Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack (11 page)

“
I understand,” Galveston said quietly.  “I’ll respect whatever decision you make.” 

May entered the office again and sat down. 
“It’s been handled.  Mr. Ackers is very relieved.  I’ll call the CEO of Genesis and let him know about our investigation. 

“
Where do you want us to start?”  Galveston asked, getting right down to business.

“
We need you to look into a lead we have.  Dr. Sloan has a daughter from a first marriage.  We believe he had been corresponding with her, and she was the last contact he made before his disappearance.”

“
You want us to talk to her?”

“Yeah, but there’s a slight problem with that.”  He gave a look of consternation.  “She just happens to be in a, ah, witness protection program.”

“
You guys can figure that out.  What’s the problem?”  Galveston asked.  May thought to himself before answering.

“
We have a political problem with that.  You see, she’s not under the protection of the Justice Department.”

“
What?  That’s ridiculous.  You’re the FBI, you can do anything you want if it’s federally related, right?”  Galveston asked.

“
Not exactly.”  May dodged the questions like a politician.  “She’s a British citizen and we don’t know where she is.” 

“
Hold it, hold it.”  Galveston became clearly exasperated with the roundabout question and answering session.  “She’s in a witness protection program in Great Britain?  Is that what you’re getting at?  Deal off, nope, no way.  This deal is off.  I know where you’re going with this,” Galveston exclaimed, getting up from his chair.  He began waving his arms like a madman.

“
Dan, calm down,” May tried to console him.

“
What is it, why is that so bad?” I stuttered, thoroughly confused.  Had I slept through a portion of the conversation?

“
So this is the other reason why you’re here.  Nope, not going to do it,” Galveston turned his back to May shaking his head.

“
Look, you’ll just have to chalk it up to a crazy coincidence.”

“
I’ll say,” Galveston cried, continuing to shake his head.  “When were you going to fill me in on this tidbit of information?”

“
It’s been a few years. I thought you might be over it.  I guess you do hold your grudges,” May told him.

“
Hell yes I do.  What that woman put me through.”

A woman, somehow a woman was involved
, and by the way it sounded it was a woman Galveston had some history with.  I smiled at the thought.

“
What’s the story there?” I asked excitedly, hoping for a juicy bit of gossip.

“
You see,” May started turning toward me.

“
Don’t you tell him anything,” Galveston yelped, but May continued.

“
Dan’s ex-fiancé happens to be an assistant to the Chief of SIS, and a former field agent in counter-espionage.”

None of this information was known to me, and not that
Galveston’s history mattered so much, but I had no idea what these two were talking about.  I found out the SIS is the Secret Intelligence Service of the United Kingdom and the equivalent of the CIA. It is often referred to as MI6 and made infamous by none other than James Bond.  At least I knew who we were dealing with. 

“
Galveston and his friend had what you could call a tumultuous relationship when he was stationed in London a few years back,” May said continuing his history lesson.  “She cut out on him and he didn’t hear from her again.  Eventually she told him she had been called back to field service and that she couldn’t handle a long distance relationship.”

“
She asked for a transfer and ran away like a frightened little girl,” Galveston added, fuming.  “That’s all he needs to know, don’t tell him anymore.”

“
No, that’s okay, please, do tell,” I goaded May to spill more juice.

“
The point is you have a contact in the SIS, good or bad.  Elizabeth could potentially find Dr. Sloan’s daughter, Margaret.  It would take us weeks to get the clearance to find her in a witness protection program, and its weeks we don’t have.”

Galveston
continued to sit in his chair and after taking some deep breaths stood up to stretch, not saying a word.

“
That little vein on his neck is about to spurt blood.  He’ll tell me in due time,” I said and pointed towards Galveston’s tomato red face.  “Maybe we should get down to the business at hand.”

-Chapter 20-

History proves that giant leaps in technology are not generally accepted by society, but over time society tends to adjust to such innovations.  It is usually all a knee-jerk reaction, however.  How could a lone professor develop such an revolutionary idea for a battery and did it even work?  On the other hand there are many advances found by accident or by one person.

