Close Up the Sky (47 page)

"My
God," Taylor exclaimed. "Colonel Pope was involved in this?"

"He
wasn't," Ritchie responded. "But he and Kasdan were friends, so I'm
told.
Williams’s military file had been delivered a few days
earlier to Colonel Pope by special messenger
, so he was aware of what he
looked like. However, just before he was scheduled to arrive, Kasdan paid Pope
a visit in his office and somehow managed to get a powerful drug into his
coffee. Kasdan had already met with Sureahl in Albuquerque, who gave him his
photo and prints, so when the colonel went into seizure and lapsed into
unconsciousness, he simply took Williams's file from Pope’s desk, destroyed his
prints and photo, and replaced them with Sureahl's. Since Pope was the only
person who would know Williams by sight, he had to be eliminated. He never
regained consciousness, and died in the hospital a few days after you
left." He paused and nodded to
Pierce
. "Another
good piece of police work by the Sergeant, here. The Albuquerque crime lab
isolated the drug used by Kasdan and identified it as a substance that
originated in the Middle East. 'Mummy juice' I think they called it."

"And the
sniper's gun?" Matt asked Pierce.

"A rare gun
made in America but used mostly in Middle Eastern countries," Pierce
replied. "Small enough to carry in a briefcase when disassembled. It’s
primarily used by security officers in the protection of heads-of-state, but
because of its size and power it can also be a handy weapon for assassinations.

"When we
identified the body at the airport as a Marine captain named Williams, I
suddenly remembered the guy who delivered your note was also a Marine captain
named Williams. That's when I started to put two-and-two together and came up
with the right number. When you didn't call as you said you would, I contacted
an FBI friend of mine. I explained the situation and he contacted Mr. Ritchie. From
there we used an FBI helicopter to gain access to Apache Point and went
directly to Dr. Durant."

"How did you
find out about Kasdan?" Matt asked Ritchie.

"Dr. Kasdan
was an Iranian immigrant," Ritchie responded. "He came to America
with his parents as a child when the West still had strong influence over oil
production in the Middle East. Since he had been born in Iran, he naturally
felt some emotional connection to his mother country. As it turned out, he was
more of an Iranian patriot than an American citizen. But no one knew just how
much loyalty he felt for his homeland until he became Director of Middle
Eastern Studies at Apache Point. As director, he had supervision over all
expeditions to that part of the world. In fact, he organized and led many of
them himself. He had free access to the Chronocom, and read every report filed
by agents conducting operations in that part of the world. He could also call
the shots on most of the projects without obtaining approval from Dr. Durant.
All except Babylon Station.
When he couldn't gain access to
those files, he approached Dr. Durant and demanded to know why he had been
blocked from them. He was told that the files were restricted to persons who
had a need to know, and there was no need for him to read them. That was when he
began the search for someone who could break the access code."

Matt held up his
hand and said, “Hold on a minute. I met Kasdan just after I arrived at Apache
Point. In fact, he was in the meeting Dr. Durant held in his office where we
discussed the murdered agents. He knew about that, but not about this
operation?” he waved his arm around the room.

“Oh he knew about
it,” Dr. Durant answered, “only we didn’t know he knew.”

“I suppose you’ve
learned how he managed to find out?” Matt questioned.

The room became
quiet while Ritchie removed a manila folder from his briefcase. He flipped
through a couple of papers, read for a few seconds,
then
looked at Matt. "Are you familiar with a woman named Gail Wilson?"

Matt glanced at
Taylor. She gave him a sideways look and arched her eyebrows.

“I wouldn’t exactly
say
familiar
, but I met her a couple
of times,” he answered. “On one occasion I had the feeling she was trying to
pump me for information."

