Chapter Forty-Four

A man sat alone in a room with bright lights, his head laying on a table which was the only piece of furniture in the room besides the chair he was sitting in. He was tired, hungry, and smelled of body odor after sitting in the chair for what seemed like several days with only one or two bathroom breaks and only a little food and water. He hadn't been allowed to shave in the facility where he'd been imprisoned. His mustache and beard were filling in. Nor had he been allowed to contact an attorney. They asked him only one question…over and over again.

"What did Leah Haverty do to break into the DOD systems?" Mark hadn't even heard the door open and close. The man who asked the question was different this time, but he might as well have been the same…same black suit, black tie and white shirt…same haircut.

"She didn't break into the DOD systems," answered Mark without opening his eyes.

"She must have. Gaddafi kept her alive until someone rescued her."

Mark's eyes popped open. This man had said something different. "She fooled him."

"How?"

"She'd told Manning she couldn't do it…over and over again, but he wouldn't listen. But if she hadn't kept the ruse going with Manning, he would have killed her and run. If she hadn't lied to Gaddafi, he would have killed all of us instantly."

"Who is all of us?"

"Her, me, and Doug Manning," answered Mark.

"Anyone else?"

"No. There was no one else there until the last day."

"How did she fool Gaddafi?"

Mark straightened up, then twisted in his chair trying to see the man asking the questions. The man stayed directly behind him. "Well, she did build a small mainframe, installed dumb terminals, modems, a satellite, disk and tape drives. Gaddafi's men gave her the operating system, and it all worked except the satellite. She didn't get anything but static, but I don't think she expected anything else."

"Why did Gaddafi believe she had gotten into the DOD?"

Mark let his head fall back. It allowed the muscles of his shoulders to relax. "He didn't. I mean, she didn't until he told her if she didn't get in, he would kill the rest of us. That was the last day. She had spent all that time, all those days, writing Clists…a really extensive set of Clists."

"And what is a Clist?"

"It's a program that interacts with the machine without being compiled. It's used for simple operations normally because it's slow, but Leah could always do magic with Clists. It can execute other programs, it can display anything you want on a monitor, it can communicate with other terminals and printers. That's what she did. She displayed data streams on her monitor with terms and protocols she knew from her government work. She also displayed them on my terminal, so it looked like we were working together. And at the end, when all hell broke loose, she had executed a Clist that would download a schematic she'd made up to a printer, only it never worked. The ceiling collapsed on all of the computer equipment." Mark laughed. "The funny thing was that if the ceiling hadn't collapsed, Gaddafi would've known she'd been stalling all that time. The schematic was something like instructions you'd get for a model airplane."

"Mr. Hansen, who pulled you out of that building?"

Closing his eyes, he sighed. "I don't know who it was. They were wearing robes and…material…over their faces," he said, motioning with his hand over his face. "They weren't there for me anyway. Leah wouldn't leave without me, so they took me with them. If she hadn't, they would have left me there right along with Doug Manning."

"And how do you know Doug Manning was left there?"

"Because he tried to stop them from taking Leah out. He tried to kill her on the way out, but one of the people taking us out knocked him out and left him."

"Where did they take Miss Haverty?"

"They took her to a separate truck. I didn't see her after that. I don't know where she went. I don't know where she is."

Marked turned his head to one side, hearing raised voices that sounded as if they came from just outside the door, followed by the door opening. "Get out!"

Mark still couldn't see what was going on behind him, but whoever came in hadn't been there previously.

The man who had been questioning Mark, walked out stoned-faced and slightly shook his head at another man standing just outside the door as he left, slamming the door closed behind him.

The clicking sound of this new man's heels on the floor came toward Mark, stood still behind him for a moment, and then quickly moved to the front of the table. He looked familiar to Mark, but he couldn't place him.

"I assume you've asked for an attorney?" the man asked as he removed some papers from his briefcase and studied Mark Hansen. He had dark circles around his eyes, his hair and beard were unkempt, and he slumped as if he had resigned himself to be in this room for the rest of his life.

