* * * * *
Scott Mason called Tyrone Duncan immediately.
"I know," said Tyrone, sounding out of breath. "We're on it.
Pierre's getting additional protection. It turns out that Mr.
Homosoto isn't as pure as the driven snow like he pretends to
be."
"How do you mean?" Scott asked.
"Off the record."
"Background." The negotiation on press terms was complete.
"All right, but be careful. It seems that since the 1940's Mr. Homosoto has been performing some very lucrative services for our friends at the Pentagon. He has some influential friends in Congress and uses an assortment of lobbying firms to promote his interests."
"What's so unusual about that?" Asked Scott.
"Nothing, until you see that certain Congressmen got very wealthy when OSO Industries built plants in their districts. Heavy PAC contributions, blind distribution of small contributing funds. It also appears that he regularly entertained high Pentagon offi- cials in the finest fashion. Paris, Tokyo, Rio, Macao. Influ- ence pedaling and bribery. We have traced a path from Tokyo to the Pentagon that has resulted in OSO subsidiaries receiving large non-classified government contracts. Take dGraph for example. That's a de facto standard for all agencies."
"I never thought about that. Everyone in the government uses
it."