Disruption: A River Of Secrets And Betrayal

by J. B. Jamison

  Dennis and Emily stood silently as the group lowered the last two devices into the water, and she felt the boat make a slight turn as it left the main channel to enter the Chain of Rocks Canal. The lock was just another mile away. Emily knew that if she was going to learn anything important during her visit, time was running short.

  Shallenger walked toward Emily, brushing something from his hands.

  "We have another device for the lock," Shallenger said, "but it is all prepared and waiting. Won't you come and take a look?"

  Emily followed him to the door and hesitated.

  "No, no; it is perfectly safe, I assure you. Please come in."

  Emily walked in and saw the shiny cylinder lying on the table, apparently all ready to go.

  "I know that this must appear to you to be completely inappropriate," Shallenger said, "but if you could have seen how long and how hard we have worked, and could see the results that we will bring from our mission, I am quite certain you would understand things quite differently."

  Emily looked at Shallenger, and his hand so gently stroking the side of the cylinder. She decided it was now or never.

  "I appreciate that Doctor. But what I am still trying to understand is how you can continue to say that no one will be harmed by your mission..."

  "Which is true..."

  "When people have already been killed because of your actions."

  "Please, Agent Graham..." Dennis began.

  "No!" Shallenger said, "Dennis, it is a perfectly fair question. After all, Agent Graham is, of course, speaking about the loss of her dear friend when they attempted to retrieve our device at the Grammercy Bridge. Such an unfortunate accident."

  She wasn't sure if it was the thought of Elliott or the smugness on Shallenger's face.

  "I am speaking of Agent Masterson, yes Doctor," Emily said, "but I am also speaking of Alex and the thirteen people killed in the explosions at your laboratories, and the perhaps thousands who will die because of the biological elements of your little devices here."

  Emily saw every face in the room frozen in confusion; all but one.

  Dennis looked like someone had hit him in the face, "What are you talking about? Explosion? And there is no biological component, that's nonsense. Lawrence, isn't that right? And Susan?"

  "Right," Lawrence said, "my device was built for radioactive modules only."

  "Are you going to tell them, Doctor," Emily heard herself say, "or shall we open up that canister on the table and prove me wrong."

  "This is nonsense," Shallenger said. "Can't you see that she is trying to confuse you? She is attempting her own form of disruption just to distract you. This is nonsense; I will not listen to more of this."

  Dennis moved past Emily and stood in the doorway.

  "Get out of my way Dennis," Shallenger said. "Don't be more of a fool than you already are."

  The look on Shallenger's face immediately showed that he realized he had said something he knew he should not have said out loud.

  "And what does that mean?" Dennis said, then turned to Emily, "What about this bio canister? What's inside it?"

  "Anthrax."

  "Impossible," Lawrence said. "My modules were designed for radiation. Something biological would never withstand the heat of the explosion."

  "Someone designed another container," Emily said. "Isn't that correct Doctor Shallenger"

  Shallenger's face was bright red, and veins were showing on his forehead and neck. He looked around the room, at the floor, then at each of them.

  "Yes, all right, it is true," Shallenger spoke as if from a pulpit. "You fools. They came to me with an idea that I knew would never work; would never bring about the type of changes we really need. So yes, I changed things; I improved the plan. Radiation would create a certain level of fear in people, of course, but to accomplish our goals I knew it would take more; it would take them seeing bodies, every day, in the middle of their cities, in their own neighborhoods, in their own families...that is the only thing that would cause the level of anger that is needed to change the way things work. So yes, yes, it’s true. And the explosions; we had to cover our tracks; it is unfortunate but a reality."

  The words echoed around the small room and seemed to collect somewhere inside of Dennis Bowers. The others looked confused and shocked, but he took on an appearance of something quite different. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again.

  "And look at how far we have come," Shallenger continued, "all of our devices, each of them ready to create the type of world that we all want to live in. We have done so..."

  The growl began somewhere deep down, and as it rose higher, Dennis began leaning, and then moved toward Dr. Shallenger. Shallenger saw him coming, dodged around Dennis' outstretched arms, and made a step toward the now-open doorway. Dennis spun and hurled himself in Shallenger’s direction, got one arm around his neck and shoved him through the door onto the deck of the boat. Shallenger twisted to free himself and yelled to the two men standing nearby to help him. Before either could step forward, Dennis planted a foot against the deck and lunged once more, throwing them both off-balance toward the churning water. Bear was near enough to reach out a hand to his friend, but even with his bulk, he too was pulled off-balance by the force of the two men falling. Lawrence ran out the door to make sure that Susan was safe and one of Shallenger's flailing arms caught him by the collar. In the next moment, although all four men disappeared; the image that burned itself into Emily's memory was the look on Bear's face as he tried to understand why he was falling into the churning mass of water below him.

