Breaking Point by Dana Haynes Read Free Book Online

“Those ideas are revolutionary. I’ve never … I mean, I’ve worked in this field my whole adult life. I’ve never seen designs like that.”
    Andrew had just smiled the Andrew smile, the one that served as a siege wall; the one nobody got through. Renee might not have been sleeping with him on a regular basis, but she was his wife. She could tell that he was in.
    Malatesta, Inc., signed a contract worth $128 million with the mighty Halcyon/Detweiler, Inc., and nobody in the outside world knew about it. The contract was backed by the Pentagon and was classified. Renee arranged for new headquarters, purchased the land not far from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Bethesda, near Potomac Palisades Park. The crew broke ground at the end of summer. A month later, Andrew rented a condo two blocks from their old headquarters and moved most of his clothes there. He and Renee never talked about it, as such. They never went to a marriage counselor and they never spoke of divorce.
    *   *   *
    One of the worst days of her life came on a Tuesday in July, when Barry Tichnor met the Malatestas at a bar in Glen Echo. Andrew ordered a glass of Evian for himself and a straight Barbancourt Haitian rum for her, without asking. It was her favorite. Barry had a glass of cheap, lethargic Chablis.
    â€œI’ve been monitoring Bruges,” Barry began, removing his glasses to clean them, only to realize that he just had.
    Andrew wore a frayed sweater and jeans, his black hair tousled. Renee wore Chanel and wore it well. Andrew said, “The city in Belgium?”
    â€œThe weapons summit,” Barry said, blinking in surprise. “You don’t know about this?”
    Andrew just shrugged.
    â€œAn international weapons summit is being held there. They, ah, have been discussing a ban on research and development of devices such as yours.”
    Renee drained the rum in a gulp, did not feel the burn going down.
    Barry said, “It’s by far your most promising endeavor. We might have to … ah, add a level of security to your work, Andrew. Keep it on the hush-hush for a while.”
    Andrew smiled his Andrew smile and said, “No.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    He turned to his wife, not to Barry Tichnor. “We’ve seen this coming for months. The device is too dangerous, too destabilizing. If I had a vote in the Bruges Accord, I’d vote to ban it, too.”
    â€œHoney, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she counseled. “Barry’s not saying they have been banned, only that there are talks under way. We don’t—”
    â€œWe’ve talked about it. Me and the others.” The others being the rest of the Starting Five, his longtime engineering partners: Terri Loew, Antal Borsa, Vejay Mehta, and Christian Dean. Andrew was the fifth. “The whole direction we’re going. The device. It’s destabilizing. No, Barry, I’d have brought this up if you hadn’t mentioned it first. It’s a game-changer. It’s too much.”
    He’d stood and peeled a twenty-dollar bill, left it on the table and walked out.
    â€œThat did not,” Barry Tichnor said, adjusting his untouched glass of Chablis, “go as well as I’d hoped.”
    â€œThis isn’t over,” Renee told him. “Not by a long shot.”

6
    THREE DAYS EARLIER
    Early Monday morning, Renee Malatesta came back home to the States and took a cab directly home. She walked in to find Andrew baking.
    Andrew enjoyed the precision of baking, and he was good at it. He just hadn’t done much of it, in their home, for a long time.
    Renee kicked off her heels, studied the ingredients. Andrew wore a chest-to-knee apron and efficiently whisked batter in the largest of their clear glass nesting bowls. “What are you making?”
    He turned and smiled his Andrew smile. The state-of-the-art coffeepot burbled by the wooden chopping