The Libra Affair (34 page)

“It's complicated,” she replied.

“And I'm listening.”

“I'm not authorized — ”

“Don't give me that mumbo-jumbo,” he interrupted her. “I've heard just about all I can stand of that junk so if you want me to hook you up, you'd better start talking.”

“You realize the more you know, the more your life is at risk.”

Ben snorted. “As if it hasn't already been — a few times more than I care to remember.”

“So why risk more?” Her voice heightened. “I don't want you to get hurt.”

“I'm already hurt, Jordan.”

“Ben. None of this is as it seems.” She reached for his arm.

He withdrew from her reach and sat back in his chair. “I have a right to know,” he insisted.

Jordan sat back.

“You used me.” His voice rose in indignation. “You used me, Jordan.”

She didn't budge.

“Don't you have anything to say about that?” His voice was loud. “Are you really that calculating, that cold? That much of a bitch?”

“Please, Ben, don't upset yourself,” she said. “I know this isn't easy.”

“I'm already upset so if you want me to feel better, start talking.”

Farrokh called to them from across the room. “Everything okay?”

“Fine,” Jordan answered. “Nothing to worry about.”

Ben forced himself to lower his voice. “You play everyone, Jordan,” he said, coolly.

“I did my job,” she said, but her tone was defensive.

He sat back, dropping his shoulders. “I can see that.”

“No, Ben, you're wrong.”

“I wonder, why did you go to the effort to bust me out of that prison? Were you afraid I'd blow your cover?”

“I got you out of there because I care about you.”

“Care?”

“Yes.”

“Try that on someone else.”

“Ben, please.”

“No, Jordan. I'll do my part for our country, then I'll disappear just like you did. Only you won't find me and you won't be coming back inside my door.”

“I had to leave. It wasn't my choice.”

“So you say.”

“It's the truth, whether you or I like it.”

“So tell me, why couldn't you say you loved me?” His voice was fervent, his expression passionate. “Why, Jordan? Who are you lying to?”

“Because I — ”

“Don't. Don't say a word. I can't believe anything you say, not anymore, but none of that matters now. Does it?” He folded his arms across his chest and tucked his hands underneath his arms.

“I never intended to hurt you.”

“Yeah, but you did. You used me. You hurt me. And you lost the best thing you ever had going for you.” He paused for a breath. “You know, if you had just asked me to help you right from the start, I would have done my part. I would have bent over backwards to help you. I would have done anything for you. But now,” he shook his head, “I think you should know, I'm not lifting a finger to help
you
. I'm only doing this because it's my duty.”

“Don't you see, Ben, if I had asked, you would have been involved?”

“I
am
involved,” he hammered back at her.

“No, Ben, you're not.”

“What's wrong with our government?” His chest tightened. “Taking advantage of innocent citizens, people who are working for the betterment of the country, for the world. I don't get it, maybe I don't want to get it. Tell you what, Jordan, you keep your secrets. I'll get us into the NASA system and finish this job, whatever it is. I've got a few real friends I can rely on to help me. Maybe you made a fool out of me, but at least I know how you feel about me. I took a risk. I went for the woman of my,” his voice cracked, “heart.” Then he swallowed hard. “And you know what, I'll sleep better at night, knowing I did the right thing, knowing I gave it my all. So let's get on with this so we can be free of each other.”

Jordan's eyes teared. “Ben, I never wanted to be free of you.”

“
Sweet
, Jordan, but I've already tried that one on for size. I'm way past go.”

“Maybe I deserve to hear the things you're saying, Ben, but it doesn't make it any less cruel to say them.”

“Tell me about it.”

Jordan walked away to give Ben time to regroup. When she returned, he appeared fine, as though no harsh, emotional words had been spoken.

“Are you ready?” he asked her.

“Don't tell Kara anything specific,” she said. “We don't want her to figure out what's going on.”

“Don't worry, I think I can handle this part.”

“What are you going to tell her? And you do know what time it is over there?”

“Yeah, I do, Jordan.”

“Let's think about this before you make the call.”

“It's not that difficult. I'll just tell her I thought of something in the computer program that needs to be added. She'll never be the wiser.”

“That's perfect.”

“Hey, I want to get home, too.”

“You know what, Ben? I'm not going to lie to you. We could all walk away from this right now. Your experiment would fly, you'd have your life back. Farrokh and Isbel could move on and start a new life. Sonya would be incensed for all the trouble I put her through, but in the end, she'd be fine because there's a woman who never lets anything stand in her way. But the real fact of the matter is, what we're doing here is trying to make a difference on a larger scale. I know the pieces you're seeing are confusing, they don't make sense, but if I could put them together for you, you'd see that none of this is a waste of time.”

Ben held out his hand. “How about giving me that flash drive so I can insert your application within the correct parameters.”

Jordan placed the device into the palm of his hand. “The file name is Laser One,” she told him as she watched him open the program, wondering if he understood anything she'd said, then realized he didn't care about any platform speech. It was meaningless to him, if not shallow, and just another empty explanation of their predicament.

But what he did say was, “That's a convenient file name.” He studied the program, then said, “May I have your phone?” He dialed Kara's number. A moment later, he looked sagaciously at her. “We have a problem.”

“What?”

“Her number has been disconnected.”

“I wonder why?”

“I couldn't even guess.”

“Great.” Jordan ignored his sarcasm and began to pace.

“She's got to be there. Look, I'll call Jane and ask her to take a quick ride over to Kara's place. She won't mind.”

“We can't involve your sister.”

Ben propped an elbow on the table. “So call your office then.”

“I can't.”

“What do you mean you can't?”

“I'm what you call off the grid.”

