The Whole Truth by David Baldacci
Shaw looked around at the elaborately decorated interior of the office. “This building must be worth, what, thirty million pounds?”
“It has been a good investment. But as I said, money is not our chief concern. We, my partners and I, we are good businessmen. We make lots of money in other things. The Phoenix Group was our way of doing some good. Giving back, I think you say.”
“And you have no idea why anyone would have wanted to attack this place and kill everyone?” Royce asked, the skepticism in his voice unmistakable.
“None at all. I was most distressed when I heard. Most distressed. I… I could not believe that such a thing could happen. The people here were scholars, intellectuals. They work on issues of water usage rights, globalization of world economies, atmospheric warming due to carbon-based fuel use, energy consumption, matters of international financial assistance to third world countries, political dynamics. Benign intellectual subjects, gentlemen.”
“Anna Fischer wrote a book on police states,” Shaw pointed out. “That hardly qualifies as a benign intellectual matter.”
“Ms. Fischer was most excellent at her job.”
“You knew her?”
“I knew of her.”
“Had anyone here met you before?” Shaw asked quickly.
“We, my partners and I, prefer to keep a low profile. But we received regular reports.”
I’m sure you did, Shaw said to himself.
“Have you found any evidence that will lead to the people who did this?” Feng asked anxiously.
Royce shook his head. “No fingerprints, no shell casings, no trace at all, I’m afraid.” He did not mention the video feed.
“That is most discouraging.”
“But we did find one thing of interest, Mr. Feng,” Royce said. “Would you care to see? It’s a real eye-opener.”
CHAPTER 55
ARON LESNIK WOLFED DOWN HIS SANDWICH and drank his coffee in large slurps. Part of Katie was disgusted by his eating habits, and part of her was sympathetic. He must be terrified, she thought. Terrified, probably broke, and obviously hungry.
Lesnik wiped his mouth and let out a small sigh. He caught her staring at him and his features turned embarrassed. “Thank you for food.”
“You’re welcome. Do you mind if I use this?” She pulled out a mini-recorder.
“No. I tell you, but I don’t want people to hear me.” He looked around nervously. “I am scared.”
She put the recorder away. “Okay, I’ll just write it down.”
He relaxed and sat back.
“Now tell me everything you saw and heard,” she said.
Lesnik’s story only took a very few minutes. He’d been interviewing with an older man named Bill Harris on the second floor.
“Why weren’t you killed then?” Katie asked sharply.
“I go to the bathroom down the hall from his office,” Lesnik explained. When he was coming back he heard shots and screams. He ducked into an empty room, saw the copier machine, and climbed in. He heard more screams and shots. He listened to people walking nearby. He thought they would find him. He told Katie he was convinced he was going to die. He had to interrupt the story several times to drink some water and calm down. Katie’s pen flew across the page as she recorded everything he said.
“Then what happened?”
“I think, I hope, they all gone now, the men with guns I mean. But I hear something.”
“What did you hear?”
“I hear two men talking. They come into room where I am hiding! They speak in Russian. I know Russian. I can speak it, yes.”
“What did they say?”
“They say they have list of names and every name is dead.”
“So they knew who worked in the building?”
“I think they do, yes.”
“What else?”
“They talk about someone else coming in building. But they don’t have his name. And they don’t think he is dead.”
Katie immediately got it. “They were talking about you!”
Lesnik nodded. “I think this too. I think they search building again and this time they find me. I am trapped. I know I am going to die now.” The tears slid down his face.
She poured him some more coffee. “So why didn’t they find you?”
“One man say to other that they must leave now. A window has been broke in office. A woman has screamed out window. They must go in case police show up.”
“So then they left?”
“Yes, but as they go they keep talking. One man, he say Gorshkov will be pleased when he hears from them that mission went good.”
Katie nearly dug a hole in the paper with her pen. “Gorshkov? Russian president Gorshkov?”
Lesnik nodded. “I hear his name and it frighten me much. Everybody know that like Putin, Gorshkov is ex-KGB. He spits at democracy. Everyone in Poland know this.”
