Disruption: A River Of Secrets And Betrayal

by J. B. Jamison

  "Absolutely. What's up?"

  "We have more results back from the lab, and they confirm our earlier conclusions about the cause of death; the poison pill idea."

  "Ok, that's good, isn't it?"

  "Yes, but there is more. The lab says that the other compound in the pill; the stuff that would have made it so fast-acting, is apparently something quite rare. In fact, it’s a combination they've never seen before; it’s got them pretty stirred up, asking lots of questions. I told them they would have to contact you with those."

  "Yes, thanks, Jolene. What do you make of all this?"

  "Well, was this Alex guy some kind of chemist or something? Something this unusual had to be put together by somebody who really understood how things worked, and who had access to getting that stuff in their lab."

  "In their lab." Emily paused, "You mean like a lab at a university or something?"

  "Something like that, yeah. Either that or some genius with one heck of a fancy basement."

  "Ok, thanks, Jolene. Anything else right now?"

  "No, I'll let you know."

  "Thanks." Emily stuffed her phone back in her pocket, looked at Rodriguez, and turned back to the building.

  They walked back to the reception desk, and Emily asked, "Is there a chemistry lab somewhere around here?"

  "Oh hi! Back again? Chemistry lab? Sure, there's several of them here in the building. Is there something specific you are looking for?"

  "How about a lab connected to Dr. Shallenger's work; anything like that here?"

  "That would be the Special Projects Lab, up on third. Off the elevator and turn right, the other end of the hall."

  "Thanks," Emily said over her shoulder as she was already half way to the elevator.

  The hall was like most hallways in university science buildings. A bit darker than most, clean, but clearly the home of people who don't worry much about things like feng shui. Along the green walls were several large bulletin boards with notices that made sense only to other scientists; mostly presenting grant opportunities, or jobs in some lab somewhere, but occasionally also holding the legible notice about a bake sale, or mixer that took place several weeks or semesters ago. Emily smiled to herself as she remembered feeling like she was visiting some foreign country when she walked these halls in college. They found a sign reading "Special Projects Section," opened the door next to it, and walked in. A young woman looked up from a table.

  "Can I help you? Are you authorized to be here?" she said in something other than a Memphis accent.

  Emily held out her card, "Is there someone in charge I could speak to please?"

  The young girl looked at the card, hesitated a moment, and then nodded. "I will get Dr. Saenz for you. Please, stay right there; you're not sterile."

  She walked to the far side of the room, handed the card to an older man, and both returned to the door.

  "Yes, I am Dr. Saenz, what can I do for you? But please, could we step into the hallway first; please."

  They stepped back into the green hallway.

  "Thank you. I don't mean to sound rude, but some of our projects involve very delicate materials, and any outside contamination can be problematic. That door should have been locked. But I'm sorry, please, how can I be of help to the FBI?"

  "I'm sorry if we caused a problem, but we are looking for some information about some work done for Dr. Shallenger, and wanted to find out if it was handled in your lab here?"

  "Of course. We work on many special projects with Dr. Shallenger. Which project are you interested in?"

  "This project had to do with poison, and involved creating..."

  "Please, say no more. Yes, I'm sure I know the project you are asking about. It was, I believe, about two years ago, if I recall correctly. But I'm not sure I will be able to give you much information about it, as it was part of a highly-classified project he was involved in. We signed several non-disclosure agreements and things like that."

  "I understand. And I certainly don't want to get you into any kind of trouble here, Dr. Sanz..."

  "Saenz."

  "Yes, Saenz, I'm sorry. As I said, I don't want to get you into any trouble, but it is very important that we find out what we can about this project. If necessary, I can have agent Rodriguez here make a call to..."

  "That will not be necessary Agent Graham. As I said, the project was at least two years ago, and I believe it would be ok for me to talk with you about them. What would you like to know?"

  "Thank you. I appreciate your flexibility. Let's begin by just telling me what your part of the project was?"

  "Certainly. It was actually quite a fascinating experiment. As you are most likely aware, Dr. Shallenger and his associates sometimes are called on to work with some highly dangerous elements."

  "Radiation; things like that?" Emily asked.

  "Well yes, radiation for one. But also some things in the biological world that can be extremely dangerous if not handled appropriately."

  "Biological. Things like Anthrax?"

  "Yes, of course, that is one of the things they work with. But there are many others. Well, as I was saying, those can be very dangerous if not handled appropriately, and if something were to happen with some of them, well, there is no treatment available for that situation. That, in fact, was usually the goal of his projects; to develop treatments for just those situations."

  "I understand."

  "However, the students doing that work were at very high risk, and Dr. Shallenger was very concerned about what would happen to one of his people should they experience an accident with one of those bio-agents. He came to me one evening and asked if we could work together to develop, what he referred to as a 'last resort' element; a compound that would cause an immediate and painless death for that person. I must admit, at first I was taken aback by his request; it seemed like a completely misguided thing to do. But then I began to realize the horrible experience that faced the poor victim if they were left to face the consequences of their accident. Some of those would have been quite painful, and drawn-out; something I finally agreed should be prevented if at all possible."

