“Good,” responded Clay as he accepted the envelope.
“Nancy… you’re next.”
Nancy hesitated, looking around the room and finally settling on Marty, “Before I start, I want to apologize to Mr. Cooper. I didn’t tell you what I am about to say because I… didn’t know ‘what’ to do. I am sorry, Mr. Cooper.”
“Go on, Nancy,” nudged Clay.
“Mr. Cooper, one of the things that did not show up on my resume was that I am an amateur electronics and computer geek… as a hobby. As I was setting up the electronic equipment for the new office, I became aware that there were either physical or electronic bugs on everything.”
Rob’s eyebrows shot up. I’ll be damned, he thought, she knew all along.
“Did you do anything?” asked Richard.
“No. As I said, I didn’t know what to do. I confided in Kelly because I thought she would know what to do.”
Richard turned to Kelly, “Kelly, did you do anything?”
Kelly shook her head.
“Just to clarify, no one else, that we know of, is aware that the ‘bugs’ have been discovered, other than the man who installed them… Rob Schafers.”
After the buzz from this revelation, Richard turned to Rob, “Rob recently severed his relationship with Tom Chiles as a security consultant and has agreed to cooperate with us fully. His rapport and past services with Chiles are invaluable. Rob, why don’t you start at the very beginning of your relationship with Tom Chiles.”
Haltingly, Rob traced his history with Tom Chiles from their military comradeship to the rancorous split a few days ago. "This is difficult for me on many fronts. Although some of my services have bordered, at the very least, on illegality, it became apparent to me that his intentions had reached a level of revulsion that I could not suppress.
“Which leads me to the case in point. Yes, I installed all of the surveillance systems in both the Cooper Consulting offices and Mr. Cooper’s home.”
He turned to Marty, "It’s small solace and I am not offering this as an excuse, but it was all installed at the request of Tom Chiles. I tell you this to expand your awareness.
“In my opinion, Tom Chiles will go to any extent to further his own avarice and expand the unconscionable greed of Big Pharma.”
Until now, they all had kept their thoughts to themselves. …But …time seemed to freeze as Rob’s scathing indictment left no doubt as to the next logical conclusion.
Before anyone could put the words to this presumption, Clay raised his hands. “Hold it,” he commanded, “now it is Richard and my turn to talk.” Everyone exhaled as if on cue.
Richard began, "I’m sure all of you remember the long running TV show, ‘Law and Order.’ Well, let’s not move to the ‘Order’ part of the show before we complete the ‘Law’ portion.
“Through Clay’s efforts on the cruise ship itself, we lifted a fingerprint from some evidence that certainly ties in with some other witness IDs we will hear about later. Additionally, the preliminary autopsy report indicates that the congressman may have been injected with a little-known drug called Aconite which causes heart failure. The drug degenerates rapidly in the blood, but we were fortunate to be able to capture some blood before any deterioration occurred. The blood analysis confirmed we have a murder on our hands.”
This was the first time that the word had been used and it put a further damper on the mood.
“Additionally,” continued Richard, “we have received confirmation from the fingerprint and identified the presumed assassin. That is the good news. The bad news is, he is in Dallas and has made contact with Mr. Chiles, as witnessed by Miss Styles and Freeman.”
Noticing the shocked looks on Marty, Rob, and Nancy, Clay jumped in, “Yes, the two girls, by accident, happened to see a brief encounter between Mr. Chiles and the suspect and Miss Styles recognized him. Unfortunately, he recognized her as well.”
Clay couldn’t help but notice Pam, Kelly, and Nancy looking at each other. “What is it, ladies?”
They looked back and forth until, finally, Pam spoke, “We were finishing our drinks just before coming here and as we walked by a table, I noticed the ring on the man reading the newspaper at the table directly behind us. It was the same ring that was on the hand of the man on the ship.”
Clay became very agitated, “How could he possibly have known you were there?”
“I don’t know,” offered Pam, “perhaps he followed us and we didn’t notice.”
Clay looked over to Richard. They both shook their heads in disgust. Richard picked up his cell and punched a number as he walked out of the room.
Kelly and Nancy looked at each other and finally, Kelly spoke. “That means he knows all of us. Are we in danger?” she asked, looking at Clay.
Clay hesitated for a moment, “I don’t see why. You and Nancy don’t pose him any threat.”
The girls both signed in relief.
Richard opened the door and asked to talk to Clay. As Clay walked into the hall, Richard clicked off his cell. “He saw an old man walk into the restaurant about a minute after Pam and sat reading a newspaper in the booth behind them. He showed no interest in them. When they left, he was still there when our agent followed the girls.”
“How did he not see the man ‘tailing’ them?” asked Clay.
Richard responded, “The guy wasn’t there when our agent got out of his car.”
“Then how did the guy know where the girls were?”
There was silence.
Then Richard said, “Maybe he put a ‘bug’ on her car. I’ll go down and check.”
“OK,” agreed Clay and went back into the room. “Sorry for the interruption. Basically, we have covered the things we know. Is there anything else that anyone has to offer?”
