Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack

by Daniel Ganninger

  “I better fill you in on what we’ve discovered. I think you’ll want to call your people again,” Galveston told her.

  “I’ll let you two talk. I still haven’t gotten my drink. Plus I want to see how annoyed Alex is,” I said walking out of the room. I was curious to see how Alex was getting along with his new suitemate.

  I expected him to have Dr. Sloan shoved in a closet somewhere, or worse, in a headlock. Alex didn’t like his freedom being impeded on by some outsider. He was barely able to handle the ribbing we gave him about his food and drink selections. I walked into the kitchen and stumbled on what could best be described as a reuniting of a long lost father and son.

  “Try this. It’s fantastic. From the south of Spain. Kind of earthy, with a hint of currant berry, right?” Alex was pouring a glass of wine for Dr. Sloan, and he in return squished it in his mouth while swirling the wine glass in his hand.

  “Ah, truly excellent. Yes, it holds its flavor in the back of my mouth. Is it an ’82?” Dr. Sloan asked.

  “No, it’s an ’84 Select,” Alex said proudly, smiling widely. “Tell me more about your theory on electromagnetic passive circuits. I still have questions,” Alex hurriedly asked, awaiting a response on bated breath from Dr. Sloan. Dr. Sloan swallowed and examined the glass.

  “Let me start from my initial discovery…” Dr. Sloan started, and then stopped after seeing me enter the room. “Hello Roger,” he said, smiling.

  “Hello, Dr. Sloan,” I answered.

  “Edward and I are discussing some of his early engineering theories. I can’t believe you and Galveston didn’t bring him earlier.” Alex looked over at Dr. Sloan. “I told them to bring you over here earlier Edward,” Alex said scolding Galveston me. I think I was going to be sick. An industrial vacuum couldn’t suck up harder than Alex at the moment.

  “I just want a drink of water, tap water,” I said moving past the two sommeliers. As I had my glass in hand, Galveston and Elizabeth burst into the room.

  “We’ve got an idea,” Galveston spoke boldly to everyone in the room. I determinedly continued my quest for a lousy drink of water. I was thirsty and had been interrupted by May’s arrival, our information gathering, and Alex’s and Dr. Sloan’s love fest. I just wanted a drink, and damned if I wasn’t going to get one.

  “Roger, pay attention and listen up. Elizabeth and I have a plan.” He shot me a glance while I almost broke the glass between my fingers. I set it down and sighed.

  “What?” I exclaimed.

  “We’ve been talking,” he continued, holding everyone’s attention for the earth shattering news, “and we’re getting married.” No one was amused. “Okay, Okay. We’ve been talking, and we’re going to Brazil.” He stood with a silly grin on his face, awaiting a reaction from all of us. Everyone stared back like a herd of cows.

  “Oh crap,” I said out loud in response. “That’s it? That’s your plan?”

  “Well, there’s more to it than that,” he answered me. “Don’t worry. I’ll fill in the details later.”

  “Oh, that’s great,” I shot back briefly. “Now can’t I just get a stupid drink of water?”

  -Chapter 42-

  Senator Eastman sat in his high back, leather chair with his arms folded, awaiting his turn to speak on new business. This was a day he had been awaiting for a long time. He had planned and scraped together all of his political favors for this opportunity. A fellow Senator from Wisconsin finished his statement and gave up the remainder of his time to the Senator from New Hampshire.

  Eastman motioned for his aide to hand him a blue binder. The timing couldn’t have been better. The dramatic event that occurred a day earlier in Nigeria would only help bolster his argument; a fortunate turn of events to bolster his piece of legislation.

  In the blue binder was his grand plan to force change and alter the nation’s energy policy. It contained many elements, but he planned to only introduce the first fragment of it. He figured the rest could wait until a later date. The Senator cleared his throat and took a small sip of water from a glass in front of him.

