Chapter 30 Chapter Twenty Nine

Kathy Ordoniz walked into Tanner Kingsley's office, morning paper in hand, "It happened again." She handed him the paper. Every newspaper carried the banner headline: Casey said, "Send this to Senator Van Leuven?" "Yes. Immediately," Tanner said gravely. Casey hurried out of his office. Tanner glanced at his watch and smiled.The bomb must have gone off by now.Those two bitches were finally rooted out. The secretary's voice came from the inliner: "Mr. Kingsley, Senator Van Leuven is waiting for you to answer the phone. Would you like to answer?"

"Okay." Tanner picked up the microphone: "Tanner Kingsley." "Hi, Mr. Kingsley. I'm Senator Van Leuven." "Good afternoon, Senator." "My assistant and I happen to be near your headquarters. I wonder if it would be convenient for us to drop by." "No problem," Tanner said enthusiastically, "I'll be happy to show you around, Senator." "Good. We'll be there soon." Tanner flipped the inliner switch. "I'll have a guest in a few minutes. Turn off all my phones." He thought of the obituary he had read in the paper a few weeks earlier.Senator Van Leuven's husband died of a heart attack.I will offer my condolences.

Fifteen minutes later Senator Van Leuven arrived with two young and handsome assistants. Tanner stood up to greet them. "I'm glad you decided to come here." Senator Van Leuven nodded. "You remember Corinna Murphy and Carolie Trost." Tanner smiled. "Yes. Great to see you both." He turned to the senator. "I have learned of your husband's passing. I am deeply sorry." Senator Van Leuven nodded. "Thank you. He was ill for a long time, and finally, a few weeks ago..." She forced a smile, "By the way, the information you sent me about global warming The information is very interesting."

"Thank you." "Would you like to show us what you're doing here?" "Of course. What tour would you like? We have five-hour, four-hour and one-and-a-half-hour tours." Corinna Murphy giggled: "I really want to see five—" Senator Van Leuven interrupted her: "Let's take the one-and-a-half hour sightseeing route." "It's an honour." "How many people work at KIG?" Senator Van Leuven asked. "Nearly two thousand. KIG has opened offices in more than a dozen major countries around the world." Corinna Murphy and Caroline Trost both looked awed.

"We have five hundred employees in this building. Staff and researchers work in different areas. Every scientist employed here has an IQ of at least 160." Corinna Murphy blurted out: "It's all geniuses." Senator van Leuven threw her a very disapproving look. "Come with me, please," Tanner said. The senator, along with Murphy and Trost, followed Tanner through a side door into an adjoining building.He led them into a room filled with bizarre devices. Senator Van Leuven walked up to a strange-looking machine: "What's this for?" "A voice spectrograph, Senator. It converts one voice into a voiceprint. It can recognize thousands of different voices."

Trost frowned: "How did you do that?" "Think of it this way. When a friend calls you, you immediately recognize whose voice it is because the pattern of that voice is etched into your brain circuitry. We programmed this machine the same way. An electronic The filter only allows a certain frequency to pass through to the recorder, so that all we get is the recognizable characteristics of the person's voice." The rest of the sightseeing itinerary presents a fantastic montage: giant machines, tiny electron microscopes and chemical laboratories; rooms with blackboards filled with mysterious symbols, laboratories where a dozen scientists work together, and where only one scientist sits alone at his desk An office trying to crack a secret problem.

They passed a red brick building with two sets of locks on the door. Senator Van Leuven asked, "What's in it?" "Some secret government research project. Sorry, that's out of scope, Senator." The visit lasted two hours. When it was over, Tanner escorted the three women back to his office. "I hope you feel it's a worthwhile trip," Tanner said. Senator Van Leuven nodded. "Interesting." "Very interesting." Corinna Murphy smiled.Her eyes were on Tanner. "I love it!" Caroline Trost exclaimed. Tanner turned to Senator Van Leuven: "By the way, have you had a chance to discuss with your colleagues the environmental issues we're talking about?"

The senator's voice was impartial: "Discussed." "Can you tell me what you think the chances are, Senator?" "This is not a guessing game, Mr. Kingsley. There will be more discussion. I will let you know when a decision is made." Tanner managed to smile. "Thank you. Thank you for being here." He watches them go. As the door closed behind them, Kathy Ordoniz's voice came from the interliner: "Mr. Kingsley, Saida Hernandez called you several times. She said it was urgent , but you will never answer my phone calls.” "Get her on the phone for me," Tanner said.

Saida Hernandez was the woman he sent to plant the bomb at the Adams Hotel. "The first line." Tanner picked up the microphone, expecting good news: "Everything is going well, Saida?" "No. I'm sorry, Mr. Kingsley." He could hear the fear in her voice. "They escaped." Tanner's body froze: "What are they?" "Yes, sir. They fled before the bomb went off. The doorman saw them rushing out of the hotel lobby." Tanner hung up the phone with a snap.He pressed a button for his secretary: "Call Flint and Caballo here."

