Disruption: A River Of Secrets And Betrayal

by J. B. Jamison

  "Hello, I am Emily Graham from the FBI. Are you able to hear me?"

  Any natural movement was difficult to see, but Emily heard a faint hissing sound that she began to understand was a very faint "Yes."

  As Emily thought of what to say next, the faint sound continued. With help from Nurse Drew, Emily understood the sound to be "We met this afternoon."

  Emily felt the shudder begin in her ankles and quickly race up her entire body. The poor soul in the bed in front of her was the young woman who had met them at the door of the lab earlier today, with the assertiveness to question their very right to be there. Emily struggled to find air.

  "I remember; yes."

  Do I say how sorry I am? No. Do I ask how she feels? No. Do I reach out and give a comforting touch on the shoulder? No. While Emily continued the battle inside, the young woman's eyes focused, and the sound came again.

  "Please...please..."

  "Yes?" Emily leaned in closely to hear.

  "Please...Susan. Please...is Susan alright? Is she...safe?"

  "Susan?"

  "Please...tell her I am sorry. Dr. Shallenger...he lied to her...to both of us...he lied...please...I am so sorry...tell Susan..."

  Silence; nothing more.

  Nothing at all.

  Emily stood in the darkness of the parking lot breathing in the cool night air; more like gasping. Where is this going? First the Grammercy bridge, and Elliott. Then more bridges, and anthrax, and then Alex and Alma, and then Steve, and Charlie. This was the kind of night that she and Elliott would sit in a dark corner and nurse a drink while they told stories about what they were going to do when they really hit it big. Of course, they never really did anything to actually help them hit it big, but it was great conversation. And it helped nights like this make as much sense as they were capable of making. She took another deep breath and walked to the car.

  "Rodriguez, where can a girl get a drink around here."

  And as they drove out of the parking lot, "Tell me, have you ever thought about what you would do if you, you know, really made it big time?"

  Chapter 70

  It just wasn't the same. Not just because Rodriguez was married and had family waiting back home, but when you got down to it, he wasn't Elliott. Emily knew she would have to deal with that grief process everyone talks about, but she also knew it wasn't going to be right now. Right now, she needed to still somehow feel that he was out there somewhere, listening.

  Emily decided that she'd have a good cry about all of this one of these days when she had the time, but right now she sat on the edge of the bed pushing popcorn around with her toes and imagining the designs she could see in that big red stain on the bedspread. She was waiting for the late, late news, hoping to hear that something positive had happened out there somewhere. She looked up as the lead story came on live from the Memphis riverfront; a place called Martyr Park.

  "Fucking appropriate." she heard herself say.

  It actually surprised her to hear it. Emily grew up in a towboat family, so she was familiar with all the terminology of towboat slang. She usually limited her language to the less forceful terms, and when the big ones came out, it was a sign that things were getting to her. Apparently, this was one of those times.

  Emily watched as the camera showed the crowds gathered along the riverbank, stretching from below the I-55 bridge, there to Martyr Park, through Tom Lee Park, past Mud Island and the Hernando Desoto Bridge, all the way to up above Harbor Town; almost five miles of people. The National Guard was keeping other boats off the river, which had created an ongoing back and forth contest that added to the excitement. The crowd was a fascinating mix of ages, vendors with drinks and barbecue, scattered DJ's and live bands, random guys waving flags and beer cans, and girls lifting their tops to the cheers of the flag and beer can wavers.

  For a moment Emily wondered if she should go down there to check on things but then decided there was nothing she could do anyway, and neither waving flags or lifting her top sounded better than lying down on her colorful bedspread and closing her eyes for a while. Two o'clock wasn't that far away.

  The noise from the late, late news faded into the dull roar of the surf as it rolled against the beach, where Emily sat in her chair, wearing a funny looking mask with a big round cylinder on the front, and making s'mores.

  Chapter 71

  The video on her laptop screen was a bit harder to follow this time since the drone was using infrared technology to follow the pickup truck. Before Emily had joined the call, Reyes and Goodwin had watched the truck stop at a local rent-all storage facility, where it picked up the two glowing dots now riding in the boat behind the pickup. A team was on the way to that location now to search for clues, but it felt like a formality; these guys were too good to leave clues.

  "Ok, here we go," Reyes said. "That's them moving along Mitchell Road there, the long straight one. Our people are shadowing them on those two roads above and below them. They'll have to get on the same road shortly, so they'll stay a ways behind them."

  The glowing dots on the screen turned north, then west, then east again. They pulled off the main road, and passed the TVA plant, cutting onto a gravel road just before the water treatment plant.

  "A lot of those roads are gated," Reyes said. "These guys have done their homework."

  They ended up on the road running along the top of the levee, and a mile and a half later, drove down to a work area with a small boat ramp."

  "Ok," Reyes said, "they're at the ramp behind the steel plant. That was one of the locations on our list, so the team will get into position to move in as soon as they drop the device and leave."

  Moments passed with no movement from the truck. Then, the two men put their boat in the water and slowly moved across the small inlet toward the river. As they reached the river, they stopped again.

