Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack (29 page)

-
Chapter 56-

A ring came from Galveston’s phone.  Alex was forwarding the directions to the location at Evangelista de Souza.

Galveston
had turn by turn instructions and began to read them out to Elizabeth as she raced to the outskirts of the city.  We proceeded from one road to another until nothing but jungle surrounded us on either side. 

We drove for hours until we arrived at
the Evangelista de Souza railway station.  It was a dilapidated building that saw little traffic either by road or rail and was nestled on flat land between the jungle.  Just beyond the station we found our last turn. 

Barely showing through the dense brush was a small road peeking out. 
Elizabeth swung the car onto the new road.  These were old logging roads that hadn’t been used for years, but this was a newly grated dirt road.

We slowed our progress and began lurching and
bumping along the winding road.  We traveled up one hill to another and then back to the valley floor.

We drove through
more jungle until the canopy opened up to the sky, and the trees disappeared from the side of the road as our destination came into view.  I gasped at the site.  It looked as if a bomb had been dropped on the area, flattening everything around it.  A twisted, burnt metal shell sat lonely in the open land and a burned out car lay beside it.  Everything was blackened and as we got closer we could tell this was no normal destruction.  Galveston’s and Elizabeth’s mouths were agape as we arrived.

“
Oh my God,” Galveston muttered under his breath. 

We got out of the car and walked to the edge of the burned out building.  The steel frame structure precariously stood erect, but lean
ed awkwardly.  Elizabeth immediately dialed her phone, and waited by the car, as Galveston and I walked to where the building once stood.  We didn’t say a word to each other as we examined the wreckage.  I had no idea what I was looking at, but Galveston did.

“
This was no ordinary explosion,” he said to me peering in the hole that was left by the blast.  “It’s much too uniform in shape and is spread out equally.  Notice the charring on those steel struts.  It was concentrated from the inside out.  Either they had one nasty accident or this was intentionally set.” 

I noticed
the pattern he indicated.  The remaining steel had black encased on the inner portions and was deformed, causing the structure to fall in on itself from one concentrated, violent blast.  “There was a basement too,” he said, pointing to the middle of the building as he walked into the interior.  Debris filled a hole where a basement would have been, and I noticed stairs descending into the lower level.  Everything was destroyed beyond recognition, but one thing was noticeably missing, bodies.  Galveston had already noticed the same thing.

“
No people,” he said softly, almost relieved.  “Even with an explosion like this we would see some bodies, unless they were all in the basement.”

I shuddered at the thought.

We gingerly stepped back to the perimeter.  The area was still very dangerous, and a misstep could send hanging metal crashing around us, or more importantly, on top of us.  I walked over to the burned out wreckage of the car ravaged by fire, now just a shell.  As I closed in on it, I noticed an object that was different than the surrounding debris and it lay well away from the building.  As I moved closer my throat began to close up and horror crossed my face.  It was the charred remains of a person.  I tried to yell out, but couldn’t.  It appeared to be a man, badly burnt from head to toe, but whose features appeared clearly at least on one side.  It was then that I got my first odor of a poorly decomposing body.  I immediately began to heave, and I doubled over onto the ground.  I pulled myself back from the body and put my shirt up to my face to try to stifle the smell.

“
Roger!”  Galveston yelled, seeing me on the ground. 

He raced over as I waved a hand.  He came up to me and noticed what I had already found
, turning his head from the sight.  Elizabeth heard the commotion and came over.  She saw the body and helped me back away from the stench. 

Galveston
moved to the body with his shirt over his nose and mouth, and began to look it over methodically.  The body lay near the car, crumpled over, but away from the building.  The blackened skin revealed where the man had gotten the brunt of the blast.  He probably had been thrown toward the car, killing him instantly, or so we thought.  The blackened areas preserved the features on one side of his face, but the rest was badly decomposed under the hot and humid conditions of the jungle, prime catalysts for quick decomposition.  Galveston peered over the body, moving it slightly with his foot.  The body had a coat on at one time.  It was mostly missing now, with the charred side burnt into his body.  I managed to sit on the ground far enough away to not smell the odor, or get the full sight of the body.  Elizabeth stroked my head to calm my shattered nerves. 

Galveston
turned towards us.  “This man’s been shot in the head with a single gunshot wound.”

I mustered some strength and held my shirt over my nose and mouth, and walked to the body
, as Elizabeth followed.

“
Right here.”  He pointed at the skull and the entry of the fatal bullet. 

A small round hole
about the size of a penny was clearly visible.  I managed to look at the face and studied the remaining features.  Suddenly, a realization hit me like a brick, and I turned and raced to the car.

