White Space Season 2

it,” Warren said.
    “That is not the answer I was hoping to hear, Mr. Conway. You’ve had a month to work this. I expect better.”
    “I’m sorry,” Warren said, trying to keep his voice strong, even though Father only called him Mr. Conway when curbing his temper. “But right now, that’s the only answer we have.”
    Blake turned to Kaiser, “Is it possible we have a leak?”
    “No, sir. Our Watchers keep close tabs on everyone in the program, and Watchers are themselves monitored by our computers. Everyone involved has their every movement — at home, work, and away, tracked and catalogued. We’ve reviewed our archives to the minute, and would know if there had been a breach. My thought is that somehow Heller began piecing things together on his own. As you can see from many of these documents, he was wildly off base on several things. Frankly, sir, his files look like the ravings of a lunatic. I can’t even be sure he knew anything about the Project Phoenix, specifically, other than who was in it.”
    “So,” Blake said, “he just snapped?”
    Warren interjected, “Like I said, it’s too early to tell what happened, but this has nothing to do with Raven.”
    “The whole idea of Project Raven is to control people, correct?” Blake said. “What am I to make of the program when one of its subjects shoots up a classroom? It would seem that your project is a bit of a failure, if you can’t even keep people from going on a massacre.”
    “No, sir. Raven is not a failure. This was an anomaly. You don’t shut down a project this large based on a single mishap. That would be … disastrous.”
    Blake sighed, “I don’t have to tell you that the folks at DARPA aren’t happy. They’re getting cold feet, threatening to pull the plug if we can’t deliver what we promised to the DOD. I need to know that we’re still on timeline. Failure to deliver what we committed to calls all of our work into question, Mr. Conway. I will not allow your program to jeopardize Project Phoenix.”
    “No, sir, it won’t,” Warren said. Father had been wanting to close the project for a while, and was actively seeking a reason. This heat was as good an excuse as any the senior Conway could have asked for. “We’ve come too far. Just give us another month to activate the next phase.”
    Blake closed his eyes, leaned back, and appeared to summon some inner restraint to keep himself from ripping into Warren and shredding him to nothing in front of the circle. “One month, but you clean your mess. Otherwise, your little experiment is shuttered.”
    The way he said “experiment,” made it seem like some childish project of no importance. No, it wasn’t lifesaving or even life altering, but it stood to make Conway Industries trillions of dollars and could singlehandedly change the face of war, and perhaps, even prevent the world from slipping closer to nuclear annihilation.
    “What do you mean, clean up my mess?” Warren asked, purposely putting his father on the spot to clarify his directive.
    “Mrs. Heller saw the flash drive, correct? As did Mr. Houser?”
    “We don’t know that either of them saw the contents. And even if they did, what are they going to do? We have it. And we have Houser under control. Do you want us to get Mrs. Heller and her son under control as well?”
    “Firstly, if Roger Heller is an example of Raven’s effectiveness, I’d be careful suggesting you have anyone in control. Secondly, Mrs. Heller is leaving the island soon. We have no time for the slow approach.”
    Warren swallowed the knot in his throat. “So, what do you want done with the Heller family?”
    Blake was clearly exasperated by the question. “I’m sure you and Kaiser will think of something.”
    “Yes, sir,” Warren said, feeling like a neutered dog.
    He wasn’t sure, and didn’t dare look up, but Warren could swear he felt Kaiser smiling.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 2 — Jon Conway

    “Come in, come in!” Jon said, extending his hand in a broad sweep to show off the house as Cassidy and Emma stepped inside.
    “Thank you for watching her tonight,” Cassidy said as she stepped over the threshold.
    “Thanks for letting me,” Jon smiled.
    This was the first night he would be watching his daughter solo. While the girls had both stayed in his hotel rooms a few times, Emma had never stayed with Jon alone while Cassidy was at work.
    “Wow, it’s beautiful!” Emma squealed, sprinting past Jon and toward the stairs,