Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack (18 page)

“
Mexico has an artillery?”  I asked seriously.

“
Yeah, they use those air guns that fire T-shirts at sports events,” Galveston quipped.  Alex continued his searching, ignoring our witty banter.

“
I found a message about him in the BlackBear database.  It looks like they hired him for a security detail.” 

The message was hastily written,
but was detailed.  It simply said that Espinosa would,” provide security for the handoff”, and in turn, Colonel Espinosa requested, “to receive a certain piece of antiquity as an additional payment along with his monetary payment”.

“
That’s strange, why would he want an antiquity?”  I asked.  Galveston was wondering the same. 

“
I don’t know, maybe he’s independently wealthy.  I’ve heard that Mexico is a rather corrupt place.”  He said this last statement sarcastically.  Everybody knew that Mexican government officials enjoyed being bribed.  “It doesn’t sound like they were giving the prototypes to him, but I wonder how much he knows.  They could have stopped there and handed the prototypes off.  We need to check this out.”

“
And how do you propose we do this?”  I asked.

“
Well, he should be easy enough to find since he’s in the military,” Galveston stated before Alex joined in.

“
You know, I have a Spanish speaking friend named Manuel.  He owes me a favor.  I introduced him to his wife, and then I helped him get a divorce.  I think he still lives in La Paz.  I’ll get a hold of him, and maybe you two can meet him wherever Espinosa is.  He can be your official translator.  The two of you don’t need to be traipsing around Mexico alone anyway.”

“
That sounds like a good idea.”  Galveston said, as I stood by thinking, “that’s a terrible idea”.  I didn’t want to go to Mexico.

“
Let me get a hold of him.  How much can we pay?”

“
You decide Alex.  Whatever will get him to Monterrey.”

“
Will do,” Alex answered.

“
Wake me up when you have an answer.  I’m taking a nap.”  Galveston was less than dramatic, and went into the living room and threw himself on the couch.  I decided I would take a siesta by the pool since we were in a Mexican induced mood.

An hour passed and Alex woke us and had us gather back in his office, another debriefing.

“I have the answers for you and they’re not good.  Manuel will meet you in Monterrey and he’ll do it for $1,000.  I’ve already arranged him a flight and a hotel.  The problem is, Colonel Espinosa was in the base infirmary, and they just transferred him to a Monterrey hospital.  They don’t know what’s wrong with him.” 

Galveston
rubbed his eyes.  “Yeah, that isn’t good news, but we have to see him.  At least he can’t run out on us.”  Galveston’s brain was working, because I could see the little veins popping on his forehead and the hamster running the wheel in his head.  Either that or he was having a stroke.  I almost hoped for the latter.  His eyes got wide.  “I’ve got a great plan.”

“
Uh, oh,” I said softly.

“
Looks like we’re going to Mexico!  We leave tonight,” and he held up his hand in a number one pose.

“
Can’t we leave in the morning,” I immediately implored.

“
What the hell for?”  He questioned back.

“
Because,” I started, “I have a date.”

-Chapter 33-

The board room was immaculate.  A majestic mahogany table filled the center of the room and the walls were covered with deep oak paneling.  Large vases filled with various flowers dotted the corners of the room as the light poured in from the outside through floor to ceiling windows.

There were two men in the room, a few papers strewn before them as they sat at one end of the large table.  They were both clothed in finely tailored
custom suits and sat in large, leather back chairs.  The environment was relaxed, but serious, and they continually looked through the papers in front of them.

“
How we doing on this thing?”  The larger man asked over horn rimmed glasses.

“
We’re on schedule.  The
Adamanthea
plan has been completed and the manufacturing process is ready.  It’s going to take a little more time because we don’t have the final plans, but we have men working on that.  How about the legislation?”  The smaller man scribbled some notes on a pad.

“
Those pods won’t know what hit them.  We have to have public pressure for this to pass and higher oil prices will help.  I can get the bill out of committee, and that will make your business procedure much easier.”

“
That’s what we’ll need.”

“
Everyone will be forced to vote for it, if not, it will be political suicide.  We’ve worded it well, and it should pass easily as a rider to another bill.  What about our little problem?”

“
We’ve taken care of a few links in the chain, but we’ve lost Dr. Sloan.”

“
You’ve got to get a hold of that guy.  What about his family?”

“
Nothing,” the smaller man answered.

“
Keep your ear to the ground.  We need to make sure he won’t talk until we can make an announcement about this product.  I don’t want that little bastard to ruin this whole thing.  You better take care of him.”

“
We’re working on discrediting him.  I want you to assure me that if we go to these lengths, you’ll get that legislation through.”

