by Cara Charles
The Kimirov team kicked in Mac’s door. Carlos walked in followed by Mavra.
“Empty. So it could have been the Doc that was leaving when we pulled up.”
“This was a dead end. Get on the plane to Santa Barbara. Contact the new Montecito team to find this Andersen bitch!!” Mavra screamed in a rage. She exited as Carlos and the others followed.
“Yes ma’am.”
The eight of them left the office through the elevator.
Mac pulled into a parking garage on California Street. He found two spaces adjacent open.
They got out, keeping Deedee in the car as Mac got out his trunk tools and screw driver.
“Deedee? I’ll be right there. Keep talking to her Mac or she’ll bark,” Dave said, watching for cars.
“I will,” Mac switched out the plates, as Dave went to another rare payphone he saw on the street.
“Dispatch, Tina.”
“It’s Dave. I’m with Mac. Lisa in ICU needs a shield or aluminum foil for a GPS chip she’s digging out of Mango’s back, right now. Give the chip to Hal for the evidence chain. Tell him, we’re going to Santa Barbara to protect the widow in a separate plane.”
“Will do. Crime scene guys are over at Mango and Chris’ condo. Body parts splattered on the ridge were collected, but CSI teams were snowed out of all outdoor crime scenes and the family crime scene. They’ve brought the Andersen family in and their security team of four. What a tragic situation. I hope they get this bitch, Kimirov,” Tina said.
“Tell the CSI team to search Chris’ sheets in the laundry for the women’s hair. He changes the sheets after sex. Chris’ O.C.D. will help us catch our gals. Got an address for the widow?”
“Will do. Family’s name is Andersen with an ‘e’. Tom, Elise, and Lara Andersen from Montecito. 101 East Valley Road. The daughter and the dog survived the crash but were still dead at the scene, I heard. There was blood all over, maybe from his paws.”
“I’ll bet it’s human. And check out the car for GPS chips.”
“I’ll pass it on. Did you hear? Boys think it’s related. Mavra Kimirov’s jet, exploded over Glen Canyon Dam, Gunsight Canyon area of Lake Powell, Utah. That’s remote and over water. That plane was here this morning. Paul’s in touch with Page Arizona, P.D.”
“No shit? What time? She jumped my ass in the hospital parking lot.”
Mac waves the ‘wrap it up’ sign.
Dave nods, holds up one finger.
“Not too long ago, don’t know exact time, yet. Elise’s father and his wife disappeared years ago on a summer trip to the Northern Territories, the future Kakadu National Park near Darwin, Australia. They got lost in Outback and were never found. But young Elise was found wandering alone in the Desert. She wandered into someone’s ranch. Her dad’s memorial obit said he was with most of the alphabets, Cold War era. Big cheese, I guess. I’ll forward it in an office email. I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I have so far.”
“Wow. OK. Can Hal get Mango moved to Witness Protection? Elise is the next target. Not a word though to anyone but Paul and Hal, understood?”
“Copy that, and you be careful out there among them English. Out.”
Dave ran back to Mac and relayed the info.
Deedee put her head under his arm.
Dave was getting tense again.
Mac noticed Deedee then looked at Dave. Mac put a hand on Dave’s head, keeping his head down as sobs overtook him.
Dave petted Deedee for a long time and tried to keep the war images from taking over. He was back at war, a new war, a very personal war.
“Check Deedee’s bandages.” ‘She’s hurting, yet she’s comforting him.’
Dave kissed her and felt her paws. She didn’t pull back.
Deedee had comforted Dave and Mac when they first came to the mountain. Deedee would sit by Dave’s side and put her head under his hand as if to say, ‘I’m here for you.’ Deedee had been his dog ever since.
With the help of Deedee, Hal, Mango and Chris especially, he’d always make them laugh with him or at him, Dave and Mac had found their way home again, among his buddies in his little mountain town.
After a tense drive to Oakland spooking at all the black SUVs, they swung into the private terminal at the Oakland airport and met Iain inside.
