Chapter 21 - True Confessions
At the same time as Leonard was being separated from Penny, Howard was sitting with Major Martin, answering questions about the suit. Martin sat across from Howard, wide eyed, at everything Howard was telling him, writing notes as fast as he could while trying to listen at the same time. Howard had been continuing the charade, Leonard had wanted him to do, for the whole time with Turner and for almost an hour with Martin, but now he couldn't keep it going. He had also been able to avoid actually lying the whole time, just answering questions with minimum information and not volunteering anything, but it had gotten to the point, where to continue, he would have had to lie straight to Martin's face, and Howard couldn't do it. So for the last thirty minutes, he told Martin the complete truth and he could see the truth was blowing the Major's mind.
Howard had been thinking about everything while he had talked and he realized there was no way the Army wouldn't discover he was involved, especially if their scientists got involved. They would see that Leonard couldn't have possibly have done this himself and they would see his equipment, software and fingerprints over everything. So Howard had made a decision, to tell them almost everything, then when they wanted more, he would trade the information for Bernadette and Penny's freedom. A small smile formed on his lips, maybe he could also talk them into making him and Leonard cellmates, then at least Jail wouldn't be too boring, having his friend to talk to.
-Tin Man-
Captain Ryan had just finished writing and looked up at Mrs. Wolowitz who was sitting quietly across from her. The woman had answered all her questions, but otherwise just sat there, not exhibiting any emotion, it was almost like she was a robot. Ryan had interrogated people before and had seen this before, the small blonde woman was doing a lot of thinking, which was occupying her mind, making her answer Ryan's questions as only an after thought. Ryan also knew this woman was telling her the truth, her and the other blonde, really didn't have anything to do with the suit, except for their deep love for the two men that controlled it. Ryan actually, in a little way, admired her, she was willing to die before she would leave her husband, Ryan thought her husband must really be something special.
Bernadette was thinking, about Howard and her friends, she was still trying to get a feeling what was going to happen to them all and if there was anything she could do to help them all. The problem was, the more she thought, the more she realized how hopeless their situation was, they really didn't have any control over their fates, they were now just prisoners, at the mercy of their captors. What was really eating at Bernadette was that she had a lot of trouble when Howard left for space, she had missed him more than she ever admitted to anyone, now the thought that she may loose him for so much longer, was eating at her soul, and as this situation got worse and worse for them, she really didn't know if she was going to be able to cope.
-Tin Man-
Leonard was lead out of the Hospital to a waiting car, then to another building on the Air Force Station. Inside the new building's door, he came to a desk with guards, who reviewed Colonel Turners identification, then they took a picture of Leonard and made a badge for him, with his name and some code letters he didn't understand, Colonel Turner already had a badge with his picture on it. Turner and Leonard then moved through the building to another area, that was in the basement, where another soldier took their badges and verified something on the computer, then gave them new badges with numbers on them, so they could pass around him to another area, behind locked doors. In was in this area that Leonard was finally lead into a conference room, where another officer was waiting, who Turner seemed to know, also, Leonard noticed, there were coffee and donuts in the room too.
"Dr Hofstadter, there is coffee and pasties, if you are hungry, before we start." Turner seemed very friendly Leonard thought, but he coffee and donuts sounded so good, he went to get some.
Leonard stiffly sat in the chair across from the two military officers, then ate a donut and drank half he coffee before they started their questions. "Dr Hofstadter, everything we now talk about is classified Top Secret, Special Access Required, Verified Need to Know, do you understand that you can talk to no one about this unless they have that clearance and a need to know?"
Leonard looked at Turner, "I don't have that clearance, I only have a DoD Secret clearance."
"Well as of today, you temporarily have the clearance level, until your background investigation is complete. You can't talk to anyone about this, especially your friends and specifically your girlfriend. You understand?" Leonard nodded. However, not talking to Penny bothered Leonard, did Turner really expect Penny to forget what she saw?
Turner then sighed and seemed to relax a little, "Okay, well Dr Hofstadter, you sure turned the world upside down yesterday. Since we were in charge of the operation, I think we can keep all of this a secret, but that thing you wore, was really something. The material, that was part of the government project you and Dr Hogan were working on, wasn't it?" Leonard nodded.
"Dr Hogan, doesn't know that I solved the energy problem and am now able to produce the material. It all happened after he had his heart attack. The suit was built to surprise him, then show it to NASA and the Army." Leonard figured he would tell them everything, he didn't think it would make much difference for him and it might keep everyone else out of trouble, if the Army thought he was the only one involved.
"So Hogan knows nothing about this suit?"
"Nothing, I swear. I kept everything pretty secret. People in the university don't even know about it." Leonard was really hoping the Army Colonel believed him.
Turner slowly nodded as he thought, "That is good to hear, it is going to make it easier to keep this whole thing secret. So if your security was that good, that means only you, Wolowitz, his wife and your girlfriend know about it. Is that right?"
