Broken Trust (11 page)

fifteen

Even though Christmas was
a few months away, they resembled a human candy cane standing in the hallway outside the conference room. Mark’s bright red face contrasted with Nora’s pasty complexion.

Sylvia expected to see Nora Abbott in a business suit, not a peasant skirt and cowboy boots. Such an interesting choice to wear something so earthy to the board meeting. Nora had that annoy
ingly fresh and healthy appearance. Her copper hair bounced
around a face alive with interest and blue eyes that seemed ready to smile. That easy beauty and confidence annoyed Sylvia
,
who’d had to fight for every ounce of her own sophistication.

Someone should tell Mark to tuck his shirt in. Actually, someone should tell Mark to quit dressing like a Mormon boy on mission.

Mark sputtered in Nora’s face. Another cris
i
s he obviously couldn’t handle. Sylvia would talk him down from this one, as usual. She sighed and considered the diamond
-
encrusted watch on her slender wrist. She’d hoped to get to the board meeting early enough to schmooze them over lunch.

Damn Eduardo. She shouldn’t have to do any of this.

She approached Mark and Nora. “What is the problem here?” Her voice sounded like cool spring water.

Mark jumped as if swatted from behind. He verged on tears. “She told the board your project is over budget. That all of the Trust is running in the red.”

Damn!

Sylvia smiled warmly. “I wasn’t aware of any overages. But the board understands the importance of the work. It’ll be all right.”

“All right?” His voice raised two octaves. “She ruined everything.”

Despite her bloodless appearance, Nora managed dignity and calm amid Mark’s breakdown.

Sylvia forced herself to touch Mark’s shoulder, knowing contact with her would soothe him. “Stay calm. I’ll take care of this. Etta is a dear friend, and Bryson Bradshaw and I attended a world environmental conference together last year. Over lunch I’ll explain the situation and why it’s taking time. They’ll approve the increased budget.”

Mark shook his head as sweat rained from his temple toward his pudgy chin. “They’re taking a working lunch.” He pointed to the closed conference room doors. “The caterers just delivered their food and we aren’t allowed in. Even to eat.”

Why was everything going against her? “I’m on the agenda right after lunch. I’ll work my magic and we’ll be running smoothly again. Please don’t worry.”

“I’m sorry, Sylvia,” Mark said, his voice cracking slightly. “I thought she’d be good. At least grateful for a job in this economy. I didn’t know she’d turn on us. But she’s gone. I swear. I fired her.”

Still, Nora didn’t say a word. She could pass for a marble statue, all chalky and cold.

Sylvia displayed the exact amount of disappointment and sympathy in her beatific smile. If she weren’t such a brilliant scientist, she could have been another Julia Roberts because inside, she flared with anger. “Let’s not overreact Mark. She’s new and hasn’t learned how to manage the board.” Sylvia addressed Nora. “They don’t want to be alarmed with hiccups in cash flow. They’re busy and important. Your job is to ease their minds. Unless, of course, there is real cause for concern
—but
there isn’t, so you see, you’ve worried them needlessly.”

Nora opened her mouth but Mark rushed ahead. “I told her that. I told Nora we’re getting a donation next week that will right everything.”

Sylvia nodded. “See? It’s all okay. I’ll make it good with the board.”

“She’s still fired.” Mark set his moist lips in a pout.

“You
a
re the
E
xecutive
D
irector. Do what you think is right.”

The door of the conference room swung open. Daniel Cubrero leaned out. What a perfect specimen of male sexuality. “We’re ready for the next agenda item. Has Sylvia
LaFever
arrived?”

Mark swallowed, obviously grappling for control.

Glad she opted for the
four-and-a-half
inch heels and the shorter skirt, Sylvia imagined the glow of her skin and her inviting full lips. She stepped forward and extended her hand as if she didn’t know Daniel as intimately as she did. “How good to see you again, Daniel.”

He wrapped his hand around hers with his long, tapered fingers. “Ah, Sylvia. I did not see you there.”

A shiver of anticipation ran through Sylvia. Sometimes the old cliché about men’s fingers held true. At least in Daniel’s case it did. She had no qualms about mixing business and pleasure.

Later, though. Now it was show time.

As Sylvia strode into the room, taking command of the situation, Daniel said, “Mark, please join us. You too, Nora.”

How annoying. Really though, what did it matter to Sylvia who sat in the meeting? As usual, she would have them begging to do her bidding. She sat opposite Etta. Amid the scattered detritus of lunch, Sylvia would shimmer like a diamond. She smiled at Etta. “How are you, dear?”

“Thanks for joining us. Can you give us a brief update?”
Etta must be ignoring their friendship in an effort to be professional
.

Nora sat to the side of the room in one of a dozen chairs along the wall. Mark plopped next to Etta.

“Most of you are familiar with my research but I’ll brush over the basics to remind you.” Ordinary people needed a refresher on this complicated science. “HAARP stands for High-frequency Active Auroral Ionospheric Research Program. This is the government’s program located in Alaska that includes dozens of aluminum dipole antennae towers that send out high
-frequency signals.”

The board members stared like drugged bunnies.

Sylvia chuckled. “It’s technically difficult to discuss with non-scientists.”

Again, Etta must be struggling to mask her affection for Sylvia and said with a straight face, “You’re no longer with HAARP
,
so we don’t need to know this.”

You
old bag
. “I developed much of the HAARP technology and am using the principles in my modeling work here at the Trust.”

Etta frowned. “We’d appreciate it if you could be brief.”

“Of course.” Sylvia nodded in Daniel’s direction, letting her eyes connect in a subtle, seductive signal. “Before I left HAARP, I worked on developing a tower that uses ELF, extremely
-
low
-
frequency, waves and I’ve taken the technology further to create a single tower that sends concentrated beams of particles into the atmosphere.”

