Blood Harvest (13 page)

“Why Pharmanetics?” Meyers asked with what appeared to be genuine interest.

“It just strikes a strange chord with me that a major pharmaceutical corporation is doing the clean-up of a potential biological attack for the World Health Organization. Maybe I’m being a conspiracy theorist, but the thought occurred to me this might actually be some manufactured new party drug like ‘Ecstasy.’ Maybe they’re looking into producing something with a legitimate medicinal purpose but with the bigger profit margin of an illegal substance. I’ve been to a few raves and I can tell you, that as a police officer, if I were to bust one person I would have to bust everyone. I have nothing to back this up, but could Pharmanetics have hired someone to pass out samples of a new drug to see if a clientele could be formed?
The Inferno
would be the best place to start.”

Steve finished and waited for the incredulity from Meyers he was sure would come.

“All right; follow-up on Pharmanetics and see if you can dig anything up from their history, shareholders and so forth. Check in with me via phone and email. You have my numbers.”

“Excuse me, sir?” Astonished at the ease at which Meyers absorbed all of the information, Steve had to shake himself to break the spell he was under.

“I am expecting answers from you and soon. Do I need to remind you that we have a lot of people counting on you not only to figure out what is happening in our city, but to find our missing people as well?" The air of authority was building in Meyers’ voice.

“No, of course not; it’s just that I’m having a hard time believing what happened and I went through it.” Slightly embarrassed Steve continued, “I guess I expected some skepticism and doubt on your part.”

“I really don’t like any of this,” Meyers continued. “I am somehow giving the go-ahead to something I would otherwise be investigating if I was still a lieutenant in Internal Affairs.”

“I understand. We won’t let you down, Captain.”

“See that you don’t. Dismissed.”

Chapter 13

Steve looked directly into the eyes of the security chief stationed in the front lobby of the Pharmanetics building. He was making an unofficial and unscheduled call upon the CEO and founder, Alex Daniels. He had politely requested to speak with Mr. Daniels for a few minutes regarding
The Inferno
clean up which had been completed but was still being monitored by Pharmanetics employees. When the security guard abruptly told him to forget it, Steve pulled out his credentials, flashed his badge, and said he would come back with a court order, yadda-yadda…the usual routine. The eyes of the security guard got bigger and darker as he restrained himself. Speaking into a landline phone on the desk, the security fellow called Alex Daniels’ office. Whoever answered the phone asked for a few minutes and said he would come down directly and escort Steve to Mr. Daniels’ office.

After the security guard explained all of this to Steve the staring contest had begun. As Steve watched this man’s eyes he realized this was no ordinary security guard. The eyes, truly being the window to the soul, do reveal a great deal about a person. Steve recognized the look in this man’s eyes. This guy was probably a soldier or a mercenary who had been hired as muscle for the company. The troubling part was how young this man appeared to be. He couldn’t have been out of his twenties, yet he had that same unyielding look that comes only from battle experience. Far more experience than he should have at his age.

Steve’s gaze did not falter nor did he back down under the scrutiny of the security guard. Seconds crept by like minutes as he waited until finally, Mr. Daniels’ assistant emerged from the elevator. The woman was tall, lean and very blonde. This was the kind of woman you would expect to have a supermodel contract along with a professional beach volleyball career. She was wearing a smart charcoal black business suit with classy shoes and sparse but elegant jewelry.

“Detective Jacobs?” She had no detectable accent to her voice, which was contrary to what Steve was expecting. Steve answered without breaking his gaze with the security officer.

“Yes.”

The assistant looked from Steve to the security officer, then back to Steve.

“Um…My name is Ellen Reece. Mr. Daniels has kindly agreed to meet with…”

Steve never turned to look at her as he was locked in a contest of wills with the security officer.

“Is…Johnson, is everything all right?” the assistant asked the security officer.

The security guard didn’t answer her. He just kept staring straight at Steve.

“So, it’s Johnson,” Steve finally spoke out loud.

“So it is,” the security guard answered.

“I’ll try to remember that,” Steve returned with heavy sarcasm.

“And I won’t forget.” As he spoke the security guard made a gesture with his right thumb and first finger as if he was shooting Steve with a gun.

Steve’s temper was about to flare when Ms. Reece stepped in front of him. She had obviously seen the gesture Johnson had made and wanted to stifle any possible outburst by taking control of the situation.

“Mr. Daniels is a very busy man and he has graciously agreed to accommodate you despite the interruption to his schedule. I would suggest you come with me now or I will ask you to come back another day.”

Not a bad plan on her part. Unfortunately for her, the goings on of the past couple of days had soured Steve’s patience and his personality to the point that he had been holding it together with the finest of threads. Now he had taken about as much attitude as he was going to take from the staff inside Pharmanetics. Steve spun toward the assistant.

“Listen to me lady, and you listen good. I am taking time out of MY busy schedule to afford Mr. Daniels the courtesy and opportunity to meet with me in a friendly and casual manner. However, if everyone around here doesn’t start showing the Los Angeles Police Department some serious goddamn consideration, I will be back in an hour with a court order!”

As Steve finished, the security officer leapt up from his chair. Faster than the eye could follow Steve drew his Glock from his belt holster and placed the end of the barrel to the bridge of the man’s nose.

“Sit down!”

Shock was the first thing to register on security officer Johnson’s face, followed quickly with a smoldering anger building to explosive proportions as the man slowly slinked back in his chair. Other security personnel, having seen or heard the disturbance, moved in and stood around Steve with weapons drawn.

“Now are we going to be civil about this?” Steve asked while keeping the handgun aimed at Johnson, seemingly unaware of all of the men surrounding him.