Leonard thought for a moment. "Yes Colonel, just the four of us." After saying that, Leonard got worried, as he thought, 'the four of us you have prisoner and can now do with anyway you want'. Leonard looked at Turner, trying to judge who the man was in front of him, his jailer or an Army officer or a human being.
Turner smiled, security for this whole incident was going to be easier that he ever hoped. Turner looked back at his note pad, "The mechanics, did you do that too?"
Leonard didn't say anything, he did not want to involve Howard, and he was now more worried about all their situations. After a couple moments, Turner looked at him, Leonard obviously didn't want to talk now, and as Turner watched him, he soon started to guess why. "It was Wolowitz, wasn't it. He is that engineer who went into space and works with NASA, of course it was him, wasn't it?"
Leonard continued to look at Turner, he was trying to keep his face neutral to not confirm his suspicions, this was not the way he wanted this to go, he hated he wasn't a better liar. He needed to protect Howard for Bernadette, and he wanted both of them to take care of Penny after he was locked up. However, Leonard was now at a loss to find anything to say, so he said the thing he had seen on many TV shows, when the criminal needed help. "I want a lawyer."
Turner now looked at Leonard, a little bit confused, he had not imagined that he would say that, but that lasted only a moment. "Why?"
Turner's gaze was penetrating and Leonard tried the next thing that came to his mind, a confession. "I am solely responsible for everything that happened, no one else needs to go to jail."
-Tin Man-
Penny sat across the table from Major Gray, just staring at her, Penny was having trouble even registering the questions Gray was asking her, her mind was fully wrapped around Leonard. Gray had just asked her the same question again, and Penny was trying hard to understand what she asked, but her mind was replaying the picture of Leonard while he changed from the hospital gown to the scrubs. She could see every horrible bruise on his body, she didn't even know how he could be standing, his movements had been so slow from the pain he was still in. She had no trust for anyone of these people around her and the more they kept her away from Leonard, more disturbed she was getting, this whole thing wasn't right, they were punishing Leonard for being a good person and Penny wondered how could people do that to such a wonderful person. The only thing she wanted to do was get him, save him from all this and then run far away, so she could take care of him and love him forever.
Major Gray was having to ask almost every question twice, the blondes mind was obviously not it this room with them. Gray watched her facial expression go from periods of far away stares deep in thought, to confusion and finally to looks that scared Gray, as she realized this woman could be dangerous if provoked. It was going to take a while to debrief her, and Gray had to be careful with her, she was on the edge right now, Gray had to make sure she didn't push her off.
-Tin Man-
Turner kept looking at Leonard, he was slowly starting to understand what was on Leonard's mind, he was trying to protect his friends. "Dr Hofstadter, I think you have a misconception on what is going on here, I am not a prosecutor and none of what we say here will ever be repeated in a court."
Leonard was now confused, "I don't understand."
"Dr Hofstadter, you built a weapon system, probably with your friend Wolowitz, then you went in and defused a very critical terrorist situation, with a weapon, no one but us, knew was there. The US Government does not want this ever coming out, it would scare the public, plus not help international relations between us and Russia. Do you understand?"
Leonard was still not sure he was hearing things right. "So you are saying what happened yesterday, is just going away, like it never happened?"
"Yes, exactly. Dr Hofstadter, yesterday the US Army defused a terrorist situation, capturing or killing the terrorists and saving most of the hostages. There was no Dr Hofstadter there in a super suit saving the day, and there was no bomb."
Leonard nodded, her really didn't care, but he needed to know more. "What about the Cheesecake Factory, the Tin Man was on TV during that situation. The LA police department was involved." Leonard then got very quiet, "….and I killed a man, who was not a terrorist."
"The Tin Man?" Hearing the suit called that confused Turner for a second, but he quickly recovered and continued. "Dr Hofstadter, this whole thing is now a military and federal government matter, even the Cheesecake Factory incident, the civil authorities in California will be cut out of this immediately."
Leonard couldn't believe that and for the first time he felt Turner was lying to him. "No, you are bullshitting me, you can't do that, I killed a man."
"No Dr Hofstadter, you defended your girlfriend from a know killer, who had spent time in jail for killing another person and was linked to several other murders. What you actually did was to you save a lot of people by taking out a man, who was nothing more than a rabid dog. The US Army and US Government, does not have a problem with what you did and will not prosecute you. I told you that this was now a classified program, Homeland security will notify the local police that the Cheesecake Factory incident, falls under their jurisdiction and will take over the investigation, completely cutting the locals out of the loop. After a few months or a year they will find nothing, this incident will become history and the locals will not be able to do a thing about it."
"I'm not going to jail?" Leonard looked at Turner is disbelief. "You are going to let us go?"
"No Dr Hofstadter, we can't let you go. You and Wolowitz still built a weapons system, then used it on US soil, inserting yourself into the middle of a military operation. Interfering with a military operation is a serious thing, especially considering what that operation was about. We can't just let you go, we have gone way past the point where you get to go back and have your normal life back."