Chapter 6: Car 54 Where are you?
Without straying too far from the vicinity of the oyster bar, Jane kept a watchful eye on proceedings, looking out for potential suspects. Of course Jane knew that the most dangerous people were those less obvious in their antagonism, the wolves in sheep's clothing. It had to be said that Mashburn was a formidable operator, even Jane acknowledged their similarities. Both could simultaneously engage with people, while planning their next move ahead. Those basking in the glow of the charm offensive rarely realised that their genial host was eyeing up their next opportunity.
A quick glance in Lisbon's direction confirmed there was no thawing on that front, still nothing ventured nothing gained, Jane tipped his glass in their direction.
"I'll kill him" Lisbon muttered, in response to Jane cheerily toasting them from the opposite side of the room.
"Not if I get to him first." Hightower was deadly serious, being fully cognisant of the ramifications of this fiasco. The sight of Jane propping up the oyster bar did nothing to appease Hightower's anger, and worse still Mashburn now had a hold over them.
In the mean time Mashburn had been cornered by a more sceptical bunch of journalists, whose readership would be directly impacted by any down turn in the traditional carbon based industries. The opposition was further bolstered by some hardened New York hacks; the proprietor of their journal was an established sceptic of global warming.
The questions were infinitely more searching and with a harder edge, challenging some of the more extravagant claims of VA. They made some valid points; ever the showman Mashburn wasn't above hyperbole when it suited his cause. However he robustly rebutted the arguments, arguing that solutions would be engineered to overcome any difficulties, and that even in the short term there was the potential for a significant reduction in the level of CO2 emissions.
The argument was clearly cutting no ice with the hardened hacks, so Mashburn tried to bring the arguments closer to home. "At this very moment a crack is propagating across the Larcen C ice field in Antarctica, the iceberg about to be calved would be the size of Delaware. Admittedly it would only cause a minimal rise in sea levels if it broke free and drifted to temperate waters, but more worryingly it exposes new parts of the ice field to the ravages of the seas."
"Hooey it's just conjecture. It will never happen." The sceptic would never be convinced.
"Perhaps, but in the worst case scenario if the ice fields were to destabilise, precipitating further glacial slip, sea levels could rise by as much as 10-13 feet over time. Maybe people will finally start believing when parts of Staten Island and Long Island are under water." Mashburn knew he would never convert everyone, but if just a few journals picked up on the narrative it might help swing the pendulum of public opinion in his direction. Privately Mashburn conceded that the track record of scientists predicting global warming was on a par with economist's forecasts of growth, though both could explain in great detail what was wrong with the model after the event.
Jane had been following the discussion with interest, although he doubted he would be around to see the worst of the effects. For obvious reasons long term planning was not something he indulged in, preferring to just live for the moment, taking small pleasures where he could, and he had to admit the spread Walter had laid on was pretty sumptuous.
Casting his eye further afield, Jane picked up on the man he now knew to be Markham Shankar, an interesting character, less obviously charismatic than Mashburn, but an alpha male nevertheless. Shankar's phlegmatic demeanour gave little away while he was watching Mashburn, however periodically his eyes drifted over to where Nita was entertaining a group of prospective clients. At that point his expression changed, showing an altogether more unpleasant side to his character that troubled Jane. He wasn't sure what warranted that degree of animosity, presumably he had either been thwarted romantically or in business, whichever Jane would make it his business to find out.
Lisbon and Hightower's concerns were less esoteric, how the hell were they going to stop Bertram milking the alleged attack for all it was worth? Hightower considered coming clean with Bertram so they could have a managed retreat, perhaps they could say a malfunction in the projection system caused the red light to fall on Mashburn. At worst it would entail a modicum of ridicule, but Lisbon would still emerge the hero of the day, surely that was a plus? Hightower was sure she could bring Mashburn in line, but her heart sank when she saw Bertram being interviewed for the early evening news. To try and back track now would be career defining, if not limiting, for both Lisbon and Hightower.
Mashburn finally extricated himself from his interlocutors and made his way toward Jane, with a self congratulatory smile on his face. All things considered that had gone better than expected.
"Look at them they're like peas in a pod." Lisbon exclaimed, furious that they were seemingly unaffected by events.
Hightower slowly blinked her heavy eyelids like a feline predator taking in her quarry, if needs be she knew exactly how to have both men at her mercy. A side glance at Lisbon, then back to the men in question confirmed her thoughts, she knew how to hit them where it hurt. It was a shame for Lisbon, but Hightower would follow the words of Sun Tzu.
'Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.'
With more hope than optimism, Hightower decided to have one last go at prising Bertram away from the cameras, and left Lisbon to her own devices. Seeing her deserted, Mashburn and Jane took the opportunity to make their way over to her.
