Special Talents (32 page)

"To hide the radioactivity," said Porter. "And probably to protect the people driving it from the radioactivity."

"I suppose," said Frank. "At any rate, they drove the van down the state to Arizona where they took Interstate 40. Then they headed east. It's very confusing after that. I got the impression their destination was somewhere in southwest Maryland but they were taking a very roundabout route to get there. They had some kind of engine trouble just outside of Pittsburgh. That's when they transferred the radioactive material out of it and set it on fire."

"Do you know what they did with the radioactive material?" Porter asked.

"No, sir, I don't. I can tell you that the lead plates were designed to be removable. Almost like they anticipated having trouble and wanted to make sure they could use the plating in another vehicle."

"That's interesting, Mr. Doherty," said Napolitano. "Can you tell us anything about the people driving the van?"

"One was a man," said Frank. "Early forties, maybe. Distinguished. Well educated. The other one was a woman. The same woman that attacked us at the impound lot. I didn't recognize her right away. Sometimes I don't get a clear picture of the people I see. But I'm sure it was the same woman."

"That may have been why she was at the impound lot," said Jeremy. "To see if we had found out anything about the van."

"Well, Stoddard died for nothing," said Frank. "Boyle told me the fire destroyed nearly everything. There was very little forensics left and most of it was unusable. He also said they used some type of accelerant to make sure it burned completely."

"Is there anything else, Mr. Doherty?" Napolitano asked.

"That's about it, Madam Secretary. Most of the rest of it was just mundane stuff before the van was taken to Utah."

"Thank you, Mr. Doherty," said Napolitano. "You've been very useful. Now that we know where the van came from we can find out who rented it. That might tell us where they went."

"I . . . I don't think so," said Conrad. He seemed extremely nervous.

"Conrad," said Jeremy. "You insisted on coming with us. Do you have any information you'd like to pass on to the Secretary?"

"I'm sorry," Conrad apologized. "I'm kind of nervous. I've never met anyone as important as you Madam Secretary. I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to act."

"That's fine, son," said Napolitano. "I can understand that the office can be somewhat intimidating. Just take your time. We're all friends here. Just tell us what you have."

"Well," began Conrad, "the woman that attacked us is named Shannon Chang. She's from China but she also from America. That part is a bit confusing."

"That's fine, Conrad," said Jeremy. "You're doing fine."

"She's working with someone name Moser. And something about a nuclear bomb. That's what the plutonium in the van was for. They're planning on making a nuclear bomb. There's some other stuff but it's a bit confusing. I'm having trouble sorting it all out."

"How do you know all this?" Porter asked.

"Conrad has a form of telepathy," explained Jeremy. "He's able to draw information directly out of a person's mind. He's still learning to control it, though. And except for the training mission, this is the first time he's used it in public."

"I wasn't really scared then," said Conrad. "I knew we weren't really in any danger. But at the impound lot I was terrified. I thought that woman had killed you guys. And I was sure she was going to kill me next. But she just turned and ran off."

"Shannon Chang," repeated Napolitano. "General, run a check on her right away. I want to know everything we have on her." She turned to Conrad. "Is there anything you else you can tell us? Anything that can be of help to us?"

"She's afraid of Moser," said Conrad. "Which seems a bit odd. She's not afraid of anyone else. And I know she killed her father. That was back in China. And something about other deaths. Several other deaths. I can tell you one thing. She's very dangerous. It doesn't bother her at all that she's killed people. In her mind, they all deserved it."

"Axis II personality disorder," said Jeremy. "What used to be called a sociopath. It's characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others. It usually begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues on into adulthood.

"It might even be psychopathy. Psychopathy is a mental disorder that is characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. They can be very dangerous because they don't have the same emotional responses as the rest of us. And they feel perfectly justified in what they do. Most serial killers fall into this category. Without talking with her it would be impossible to make a definitive diagnosis but I'm pretty sure she fits one of these categories."

"A psychopath?" questioned Napolitano. "You're telling me there's a psychopath loose in the Washington, D.C. area with access to weapons' grade plutonium?"

"That's how it looks," said Jeremy. "And if they needed a van to transport it, my guess is they have enough of the plutonium to make a sizeable bomb."

"Conrad, why didn't you tell us any of this before?" Scarborough asked. "When we were at the impound lot?"

"Like I said, it's all kind of confusing. It's taken me some time to sort it all out in my mind. I wasn't sure of a lot of it. There's still a lot I'm not sure of. But I am sure of what I've all ready told you. Chang and Moser are planning to build a bomb with that plutonium."

"That explains a lot of things," said Porter, looking at Napolitano. "Now that we know she and Moser are in the D.C. area we can start a search for them. We might get lucky."

"Tell your men to be careful," said Scarborough. "She paralyzed my hand and rendered Dr. Sloan and Mr. Doherty unconscious merely by touching us. And she's very proficient in martial arts."

"I'll pass that along, Assistant Director," said Porter.

Napolitano picked up her phone and buzzed the secretary.

"Call the White House and tell the President I'd like to see him at his earliest convenience. And also inform the directors of the F.B.I. and C.I.A., the head of the National Security Agency that I'd like them there as well."

She turned back to Jeremy.

"Doctor, thank you for your assistance," she said. "I need to speak with the President but once I do we'll need to meet again. I'll need to clear some things with the President first but once that's done I will need to brief you on a situation we've been monitoring. It looks like you may have your first assignment, doctor."

