Chapter Thirteen #2
“Exactly.” Ewen spread out three more folders.
“And Winters wasn’t alone. Congressman Richard Paulson sits on the Armed Services Committee.
His campaign has received substantial donations from Hardline executives and their family members.
Senator Diana Channing chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Her husband’s real estate development company sold three properties to Hardline at prices well above market value right before the testing figures were submitted for approval. ”
Lamont stood and moved to the desk, examining each document carefully. Ewen had built a meticulous case, connecting shell companies to campaign contributions to suspicious financial transactions. Every claim was backed by multiple sources.
“Do you know how many soldiers died because of this?” Lamont asked quietly.
“I can verify forty-three casualties over the past four years where armor failure was cited in the incident reports.” Ewen’s voice cracked slightly. “But the real number is probably higher. A lot of incident reports just mention ‘hostile fire’ without specifics about vehicle performance.”
Lamont’s fingers tightened on the edge of the desk. Forty-three dead soldiers. Families destroyed. All so some executives could inflate their profit margins, and a few politicians could fund their campaigns.
“What about Cortesi?” he asked. “The sergeant who started this?”
“He died three months ago.” Ewen’s words showed no emotion, but Lamont could feel how his mate hated what had happened. “He suffered from a single-car accident on a clear day. His car went off a bridge.”
Lamont was silent for a moment, mentally hoping Cortesi was one of the good guys who would have a decent afterlife. Then he said, “You think it wasn’t an accident,” Lamont said.
“I think it’s convenient that he died two weeks after I told him I was close to breaking the story.
” Ewen met Lamont’s eyes. “I think it’s convenient that his car was totaled so thoroughly that the police didn’t bother with a detailed investigation.
And I think it’s really convenient that his house was burglarized the day of his funeral and the only things stolen, according to a friend, were his computer and a file cabinet. ”
Lamont’s hound pushed closer to the surface, wanting to comfort Ewen, who clearly felt responsible in some way. “They killed him.”
“The thing is, I can’t prove that.” Ewen’s hands curled into fists. “But yes, I believe they killed him.”
“And then they came after you.”
“I knew I was being followed about six weeks ago.” Ewen pulled out a small notebook filled with dates and observations.
“They weren’t very discreet. The same car was parked outside my apartment three days in a row.
A different man spent hours in the coffee shop across from The Times every morning.
I started taking precautions, which included renting the two hotel rooms in Egypt and encrypting and making copies of all my documentation before I left. ”
There was one thing Lamont didn’t understand. “If you knew you were walking into danger when you went to Egypt, why did you go? It clearly wasn’t a vacation.”
“I’m sure you know how it is.” Ewen sighed.
“I felt I needed one more source. I was hoping to talk to someone with firsthand knowledge of the manufacturing process who would go on record.” Ewen’s jaw tightened.
“I believed I’d found him. The man was a former quality control supervisor at Hardline’s facility outside Cairo. He agreed to meet with me at Pier888.”
Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. “That’s why you were there.”
“That’s why I went there.” Ewen’s smile wasn’t a happy one.
“I don’t know if he showed up or not, although his message received today suggested he was going to be late anyway.
I knew I was being followed, and then I saw you leaving as I arrived.
My fox understood who you were to me immediately, and for all of five minutes I forgot about the story, the danger, everything except that I’d found my mate. ”
Lamont circled the desk and pulled Ewen into his arms. Ewen stiffened for a split second and then sank into the embrace.
“So, we need to find the quality control supervisor?” Lamont asked against Ewen’s hair.
“From what I heard, there’s no point. I mean, I haven’t checked any local news lately, obviously, but the woman who was interrogating me took great pleasure in letting me know any source I thought I had was already dead.
Tragic car bomb. How sad. Those were the exact words she used.
How sad. She claimed the police would be treating the bomb as a terrorist attack gone wrong.
” Ewen’s voice was muffled against Lamont’s chest. “Another convenient tragedy.”
Lamont held him tighter. “What were you planning to do with all this? Before you were abducted?”
Ewen pulled back enough to meet his eyes.
“Publish. My plan was to give the story to The Times with all my documentation. To cover my bases, I was also going to send copies to three other major newspapers and two cable news networks simultaneously so that they couldn’t suppress it.
I thought it would be useful to contact the FBI and the Inspector General’s office as well.
My plan was to make so much noise that whoever was behind the mess couldn’t just make it disappear. ”
“That would have worked,” Lamont said thoughtfully. “Once the story was public, killing you would be pointless.”
“That was the theory.” Ewen gestured at the documents. “But I needed that last source. The quality control supervisor’s testimony would have been the final piece. Without him, I just have a lot of strong evidence on paper, but nothing that puts a human face on the manufacturing fraud.”
Lamont studied the spread of documents again, mentally arranging the pieces.
“We need to figure out who paid for your abduction. The woman who questioned you, from what I could see in the brief time I was in the factory, I would guess she’s a professional, and so were the guards.
That level of security doesn’t come cheap. ”
“You think it was Hardline?”
“It could be, or it could be one or more of the congressmen trying to protect their careers. Of course, it could also be someone we haven’t identified yet who has even more to lose.
” Lamont picked up one of the bank statements.
“Did you find any other unusual financial transactions on any of these? Payments to security companies, private military contractors, even umbrella or shell companies - anything that might connect to the people who took you?”
Ewen’s eyes widened slightly. “I didn’t look for that specifically. I was focused on the bribes and the procurement fraud.”
“Then that’s where we start.” Lamont settled into the chair beside the desk. “We find out who’s bankrolling your kidnappers. Once we know that, we’ll know exactly whose cage you rattled hard enough to make them come after you.”