"So here she is the heroine of the hour." Walter motioned for the waiters, who were seamlessly weaving between the guests, to replenish their glasses. "Oh come on Teresa, we have California's finest wines at your disposal and you're drinking water. Where's your spirit of adventure?"
"My spirit of adventure has already had one outing today, besides one of us has to stay sober." A quick glare at Jane was lost on him, as he savoured the subtle undertones of the Fumé Blanc. There was no way he was driving anywhere for a few hours.
"Well you could always stay?" Mashburn quirked an eyebrow suggestively.
"Someone's got to get Cinderella home before midnight." Lisbon deftly side stepped Mashburn's comments. "After this afternoon's debacle, I hardly think my boss is going to sanction overnight accommodation."
"That wasn't what I meant Teresa." Mashburn said softly, forgetting for a moment there was a third wheel in the conversation.
"Oh don't mind me." Jane's eyes flitted from one to the other before concluding that Walter was flogging a dead horse on that front tonight.
Sensing the conversation was heading for dangerous waters, Lisbon put down her glass. "Do I have to remind you that we are supposed to be working here? Jane I'll catch up with you later. Try not to cause any more trouble."
Torn about what to do next, she looked over in Dr Barker's direction, where he was deep in conversation with experts from some of the scientific periodicals. He certainly wouldn't welcome an interruption, so Lisbon glanced over to the buffet where Nita was standing with Markham Shankar. Nita's body language was distinctly defensive, with her arms crossed in front of her. When Shankar tried to get hold of her arm, Nita angrily brushed his hand off. Torn between the desire to see what would play out and her inclination to protect, the better part of Lisbon decided a strategic intervention was in order.
Clearly some angry words had been exchanged and Nita turned away angrily. With a look of frustration, Shankar stalked away and rudely brushed past Lisbon in the process. Thinking that she was alone, Nita let an expletive slip, only to be surprised to find Lisbon facing her when she turned round. Nita pursed her lips in embarrassment before recovering her composure.
Lisbon smiled sympathetically, guessing she had been the recipient of unwanted attention. "It's kind of comforting to know you're not perfect after all."
After a momentary pause Nita broke out into a smile. "We all have our weaknesses Agent Lisbon."
"We certainly do." Lisbon cast her eyes in the direction of the dynamic duo, who were still chewing the fat. "Do you want to talk about that?"
"Shankar's one of our biggest shareholders, sometimes he thinks he owns the staff as well as the shares. It goes with the territory, I can handle it." Nita backtracked as soon as she said it, instantly regretting her lapse of discretion.
Lisbon frowned; she hated people with privilege thinking they could get away with anything they wanted. "It doesn't make it right though."
A lot of the tension between them dissipated, neither woman wanted to be thought of as a victim. They had made their choices and would live with the consequences, but it gave them a sense of kinship, not that either of them would ever admit to it.
Now that the guests were rapidly starting to disperse, Lisbon saw an opportunity to learn more about Nita. "Must have been difficult for you after your husband died."
Nita looked at her incredulously, difficult was an understatement. "Ah, should have known there was an ulterior motive for this."
Lisbon had the good grace to look embarrassed. "That wasn't my intention when I came over, but we are going to have this conversation sometime. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't. I take my career every bit as seriously as you take yours. I just thought if we got it out of the way, it might clear the air."
Respecting Lisbon's candour, Nita considered it for a few moments before giving a brief nod. "Walter says you're OK, and he's normally a good judge of character, although he does have dreadful taste in women."
"I'm so glad Walter approves!" Lisbon said laconically - the two women looked at each other and started laughing.
Nita led Lisbon over to a corner table, from where she could still keep an eye on proceedings. "There's a quiet spot here, so what exactly do you want to know?"
"Look, it's laborious building up the full picture around a case, sometimes the most innocuous information can provide a hidden key. When we're looking for a motive we have to cast a wide net, so I have to ask if there's anything in your past that may be relevant to what is going on at VA at the moment?" Lisbon played her opening gambit.
"Sorry Agent Lisbon, you'll have to be more specific than that." Nita countered.
"Alright, why don't you start by telling me what happened to your husband?" Lisbon suggested.
"You mean over and above what's already in your file?" Came the arch reply.
Lisbon smiled. "Touché, yes that's exactly what I mean."
"I know everyone assumed Vijay had gotten out of his depth, but there was more to it than that. The authorities wouldn't listen it was bad publicity; far better to label him as some hustler, rather than to look into why some as shrewd as Vijay was involved with people like that." There was more than a touch of bitterness to Nita's voice.
"I'm sorry to say it, but on the face of the evidence, there were some dubious connections." However awkward it was, Lisbon couldn't gloss over the truth.