“
Roger? You okay?”  Galveston yelled at me, expecting me to stop and vomit.  I grabbed my notebook from the car and returned to the body.  “Roger?  You alright?”  Galveston asked, concerned.

I pulled out a picture from my notebook and held it close to the face of the lifeless man’s remaining features
, while I continued to hold my shirt to my face.  I looked up at Elizabeth and Galveston.

“
I think we just found Dr. Patelo.”

-
Chapter 57-

Galveston stared at me with a horrid look plastered on his face.

“
It can’t be,” he stammered, but realized the truth in my statement when he saw the picture. 

I too felt his
horror.  We had traveled thousands of miles in the last few days to arrive at this, a wretched, disfigured, shell of a man.  Elizabeth excused herself to call the Brazilian authorities.  It was now a homicide.  Galveston turned to me while I moved the dirt below my feet.

“
Why do you suppose they killed him?  I mean, if a guy is in charge of getting the battery to the production line, why would they go ahead and kill him?  Why not just keep him happy and move him to Ecomax?” Galveston inquired aloud.  I shrugged my shoulders trying to figure out the mad reasoning.

“
Obviously they wanted the evidence gone,” I said, pointing to the obliterated building.

“
I think they just want anyone who knows what this device is capable of to be out of the way, and permanently.”  Galveston knelt down next to the body again and began to check the severely charred pockets of the man’s clothing.  I stared in disbelief.

“
What are you doing?’  I exclaimed.

“
Look,” he said, “I’m not coming this far without making sure we’ve checked everything.”

“
But this isn’t respectful.”

“
Respectful or not, I’m sure he would want us to nail these suckers.”  He continued to check the pant pockets and then the coat pockets, grimacing and holding his breath as he did.  “Hello,” he announced as he reached into the frayed and blackened front pocket of the formerly white lab coat. 

Galveston
pulled out an interestingly shaped circuit board with a small metal loop at the end, about the size of a large postage stamp.  It had been partially melted at one end.  He handed it to me as if I could decipher what it was.  It had, from my best recollection of circuits, a few resistors and two small rectangular connectors.  The board itself had a number and two small letters inscribed on it.  It appeared to read 5MS. 

“
My team will be here in twenty minutes, and I’ve contacted the local authorities.  I would suggest that we leave here quickly,” Elizabeth said after using her satellite phone.

“
I tend to agree with you love.  Let us make haste,” Galveston replied smartly in his faux English accent.

“
Does she ever find that annoying when you do that?”  I whispered to Galveston.

“
Nah, she finds it endearing,” he said, but I happened to notice Elizabeth rolling her eyes as we moved hastily back to the car.

“
What now, love?” she queried, and smiled at Galveston as she started the car.

“
To Ecomax, of course.  I think they’re going to find that their operation has hit a snag.”

-
Chapter 58-

We bounced back down the dirt road we had previously traveled, spraying dust behind us as we went.  The humidity had been steadily rising, and we now began to stream sweat, even with the air conditioner running full blast.

“
Hey Roger.  Send those pictures of the circuit to Alex.”  Galveston then informed Elizabeth of what we had found.

I fumbled the circuit board from my pocket and after getting Galveston’s phone, set it on the seat next to me, snapped some close
-up pictures, and sent it to Alex with the message, “Does Dr. Sloan know what it is”. 

We continued on the dusty road until we were able to find our way back to the main
thoroughfare.  A small makeshift sign pointed to Sao Paulo, and we began the long trip back to the bustling city.

A beep resonated from the phone
, and I flipped it open.  A message was waiting from Alex.  It read, “It’s an output circuit from the battery prototype, it regulates the voltage output from the battery itself.  It is one of five circuit boards in the battery’s housing”.  I looked at the message and typed back.  “How does he know this?”  A beep came back almost immediately.  “The 5MS on the board is his.  It’s the series of the circuit board, plus his daughter’s initials.  Margaret Sloan, area five”.

“
Well, that’s convenient,” I muttered to myself.

“
What did Alex say about what you two found,” Elizabeth said smiling and looking in the rearview mirror. 

I handed the phone back to
Galveston, and he read through the messages aloud to Elizabeth.  Another beep came from the phone, and Galveston recited the text.

“
Dr. Sloan used these abbreviations on the two of the three prototypes he made.  This is one of those.  It is an important piece and without it the battery does not work to its full capacity.”  He looked up from the phone.  “That’s interesting,” he announced.  “Maybe Dr. Patelo knew what he had, and as a little security, kept this part out.”

“
That didn’t work out for him though,” I announced back.