A minute later, Harry Flint and Vince Caballo walked into Tanner's office. Tanner turned to the two of them.Be furious. "The whores have escaped again. This is the last time, and I won't allow it to happen again. Do you understand? I'll tell you where they are, and you go get them. Any questions?" Flint and Caballo looked at each other. "No, sir." Tanner pressed a button that displayed a map of the city. "As long as they have the business card I gave them, we can track them down." They watched the electric lights appear on the map on the TV screen.Tanner pressed a button.The lights don't move.

Tanner gritted his teeth. "They've already thrown away their business cards." His face flushed red.He turned to Flint and Caballo: "I want them dead today." Flint looked at Tanner, puzzled. "If we don't know where they are, how can we—?" Tanner interrupted him: "You think I'll let a woman fool me so easily? As long as they have their cell phones, they can't fool us anywhere." "Can you get their phone numbers?" Flint asked in surprise. Tanner didn't bother to answer his question.He scanned the map. "They're probably going their separate ways by now." He pressed another button. "Let's try Diana Stevens first." Tanner keyed in a number. The lights on the map start to move and slowly focus on the streets of Manhattan, photographing hotels, shops, banks.Finally, the moving spot of light stopped in front of a building with the signboard of Nelson Gallery. "Diana Stevens is in a gallery." Tanner pressed another button. "Let's see where Kelly Harris is." Tanner repeated what he had just done.The lights began to move again, this time focusing on another area of ​​the city. A few men watched the illuminated area narrow down to a street lined with clothing stores, restaurants, a pharmacy, and a bus station.The lights scanned the area and stopped suddenly in front of an open building. "Kelly Harris is at the coach station." Tanner's voice was grim. "We've got to get them both, quick." "How?" Caballo asked. "They were at opposite ends of the city. When we got there, they both ran away." Tanner turned around: "Follow me." He ran into the next room, with Flint and Caballo following closely behind him. The room they entered had a bank of monitors, computers and electronic keyboards with color codes.On a shelf sits a squat machine with a dozen or so CDs and DVDs.Tanner looked through it, and inserted the one labeled Diana Stevens into the machine. He explained to the two men: "This is a voice synthesizer. The voices of Diana Stevens and Kelly Harris have been digitized earlier. The patterns of their speech have been recorded and analyzed. Just one Press a button, and every word I speak is tested to be reproduced in their voices." Tanner picked up a cell phone and keyed in a few numbers. A cautious "Hello?" was Kelly Harris' voice. "Kelly! I'm so glad I found you." It was Tanner who spoke, but it was Diana Stevens' voice they heard. "Diane! You called right. I was leaving." Flint and Caballo listened, surprised. "Where are you going, Kelly?" "Chicago. I'm flying home, from O'Hare." "Kelly, you can't go now." A moment of silence. "why?" "Because I found out the truth. I know who murdered our husbands and why." "Oh, my God! How—are you sure?" "Certainly. I have all the evidence we need." "Diane, that's—that's great." "I've got the evidence with me. I'm on the top floor of Building A at the Del Monte Hotel. I'm going to the FBI. I want you to come with me, but I understand if you have to go home." "No, no! I—I'm going to help accomplish what Mark is trying to do." Flint and Caballo listened with rapt attention to every word.In the background they hear the announcement from the station that the bus from Chicago is leaving. "I'm going with you, Diana. You said you were at the Del Monte Hotel?" "Yes, Eighty-sixth Street. Top floor, Building A." "I'm leaving now. See you later." Contact is broken. Tanner turned to Flint and Caballo. "Half the problem solved. Now we're dealing with the other half." Flint and Caballo watched as Tanner inserted another disc, labeled Kelly Harris, into the synthesizer.Tanner flicked a switch on the phone and keyed in a number. Diana's voice came out almost immediately. "Hey……" Tanner spoke into the microphone, but it was Kelly's voice they heard. "Diana—" "Kelly! Are you all right?" "I'm awesome. I have exciting news. I found out who killed our husbands and why." "What? Who—who—?" "We can't discuss this on the phone, Diana. I'm at the Del Monte Hotel, on Eighty-sixth Street, Building A, top floor. Can you come and meet me?" "Of course. I'll be right there." "That's great, Diana. I'll wait for you." Tanner turned off the machine and turned to Flint: "You wait." He hands Flint a key. "Here is the key to the top floor of Block A. It is our company suite. Get there immediately and wait for them. I want you to kill them as soon as they enter the room. I will arrange for the bodies to be collected." Caballo and Tanner watched as Flint turned and ran out the door. Caballo said, "What do you want me for, Mr. Kingsley?" "Take care of Saida Hernandez." Waiting in the top floor of Block A, Flint made up his mind that nothing would go wrong this time.He'd heard of the jerks that Tanner had disposed of.I won't, Flint thought.He took out the gun, checked the chamber, and screwed on the suppressor.All he has to do now is wait. In a taxi six blocks away from the Del Monte Hotel, Kelly Harris pondered agitatedly what Diana had told her.I know who murdered our husbands and why... I have all the evidence we need.Mark, I want them to pay back what they did to you. Diana simply fidgeted.The nightmare is finally over.Kelly discovers who's behind the murders, and she has proof.I will make you proud of me, Richard.I feel like you're right next to me, and— Diana's thoughts were interrupted by the driver: "Here we are, Mrs. Del Monte Hotel."