Iain was waiting with his heavy rifle bag. Iain saw Dave’s mood as they settled in to wait. “Talk it out mate. You ready for this? Keeping focused on our mission will help, man. What’s your take on this?”
“I say Mavra Kimirov is covering her ass and keeping Elise Andersen alive. If she had wanted her dead, Elise would be dead.”
“I concur,” Mac said.
“It’s possibly, a case of sadistic revenge. Mavra Kimirov wants Elise Andersen alive, to suffer. The hair on my neck is standing up,” Iain was shaking off chills.
“Tina said her dad Charles Larsen was a spook.”
“Yes, true. I’ve looked into Charles, but first...” Iain opened his laptop. Iain showed Dave photos of Mavra Kimirov.
“That’s definitely her. Her jet was in Mammoth this morning, but just crashed into Lake Powell.”
“Revenge killing. She can’t be in two places at once. Mavra Kimirov will never stop until she has Elise Andersen. What’s left of her team just vanished into Lake Powell. Ms. Kimirov is covering her tracks. Qat was their giveaway. She’s got a resource guy. Not many know about it unless they’ve got Sandbox mileage, like us. Tell me everything,” Iain scanned the search engines.
“They were twins or sisters. Petite redheads. I’m positive now, one of them is Mavra Kimirov. I went to the bathroom and when I walked out these two very classy twin knockouts had picked up our boys, so I watched from a dark corner, watched them dance with Mango and Chris all night. Plus she jumped me so I saw her up close and Mac… she remembered me from the bar, so there’s your connection.”
“You’re lucky she missed you and she’s pissed about that too, Davey, you belong in WIT-SEC. You’re a huge threat to her now.”
“Her man Carlos, refused to take us out and tazed her to shut her up.”
“Mavra’s not a twin. Look,” Iain showed Dave photos of Valentina and Mavra at a red carpet event.
“It’s them! Damn Iain!” Dave said smiling, slugging Iain.
“Ruthless billionairess bitch, this one. Her family died in a plane crash over water five years ago. Same signature.” Iain read his computer and shook his head. “Elise rabbited from Montecito. She’s all over the news right now. News trucks outside her home. Bet she’s in the neighborhood, just staying away. We’ve got to get brother Sam to trust us. He’ll be asked to ID his family since she’s AWOL.”
Iain shows Dave a page full of photos of Valentina, Mavra Kimirov and Elise Andersen and brother Sam Larsen. Iain saw Dimitri with Mavra and his heart sank. D was her guy. In another photo of her, D and her security team, he was sure he saw Carlos too. He kept this knowledge to himself.
Dave nodded, “Definitely was Kimirov who jumped me. Can you brief Paul and Hal?” Dave shared Paul’s email.
Iain sent the info and photos to Paul’s email, who replied he greatly appreciated Iain’s help and the update. Iain already knew what this was about, but for security reasons couldn’t share it with this set of old friends.
Professor Shanti Larsen, a beautiful African-American college professor was hurriedly grading the last of her finals, watching MSNBC in her Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (JBKO) residence hall room on the George Washington University campus. Her bags, packed for her winter break holiday waited at the door. She turned off the TV and left her room, locking her door, bags in hand, missing the news bulletin on the all news channels.
“Elise Larsen Andersen famed environmental attorney who won the largest judgment against Kimirov Mining in world history, vanished today while playing golf in Ojai, California where the scene of a deadly ambush has just been discovered. Ms. Andersen’s family is also reported missing at Mammoth Mountain, California, a
popular ski resort for Southern Californians after a freak avalanche buried two cars. A Mammoth Mountain neighbor of the Andersens, saw husband Tom and daughter Lara and the family dog pack up their SUV, and head down the road, when an explosion followed by a large freak avalanche that covered the same road burying two cars. Authorities have been able to reach the buried cars, and so far have recovered seven bodies. They have not released the names of the victims. Cadaver dogs searched all crime sites and found two male bodies buried near the Andersen condo. We’ve not been able to reach Sam Larsen, Elise Andersen’s brother and law partner for comment. More later as the story develops.”