  “Thank you Senator,” Eastman announced. “Gentlemen, the events in Nigeria have exposed the flaws in our energy policy and our reliance on foreign sources of oil, and as a nation, our reliance on fossil fuels. It is events like these that refute the argument that we can survive on more domestic drilling. We have the alternatives available, but not here at home. We must embrace the technological advances that those abroad have accomplished and implemented. By using them as a guide, we too can reach energy independence and will never again have to be held hostage to terrorists. That is why I propose to fast track my piece of legislation that would ease the United States’ ability to use alternative forms of energy developed by our neighbors and allies, and allow the American people to take charge of their energy future.” He paused and took another sip of water. “I am asking the members of the committee to fast track Senate Bill 174, the ‘Foreign Alternative Energy Deregulation Act’. It is time we act to ensure our nation’s energy future and this bill will allow that to happen. I’ll now give back the remainder of my time for discussion.”

  The Senator sat back in his chair. The case had been made and he was going to enjoy them scurrying around. “Idiots”, he thought, “if they only knew”. His fellow Senators immediately balked at the idea. “We would just become dependent on other foreign governments”, “the revenue lost would be absurd for such a plan”, “American businesses would be crushed”; they were all valid arguments and not unexpected rebuttals to such a plan. Eastman had heard all the arguments before, and it was playing out just as he had planned.

  The Senator never expected agreement. He knew his bill never had a chance of even making it out of the committee. If by some miracle it did, it wouldn’t make it past the Senate to go to the House, not yet at least. He sat back and smiled, handing his blue binder back to the aide. If they only knew how soon they would change their minds and how they would have no choice. He knew that when his bill didn’t pass and a new, revolutionary product came on the market these same politicians would be screaming for this piece of legislation. People would pay almost anything for this new product. It wouldn’t save them any money, but it would give them a fragile peace of mind façade.

  Government revenue has to come from somewhere; fuel taxes, oil taxes, import taxes, corporate taxes. But all those tax revenues would fade or disappear to acquire alternative energy like the Senator was proposing. All that lost revenue would have to be made up somewhere. Tax hungry politicians would just have to be creative to get it back. He knew all about the creative ways to do this.

  Eastman didn’t really believe it would help the environment. The implementation would be too long, the costs too high, and the resources too great to be a viable full scale alternative, but the illusion would be present. That was what he was banking on, literally. The costs and revenue produced by this new industry would be grand, and all his fellow fat cats would be lining up at the Senate door with new, glorious tax proposals to get their own governmental piece of the pie. He didn’t care. He would have his check cashed long before that ever happened. In the process he would get to help shape America in a new vision, his vision. He would change how all the world consumed energy, and in the process yield an even greater amount of power.

  No, he never expected this piece to pass out of this committee, but the energy plan he had in his blue binder would ultimately make it, eventually. When nations would be clamoring for this new revolutionary device he would say, “I told you so”. He could become the one man in the history books that led the United States into its new energy future. It was all based on the plan set out in his blue binder. The money he would pocket didn’t hurt matters either. “Yes”, he thought watching his fellow Senators. “Keep it up. Either way, I win”.

  -Chapter 43-

  “We’re on schedule,” the voice reverberated through the speaker phone.

  “Good, but I wasn’t pleased to hear that your
men engaged some targets during the last operation,” the man on the other end said from his house overlooking the waters of the Caribbean.

  “It was necessary,” the voice said, “just collateral damage. I never said this would be clean. You pay me to get the job done, not pussyfoot around,” the voice shot back forcefully.

  “Remember who signs your check Mr. Murray,” the man warned. “What’s the status on Project Atlantic?”

  “The teams are in place. I’ll expect my third payment in my Cayman account promptly,” Murray said.

  “As always. Have you located the doctor?”

  “Not yet, but we will. We’ve traced a credit card transaction to a San Diego hotel gift shop. We believe he has help, but we’re not sure who. I have a team going there now.”

  “And the FBI?” The man asked.

  “Suspicious, just as you predicted.”