"Vijay was one of the brightest men you could wish to meet; he had no need to resort to criminal activities to get rich. He would have succeeded in whatever he set his mind to." Nita looked Lisbon straight in the eye.
Lisbon didn't doubt the veracity of her statement, but that still didn't explain what Vijay had been doing. Sensing Nita knew more than she was letting on, well that was hardly news, Lisbon opted for the direct approach. "You were living a life of luxury in Dubai; the offshore company Vijay was trading under didn't actually seem to do anything. Dubai is very protective of its status as a tax haven, so the authorities won't tell us much, but periodic transfers into your US bank accounts from a fund in the Cayman Islands could be construed as payment for services rendered. So what exactly was Vijay doing Nita?"
Nita was taken aback that Lisbon was so well versed in the workings of tax havens. "You're the detective, you tell me."
"She can't tell you Lisbon, because she doesn't know exactly." Jane had materialised from nowhere, he'd only caught the tail end of the conversation, but instantly knew that Lisbon was onto something. Ignoring the look of irritation on Lisbon's face at his intervention, Jane decided to throw in a curve ball anyway. "Of course she does know more than she's letting on, but she doesn't know the whole story. Why for example would a highly intelligent woman just put her career on hold for a year? There would have to be a pretty good reason for that, and Nita doesn't strike me as the sort of woman who would just blindly follow her husband. So there must have been something in it for both of them – a promise of future employment perhaps?"
Judging by the infinitesimal tightening of the muscles around Nita's eyes Jane had scored a hit, though she refused to rise to the bait. Which of course just made Jane try harder to unravel the puzzle, he mentally tossed some of the more implausible theories into the rough, until he finally came up with one that fitted the bill. Turning to Lisbon, sporting that smug smile guaranteed to annoy, Jane delivered his verdict. "Of course it's obvious when you think about it, the golden couple well versed in the inside knowledge of corporate dealings, who better to work undercover? No one would suspect a thing, they would slot in seamlessly. Of course the sixty four thousand dollar question is, who were they working for and why?"
Lisbon caught on to Jane's thought process straight away. Of course that explained Nita's vehement defence of Vijay; something had gone wrong, and it had all unravelled with disastrous results. What remained to be proven was whether this was relevant to the case in hand. Part of Lisbon wanted to see this through, even if they had to do some work off book. Nita was a prickly customer, but she deserved some closure.
Before they had the opportunity to pursue the matter further Nita's phone beeped, and the look on her face immediately told them it was something serious. "One of the cars has gone rogue and is heading off the complex." Nita turned to Jane."Can you get Walter, he needs to meet me in the foyer straight away."
Lisbon was already leading the way to the foyer, as she informed Cho and Hightower of the latest developments by phone. Fortunately Bertram had already left, and the last few hangers on had just been scavenging the free buffet. Lisbon noted the hospitality staff carefully ushering the remaining people away through a side exit, so that they that didn't have a ringside view of events.
Barker and Mashburn were consulting worriedly. "What do you mean you can't communicate with it?" Mashburn snapped.
Barker bridled under the criticism. "It looks like someone has tapped into the protocols, and made some unauthorised changes. We can't even remotely de-activate the vehicle, it's gone completely rogue."
"Check the programme, there must be something we can do." Mashburn's eyes followed the receding vehicle.
"All we can do is follow it for now, and see what it does." Barker replied with some irritation.
Without further ado they leapt into their vehicles in pursuit of the rogue bubble car that wended its way toward the Redwood Highway, heading off in the direction of the Golden Gate Bridge. Police outriders ran alongside the vehicle, ready to burst into action at the first sign of trouble.
Without knowing what the purpose of the stunt was, they knew they had to stop the vehicle before it reached the Golden Gate Bridge and it was decided to deploy a stinger spike system to stop the vehicle. When it was finally disabled Lisbon, Jane and Mashburn cautiously approached the vehicle, stopping dead in their tracks when it suddenly emitted a plume of smoke. After a short delay they decided it was safe to proceed, and peered through the front window, where they saw a timer device attached to a fake bomb with a flag saying 'Boom' sticking out of it.
Mashburn looked uncharacteristically rattled. Although this was a blatant attempt to derail VA the press would have a field day with the implications of this. He could just imagine the tabloid headlines about Frankenstein cars, it would be a PR disaster. It didn't matter that someone had hacked into their systems, either internally or externally, the fact that this could happen at all would be manna for those waiting for Mashburn to take a fall.
Lisbon realised the implications of all this, but was determined to capitalise on the situation. She was sick and tired of playing cat and mouse; now was the time for straight talking. "So Walter, are you finally prepared to tell us what is going on?"