System Corruption. Don Pendleton

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СКАЧАТЬ Colonel,” Bolan said.

      “No rank here. Just old friends.” The voice faltered a little as he smiled sadly at Brognola. Then Nelson sharpened his tone. “They killed him. He was murdered, Hal. I know it.” Nelson paused, checking Bolan’s expression. “No questions?”

      “I never doubted your word in the past. No reason to start now. What happened?” Brognola asked.

      “Francis was investigating some kind of fraud that originated from the Ordstrom Tactical Group. You’ve heard of it?”

      “Big corporation, heavily into military ordnance. Jacob Ordstrom is the president. Word is he has the ear of the main people in politics and the military,” the big Fed replied.

      “OTG manufactures everything from flak jackets up to armored vehicles. Ordstrom is a heavy hitter. His eye is fixed on the dollar signs in every contract he gains. Met him once, years ago, and I didn’t like him then. Something about the man that made my skin crawl.”

      “You always were a good judge of character, Dane,” Brognola said.

      Nelson’s brief smile had a bitter twist.

      They moved across the carefully tended lawns. Nelson seemed lost in his own thoughts. Bolan and Brognola allowed him his silence until Nelson was ready to speak.

      “A few weeks ago Francis was contacted by a friend. Cal Ryan. They had known each other for a number of years. Ryan is a respected journalist. An astute reporter. A smart man. After Francis spoke to Ryan he called me, said we needed to meet. When we did he told me Ryan had discovered anomalies within OTG design specifications. Test results had been doctored and ordnance put into production. Ryan made the first discoveries and began to look deeper. There were similar flaws in other items. When he checked them out he realized that OTG was falsifying test results and putting these specs into production. It appeared that by doing this OTG was saving millions on production and development costs, enabling them to complete contracts well ahead of time.”

      “Wasn’t Ordstrom already making enough money?” Brognola asked.

      “Ryan told Francis that OTG had gone through a lean patch. Ordstrom needed to keep his cash flow going, so the shortcuts were activated. Ryan made more discreet investigations and found the company was maintaining the deception even after their finances evened out.”

      “Ordstrom got a taste for it,” Bolan said.

      “Ryan said the man has a lot of palms to grease. Officials in the government’s procurement departments. With all the military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan the need for equipment is ongoing and vast.”

      “And the guys on the front line get issued with low-standard equipment,” Bolan said.

      Nelson nodded. “That’s the bottom line. It’s more, really. Ordstrom has connections with government, contractors. He’s done some deals for the CIA. Worked with some suspect regimes. Ryan tapped in to sources that hinted at Ordstrom’s covert dealing with illegal backdoor dealing.”

      “So how did Francis take it when he heard about the substandard equipment? I’d guess he was pretty upset,” Brognola said.

      “You knew his feelings for the military. He had a great relationship with the men he had commanded.”

      “Just like his father, if I recall.”

      “Francis wanted to blow the lid off the whole thing. He was ready to go rip Ordstrom’s throat out. He took a great deal of convincing to take it carefully. Even Ryan made him promise to back off until he gathered enough material evidence.”

      “I see a big but coming.”

      “It all blew out later. Apparently Ryan had mentioned to Francis that he had discovered some army personnel who were involved. They were part of a test unit that had been signing off on the faulty equipment. No way they would have missed the substandard quality.”

      “Ryan must have been working overtime on this,” Brognola said.

      “I said he was smart, Hal. He was angry, too. At the way American lives were at risk because of what Ordstrom’s company is doing. He was digging. Searching into everything he could. Gathering evidence.”

      “And Francis?”

      “I believe that when he learned the names of the military personnel involved he couldn’t stand back any longer. He was on leave from the army after his recent hitch in Iraq. As far as I knew he’d gone off on a vacation. I didn’t find out until later that he went to this base and did some snooping on his own. He told me when he came back. Hal, he must have tipped his hand. Three days later he was dead. Shot in the back. The police told me he was the victim of an attempted carjacking gone wrong. They said he had strayed into a bad part of town. That was crap. Francis would have no reason to do a thing like that. He knew Washington like his own backyard. And he was a combat vet. Not a damn raw recruit.” Nelson shook his head in disbelief at his own words.

      “I pulled a favor with an old cop friend and he did some checking. The bullet they took out of Francis was military issue. Fifty caliber. Browning machine gun cartridge. The type they use in the M-107 sniper rifle. Since when do street gangs get their hands on that kind of specialist weapon?”

      “You believe the people he’d been checking out got scared and arranged to have him stopped?” Brognola asked.

      “It was all too convenient. Directly after Francis was killed I received a call from Ryan. He said he was sure OTG was on to him. He’d heard about Francis and blamed himself for getting him involved. I set him straight on that. Francis wouldn’t have ignored what was going on. He went in knowing the risk. The same as going into combat. It was part of his job. Ryan told me he was going to pull back—gather all his evidence before he did anything final. His last words were that he would be at the funeral. I might not see him, but he would be there. I did spot him for an instant during the ceremony. Well away from the main group. I knew he’d come.”

      “Public opinion is pretty well divided over our involvement in the Middle East and Afghanistan,” Brognola said. “It would make a big noise if it came out our soldiers were deliberately being sent into combat with faulty equipment.”

      “They already are, Hal. Francis must have pinned it down and paid the price. Maybe not in the field, but he was involved.”

      Nelson lowered his eyes for a moment. “Hal, I didn’t know who else to speak to.”

      “Hey, you know I’ll help. Leave this with me. You stay low. We need to talk, call me on this cell number.” He recited the number. “Don’t use your home phone or your office. Always find a pay phone,” the big Fed warned him.

      They reached Nelson’s official car. A uniformed man sat behind the wheel.

      “Chauffer driven now?” Brognola said.

      “Goes with the desk at the Pentagon,” Nelson replied. He held out a hand.

      Brognola gripped it. “Dane, you know how I felt about Francis. There’s no way this is going to be ignored.”

      “Thanks,” he said and held out his hand to Bolan.

      “Cooper, Colonel Nelson. Matt Cooper. I’ll be in touch about that matter.” Bolan raised СКАЧАТЬ