Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1) (6 page)

Chapter 17 (March 3, Monday 6:30pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

              It was early evening when Jeff finally finished up his last conference call meeting and opened the door to his office. As he stepped out of his office, he saw his administrative assistant still seated at her desk. Normally she would have already left for the day, however, based upon the urgency in Dana Cogswell’s voice when she dropped off the large manila envelope, the assistant felt compelled to personally hand it over to Mr. Kolosky before leaving.

              “Dana Cogswell came by a while ago and asked me to make sure you got this,” said the assistant, as she handed over the large manila envelope to Jeff.

              “Thank you. I was hoping to get a chance to review this information tonight before I left the office,” responded Jeff, as he anxiously looked at the package. “I appreciate the fact that you hung around here waiting for me, but go home now and enjoy the rest of your evening. I won’t need any additional help tonight.”

              The administrative assistant privately beamed over Mr. Kolosky’s appreciation of her efforts as she shut down her computer and put on her winter coat to leave. As she walked out of her office, and Jeff returned to his, the two said goodbye.

              With his office door closed he opened the manila envelope and poured out the contents. A small and innocuous single DVD was all that fell out of it. He quickly inserted it into his computer’s DVD drive. A few seconds later a video window popped up on his computer screen and a high definition video started playing. Both the video and sound were clear and crisp, and featured in it was none other than the United States’ Vice President Houlton and a young beautiful South American girl.

              “Dana was right,” thought Jeff. “There’s no doubt that this is the Vice President of the United States. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a video recording that had the quality of a Sasquatch sighting. Moreover, there were no breaks in the filming. Just one long continuous recording of a despicable person performing a despicable act on a defenseless person.  There was no need to have the video authenticated by the IT guys. It was clearly legitimate and the fewer people that saw it the better for all.”

              Jeff knew he had to call Christos Grivas back and report what he had observed on the video. However, thirty minutes after the video had finished playing he was still just staring vacantly at his computer screen. The brutality of what he had just witnessed by the Vice President touched a raw nerve in him. A nerve that he had thought he had buried a long time ago when working his way up the ABO corporate ladder. Pity for someone other than himself. Seeing the young woman violently raped by the egomaniac Vice President had brought back feelings of guilt with some of his own actions and decisions over the years. Not acts of violence as he had just witnessed. But instead, of being actively complicit to a CEO and Board of Directors who tacitly conveyed a message of “the end justifies the means” in accomplishing a larger and greater global good.

              Jeff sat back in his chair and thought how far he had come, and sank, from his college years majoring in journalism. As a 21 year old graduating senior he had told himself back then that first and foremost he would use his sharpened and honed journalistic skills to produce honest and accurate work to his readership, whomever that would be. “Where did I go off track?” he said to himself.

              As he pondered this last question his cell phone rang. He looked down and saw it was Christos Grivas. He let the phone ring three more times before he had composed himself enough to hit the answer button and tell Mr. Grivas what he had just
w
atched.             

Chapter 18 (March 4, Tuesday 10:00am Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

              Dave was sitting behind his desk reviewing a patent application that his company was filing on a new biological threat sensor that used nano-scale lasers when his phone rang. It was Dana.

              “Hey Dana,” answered Dave. “How are you doing this fine winter morning?”

              “Not so good,” replied Dana. “I just came out of a meeting with Jeff. Suffice it to say he was non-committal at this point in running or even reporting the video. He claimed he is concerned about the recordings authenticity.”

              “I’m not surprised,” interjected Dave.

“He said he would let me know next week if he’ll run it, or bury it, but I’m not hopeful. He also asked me to turn over all copies of the video to him to ensure ABO had exclusivity to it. I agreed I would give him my backup copy knowing you had the original.”

“Sounds like he plans to bury it,” responded Dave. “But that’s fine. The story will be told, with or without his and ABO’s senior management’s help.”

              “It’s not fine,” replied Dana. “I just can’t believe that Jeff would do this. Any respect I had for him has totally vaporized.”

              “Dana, keep in mind who his boss is, and who the majority stock holder is in ABO,” responded Dave. “I’ll bet he had very little choice in the matter. To be honest, I expected this response. And, they haven’t officially said no yet. We’ll just have to wait it out a week to see what we’re really up against.”

              “I could see it in his eyes Dave,” replied Dana. “Jeff’s words were saying it’s possible they will run it, but his eyes were clearly relaying a different message. You could tell he was nervous and uncomfortable talking to me. He could barely look up at me when he spoke. He was guilty. ABO’s going to bury it.”

              “Fine, we will give them a week,” said Dave. “If they don’t run it, we’ll go to plan B a little sooner than I anticipated having to do so. We’ve been working on something new here at NSurv that will render ABO, and its wayward media brethren, irrelevant. Once again it’s time the public be regularly informed of objective and newsworthy information, such as is the case with this report on the Vice President. Maybe then the public will begin to make smarter decisions in the voting booth.”