  "So you created this kill pill for him?"

  "Kill pill? What an interesting term. But yes, I guess that would describe the result of our work."

  "Do you know if Dr. Shallenger's people ever had to use one of those pills?"

  "No, I'm afraid I don't, and I pray that they did not. We, of course, never had the opportunity to test the compound on a human, so as confident as I was in its effectiveness, I must admit I held some concern. I did not want to cause more discomfort for someone already in such a grave situation."

  "Do you still have the information about the project or the compound?"

  "No, nothing at all. Dr. Shallenger asked for everything to be returned to him when we finished. Besides, I was happy to no longer have anything to do with it. Dr. Shallenger kept all of the materials from the project in the safe in his office with the records of all of his projects. He showed me the safe one day; I was amazed at some of the work he was doing. He has such ability; it is quite amazing."

  "Yes, thank you, Dr. Saenz. Agent Rodriguez may be back to talk with you further, but thank you for your time, and cooperation."

  "Certainly."

  Emily and Agent Rodriguez began their second attempt to return to their car. Emily was quiet until they reached the parking lot.

  "I'd like you to put somebody here watching the building tonight, just in case any of Shallenger's people come back in."

  "Should we call you if they do?"

  "Not unless you think something is going on. I'd just like to know if anyone comes back, to compare it with what we hear in the morning."

  "Got it. Will do. Where to now?"

  "Well, we have a conference call at four thirty, so we've got some time. Why don't you take me to my hotel so I can get settled and catch up my notes."

  "No problem. We've got you downtown, so you'll be close to the office, and the
river."

  As they drove the thirty minutes to the hotel, "So, what's your take on all this so far; our Dr. Saenz?" Emily asked.

  "The kill pill project? Just spooky to me. But I had no idea they were doing that kind of stuff here. I thought that kind of high-risk bio-stuff was only done in a few, really secure labs across the country; with stuff like anthrax and things like that I mean."

  "It is, or supposedly is. I think Dr. Saenz may have let the cat out of the bag in our conversation there. It will be interesting to see if Shallenger's people tell the same story tomorrow morning."

  They traveled a few blocks in silence.

  "Tell you what," Emily said, "we've got some time before the call, and I'm starved. Is there someplace close we can get something to eat?"

  "Memphis style, you mean?"

  "Do we have time?"

  "Agent Graham, there's always time for Memphis barbecue."

  Chapter 65

  The video image from the drone was exceptionally clear on Emily's laptop.

  "You say this is from the drone flying at thirty-five hundred feet?" Emily asked.

  "Yes, ma'am." Agent Reyes answered

  "Tell us what we're seeing," Lennie said.

  "Ok, sure." Agent Reyes said. "You see the bank of the river there, and the trees, and there on the right side you see the barges and buildings; that's the dock above Friar's Point Emily talked about."

  "Got it," Lennie said.

  "Now for the interesting stuff. Let me bring up a recording from about twenty minutes ago."

  The computer screen flickered until a new video image appeared, showing the land east of the dock.

  "Along with the video, the drone is tasked to do some basic scanning for radiation signature. It was a long shot, but we figured it was worth it. Well, we got lucky."

  "Is that the dot I see there moving south?"

  "Yes, that's it. It’s a pickup truck pulling a small boat. We don't know where it came from, but we saw it when it pulled off of Route One. Route One is the one you see there going straight down to the town."

  "Got it," Lennie said.

  "So this truck went up on the levee road you see running straight along the river, pulled down this little road into the trees next to the river, where they put the boat in the water and headed south. That's what we've got on the live screen, here."

  The screen flickered again to show the small boat moving downstream, glowing brightly.

  "Notice when we zoom in," the video zoomed until the small boat filled the screen, "we see two glowing spots. The device must be in two pieces at this point; not put together until after they're picked up."

  "That makes sense," Goodwin said. "One is probably the arming mechanism."

  "That's our thought too, Pete."

  They all watched silently as the boat began to slow.

  "There, see that group of five barges on the east side of the river?" Reyes said, "That looks like their target."

  As the fishing boat reached the barge, the two fishermen had no idea they were being watched, recorded and discussed by four people hundreds of miles away. They placed the two pieces into the barge and began the short trip back to the truck, talking about what they were going to have for dinner when they got to Memphis.

  "So now we have a solid target at the barge, and the glow on the boat is weakening. It looks like you were right Agent Graham."

  "Way to go Em!" Lennie said.

  "How long can that drone stay up there, Agent Reyes?" Emily asked.

  "Several hours yet. I've already got a second one on its way there."

  "A second drone?" Lennie asked.

  "Yeah, I thought it would be good to confirm that they actually do stop and pick this barge up, but I also want to keep an eye on that truck."

  "That was my thought too. Let's stay with the truck for now." Emily said.

  "With that in mind," Reyes continued, "Agent Goodwin and I have an idea to put on the table. It’s a bit of a push, but we think it’s worth talking about."

  "What’s that?" Lennie asked.

  "It looks like, what, another hour before the boat actually gets up to Friar's Point, and if they leave that much time at all of the stops, we may have an opportunity here."

