“I tend to agree with you love. Let us make haste,” Galveston replied smartly in his faux English accent.
“Does she ever find that annoying when you do that?” I whispered to Galveston.
“Nah, she finds it endearing,” he said, but I happened to notice Elizabeth rolling her eyes as we moved hastily back to the car.
“What now, love?” she queried, and smiled at Galveston as she started the car.
“To Ecomax, of course. I think they’re going to find that their operation has hit a snag.”
-Chapter 58-
We bounced back down the dirt road we had previously traveled, spraying dust behind us as we went. The humidity had been steadily rising, and we now began to stream sweat, even with the air conditioner running full blast.
“Hey Roger. Send those pictures of the circuit to Alex.” Galveston then informed Elizabeth of what we had found.
I fumbled the circuit board from my pocket and after getting Galveston’s phone, set it on the seat next to me, snapped some close-up pictures, and sent it to Alex with the message, “Does Dr. Sloan know what it is”.
We continued on the dusty road until we were able to find our way back to the main thoroughfare. A small makeshift sign pointed to Sao Paulo, and we began the long trip back to the bustling city.
A beep resonated from the phone, and I flipped it open. A message was waiting from Alex. It read, “It’s an output circuit from the battery prototype, it regulates the voltage output from the battery itself. It is one of five circuit boards in the battery’s housing”. I looked at the message and typed back. “How does he know this?” A beep came back almost immediately. “The 5MS on the board is his. It’s the series of the circuit board, plus his daughter’s initials. Margaret Sloan, area five”.
“Well, that’s convenient,” I muttered to myself.
“What did Alex say about what you two found,” Elizabeth said smiling and looking in the rearview mirror.
I handed the phone back to Galveston, and he read through the messages aloud to Elizabeth. Another beep came from the phone, and Galveston recited the text.
“Dr. Sloan used these abbreviations on the two of the three prototypes he made. This is one of those. It is an important piece and without it the battery does not work to its full capacity.” He looked up from the phone. “That’s interesting,” he announced. “Maybe Dr. Patelo knew what he had, and as a little security, kept this part out.”
“That didn’t work out for him though,” I announced back.
“Nope, but since he didn’t include it with the prototype, he gave us the break we were hoping for. Ecomax will have to try to solve the problem.”
“What are you saying?” I asked stupidly.
“We need to find this Dr. Morales.” He leaned back in his seat with an air of confidence covering his face.
“We’re what?” I exclaimed from the back seat.
“You heard me. We’ve just been promoted to battery experts, and we need to find out what Dr. Morales knows. I think he’ll need to be convinced to help us.”
Elizabeth’s contacts had already been working on finding him and before we made it back to Sao Paulo we had an answer on the location of Dr. Morales.
We crossed into the outskirts of the city of Sao Paulo and drove quickly towards a residential high-rise near a well developed shopping district.
A call to his apartment confirmed Dr. Morales was indeed in the building. Elizabeth would wait outside, out of view, until we signaled with a call. She would pick us up and together we would drive off, into the sunset. My stomach ached and my heart raced as we prepared, and I noticed that for once, Galveston was on edge too.
Galveston pulled a small bag out of his backpack and pulled out what looked like fuzzy lint, dark in color. I realized what he had.
“You must be kidding, not a disguise again,” I said looking skeptically at the furry strip.
“We need a little bit of concealment for the cameras, if there are any. See, I’m going to wear a beard.” He pulled out another fuzzy object that looked like a ferret, and began to stick it on his face.
“You look like someone’s creepy uncle, or a homeless man. It suits you,” I joked.
“Yeah, yeah. Now put yours on. I gave you the mustache.” I reluctantly took it and stuck it with the adhesive to my upper lip. “Wow, you look like some guy from the seventies. That looks terrible.” I looked in the side mirror of the truck. It looked like I had a hair follicular problem and the color didn’t even match my own.
“This looks horrendous. I look like I should be picking someone up at the disco.”
“It’s just to throw Morales off. You’ll be fine,” Galveston assured me.
“If you say so,” I replied.
Elizabeth positioned the car on the side of the building out of view from the main door. We waited for someone to enter the building and allow us entry. A woman with a small dog finally appeared at the door inside and struggled to get it open. Galveston had already jumped from the car and raced next to entrance, out of view from the older woman. I scrambled to follow, nervously fiddling with my itchy mustache the entire way.
As the door cracked Galveston grabbed it and pulled it open for the woman. “Let me help you there,” he said in English.
The woman smiled and said something back in Portuguese as she pulled the small dog by the leash onto the sidewalk.
Galveston motioned for me to follow. “I’m staying with Dr. Morales until Friday,” he said loudly in case the woman knew English or knew Morales. She didn’t bat an eye as we intruded into the building.
Elizabeth’s contacts had given us the number of Morales’s apartment and a picture of the man. We opted to race up the flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator. Unbeknownst to us there were Black Bear guards staying in an apartment close to Morales. They had installed cameras in the elevator and front door and we had unknowingly evaded them.
