Disruption: A River Of Secrets And Betrayal

by J. B. Jamison

  "Aw shit. They're all pissed that I stopped the thing last night. They think I’m letting these assholes get away with what they're doing on here."

  "They'll calm down. It looks like you set 'em straight."

  Moments passed as they watch the river drift by.

  "Can I ask you something?" Frank asked.

  "What?"

  "Why did you decide to stop things last night?"

  Charlie looked at Frank for a full minute before responding. "What I'm going to tell you stays right here; understand?"

  "Sure Charlie, I understand."

  "Last night, after everybody came up and we talked, that Dennis guy came up here."

  "What did he want?"

  "He said he wanted to tell me more about their little mission, so I understood things better."

  "Geez. What did he tell you?"

  "That's not important. But the more he talked, I got this feeling that he knew something...he knew what we were planning to do, and he was trying to warn me to not do it."

  "Shit. How would he have found out?"

  "I dunno. Either they were listening in somehow, or somebody told him."

  "You don't really think somebody in the crew is helping those guys out do you?"

  "Shit Frank. I just don't know. I mean, I've worked with most of these guys for years, and I thought I knew 'em. I just...these are all good men. I just can't believe one of them would do that."

  "Yeah, I know what you mean."

  Minutes passed.

  "Charlie, I need to ask you something, and it might make you mad."

  Charlie turned to look him in the eyes.

  "What is it?"

  "Do you think it might be Smitty?"

  "Smitty?" Charlie said, "what do you mean?"

  "I'm sorry, I know he's your cousin an everything, but I just..."

  "Look, Smitty may be a drunk, but he's the most loyal drunk you're gonna find anywhere. He's not going to..."

  "I know Charlie, and I'm not suggesting that he went and told anybody anything; not intentionally anyway. But you know how he can get to talking, and how he sometimes says things he shouldn't be saying. So I just wonder if maybe they, you know, got him to say something about last night, that's all."

  Charlie stared out the front window.

  "I didn't mean anything Charlie, I'm sorry. I'm sure it wasn't Smitty."

  "Shit Frank, like I said, I don't know what to think right now. Hell, for all I know, you might be the one who told them."

  "Yeah, that sounds like something I'd do. I've worked for the past ten years to get my license, so hell, why not throw it all away by helping some lunatics sticking bombs under bridges, huh?"

  They laughed and turned back to the window.

  "I'm heading downstairs," Frank said, "you need anything?"

  "You might see if there's any of that cake left and bring me a piece when you come back up."

  "Sure thing Captain. I can handle that."

  Chapter 62

  "Mr. Arbel, I can tell you that we have no plans to take any further action with Alma Hendricks at this time."

  Through the past hour of their meeting, Gil Arbel had spent most the time asking about his people to make sure that they were as safe as possible. Emily was doing her best to assure him that everything was being done to make that happen.

  "Of course, this is an active investigation, but at this point, it appears that Alma had no idea of what was going on, and thought she was doing something that would be good for the company, and for you personally."

  "She's a good person, Agent Graham," Arbel said. "In fact, I don't know of one person in this company that I wouldn't trust with my life. I don't understand what is behind all of this, but I simply don't believe any of my people are involved; not knowingly anyway."

  "Yessir."

  "Please just remember; boats can be rebuilt, or replaced. Not my people."

  Arbel's eyes met hers, and Emily thought he looked exactly like her dad did that day he dropped her off at her dormitory at the beginning of her freshman year. She had given dad a big hug, but that didn’t seem to be the thing do now.

  "Yessir, I do understand. We'll do our best to keep them safe."

  "Good, thank you. Is there anything else I can do for you this morning?"

  "Well sir, I'm going to be leaving today, so Agent Erikson here will be leading the investigation here. She's going to need access to your records, especially for the Francis B."

  "I'll tell everyone to give you whatever you need." Arbel looked at Lorene Erikson.

  "Thank you, sir," Erikson said. "We'll try not to be too much of an interruption."