“
You just worry about your end.  I brought you guys into this, and I can take you out.  In D.C. terms it’s deny, deny, deny.”  There was obviously a power struggle between these two, with egos out of control.  The larger man continued.  “If you do what you say, you’ll be a very rich man.”

“
I’m a little concerned about Weston Chase.”

“
I’ll take care of him.  That stupid bastard Chase doesn’t know what’s going on in this room.  I hope you guys can keep quiet if we have problems.”

“
I’m sure we can, but the more we do, the more questions arise.  I don’t want Chase to suddenly change his mind.”

“
Fair enough, but if it comes down to it, I’ll hope you’ll perform.”

“
We’ll do what it takes to keep things quiet.”

“
I guess we don’t have any more to discuss then, do we?”  The larger man said sarcastically, and began arranging his papers.  A knock came to the door.  “Come in,” he said.

“
Sorry sir, but you have a call from Washington, they said it was urgent.”

“
Yes Susie.  I’ll take it.  Oh, and get that envelope for Mr. Placer, hun.”

“
Yes sir,” she answered and left the room.  The larger man got up from the table and leaned over to Mr. Placer.

“
Find that Dr. Sloan and make sure he’s quiet and out of the picture, immediately.”  Placer didn’t answer him and looked straight ahead.  “Hey Susie, get me a cup of coffee, will you girl?” 

The larger man left the room leaving Placer alone.  He placed the papers in his briefcase and got up.

“Thank you Senator, you asshole,” he mumbled.

-Chapter 34-

Galveston agreed to my request.  If he had not, I might have injured him in some way.  He had sensed my pending insanity and gave in; we would leave for Mexico in the morning.

I left Alex’s home and returned to my own
, as Galveston stayed behind and formulated our impending plan, the next step of our unending quest.  The information we were getting now was massive.  We had movements of Black Bear, financial transactions, and messages, all from the ingenious and utterly frightening touch of our resident computer geek.

I got home and readied myself for my date. 
Galveston had given me only one piece of advice, fake an injury and garner sympathy, rule 107.  I decided to completely disregard his advice since his history with the opposite sex was not all that stellar.

Elizabeth
had arrived with Dr. Sloan, safe and sound.  She put him up in a downtown San Diego hotel and instructed him to stay put. 

Elizabeth
arrived at Alex’s house just as Galveston was finishing up a talk with David May.  Galveston’s heart leapt when he saw Elizabeth.  He bounded over, but stopped short so as not to look too eager.

“
I’m glad you’re safe,” he said, giving her a hug, as if he had any worries over her capabilities.  “Everything is good?”  He asked.

“
Lovely, just tired.  I’ll never get used to American driving.”

“
Yeah, we drive on the correct side of the road, and we do the speed limit, for the most part,” he joked, alluding to the stereotype that the English were rather aggressive drivers.

“
Quite,” she answered, “may I have a drink?”

“
Certainly, I have a lot to tell you.”  Galveston left and got her one of the Perrier he had derided before, and filled her in on all the new information.

About this time
, I met Jane at her house.  She looked beautiful, decked out in casual wear, her hair up in a pony tail.  My heart quickened and my knees got weak.  We exchanged small talk in her place before we started off to the restaurant.  Not two minutes into our date my phone began to ring.  I looked at it and it was Galveston.  I pushed the ignore button.  “Not tonight buddy boy”, I thought.  Whatever it was could wait until morning.  I didn’t have the heart to turn it off completely, and instead I set it to vibrate.  If it got bad enough I would talk to him.

Jane and I talked like old friends.  The conversation was easy and fun, and flowed from one topic to another.  I had never felt so comfortable
before, and she had such an air of ease.  She seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say, which I found shocking for some reason. 

Back at the house, the information train steamed on.  May had giv
en Galveston information on the Board of Global Energy and he and Alex busily searched the web, while Elizabeth snoozed on the couch.

“
None of these guys have the power to pull off something like this.  They’re either academic types, or the head of some foundation,” Galveston told Alex.

It was true they were striking out.  None of them would
have been able to coordinate all the pieces, that was until they got to the last name.  Senator Edward Eastman, the newest member of the Board.  He was the only politico and the only one with power, but would his biography support the motivation?

As Alex pulled it up, indeed it did.  He was a staunch environmentalist and social
ist leaning senior Senator from Connecticut.  He wasn’t that terribly well known, or well-loved, but he had an enormity of power in the Senate.  He was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and a member of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness.  He was also a career politician, serving most of his adult life as a moderate economist, and was courted and lobbied heavily by trial attorneys.  He sat on two boards, both non-profits, the Global Energy Consortium and Center for Democratic Initiatives.  He had been investigated five times by the Senate over the course of his career, and twice by the General Accounting Office because of fundraising infractions.

