Page 62 of Code 6

They continued down the path, toward a stand of towering sycamore trees as old as the republic. It was possible that one or two leaves had taken on a hint more fall color overnight, but it was not enough to counter the sense of déjà vu. Kate picked up where they’d left off the day before.

“I’m sure it would get me nowhere to ask what the U.S. attorney sees as the connection between Justice Roberts’ opinion and Project Naïveté.”

“A total nonstarter,” said Noah.

A squirrel scurried across the path in front of them. Another chased after it, screeching, as if the faster one were making off with the last nut in the forest. Noah kept talking.

“Let me guess what you did after we spoke yesterday. You got yourself a Mesco Blend—one Splenda, a little cream—sat down with your pink highlighter, and started reading.”

Kate didn’t see the need to bring in Sean and her meeting with Irving Bass. “Pretty close. But I haven’t used pink since I was an undergraduate.”

“Somewhere around the penultimate page of the opinion, you startedcursing me again for killing trees, thinking this has absolutely nothing to do with Buck Technologies. There’s an interesting historical triangle involving your play, the opinion, and the first use of technology by the Census Bureau. But not a damn thing to do with your father’s company.”

Kate didn’t answer, still choosing to leave Sean out of it.

“Then you got to the last page,” said Noah, “and Justice Roberts’ turn of a phrase.”

“Justice Roberts was actually quoting forty-year-old language from Judge Friendly, who, by the way, has one of my favorite names ever for a judge, second only to Justice Story.”

“Let’s keep our eye on the ball here, all right?”

“Sorry,” said Kate.

He was smiling, but it faded. “Then you went to see you father.”

“You get zero points for that guess. Of course I went to him.”

“And he told you there’s nothing illegal about mining and collecting data on citizenship.”

He knew her father well—perhaps even better than she’d thought. “I’m not going to tell you what my father said.”

“No need. The truth is, Kate, the government already has ways to collect citizenship data. Much better ways than a census.”

She held firm on her position, offering him nothing her father had told her about the efficacy of existing data.

“But let me cut to the quick of it,” said Noah. “Do you think Patrick Battle went missing over the collection of citizenship data?”

She stopped. “I wasn’t aware he went missingover anything.All I know is that he’s missing.”

“Forget I said that.”

“Forget, hell. Patrick is like a little brother to me. You can’t make a statement like that and expect me to skip over it. Are you saying he ran away? Or are you saying somebody”—she swallowed hard, not even wanting to think it, let alone say it—“that somebody made him disappear?”

“I’m not saying either of those things. Not yet. But here’s the way I see it. The problem for guys like Patrick is that this project has morphed into something very different since the company named it Project Naïveté.”

“Why is that a problem for Patrick? Why is that a problem foranyone? Some of the best inventions in the world are the result of scrapping the original concept and going back to square one.”

“Kate, you’re asking me questions I can’t answer. The bottom line is that it’s really important that I talk to someone knowledgeable about Project Naïveté.”

“I wasn’t lying to you yesterday,” she said. “If you’re looking for information about Project Naïveté, I’m not your source.”

“I know you’re not. Patrick Battle is. That’s why he was so high on my list of people I wanted to interview.”

“I have no idea where Patrick is, if that’s what you’re asking me. None.”

“My question is a little different: If you were in my shoes and couldn’t talk to Patrick, who would you talk to?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.”

---