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"No, but that still doesn't explain how we're going to force our way in there without being noticed." |
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"Julius, you're the director of the president's commission on biotechnology. You're at the top of your life's accomplishment. My point is that if omnimycinol is discovered, they'll tear up the backyard and find the containers. How long do you think it would take to trace them to BiOmega Labs? There are records about, archives, whatever. They'll find you. They'll find us. |
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"And in case you've forgotten," DeVoe added, "Morgan Reese, your president and mine, was the chief budget officer for Black Flag. Need I tell you what hay his political enemies would make if word got out that the ecology president twenty-some years ago oversaw the funding of a genocide germ that's festering in the ground water of a major American suburb? This isn't Love Canal with a bunch of poor slob factory workers. We're talking Carleton, Massachusetts, an affluent and politically influential community in the state. Doctors, lawyers, corporate CEOs and more Saabs and Volvos per square inch than Stockholm. They make a noise and it's heard 'round the world. It would be like Watergate and Whitewater rolled into one, with special prosecutors, hearings and talk-show sleazefests. And so much for next year's election." He nodded his head outside. "And if he goes down, we all go with him." |
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Julius listened solemnly. "You know, of course, your efforts to eradicate all the ties between the president and Black Flag can only fail." |
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DeVoe seemed to freeze. "How so?" |
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"Because there were others who worked on the project. How can we be certain they won't come forward on a spur of conscience?" He glanced at Claire for confirmation, but she was studying her hands. |
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"No chance of that," Frank said. "They're dead." |
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"They are?" Julius said. "How do you know that? I haven't heard" |
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"Because, Julius, we saw to it." |
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"God in heaven, Frank, we agreed that was only a last resort, if even then. They wouldn't have said anything" |
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"That is not something you would know for sure until too late, and then what?" DeVoe said. "Now we're certain. There's much at stake" |
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