Eastman
was known in Washington as a hardnosed Senator who would often berate junior members to vote his way on sponsored bills.  He hadn’t introduced a meaningful piece of legislation in his career, but managed to sneak through some pork barrel projects to his state.  He was married with two children, both adults, and had accusations, more than a few times, of marital infidelity.  A news report they found described him as being very engaging, polite, and very manipulative, with a hot temper and a fire brand style of politics.  He was often absent from votes, but managed to easily win every six years due to an aggressive political team.  Eastman was no saint, but what politician is?  Out of all the names, he stood out like a sore thumb.

Eastman’s
environmental stands were radical.  He saw nothing wrong with eco-terrorism and was staunchly against oil exploration.  He was a strong advocate against “Global Warming”, or what it was now so lovingly referred to as “climate change”, and was an opponent of anything related to consumerism.  Ironically, even with these beliefs, he often flew in a private Gulfstream V jet, had an 8,800 square foot house, a beach house in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and an upscale townhouse in the swank Washington D.C. enclave of Georgetown.

“
This guy doesn’t practice what he preaches,” Galveston said aloud.  “Look at this one.”  Galveston pointed to a link on the screen.  Alex brought it up and the pair read it over.  “He has heavily invested in ‘green’ companies.  This guy is one big walking conflict of interest.  I would say he has some motivation on being involved in all of this,” he said, referring to our current situation.

“
I agree.  This reads like a rap sheet,” Alex acknowledged.

“
I guess he’s well liked, though.  This editorial says, ‘Senator Eastman has the panache to counsel a mother and baby that everything will be alright, while stealing the mother’s purse and the baby’s pacifier, all at the same time.’  I would say that seems to sum him up in a nutshell.”  They continued to pour over the wealth of information from the internet.  “That reminds me,” Galveston said, grabbing his cell phone, “I have to make another anonymous call.”

The phone began to vibrate in my pocket just as I was eating my swanky pork chop.  I let it continue until it stopped.  A few minutes later it went off again
; and then again after that.  Jane sensing my distraction stopped eating her pasta primavera.

“
You might as well get that, you know he won’t quit calling.”

“
Yeah I know.”  Just then it gave another annoying vibration.  “I’ll be back in a second.”  I walked to the outside of the restaurant.  “What!”  I yelled in the phone.

“
How’s it going hot stuff?  Made it to first base yet?”  Galveston’s voice boomed over the phone.

“
No, but my phone has.  What could be so important that it couldn’t wait until morning?”

“
I just wanted to tell you to meet me at the airport at 8 A.M.  We’re taking a flight out of Montgomery Field.”

“
8 A.M.?  Isn’t that a little early?”

“
No.  Just be there.” 

“
Can I go now?”

“
Oh, just one more thing.  I think we found our mole.”

“
Mole?  What do you mean?”

“
Possibly our guy behind this thing, a Senator Edward Eastman.”

“
A Senator?  A U.S. Senator?”  I asked naively.

“
No, a Roman Senator,” Galveston answered sarcastically.  “Yes a U.S. Senator.  Pretty dirty guy.  We don’t have a definitive link, but we’re working on that.  The other Board members just don’t add up.  I’ll fill you in tomorrow.”

“
That’s mighty nice of you.”

“
Oh, and another thing.  Did you fake an injury yet?  Make sure you do it in front of her house.”

“
I’ll take that into consideration,” I replied incredulously.

“
Have a good time, sunshine.”

“
Yeah, thanks,” I said and hung up the phone.  I made my way back to Jane.

“
What did he want?”  She asked.

“
Nothing important, of course.  We’re meeting at the airport tomorrow.  We’re going to Mexico for a day or so.  The rest of his conversation was filled with yapping.”  She smiled brightly, and we were finally able to finish our dinner in peace for once during the night.

We spent the rest of our date strolling in the moonlight along the wharf.  I took her back to her place
, and we exchanged pleasantries at the door, gave each other a nice kiss, and said our goodbyes.

“
Would you like to come in for a while?”  She asked me softly.

“
I better get going.  I have to meet Dan early.”

“
I understand.”

“
I had a great time,” I said, giving her a long hug.

“
Me too,” she said.

I turned and started to return to my parked car, and then sensing my folly I thought quickly and immediately grabbed my leg.

“Ouch, my hamstring.  It’s acting up again,” I said hamming it up.

“
Are you okay?”

“
Oh, just an old football injury,” I joked.  I had never played a day of organized football in my life.  “Can I come up and get a drink of water, that usually clears it up.”  Jane smiled, obviously seeing through my ploy.

“
Sure, follow me.”