  "Whatever you need. If there is any problem, just tell me."

  "Before I go," Emily said, "there is one more thing I would like to ask you; something that may or may not have any connection with what is happening."

  "Sure, I'll do my best, what is it?"

  "One of the things we are trying to determine is just how they are getting these devices onto the boat. With this many, and with the possible radiation, it’s unlikely they have them all onboard at one time, so they must be getting them somehow as they move up the river. One possibility is that someone is bringing them out to them, but I'm wondering about something else as well."

  "Barges?"

  "Uh, yessir, how did you know?"

  Arbel smiled, "Because if I was going to do something like this, that's how I'd do it. You're talking about all of the barges parked along the river, right?"

  Emily nodded.

  "Yeah, it makes sense. Many of them are in places where no one watches them, they're easy to get to, and no one would pay any attention to a boat that stopped there; assuming it was just doing its job. I'll bet your dad said something about that, didn't he?"

  "Well, in a way, yessir."

  "We've thought about this for a long time, wondering when somebody might do something. But we really don't have other options if we're going to operate smoothly. You understand why we do it don't you?"

  "I think so."

  "Most people see our boats on the river and assume they just keep going back and forth, pushing barges from New Orleans to someplace up river. They don't realize that we actually have different rivers out there that are constantly changing. For a captain to learn and keep track of all of that, safely, is impossible. We have some captains that know the Lower River, some that know the Upper, some the Ohio and some the Illinois or Tennessee. We route our traffic to keep those captains where they know things best. So, a boat might bring barges up from New Orleans, and tie them off below Cairo; then another boat picks them up to take them up whichever river they need to go next. We're always needing to leave barges somewhere to wait for another boat. The elevators and normal docks need to stay clear to do business, so we find other places."

  "I understand."

  "You're wondering if these people might be putting their things on barges along the river, and the Francis B. is picking them up as they go by?"

  "Yessir, that's what I'm wondering."

  "As I said, it’s exactly what I would do. And, I may be able to help even further with that. Right now I believe the Francis B. Is just below Helena, Arkansas. If it were me, I'd probably use a barge tied up somewhere down by Friar's Point. There are a couple of docks there, and it’s a spot everyone uses, so I could get in and out, and no one would pay any attention. It’s about ten miles below the Helena Bridge, so I wouldn't have to keep that radioactive stuff around all that long."

  "Friar's Point," Emily said as she wrote, "yessir, thank you."

  "Are you going back to New Orleans today?" Arbel asked?

  "Yessir, I am, I'll be flying back shortly."

  "Do me a favor and say hello to your dad for me, will you? Tell him I miss arguing with him."

  "Yessir, I'll do that. Thank you."

  Emily and Lorene Erikson left the Arbel offices and found a table at the coffee and tea shop they visited yesterday morning. As Lorene got the drinks, Emi
ly called Lennie.

  "Hey, boss. Just wanted to let you know I'll be heading back there in about an hour. We’ve finished with Arbel and need to talk with Agent Erikson, then I'll head to the plane. Should be in Orleans in a couple of hours. Where will you be? We've got some things to talk about."

  "We've got a change of plans Em. When you're done there, we need you over in Memphis."

  "Memphis? What's going on?"

  "Well, I'll give you the short list and can fill you in later. First, it seems our Dr. Shallenger did some of his latest work at the University there, and the two grad students on the boat with him were with him there as well. Plus, this thing is really getting out of control, media-wise. By the time they get to Memphis tomorrow, I'm afraid we may have a major circus taking place. You need to see what you can do to help local authorities deal with that. We've got the National Guard on standby if you need them."

  "Oh good, I was afraid it might be something difficult you were wanting me to do. Heck, I should have time to take in a visit to Graceland while I'm there."

  "Funny. Did you find out anything more in your meeting this morning?"

  "Yeah, Arbel confirmed something I've been thinking about. You need to talk to Reyes and see if they can send one of their drones down the river below Helena, to a place called Friar's Point."