  "Somethings wrong here," Reyes said.

  From the bottom of the video screen, another large object came into view.

  "Shit!" Reyes said. "It’s the boat."

  "What do you mean Reyes?" Lennie asked.

  "They must be going to take it directly to the boat this time and not drop it on a barge to be picked up. I guess they agreed with us that there just wasn't a safe place to leave it that wasn't too close to the bridge."

  "What now?"

  "We'll call the teams back. Where's the next bridge?"

  "Next one is at Carruthers, Missouri. But they won't get up there till around seven o'clock tonight." Goodwin said.

  "Well damn." Reyes said, "We don't have a choice. We'll send the teams up there and try again."

  The four people were quiet as they watched the glow from the small fishing boat move out into the river to meet the Francis B. and then slowly move back to the shore. Emily turned on the television and watched the live broadcast from the riverfront, now completely out of control as the Francis B. passed by. Emily was going to tell the group she was logging off to grab a couple more hours of sleep when her phone began to vibrate. Caller ID said 'Unknown.’

  "Graham."

  "Agent Graham? Emily Graham?"

  "Yes, can I help you?"

  "Are you there on the shore Agent Graham? Are you watching?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dennis Bowers. You may have heard of me?"

  "Bowers?" The neurons were tired, but they fired, remembering the name Agent Erikson had had no luck tracking down. "Yes, of course, I have heard of you. But I'm afraid that's about all."

  "Yes, Agent Graham, I understand of course. Well, I'll be happy to clarify things for you. My name is Dennis Wilson Bowers, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, but currently, well, currently you might say I am mobile."

  "Mobile?"

  "I am on the Francis B. Agent Graham. In fact, I am currently borrowing the Francis B. for our little mission here; the one that has brought you to Memphis."

  "What are you doing Mr. Bowers, how can we bring an end to..."

>   "Agent Graham, we can talk more later, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. But I assumed you would be awake, watching us pass by, so I thought it was a good time to call and introduce myself. Oh, and to say that I understand you had a very nice conversation with our Captain earlier today. I must say that he is a very bright man, I can see why he is the captain. I was standing right beside him and had no idea it was you on the call. But, of course, we are prepared for such things here."

  "Is the captain OK?"

  "The captain? Oh my, of course. He and his crew are critical to our mission; I don't know what we would do without them. I don't mean that he is actually a part of our group here, I am truthfully sorry to say that is not the case. But we rely on his abilities with his boat to see that we reach the full completion of our goals."

  "Just what are those goals? What are you trying to..."

  "Later, Agent Graham, later. I just wanted to let you know that you no longer need to play cat and mouse games with the captain, or anyone else for that matter. You now have my number. In the future, as you have questions, you may call me directly. Not at the moment, of course. It’s late, and we both need to get some rest."

  "But..."

  "I can't tell you how good it is to finally meet you, Agent Graham. I look forward to talking with you again."

  Click.

  Emily stared at her phone for a few seconds, then jumped to the table and the laptop. "Guys! Guys! Are you there?"

  The three men had logged off to finish their plans and try to get a bit of sleep. Emily found the contact for Lorene Erikson and hit the text message icon.

  She typed, “CK Dennis Wilson Bowers, Cincinnati Ohio, call me at 9 am.”

  She tossed the phone on the bed, briefly considered screaming, and finally chose to just lie down and go back to the beach.

  Chapter 72

  The alarm went off at six o'clock, and Em dragged herself into the shower. Just as she got the shampoo lathering, she heard the phone. Dripping water all over the floor, she saw the caller ID say 'Unknown.’

  "Graham." She said as she wiped suds from one ear.

  "Good morning Emily, it’s Steve. I hope I've not caught you at a bad time?"

  "Bad time? Nah," Emily lied, "just gimme a second."

  She turned off the shower and stepped out of the tub, wrapped a towel around herself, swiped suds from her ears, "Ok, I'm here."

  "I'm sorry to bother you so early, but it is important I talk to you before you speak with anyone else today."

  "Why?"

  "Emily, things are going to get difficult today."

  "Difficult? DIFFICULT? Gee, as calm as things have been, I would hate for things to get..."

  "Emily, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I know how things have been for you. I understand far better than you know. But I'm afraid you are going to have to deal with things today that take this to a new level."

  "What kinds of things?"

  "What you need to know, is that you must make sure that nothing is done to interfere with that boat yet, we need more time."

  "More time."

  "Yes, we must..."

  "Look, Steve whoever you are. You have been telling me that you need more time for what, three days now? And I have gone along and done what I needed to do to get you that time. But it’s gone on long enough, and I can't do this anymore without knowing some real reason that we should let them keep dropping those things in the river."

  "I understand your frustration..."

  "Don't tell me you understand anything about me, Steve. I still don't know who the hell you are, or why I or anybody else should listen to anything you have to say any longer. We need to stop that boat."

  A few seconds of silence.

  "Ok," his voice is slow and calm "you're right. It’s time I tell you a bit more to help you understand."

