The Zul Enigma (16 page)

CHAPTER 10

‘Well, well now.’ Bob said down the phone as he nodded his handsome head.
‘Thank you, thank you kindly. Send their report over soonest.’ He leaned back
in his chair, hands linked behind his head, looking very satisfied.

‘So, what does NASA have
to say?’ Amanda asked.

‘They have nothing new
to add.’

‘If that’s the case, why
do you look like the cat that got the cream?’

‘They need more time…
but… NASA, unlike the UN, has come up with a preliminary explanation.’

‘And…?’

‘They say Dr Maiz made
the whole damn thing up because no one else could’ve got those messages into
UNO City. He made the audio and video recordings, spoofed the e-mail address
and sent the messages to himself.’

‘What about the one that
came in when his Network Administrator was in the room?’

‘They think they have an
explanation, but they need more time to confirm. What they do know is there’s
no way someone inside or outside the building could’ve hacked into his terminal
sessions, they’re quite clear on that. Him e-mailing himself? It’s the only
explanation.’

‘What’s his motive?’

‘That’s what we have to
find out. I’m wondering if he’s trying to set me up. Perhaps he’s planning to
leak this story.’

‘It’s not very likely,
is it?’

‘Think about it. If it
comes out I’ve asked NASA to investigate alien contact with the UN, especially
now, it’d make me look like a complete fool. It could ruin my career.’

‘It would ruin Dr Maiz’s
career too.’

‘Perhaps someone has
some dirt on him. Don’t forget he worked for NASA before. Goddamit, he was
based at Goddard for years living just outside DC. Perhaps he’s a pawn in
someone else’s game. Or it could be his own private vendetta against me. Just
because he no longer works there, doesn’t mean he’s not passionate about the
cuts.’

‘But how would he know
you’d cooperate and investigate?’

‘I’d’ve been pretty
stupid not to. But he didn’t bank on me keeping him here. The way things stand,
I’ve got him under my control till we decide what to do next.’

‘What about Greg Howard?
You think he’s involved?’

‘Nope.’ Bob shook his
head. ‘You saw his face when Dr Maiz mentioned the baby. I thought he was going
to have an apoplectic fit. Dr Maiz has suckered him in against his better
judgement.’

Bob put his hands flat
on the desk. ‘Now, Amanda, what did Mr Howard and Dr Maiz talk about while they
were waiting outside?’

‘Greg Howard led a
debriefing session. That’s about it.’

‘I’ll look forward to
reading the transcript of that. Has Mr Howard made any calls?’

‘He called the UN
Network Security Manager in Vienna to tell him to comply with any requests
authorised by you – any “reasonable” requests that is,’ Amanda smiled,
‘then he called his wife.’

‘And what’s our
surveillance picked up at the safe house?’

‘Maiz just called a
friend. Dr Drew Roberts. We ran a check on him. He and Maiz have known each
other a long time. They were students together at USC and both went on to work
at NASA. Roberts is still there. He’s working on the Radiation Belt Storm
Probes missions at the Goddard Space Flight Centre based in Maryland.’

‘Another Goddard boy,
huh?’

‘Roberts knows about the
messages and he knows Maiz was meeting with you.’

‘Oh, he does, does he?’

‘They want to hook up
tonight. Maiz said he’d confirm later after he finds out if he’s needed back
here.’

‘That
is
interesting. We need to make sure this Dr Roberts isn’t the one who’s going to
spill the beans.’

‘Here are the
transcripts,’ Amanda said.

Bob was leafing through
the file when he looked up. ‘Amanda, as soon as we get the NASA report, bring
it in. Then get hold of Greg Howard and tell him I want him back here at five.
And if Dr Maiz wants to visit with his friend Dr Roberts tonight, that’s fine.
In fact, we should encourage it. But I wanna know everything that’s said. And I
wanna tail on both of them. Just in case.’

***

Amanda showed Greg into the Oval Office and Bob greeted him yet again.

