“I don’t want to say. It’s silly, it’s nothing,” I stammered.
“No, really. I want to know,” she answered sweetly.
I garnered my courage to tell her. It was best she see what she was getting now rather than later.
“I’m,” I tried to pose the thoughts in my head. “I’m not sure why you’re with me.” As the words came out, I knew it wasn’t the way I wanted it said.
“What do you mean, Roger?” She played down her response. I figured she knew she was talking to a crazy person.
“It’s just I can’t understand why a woman like you, with all that you have done and experienced, would want to spend time and be with a man like me.” That’s better, I thought. That was a much clearer statement.
Jane looked at me with a confused look. Then with a shot of realization understood what I was talking about. She smiled and reached for my hand across the table.
“Let me tell you something Roger,” she started, holding my hand tighter. “Those first days I came to work with you, I was down and not feeling good about my life. Then I saw you. You had such a confidence about you and you were nice to me. You probably don’t remember, but you helped me that whole first day. You told me about the best places to get lunch, the best spot to get some quiet time, even the best route from my house. You did all this with Galveston barking at you and people running in and out of the office all day. Then I got to talk to you on those plane rides, and spend time with you more than I have spent with a man I’ve been dating for three months. In all that time you always made me feel like I could conquer the world. I’ve told you things I didn’t tell my old boyfriend of four years. Plus, you are really handsome.”
She flashed a wide smile, and I blushed like a schoolboy at the accolades. I was floored at the response and my lowered ego didn’t know how to handle it. She reached her other hand under the table and touched my knee, which sent goose bumps down my leg.
“I’ve always looked for the wrong type of man. I don’t want a man like me. I want a man like you. You’re caring, trustworthy, and most importantly you’re stable, in every way. I’ve never had that in a man. It’s very hard to find. I know that you can challenge me, but I know that you can just be there. I don’t care if I do anything like I’ve done before, because I know you’ll be here and you’ll support me.”
I was amazed at her words, and even began to well up a little. Never had a woman as beautiful as this say such things to me. It was a breath of fresh air. Jane cared for me more than I had realized, and I had an enormous sense of relief. This intelligent woman knew exactly what she wanted, and I respected that.
“You’re amazing Jane. You know you’ll be able to accomplish whatever you want,” I told her.
She took her hand off mine, leaned over, and touched my cheek.
“Thank you, Roger,” she said softly and tenderly kissed me on my lips.
The kiss sent electrical shocks through my body. This was my moment, I thought. This was when I would say those three tough words.
“Jane,” I started, looking deep into her eyes. “I…”
“Last call!” Exclaimed the bartender as he rang a bell and switched on the overhead lights, illuminating the entire room.
“I, I guess we have to leave,” I said dejectedly, giving the bartender a dirty look.
“I think you’re right,” Jane replied smiling before she gave me a peck on my cheek.
I paid the tab for our two drinks, and walked hand in hand to the elevator and back to her room.
“I’d ask you in, but I know Galveston wants us bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow,” Jane told me.
“Yeah,” I responded. “That would be best.” No it wouldn’t, I thought.
“Don’t worry. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jane said as we exchanged one last hug and kiss.
Just as I was backing out the door, Jane grabbed me by the arm.
“Maybe we could talk some more,” she said. My heart leapt.
“Yeah, I think that would be okay,” I responded excitedly. I followed Jane into her room and shut the door behind us.
A lot of finish work still needed to be done the next day, and as bad as we all wanted to rest, it would prove to be extremely difficult.
-Chapter 68-
Galveston was up early again the next morning, and this time I startled him as I walked in our room.
“And where have you been, young man,” he said giving me one of his judging looks.
“No where Dad, just putting up the car,” I replied smartly.
“I’ll bet you did,” he smirked.
“Yeah, I have no idea what that means.”
“You know, putting away the car,” he said motioning with his hands in a circular fashion, trying to get me to say more.
“Yeah, that doesn’t work,” I replied again.
“Yeah, it really doesn’t,” he said, sort of broken. “So you were with Jane, huh?”
“No, I was out helping stray cats, yes, of course I was with Jane.”
“You sly dog. How did that happen?” He asked.
“You know, I’m not sure. We had a couple of drinks and then we were tired. I didn’t want to wake you. There’s not much more to say than that. How about Elizabeth? I noticed she didn’t arrive back to Jane’s room.”
“Same as you two, just too tired,” he replied following my lead. “You really like her, don’t you?”
“Yes, I really do. I think I’m even falling in…” Galveston stopped me midsentence with a raised finger.
“I wouldn’t say that,” he told me.
“And why not?” I inquired.
“It’s a little soon, don’t you think? I’m just saying; when you say those words everything changes. Maybe just give it a little time before you drop that bomb and scare her off,” he instructed me.
“Uh huh,” was all I could respond back. But I wanted to say it, and I would have last night, but the timing wasn’t right. What did he know anyway? I decide to keep my thoughts about my love life to myself. I knew I hadn’t felt this way about someone in a long time, and I was tired of thinking I needed to play games. Once this was over I was going to tell her, but for now we had business to deal with.