              “What are you specifically saying Dave?” asked Dana.

“For now,” replied Dave hesitantly, “someone else is going to need to step up and serve as the fourth branch of government in our country, since your industry has become polluted by the corrupt power that now owns and controls it.”

Dana was unclear with what Dave was suggesting, however, she could tell in his voice he was very serious and determined. She decided not to press him for specifics over the phone. She would plan to visit him soon out in Idaho. Dave and his team obviously had bigger plans than just catching bad politicians in action. She trusted in him, that whatever he had planned, it was in the best interest of both the country and the American citizen.

“Fine Dave,” replied Dana. “I will let you go for now and call you as soon as I learn anything more from Jeff”.

“Good, I look forward to hearing back from you soon.”

After the two hung up their phones, the circuit connection remained active for a couple of seconds longer before finally being terminated.

Chapter 19 (March 4, Tuesday 2:00pm Atlantic Standard Time)

              Dimitris Barbas was relaxing and soaking in the sun on his 125 meter luxury yacht. It was anchored a quarter mile offshore of Cinnamon Bay beach on the west side of St. John Virgin Island. Though nearly 75 years old, Barbas still looked amazingly fit and youthful. He had once been married, however, he had been a widower for the past twenty years. His wife had died in a freak accidental pool drowning at their home, even though she had been a star swimmer on her university’s swim team during her youth.

              With his billionaire financial status, and relatively good looks, he had felt no compelling reason to remarry. Too many hassles, excuses, and apologies would have been required over the years. This said, he always had at least one woman beside him at most times. Today was no different. A beautiful blond woman 40 years his junior lie beside him dozing in a chassis lounge chair on the top deck of his yacht. He had met her three years earlier at a conference on solving world hunger. They had hit it off well at the conference and she had become one of his off and on companions since then. They had an open relationship and they both preferred it that way.

              Dimitris was just swallowing the last remnants of his tropical Rum drink when his cell phone started vibrating on the table next to him. It was Christos Grivas calling him. He had been anticipating the call.

              “Hello Christos,” said Dimitris as he answered the phone speaking in Greek. “So what have you learned about this Ms. Cogswell and more importantly the source of her tape?”

              “Well first, she’s agreed to Jeff to turn over her additional copies of the video,” replied Christos. “It was agreed to with the understanding that we were still evaluating the legitimacy of the video before deciding to run with it, and that we also wanted to be assured exclusivity. She apparently saw the rationale of our request.”

              “Good, I like hearing about my employees doing the right thing,” commented Dimitris. “So how about the source of the video? Were our friends able to help us out with that?”

              “Yes, we’ve been monitoring Ms. Cogswell’s work, home and mobile phone services since she came to us with the video,” responded Christos. “We’ve also been able to get listing reports of all her placed and received phone calls, on all three services for the past month. As a reporter she makes and receives a lot of phone calls, however, it appears that a phone number located out in west-central Idaho could be of most interest.”

              “What makes you think so?” questioned Dimitris.

              “Because it is the phone number of a Mr. Dave Henson,” responded Christos. “He had called her three days before she received the video, and more significantly she called him shortly after her first meeting with Jeff on the video.”

              “Interesting,” responded Dimitris. “But what besides coincidental timing makes you suspect this Dave Henson could be a person of interest. As you said, Ms. Cogswell, as any investigative reporter, places and receives many phone calls each day.

              “Because Mr. Henson is a high tech genius originally from Silicon Valley,” explained Christos. “More importantly he runs a company that he founded three years ago called NSurv, Inc. The company produces nanotechnology surveillance sensor products. I believe you may even be familiar with him through some of your previous business dealings out in the San Francisco bay area.”

              “You’re right,” said Dimitris in a hushed tone as he stared out at the Caribbean Sea. “The name did sound vaguely familiar. I think we need to pay Mr. Henson and NSurv an unexpected visit. How soon can you have a couple of your guys head out to Idaho?” questioned Dimitris.

              “The wheels are already in motion,” responded Christos. “I have Lazaro and Cristian enroute to Idaho to do some investigating, and if appropriate, to deliver a message.”

              “Excellent, let me know as soon as you hear back from them,” said Dimitris. “In the meantime, I’ll make a phone call to the White House and remind them to put a shorter leash on their dog, before I permanently have to muzzle him.”

              Dimitris hit the off button on his mobile phone and looked over at the scantily clad lithe woman still dozing next to him. Regrettably he was going to have to leave her for a few days. He was headed for San Francisco on Friday for a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, but he first wanted to personally pay a visit to the White House to discuss the Vice President. After further consideration after hanging up with Christos, he decided a phone call to the White House wasn’t going to be a strong enough message. He needed to look the U.S. President in the eye to make his message crystal clear.