“We're kind of running out of options here, Jordan. For the record, I'm sure Jane would have no problem helping me out, and remember, she's a psychiatrist so she understands discretion.”

“Ben, it's not that I'm not appreciative. I am. I'm just concerned about involving others, their welfare — ”

“Stop.” He banged the table. “This experiment isn't just about your part of the gig. There's more at risk. Now look, Jane's all we've got.”

• • •

Without waiting for her permission, Ben dialed Jane's number. When she answered, he jumped right in, saying, “Jane, I need a favor.”

“Ben? Where are you?” his sister asked.

“Overseas,” he kept it brief.

“Overseas where?”

“Oh, I'm traveling all over, really,” he said noncommittally.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.”

“Why haven't I heard from you before now?”

“I'm sorry. My phone kind of died.”

“No worries, Kara told me you called and were okay. But it's still reassuring to hear your voice.”

“Thanks, it's good to hear your voice, too.”

“So what's going on?”

“It's my experiment,” he started.

“What about it?”

“I tried accessing it to correct a programming error, but I got locked out. I guess the NASA computer system isn't able to recognize my origin. I wouldn't bother you with this, but I've got to make the correction before they release my puppy into space.”

Jane yawned. “Sorry, it's late. So what can I do?”

“I need to get hold of Kara. Her cell phone's been disconnected.”

“I'll get you her new number. Hang on.”

“New?”

“I don't want to spoil your fun, but there's been a lot of weird activity around here since you left,” she explained. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Like what kind of weird?” Ben looked at Jordan, then waved her over to listen in on the call. “I just spoke with Kara the other day — everything seemed fine.”

“Well, after you spoke with her some guy from the CIA — Knox is his name — showed up at NASA and started interrogating Kara about you and Jordan. He had some notion Jordan was up to something. Then the next thing we know, he's calling Kara back, making some big apology. Said he had the wrong people and that he was sorry to have involved her. And when I had coffee with Kate, her boss just happened to show up and started asking me about you. I guess it had something to do with Kate getting you that visa.”

“That is weird,” he said, meeting Jordan's eyes.

“Yeah, weird,” Jane agreed. “So listen, Ben, don't take this the wrong way, but I'd like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth; you're not in any kind of trouble or into anything weird, are you?”

“Me? No way.”

“Sure?”

“Me, the world's biggest pacifist?”

“I just want to be sure. It's not every day the CIA comes knocking on the door.”

“Please. Jordan and me involved with national secrets? Espionage?
Not
.”

Jane laughed lightly. “Yeah, I see your point.”

“So Kara changed her number because of all of this?”

“Yeah, she was pretty freaked out about the whole thing.”

“I feel bad I caused her all that trouble. So this guy Knox, he's gone now?”

“Yeah, no one's heard from him since. So,” her voice peaked with interest as she changed the subject, “how's the trip going with the dry cleaner girl?” Ben pulled the phone away from Jordan. “Are you engaged?” his sister asked.

Ben forced out a chuckle. “How about I catch you up to speed when I get home?”

“But everything's fine, right?”

“Oh, yeah, fine is exactly right.”

“So was it worth it, finding the girl and sweeping her off her feet?”

“Jane.”

“Well, it's not like you. You're usually the one running for the hills.”

“I promise, I'll tell you all the details when I get home. Okay?”

“Okay, okay.”

“You got Kara's number there?”

“Right, I almost forgot about it there for a minute. Are you ready?”

When he concluded the call with his sister, he dialed Kara's new number. The phone rang several times before she answered. “Hello,” she said in a rough whisper.

“Kara, it's Ben. I'm sorry to disturb you. Jane gave me your new number,” he told her. “I didn't realize you were changing numbers.”

“No, that's all right. I would have given you my number, but I only got it today,” she explained.

“What's going on with this Knox character?”

“Oh, that was weird. Some big mistake. I'll tell you all about it when you get home. But my gosh, if the CIA wants to know something about you, they go all out to get it.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So what's going on?” she asked. “It's kind of late over here.”

“I need your help,” he explained.

“Can't it wait until the morning?”

“No. It can't.”

“But the experiment is already moved. You're good.” She paused. “Do you have any idea what time it is here?”

“Kara, there's a problem.”

“I promise, first thing in the morning, I'll call you from the office and we'll get right on it.”

He persisted. “It can't wait.”

“Okay, all right,” Kara grouched as she sat up in bed. “What's the deal?”

“You know how the experiment has to perform a simulation test run?”

“Yeah. We built in time for all that.”

“Right, but I just realized I'm missing a piece of the reboot language in my program.”

“You're kidding?”

“No, I'm sorry, I just realized it.”

“Isn't there anywhere you can go to log on to NASA to fix the problem?”

“That's just it. I tried logging in using Jordan's laptop, but my access was denied. I think it has something to do with where I am and the mainframe not recognizing my location as safe. If I were home, I'd be logged on nothing flat.”

“Right, right.” Kara yawned loudly. “It looks like you're some joker hacking into NASA.”

“Precisely. I need your help to uplink the correction before the morning.”

Ben heard a man's voice on the other end of the line asking, “What's going on, babe?”

Ben immediately recognized Jason Powers's voice.

“Hang on, Ben.” Kara covered the phone and spoke to Jason. “I'll be right back. Go back to sleep.”

Ben listened as she got out of the bed, walked across the room, and shut the bedroom door behind her. He knew exactly where she was heading as her feet padded along the length of the wood-planked floors of the Georgetown house she grew up in and now owned. The French door to the study creaked when she opened and closed it.

“Okay, so I'm booting up my computer. Can you forward the application to me now so I can log on and take care of this? It's been kind of a long night.”