saw an oil painting of it when I was in General La Porte's Paris mansion. Then I saw a photograph of it, this time in his office at NATO. It's obviously important to him. So important he likes to keep a likeness nearby."
Marty hurried to his bed and grabbed his laptop. "Let's see if I can find it, and find if Emile was right about le general's financial health."
Randi looked at Peter. "What was the meeting aboard the De Gaulle about? That could also tell us a lot."
"Should find out, don't you think?" Peter said, heading to the door. "Would you be so kind, Randi, as to brace Langley for anything new? And, Jon, why don't you do likewise with your people?"
As Marty logged onto the Internet using the room's only line, the three rushed out to find telephones.
In Dr. Cameron's office, Jon dialed Fred Klein's secure scrambled line.
"You've found Emile Chambord and his damnable machine?" Klein asked without preamble.
"I wish. Tell me more about Captain Darius Bonnard and General La Porte. What exactly is the nature of their relationship?"
"It's long. Ongoing. Just as I described."
"Is there any indication that Captain Bonnard may have co-opted General La Porte? That Bonnard may be the power behind the general?"
Klein paused, thinking about the question. "The general saved Bonnard's life in Desert Storm when Bonnard was still whatever they call a top sergeant. Bonnard owes the general everything. I told you that before."
"What haven't you told me about them?"
There was a thoughtful pause, and Klein added details.
As Jon listened, the situation began to make more sense. Finally Klein finished.
"What's going on, Jon? Dammit, time's closing in on us. I can feel it like a noose. What's this sudden interest in Bonnard's connection to General La Porte? Have you found out something I don't know? Are you planning something? I hope to hell you are."
Smith told him about the second prototype.
"What! A second molecular computer?" Klein raged. "Why didn't you kill Chambord when you had the chance?"
The tension was getting to Jon, too. He snapped back, "Dammit, no one guessed about a second prototype. I figured I could save Chambord so he could go on working for the good of everyone. I made a judgment call, and with what we knew, I thought it was the right one. I had no idea it was all a charade to keep us from knowing Chambord was running the show, and neither did you."
Klein calmed down. "All right, what's done is done. Now we've got to get that second DNA machine. If you have an idea where it is and have a plan, I want to know."
"I don't have a plan, and I don't know where exactly the damn thing is except that it's in France somewhere. If there's a strike, it's going to be soon. Warn the president. Believe me, I'll be in touch the instant I have something concrete."
Jon broke the connection and sprinted back to Marty's room.
In the office of the hospital's accountant, Peter was exasperated as he tried to maintain his grip on his stilted German. "General Bittrich, you do not understand! This is"
"I understand that MI6 wants information I don't have, Herr Howell."
"General, I know you were at the meeting on the De Gaulle. I also know that one of our generals who died a few days ago, Sir Arnold Moore, was with you. What you may not know is his death was no accident. Someone meant to kill him. And now I believe that the same person means to use a DNA computer to render the U.S. defenseless and then attack. It's urgent you tell me what General La Porte's secret meeting was about."
There was silence. "So Moore was murdered?"
"A bomb. He was on his way to fill in our PM about something vital he learned at the meeting. That's what we need to hear from you. What did General Moore learn? What was so devastating that his jet was bombed to stop him from relaying it?"
"You're certain of the bomb?"
"Yes. We have the jet's fuselage. It has been tested. There is no doubt."
There was a long, anxious pause.
At last, Otto Bittrich said, "Very well." He spoke carefully, making certain each word carried the proper weight. "The French general, La Porte, wants a totally integrated European army independent of, and at least equal to, America's. NATO's inadequate for his purposes. So is the EU's small rapid deployment force. Me envisions a truly United Europe Europa. A continental world power to eventually