Etta frowned at her, probably because she was too dull-witted to understand.

Sylvia tried to dummy it down. “The key Tesla discovery was that the
E
arth reverberates with a pulsing electrical current in the ELF range. I discovered the exact frequency at which the
E
arth normally pulsates. Of course, HAARP takes credit for that breakthrough.”

Bryson Bradshaw interrupted. “Isn’t what you’re talking about
—
the ELF waves and ionosphere and all that—isn’t that linked with weapons of mass destruction?”

Sylvia shrugged. “HAARP is a government program. It’s not inconceivable
that
a classified study works on weaponry.”

Marion Dempsey gasped. “You’re not working on weapons, are you?”

“Of course not. The tower I’ve installed is for climate study only.”

Bryson Bradshaw leaned forward. “How does that work?”

“Extremely
-
low
-
frequency waves are much shorter than short waves.” She paused to let them digest that. “ELF waves are focused into the ionosphere to a specific location, creating a bulge in the atmosphere. The waves are then bounced back and can be sent beyond the horizon.”

She surveyed the board, her kingdom of the moment. They appeared dull-eyed, probably struggling to absorb the simplistic explanation of a concept far more complicated than their normal minds could grasp.

Etta waved to indicate Sylvia should continue. “You’re using those waves to gather data for climate
-
change modeling. You’ve told us this already.”

Although Sylvia enjoyed imparting some of her vast knowledge to the uneducated, they didn’t want to learn. “Exactly. We know that warming temperatures have allowed the pine beetle an extra breeding cycle each year
,
but what we don’t know is how their destructive habits might be affecting the climate and perhaps exacerbating temperature increases. By using ELF waves in the ionosphere I’ll be able to chart that and create models predicting future trends.”

Silence fell on the room. Once again, Sylvia had wowed them with her brilliance. Most of the board studied their papers or stared at Etta.

Etta cleared her throat. “Your progress report is nearly verbatim from our last meeting four months ago. Is it that you didn’t take the time to write a new report or has there been no progress?”

Progress? She’d solved a particularly difficult question regarding wave intensity and direction. She’d pinpointed several possible locations for targeting the waves to achieve Eduardo’s goal. She’d researched long
-
term weather patterns and was far into a computer modeling program the likes of which the world had never seen. But none of it had a thing to do with the mountain pine beetle. “Much of my time in the last months was spent struggling with insufficient software. Too much of the data needs manual input and my assistant, Petal, and I can only work so many hours. As you can see, I’ve added upgrades into my budget for next year.”

Again, silence. A few members shuffled papers, perhaps considering the budget. Then Etta spoke, “You’re proposing an increase of four hundred thousand dollars.”

Sylvia eyed Daniel. A mere pittance for his family, especially when she delivered on her promise. “That’s correct. I realize this is a nonprofit organization run with donations and I’m operating on a shoestring.”

“I see,” Etta said.

Alberta raised her finger. “I have a question. I’ve heard that with HAARP technology it will be possible to alter the weather. Is that true?”

Etta interrupted. “Sylvia isn’t working on HAARP.”

“But I want to make sure her tower can’t do any damage to the mountains,” Alberta said.

Finally, they were moving away from money. But the direction wasn’t much better. Sylvia laughed. “Conspiracy alarmists are out there cruising the Internet for anything to feed their paranoid minds. HAARP is located in the Alaskan wilderness because it is an auroral region
,
but they see it as ‘hidden’ and shrouded in secrecy. The technology is difficult to understand and therefore, scary. Ronald Re
a
gan funded it as part of his Star Wars defense and suddenly nefarious intent is suspected.”

Face cold as stone, Alberta said, “So, can it alter weather?”

Who was Alberta to ask for a follow
-
up when Sylvia had given her all she needed to know? “The HAARP facility will not affect the weather. Transmitted energy in the frequency ranges used by HAARP is not absorbed in either the troposphere or the stratosphere
—
the two levels of the atmosphere that produce
E
arth’s weather. No association between natural ionospheric variability and surface weather has been found, even at the extraordinarily high levels of ionospheric turbulence that the sun can produce. If the ionospheric storms caused by the sun don’t affect the surface weather, there is no chance that HAARP can do so either.”

There,
you
simpleton
s
.

Etta didn’t have anything to say,
so
she must acknowledge Sylvia’s superiority. “Okay.”

Still Alberta wouldn’t quit. She shuffled papers. “I found this quote from a Russian journalist about HAARP.” She read from the paper. “
‘
Ionospheric testing can trigger a cascade of electrons that could flip the Earth’s magnetic poles.
’
”

Sylvia laughed. “Preposterous. This is what I mean by crazy theories.”

Etta bowed her head briefly toward Alberta to politely end the tangent. She didn’t give Sylvia the same respectful expression. “We understand that despite your efforts at economy, you’re way over budget.”

Sylvia avoided Nora. “The financials might technically show a deficit. But there is obviously a mistake. Our new
F
inance
D
irector is top-notch but she only joined the Trust yesterday. Darla had a great deal more insight.”

Etta stiffened as if bracing to eat a plate of worms. “We started funding your research three years ago with high hopes for achieving important and lasting environmental restoration. We’re not a large organization and can’t afford this kind of fiscal drain. This”
—
Etta picked up a packet of stapled pages that must be Nora’s financial reports
—
“
d
rives the nails in the coffin.”

I’ll pound some nails in a coffin and it won’t belong to my project
. The Chihuly chandelier retreated from her grasp. She wouldn’t let that happen, even if this two-bit board pulled her funding.

“We’re asking you to wrap up your research and do a final report by the end of the year.”

Sylvia had the power to smile like a queen. She inclined her head in grace.