"I expect she
was," Ritchie observed. "Her job at Apache Point was to monitor and
check computer systems for accuracy. But she was more than just a
technician,
she was also a computer hacker. And a very good
one, I might add. At some point she and Kasdan became lovers, and he managed to
recruit her to work with him on breaking the computer access code on the Babylon
Station project. Once that was accomplished, he was able to read reports coming
back from the oil accumulation points in the Middle East as well as those from
the receiving stations in America. It was from Colonel Pope’s restricted files
that Miss Wilson managed to hack into, that he learned about Captain Williams’s
assignment to proceed to Apache Pointe and train Lieutenant Leahy in desert
survival. From that point on he set out to sabotage the project whatever the
cost, including murder. But he made one mistake. When Miss Wilson learned that
he was not simply reading forbidden files but was actively engaged in
sabotaging the project, she threatened to expose him.

"She already
knew that Kasdan had poisoned Colonel Pope, and when she found out that you had
been shot, she realized the extreme danger of her own position. It was probably
at that point that she wrote a full confession concerning her involvement with
Kasdan and concealed it behind a wall picture in her quarters. She intended to
use it as a threat to ensure her safety, but it didn't work. Kasdan had already
decided to kill her, and before she could tell him about the hidden confession
he drowned her in the swimming pool. The confession was found while her
quarters were being cleaned out. That all happened just a few days after your
expedition departed for Egypt."

Matt and Taylor
exchanged glances. Both of them remembered the conversation they had had about
keeping quiet until all the players were known.

Ritchie went on. "When
Kasdan was confronted with the document, he made a full confession. The only
thing he didn't mention was Sureahl. Apparently he held some hope that Sureahl
would still be able to destroy the stellarite and dispose of the four of you. If
it hadn't been for Sergeant Pierce we might never have known about him. As soon
as we found out, we immediately took steps to transport you back to Apache
Point. We sent signals to your pagers a number of times, but without success. We
finally gave up on that tactic and came here to start a search."

Taylor swallowed
and said, "It's a good thing Seaman Hull was posted on that hill or we
would be dead now."

"That was
just a fortunate coincidence,” Ritchie said. He looked at Matt. “Your brother,
in his delirious state, had already disabled Seaman Pendergast, the sailor who
was on sentry duty on the hill. Seaman Hull just happened to be in the right
place at the right time."

Taylor shuddered. "Oh,
my God."

Matt shook his
head and let out an audible breath. After a few seconds of silence he said,
"Poor Gail. Kasdan must be insane. And to be honest with you, I had
already come to the conclusion that the stellarite had not really been
sabotaged. The facts just didn't support that conclusion. I guess I was
mistaken." He looked a little downcast.

“No, you were
correct, Matt,” Durant said in a low voice. “That’s another thing I have to
apologize for. There was never any sabotage. That was just a cover story. You
see, we burned out the stellarite by using the Chronocom for so many years to
transport large quantities of oil from here to
America……
and other places."

Matt was
nonplussed and it showed on his face. "But you said you couldn't transport
anything from one point to another."

"I said it
was too dangerous to transport
people
.
We've always had the capability of moving
objects
across great distances."

Matt shook his
head and glared at him. "You used us as pawns hoping we would recover the
stellarite so this project could be continued, didn't you?"

"You were
never a pawn, Matt, and neither was Taylor,” Durant pleaded. “Mike Summerhour
knew all about the project and was instructed to take whatever measures were
necessary to ensure your safety. We were completely in the dark about
who
murdered the first exploration team, and we also
suspected that Edward might not surrender to anyone but you, if we could find
him at all. That's why we needed you so badly. I told you that during our first
meeting. I hope you can understand the magnitude of our position. If things
hadn’t worked out as they have, the Fade Away Directive would have been
automatically activated and thousands of lives would have been destroyed.”

Matt glared at the
old physicist for a long moment. He felt the urge to strike out, but something
in Durant's eyes held him back. It was obvious that he had been under intense
stress, and the sincerity of his words showed in his face. In the end, Matt's
heart overcame his anger and he began to relent. "Williams, I mean
Sureahl, told us about Fade Away, so I guess I can understand your position;
especially since our allies would also be subject to the directive." He
shook his head and asked, "Have you learned who killed the time agents and
shot Edward?"