  "Grab one of the devices?" Emily asked?

  "Exactly. Go in there after they place it, get a good look at it, and get some pictures of it for the lab folks."

  "I think is worth the shot," Emily said. Let's make sure the guys in the truck aren't sticking around to watch things; oh, never mind, I see they're already heading out. Excellent."

  "It’s possible they have someone else sitting in the trees there watching," Lennie said, "but I agree, it’s worth the risk. The next bridge is Memphis, right? Let's follow the truck up there and see if we can pull this off. Who do we send out?"

  "Goodwin and I have people in mind from his team and mine," Reyes said. "They're the best we got; if anyone can do this, it’s these guys."

  "Just make sure they leave it the way they found it," Lennie said. "We don't want them to know we've found one yet."

  "No problem," Goodwin said. "These people know what they're doing."

  Chapter 66

  It was five o'clock as Frank guided the boat under the aging span of the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge just below Helena, Arkansas. He shook his head as he saw the activity on the bridge. It was a mile or so away from town, but there was quite a crowd up there, stretching across to both sides of the river. A handful of small boats was running alongside the Francis B., with people waving and blowing horns. "What the hell?" Frank said out loud as the bridge drifted into the distance behind him.

  The pickup truck was moving up Route sixty-one toward Memphis, just passing the big sign for the Tunica Arena and Expo Center.

  "Hey, there's a rodeo!" one of the fishermen said.

  "Looks like a big one, too." the other man said.

  "Think we got time to stop?" the first asked, "We don't need to be up there 'til like two o'clock."

  "Nah, probably better not. But sure looks like a good one."

  "Hey, they got a hog roast too. You sure we ain't got time?"

  Above them at four thousand feet, the drone kept watch as they passed the Expo Center and continued north on Route sixty-one.

  About three hundred and twenty miles straight south, the crews were waiting to try the big experiment. The large reinforced concrete box looked like a coffin as it hung from the three cranes the Corps of Engineers had anchored in the middle of the river. When they got word, the cranes would slowly lower the coffin into the river. The hope was that the box would sink itself into the muck of the river bottom, safely encasing the sample electronic device they had placed there, without causing any movement to the device. If the mud around it shifted, the motion sensor inside the device would trigger, which in this case would just cause a little red light to glow. If it worked, they'd try it again downriver, where the motion sensors were connected to something a bit more dramatic.

  The video flickered on Emily's laptop screen as the Francis B. slowly moved past Helena. "We're going to bring this drone home as soon as the new one is on-scene," Commander Reyes said, "so we'll cut the feed, for now, to save on battery for this one."

  But they had seen what they needed to see; the next device placed in the river, and the truck. They talked briefly about their next steps when the pickup truck gets to Memphis, and agreed to connect again as soon as Reyes saw that happen. Emily closed her laptop, stood and stretched muscles that had been tight for the past thirty minutes; or three days. She decided to go downstairs and compare this hotel's free wine bar with the one in Louisville. She reached for her shoes and felt the vibration from her phone. The caller ID said 'Unknown.' A question raced very briefly through her mind about what it meant that she'd not heard from her dad for so long, but that thought vanished as she hit the button.

  "Agent Graham, hello. It’s Steve. How are you enjoying Memphis?"

  Whoever this guy is, he was go
od. They had tried tracing the phone and the voice and tried a few more creative things, but they all lead to a dead end. It was the kind of situation that irritated field agents and got the techno-nerd folks really excited. As good as he was, Emily was confident they would eventually peel back the layers and find him. In the meantime, she would play along.

  "Just fine, Steve, though I've not had much time to see it. We have this little situation here, you know."

  "I like you, Agent Graham. I like your attitude. I knew we made the correct choice."

  "Choice? What does that mean?"

  "Never mind; it’s not important now. First of all, I am calling to remind you that we still need more time to complete our work here; at least a few more days. You need to let your people know that, ok?"

  "Listen, Steve, I've told you before, I can't just tell everyone to sit back and wait just because some guy named Steve keeps calling and telling me too. That's just not going to fly."

  "Agent Graham, Emily, this is extremely important; I can't express just how important it is that we are able to complete our part of the work here."

  "I still don't understand what part that is, Steve."

  "My, I am so pleased that you are handling this as you are. Resolving this situation is going to take that kind of fight and energy, but I assure you, I am not the one you need to fight with; we are on the same team."

  "Team? You've said that before, but I still don't..."

  "Emily, do you know how to check your phone's contacts while you are on a call?"

  "Yes, of course."

  "If you do that now, you'll find a new contact there, one named Steve's Friend, do you see it there?"

  "How did you...that's not possible. This is a secure phone."

  "Yes. What I want you to do is to wait about thirty minutes and then call that number."

  "But who..."

  "Agent Graham, call the number in thirty minutes and simply tell them who you are. You can handle it from there. By the way, thank you for taking care of Alma; I appreciate that more than you know."

  "Alma? Yes, of course."

  "Have a nice evening Agent Graham. Remember; thirty minutes."