The Zero Game

72

“What’re you doing?” I ask, my voice already booming through the small room.

“Take it easy,” Viv says.

“Listen to her,” Lowell says, trying to sound concerned. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

He nods at Viv, trying to make it look like she’s taking his side. He’s been Deputy Attorney General too long. All he’s got now are old tricks. He taught me that one the first year I worked for him in the Senator’s office.

“How’d you get in here?” I ask.

“Same as you. When I was chief of staff, they gave me a key.”

“You’re supposed to give it back when you leave.”

“Only if they ask for it,” Lowell says, pretending to be playful. Strike two. He may’ve been a great friend, but that disappeared the moment he sent me running out of that restaurant.

“I know what you’re thinking, Harris — but you don’t understand the position I was in. He threatened my family… came to my daughter’s playground… even smashed my head when I tipped you off that night,” he says, showing me the Band-Aid on the back of his head.

Now he’s going for sympathy. Strike three and he’s out. “Fuck you, Lowell! You understand me? Fuck you! The only reason Janos was there that night was because you told him! You set it up!”

“Harris, please…”

“So what’s the next dart you’ll jab in my neck? Did you tell him I’d be hiding here, too, or is that what you’re saving for dessert?”

“I swear to you, Harris — I’m not working with him.”

“Oh, and I’m supposed to believe you now?”

“Harris, let’s just go,” Viv says, grabbing my arm.

“Do you even realize how stupid it was to come here?” I ask. “You think Janos didn’t follow your every step?”

“If he did, he’d be standing here right now,” Lowell points out. It’s a fair point. “Now can’t you just listen for a second?” he begs.

“Whattya mean, like trust you? Sorry, Lowell, we’re all sold out of that this week!”

Realizing he’s getting nowhere, he studies Viv and sees his new target. “Young lady, can you…?”

“Don’t talk to her, Lowell!”

“Harris, I’m fine,” Viv says.

“Stay away from her, Lowell! She’s not part of-” I cut myself off, fighting to stay in control. Don’t lose it, I tell myself. I bite the inside of my cheek just to kill the rage. We’re running out of time. I open the door and point Lowell toward it. “Good-bye, Lowell.”

“Can’t you just-?”

“Good-bye.”

“But I-”

“Get out, Lowell. Now!”

“Harris, I know who they are,” he finally blurts.

Watching him carefully, I check the pitch of his eyebrows and the anxious tilt of his neck. I’ve known Lowell Nash most of my professional life. No one’s that good a liar. “What’re you talking about?” I ask.

“I know about the Wendell Group… or whatever they call themselves. I had them put through the system. At first glance, they’re as solid as Sears — registered in Delaware, doing a furniture-importing business — but when you dig a little deeper, you see they’re a subsidiary of a corporation in Idaho, which has a partnership in Montana, which is part of a holding company that’s registered back in Antigua… The list kept going, layer upon layer, but the whole thing’s a front.”

“For the government, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“You could see it in the lab. Only a government would have that kind of cash.”

“What lab?” Lowell asks.

“In the mine.” From the look on his face, this is all brand-new. “In South Dakota… they’ve got an entire lab hidden in an old gold mine,” I explain. “You could tell from the machinery that the experiments-”

“They were building something?”

“That’s why we-”

“Tell me what they were building.”

“This is gonna sound nuts…”

“Just say it, Harris. What were they making?”

I look at Viv. She knows we don’t have a choice. If Lowell were in on it, he wouldn’t be asking the question.

“Plutonium,” I say. “We think they’re creating plutonium… from the atomic level up.”

Lowell stands there, frozen. His face goes pale. I’ve seen him nervous before, but never like this.

“We have to call someone…” he stutters. His arm flies into his jacket pocket, reaching for his cell phone.

“You can’t get a signal down here.”

Seeing I’m right, he scans the office. “Is there a…?”

“On the dresser,” I say, pointing to the phone.

Lowell ’s fingers pound across the digits, dialing his assistant. “William, it’s me… Yeah,” he says, pausing a moment. “Just listen. I need you to call the AG. Tell him I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He again stops. “I don’t care. Pull him out of it.”