  “Good, we don’t want them exposed too quickly. Be quiet about your operations there. Remember you’re not operating in a foreign country. People tend to ask more questions in the States.”

  “We’ll handle it. The doctor will be contained.”

  “Very good, Mr. Murray. Discretion please. We’re too close now for a screw-up. Contact me when you get the problem taken care of,” the man said, ending the call.

  The man peered over the landscape out at the sea from the balcony of the palatial, seaside mansion, content that everything was going according to plan.

  -Chapter 44-

  Timothy Placer peered out the fourth floor window of his executive office at Black Bear corporate headquarters in Washington D.C. when his intercom crackled to life.

  “Mr. Placer, you have a call from Dr. Morales at Ecomax,” his executive assistant said.

  “Thank you Sally, put him through.” He punched the speaker button on the phone. “Dr. Morales, I’m glad you’ve finally called. What is the status on production? I’ve been waiting all morning.” There was a long pause. “Dr. Morales?” Placer pressed.

  “Uh, yes sir?” Dr. Morales said.

  “What’s the status?” Placer asked again, louder and more slowly.

  “I’m afraid we have a problem, sir,” Morales answered hesitantly.

  “Well, what is it man?” Placer said, growing angry.

  “We aren’t going to make the deadline, sir. The product,” he paused, “the product doesn’t work.”

  “What do you mean it doesn’t work?” Placer exclaimed.

  “It’s not correct. The production line is ready, but the design, there is something wrong with the battery. We need to talk to Dr. Patelo. He could get it straightened out, but we can’t get a hold of him,” Morales said excitedly.

  “Can’t get a hold of him?”

  “He hasn’t returned from the engineering facility. I even went to the facility myself and it was abandoned. All the equipment was still there.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that. I hope Dr. Patelo hasn’t tried to dupe us. Had you been there before?”

  “No, but Dr. Patelo and myself were the only ones with access to the facility. What are you getting at?” Dr. Morales asked, confused.

  “I hope Dr. Patelo hasn’t decided to take the plans and give us a non-working set. Those plans are worth a lot of money.”

  “I can’t imagine him doing such a thing. It’s not like him to do that. He’s only interested in the research.”

  “Maybe that’s what you think, but maybe he had alternate plans,” Placer said, exasperated at the turn of events. “We are on a fixed timeline and every day we miss is costing us money. You’re going to have to fix it yourself. How much time do you need?”

  “Three days, I hope. I’ll need to familiarize myself with the design and try to isolate the problem. I was only supposed to be in charge of getting the production line ready. I don’t know if I can do this in such a short time,” Morales said, weary of the prospect of finding a needle in a haystack.

  “You brought in Patelo so now it’s your job. Just get it done, I don’t care how. We can’t lose any more time. Three days is all you get or everyone is out of a job,” Placer threatened and knew he was also referring to himself. “I need to make a call.”

  “Yes sir, we’ll get right on it,” Morales said and hung up.

  Placer was angry. He didn’t like problems, especially now at such a critical juncture. He grew angrier knowing that Dr. Patelo might have absconded with the correct plans to their newly procured product and hadn’t held up his end of the bargain. It would have infuriated him even more if he knew that the location of the engineering facility Morales went to was not the one where Patelo had been. Instead, Patelo had been at a facility located over a hundred miles away, deep in the jungle.

  Placer keyed his intercom. “Sally, get me Murray on a secure line.”

  “Yes sir,” she answered back. A few minutes passed until Sally had the call placed. “Mr. Murray on the secure line for you, sir.” Placer picked up the phone this time.

  “Murray?”

  “Yes sir?” Murray answered over the secure line that allowed them to talk freely without fear of being eavesdropped on.

  “What is going on?” Placer questioned.

  “I’m not sure what you mean, sir,” he responded calmly.

  “I’ve just got off the phone with Morales at Ecomax. The plans don’t work and the device is inoperable. Morales can’t locate Patelo to fix it. I’m afraid he has sabotaged the battery and run off with the plans. What do you know of this?”

