Poseidon's Arrow

Fowler turned off the car’s engine, and A

“Don’t even breathe,” the big man said.

She heard Fowler cry out, followed by the dull thumping of a body being pummeled. A few seconds later, car keys jingled, and the Ford’s trunk was popped open. From the corner of her eye, A

He eased himself off her, loped over to the Chrysler, and climbed casually into the passenger seat. The car shot forward with a chirp of its rear tires and sped down the street. A

A

“Dan,” she cried, kneeling beside him.

He pried his eyes open and eased himself to a sitting position.

“I’m okay.” He rubbed his jaw. “Never saw that coming.” His eyes gradually focused on A

“No, I’m fine. But that was no random stickup.” She tilted her head toward the open trunk.

“Not the files!” blurted Fowler, struggling to his feet. Holding each other for support, they stepped to the rear of the car and peered into the open trunk.

Inside sat A

28

THE MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR JOE EBERSON WAS WELL attended by his fellow research scientists at DARPA, many of whom stepped to the A

Fowler sat at her side, a small bandage on his chin reminding her of the attack the night before. Alexandria paramedics and police had responded quickly to A

“I’d like to pay my respects to Joe’s family,” Fowler said as the service ended. “How about I meet you at the car?”

A

“He had a lot of years in the business,” Fowler said. “Made a lot of friends. And also a few enemies.”

“What kind of enemies?” A

“The professional sort. The typical DARPA research project parcels out work to different companies and universities. Then we tie everything together—and garner all the credit. The little guys who make the real breakthroughs often go u

He turned to A

“Just touching all the bases,” A

Fowler frowned. “Anything’s possible, but I just don’t think that’s the case. There’s just a relatively small team here ru

“Yes, that’s why we’ve already assigned a dedicated NCIS team to Groton.”

“It may not mean anything,” Fowler said, “but I find it somewhat curious that Heiland and Eberson were killed shortly after the President toured the shipyard. I wasn’t there, but I ran the security list.”

“Are you suggesting someone at the White House might be involved?”

“Not directly. But you know the White House is a sieve. Although this administration is better than most, it wouldn’t surprise me if details about the Sea Arrow were released to the wrong people.”

“Can you give me the security list?” A

“Sure, it’s in my office—if you don’t already have enough on your plate.”

“At this point we have to cast a broad net. I’d like to check the history of any recent technology thefts of a similar nature. Have you dealt with any foreign espionage cases?”

“Not since I’ve been at DARPA,” Fowler said. “Our issues are mostly lost computer disks and the like. But I’ve been here only a year. We had a few espionage cases while I was with the Army Research Laboratory, both suspected Chinese and Israeli spies, but we never had enough to prosecute.”

“The bagmen in this case seem a bit out of character for the typical espionage operatives,” A

“True, but you never know who’s footing the bill.”

“I suppose,” A

“I’m not technically savvy enough to know, but apparently the program hinged on Heiland’s supercavitation model, which would totally transform the Sea Arrow’s capability. Now that his original research is lost, the program may be set back several years. No one believes they can duplicate Heiland’s work easily without his designs.”

“I can’t believe they robbed us of them in Alexandria. How could they have known?”

“Hard to say. Perhaps someone was tracking you after the incident in Tijuana. I’d have to think there was a third member of the party in Idaho, monitoring events. Somehow they arranged a jump on us here at short notice.”

He gave her a worried look. “Maybe you should check into a hotel for a few nights, just to be on the safe side.”

“No, I’m fine,” she said, her own safety not a concern.

“Still, I’ll follow up with the Alexandria police to make sure they patrol your town house on a regular basis.” He rubbed his jaw beneath the bandage. “I’d like to see those guys go down hard.”

Fowler turned into the parking lot of the DARPA headquarters building in downtown Arlington. A

As she returned to her desk, she felt oddly energized. Aside from its importance to national security, the case had become personal. She shrugged off the physical and emotional drain of the past few days, motivated to dig into the evidence and discover who was behind the thefts and murders.

Her first call was to the FBI field office in San Diego. An agent named Wyatt was managing the local investigation.

“Have you heard anything from Mexico yet?” she asked.