Lowell slams down the phone and races for the door.

“It still doesn’t make sense,” Viv calls out. “Why would the U.S. government build plutonium when we already have plenty? All it can do is get in the wrong hands…”

Lowell stops and turns. “What’d you say?”

“I–It doesn’t make-”

“After that.”

“Why would the U.S. government-?”

“What makes you think it’s our government?” Lowell asks.

“Pardon?” I ask.

Viv’s just as confused. “I thought you said…”

“You have no idea who owns Wendell, do you?” Lowell asks.

The room’s so silent, I hear the blood flowing through my ears. “ Lowell, what the hell is going on?” I ask.

“We traced it back, Harris. It was well hidden: Idaho, Montana — all the states that make it harder to do a good corporate records search. Whoever set it up knew all the magic tricks. After Antigua, it bounced to a fake board of directors in Turks and Caicos — which was no help, of course — but they also listed a registered agent with a local address in Belize. Naturally, the address was fake, but the name… it went to the owner of a government-owned concrete company in, of all places, Sana’a.”

“Sana’a?”

“Capital city of Yemen.”

“ Yemen? You’re telling me Wendell Mining is a front for Yemen?” I ask, my voice cracking.

“That’s where the records run — and do you have any idea what happens if they start making plutonium and selling it to whoever’s got the fattest money clip? Know how many lunatics would line up for that?”

“All of them.”

“All of them,” Lowell repeats. “And if even one of them gets close… we’ve gone to war for far less than that.”

“I–It’s impossible… they gave money… they were on the wish list… all the names…”

“Believe me, I’ve been looking for a single Arabic name on the list. These guys usually only hire their own, but the way they’re hidden… I’m guessing they brought in someone over here to put on a public face and grease the right pockets — some CEO-type so it all looks clean. We’re looking at this guy Andre Saulson, whose name is on one of Wendell’s bank accounts. The name’s probably fake, but one of our boys noticed the address matches an old listing we had for someone named Sauls. It’ll take some time to confirm, but he fits the mold. London School of Economics… Sophia University in Tokyo. We looked at him a few years back for art fraud — he was supposedly trying to move the Vase of Warka when it was snatched from Iraq ’s National Museum, which is probably how the Yemenis found him. Very high-end scams. Yemen brings him in for credibility, then Sauls hires Janos to flatten out the speed bumps, and maybe even another guy to help them maneuver through the system…”

“Pasternak… That’s how they got into the game.”

“Exactly. They bring in Pasternak — he may not even know who they really are — and now they’ve got one of the best players in town. All they have to do is get their gold mine. You have to give them credit. Why risk the wrath of inspectors in the Middle East when you can build your bomb right in our own backyard without anyone thinking twice? Set it up right, and Congress will even give you the land for free.”

My stomach plummets. I can barely stand up.

“W-What do we do now?” Viv asks, her whole face already shiny with sweat.

We’re not just out of our league — we don’t even know what sport they’re playing.

Running back toward the hallway, Lowell ’s already in rescue mode. “Lock the doors behind me — both bolts. Time to ring the king.”

I’ve heard the term before. Once he gets to the Attorney General, they’re calling in the White House.

As Lowell disappears from the room, Viv notices his keys on the coffee table. “ Lowell, wait…!” she calls out, grabbing the key ring and following him outside.

“Viv, don’t!” I shout. Too late. She dashes into the hallway.

As I run for the door, I hear Viv scream. I step out into the hall just as she backs into me. Up the hallway, barely around the corner, Janos presses his forearm against Lowell ’s neck, pinning him to the wall. Before I can even react, Janos pulls his black box from Lowell ’s chest. Lowell ’s body convulses slightly, then drops lifelessly to the floor. His body hits with two dull thuds — first his knees, then his forehead — echoing through the empty hallway. It’s a sound that’ll never leave me. I look down at my friend. His eyes are still open, staring blankly at us.

Janos doesn’t say a word. He just lunges forward.