Page 42 of Safe Enough

“Where we are right now,” I said.

“Which is what?”

“The project,” I said.

“State its name, for the record.”

“The Development of Materials Group.”

“Its new name.”

“Are we even allowed to say it?”

“Relax, Jackson, will you?” Slaughter said. “You’re among friends. You’re not under oath. You don’t have to sign anything. All we want is an oral history.”

“Why?”

“We won’t be flavor of the month forever. Sooner or later they’ll turn on us.”

“Why would they?”

Vanderbilt said, “Because we’re going to win this thing for them. And they don’t like to share the spotlight.”

“I see,” I said.

“So we better have our own version ready.”

Slaughter said, “State the name of the project.”

I said, “The Manhattan Project.”

“Your duties?”

“Security.”

“Successful?”

“So far.”

“What did Mr. Hopper ask you to do?”

“He didn’t, at first,” I said. “It started out routine. They needed another facility built. In Tennessee. A lot of concrete. A lot of specialist engineering. The budget was two hundred million dollars. They needed a man in charge. My job was to run the vetting process.”

“Tell us what that involves.”

“We look for embarrassing things in their personal lives and suspicious things in their politics.”

“Why?”

“We don’t want them to be blackmailed for secrets, and we sure as hell don’t want them to give secrets away for free.”

“Who were you investigating on this occasion?”

“A man named Sherman Bryon. He was a structural engineer. An old guy, but he could still get things done. The idea was to make him a colonel in the army and put him to work. If he came up clean.”

“And did he?”

“At first he was fine. I got a look at him, at a meeting about something else entirely. Concrete ships, as a matter of fact. I like to get a look at a guy first. From a distance, when he doesn’t know. Tall guy, well dressed, silver hair, silver mustache. Old, but erect. Probably very well spoken. That kind of guy. Patrician, they call it. There was nothing on paper. He voted against FDR all three times, but we like that, officially. No leftist sympathies. Considered to be a seal of approval. No financial worries. No professional scandals. None of his structures ever fell down.”

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