An hour later at the Reagan Airport, Shanti Larsen, her headset tuned to music, never raised her head once in the terminal, engrossed in her WWII romantic suspense novel. An hour later, Professor Larsen boarded a KLM plane for the long flight to Kenya.
CHAPTER FOUR -- OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL
PRIVATE JET CHARTER TERMINAL
IAIN’S PILOT BUDDY Roland Dale was waiting for his rock band to arrive from their concert and with their permission, the four of them could come along to L.A. They’d land in Santa Barbara for them and they’d be at Elise’s door in an hour to wait for Sam.
As Dave, Deedee, and Mac chilled eating the snacks Iain had ready, Iain did a computer research on Elise’s husband Tom.
Tom was an All American beach boy, nice guy, nothing in Iain’s knowledgeable search skills turned a dark corner.
Iain found Elise’s father Charles’ archival information on the Eight Air Force Website. Charles was definitely a Cold War legitimate spook in Air Force Intel. He retired from active duty then onto the CIA, then the NSA as a consultant.
Charles Larsen had had a Far East satellite intell command posting during the Cold War, and had visited and briefed Langley as the fledgling NSA took shape to include Charles. Charles briefed the Pentagon and the NSA’s Ft. Meade Maryland complex many times. He was their eyes, their ears, their point man, favored son, with many notable accommodations from President Eisenhower. Charles was a decorated WWII hero.
Charles and his wife had disappeared in the Australian Outback. Declared dead seven years later. Iain wasn’t sure about that reported timeline, but he carried on.
Iain would run a check on science, covert intell, and politics from that year forward, later.
His search on Elise had her acing her SAT’s and LSAT with legendary, perfect scores. She was the darling of Montecito, the hometown news article boasted. An environmental advocate since Elise was a teenager, she worked for Defenders of Wildlife as a new attorney after cutting her teeth as a prosecutor first. Continued with lecturing and consulting work with UW Environmental Law Clinic, Bern at UCSB and the EPA, while teaching at USC Law School.
The father-daughter connection had to be found. Iain researched all declassified materials since 2006, forwards and backwards with a program that cross-referenced the documents, listing the single entries. Then, Iain did a search on the new science of the last decade and tried to marry it to government funded research projects that began post-WWII then dovetailed his scan for research that began in the 1950s that continued through today.
One hot topic stood out over the last seventy years. Genome Research.
Iain’s gut burned, wondering about Janitor, but he read on. The co-incidence was too prickly and fantastic.
Genome research began with the discovery of the color blindness gene at the turn of the century, in 1911. HHMI known as Howard Hughes Medical Institute was the biggest research foundation just second in net worth to the Gates Foundation. HHMI began in the late 1950’s when Howard Hughes was able to put most of his money into HHMI, a non-profit organization to avoid paying taxes. His tax diversion, was challenged in court by the IRS all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said it was OK, to do this. HHMI is one of the most respected and well-funded Medical Research Institutes worldwide.
Some intell officers invested in companies the government funded. When Iain Googled HHMI, Iain found HHMI was still heavily involved in Genome Research, which was now commonplace. Now for a small sum, anyone could have their DNA tested to reveal their lineage. Even dog’s ancestry could be discovered with a little cheek swab.
Genome science had been very hot in the 1990’s. Then the race between labs was on to map the entire human genome. Iain quickly briefed himself on the Human Genome Project.
James D. Watson and Frances Crick, the famous neuroscientists, and the co-fathers of the double helix, and Maurice Wilkins in 1962 were awarded a joint Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the molecular structure of nucleic acids, and a significance for information transfer in living material.
Dr. Watson was head of the Human Genome project at the NIH from 1990 until 1992, when he left because of a dispute with Bernadine Healy, head of the National Institutes of Health, because she wanted to acquire patents of the gene sequences and other laws of nature. In 1995, there was nearly a joint winner in the race to map the human genome.
J. Craig Venter, formerly with the NIH left when he couldn’t get funding. He sought private funding for his ideas. In stepped, Celera Genomics. Venter was one of five individuals Celera utilized to sequence their DNA. Controversy followed Celera’s cheaper shotgun approach to sequencing, since the time and money had been researched prior to their involvement. Both the private company Celera, and public funded NIH announced they’d mapped the human gene.
