Zero Separation (3 page)

They'd both known that the movie was being made, and when she'd asked him about it, Donovan hadn't seemed concerned or even acted interested. Despite his history with Meredith. Despite the certainty that he would be depicted poorly in the film. His position was that everything between him and Meredith had happened twenty years ago and that he was happy Meredith's work was still relevant after all this time. End of subject.

She slid the disk into the computer and moved through the prompts until the first images appeared on the screen. A dirt road cut through a lush jungle, the faint sounds of screaming began to grow—there were shouts of alarm and the distant wail of emergency vehicles. The screams began to draw closer and were filled with more immediate urgency. An image began to take shape, a light-colored object surrounded by darkness. Slowly, the screen came into focus to show stark images of Meredith Barnes's murdered body being discovered in a muddy field outside San Jose, Costa Rica. A rapid-fire burst of still pictures ripped across the screen, actual photos from that day. Meredith's sightless eyes, her hair and chalk-white skin matted with blood from the single bullet wound to her forehead.

Lauren watched as the scene faded and was replaced with a young Meredith Barnes, smiling and laughing for the camera. Images showed a warm photo montage of her love for the outdoors as she went through adolescence and then graduated from college. Lauren, as well as most of the world, knew the story. Fresh out of school, Meredith Barnes had traveled the world researching and writing what would become her best-selling book,
One Earth
. Part science, part spiritual expedition, her book, along with her movie-star good looks, thrust her center stage. Her message wasn't just about what was wrong—but how each and every one of us could do something to heal our planet. Hollywood, captivated by Meredith's passion for life, showcased her journey and her message in a motion picture. The world fell in love with her.

After the movie, she produced and hosted a wildly popular television series about the hot-topic issues. Crisscrossing the globe, she and her crew dramatically illustrated how we were harming our planet. She highlighted what needed to be done to stop the damage. She was a frequent guest on late night talk shows. She participated in hot-topic political discussions. She held court at countless environmental rallies, speaking for a voiceless planet and championing a better future. She enlisted powerful allies—Princess Diana, Bono, Elton John, as well as other high profile A-list celebrities
to further her causes. The public couldn't get enough—Meredith's fiery temperament coupled with boundless compassion made her a media darling. She influenced politicians and policy makers on a global scale, yet she always came across as warm and genuine.

Meredith's message: peace and conservation, a no-borders philosophy that would serve to save our “one earth” from everything we were doing to destroy it. As Lauren watched and listened, she understood all over again how Meredith had become such a cherished figure in the eyes of the world—and why she was still relevant. Part emissary for the planet, part celebrity, Meredith had touched millions of people. Beautiful and intelligent, powerfully charismatic, using soft-spoken kindness when needed—and her intense passion when calm diplomacy failed.

Lauren fast-forwarded through Meredith's college years then began watching again when she recognized the famous footage of Meredith tearing up a three-million-dollar check written to her foundation by billionaire oilman Robert Huntington. Meredith threw the pieces in his face, poked him in the chest with her index finger, and demanded to know how the heir to the Huntington Oil fortune could sleep at night. She rattled off a dozen ways his multinational company was killing the planet. The narrator of the documentary used the confrontation as evidence of ground zero in a bold conspiracy employed by Robert Huntington and Huntington Oil to murder Meredith Barnes.

The movie continued. Following the fireworks from that first meeting, it explained that Robert sought Meredith out, used her, and manipulated her by proposing a series of initiatives that led Huntington Oil to appear as if they were on the forefront of responsible energy-recovery methods. But the film implied that Huntington had another agenda: he seduced her to get close enough to orchestrate her death. The screen filled with images of the two of them as they traveled the world, their movements tracked by both Hollywood and Wall Street. One shot in particular of Robert and Meredith kissing distressed Lauren to the point
that she looked away, as if she were intruding. The narrator continued to reiterate that Huntington was nothing more than a ruthless sociopath. A deeply flawed man who had no problems using a potent combination of charm and his unlimited supply of money in a premeditated, brutal plan to destroy Meredith Barnes and her message.