  "What's that about?"

  "Arbel thinks they may be using barges tied up along the river to get the devices on the boat, and he says the best place to do that this time is Friar's Point. My guess is that they probably don't put them there too long before the boat arrives, to avoid someone finding them. If Reyes could get a drone up there looking for radiation in the next hour or so, we might get lucky."

  "Ok, I'll let him know."

  "Good deal."

  Lorene came back to the table with drinks.

  "I'll call again from the plane. Going to tie things up here and head out."

  Emily put down the phone and took a sip from her drink.

  "I called and have two people on the way to Arbel's office right now," Lorene said. "We'll go through everything and see what we can find."

  "Yeah, good. See how far back Alma was altering things, and see if you can find if any other boats were involved."

  "Ok. I'm thinking we should take a closer look at the crew members as well. I know Arbel thinks they are all clean, but..."

  "Absolutely. Let's make that everyone at Arbel's, not just the crew. So far it looks like the only one involved was Alex, but we need to be sure."

  "Got it."

  "And let me know if you hear any more from the M.E., or anything about Alex at all, ok?"

  "Absolutely."

  "Ok," Emily drained her cup, "it looks like I'm on the way to Memphis."

  "Give you a ride to the plane?"

  "Nah, you get back to Arbel. I'll grab a cab."

  Emily walked to the door, hesitated and came back.

  "You did some good work here Lorene. You've built a good team."

  "Thanks, Emily. We'll stay on top of things."

  An hour later, Emily walked up the steps into the jet, took a seat, and thought about all of the other reasons for making a visit to Memphis. They all sounded better than this one.

  Chapter 63

  Frank relieved Charlie just before noon. After a few minutes of small talk, Charlie went to the galley where he found a big pot of Dorian's gumbo on the stove. Usually, Dorian Dufries' gumbo brought a big smile to Charlie's face, but today he wasn't sure how his stomach was going to react.

  Dorian noticed his hesitation, "Ya'll not feeling well Cap'n? I thought my homemade gumbo might kinda cheer y'all up a bit, since y'alls been kinda dealin' with things, ya know?"

  "It smells great Dorian. My stomach's just been kinda bothering me a bit this morning."

  "Well, I can't imagine why it wouldn't be Cap'n. But I tell you what we's gonna do. I'll fix you up a glass of my special stomach relaxin' tea, and you'll be just fine. I tell you Cap'n, there ain't no ulcer around that can beat my tea. You'll drink it right down, and then you can enjoy yourself a big bowl of gumbo. You go sit yourself down, and I'll bring it out; go ahead now."

  Charlie smiled as best he could, and sat at the table. The biggest thought in his mind was why the hell he hadn't retired last year. One more year added a few bucks to each month’s pension check, but hell, that didn’t feel like much as he sat here now, his stomach burning, trying to figure out how to get his boat back under control again.

  "Well, shit," Charlie mumbled as he turned to look out the small window.

  "What's wrong Captain?" Smitty asked as he walked in the door next to the table.

  "Sit down a minute Smitty," Charlie nodded, "I need to ask you something."

  "Sure enough Cap. What's on your mind."

  Charlie paused a second to decide which path to take and settled on the straightforward one.

  "Smitty, you remember what we talked about last night upstairs, with everybody up there?"

  "Sure Charlie, that plan you had. I never did hear why you stopped that anyway. What happened?"

  "Smitty, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be perfectly honest with me."

  "Sure Charlie. I ain't gonna lie to you. What is it?"

  "Smitty, did you talk to someone after coming downstairs last night? I mean, did you talk to any of those other guys on the boat here; about anything at all."

  Smitty looked at the wall for a second, thinking.

  "No Charlie, I didn't say nothing to nobody. Besides, I wouldn't have told anyone anything."

  "Well, I don't mean you told them anything, but did you talk with anyone and maybe accidentally said something, you know, get to talking and maybe said something?"