Chapter 20 (March 5, Wednesday 8:00am Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

              Although it was early March, and officially still winter for another couple of weeks, it was a beautiful and balmy morning in west central Idaho. The temperature was a comfortable 40
o
F, there was no wind, and the sky was an emerald blue with not a cloud in sight. It was the perfect morning for taking the Aviat A-1C-200 Husky out for some back-country flying. Though it was a regular work day at NSurv, Dave had asked Ron to join him for a morning flight down to Boise. The trip involved a bit more than sightseeing, however. Dave needed to pick up several new special VHF radios that they were going to need while out in San Francisco over the weekend. These particular radios weren’t your standard VHF radios. They included unique customer programmable encryption features that ensured secure communications between only intended parties.

              Ron drove up to the parking area adjacent to the hanger in his Ford Explorer and used his pass key to open the chain-link fence gate that gave him access to the airport’s flight line. He walked over to the open hanger where Dave had just finished completing his pre-flight of his Husky two-seater tail dragger.

              “We’re taking this toy down to Boise,” exclaimed Ron, as he looked at the rag and tube aircraft.

              “What do you mean toy,” Dave responded feigning insult. “With its 200 horse power engine, this bird cruises at 143 MPH and can climb at 1,700 feet per minute. Moreover, it has a range of 828 miles with a maximum useful payload of 880 lbs. But more importantly, it has phenomenal Short field Take Off and Landing (STOL) performance. It can take off in as little as 265 feet and has a landing ground roll of only 398 feet. How dare you call this aircraft, a work of engineering art, a toy?” questioned Dave as he smiled at Ron.

              “It may be all you say,” replied Ron as he looked at the Aviat Husky. “But it isn’t any Boeing 757, something most civilized people are used to flying in.”

              “You call commercial aviation civilized,” retorted Dave questionably. “Squeezed in like sardines and fed doggy biscuits for snacks. You call that humane and civilized treatment? Heck, I’ve got a bridge to sell you if the airline industry has successfully convinced you they’re doing you a great service.”

              “Nah, they’re all terrible,” said Ron. “I’m just not too excited about jumping into this little thing.”

              “Don’t sweat it,” replied Dave. “You’ll love the experience and trust me, it’s an extremely safe and rugged plane. Like its predecessor and competitor, the Piper Super Cub, this aircraft is used all the time in business applications. For example, oil companies use these aircrafts for inspecting their pipelines. Similarly, it’s used for federal border control monitoring, ranching, and various other utility missions.”

              “Fine, fine, just tell me how to get into this thing,” replied Ron as he approached the Husky.

              Dave showed Ron how to work his way into the rear seat of the aircraft and then got in himself. He then started up the aircraft and taxied down to the departure end of Runway 34. After completing the Husky’s run-up checklist he transmitted his intentions over the aircraft radio for departing Runway 34. He then taxied the aircraft out onto the runway and aligned the nose of the Husky aircraft with the runway’s centerline. As soon as he applied full throttle, the small aircraft instantly began accelerating down the runway. Less than 10 seconds later the plane was off the ground and climbing fast up into the Idaho skies. Two minutes later the aircraft was on a southerly heading, cruising at 140 MPH at 3,000 feet above ground level.

              Dave flew the Husky towards Boise, Idaho pretty much following Rte. 55, which worked its way southward to Boise. However, when he approached the northern tip of Lake Cascade he dropped down to 500 feet AGL to see who and what was out on the still frozen lake. Lake Cascade is a long and large 47 square mile manmade reservoir lake that is nestled in the mountains of Idaho.  Other than a few caribou and a couple of die-hard ice fisherman the lake was pretty desolate.

              “It’s certainly not an exciting place this time of year,” commented Dave.

              “Nope, but it is God’s country,” responded Ron as he sat staring out the Husky’s large windows marveling at the beauty of the lake, mountains and sky all around him. He had to admit, flying in the Husky was definitely more exciting and interesting than being in a Boeing 757.

              “We should be on the ground in Boise in about 15 minutes,” responded Dave. “So just sit back and enjoy the rest of the flight. I’m going to pop us back up to 3,000 AGL and start making preparations for our arrival and landing.”

              As Dave prepared for bringing the plane into Boise, Ron just stared out at the Idaho scenery and contemplated their trip to the Bay area on Friday. What a far different trip that would be. Instead of enjoying the natural beauty of this gorgeous back country, they’d be covertly stepping into the den of some of the most devious people on the planet. People that publically claimed to care for the masses and the health of the planet, but who more often than not, held their own personal self-interests in higher consideration. It was a dangerous endeavor that Dave and he were pursuing, but it was a danger that was well worth the risk. This group was taking the country back to a different place. A place not so different than the countries that so many of our nation’s immigrants had originally fled from. They needed to be stopped fast and it was NSurv that would do it.