to reach.”
“Then how the hell does anybody keep all of it straight?”
“I think that’s the point. They don’t want anyone knowing enough to keep things straight. Then they might have to start answering some tough questions.”
“Makes congressional oversight damn difficult.”
“Damn near impossible,” amended Knox. “Which, again, is the central point.”
He eyed her curiously. “These are puzzling observations coming from someone in the intelligence sector.”
“Just because I work there doesn’t mean I have to drink all the Kool-Aid. And have you wondered about something else?”
“What?”
“What your brother was sent to prison for.”
“He was charged with national security crimes. Treason.”
She said in a scolding tone, “And you weren’t curious about the exact circumstances? That’s surprising for an investigator.”
“I did wonder. I wondered a lot. As soon as I got back from deployment overseas I checked into it. My brother was already in prison. But I did investigate.”
“And?”
“And the file was sealed. I couldn’t get anyone to even return a phone call or meet with me. Everything was completely hushed up. Not even the media really got wind of anything. It didn’t make any of the newspapers and I only saw one item about it on CNN, and then it just went away like dust in a black hole in space.”
“So you don’t know what he was convicted of?”
He glanced sharply at her. “Why? Do you know anything about it?”
“I think we might want to find out about it.”
Puller kept driving as he thought about this.
She said, “Or do you not want to know if your brother is really guilty or not?”
“He was convicted.”
“And in your experience an innocent person has never been convicted?”
“Not that many.”
“One is too many,” said Knox.
“But if the file is sealed on my brother’s case?”
“You’re the investigator. You must have some ideas on how to find out things. And if I’m going to stick my neck out about these transformers gone missing, you can do the same with your brother’s case.”
And she said no more as they drove along right into the gathering storm that might as well have been inside the car as well as outside it.
CHAPTER
20
HE AWOKE AT noon and slowly looked around.
Robert Puller had been dreaming that he had escaped from the DB. So when he woke, he thought he would see the interior of his prison cell.
But I did escape. I am free. For now.
A few minutes later he showered, careful to keep the soap and water off his altered face, and changed into his one other set of clothes. He would have to go shopping soon if he managed to maintain his freedom. He looked at himself in the mirror, if only to confirm that he still didn’t look a thing like himself. He just needed to avoid being arrested, because he couldn’t change his fingerprints, DNA, or retinal marker. His belly grumbling again, he drove to a twenty-four-hour diner and ate at the counter. Over his scrambled eggs, bacon, and buttered biscuits he read the local paper, a copy of which was sitting on the counter. The story he stumbled on had not made the front page and he wondered why.
When Robert Puller saw his brother emerge from the car, he froze, yet only for a second. Then he inched more deeply into the alley, but kept his gaze squarely on his younger brother’s tall, imposing physical presence.
What the hell was he doing here?
This wasn’t a CID case. And even if it were, the Army would never have allowed John Puller to work on it, if only because it might have a connection to his brother’s case. The military not only disliked appearances of impropriety, i
t loathed them.
But there he was, in the flesh, and he was heading past the guards after flashing his creds. The woman with him was tall, slender, and auburn-haired, but Puller did not get a good look at her face.