To Mark, this man looked like a statue…cold as stone…no expression at all. Mark nodded without saying anything.

"My name is Albert Shaefer. I'm an attorney. Leah sent me."

Mark's eyes moved up to the ceiling and filled with tears.

"She said you helped her while she was on Manning's boat, and you did everything she told you to do in Gaddafi's compound. She said you were injured for standing up for her. Is that true?"

Pulling the neck of his dirty t-shirt down below his shoulder, Mark turned so Albert could see the burn scars.

"I told them what she did," said Mark. "They don't believe me."

"They don't have to. What they do have to do is prove there was a DOD breach. They can't, so this will all eventually go away…for you," said Albert. "I'm afraid it won't completely go away for Leah."

"What can I do?"

"You can't do anything more to help her. What you just told them helps more than you know. But she has requested one thing."

Mark cast his eyes down as if he knew what was coming.

"Stay away from her. She doesn't want to see you…hear from you again. Not even by chance across the street."

Swallowing hard, Mark nodded.

"They have nothing to charge you with. You'll be leaving with me by the end of the day. All you have to do is sit still and be quiet for the rest of the interrogation. Before they come back, you'll have a chance to clean up and have a meal, and I'll be here to make sure you do."

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Trapper sat across from Leah at the kitchen table watching as she stared at her sandwich. Occasionally, her head bounced from side to side as her lips moved. "Why are you worried?"

"Mark did things out of desperation…to save himself. What if he doesn't let Albert help him? What if he makes a deal of his own?" she said, thinking out loud.

"You mean to incriminate you? He'd be a fool. He doesn't know enough to make up how you managed to break into the DOD. Their own experts will see right through him."

"I suppose."

"Leah." She continued to stare at her sandwich, so he called her name again, only more softly. "Leah." When she looked up at him, he smiled. "Albert isn't setting you free until the deal is done, no matter how long it takes."

"That's no consolation. I'll be in this big house…alone, and the outside views will eventually get old."

Hearing the slight lilt in her voice, he knew he was slowly drawing her out of her depression. "It'll be over before you know it."

"That might have been true if you weren't leaving as soon as Albert gets back," she said with a slight smile, raising her eyebrows. She had to make him believe she really wasn't worried, otherwise, he wouldn't leave. She hadn't told him, but she was afraid of the worst…that she would have to agree to give up her career in computers. Albert had tried to prepare her, but she still felt like she'd been kicked in the gut.

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As Albert had surmised, both Ernie and Gonzo were picked up at their respective front doors. The second day into their interrogation, Ernie seemed to snap and lapsed into a thicker Jamaican accent. "I don't know anything about computers. I didn't want a computer at the nurse's station at the hospital, so even if I was in Libya, I couldn't tell you anything. I was in Turkey in surgery, assisting Dr. McIntyre while he was teaching surgical techniques. Do you have any idea how tiring surgery can be? When we were done, I went to my hotel room, and sometimes without eating anything at all, I collapsed on the bed from exhaustion. I am not going to repeat myself again. D'yah undastan mi?" she said with her hands on her hips.

Gonzo found the whole process amusing which frustrated his interrogators to the point that they were slamming fists down on the table.

"You really should see a counselor about your anger issues," said Gonzo. "I can give you a referral to a great psychiatrist."

"Where is Dr. McIntyre?"

"The last time I saw him, he was waving goodbye while standing on the tarmac in Turkey," said Gonzo.

"Dr. Gates, I'll have your medical license revoked if you don't start answering some questions. You knew Leah Haverty was in Libya, didn't you?"

Still smiling, Gonzo answered calmly, "I've been answering your questions. Threatening me isn't going to change the truth."

"Don't try me, Gates."

"Whatever your name is…" started Gonzo, "Have you ever been to war?" The man just stared at him. "Didn't think so. Look, I'm a doctor. I don't know anything about computers. I avoid them like the plague. I have been under fire…and still performed surgery with a steady hand," said Gonzo, changing the leg he had crossed to his other one, crossing his arms and relaxing back in his chair…with a smile on his face.