Silence flowed through the room for a few seconds before Ms. Reece spoke up.

“Detective, please follow me.” She held her hand out in the direction of the elevators.

Steve lowered and holstered his weapon. The mass of security personnel looked to Ms. Reece, who gestured for them all to stand down. Johnson was still fuming, but to his credit he kept his mouth shut.

Steve turned and nodded in a polite manner to Ellen Reece.

“After you, Ms. Reece.” The two set off toward the elevator.

They stood in silence in front of the doors; Steve could feel all of the eyes in the building watching them, especially Johnson, whose anger was practically palpable.

As the doors opened and Steve walked into the elevator, he raised his hand and gestured to Johnson with the same thumb and first finger he had faced earlier. Steve pressed his thumb down and dropped the hammer on the security man who turned away as the doors to the elevator closed.

“That was an interesting display in our lobby,” Ellen Reece said as they rode to the top floor. “Johnson is a brutish man, but he is extremely loyal to our company; only doing his job, albeit in his own way.”

That stung a little bit. Steve realized he had barged in unannounced and, although politely, demanded an audience with one of the top ten most influential men in Los Angeles. He had never been rebuffed, at the worst he had been made to wait, and he had gotten into a pissing contest with a security guard over his turf. He was about to apologize when the elevator doors opened directly into a large penthouse with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the entire valley. The room was incredibly lush with high-end electronics and boardroom furniture. Directly across from the elevator was an enormous mahogany desk with two dozen leather chairs. Standing on the far side of the desk with his back to the elevator, peering out the window stood a man.

Ellen walked out of the elevator and directly toward the man. Steve followed, but found his attention drawn to various art pieces and plasma televisions. Ellen stopped short of the large table and pulled out a chair for Steve. His attention was so distracted he almost walked into the woman.

Stopping abruptly, “Whoops, sorry.” Steve smiled as he spoke to Ellen.

She returned the smile, “Won’t you have a seat?”

Steve looked to the man, “Mr. Daniels?”

The man turned. “Please have a seat, Detective. Mr. Daniels will be coming in from his office shortly. My name is Kunnert, but you may call me Kenneth.”

He looked at Kunnert who extended his hand in a friendly greeting. Steve shook the man’s hand and found his grip to be powerful but not overbearing. Kunnert was well-dressed in a red short sleeve golf shirt and black slacks. He carried an air of authority.

“Forgive me Mr. Kunnert, but who are you exactly?”

“I am in charge of security for the Pharmanetics Corporation and I am Mr. Daniels’ partner, although I admit I am a very small partner, in this company.” Kunnert smiled a blatantly obvious false smile and released Steve’s hand. Kunnert’s phone sounded off and he looked to his belt to read the display screen.

“Ah, I see Mr. Daniels has left his office and is on his way here now.”

A few seconds later Alex Daniels entered the room talking on a cell phone.

“This is the second time your company has let me down and let me assure you it will be the last. I am stopping payment on the check, so come and get your equipment.”

Alex Daniels looked up from his conversation and nodded to the three people in the room as he hung up the phone. Ms. Reece walked over to her boss and made the introductions.

“Mr. Daniels, I would like you to meet Detective Steve Jacobs of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Homicide Division. Detective Jacobs, this is Alex Daniels, the founder and CEO of the Pharmanetics Corporation.”

Mr. Daniels extended his hand, “A pleasure detective.”

“Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice, sir.” Steve stood and warmly returned the handshake.

“Oh please, drop the ‘sir’; we are all rather informal here. Now, please sit down with me and tell me the reason for your visit to our humble halls.”

Steve hoped he could be “p.c.” enough to cut to the chase without causing any offense, at least for the moment.

“Thank you again. Well, I am investigating the incident which occurred at
The Inferno
three days ago and I was hoping to gain a little insight into your company’s position regarding the incident.”

Mr. Daniels tilted his head slightly. “The company’s position? I’m not sure what you mean.”

“You are aware of what happened at
The
Inferno
?"

"Of course. Our scientists assisted in the clean-up and are now monitoring the area for any further outbreaks.”

“Clean-up and outbreaks of what?”

Smirking as he answered, Mr. Daniels continued, “That’s the sixty four dollar question isn’t it? We still haven’t ascertained what caused the catastrophe; however, our trained professionals are on the lookout for any signs of a bacterial, viral, or chemical agent which might still be lingering in the area.”

“Forgive my ignorance of such things, but don’t you have to figure out what you are dealing with before you can go in and clean up?”

“That would be an ideal situation; however, there are also established methods for entering an area to determine exactly that. We used these protocols until we determined each area was free of danger.”

“So you’re saying you went in and after doing the necessary tests, didn’t find anything?”

Daniels looked as if he had just said more than he had intended, but he continued, knowing it was too late to change the story now. “Yes, that’s true. I suppose you could say that, in actuality, our teams were ‘clearing’ areas as being safe as opposed to ‘cleaning’ them.”

“I see. How did your company get involved with the ‘clearing’ of the area?”

Daniels started to look uncomfortable. “One of the drugs we produce is an antidote for nerve agents used in chemical warfare and we produce it for the government. This gives us certain ties to not only the U.S. government but to worldwide organizations such as the World Heath Organization. When the crisis happened the WHO contacted our company, knowing we had the equipment and trained personnel, with a request for our assistance. Pharmanetics, of course, was willing to help in any way possible.

“And with what exactly did the WHO say they wanted your help?”

Daniels started to sound irritated. “We weren’t told what was going on as no one really knew anything. We were only asked to go in expecting the worst and report our findings.”