For example, t
ake Vaseline, or petroleum jelly to be more exact.  In 1859, a chemist named Robert Chenebrough was interested in petroleum products.  He noticed oil workers applying a dark, thick substance on cuts, burns, and abrasions to heal their wounds.  This seemingly useless substance collected on the pump rods of oil wells, obstructing the workings of the rig.  Chenebrough collected this “rod wax”, as it was called, and returned to Brooklyn, New York from the Pennsylvanian oil fields.  He spent years perfecting the “rod wax” into a colorless, odorless gel that he called Vaseline, a combination of the German word for water and the Greek word for oil.  He had created petroleum jelly, which today is used in a variety of ways, from rubbing on a chicken’s comb to protect it from frostbite, to healing wounds and protecting skin.  So it wasn’t too outlandish to entertain the thought that Dr. Sloan could have invented this amazing device.

With all that said and thought, we had some serious decisions to make on how much we would
get involved.  First, I needed to decide if I was going to stay employed with Galveston any further.  Maybe I’d return to teaching, and a comfortable office.  I could pump out a few papers, which would only be read by a handful of people, and live out my life in a state of utter mediocrity.  Or I could turn the other way and jump into a semi-fictional world, with an unknown future, and variable levels of lawfulness and security.

May sat looking at Dan awaiting a response to his
offer of working with the FBI.

“
What do you think?”  May asked, shuffling his papers back into the manila folder.  “If you agree to work with us, I need you to leave immediately, contact Dr. Sloan’s daughter, and let me know what you find.” 

Galveston
leaned back in his chair as his rage subsided over the possible reconnection with his ex-love.  “Would that be it?”

“
That would be it.  I figured you would want to know what Black Bear was up to.  I’ll give you time to think, but I need to know by the end of the day.  The Bureau will be your funding source.  I’ve arranged for money to be placed into your bank account to cover your costs.  If you’re successful we’ll reward you handsomely.  Your first payment could be in your account by day’s end.”

“
Well, that’s nice to know the government wants my help so badly,” Galveston said looking at me.

“
Just tell me by the end of the day.  Only contact me at my personal number, nowhere else.”  May slid a number on a piece of paper to Galveston and then got up and started for the door.  “You know the importance of this.  Please don’t force me to do something I’ll regret.”

With that shattering statement
, May left the room, leaving us alone.

“
You have no choice, do you?”  I asked Galveston from my seat.

“
No,” he sighed.  “He’ll do whatever it takes to get me involved.  He’s sitting on too much information about me, and the stakes are too high for him to let us slide by.”

“
It’s either take this deal, or spend time and money hiring a lawyer,” I told him.

We sat for what seemed like hours, contemplating the information, but it had only been a few minutes.

“Well, I’m in if you’re wondering,” I said meekly.  “I mean, what else do I have going on.  I actually knew what I was getting into.”

“
You really don’t have to.  This is going to be tough, and it won’t stop,” Galveston warned me.  “They’ll want us to keep going.”

“
If nothing else, at least I’ll get to meet someone who’s actually fallen for you.”

“
Don’t remind me.  I think I’ll go ahead and make the call.”  Galveston reached for the phone.  I stood up, my knees feeling weak, and noticed that I was quietly excited.

“
I think we’re going to London,” I said loudly, smacking my hands together.  “I think Jane needs to go with us.”

-Chapter 21-

The two black Suburbans bounced across the potholed roads of the metropolis as the city began to fade away and the scenery began to change to a thick, forested jungle.  The silver case from Colonel Espinosa sat next to a man in the back seat of the second vehicle. 

T
he group finally arrived at their destination, a nondescript road that led into the jungle.  They followed the curvy dirt road until a white gleaming building appeared ahead in the distance.  The vehicles screeched to a stop in front of the building where the men got out and dusted themselves off after the long and dirty drive.  They were met at the front door by an aging gentleman with a white beard and white hair who stood sweating under the hot summer sun, awaiting their arrival.  The man with the silver case walked toward him, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“
Is everything in place?”  The man from the Suburban asked.

“
Yes, yes,” the older man stammered in English, with a heavy accent.  “We have all the equipment in place.  Is that it?”  He said pointing to the case.

“
Yes,” he answered.  “I want to watch how everything is set up Dr. Patelo.”

“
Yes Mr. Murray, of course.  Please let’s go in,” Patelo said nervously, and motioned for Murray to follow him through the steel door of the building.