My part for the day’s events would be vital to its success. I was in charge of sequestering Placer and Eastman before the big unveiling. I had bought a nice blue outfit from a hip clothier that had the name Dave on one side and Eagle Maintenance on the other. I had decided it would be better to be slightly incognito to allow better movement about the rooms. I set the outfit out on the bed, ready to get into character. I went over my duties, what to say, and how to act.
The bottom floor convention area of the hotel was open for our operation. Alex came into the room as we were finishing the final touches to our plan.
“Dr. Sloan is done and it’s impressive,” he told us briefly. “It’s going to be an eye popper.”
“Good,” Galveston replied. “Go ahead and tell everyone we’ll get breakfast across the street and we’ll work over any new information or concerns. I need to check on one more thing before we go.”
Alex left to relay the message to the other group members while Galveston dialed his phone.
“David, do you have anything new for us. We’re all ready here. Your colleagues are on their way, and they’ve been briefed.”
“Excellent job,” May said to Galveston.
“Do you have anything about Murray?” Galveston asked him.
“Yeah, we can’t find him anywhere. We know he’s in Chicago. We were able to locate the hotel he was staying at, but he’s not there. He checked out late at night a day ago. He never returned his rental car to O’Hare, and he was scheduled on a flight to L.A. under the name of Horace Guildman. He never made it there. We have a bulletin out for the car, but nothing has come up yet.”
“Where was he going from L.A.?” Galveston asked.
“Tahiti and Bora Bora, that’s what was scheduled. I think he’s still in Chicago, thou
gh.”
“He was trying to get out of the country. It looks like the bait about Dr. Sloan’s death worked. I’m sure he informed Chase about the doctor’s demise,” Galveston said.
“I agree. We’ll continue to look for him. He’s an important suspect in this case. That’s all I got, let me know how the operation goes. We’ll apprehend Chase if we can get some credible information on him.”
“Got ya, David. We’ll do our best,” Galveston replied, hanging up the phone, and relayed the information to me. We needed Murray in custody to stop this thing from going further and to help the case against Chase. He couldn’t go on hiding forever.
Boy, were we wrong on that one.
-Chapter 69-
Alex, Dr. Sloan, Galveston and I sat down for breakfast minus Elizabeth and Jane who had opted for some exercise instead, probably to look extra good for Eastman. The twists and turns of this whole case and the current operation had already begun to run us down, but now we were on the final stretch.
Alex and Dr. Sloan had already ordered, and sat busily eating large stacks of pancakes with sides of eggs and bacon. We quickly ordered some food so we could join in on the gorge-fest.
“Save some for the rest of us, will ya?” Galveston said to Alex, smiling.
He grunted like a caveman and continued his feast.
“Dr. Sloan, could you explain, maybe in layman’s terms, how your battery works? I mean, during this whole time, I don’t think any of us really know how it works,” I asked the doctor as he neatly wiped egg from his face.
“Gladly, let me see,” he stroked his chin. “Why don’t I use my pancakes to demonstrate.”
He cut his pancakes into a rectangular shape.
“Think of these as layers of metal, a ceramic material, and a lithium alloy, with a chemical compound called barium titanate between them. They’re stacked one on top of the other. These layers are paper thin, and have a layer of cellulose material between each stack that acts as an insulator, minimizing voltage loss.”
He took a piece of bacon and placed it between one of the pancake stacks. “There is a group of nanowires that run between these layers. A group at Stanford designed this technology for use in ultracapacitors. I reworked the same concept into my battery design. Think of a capacitor as a storage depot of energy. Now an ultracapacitor is able to store a tremendous amount of energy which increases the speed of conduction. All this is enclosed in a case and filled with a hydrochloric acid solution, very similar in viscosity to syrup.” He poured syrup over his rectangular pancakes.
“It’s then energized using high voltage, which allows the ions to attach themselves onto the sheets. Now here’s the part you gentlemen are familiar with,” he placed his fork next to his pancakes. “There is an output circuit and it can switch from direct current to alternating current. Instead of the current continuously flowing out, it can change and essentially trap the current. It can propagate back to the sheets, increasing their efficiency, allowing the maximum current to be used with little resistance. Think of it as a faucet that sucks the water back up that doesn’t need to be used. This battery acts like any other, just more efficient with a larger amount of stored usable energy. That’s about it.” He peeled the pancakes back and grabbed the piece of bacon while Alex nodded his head and smiled widely, chewing on more food.
“Brilliant,” I said, pretending to fully understand his explanation.
“You know, Professor, we don’t even have a name for your battery. What do you call it?” Galveston asked.
“You know, I haven’t even thought of it before. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I have one. Electrical Amplitude Transistor,” Alex suggested.
“Yeah, abbreviated EAT. It’s not food you know,” Galveston quipped. “It needs a name for what it looks like, something catchy and a little whimsical.” Everyone thought hard for a name.
“You like pancakes, right Dr. Sloan?” I asked him.
“Of course, I eat them every chance I can get,” he responded.
