Later that same day General Benson sat on a park bench in Lafayette Square. Several pigeons pecked at the popcorn he tossed on the ground from a paper bag. Benson looked like an aging retiree out for a breath of fresh air. He was dressed in a pair of loose-fitting khaki slacks and a flannel shirt. Although it was warm outside he wore a light jacket. His feet were clad in cheap tennis shoes and his head was covered with a ball cap emblazoned with the letters AARP. His face was disguised with a false white beard and when walking to the bench he had dragged one leg as though old age had given him a limp.
Less than ten minutes after Benson sat on the bench a man approached from the south and slid onto the end of the bench. Removing a sandwich from a brown paper sack, he began to chew.
"I don't know much," the man said between bites.
"Tell me what you do know," Benson said as he tossed another handful of popcorn onto the ground.
"They send one of the agents, a man named Klamn, to look into the disappearance of Einstein's sailboat."
"And?" Benson said.
"Apparently he located a life ring on Block Island and that information was used to set up a search for the vessel."
"Is it the Chinese that hired your firm?" Benson asked.
"You wouldn't be asking me that," the man said as he rose from the bench and tossed the lunch sack into a trash barrel, "if you didn't already know." Benson waited ten minutes after the man had walked away before he rose from the bench and made his way across the park to his car.
Pieces of the puzzle were beginning to link up.
CHAPTER 19
In his office at the NIA, Martinez scanned his computer database and retrieved a biography of Einstein. Reading the biography, he began to form a more complete mental picture of the famous scientist. Einstein's famous work on the theory of relativity, the theoretical foundation for the technology behind the atomic bomb, was published early in the physicist's life, while Einstein was still a young man.
For the remainder of his career as a physicist, both in Europe and later in the United States, Einstein had worked tirelessly to try to prove his Unified Field Theory. It was rumored he was even working on it the day he died.
For decades prior to his death, the Unified Field Theory had consumed all of Einstein's vast mental attention. The theory he was attempting to prove appears simple enough even to a layman. The Unified Field Theory sought to explain all the forces in the universe — how gravitation, electricity, and magnetism might be tied together. There was no way to know the impact it might have on the world if the relationship between these forces could be understood.
Martinez glanced at the clock on the wall of his office. It was now past 7:00 a.m. He walked to the break room and filled his coffee cup, then grabbed a corn muffin from a plate on the counter. Balancing the cup to keep it from spilling, he reentered his office. Placing the cup on his desk, he closed the door and sat behind his desk. He picked up the phone and dialed George Washington University. An operator at the main switchboard answered and asked for an extension.
"Professor Harris, please," Martinez said. "One moment. May I ask who's calling?" the operator inquired.
"Larry Martinez. I'm a friend of the professor's." He waited several minutes to be connected. "Larry, you old fart, what's on your mind?" Mel Harris said when he came on the line.
"Still an early riser, I see," Martinez said.
"I've been doing three miles on the running track Monday through Friday. I'm still in the locker room, in fact."
Harris had been attached to the National Security Agency for several years prior to returning to teaching. He and Martinez had worked together often on joint operations. Still in his mid-thirties, Harris didn't fit most people's mental image of a physics teacher. He looked and dressed like a golf pro but his lightning-fast mind was that of a pure physicist.
"What I'm about to tell you is classified or soon will be. Are you still cleared?'
Martinez asked seriously.
"I still get occasional assignments from the Crystal Palace, so yes, I have my ticket," Harris said.
The reference to the Crystal Palace, as the NSA was sometimes called, inferred Harris enjoyed a high degree of clearance.
"Tell me what you know about Einstein's Unified Field Theory," Martinez asked without further comment.
Harris ran through the theory, stopping to expound on the details only when Martinez sought clarification. 'That's about the basis of it. By the way, everything I told you is in textbooks. It hardly qualifies as top secret. What else do you need to know?'
"Did he ever finish the work?" asked Martinez.
"Who knows? Apparently not, though some of his papers from his final hospital stay are missing. Plus, no one has ever really deciphered his last set of equations," Harris said.
Martinez considered the statement, "Mel, if Einstein had completed the theory, could it be used to create a weapon?'
"Yes. That and a thousand other uses I could think of."
"Just theoretically, how much power might such a weapon contain?" Martinez asked carefully.
Theoretically, Larry? To put it into layman's terms, it would make a hydrogen bomb look like a popgun. Depending on how exactly the theory was utilized, you might be able to produce an object roughly the size of a golf ball that could blow up a land mass the size of Australia."
"Shit," Martinez blurted out without thinking.
"No shit, Larry. If controlled properly, a mass the size of a small car could blow up the world," Harris said. "But who would be dumb enough to want to blow up the world?'
"Maybe not blow it up," Martinez said carefully. "The mere threat might be enough."
"That would be one hell of a threat," Harris agreed.
CHAPTER 20
Later that same morning the daily briefing room for the National Security Council was crowded. The oblong mahogany conference table in the center of the room was surrounded by representatives of the United States intelligence community, officials from the Department of Justice and officers of the air force, army, navy, and Marines. Over the years the room had been modified and upgraded. Thick, beige, sounddeadening carpet with rubber backing covered the floor. An eight-by-ten-foot video and computer monitor capable of receiving direct satellite feeds covered the north wall. Electronic frequency jammers wired into the corners of the walls foiled any attempt at recording the proceedings. The entire room was protected from anything short of a direct nuclear blast by reinforced walls, ceilings, and floors. A pair of elite Marine guards stood just inside the door, four more in the corridor outside.
Crystal ashtrays and silver water pitchers were arranged in front of each chair along with note pads and pens. A large paper shredder sat discreetly in the corner of the room. Mounted on the wall directly above the shredder was a presidential seal six feet in diameter. The lighting came from brass sconces mounted on the walls and from brass fixtures recessed into the ceiling. The temperature was computer-controlled and kept at a constant level. When the room was empty it was as silent as a tomb. The president of the United States and his various advisors, including Robert Lakeland, his national security advisor, grouped around the north end of the massive table. Aides to each participant were seated nearby in chairs along the wall. A light breeze could be felt from the overhead air ducts.
At precisely 9:00 a.m. Robert Lakeland rose from his chair. "Ladies and gentlemen, I will now begin the morning briefing."
The room quieted and all eyes turned in his direction. "We have three orders of business to discuss today."