Lauren watched as the narrator explained that Huntington continued the charade of their relationship, that he exploited their combined influence by arranging an environmental summit in Costa Rica. An unprecedented gathering of political dignitaries and business leaders from all over the world convened to reduce the destruction of the rain forests, to develop alternative energy for emerging economies, and to set controls on commercial fishing as well as ban harvesting of oceanic mammals. By all comparisons to previous attempts, the Costa Rica summit promised to be an epic rally on behalf of our planet, but according to the narrator, Robert Huntington had other plans.

What followed was a series of events Lauren had never heard. The narrator provided details. That despite threats against visiting diplomats and even toward Meredith herself, she and Huntington had left the safety of the host hotel. The trip was unannounced. En route to a rented villa, their limousine was stopped, their driver killed, and Meredith taken at gunpoint. The only living witness to the alleged abduction was Huntington himself, who was beaten badly. Later this was used as evidence of how far he was willing to go to destroy Meredith. A ten-million-dollar ransom demand materialized almost immediately by way of an anonymous letter left at the hotel. The summit evaporated. Weeks of investigations by the police, plus unending posturing by the Costa Rican and American authorities, resulted in nothing except Meredith's death.

Huntington, it was explained, did very little at first. He was a billionaire and yet the ransom demand was initially ignored. It was only later that he started assembling the cash, a delay that pointed to his culpability in Meredith's demise. When he finally had the
money, he demanded proof of life; he wanted to speak with Meredith. When the phone call finally came, Robert took the call. It was late at night, and to this day, no one knows what was said. The equipment that should have recorded the conversation was somehow switched off by the police on duty. The next day, Meredith's body was found in a muddy field. She'd been murdered. The backlash was immediate and unyielding. Blamed for everything from refusing to pay for her release to being the actual murderer, Robert Huntington was charged, tried, and sentenced in the court of public opinion. No one was sure what happened to the ten million dollars. Virtually overnight, Robert Huntington became the most hated man in America—if not the world.

Meredith's funeral, attended by a Who's Who of politicians and celebrities, was broadcast around the world. Robert Huntington was notably absent. Instead, a series of photos were published, showing Robert Huntington on an unnamed beach with a young blonde woman. The images fueled the public's unwavering rage toward Robert Huntington—a bitter hate still alive after twenty years.

Family and close friends of Meredith Barnes were interviewed, as well as an array of celebrities and law enforcement experts. All expressed their belief that Meredith had been murdered by Huntington and his oil industry cronies and this verbal condemnation led up to the vivid
New York Times
headline that announced that Robert Huntington was dead. Lauren cringed when the plane crash death of Robert Huntington was celebrated, as if the planet itself had exacted some sort of karma for his atrocities and killed him for what he'd done to Meredith Barnes.

Lauren hit the stop button and was relieved when the screen went black. She hated what she'd seen, and for the moment she didn't know what was real and what was fabricated. This was the first she'd heard of previous threats against Meredith, or the delay in assembling the ransom, or the final phone call, or that there was a question about the ten million dollars. She, of course, knew a much different story, the one that couldn't be told. First and fore-most
she knew that Robert Huntington hadn't died in a plane crash. She knew he'd been devastated by Meredith's death. She knew that he had eventually orchestrated his own death, that he'd gone to Europe for appearance-altering surgeries. Lauren was one of six people in the world who knew the truth. The reason she knew all of this: the man who used to be Robert Huntington was now Donovan Nash, the man she'd married.

“Eco-Watch zero one, this is Boca Raton tower. West Palm Beach informed us you've taken a lightning strike. Do you need assistance?”

“Negative.” Donovan replied, and then took a quick look over his shoulder into the cabin.

“Still burning?” Michael asked.

“No change.”

