‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘It’s been a very thorough cover — up,’ Ethan observed casually. ‘Not just in the way that the town of Clearwater, Missouri has been given a makeover that makes it appear to have been abandoned for half a century, but in the sheer scale of the media cover — up. I’m incredibly impressed that a company as small as Seavers Incorporated has been able to eradicate not just any media references to the legal case brought against your company by the town Council of Clearwater, but also to silence the judges involved in the case, the lawyers, the supporters of the case in neighbouring towns, literally anybody with any knowledge of events in Clearwater. And that’s not including the three hundred people who lived in the town who have suddenly just disappeared.’
Seavers frowned as he raised his hands and linked his fingers together to form a cradle upon which he rested his chin.
‘Really, I don’t know what you’re talking about. The town of Clearwater has not been inhabited for at least forty years according to the census, and the surrounding terrain has been legally cleared for mountaintop mining operations. The paperwork’s already on its way through.’
Ethan leaned casually back in his seat as he examined the tips of his fingernails.
‘That’s strange,’ he said idly, ‘because despite the apparent thoroughness of your work you missed a few of the town’s inhabitants.’
Ethan figured that Huck Seavers had never really been a poker player. Although the CEO’s expression remained unchanged, his eyes wobbled in their sockets as he began to realize the depth of Ethan’s knowledge of what had happened.
‘Missed a few inhabitants?’ Seavers echoed, his voice less steady than before as he attempted to conceal his concern. ‘Really, what are you two talking about? Nobody has lived in Clearwater for … ’
‘The town of Clearwater was inhabited by three hundred people,’ Lopez cut him off, a touch of irritation in tones. ‘We know it and we’re interested in what happened to them. Did it not cross your mind that living in a wilderness town would result in many of the people going camping, hunting, to have pursuits that may have taken them out of the town while you and your men were going about the business of making the rest of the inhabitants vanish?’
Huck Seavers sat for a long moment staring at Lopez, either thinking fast or unable to bring himself to speak. Ethan took full advantage of the silence.
‘There are survivors,’ he said softly. ‘They were not present in the town when you made your alterations. It’s time to stop pretending, Huck. We don’t think that the people of Clearwater were murdered because we also know that they were paid quite substantial sums for them to simply disappear. There are a few more people who would like to disappear too, but understandably they’re a bit cautious about coming forward because if a person like you is willing to make three hundred people disappear, you’re probably willing to do just about anything to ensure you gain mining rights to that town. In fact, we suspect there may be more to it than just the mining rights, don’t we Nicola?’
‘Yes we do, Ethan,’ Lopez picked up her cue smoothly. ‘We’re enormously interested in the device that apparently was loaded onto a truck and whisked away from Clearwater in the wake of its inhabitants disappearing. Tremendous energy emissions, so it turns out. The sort of thing that might represent an alternative form of energy and might render Seavers Incorporated worth, oh, I don’t know, nothing for instance.’
Huck Seavers features gradually imploded as Ethan and Lopez assaulted him with their narrative, and he finally folded his hands together in a tight ball.
‘What do you want?’
Ethan smiled a cold little smile. ‘What do you mean, Huck? We have tremendous evidence to show that Seavers Incorporated is behind the vanishing of three hundred people, and is behind the concealing of a device that could provide our country, and perhaps the entire world, with free energy. I should imagine that the price for silence in such an explosive story would be far beyond even the means of your company. Unless of course, you didn’t pay them off and what we’re looking at here is a form of genocide?’
‘Nobody has been murdered!’ Seavers snapped and slammed a clenched fist down on the table with a sharp crack.
A long silence enveloped the conference room, broken finally by Lopez’s voice, a degree softer now than before.
‘To know that, of course you would have had to be involved,’ she observed. ‘Tell us what happened, Huck. Better to hear it from you than to see all of this evidence presented before major news networks across the planet, maybe even Congress and the Supreme Court.’
‘It won’t happen,’ Seavers said with a tight smile, rage radiating from his eyes. ‘You’re dealing with people you really don’t want to cross.’
‘Yeah,’ Ethan murmured. ‘The problem is we’ve made a career out of doing that, so threats aren’t going to change anything. Either you speak to us or by tomorrow morning every newspaper and news channel across the world will be reporting on how Seavers Incorporated is suspected of mass murder and possibly the greatest cover — up in the history of the United States.’
Seavers glanced at the scorching desert outside for a long beat before he spoke.
‘Ten million,’ he said. ‘Each.’
Ethan felt a flush of excitement tingle down his spine as he realised the position he had suddenly put himself and Lopez in. Ten million dollars was a tremendous amount of money and more than he could ever hope to earn in an entire lifetime. Now, it was being presented to him on a plate in return for nothing more than remaining silent about what he knew. It crossed his mind he should have tried this years ago, considering the number of people of means they had encountered over the years.
‘Twenty million each,’ Lopez said from beside him.
Ethan looked at her sharply in surprise, only to see a stony face glaring at Huck Seavers, dark eyes smouldering like hot coals as she called the man’s bluff. Ethan looked at Seavers and watched him fold like a deck of cards.
‘Twenty it is,’ he said simply. ‘You will be required to sign nondisclosure agreements, to leave this country, to never approach Seavers Incorporated or any of its subsidiaries again. You will also be required to relinquish any evidence into my hands. Should you renege on this agreement you will lose everything that you have been given, every last dime. You will be left destitute, is that clear?’
‘It’s clear,’ Lopez chirped.
Huck Seavers leaned forward on the glass table, the smile back on his face now as he returned to more stable ground. With tens of millions of dollars hanging in the balance, Seavers clearly felt that he had control of the situation.
‘You will also be required to hand over any of the survivors you have referenced. Without them, there is no deal.’
‘Ah,’ Ethan murmured. ‘That’s a shame. You see, without them you could simply have us eliminated as soon as we leave this building. In fact, once we’ve handed over all of our evidence there’s nothing to stop you from having us shot on the street.’
‘I am not a murderer!’ Huck Seavers almost shouted, and for a moment Ethan thought he was going to get out of his chair and swing for him.
Ethan was struck by sudden realization that despite his involvement, Huck Seavers may actually represent a half — decent human being stuck in an impossible situation. Ethan leaned on the table and watched Seavers closely as he spoke.
‘You’re not on your own in this,’ he said. ‘Your company does not have the ability to achieve what’s been done at Clearwater on its own. We know damn well that you’d have needed the assistance of the FBI in order to make those people disappear into new lives. We know that Seavers Incorporated does not have sufficient influence, money or power to sway the media, to silence the news channels or to influence criminal courts in Virginia. Who are you working with, Huck?’