Rob spoke up, “Before the cruise, there was an incident with Pam in Tom’s office.” Rob went on to describe the attack and his subsequent conversations with Tom Chiles.
Once again, Marty and Nancy were shocked.
“Are you saying that Derek Morell attacked Pam?” asked Marty.
“Yes,” said Rob, “but it has nothing to do with this situation. It related to Derek’s insecurity and trying to read a file in Tom’s safe.”
Clay spoke up, “Rob, do you think Derek should be a suspect in this investigation?”
“No, and here’s why. Chiles always compartmentalizes everything. In the overview, he has been training Derek for years to be his second-in-command. That grooming has been in the nature of eroding his basic moral fiber to handle the much larger illegal and amoral functions required in a Big Pharma executive. In Tom’s mind, Derek has not degenerated to that stage.”
Rob turned to Marty, “Marty, I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you that you are the ‘next one in the barrel.’ You are being groomed to be squeezed for everything, including your algorithm patents, and then tossed to the wolves.” He turned back to the group just as Richard reentered the room and nodded at Clay, confirming the ‘bug’ on the car.
Rob continued, "The ends to which these people will go is boundless. We are sitting here, investigating the assassination of a United States congressman solely because he had the temerity to question the research findings of a new drug. Here’s a few questions that I finally had to ask myself:
‘Why is Big Pharma the largest lobbying entity in Washington?’
‘Why has no one ever questioned the veracity of FDA edicts when a substantial portion of their budget comes from Big Pharma? No chance of a conflict of interest there!’
‘Why has Big Pharma, with the help of the FDA, doctors, and medical educational institutions consistently, over the past seventy-five years, denigrated the historical proof of natural solutions?’
‘Why have natural solutions (verified by reputable medical experts) to major medical issues like cancer, Alzheimer’s, autism, diabetes, vaccines (to name a few) been systematically vilified, along with their proponents, to the point of extinction?’"
Rob continued, “I am ashamed that I have participated in these unspeakable enterprises for all these years. The only saving grace is that I never crossed any legal boundaries. The moral boundaries are a different issue, to be dealt with by my conscience.”
He looked around the table, "I think I am safe in saying that those of us in this room working in the industry have been, to some degree, coopted by the money.
“Why do you think that thousands of good people, with even a glimmer of intelligence, continue to silently propel this hypocrisy forward?”
……Silence.
“Fear and ‘contempt prior to investigation’ are both major components. But let’s never forget the famous line from the Tom Cruise movie… ‘Show me the money.’”
Everyone stared silently as Rob shook his head, "I will climb off my soapbox now. But let me just close with a view from my experience in the industry.
"Nothing… and I mean ‘nothing,’ is off limits if anything or anyone threatens this trillion-dollar industry. Mysterious accidents, frivolous lawsuits, anything and everything is on the menu.
"Marty… the breakthroughs you have made with your algorithms, proven by the last presidential elections, are monumental for Big Pharma. They will be able to target the marketing of a specific drug for a specific patient’s specific problem to any of the patient’s communication devices. The manipulation potential is enormous. It’s George Orwell’s 1984 on steroids.
“Whether we like it or not, we all are in this monumentally evil game and we are not equipped.”
A hush fell over the room as the ominous ideas settled in their collective consciousness.
“Thanks, Rob,” responded Clay, “your insight to Big Pharma is valuable as well as frightening. As large as this case is, it’s obvious this investigation has ramifications beyond this room. Further, to your comments of the dangers involved, Richard has some further enlightenment.”
Richard nodded, "I just investigated Miss Styles’ car and discovered there has been a ‘bug’ attached to the vehicle, which is how the man was able to follow her.
"Our security man had already entered Mariano’s when he pulled into the parking lot, so we were unaware of his arrival. He appeared to be just another customer.
“I have left the device on the vehicle so the perpetrator will not know we have discovered the ‘bug’. I also have added our own ‘bug’ for further security.”
Clay interrupted, "This demonstrates the necessity of constant vigilance. Although it appears Pam is the only target, who knows what could happen if Big Pharma gets ’wind’ of our speculations, so please be careful.
“We will be continuing tonight to follow other leads, but please contact me if you have any other thoughts. I want to evaluate this meeting and then come up with a plan, so for the moment, just operate in your normal manner.”
Clay rose as a signal that the meeting was over and they all started filing out. Clay grasped Rob’s arm, “Could you and Marty stay for a moment?”
“Of course,” responded Rob and waved to Marty.
When the others had left, Clay began, “As of now, I believe that Chiles is unaware that we have expanded this investigation to include him, and if that is the case, then our presence in the building could raise suspicions. I would like you to be our ‘eyes and ears’ in the building in case we need some immediate reaction. Marty, I am not expecting you to put yourself in danger and, hopefully, Rob can be nearby most of the time.”
“I was hoping you would keep me involved in some way,” responded Rob, “we just need to keep in mind that I am no longer involved with Chiles, Arken, so I must be fairly covert.”
Marty was looking a little awkward. “This is certainly out of my expertise, but I will do what I can,” he said.