Morales was on the sixth floor, and after much panting going up the stairs we rounded a corner and almost immediately ran into his door. Galveston pulled out a small bag from his back pocket and produced a lock pick, a skill I didn’t know he had. He quickly worked on the lock until the tumblers clicked and the door opened.
Galveston and I moved slowly inside while a television spewed out music. A clinking of glasses came from the kitchen area and as we rounded the corner of the room and the back of Morales came into view.
“Morales.” Galveston said quickly.
The small portly man spun around quickly and dropped the glass he was holding, causing it to shatter on the ground. He had reading glasses on the end of his nose and raised his head at Galveston’s voice. He was noticeably surprised at the unannounced visit.
“Who are you?” Morales said in shock.
“No, you need to listen to us.” Galveston walked closely to Morales in a menacing stance.
“Alright, I’m listening.”
Galveston pulled out my notepad and the notes I had taken. “We know about your project and who you’re working for.”
Morales stood stunned. “What do you want?” We could tell he was growing nervous, and I noticed him reach for a phone on his countertop. Galveston sprung into action and grabbed his hand before it reached the receiver.
“That wouldn’t be a good idea, Doctor,” Galveston said seriously, grabbing his hand with force. Morale’s face turned ashen and he leaned back, shocked at the two strange men that stood before him, one with a shaggy beard, and the other with a cheesy mustache.
“I think we should just tell him,” I told Galveston.
“You’re right,” Galveston conceded. “Dr. Morales, we are contractors working for a government.”
“You’re not going to kill me, are you?” Morales asked, scared out of his wits.
“We don’t do that sort of thing, but we do need to ask you a few questions and we don’t like untruthful answers,” Galveston said in an aggressive tone.
Galveston ran with the Doct
or’s fear and could tell that Morales wasn’t a threat. He was just a scientist probably caught up in something he didn’t understand, but fear was a good motivator to tell the truth. Galveston wouldn’t hurt a fly, but if pushed he could play the aggressor.
“Do you know Dr. Patelo?” Galveston asked Morales.
“Yes,” he started nervously.
“Just relax Doctor. We aren’t going to hurt you. You just need to know what you’re working on.” Morales breathed a little slower, but was still tense.
“Dr. Patelo is a friend and colleague of mine. I enlisted his help in engineering this battery, but I haven’t heard from him for a week. I checked his lab and he wasn’t there.”
“The lab? You’ve seen it,” Galveston inquired.
“Yes, of course. I help set it up. It is just down the street in the old Summit Hill cannery.”
“Who set up the lab?”
“Wallace Murray. He’s the one who set up the operation here. He is a project engineer, I think,” Morales said nonchalantly.
Galveston’s eyes narrowed. He knew this name well from his days at Black Bear. I had to access the recesses of my mind, back to our original meeting, to get the connection of why he was wordless. Murray was the head of convert operations for Black Bear Security, and the man that most likely orchestrated the explosions in Africa and Venezuela. His men were the people Jane and I encountered in San Diego, and he had probably ordered Espinosa and Patelo to be killed. This was all circumstantial, but it was easy to connect the dots.
Galveston tried to compose himself, but I could tell his anger was growing. I decided I needed to take over the questions until Galveston could lower his blood pressure.
“Dr. Morales, did you know there’s another lab in Evangelista de Souza?” I asked him.
“What? No. I know it’s an area south of here, fairly uninhabited.”
“Well Doctor, we have some information that Dr. Patelo was working there, instead of at Summit Hill,” I said, trying to break the news to him slowly about his friend.
“Really? I knew nothing of that, I swear. Why?” I pulled some pages from Dr. Patelo’s journal out of my pocket and gave them to him. He read them over slowly and looked up at me.
“Where is he, and why can’t I get a hold of him?” He asked.
“I’m afraid he’s been shot and is dead. We were able to positively I.D. him from pictures. The building he was working in was completely destroyed by an explosion.”
“No, it can’t be Ernesto. He was supposed to be down the street and then he was going to join me.” I gave him time to absorb the bad news. He was clearly distraught.
“I’m afraid it is sir. You’re working for very bad men and the product you’re working on is part of it. It was stolen from a Dr. Sloan, over a month ago, from his lab at Dartmouth. Do you know a Colonel Espinosa?”
“Yes, Yes,” he stammered. “I know Alfonso from a fishing trip with Ernesto. Ernesto got him a job in security with Ecomax. His job was to guard the battery out of the United States. I was told that was where it had been developed, but they didn’t want to produce it there because of cost.”
“I’m afraid the Colonel has been killed also, poisoned in Mexico. We were able to speak to him directly. That is how we got Dr. Patelo’s name,” I stated.
“I can’t believe it. Am I next? What are they trying to do?” Before I could answer him, Galveston began to speak again.
“I think you need the whole story and what we have. I think your mind will be changed after we tell you what we think Black Bear is going to do.”
“Okay, okay. I just can’t believe it,” Morales stammered again.
Galveston set out all we had found. He didn’t leave anything out. They sat for over twenty minutes, discussing all the layers of what we had discovered. Morales, with each passing minute grew more and more shocked and that shock soon turned to anger. Galveston had met his goal, Morales was with us now, and luckily, he was a very ethical man. Like us, he wanted justice for all the harm these men had wrought.
