I am afraid that delay translated into too much lost profit and lost acclaim for my father to bear. For this reason, he had Secretary Evans removed from office. As you know, I tried to warn the president about my father’s wrongdoings without having to betray the man I love. Secretary Evans was right—the corn needs to be tested further, even though my father insists that intensive human use of our corn, and products derived from our corn, has already disclosed no adverse health effects. But my father is wrong, and Dr. Lou Welcome is right. This corn is not safe.

There is a train being loaded with our GMO corn for shipment by air and sea to cargo planes and tankers bound for China. I believe there are other trains being readied as well. I am sorry now that I did not do more to stop these shipments.

Please understand, that I did what I thought was best. But now it is up to you and President Mallory to do what is right. I am sorry I will not be there to help you.

Sincerely, Edwin Chester.

“My God,” Darlene whispered, dabbing at her tears. “The poor man.” She then extracted another piece of paper from inside the envelope.

“What’s that?” Kim asked.

“It’s the copy of the train manifest,” Darlene said. “The train carrying the corn shipment.” She folded the letter and manifest, then slipped them back inside the envelope.

“What now?” Kim asked.

“Now I call Victor.”

“Victor? Why not Martin?”

“If I’m going to speak to Martin again, I want Lou beside me, and Victor is going to help me with that. I told you that during our fight, I knew Martin was lying to me about something. Now, thanks to this letter, I know exactly what lie he was telling.”

Chapter 49

CHAPTER 49

“You’re not making any sense,” Renee said, handing Lou a cup of the Darjeeling tea that was his favorite. “You’ve got to slow down and catch your breath. Can you get into the shower?”

She had cleaned off some of the filth and the worst of his scrapes and cuts, but a glance at himself in the mirror was still frightening. The gunshot wound to his leg burned, but he could tell no serious damage had been done. He took a long sip of tea. Gradually, his hands stopped shaking.

He was in the living room of Renee and Steve’s comfortable four-bedroom colonial in Arlington. Emily was in her upstairs room, ushered there by Renee, but only after Lou assured the girl he was okay and got her filthy with a prolonged bear hug. Lou suspected she was near the stairway, eavesdropping on their conversation, but neither parent had the time nor inclination to prevent it.

Renee … Emily … Steve … all of them had to leave town—and tonight.