“
Nope, but since he didn’t include it with the prototype, he gave us the break we were hoping for. Ecomax will have to try to solve the problem.”

“
What are you saying?”  I asked stupidly.

“
We need to find this Dr. Morales.”  He leaned back in his seat with an air of confidence covering his face.

“
We’re what?”  I exclaimed from the back seat.

“
You heard me.  We’ve just been promoted to battery experts, and we need to find out what Dr. Morales knows.  I think he’ll need to be convinced to help us.”

Elizabeth
’s contacts had already been working on finding him and before we made it back to Sao Paulo we had an answer on the location of Dr. Morales. 

We crossed into the outskirts of the city of
Sao Paulo and drove quickly towards a residential high-rise near a well developed shopping district.

A call to his apartment confirmed
Dr. Morales was indeed in the building.  Elizabeth would wait outside, out of view, until we signaled with a call.  She would pick us up and together we would drive off, into the sunset.  My stomach ached and my heart raced as we prepared, and I noticed that for once, Galveston was on edge too. 

Galveston
pulled a small bag out of his backpack and pulled out what looked like fuzzy lint, dark in color.  I realized what he had.

“
You must be kidding, not a disguise again,” I said looking skeptically at the furry strip.

“
We need a little bit of concealment for the cameras, if there are any.  See, I’m going to wear a beard.”  He pulled out another fuzzy object that looked like a ferret, and began to stick it on his face.

“
You look like someone’s creepy uncle, or a homeless man.  It suits you,” I joked.

“
Yeah, yeah.  Now put yours on.  I gave you the mustache.”  I reluctantly took it and stuck it with the adhesive to my upper lip.  “Wow, you look like some guy from the seventies.  That looks terrible.”  I looked in the side mirror of the truck.  It looked like I had a hair follicular problem and the color didn’t even match my own.

“
This looks horrendous.  I look like I should be picking someone up at the disco.”

“
It’s just to throw Morales off. You’ll be fine,” Galveston assured me.

“
If you say so,” I replied.

Elizabeth
positioned the car on the side of the building out of view from the main door.  We waited for someone to enter the building and allow us entry.  A woman with a small dog finally appeared at the door inside and struggled to get it open.  Galveston had already jumped from the car and raced next to entrance, out of view from the older woman.  I scrambled to follow, nervously fiddling with my itchy mustache the entire way. 

As the door cracked
Galveston grabbed it and pulled it open for the woman.  “Let me help you there,” he said in English.

The woman smiled and said something back in
Portuguese as she pulled the small dog by the leash onto the sidewalk.

Galveston
motioned for me to follow.  “I’m staying with Dr. Morales until Friday,” he said loudly in case the woman knew English or knew Morales.  She didn’t bat an eye as we intruded into the building. 

Elizabeth
’s contacts had given us the number of Morales’s apartment and a picture of the man.  We opted to race up the flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator.  Unbeknownst to us there were Black Bear guards staying in an apartment close to Morales.  They had installed cameras in the elevator and front door and we had unknowingly evaded them. 

Morales was on the sixth floor, and after much panting going up the stairs we rounded a corner and almost immediately ran into his door. 
Galveston pulled out a small bag from his back pocket and produced a lock pick, a skill I didn’t know he had.  He quickly worked on the lock until the tumblers clicked and the door opened. 

Galveston
and I moved slowly inside while a television spewed out music.  A clinking of glasses came from the kitchen area and as we rounded the corner of the room and the back of Morales came into view.

“
Morales.”  Galveston said quickly. 

The small portly man
spun around quickly and dropped the glass he was holding, causing it to shatter on the ground.  He had reading glasses on the end of his nose and raised his head at Galveston’s voice.  He was noticeably surprised at the unannounced visit.

“
Who are you?” Morales said in shock.

“
No, you need to listen to us.”  Galveston walked closely to Morales in a menacing stance. 

“
Alright, I’m listening.” 

Galveston
pulled out my notepad and the notes I had taken.  “We know about your project and who you’re working for.”

Morales stood stunned. 
“What do you want?” We could tell he was growing nervous, and I noticed him reach for a phone on his countertop.  Galveston sprung into action and grabbed his hand before it reached the receiver.

“
That wouldn’t be a good idea, Doctor,” Galveston said seriously, grabbing his hand with force.  Morale’s face turned ashen and he leaned back, shocked at the two strange men that stood before him, one with a shaggy beard, and the other with a cheesy mustache.

“
I think we should just tell him,” I told Galveston.

“
You’re right,” Galveston conceded.  “Dr. Morales, we are contractors working for a government.”

“
You’re not going to kill me, are you?”  Morales asked, scared out of his wits.