  "You think?"

  "But listen, Emily, what I am going to tell you must absolutely stay between you and me for now. You can tell no one else about this; not Lennie, no one. Do you understand?"

  "If I can't tell Lennie, then..."

  "No one Emily. Not even Lennie. You have a mole in your network, perhaps more than one. We don't know who they are yet, so we cannot take the chance of anyone hearing this. Do you understand?"

  "Yes. Ok. Fine. How do you know...and just who is ‘we’?"

  "Good. Let me first say that there are still things I can't tell you because if you knew them, you would be at risk; you and everyone around you, including your father."

  "My father?"

  "Emily, I am just a path, a channel; a way for communication to get where it needs to go. I am a link between you and one of two groups that are, let’s just say that are trying to accomplish different things. One group is attempting to do something they hope will destroy much of what makes us secure as a country, and the other group is doing everything they can to stop them. I am a part of that second group; I'm on your team."

  "Two groups? So just who are these..."

  "I can't tell you that. Besides, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we stop the group set on destruction; the group now in control of the Francis B. Do you understand?"

  "Are you with the government?"

  "No. And that is all I can tell you."

  "So how do I know you're not playing me here? How do I know you're not with that group on the boat, just trying to get me to let you continue your, thing here?"

  "Agent Graham; Emily, you're simply going to have to trust me here. We don't have the time to spend having this kind of debate right now. Are you ready to have me tell you about today?"

  Trust. Her mind flashed images of Elliott, of the grad student in the emergency room, the glowing dots on the video from the drones, and finally her dad. Trust?

  "Ok. Tell me."

  "The pressure has become intense from the politicians to do something about what is going on. They aren't interested in who is involved or why it is happening; they just want it stopped. They have directed the military to step in and do whatever they need to do to bring an end to things."

  "Military? But we already have..."

  "I'm talking about hardcore military Emily. People that make Special Forces look calm and peaceful. These aren't your normal groups, in fact, these are people nobody ever talks about."

  "When are they coming?"

  "They will be at your meeting this morning. They need the rest of you to buy-in, to make sure none of you are in the way and somehow create problems for them. Emily, you have to get them to wait."

  "But I'll need a good reason to..."

  "Find one. Emily, the people behind this are prepared for anything. If the military goes in to take out that boat, we don't know what might happen next; or where. We need more time to find out so we can be prepared to stop it. If you don't stop them, well, what happens next will make everything so far look, look, well...Emily, you simply have to get us that time; do you understand?"

  Silence.

  "Emily?"

  "Yes, Steve. I understand. How much more time do you need?"

  "I don't know Emily; I honestly don't know."

  Click

  She stepped back into the tub and turned on the shower to rinse the dried shampoo out of her hair.

  Chapter 73

  "What brings you up here so early?" Charlie smiled as Smitty stepped inside the pilothouse. "Everything running Ok downstairs?"

  "Running fine, Charlie. I just wanted to talk with you a minute if that's ok."

  "Sure. What's on your mind?"

  Smitty glanced back at the door, then stepped up next to Charlie's chair, "Is it true that you talked to the F.B.I? Did they really call you?"

  "Where'd you hear that?"

  "The guys are talking about it. Is it true?"

  "Yeah, it’s true."

  Smitty's tired face broke into a smile, "Good, now we can take care of these assholes. Did they tell you what they are going to do? What do we need to do, cause we've got some id
eas."

  "They didn't tell me anything Smitty; we didn't have time. And when I do get a chance to talk with them again I'm going to tell em' not to do anything yet."

  Smitty's eyes grew narrow as the smile disappeared.

  "But..."

  "No Smitty, we can't do anything at all right now. And before you start thinking I'm trying to help them again, let me tell you something."

  Smitty looked at the floor.

  "Smitty, look at me!"

  Slowly, he raised his eyes.

  "Smitty, if we stop this boat, or even slow it down, all of those things they put in the river are going to explode; every one of them at the same time. Do you understand?"

  "How do you..."

  "That's just how it is, Smitty, that's just fucking how it is. They've got everything somehow tied together, and if this boat stops moving up the river, twelve hours later shit happens. So for now, we just keep moving up the river."

  Smitty's mouth was open, but nothing was coming out.

  "So you tell the guys to just keep doing their jobs. That's all we can do right now, ok?"

  "Ok Charlie, I'll tell 'em."

  The two men stared out the window.

  "Smitty?"

  "Yeah Charlie?"

  "I'm not saying we're giving up here, you know."

  "I know Charlie."

  "We're gonna stop these assholes somehow; I just don't know how yet."

  "Yeah, we will."

  They looked out the window.

  "You know what I'd like right now Charlie?"

  "A drink?"

  "Yeah, maybe a couple."

  "Me too Smitty; me too."

  Chapter 74

  "OK, here's what I don't understand." the young man said as he sat down with his iced mocha.

  "And good morning to you as well," his grandfather smiled.

  "I'm sorry, but I was lying awake last night trying to figure out how this works; this nameless thing that creates disruptions but is invisible, and never does anything directly."