Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack (32 page)

Galveston
and I moved silently through the rear rooms of the house while Elizabeth kept an eye out from behind.  The bottom level of the house seemed empty, so we decided to move deeper inside.  We traversed the winding staircase that lead to the second floor and my heart raced.  I figured there had to be a better way than this. 

Galveston
continued to move swiftly.  We got to the top of the staircase where the hall led in either direction.  Galveston stopped and listened.  He heard a faint tapping at the end of hall to the right where a room stood illuminated.  We moved down the hall in that direction until we arrived at the door to the lit room.  It was difficult to see in, but we noticed it wasn’t a bedroom.  Galveston motioned to me to get right behind him and for Elizabeth to take a position on the other side of the door.  She surveyed the hall behind us and listened intently for footsteps or voices.  Galveston crouched low and peeked around the corner, giving himself a better vantage point of the room.  He looked back at me and nodded his head, Placer was in the room.  Galveston stood up and slowly walked into the room as I followed close behind.  He motioned for Elizabeth to stay out of sight.

As I rounded the corner behind
Galveston, I noticed Placer sitting with his back was to us, typing away at a computer.  A large flat screen monitor stood in front of him and a large picture window displayed a view of the landscaped yard.  Galveston moved behind him slowly and motioned for me to stop in my current position.  He made a gun like pose with his hand and walked slowly toward him.  Galveston stopped, put his finger out, and poked it into the back of the man.

“
Freeze Placer, don’t move,” Galveston said with authority.

Placer stiffened and you could hear an audible gasp as the blood rushed from his face
.  He quivered from the touch of what he thought was a gun.  He didn’t turn around, stopped typing, and simply looked straight ahead.

“
What, what,” he gasped, trying to take air into his lungs.

“
Just freeze Placer, don’t move, we have you covered,” Galveston said again forcefully.  He pulled his hand away slowly.  “Now turn around slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.”

Placer did this as he was told
, until he was face to face with Galveston who bent down to his eye level.

“
Who are you?”  He managed to ask, looking at Galveston and then at me.

“
We’ll ask the questions Placer,” Galveston told him.  Placer had turned even grayer now and was clearly having trouble with our intrusion, just as anyone would.

“
Placer we know what you’ve been up to at Black Bear, and we’re here to find out everything you know, and you’re going to tell us.”

“
What?  Who are you?”  He attempted to ask again.

“
Let’s just say we’re consultants for the Federal Government.  We know all about your plans with the company, and we’re here to find out what you know.”

“
This is illegal breaking and entering.  How dare you come in here,” Placer exclaimed, beginning to grow angry at our intrusion.

“
Watch it Placer, you’re going to listen to what I have to say, and then you’re going to answer all the questions we ask.  Do you see that man over there?”  Galveston asked, awaiting a response.

“
Yes,” Placer answered slowly.

“
He practices the ancient art of Kilim.  If you don’t talk, he’ll get you to talk.  He can break a man’s legs with just his hands.  I would prefer not to resort to using him.  Do you understand?”  Galveston threatened, and looked at me.

“
Yes, okay.  Please don’t hurt me, I’ll answer whatever you want,” he pleaded.

The ancient art of Kilim?  I had no clue what he was talking about, but went along with it.  Unbeknow
nst to me, Kilim were woven carpets produced by the Persians and still used across the region of the Middle East as prayer rugs.  If I had known that at the time I would have laughed hard.  I could weave Placer a mean rug from what Galveston was saying.  But I went along with the lie and tried to look menacing, which for me meant squinty eyes and a scowl.  It ended up looking like I had gas, however. 

Galveston
continued to press Placer who now eyed me with fear and disdain.  “We know of the battery you are producing at Ecomax and what you plan to do with it.  You’re going to go to jail for a long time Placer.  We know all about it.  Why did you think you could get away with it and hurt so many people?”  Galveston questioned.

Placer looked at him with open eyes and then did something none of us would have expected, he literally burst into tears.

“I know, we shouldn’t have done it,” he began to sob.  “I can’t take it anymore, I was desperate.”

Placer began to burble loudl
y and put his head in his hands.  “It was supposed to be simple.  I don’t know how it went this far,” he continued.

Galveston
moved back from him, shocked, as I was, at his reaction.  Galveston took a few steps toward me as Placer continued to sob uncontrollably.

“
That isn’t quite the reaction I was expecting,” he said to me.

“
You still want me to break his legs?” I mocked, and Galveston gave me a look of disgust.  He moved back to Placer and began to question him again, we still needed some answers.

“
Placer, take it easy,” he said.  “Why did you order the explosions and the deaths of three innocent men?”

Placer stopped sobbing and looked up, his eyes clearly red and swollen.

“Hold it, what?” he asked wiping his nose.

“
Those three men, Espinosa, Patelo, and Dr. Blout, why did you have them killed?  And why the explosions in Africa and South America?”  Galveston asked more clearly.

“
Patelo killed?  I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t know about explosions or those other men.”

“
Don’t play dumb with us,” Galveston said looking at me.  “We know you’re involved in this.”

“
I’m not.  I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“
Cochese, do your work,” Galveston said to me and stepped back from Placer.

“
No, no,” he exclaimed beginning to sob again, “I swear I don’t know who you’re talking about.  I’ve never heard of them in my life, I really don’t know them, and I don’t know anything about any explosions.

I shrugged my shoulders and
Galveston noticed my concern.  I didn’t think he knew what we were talking about.