“Kasdan,” Durant
replied. “You see
,
he was part of all the meetings in
which we discussed finding other sources of stellarite. He knew that we had
located the only other known source in the Valley of the Kings during Ramses's
time, and that we were sending a team to recover it. He also knew the exact
time and date of the team's departure. He surmised that if he could destroy
that supply of stellarite, Babylon Station would collapse and his native land's
greatest resource would be protected. Since he had authority to organize
expeditions at his own discretion, he simply went back ahead of the recovery
team and was waiting for them when they arrived. He watched them excavate the
site and then confronted them. He shot all of them without mercy, Matt. He also
thought that he had killed Edward. He was lucky to have escaped while Kasdan
was burying the others. But the thing he didn't count on was
Ramses's
soldiers
getting there first and digging up the element. Since the
stellarite was gone, he simply returned to our time and waited to see what our
next move would be. He was at the meeting when Mike Summerhour returned with news
of the murders. He also knew about our decision to send for you."

"It’s still
hard to believe that Edward managed to escape,” Matt said. “He didn’t have his
gun or pager on him when we found him, so I suppose that when he couldn't
return to his own time for help, his only chance was to make it to Thebes, find
the stellarite, and try to reach this base. It was an incredible feat that he
managed to cross the desert in his condition."

"You're
right," Durant said. "He probably lost his utility belt during his
trek to Thebes, but it’s of no real consequence. We may never know what became
of it, but we can delete the pager from the computer’s memory and take our
chances that the gun will never be found. We'll get his complete report as soon
as he's well enough to talk. We owe him much more that we can ever repay."

"Where's
Kasdan now?" Matt inquired, changing the subject.

Durant looked at
Ritchie, who was busy making notes.

"I'm afraid
he's dead," Durant said when Ritchie did not make any comment. "Suicide."

Matt glanced at
Ritchie. The NSA agent turned his attention from his notebook and looked at
Matt with a blank expression.

"You
understand, Lieutenant," he said to Matt. It was not a question, but a
statement made by one professional law enforcement agent to another, intended
to put closure to the matter without any further questions.

"Yes." Matt
replied. “But there’s one other thing. Babylon Station is a top-secret project,
and so is Apache Point. If Kasdan and Sureahl knew what was going on, how many
of their associates might also know? This could start a war, you know.”

Ritchie nodded. “A
good point, but we are confident that those loose strings have all been tied
up. You must remember that even though he was capable of murder, Kasdan was a
scientist, not an intelligence agent. It must have been for that reason that he
didn’t inform anyone else about Babylon Station until the arrival of Sureahl. He
admitted that much in his confession. Sureahl himself was in New York at the
time as part of a U.N. delegation. Kasdan contacted someone he knew in the U.N.
and requested what he called ‘special help,’ and Sureahl received the
assignment. As far as Sureahl is concerned, we feel confident that he knew
nothing about the project until his meeting with Kasdan. He only knew that his
initial assignment was to intercept and kill the real Charles Williams and take
his place. In the meantime, Kasdan obtained the name and telephone number of
the gunman who tried to kill you in the desert. He probably got the information
from the same source in the U.N. Most of the events that have occurred since
then have been spontaneous and coincidental to whatever
was
taking place at the time. They were just playing it by ear, so to speak. And
since all communications are restricted at Apache Point, they would have had no
way of informing anyone else before their plot was exposed.”

Matt shook his
head and sighed. “I don’t suppose you know the identity of the U.N. contact.” He
made it sound like a statement instead of a question.

“No. I doubt we’ll
ever know,” Ritchie responded.

Durant was
relieved that everything was finally out in the open. "Well," he
said, "we want to know everything that's happened to you two since you
left Apache Point."