The Gulfstream touched down smoothly on the main gear. Michael expertly lowered the nose, deployed the thrust reversers, and brought the
da Vinci
to a quick stop. They'd beat the approaching storms, but the squall line was bearing down on Boca Raton as they pulled clear of the runway.

Ground control issued instructions, and Michael swung the
da Vinci
onto the taxiway that would take them to the Executive Ramp. In the distance, Donovan could see Boca Raton Aviation, the hangars and offices brightly lit. They had managed to land ahead of the storm, but one look at the western skyline told them the thunderstorms were only minutes away. Ahead, the doors to a large hangar were open as the line crew pushed a plane into an already packed space.

As the
da Vinci
rolled onto the main ramp, one of the linemen jumped into a golf cart and raced across the tarmac, waving his lighted batons to guide them. They were directed toward a row of larger planes parked well away from both the office and hangar. The planes were dark, the engine covers installed, obviously not scheduled to leave anytime soon. Donovan spotted one empty space situated between a Gulfstream and a Global Express; it was
just big enough for the
da Vinci
. He brought the Gulfstream to a rest, shutdown the engines, set the brakes, and turned off the electrical power.

Donovan threw off his harness and raced to the rear of the plane. Using his flashlight in the darkened cabin it was easy to locate the source of the wisps of white smoke: the control module for the new high-resolution camera array they'd just installed. Donovan threw open the door to a cabinet and grabbed a tool pouch. He found the screwdriver, quickly backed out the fasteners, then slid the unit from the rack. He twisted apart the Cannon plug and ran with the smoldering box toward the door.

As he lowered the airstair, the warm humid air poured in from the stiffening breeze. The sudden peal of thunder told him the weather was closer than he'd expected, and he realized how good it felt to be on the ground. He hurried down the stairs past the lineman standing below to set the still-burning component on the ground a safe distance away from the plane.

“What happened to that?” the lineman asked.

“Nothing, it just got a little overheated. It'll be fine.”

“Okay, what can I do for you? Do you have passengers?”

“No, it's just the two of us. We're here until at least tomorrow. Is there any way we can get this into a hangar?”

The lineman slid back behind the wheel of his golf cart. “The hangar's already full. At least until the storms move through. Talk to the girl inside; she'll be able to help you with that.”

Donovan nodded that he understood, and the lineman whipped a sharp U-turn and sped across the ramp. Heading back up the stairs, Donovan met Michael at the top. “We're on our own for now.”

“I checked the back—nothing else is smoking,” Michael replied as he hurriedly threw on a windbreaker. “I'm going to go outside and check the exterior for damage while I can.”

“Wait, I'm coming with you,” Donovan said, “then I'll start making some phone calls.”

Donovan grabbed his own jacket, and the two of them trundled
down the airstair and stared at the nose of the Gulfstream. It didn't take Michael long to find the pinhole defect in the composite cone that covered the weather radar. A tiny burn mark outlined where the bolt of lightning had struck the airframe.

“That's not bad,” Michael ran his fingers over the small indentation. “Maintenance can patch that until we can get a replacement.”

Donovan nodded and the two of them walked to the right side of the
da Vinci
. Michael played his flashlight back and forth across the smooth aluminum skin, looking for anything out the ordinary. Then they checked the wing, ducked underneath the airplane, and came up near the tail. The moment his light illuminated the tail-cone, the damage became obvious. They could see that the housing for the navigation light was missing and the paint charred. The million or so volts from the lightning surge had raced through the airframe and finally found a spot to exit the aluminum tube and arc back out into the atmosphere.

“Wow, that bolt didn't mess around, did it?” Michael pointed toward the jagged metal where the housing used to be.

Donovan could see the ends of the wires. They looked melted.

“Based on this, we need some maintenance people to give everything a good once-over before we go anywhere.”

Donovan felt the first drops of rain hit his face. “I'm going to go back inside the plane and make some phone calls. Once I cancel tomorrow's flight, I'll call Gulfstream and get to work on shuttling some maintenance guys in here first thing.”