“Well how about we call it Flapjack? I mean, you did just use your breakfast to explain it to us and it does resemble a stack of pancakes, albeit rectangular pancakes,” I said proudly.
“You know, I like it. I think it sums it up well without being wordy,” the doctor agreed.
“Well that settles it then, Flapjack it is,” Galveston announced.
-Chapter 70-
Galveston and I spent the remainder of the day out of sight, as did Dr. Sloan. Alex had the enormous task of setting up Dr. Sloan’s demonstration, with the help of the hotel staff.
In the hall, Alex had managed to get all the things Dr. Sloan had asked for. There were three small cars parked side by side, two tables filled with lamps of various sizes, cellular phones, and a multitude of Christmas lights. Next to the table sat three computers with monitors, and at the very end sat a lone coffee pot on a small table. Wires connected all of the items together to a rectangular box sitting in the middle of the various pieces.
Alex had made a crude sign that read, “Flapjack-Sponsored by the Energy Freedom Foundation”. The time read 4:45 P.M. Our main guest was to arrive shortly. Placer had arrived about an hour earlier and been lead to the room where he would do his work while Elizabeth and Jane waited for the Senator to arrive in the hotel lobby.
Alex corralled the media into the hall as quickly as he could to keep the outside lobby relatively quiet. As he entered the convention hall, he closed the door behind him. My heart began to race as 4:50 hit my watch. I looked nervously toward the stairs from the main hotel lobby, anxiously awaiting Elizabeth and Jane to appear with Eastman, and as Placer told us, a brown attaché bag that the Senator always kept by his side. Finally, I heard the footsteps I was listening for, followed by a booming voice. The ladies walked beside Eastman, who was already trying to impress them with his pseudo charms. He carried the bag at side, just as we had hoped.
I walked to the door and opened it slightly. Placer was pacing the room nervously, back and forth from one wall to another.
“He’s here,” I whispered to him as I stuck my head in the door. Placer jumped at the sound of my voice, but managed to compose himself to give me a nod of his head.
I closed the door slightly and retreated around the corner and to an adjacent room. I knocked and was let in by Special Agent Avery of the San Diego FBI field office. He was in charge of this portion of the operation. Two other agents were huddled around a group of monitors showing the room Placer was in. I could hear Placer breathing hard via the hidden microphones in the room.
“You can have a seat there,” Agent Avery told me pointing to a chair next to the other men.
“Thanks, I’m really nervous,” I told him.
“As long as our boy does what he’s told, we’ll be alright,” he told me, motioning to Placer on the monitor.
Back in the hall, the ladies had led the Senator to the room. Luckily he had traveled alone, except for a brown attaché case he was carrying. This wasn’t something he wanted an aide around for. The women had managed to get a few drinks in him before he came down, the reason for the delay.
“Senator, Mr. Placer is in this room. He’s been waiting for you. We’ll retrieve you when the presentation is ready and the media is set,” Elizabeth told him.
“I’d rather stay with you ladies, but I guess its business first,” Eastman said trying to be charming, while giving a slight pat to Jane’s bottom.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be back,” Jane assured him, winking, and trying to hold down her lunch.
The Senator opened the door, went in, and Elizabeth closed the door behind him. I saw him enter on the video monitor and noticed he had a crass air about him. He even walked like a prick. I hoped he wouldn’t just steamroll over Placer, but Placer surprised me immediately. I noticed his body language change from passivity to that of dominance. He perked up and stood taller with his hands on the back of a chair. It was at this moment that I figured he knew he had the
upper hand in their meeting.
“I take it everything is in place?” Eastman immediately asked Placer.
“Of course. The device is ready,” he lied with confidence.
“I’m a little confused why we’re having the unveiling here in San Diego. I thought you were going to do this in Brazil?”
“Things change Senator. The part we needed in order to finish the product was here, so I decided to save time and release it here. It’s going to be produced in Brazil,” Placer told him emphatically.
“Good, and no other problems?” He asked.
“None,” Placer lied again, “except one.”
“And what would that be?”
“It’s come to my attention that you haven’t been completely honest with me Senator, about your role in all this,” Placer stated, beginning to press him.
“What are you talking about Tim?”
“I know you’ve been talking to Weston Chase,” he said bluntly. Eastman didn’t flinch.
“Chase? No, I haven’t been talking with Chase. And if I had, what does that have to do with anything?” Eastman responded coolly.
“I’ve heard from Murray, Wallace Murray.”
“What the hell are you talking about Tim? I don’t know any Wallace Murray.” Eastman continued to stay calm and didn’t let the name affect him.
“I know that Chase is setting me up and I know you are too.” I noticed on the monitor that Placer was becoming angry, but Eastman continued to hold his ground.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Tim. Setting you up for what, exactly?” He inquired.
“I know you’re setting Black Bear up to fail, and you’re going to turn us in to the Feds. Murray told me. Just be straight with me, and tell the truth for once in your life,” Placer said emphatically.
“Look Tim, you little jerk. I don’t know what you’re talking about, and you better watch your mouth or I’ll call the SEC myself about your little accounting practices,” Eastman shot back, but Placer didn’t stop.
Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack Page 29