In 2007, Dr. James D. Watson was the second person to publish the entire human genome sequence on the Internet, encouraging other scientists to create personalized medicine.
“I am putting my genome sequence on line to encourage the development of an era of “personalized medicine” in which information contained in our genomes can be used to identify and prevent disease and to create individualized medical therapies.”
The entire human genome was mapped three years earlier than predicted. The public focus died down, but the private focus ramped up. Now the worst was coming true. Genetic labs in the U.S. especially were claiming diseases as property and creating monopolies of tests for these diseases, like breast cancer for example.
The ongoing lawsuit regarding the breast cancer gene patent BRAC1/2, Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office marched through the courts. June 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated two patents on hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. 20% of all human genomes have been patented however, making it illegal for anyone else to study these genomes.
Iain looked up https://www.aclu.org/cases/association-molecular-pathology-v-myriad-genetics and read more.
Another search turned up the billionaires and multi-millionaires who were buying up small Silicone Valley Biotech firms, while pharmaceutical giants were buying up the rest.
Iain put them in his program.
Another private sector race was on just under the radar. If you knew how to search, you could find out who the players were.
There. Muse Corp owned by Mavra Kimirov, one of the top ten billionairesses on the Forbes list had purchased sophisticated lab equipment and had it shipped to Regensburg, near Zurich Switzerland, six months ago.
‘Janitor was in Regensburg.’
Reality hit Iain like a freight train. He knew what Mavra Kimirov was after. He checked his phone for missed calls. Nothing. Now his bones hurt. He was jumping out of his skin. Iain knew. He breathed to center himself. Iain read on, updating old knowledge.
The Ethics of exploitation of the information the human genome mapping provided were argued. The Bigs vowed they would not exploit the new science for their own profit, nor would private gene information be used against people who may have a genetic disease or condition that would result in excluding them from life insurance, medical insurance, employment, medical coverage, life saving treatments or surgeries. But every corporation is profit driven. For instance, tests for breast cancer that cost Canadians $30.00 were costing Americans $350.00 and more.
I
ain found additional info on the FOIA, Freedom of Information website.
The Berlin archives that were just released had a month’s hole in it from 10/11/1945 to 11/12/1945. Curious. Old puzzlement pieces were finding footing now.
Iain kept searching, facing the window to watch for Roland.
Fifteen minutes later, Stephen Ross the co-pilot, another old friend came to fetch them as the food truck drove off. It was time to board.
Iain gently woke Mac and Dave. Vets were a jumpy bunch. “OK Mates, it’s time.”
They walked onto the tarmac, Deedee peed as the band’s limo arrived.
“So cool of you to let us come along,” Mac said making nice with the band.
Dave shook their hands.
They petted Deedee as they all climbed aboard.
Iain, a pilot himself sat in the jump seat and helped Stephen with the checklist. Minutes later, they were climbing to cruising altitude turning south, an inland route.
“ETA, forty minutes. A taxi will be waiting. Food and beverage wait for you in the galley. There’s a Guinness for you, Iain. Enjoy,” Roland told them.
“Good man, Ro.” Iain went back to sit with Mac.
Dave had shut down, sitting back with the band already under their blankets.
Iain fixed water and food for Deedee. He threw a sandwich at Mac.
Mac was high on adrenalin, fingers drumming on the beige leather armrest reading Iain’s laptop.
“Thanks.” Mac’s eyes grew wide. “What’s the brief, then let’s talk strategy, man.”
“Mavra Kimirov bought tons of lab equipment last year. Her Muse Corp recently bought a girl’s school outside of Zurich. Elise’s brother Sam Larsen, older by ten years helped raise her after their parents died. I’ve got his cell. Maybe we can get to him. I’ve tapped into Charles Larsen’s archival history at the Eight Air Force website and the repository in Kansas. I’ve yet to read it, but I have it. His will, next. Circumstances lean heavily to a Mavra Kimirov revenge killing for winning that huge verdict. No doubt, she’s got seasoned help.”