“Good. Thank you both. Rob, I will be in touch with you tomorrow. Thanks, gentlemen.”
***
As Rob and Marty started back toward the office, Marty realized that in all the excitement, he had not turned his cell back on. He had three calls from Derek and two calls from Tom. Obviously, something was up.
He dialed Tom.
“Where the hell have you been?” growled Tom. Fortunately, Tom did not wait for an answer. “Have you seen what’s going on with our stock?” he yelled.
While frantically trying to pull up a headline on his cell, he tried to fake it. “Is it as bad as it looks?” he fumbled.
“What do ‘you’ think!” barked Tom, “the Hong Kong board looks like we will lose at least 15% of our value when we open in the morning. If I could get my hands on Trump’s neck…”
Marty saw an opening, “What ‘exactly’ did he say?”
“Never mind what he said, I need you here so we can ‘game plan’ a response before the market opens.”
Marty didn’t want to talk anymore until he could learn something, so he just said, “I’m on my way,” and clicked off.
Rob looked questionably at Marty, “Trouble?”
“Apparently, Trump made some statement about Big Pharma,” replied Marty as he looked at his cell, “…and the entire industry is tanking on the Asian market.”
Rob couldn’t help but chuckle, “Well, at least now they have a heavyweight in the ring with them.”
Marty sighed, “With the situation the way it is right now, I don’t know how to respond. He will be wanting me to put out a bunch of ‘flack’ and my heart is not in it.”
“Why did this have to happen tonight,” he muttered as he punched up Myra’s cell. “Hi, My, I just finished my meeting, but Tom called and I have to go in and handle some sort of crisis.” He paused, “…No, I don’t know how long. I’ll fill you in when I get home.”
* * *
Chapter 18
Monk had made another mistake! He just didn’t know it… yet! In his zeal to bully Tom into the second half of the payment, he had called an old acquaintance, Billy, from his childhood criminal days, and hired him to drive the car when Monk had picked up Tom. Monk had paid Billy a handsome fee and dismissed the event.
Had he taken the time, he would have learned that Billy worked for the same organization for which Monk, in his past, had done services.
When Billy reported to his bosses whom he had seen and what had transpired, they expressed a serious interest in speaking with Monk.
Billy and two very large men sat in a car down the street from the motel where Billy had originally picked up Monk.
Billy was telling his fellow passengers that he hoped Monk had not checked out when the room door opened and out stepped Monk. Or was it? Monk had donned another disguise and had Billy not been watching the room, he would have missed the target.
They cruised the car up to the parking lot and the two men jumped out and confronted Monk. His confidence in his disguise was such that he was genuinely confused by the interruption until he saw Billy. He slumped in the men’s arms as they dragged him into the back seat and the car roared off.
Monk had no time to struggle as the chloroform-soaked rag was jammed over his mouth.
***
“Good Morning, sunshine,” growled a voice. Monk tried to open his eyes, but to no avail. They seemed to be glued shut. He heard voices, but couldn’t comprehend the words.
The voice spoke again, “I think he’s coming around Boss,” and then Monk felt a sharp slap across his face.
“Mr. Monkman, I presume,” said a different voice. Monk’s eyes finally popped open. The room swam for a few seconds and then slowly came into focus as he stared into a face that was vaguely familiar.
“Ah,” said ‘the face,’ “I see a small glimmer of recognition. Well, it has been over twenty years. I can understand the confusion,” laughed ‘the face,’ “well… we are going to recollect some old times and when we are done, I am sure you will reach full recognition.”
As if rising from a murky swamp, some memories started to emerge and with them, came a deep dread. Then he knew! Tony Scaliarie!
Tony laughed again, “…aha…
so, you remember now. I must admit, Monk, I had forgotten about you and that’s not like me. I always ‘make it right’ when someone screws me and now it looks like I will keep my record intact.”
Monk squirmed, “Tony, I…”
“No… No… Monk, I’m doing the talking and you are doing the listening. Those are the opening ground rules. As I recall, before you disappeared, you had an outstanding debt with me of $100,000. Is that correct? Just nod yes or no.”
Monk nodded.
“Good,” said Tony, “we’re on the right track. Now I believe we contracted a certain job that, although completed, resulted in a house burning down for which we knocked off $50,000. Is that correct?”
“Tony… Please.”
“Just yes or no.”
“Yes… but.”
“Good. We’re getting along splendidly,” Tony pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Monk. “Now my calculations say that there was a remainder of $50,000 that has not been remitted for these past twenty years. I haven’t calculated the interest on the figure, but with my normal returns, we both know it is substantial.”
Monk hung his head.
"Having been associated with our enterprises in the past, I am sure you are aware that this situation, to say the least, is embarrassing. Sooo… How are we going to rectify it? I suppose, if you had the wherewithal, you would suggest that you just pay it and we all go on our merry way.
“That, however, leaves me with a difficult dilemma. I can’t have everyone just disappearing and hoping that they can reappear like magic, pay back the amount and go their merry way, with no retribution.”
The fear started spreading outward from Monk’s stomach.
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