  "No Charlie. I didn't do that. After the meeting last night I went to bed. I didn't talk to nobody and didn't say nothing to nobody. If anyone says I did, they're a goddamn liar, and you need to tell me who it is so I can go kick his ass."

  "No, no, no one accused you of anything. I'm just talking with everyone to see if I can find out...well, to make sure no one said anything."

  "Is that what happened, Charlie? Did somebody tell those guys what we were going to do? Who did it?"

  "No. I don't know Smitty. But somethings going on here, and I don't like it one goddamn bit."

  "Here y'all go Cap'n," Dorian slid a glass of something thick and green in front of Charlie. "Y'all drink this right down while I fill y'all up a big bowl a my gumbo. That ol' ulcer ain't gonna give you no problems nohow 'tall.

  Dorian was absolutely right.

  Chapter 64

  "Agent Graham? I am Carlos Rodriguez, from the Memphis Field Office, welcome to our city."

  "Agent Rodriguez, it is good to meet you. I've been wanting to come up for quite a while and get a look at some of your community programs. Your Teen and Youth Academy, and Junior Special Agent program really sound exciting."

  "Yes, thank you. We've had some good success with those. I'll be happy to introduce you to the agent in charge of those if you have the time."

  "Thanks. If not this visit, then another time. Right now, I need to get to the University."

  "Yes, that's why I'm here. Your boss briefed me on your plans, and I updated him on what we've been doing here. Our people are ready to help in any way that we can."

  During the twenty-minute drive to the campus, Agent Rodriguez updated Emily on what they had been doing in the area.

  "As usual," Rodriguez said, "this type of thing brings out the gawkers and crazies. They tell me the boat won't come through here until maybe three o'clock tomorrow morning, but I'll tell you, they started camping out down there yesterday afternoon as soon as the news broke. I guess we can expect it to get worse, based on what I hear from down South."

  "There's a lot of people?"

  "Last I heard there were probably a couple of thousand at the riverfront. But the bigger challenge is going to be the boats. I guess there's a regular flotilla building up down there to meet the bo
at. We're working on clearing that out now, but I think it’s going to be a constant battle."

  "The National Guard is on standby if you need them."

  "Already called 'em in. Was hoping it wouldn't go that far. Here's the campus now. You wanted the Engineering people, right?"

  "Yes, that's apparently where Shallenger spent his time."

  They parked in a near-empty lot, walked inside the modern looking brick building, and found a young woman sitting at a reception desk.

  "May I help you?"

  "Yes," Emily said as she handed the woman a card. "I am Agent Graham with the FBI, and this is Agent Rodriguez, I am looking for the office of Dr. Shallenger."

  "Dr. Shallenger?" the girl said with a confused look on her face. "Dr. Shallenger is in the Biomed Tech Special Projects section, but I'm afraid he's not here."

  "Yes, I know."

  "I mean, he's not been here for some time now. I believe he is working on a project in Switzerland, or Austria, or someplace like that. I don't know when he might be returning, or if he even is."

  "Yes, I understand. Could you please tell me where his office is? Perhaps I could speak with someone there?"

  "Certainly. Third floor; turn left from the elevator, and its the office at the end of the hall."

  "Thank you very much," Emily said as she turned.

  "But I'm afraid there's no one up there right now; they all left early today for a meeting, I'm not sure where."

  "Oh?"

  "But, I know they will be here tomorrow morning; they have a regular staff meeting at nine o'clock, and they never miss that. Engineers are kind of like that, you know?"

  "Nine o'clock? Fine, thanks. We'll plan on coming back then."

  "Shall I leave a message to let them know?"

  "No thank you. We'll just stop by in the morning. Thanks again."

  As Emily and Rodriguez walked toward the parking lot, Emily's phone began vibrating.

  "Graham."

  "Agent Graham? It’s Jolene Morgan from the Louisville M.E. office."

  "Yes Jolene, how can I help you?"

  "Agent Erikson said I should probably call and update you. Is this a good time?"