“What do you want me to do?” Morales said after hearing all of the information.
“We need you to make sure the battery appears completed,” Galveston told him.
“But I can’t figure out the problem. I’ve been working on it for almost two days straight without a break. I still can’t iron out the problems. I told Placer I would have it ready for production in three days. There is no way I can make it work. That’s why I needed Dr. Patelo.”
“Don’t worry about that Dr. Morales. I have the correct plans here, straight from Dr. Sloan. It won’t produce a very efficient battery, but it will get it working.” Galveston gave Morales a flash drive with the information on it. “Tell Placer that everything is on schedule. We still have more rats to flush out.”
“You must get these men and bring them to justice for what they have done to Ernesto and Alfonso, promise me that,” Morales pleaded.
“We’ll do it Doctor, don’t you worry,” Galveston assured him.
“And why do you have on that horrible mustache and beard?” Morales questioned.
Galveston looked at me without a response. The jig was up. I decided I could scratch my mustache now.
The phone suddenly rang in the kitchen. “It is the Black Bear guards checking up on me. We need to get you two out of here.” Morales wasn’t supposed to pick it up, it was an indication that they would be checking on him in minutes.
“What do you propose?” I asked him.
“The service entrance down the hall,” Morales said emphatically.
“You’re the boss. Let’s get out of here,” Galveston replied.
Morales took the lead and opened up his front door. The hallway was clear, and we began a quick walk toward the end and down the stairs that lead to the service entrance at the rear of the building.
“All clear,” he announced. “I’ll do just what you told me. Please let me know what you two accomplish. I’ll do everything I can here, for Ernesto’s sake. Now go.”
“Thank you Doctor. We’ll keep in touch, I promise,” Galveston assured him.
We waved to the doctor as we hurriedly jetted down the stairs. Luckily it was just as Morales had described. The area was empty at the service door and we raced out.
“Can I check my drawers now?” I asked Galveston jokingly, trying to make the best of a bad situation.
Galveston managed a smile. “Mine might need to be checked too.”
Elizabeth was waiting for us with the car’s engine running. We jumped in and sped away.
“I take it that it was successful,” she said.
“I hope so,” Galveston said handing my notepad back to me. “I think it’s time we got the hell out of Sao Paulo,” he announced as we settled in for the drive to the airport. I assumed we were heading back to Rio, before connecting with a flight home.
My bubble burst when Galveston instructed, “we need to get to Washington D.C., Black Bear headquarters, as quickly as possible.”
“We what?” I exclaimed, not terribly excited about a new change of venue.
“We need to talk to Placer and put the fear of God in him. I have a feeling he isn’t acting alone, and we need to find out who else is involved.”
“Won’t that just scare him away?” I asked.
“That’s a chance we have to take. This thing is just too big for him to act alone, and with Murray involved, everything has changed. We need the earliest flight out of Sao Paulo to D.C.”
“Uh, did you forget something?” I pressed him.
“No, I don’t think so. What did we forget?” He asked me.
“Uh, our fellow employee, Jane, she’s still in Rio.”
“Oh yeah. I’d appreciate you not telling that I forgot all about her.”
“I’m sure she expects that by now,” I quipped.
Galveston was in full steam ahead mode now. Washington D.C. was next and this would, hopefully, bring us some closure. But, for right now, all I wanted w
as some sleep.
-Chapter 59-
We made it to the airport safely and managed to get on the next available flight to Rio de Janeiro. Elizabeth would accompany us on the flight.
We rested on the flight from Sao Paulo to Rio, and upon arriving, took the shuttle to the hotel where we had previously stayed. I immediately bid the two of them a good night and raced to Jane’s room. I knocked on her door, and as she opened it her face lit up, she threw her arms around me, and kissed me on the lips.
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” she told me excitedly, and I hugged her back. “How did it go?” She asked.
“Boy, do I have some stories for you,” I said sighing. She led me into her room and closed the door.
The next morning we took the earliest flight out of Rio. Our only option was to fly back to Sao Paulo to get a non-stop flight to Miami. From there we could connect to Washington Dulles.
Galveston called Alex, informed him of our plan, and asked him to locate where Placer would be. May was meeting with Chase this morning at a conference in Chicago and was planning to give him the false information about Dr. Sloan’s demise.
“So you didn’t come back to the room last night. Would you like to kiss and tell?” Galveston asked as we settled in our seats. He attempted to goad me into revealing some juicy details, but I held firm.
“We had a lovely night talking and enjoying each other’s company,” I managed to say with a smile. He jabbed me in the ribs with his elbow.
“I bet, you old dog.”
If anything, this final stand would be a doozie, and I prepared myself mentally for the challenge. All Galveston would tell me was that I would know everything after our unscheduled meeting with Timothy Placer, the CEO of Black Bear.
“We have one or two days,” he muttered to himself.
We eventually touched down in Miami. After a short layover we would be off to Dulles, and Washington D.C.
Galveston waited anxiously for May’s call. He was probably questioning Chase as we spoke, and Galveston had a lot to tell him
Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack Page 25