She slipped around the corner and then doubled back.
And got the shock of her life.
She darted back around the corner before the man could see her.
“I just saw a guy going into Vista,” she said to Sean through her comm pack.
“Okay, who was it?”
“You are not going to believe this.”
“With this case I’m starting to believe anything is possible. Who did you see?”
“The guy we met with earlier at the Pentagon.”
“Colonel Leon South?”
“No, the other one. Dan Marshall, assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics, and technology. The same guy who lost a billion euros of taxpayer money.”
“Holy shit.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“What’s the connection with Vista?”
“Coincidence?” said Michelle.
“If it is, it’s the size of Texas. We need to dig a lot deeper.”
“Edgar?”
“He already dug into Grant’s background. I’m surprised he didn’t find the Dan Marshall connection.”
“Even geniuses miss things.”
“Or maybe he’s losing a few brain cells too.”
“Don’t worry, he has tons to spare.”
CHAPTER
57
MICHELLE CONTACTED EDGAR AND CONVEYED the particulars on what they needed. He promised to get right on it and call her back with his results. In the meantime Sean and Michelle headed over in Sean’s car to Reston, Virginia, to meet with the blogger, George Carlton.
Sean phoned ahead and Carlton met them outside his town house—which was also his office, he told them, as he escorted them inside.
“I’m surprised there aren’t news trucks parked out here,” said Sean. “After your big scoop.”
Carlton was short and portly and around fifty. His beard was trimmed close to his chin and his mustache drooped partially over his upper lip. He looked at them strangely and then apologized.
“My right contact has a scratch. Trying to get in to see the eye doctor.”
He showed them into his office, a small room off the foyer. It was piled high with books, newspaper articles, magazines, and DVD cases. A large computer sat on the top of his desk while a server hummed below in the kneehole.
They all sat. Carlton rubbed his mustache and looked at them thoughtfully. “Media trucks here would validate the world of the blogger, so that will never happen.”
“The two worlds don’t get along?” said Michelle as she perched in a chair, sharing space with a stack of magazines.