‘Come and join Anita and
me. We wanna talk to you – alone. It’s a delicate issue. We had NASA
check out the messages and I got their report back a while ago.’

‘And…’

‘Like your guys, NASA
agrees the spoofed e-mails originated internally from Dr Maiz’s terminal
sessions. But unlike your guys, they’ve confirmed the messages are a hoax.
However, it’s not quite the kinda hoax we were anticipating.’

A concerned look spread
over Greg’s big face. He cleared his throat. ‘Go on.’

‘First I wanna talk to
you about Dr Maiz. We’ve had our people do a little background checking. It
seems his wife died in a homicide a few years ago?’

‘That’s right. A year
after he joined OOSA. It was tragic and devastating for Carlos. Since then he’s
thrown himself into his work. OOSA’s his life now.’

‘According to our
information, you had to discipline Dr Maiz shortly after? Is that correct?’

‘How do you know about
that?’

‘It’s something we
flagged in Dr Maiz’s personal file. You must know we conduct routine security
checks on everyone scheduled to visit here. So?’

‘Discipline is too
strong a word.’

‘Would you acquaint us
with the incident?’

‘I don’t see the
relevance…’

‘Come on Greg. Humour me
and oblige.’

Greg shifted on the sofa
opposite Anita. ‘After Elena was murdered, Carlos changed. Before he was full
of energy, always laughing and joking around, but after she died? He became
very withdrawn. He threw himself into his job, coming in early, working late.
Some of his colleagues were uncomfortable with it. Carlos’s Administrative
Assistant, Corrinne, brought it to my attention, said he’d become less
approachable, less easy to work with. That he wasn’t interacting with the staff
the way he used to. His long hours were also causing problems. Some of the
staff worried that they’d be thought less of if they didn’t follow suit. Corrinne
thought he was suffering with depression.’

Bob nodded.

‘Although I could
understand Corrinne’s misgivings, Carlos was running the office more
efficiently than ever and it crossed my mind that perhaps she’d built up some
resentment towards him. You see she’s been with OOSA since the UN opened in
Vienna nearly twenty years ago. She’s most conscientious, an exemplary
employee, but she does rather think she runs the place. So I wondered if all
the changes Carlos had implemented to streamline operations had put her nose
out of joint and as a result she was dishing out a small portion of sour
grapes.

‘Anyhow, I raised her
issues with Carlos and he said Corrinne had indeed shown some resistance to his
new ideas. Initially he was defensive regarding her comments about his change
in attitude, but he eventually admitted that she may have a point –
except for the depression that is – that he vehemently denied. He’s a
proud man, it was uncomfortable for him, but he listened and called a meeting
with his staff to resolve the issue. As far as I’m aware, that was that.’

‘And his behaviour
– the withdrawal – did that ever turn around?’

‘Well, no. It didn’t.
And although he continued to do a fine job at OOSA, it was clear that after
Elena died he lost something – his passion for life, you could say. I
always hoped it would come back. And here’s the thing. When Carlos visited at
the weekend he was like his old self again.’

‘Do you know why?’

‘At first I thought it
was the messages. They were unexpected, unbelievable. I thought he was excited
by the challenge of finding an explanation.’

‘And now?’

Greg sighed. ‘We had a
debriefing session earlier. He told me in detail about the baby incident and
how it affected him. Said it put him back in touch with all the emotions he’d
buried since Elena died. That it reignited his inner spark. It’s the baby that
changed him.’

‘Do you believe someone
sent him a hologram of a baby?’

‘Carlos isn’t lying. But
who would do such a thing?’

‘And what’s your opinion
about Dr Maiz’s state of mind?’

Greg hesitated and
cleared his throat again. ‘Until our meeting today I would have said absolutely
fine.’

‘So when he came to you
at the weekend with his story about being contacted by aliens, you didn’t
question his mental state?’

‘Not at all. He introduced
the possibility most lucidly.’