“
What about Murray?  Are you going to say you don’t know about him too?”

“
Murray?  Yeah I know Murray.  He was in charge of getting the operation set up in Brazil.”

We were going nowhere with this
.  Galveston was getting frustrated at the lack of information, but we both began to believe him.  What if he didn’t know what we knew?

“
I think you better start from the beginning Placer, how and why did this all start?” Galveston questioned him. 

Placer composed himself slightly and began to lay out what he knew.
  “Back six months ago, the company was beginning to falter.  We had some bad investments, lost contracts, and lawsuits filed against us.  We were heading for bankruptcy and fast.  Then this came along.  I wish I wouldn’t have been so desperate, but at the time I was.  I had the SEC breathing down my neck and the investors and the board of directors wanted results.  We were sinking.  That is when I got wind of this opportunity to get the company some much needed profit and avoid insolvency.  When the news broke about our accounting practices, we would end up like another Enron.”

“
But who gave you the battery then, the prototype?”  Galveston pressed.

Placer wiped his eyes again and gave us the connection we were waiting to hear.

“Weston Chase gave it to us,” he said flatly and without emotion.  “We were doing security for Global Energy Enterprise and he was an important investor in our company.  He knew we were having serious problems.”

Galveston
and I looked at each other again, and another bout of shock crossed our faces.

“
He had the battery and wanted it developed, but couldn’t, due to the fact that they were a non-profit company.  That’s when he enlisted our help.  He arranged to give it to us.  He stood to lose a lot of money if we went under.  I figured he was just trying to recoup his investment.  He even recommended Murray for the job of getting it going in Brazil out of the eyes of our government.”

“
We know all about Murray,” Galveston told him.  “So you didn’t arrange a break-in to steal the prototype?”

“
A break-in?  Heavens no.  Chase said he had the prototype and Murray was to transport the battery to Brazil for production using his private plane under a foreign registration .  I didn’t ask how and I didn’t want to know.  We called the project
Adamanthea
.” Placer said, beginning to feel more comfortable, probably relieved he could get all this off his chest.

“
There are probably some other things you need to know, Placer.” 

Galveston
began to relate the same story we had explained almost three times this day.  Placer grew horrified at the news of the explosions and the murders of the three men.  He truly was in the dark.  It became evident to us and him that he was being played the patsy.

“
I can’t believe it,” was all he could muster saying.  “This could implicate all of Black Bear because of Murray’s actions.  He’s still on the payroll of the company.”

“
I know,” Galveston said.  “Was there anyone else that is involved with this?”

Placer hesitated at the question. 
“Only one other,” he started. “Senator Edward Eastman, another one of Chase’s contacts.  He has been working on legislation for us to import the product with no import tax.”  Placer remembered how Chase had insisted the Senator needed to be involved in the operation.

Galveston
saw the connections clearly now, as did I.  Placer and Black Bear were being set up, and the Senator was in on it.

“
I don’t understand why Chase would do this,” Placer told us.

“
When the news of this goes public, everyone will be coming after you and Black Bear.  They won’t care how it started.  It would be his word against yours and he’s eliminated every other link in the chain,” Galveston responded.

“
But what can I do?”  Placer asked.

“
If you cooperate, I can get you some leniency from the government.  I’ve been given permission to offer that.  It will be up to them as to how much.  I can tell you that if you don’t help us, the Feds will go after you to the fullest extent of the law.”

“
I don’t care now.  I’ll do anything to get them.  What do you need me to do?”

“
We need you to contact the Senator and get him to go to San Diego the day after tomorrow.  Tell him that Ecomax is releasing the product there and it’s imperative that he be there.  I don’t care how you do it, just get him there.  The best you can do now is co-operate, because the FBI is watching you as we speak.”

“
Whatever you need, I just want to make things right,” Placer said placing his head in his hands. 

“
Good, we’ll be in touch.  Federal agents will be outside your house for safety until we contact you.  Don’t speak to anyone until we tell you.”

“
I understand.  I’ll do what you say.”  Placer answered.

I followed
Galveston out of the door and Elizabeth trailed behind, staying out of sight of Placer.  She had heard every word and didn’t need to get involved.  We walked down the stairs and out of the front door, onto a circular driveway.

“
How’d we do?”  I asked him.

“
I think pretty well.  We didn’t resort to breaking his legs so I would deem it a success.  I didn’t realize how far in the dark he was.  Chase has planned this well.”

“
I agree,” Elizabeth added.  “This goes far beyond what I could have imagined.”

“
Chase is setting Black Bear up.  I can’t believe we missed that.  He must have hired Murray independently, and he must have an arrangement with the Senator,” Galveston added.

The plan was ingenious and we discussed it as we walked back to the guardhouse.  From what we could infer from our info
rmation Chase hired Murray when Black Bear was working for Global Energy.  He must have arranged the break in to Dr. Sloan’s lab and stolen the prototypes, then had Murray arrange to transport them to Brazil making sure there was no trail that could lead back to them.  That is why he eliminated Espinosa.  Then, when they got it to Brazil, they had it reverse engineered. 

We walked straight through the gate and gave the guard a wave.  It was sort of a test
.  Galveston wanted to see if Placer was going to tell the guard that we had just broken into his home.  The guard didn’t move or say anything, and opened the gate for us.  We walked down the sidewalk until there was a screeching of tires.  Jane had seen us and stopped the car.