200-carat artificial diamond. I think we can take a few more minutes out of my time.”

“Thank you,” said Kevin. He turned to Tarnwell. “Lobec didn’t tell you what was on the tape, did he? Just like he didn’t tell you he was a spy working for the South African government.”

“You’re babbling to get yourself out of this mess you’ve created. David Lobec is my head of company security. He is not South African.”

“That’s what he led you to believe after he got out of that Mexican prison. I bet he was in there on purpose, just to make your releasing him more realistic. His real name wasn’t even Lobec. It was Van Dyke. Oh, and his brother in California? Doesn’t exist.”

Tarnwell’s face was a mask of pure shock. “How did you know…”

“After he shot Bern, he told us.”

Tarnwell recovered quickly from Kevin’s revelations. “He did tell me that Dr. Ward was attempting to blackmail me, but that he had fabricated some kind of evidence to do so. That must be what your tape is.”

Marian walked in with a camcorder in hand. “Congressman Weaver had one in his office. He uses it to videotape himself shaking hands with constituents so he can show them like home movies back in Nebraska.” She took it over to the TV.

“Thanks,” Kevin said and began attaching the camcorder to the TV. “I’ll tell you what’s on the video. It’s the lab experiment where Ward and I first accidentally discovered the Adamas process. But Van Dyke seemed to think there was something more on it.”

Kevin put in the tape. As it ran, he narrated the experiment in great detail. As he watched, he looked for anything he and Erica might have missed the first time they’d seen it.

As before when they had watched it in the store, the tape went to static after the Kevin on the screen switched off the camcorder. Kevin couldn’t understand. He stared at it, hoping for a revelation about what he’d just seen. But nothing seemed especially significant.

Tarnwell didn’t think so either.

“Is this all you have to show us?” he said. “Because I can tell you that I don’t know what the fuss is about. For all I know, that could have been anything.”

“If we look closely at the equipment in the tape,” said Kevin, “I think it’s clear that we had the setup described in the notebook.”

“Even if it was the Adamas process,” Tarnwell continued, “how do we know when you made the tape? You could just as easily have stolen the process from me, run the experiment with Ward later, and changed the time stamp on the camcorder. That kind of thing is faked all the time.”

“There’s got to be something.” Kevin went over to the camcorder to rewind it to the beginning and play it back again.

“Really, Fred,” said Tarnwell, “I think one viewing is enough to see that there wasn’t anything there.”

Just as Kevin reached for the camcorder, a new picture flickered into focus on the screen. He stopped and stepped aside to let the others see. It was the lab again, freshly cleaned and the damaged equipment replaced, but this time it was from a different point of view. The tripod was visible across the room. The camera was on the other side of the lab, probably on one of the lab shelves. The picture moved around as adjustments in the camera view were made. Then a voice said “Dammit!” Kevin recognized it immediately and realized why it was cursing. The lab’s camcorder had a broken recording light. It was difficult to tell whether the camcorder was recording unless you looked through the viewfinder. With it on the shelf, the viewfinder was probably difficult to get to.

Finally, the camcorder stopped moving. Michael Ward walked past the camera into the field of view, tinkered with a piece of equipment, and left the room.

“Do we need to see this again?” Tarnwell said.

Kevin looked at Sutter. “This is something different. I haven’t seen this before.”

“Keep going,” Sutter said.

Nothing was happening on screen, so Kevin hit the fast forward button. After about a minute, the lab door opened. Kevin released the button and watched the screen intently.

Michael Ward walked in and opened the lab’s door wider.

“Come on in,” he said.

Another voice could be heard outside the door.

“David, wait for us out here.” Even muffled, the Texas drawl was unmistakable.

Ward’s guest followed him into the lab. Although Ward was six feet tall, he looked puny next to the massive frame of Clayton Tarnwell.