“
We don’t do that sort of thing, but we do need to ask you a few questions and we don’t like untruthful answers,” Galveston said in an aggressive tone.

Galveston
ran with the Doctor’s fear and could tell that Morales wasn’t a threat.  He was just a scientist probably caught up in something he didn’t understand, but fear was a good motivator to tell the truth.  Galveston wouldn’t hurt a fly, but if pushed he could play the aggressor. 

“
Do you know Dr. Patelo?”  Galveston asked Morales.

“
Yes,” he started nervously.

“
Just relax Doctor.  We aren’t going to hurt you.  You just need to know what you’re working on.”  Morales breathed a little slower, but was still tense.

“
Dr. Patelo is a friend and colleague of mine.  I enlisted his help in engineering this battery, but I haven’t heard from him for a week.  I checked his lab and he wasn’t there.”

“
The lab?  You’ve seen it,” Galveston inquired.

“
Yes, of course.  I help set it up.  It is just down the street in the old Summit Hill cannery.”

“
Who set up the lab?”

“
Wallace Murray.  He’s the one who set up the operation here.  He is a project engineer, I think,” Morales said nonchalantly.

Galveston
’s eyes narrowed.  He knew this name well from his days at Black Bear.  I had to access the recesses of my mind, back to our original meeting, to get the connection of why he was wordless.  Murray was the head of convert operations for Black Bear Security, and the man that most likely orchestrated the explosions in Africa and Venezuela.  His men were the people Jane and I encountered in San Diego, and he had probably ordered Espinosa and Patelo to be killed.  This was all circumstantial, but it was easy to connect the dots. 

Galveston
tried to compose himself, but I could tell his anger was growing.  I decided I needed to take over the questions until Galveston could lower his blood pressure.

“
Dr. Morales, did you know there’s another lab in Evangelista de Souza?”  I asked him.

“
What?  No.  I know it’s an area south of here, fairly uninhabited.”

“
Well Doctor, we have some information that Dr. Patelo was working there, instead of at Summit Hill,” I said, trying to break the news to him slowly about his friend.

“
Really?  I knew nothing of that, I swear.  Why?”  I pulled some pages from Dr. Patelo’s journal out of my pocket and gave them to him.  He read them over slowly and looked up at me.

“
Where is he, and why can’t I get a hold of him?”  He asked.

“
I’m afraid he’s been shot and is dead.  We were able to positively I.D. him from pictures.  The building he was working in was completely destroyed by an explosion.”

“
No, it can’t be Ernesto.  He was supposed to be down the street and then he was going to join me.”  I gave him time to absorb the bad news.  He was clearly distraught.

“
I’m afraid it is sir.  You’re working for very bad men and the product you’re working on is part of it.  It was stolen from a Dr. Sloan, over a month ago, from his lab at Dartmouth.  Do you know a Colonel Espinosa?”

“
Yes, Yes,” he stammered.  “I know Alfonso from a fishing trip with Ernesto.  Ernesto got him a job in security with Ecomax.  His job was to guard the battery out of the United States.  I was told that was where it had been developed, but they didn’t want to produce it there because of cost.”

“
I’m afraid the Colonel has been killed also, poisoned in Mexico.  We were able to speak to him directly.  That is how we got Dr. Patelo’s name,” I stated.

“
I can’t believe it.  Am I next?  What are they trying to do?”  Before I could answer him, Galveston began to speak again.

“
I think you need the whole story and what we have.  I think your mind will be changed after we tell you what we think Black Bear is going to do.”

“
Okay, okay.  I just can’t believe it,” Morales stammered again.

Galveston
set out all we had found.  He didn’t leave anything out.  They sat for over twenty minutes, discussing all the layers of what we had discovered.  Morales, with each passing minute grew more and more shocked and that shock soon turned to anger.  Galveston had met his goal, Morales was with us now, and luckily, he was a very ethical man. Like us, he wanted justice for all the harm these men had wrought.

“
What do you want me to do?”  Morales said after hearing all of the information.

“
We need you to make sure the battery appears completed,” Galveston told him.

“
But I can’t figure out the problem.  I’ve been working on it for almost two days straight without a break.  I still can’t iron out the problems.  I told Placer I would have it ready for production in three days.  There is no way I can make it work.  That’s why I needed Dr. Patelo.”

“
Don’t worry about that Dr. Morales.  I have the correct plans here, straight from Dr. Sloan.  It won’t produce a very efficient battery, but it will get it working.”  Galveston gave Morales a flash drive with the information on it.  “Tell Placer that everything is on schedule.  We still have more rats to flush out.”