Page 121 of False Flag

His asthma inhaler might even still be in his apartment.

Gerard promised the interview would be short. With Casper’s segment being cut, he just needed a smooth ending for the discussion. A week ago, right before Casper joined them, Gerard had asserted that “Paleoethnobotanists are colluding with archaeologists to cover up the truth.”

Without an actual documented sample and legitimate, verifiable lab tests, Casper’s claim that he had evidence of an ancient biotoxin had no place in the documentary. Still, Gerard wanted to keep the biotoxin in the discussion.

Of course he did. Why go to the trouble of creating it if not to use it to undermine tribal treaty rights? And she knew that was exactly where his argument was headed.

Now they faced each other on opposing couches again and picked up where they’d left off. Gerard opened the discussion as agreed. “I need to follow up on something I said a week ago, when we began this conversation.”

“You’re referring to your assertion that paleoethnobotanists are colluding with archaeologists to cover up what you call the truth.”

“Yes.”

“And what truth would that be?”

“That ten thousand years ago, there was a settlement here, in the Pacific Northwest, unrelated to modern First Nations or Indigenous Americans, who were a fully agricultural society.”

“And you think paleoethnobotanists—” She turned to speak directly into the camera. “Paleoethnobotany is the collection and analysis of ancient plant remains from archaeological sites. In Europe, they prefer to use the term archaeobotany to emphasize the connection to archaeology, while in North America, paleoethnobotany stresses the contribution ethnographic studies have made to our understanding of how prehistoric cultures used plants.” She again faced Gerard. “You believe these scientists are colluding with archaeologists to hide what would be a huge and exciting find for archaeologists and paleoethnobotanists alike?”

Gerard gave his Cheshire cat grin. “You’ve made my point for me very well with that. The North American model prioritizes modern Indigenous cultural feedback on how they use plants. But my argument is that the people who lived here ten thousand years ago aren’t related to modern Indigenous North Americans.”

He was good, coming up with that on the fly as he had. He couldn’t have known she’d define the terms. She doubted he’d even known the different names for that kind of scientific analysis. Still, his words didn’t faze her. “That’s not what you meant by collusion. You said archaeologists are hiding the truth, not that the type of study is biased. What’s your evidence for collusion?”

“At present, I have none that is verifiable.”

“So your plan is just to repeat the accusation, as you do with all your claims about Big Archaeology, and hope that if you say it often enough, your followers will believe it?”

“No. I meant I don’t have evidence I can share because it hasn’t been verified.”

“If you want me to continue working on this project, I need to insist you make no unverifiable claims. Claims like this have led to physical attacks on archaeologists.”

Again, he smiled. He thought he had her cornered. That he would reveal Drew Bishop was dead and Drew had called their assault a false flag. Gerard believed she still didn’t know about Drew’s death.

Of course he did. He’d taken her phone when she was in the water. She never had a chance to read the message from Freya or Vicki or, even, possibly, Jake.

“Well, you see, that brings us to another subject my viewers are eager to hear from you about.”

“You mean the deepfake video of my friend Drew Bishop?”

Gerard’s brow rose, just the tiniest sign she’d caught him off guard. Once again, he was nimble with his reply. “I assure you, it’s not a deepfake.”

“How could you possibly assure me? Were you in the room when he recorded it?”

“No. I ran the video through the latest technology to look for markers.”

“You know the easily accessible technology in that area is highly suspect. It was made to ensure deepfake videos go undetected. It’s part of the disinformation agenda.”

“I have access to technology not available to the general public.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t actually make it more accurate, does it? Not when it’s made by the same people who want deepfakes to be accepted as facts. I have nothing to fear from that fake video, but I am horrified by it. By what someone did to my friend. We were attacked by Archaeological Truthers. We both almost died. It wasn’t a false flag. When the truth—the real truth—comes out, his death will be investigated as a homicide.”

“That’s quite a stretch.”

She simply gave him a calm smile.

He’d expected to rattle her. Scare her. Upset her. At the very least, he expected grief to overwhelm her.

She’d experienced all that yesterday. Today, she was in control. Cold fury kept her calm.