‘So much so you believed
this “Zul” was an alien?’

‘No, of course not. I
simply hoped your technology would succeed where ours had failed and prove it’s
a hoax. And I did rather hope you’d help us track down the culprits.’

Bob raised his eyebrows.
‘We may still be able to do that Greg,’ and he looked down at the report on the
desk in front of him. ‘And what do you think about Dr Maiz’s behaviour at our
meeting earlier today?’

Greg bowed his head. ‘I
was shocked. Shocked and surprised. It’s true Carlos presented me with a case
to support Zul being an extraterrestrial and backed it up with data and logic,
but I thought he was playing devil’s advocate. It wasn’t until this morning I
realised he actually believed it.’

‘That’s what I thought.’
Bob paused. ‘Well, let me tell you what NASA’s come up with. They confirm that,
as your guys already maintained, the spoofed messages got on the system through
Dr Maiz’s terminal sessions.’

Greg looked up
expectantly and Bob fixed his gaze. ‘The reason being because Dr Maiz sent them
himself.’

‘Carlos sent them?’

‘That’s correct. This
whole scenario of aliens has been cooked up by Dr Maiz with one or more
accomplices.’

 ‘I don’t believe
it.’

‘NASA’s not yet
finalised its report, but so far it’s clear Dr Maiz is responsible.’

‘Unless…’

‘Aliens? I really don’t
think so. Do you?’

‘No. But perhaps someone
is using Carlos without his knowledge. Recently he’s been very outspoken about
how much he despairs for the future of the planet. Zul is saying what Carlos
believes… that the Earth is going through unusually unstable times. I wonder if
someone is using Zul to manipulate him. But who and why?’

‘And how? There’s no way
anybody other than Dr Maiz could’ve sent those messages.’

‘What about the baby hologram?
Carlos said it appeared after a virtual conference he’d had with a friend.’

Bob nodded. ‘NASA
checked the logs. There was no second holovideo call.’

‘But why would Carlos
make all this up?’

 ‘I was hoping you
might have some thoughts on that, Greg.’

 Greg shook his
head. ‘I’ve no idea at all.’

‘How about his mental
state? You said you didn’t question it… at first… but since he recounted that
story about the baby appearing and disappearing? Well, that’s put a different
slant on it, hasn’t it?’

‘I …’

‘Greg, we know Dr Maiz
sent the messages. Now it’s just a question of finding out why and who else is
involved.’

Anita broke the silence,
speaking for the first time during the meeting and making Greg jump. ‘Mr
Howard, we now have to decide where to go from here.’

 Greg turned to
her. ‘Of course.’

 She was perched on
the edge of the couch looking as calm as if she were attending nothing more
important than a PTA coffee morning. She continued in her soft, clipped voice.
‘There are two options. The first is that you continue with your own
investigations through ITU-T. Naturally this will lead to Dr Maiz and any
others found to be implicated being questioned, and those suspected of
perpetrating the hoax being tried under Austrian law where the crimes took place.’
Anita lowered her voice. ‘This could end up being an expensive and lengthy
process. But even less palatable, once the press gets a hold of the story we’re
concerned they’ll blow it up into yet another high profile embarrassment that
we know the UN and you personally would prefer to avoid. For sure Washington
doesn’t want to be dragged into any scandals associated with aliens. Especially
not at this time.’

 She cast the net…

‘Alternatively,’ Bob
continued, ‘in a spirit of mutual cooperation, we’re agreeable to using our
extensive intelligence resources to launch a confidential investigation. I’ll
discuss the findings with you and we can then decide on the resolution least
painful for us all.’

… and Bob pulled it
tight.

What a team!

 Experienced
statesman that he was, Greg didn’t betray a hint of discomfort at having
the investigation so expertly whipped out of his control. As head of the UN he
was used to speaking from a position of zero authority and little power. It
pained him but he knew he could do nothing but hold up his hands in compliance.