The Black Silent by David Dun

the conglomerate.
    Does anything you're dealing with have the potential to affect Sanker's stock price?"
    "Yes. To say the least. In fact, one press release could do it." Sam gave Ernie a thumbnail description of the possible range and impact of Ben's work. "Of course, we don't know if this 'fountain of youth' discovery is all that potent. Or even real," he added.
    "But just a good story would do it," Ernie completed the thought. "I get it. I wish I could call Cross on this, but, of course, I can't, because officially I don't know what you just told me, about the fountain of youth-thing. We never had this call. Somehow, though, I'll find a way to run across the information, and when I do, then I'll tell him."
    "You're a good man, Ernie. You make me feel lucky."
    "I'm touched by your compliment."
    "Good. I have one more favor."
    "Uh-oh. With you it's always the second favor that costs me."
    Sam asked Haley if she had a home fax; fortunately, she did.
    "Please fax me the memo about Frick."
    "Are you out of your mind? That's FBI property."
    "It could be critical in trying to bring in the Washington State Police."

    In the long silence that followed, Sam could sense Ernie's stress.
    "I must be losing my mind."
    "Thanks, Ernie. I'll be careful with it. I wish I had a choice, but they want to put me in jail. We do have a dead officer."
    Haley had ended her call with Sarah, so Sam filled her in.
    "Sanker is merging with American Bayou, as you know."
    "I don't really understand it."
    "It means the strongest guy wins. The old man and all his henchmen could completely lose control of Sanker because their stock price tanked."
    "When I told the truth about my new strain of sea grass, they screamed about the stock price. I just didn't know it was such a big deal for Sanker."
    "They tell me the work you did was brilliant, coming up with the new strain of sea grass. What all does it do that's good?"
    "Makes cheap protein. Feeds people. Has a lot of pharmaceutical applications like so many things from the sea. Immune-system drugs." Haley sighed as if wistfully remembering when she was at the height of her glory. "The issue was that the sea grass is host to a whole little universe of life. When I genetically altered it, you know, you change the house, you could change the inhabitants. I wasn't saying we couldn't use it, for God's sake. I'm not like one of these nuts who says we can't use genetically improved corn. I said we need to study it before going hog-wild on production. The seaweed seemed to be functioning differently after the genetic change. The single-celled organisms weren't acting the same. I wanted time to study it. Evidently Sanker was desperate about their stock price and wanted a big announcement."
    "So McStott and Frick concocted the scheme to make it look like it was mostly his work, and that you stole it."
    "That's it. Of course, McStott had no concern about the sea grass's effect on the environment. Frick and McStott saw to it that my article with the warnings was never published. Instead, they published an article touting the discovery. But they had no credibility because some university people cried foul. And see, that also hurt my credibility. It was a mess."
    "You couldn't show it was your discovery and that these guys were jumping the gun with it?"
    "Well, it's long and complicated, but McStott and I shared the same file-server computer. We did collaborate. He just had nothing to do with the creation of this strain of sea grass. They switched our lab notes. Hell, there are all kinds of things going on that only the scientists involved really understand when it comes to knowing who does what." She let out a long breath. "And there was one other problem. Like an idiot, I trusted McStott and against the rules I gave him my computer pass code. You're never supposed to do that. So when I started saying he stole and that I gave him my pass code .
    . . well, that was considered stupid, and on and on."
    "I'm sorry," Sam said.