David.
“That first night when I found my way home, Ruth was in the downstairs hall, and she said I wouldn’t get away with something. She said I would go to jail. And you have said you need to find something I took. What is that? What else did I do?”
David looked exhausted when he returned to his chair, sinking into it and leaning his head against the back. His eyes looked bleak and sad when he spoke.
“Ray stole the plans and prototype of a secret component the Air Force wants in a newly developed spy drone. He had access to all of it, and he took it. We’ve spent a lot of time and money in developing the technology. Without it, Barrett’s will go under eventually. He was taking it to one of our competitors where he could sell it for millions. Or maybe he was going to sell it to a foreign government. You were, are, with him in the deal.”
Chapter 18
“He . . . we . . . stole it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Ray put the information—drawings, plans, algorithms, and so forth—on a flash drive, put it in his briefcase along with the prototype of the device, and walked out with it, after destroying the information on the company computer, of course. Then he went to the vault at the bank where we keep offsite backup and took that, too. We would never make it possible for anybody get into the vault alone, but Ray conned another person with clearance into cooperating. We have that person under surveillance. We’re trying to decide whether he was a willing accomplice or was duped.”
“But . . .” Marnie sputtered, not really understanding what he was telling her. “But what did he do that for? Surely he couldn’t do anything with it,” she said naively.
“Of course he can. He’s going to sell it to a foreign government, or even one of our competitors, who could claim they invented it. It’s worth millions.”
“Oh my!”
“What’s even worse, we had obtained government money to build the thing to this point, plus spent a lot of our own money developing it. If we can’t produce something to show them, we’ll have to repay the government money, or at least a good portion of it, and that would put Barrett’s out of business.”
“And that’s why you’ve wanted me to remember what happened?”
“That’s it. I’ve been trying to figure out why you’re back here and how come you’ve lost your memory. When I thought you were just pretending, I figured Ray had sent you back home to act as if you couldn’t remember for some reason, maybe to find out what I knew or maybe so I would spend time trying to get information out of you instead of looking for him.”
“But you said you don’t think I’m acting.”
“At first I did, but not anymore. You’re too changed. If you remembered, you would have blown your stack by now or reacted in your usual, characteristic ways. You’re still you, but calmer, more rational. You seem reasonable, even. And Doctor Means said he was positive you were really ill when you returned.”
“What does it all mean, with your prototype and plans still missing and me back?”
“You tell me! You’re the one who ran off with Ray!”
“I can’t. I can’t tell you. I would if I could. You don’t realize how awful it is to be clueless about my past. Even worse, everything you are telling me about what kind of person I am is weighing on me like a ton of bricks. On the one hand, I desperately want to remember my past. On the other, I don’t want to go back to being the person I was.”
“Maybe you and Ray had a falling out over something, if he didn’t send you back to delay my search for him, that is. But that doesn’t explain your amnesia.
“You were really sick, like Doc said, but not sick enough to affect your memory. And you haven’t been in any wreck or been badly injured enough to cause it, either, or else you’d be banged up in some way. So that only leaves a bad emotional trauma, Doctor Means says. But what could that be?”
Marnie got up once
“That first night when I found my way home, Ruth was in the downstairs hall, and she said I wouldn’t get away with something. She said I would go to jail. And you have said you need to find something I took. What is that? What else did I do?”
David looked exhausted when he returned to his chair, sinking into it and leaning his head against the back. His eyes looked bleak and sad when he spoke.
“Ray stole the plans and prototype of a secret component the Air Force wants in a newly developed spy drone. He had access to all of it, and he took it. We’ve spent a lot of time and money in developing the technology. Without it, Barrett’s will go under eventually. He was taking it to one of our competitors where he could sell it for millions. Or maybe he was going to sell it to a foreign government. You were, are, with him in the deal.”
Chapter 18
“He . . . we . . . stole it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Ray put the information—drawings, plans, algorithms, and so forth—on a flash drive, put it in his briefcase along with the prototype of the device, and walked out with it, after destroying the information on the company computer, of course. Then he went to the vault at the bank where we keep offsite backup and took that, too. We would never make it possible for anybody get into the vault alone, but Ray conned another person with clearance into cooperating. We have that person under surveillance. We’re trying to decide whether he was a willing accomplice or was duped.”
“But . . .” Marnie sputtered, not really understanding what he was telling her. “But what did he do that for? Surely he couldn’t do anything with it,” she said naively.
“Of course he can. He’s going to sell it to a foreign government, or even one of our competitors, who could claim they invented it. It’s worth millions.”
“Oh my!”
“What’s even worse, we had obtained government money to build the thing to this point, plus spent a lot of our own money developing it. If we can’t produce something to show them, we’ll have to repay the government money, or at least a good portion of it, and that would put Barrett’s out of business.”
“And that’s why you’ve wanted me to remember what happened?”
“That’s it. I’ve been trying to figure out why you’re back here and how come you’ve lost your memory. When I thought you were just pretending, I figured Ray had sent you back home to act as if you couldn’t remember for some reason, maybe to find out what I knew or maybe so I would spend time trying to get information out of you instead of looking for him.”
“But you said you don’t think I’m acting.”
“At first I did, but not anymore. You’re too changed. If you remembered, you would have blown your stack by now or reacted in your usual, characteristic ways. You’re still you, but calmer, more rational. You seem reasonable, even. And Doctor Means said he was positive you were really ill when you returned.”
“What does it all mean, with your prototype and plans still missing and me back?”
“You tell me! You’re the one who ran off with Ray!”
“I can’t. I can’t tell you. I would if I could. You don’t realize how awful it is to be clueless about my past. Even worse, everything you are telling me about what kind of person I am is weighing on me like a ton of bricks. On the one hand, I desperately want to remember my past. On the other, I don’t want to go back to being the person I was.”
“Maybe you and Ray had a falling out over something, if he didn’t send you back to delay my search for him, that is. But that doesn’t explain your amnesia.
“You were really sick, like Doc said, but not sick enough to affect your memory. And you haven’t been in any wreck or been badly injured enough to cause it, either, or else you’d be banged up in some way. So that only leaves a bad emotional trauma, Doctor Means says. But what could that be?”
Marnie got up once
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