"I'll clear my schedule and inform the team we may need them very soon," said Jeremy.

"Good," said Napolitano. "In the mean time not a word of this leaves this room. Mr. Miles, if you remember anything else you learned from Ms. Chang please inform Dr. Sloan immediately so he can pass it on to me."

"Yes, Madam Secretary," said Conrad. "I'll do that."

"Thank you, gentlemen, you've been very helpful. I'll arrange the meeting with Assistant Director Scarborough and he'll inform you when to come back in."

"Thank you, Madam Secretary," said Jeremy. "I'll wait to hear from you."

"Dr. Sloan would you remain for a moment please?" Porter asked.

"Certainly, general."

The others filed out of the room and Porter waited until the door was closed before he spoke.

"You said Miles had a form of telepathy. That he could draw information out of a person's mind."

"That's correct," said Jeremy. "As you can see he's still getting the hang of it. But he's come a long way since I first met him."

"My concern, doctor," said Porter, "is that you've brought someone in here that can learn all of our secrets and we wouldn't even know he knew them. That's a security risk I cannot permit. If terrorists should find out about him and convert him to their cause he could undermine everything we've done to fight terrorism."

"I can assure you, general, that's not going to happen. Conrad might be a bit young but he does understand the seriousness of what we're doing. He'd never join the terrorists."

"Maybe not willingly," said Porter. "But he could be . . . brainwashed into helping them. And he might not even know he's doing it."

"I suppose that's a possibility," said Jeremy. "The same thing could be said of you, sir."

"Point taken, doctor. But I don't have his ability. For security reasons I must ask that you do not bring him here again. I do appreciate the information he's provided us with and I also appreciate that he might not willingly betray his country. But the risk is just too great. If he has any more information, please, have him relay it through you or Assistant Director Scarborough. I'd feel a whole lot better knowing he won't be able to learn vital and sensitive information from us."

"I can appreciate your concern, general," said Jeremy. "I won't bring him here anymore."

"Thank you, doctor. That's all I needed."

Jeremy left the office and met the others outside.

"What did Porter want?" Scarborough asked as they headed to the parking garage.

"Oh, he just wanted to confirm my suspicion that he's actually very paranoid," said Jeremy. "I guess in his position he has to be. Let's get going. I'll tell you about it later."

Scarborough had been able to get his hands on the background check on Shannon Chang. She was a Chinese-American who had been born in Los Angeles to a Chinese father and an American mother. When she was 7 her parents had divorced and her father – after kidnapping her – had taken her back to China with him. Little was known of her life in China but it was known that he had died of a cerebral hemorrhage when she was 20. Shortly after that she had returned to the United States.

Since that time she had been married 3 times, each time to somewhat wealthy older men. Each of the men had mysteriously died several months after their marriage to Chang and she had inherited their fortunes. While suspicious, all of the deaths had been ruled "natural causes" and no sign of foul play could be found.

The death of Benjamin Stoddard, the technician at the D.C. police impound lot, was also ruled "natural causes". The coroner had ruled that he had suffered an arterial embolism which had lodged in one of the valves of his heart causing a massive heart attack. Although not conclusive, the coroner found it odd that his condition had not been diagnosed earlier. However, with no signs of any external causes, he had no choice in his ruling.

"According to Stoddard's file, he had a complete physical every year," Scarborough had told Jeremy. "His last one, about 4 months ago, showed no abnormalities or serious conditions of any kind."

"Well, I agree with the coroner," said Jeremy. "There should have been some indication of the condition. It's not unheard of to have an embolism that's missed during routine physicals. But the coroner's report didn't indicate anything that might have caused it. I'm not so sure Stoddard's death was 'accidental' or 'natural causes'."

"Well, unless you have something concrete to go on, there's not a lot we can do," said Scarborough. "Without some proof that it wasn't natural we have no grounds to investigate."

"I know. When – and if – we run into Ms. Chang again, we'll have to be very careful. I didn't have a chance to see if she were using a special talent but I'm sure she must be. By the way, what do you know about this Moser that Frank mentioned?"

"Virtually nothing. I tried to run a check on him and got blocked. That's strange. As an assistant director for Homeland Security I should have access to almost anything. But the check was classified and I was directed to see Secretary Napolitano. I also have no doubt she was informed I ran a check. So far, I haven't heard from her though."

"Why would they block a routine background check?" Jeremy asked.

"There's something in it they don't want getting out. I'm not sure what that would be but it's something important enough that they feel it needs to be classified. Classified above my security clearance."

"I thought you had the highest clearance?"

"Nearly. There are a couple of clearances that are higher than mine. There's also a need to know. Just because you have a high enough clearance doesn't mean you have access to any information for that level. You also have to have a need to know that information. Apparently they don't think I need to know it."

"Maybe we'll find out at the next meeting with Napolitano. Something's brewing, Richard. Something big. I can feel it."

"I know what you mean. But for right now all we can do is sit back and wait. That's a big part of the job. Just waiting around for something to happen."

Jeremy just nodded. He couldn't help but feel that the formation of the team, the missing plutonium, and Moser were all connected. And the implications were frightening.

Several days later Jeremy and Scarborough were back in Secretary Napolitano's office for their meeting. Jeremy was very curious about the meeting. He knew that their visit to check out the burned van was more than they had originally been told. The Secretary knew – or at least suspected – something that she had been unable or unwilling to share with him.