“Why would Gorshkov target a think tank in London?” Katie said in a confused tone.
“I do not know.”
“How did you get away?”
“I wait for men to leave. I hear door close and wait some more, to be sure. Then I go out back door. That is way I come in.”
“Why not the front?”
“The man I talk to, Mr. Harris, he say come in that way. He say it is easier for me when I tell him where I coming from.” His face clouded over. “And I no go out front door because… because there is two bodies there. One old man, one young woman, shot in face.” He pointed at his right eye. “Shot there. I can no go by them. I go out back door. And then I run. I run all the way to where I staying.”
“And you haven’t told anyone else about this?”
Lesnik shook his head. “If I tell, then people come kill me. I just go there for job. I no want to die.”
“Okay, okay,” Katie said, laying a calming hand on his slender shoulder. “This was a big first step.”
“You write story now? You no use my name?” he added anxiously.
“I promised that I wouldn’t. But where can I reach you if I have any more questions?”
“I stay at hostel by river.” He wrote down the address for Katie on a piece of napkin. “It is all I have money for.”
Katie again ran her gaze over his old, patched clothing and emaciated body. She reached in her pocket and handed him some pounds. “It’s not much, but I’ll try to get you some more.”
“Dziekuje. That is ‘thank you’ in Polish.”
“You’re welcome.”
Lesnik rose from the table.
“Do you have a phone where I can reach you at?”
He smiled wearily. “I have no phone. I be at hostel. Powodzenia!”
“That’s ‘good luck’ in Polish, right?”
His face brightened for a moment. “How did you know?”
“Just a guess.”
As he walked off Katie slumped back against her chair. “Now what the hell do I do?” Part of her couldn’t believe that any of this was true. A Polish guy speaking passable English walks up to her on the street. Her! And starts to tell her the story that everyone in the world is dying to hear. A story she had just been assigned to work on. No one was that lucky, certainly not her.
And yet, taking the facts as she knew them into account? His story was plausible. He had details of the inside of the building, details Katie would have to verify. He seemed legitimately scared, and if he was telling the truth he should be scared. And why would he lie to her? Because he was a nut looking for fifteen minutes of fame? But this guy didn’t want his name used. He didn’t want fame. What if he was telling the truth?
Katie jumped up and dashed back to The Phoenix Group building. There was one man who could help her verify the man’s story. And that was Shaw. She did not relish this encounter, but all her journalistic instincts were on fire, propelling her forward to that most elusive of quarries: the truth.
CHAPTER 56
THE ITEMS WERE NEATLY LAID OUT on the table. Next to them was a compu
“So you’re saying you weren’t aware of any of this?” Royce said, the disbelief in his voice ricocheting around the room like a stray slug.
Feng wagged his head. “That is correct,” he said firmly. “I knew nothing.”
“Mr. Feng, let me make this clear to you. There are paper records all over this building which show quite clearly that The Phoenix Group was part of the propaganda campaign against Russia. And they have the fingerprints of your employees all over them. The computer hard drives here also have thousands of files on them chronicling everything from the creation of the so-called ‘Tablet of Tragedies’ to the details of this Konstantin fellow to composite ads that were circulated in connection with said propaganda campaign. There are over thirty thousand names of Russians on your hard drives, the same names and backgrounds that were slung across the Internet along with claims that they were all victims of the Russian Red Menace.”
“I have no idea how any of that got here,” stammered Feng. “None!”
“Do you not oversee the work that is done here, sir?”
Feng said indignantly, “We let our people explore what they wish to explore. Our involvement is minimal. I have never even been to this building before.”
“Well, it appears that your employees’ exploration got a bit out of hand. Do you understand the magnitude of the situation we have here?”
Feng looked at Royce questioningly. “I do not understand what you mean.”
“Do you have any ties to the Chinese government?”
“I fail to see what that has to do-”
Shaw interrupted. “Gorshkov has sworn that whoever was behind the smear campaign would be viewed as having committed an act of war against his country. If you have any ties to the Chinese government, then you might just have started a war between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.”