Murray
turned to his driver, “Secure the area and take up position on the road until you’re called.”

Two men got out
, holding Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine guns, and took up positions outside the front door, methodically checking their weapons.

Patelo
looked more nervous and opened the door, gazing back at the man with the silver case.

“
They’re just here for a little extra insurance.  I hope you’ll keep this between us,” Murray assured him.

Patelo
nodded his head as they entered the building, leaving the two armed gunmen outside to bake in the excessive heat.

It was a metal buildin
g but air conditioned inside.  The cool air fogged up Murray’s sunglasses and he took them off and wiped the moisture from the lenses with his shirt sleeve, revealing dark eyes and a stony face. 

The building was open inside
and a few workers moved about, oblivious to the arrival of the men.

“
Dr. Patelo, we have the clean room ready,” said a squatty, slightly obese, balding man, wearing a white lab coat. 

Dr. Patelo nodded his head
, motioned for Murray to follow, and proceeded to the back of the building where a large iron door stood.  Dr. Patelo punched in a long set of code on a keypad next to the door, and placed his hand on a pad underneath the keypad.  A red light over the door turned to green, and after a few audible beeps, the door clicked open and they both walked inside the dimly lit enclosure.

“
As you can see, we have met all of your requirements and specifications,” Dr. Patelo said pointing to the door.  “Only Dr. Morales and myself have the key entry and finger ID.”

Neither m
an spoke as they proceeded down stairs to a basement.  They stopped at the bottom where it opened up to a large white room, now brightly lit with four people moving about inside.  They were fully covered in white coveralls from head to toe, with only their eyes exposed.

“
This is our clean room and a sterile environment.  I must ask you to be decontaminated if you would like to bring the case in.” 

Murray
washed his hands and stood in a stall where jets of air blew over him and the case while a vacuum sucked the air out of the stall.

“
We can’t take any chances with contamination.  A micron of dust or foreign matter can have harmful effects on even the toughest circuits.” 

The men entered a
small glass enclosure as the door closed behind them.  A loud, sucking sound occurred as the pair felt a pressure change in the air.

After a few seconds the glass door opened to the main clean room
and the workers inside stopped and watched the pair come in.

“
Put the case in that enclosure and we’ll decontaminate,” Dr. Patelo instructed Murray.

A worker pos
itioned himself in front of a wall mounted box.  Murray put the case through an opening, punched in a code to the case, and opened the latches.  He pushed the case toward the worker who opened the lid and revealed the contents inside.

Everyone crowd
ed around the window to the box, gawking at what was located there; Two black, rectangular boxes, each the size of a deck of playing cards, secured and surrounded by black foam.  The worker carefully took each one out and opened the black boxes separately, revealing a small, grey, metal square with a circuit board on top.  The other box revealed an even smaller grey square attached to a mess of wires and a small LCD screen.  Dr. Patelo strained to see through the glass past the other onlookers.

“
Good, good.  We are okay to remove them.  Carefully take them out and place them on the table,” he said to the worker.

One by one,
the worker removed the items from the enclosure, and placed them on a stainless steel table in the middle of the room, which was surrounded by a bank of laptop computers.  Dr. Patelo moved to the table and looked at them closely.

“
If you are satisfied, I will have the guard accompany you back out.  We have a lot of work to do,” Dr. Patelo said, turning to face Murray.

“
I’m satisfied.  We need these to be up to production capacity.  I’ll be back with my men in two days.  I expect, and hope, you will be ready,” Murray said, almost threateningly.  Dr. Patelo reacted nervously.

“
Yes, yes.  We will be ready and will report on our results,” the doctor said clearly.

“
Good.  We don’t like to be disappointed.”

Murray
moved back to the airlock and began to remove his coveralls.  Turning back to Dr. Patelo he said, “Remember, I’m not to be contacted for any reason.  We’ll see you in 48 hours.”  Murray disappeared up the stairs, leaving the workers in the room alone.  Dr. Patelo sighed stressfully.

“
You all know what to do.  Let’s get started, we have a long night ahead,” Dr. Patelo instructed the workers.

Like a fire from a starting gun, the workers began a flurry of activity, pouring over the newly acquired objects.