  “The battery doesn’t work?” He said trying to control the excitement in his voice, more surprised that the device didn’t work then of Patelo’s disappearance.

  “Morales says it doesn’t and the plans are false. He even tried to find Patelo at the engineering facility, but he wasn’t there. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

  Murray calmed himself before speaking. “We picked up the devices as planned and delivered them to Ecomax. My men observed him leave with his technicians.”

  “Well he must have left with the plans too. You need to find him and fast. Morales is going to try to locate the problem, but we only have a few days. This thing was supposed to be in production by now. You know we have to get this done before the next earnings report. I can’t keep the security regulators off our back forever”

  “I understand sir. We’ll find him,” Murray said knowing full well where Patelo was, and in what condition.

  “Good. We can’t afford any more mistakes.”

  “Yes sir, we’re on it,” Murray responded and clicked out of the secure line.

  Placer hung up the phone slowly. “Now what”, he thought. The regulators would be all over Black Bear during the next earnings report. He knew they couldn’t falsify their accounting records anymore, they had pushed it too far already. He felt the growing desperation in his gut. He didn’t want to go to jail and lose his lifestyle in the process. They had to succeed, but now the production would be a full week behind schedule. Now everything would be cut much closer and the danger of losing the company became more prevalent. He keyed the intercom once again.

  “Sally, get me the Senator, and tell his staff it’s urgent.” Placer reached for a bottle of antacids from the top drawer of his desk. It was going to be a stressful few days.

  Murray, on the other hand, was more surprised than angry. He had seen the results of Dr. Patelo’s tests. He knew he had received the batteries in working order and believed the design had been correct through Dr. Patelo’s reverse engineering. Now he knew that one of the prototypes was flawed and the one he kept to himself was also inoperable. Patelo had managed to change the plans and sabotage the battery. He didn’t know why, but figured Patelo tried to steal the device for himself.

  Murray would have been infuriated to know that Dr. Patelo had intentionally removed a prime circuit to the battery and changed the design plan before he was callously gunned down by Murray’s men. All the events were due to Patelo’s mistrust of Murray. The circuit that lay in Dr. P
atelo’s pocket would cause headaches for Murray. He now had to find the inventor, Dr. Sloan, to make this device work and he planned to pour all his resources into finding him. It occurred to him that someone was helping Dr. Sloan. “Big mistake”, he thought, because the net was beginning to tighten around the doctor.

  Murray keyed in a number to his phone, but hesitated before making the call. Their timeline and carefully laid plan was now in jeopardy. He had been relieved to know that Placer didn’t know any more information, especially that Murray had kept one of the prototypes. Luckily, Murray had no idea Dr. Sloan had the last, the fully workable battery.

  No matter. They could continue their initial plan, and Black Bear would be exposed in due time. They just had to be patient and wait for the moves to unfold. Unfortunately for Black Bear, they would be the victim this time. Murray pushed to dial the number on his phone and a voice answered on the other end.

  “Mr. Chase,” Murray started, “we have a little problem.”

  -Chapter 45-

  “What do they wear in Brazil?” I asked Galveston as we pilfered through Alex’s refrigerator.

  “Oh, I don’t know, clothes maybe?” Galveston answered sarcastically. “But not many clothes as I’ve seen from pictures.”

  “When do you want to leave?” I said, chomping on some sort of foreign cheese.

  “How about the day after tomorrow. I think we need a little time to get our act together.”

  Elizabeth had decided to return to the hotel and get some work done. She convinced her superiors there was a political interest for Great Britain to be involved in this affair. This would affect the entire world and trickle down to all other nations. It wasn’t our goal to keep this invention from the people of the world, but allowing Black Bear to control all of its aspects, patent it, or trademark it, would mean Black Bear would have all the power and essentially hold the world hostage for its use.

  Alex and Sloan retired to Alex’s den where Alex was showing him all of his latest gadgetry. He finally had someone to corner that showed interest in the things we didn’t understand.