Feng sprang to his feet. “That is preposterous!”
Royce exclaimed, “It will hardly seem preposterous to the rest of the world, sir.”
Shaw added in a quieter tone, “Do you have any ties to the Chinese government? Better it come out now rather than later.”
Feng suddenly looked uncertain and sat back down. “It could be construed, that is to say, some people might…”
Shaw leaned down into Feng’s troubled face. “I’m sure you understand that telling us the truth is really your only option.”
Feng licked his lips and fiddled with a ring on his finger. “Part of our funding comes from the government.” He started speaking rapid-fire. “My partners and I have done much work with the Communist Party with respect to economic development both in China and in other countries. We started The Phoenix Group with the sole purpose of trying to better understand global issues that will help China adapt more readily to an expanded role in world affairs. There is no question that our economy will at some point become the world’s largest. With that comes a responsibility, a responsibility that we take very seriously. And thus we sought to educate ourselves as to critical issues around the world. Creating a think tank and staffing it with some of the best minds seemed a reasonable pursuit.”
Shaw snapped, “And yet you deliberately hid your ties to the Chinese government behind this Arizona millionaire façade?”
“We are misunderstood in many parts of the world.” He shot a glance at the MI5 agent. “Including in your country, Mr. Royce. We did not want any lingering doubts or misconceptions to taint the important work The Phoenix Group was undertaking.”
“Did any of the people who worked here have any idea of these ties?” Royce asked.
Shaw already knew the answer to that question. Anna would’ve told him.
“No,” Feng said. “We did not think it important or relevant to their work. What did it matter who they were working for if the goals were good ones?”
“Are you a member of the Communist Party?” Royce asked.
“I fail to see-”
“Please answer the question.”
“You have to understand-”
“Are you!” Royce bellowed.
“Yes. I am, like many of my fellow citizens,” Feng said defensively.
The MI5 agent threw up his hands. “This is a complete and total cock-up.”
A pale Feng said, “No, gentlemen, this is ludicrous. The Phoenix Group was not involved in any of this Red Menace business. It is absurd to even suggest it.”
“Since you said you’ve never even been here before, you’re hardly in a position to know that, are you?” Royce shot back.
“But why would they do such a thing?” Feng said in a near wail.
“How many other partners do you have?”
“Four.”
“I think somebody should ask them,” Royce said. He looked at Shaw. “For now, this stays among us. If any of this comes out, I can hardly imagine greater consequences for your country, Mr. Feng.”
“You cannot believe that Russia would attack us.”
“Gorshkov has staked his reputation on the fact that he will do just that. Go ask Afghanistan if you don’t believe me.”
“Who else knows?” Shaw asked Royce.
“A very few of the crime scene team. We hardly expected anything like this when the investigation started. Once they knew what they were facing, they cut off access to everyone else and called me in.”
“I’m surprised you allowed me in here,” Shaw said bluntly.
“Wells told me that you are the absolute best he has. So I thought I could rely upon your discretion and I desperately need your help.”
“You’re welcome to both.”
Royce turned back to Feng. “I’d like your passport.”
Feng’s features darkened. “You cannot possibly mean that.”
“Give it to me.” Royce held out his hand.
“I have committed no crime.”
“That remains to be seen, doesn’t it?”
“You will create an international incident?”
“What’s one more?” Royce retorted.
“I want to go to the Chinese embassy. Immediately.”
“Passport first and then I’ll see if I can get you a lift over,” Royce said pleasantly enough, even tacking a smile onto the end of his offer.
Feng very slowly handed over his passport. “This is outrageous.”
“Absolutely,” Royce agreed. “Everything we’ve discovered here so far is outrageous.”
As Feng and Royce headed out, Shaw said, “I’m going up to Anna’s office.”
“Shaw, we only removed the body. The rest of the place is untouched. It’s not very…”
“I know it’s not.”
CHAPTER 57
SHAW TOOK THE STEPS two at a time and followed the carpeted floor down to the end of the hall. The door on the left stood open. He closed his eyes and willed himself to focus on the task at hand – finding