  The propellers on the Francis B. were twelve feet in diameter and spun at eighteen hundred revolutions per minute, so the change in vibration was barely noticed before the slight, red stain appeared on the surface of the water. In fact, the only person who noticed the vibration at all was Charlie, as he walked around the corner of the stern deck.

  "What the hell was that?" He said. "What'd we hit?"

  Emily, Susan, and the two goons were standing on the deck as Charlie appeared. One of the men pulled out a revolver.

  "All right. This isn't over yet." The man said as he stepped forward.

  "One more step and I'll shoot you in the fucking ass!" Smitty said as he leaned around the corner holding a very shiny, chrome plated, three-fifty-seven magnum in his shaky hand.

  The man with the gun looked behind him and lowered his. Emily stepped forward and took it from his hand, looking at Smitty the entire time.

  "Smitty, where the hell did you get that?" Charlie asked.

  "I'm sorry Charlie," Smitty glanced at his shoes, "I know the rules, but a man's gotta protect himself doesn't he?"

  Charlie shook his head and tried not to smile.

  "Remind me to write you up about this later, ok?"

  "Sure Charlie."

  "Somebody want to tie these two up?" Emily said.

  "I've not had to tie a line for a while," Charlie said, "but I'll give it a shot."

  Charlie found a small piece of line in the storage room, and tied each man's hands behind him, with a bit of coaching from Smitty.

  "It ain't pretty," Charlie said, "but it ought to do the job."

  "I'll stay here and watch them if you want." Smitty said.

  Charlie looked at Emily, who nodded.

  "Sure Smitty," Charlie said. “Just try not to shoot one of them." He smiled as he glanced at the two men being moved into the storeroom. "But if you do, try to hit 'em where it won't bleed too much. We've got enough mess to clean up around here."

  "And what about you?" Emily said as she looked at Susan and cuffed her hands behind her.

  "I, I, I don't know," Susan said. "I don't know what to do...I just want to go home."

  "You come with us then," Emily said as she tied the young woman’s hands behind her back.

  Emily, Charlie, and Susan climbed back to the pilothouse, where Frank was slowly guiding the Francis B. between the narrow walls of the Chain of Rocks Lock.
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  "Where you people been?" Frank asked. "What's going on."

  Charlie began to tell what he knew, as Emily felt the vibration from her phone. She stepped out onto the gangway.

  "Graham."

  "Emily, its Chambers."

  "Yeah?"

  "Are you OK? You sound strange."

  "Well, things have been a bit strange here. Where are you?"

  "We're here, at the locks."

  "Good. You need to come onboard."

  "Onboard? They'll let us do that?"

  "Well, yeah." Emily paused. "I don't think you're going to hear any complaints."

  Chapter 101

  Agent Dasilva, Lennie, Chambers, Reyes, Charlie, Frank were standing in the pilot house trying to understand what they needed to do next. It was time for Charlie's shift, but in all the confusion Frank was still sitting in the big chair, driving the boat. A team of Chamber's men had taken the two goons somewhere on shore, and Smitty was down in the galley with the rest of the crew, waiting to be told they could go ashore and head home for a while. Gil Arbel had given each of them a three-month vacation, and a raise.

  Emily was standing on the foredeck of the boat, with Susan and the two agents who would take her for formal interviews.

  "I just wanted to talk with you for a moment," Emily said, "and give you a message I promised to give."

  "A message," Susan said, "from whom?"

  "One of your friends in the lab."

  "Sasha? You have a message from Sasha? Is she alright?"

  Emily glanced down for a moment, to avoid re-seeing the young woman and her burns.

  "I'm sorry Susan."

  "Oh my God."

  "She asked me to tell you that she was sorry. She said that Doctor Shallenger lied to both of you and that she was so sorry."

  Susan wept.

  "What happened to her?"

  "She was in one of the labs during the explosions. She was killed along with Dr. Saenz and a couple of other students."

  "No." Susan hesitated. "Sasha introduced me to Doctor Shallenger when I joined the program there. We both believed what he told us; that it was all for..." She drifted off. "Sasha."

  "We'll talk more later; I'm so sorry about your friend." Emily nodded to one of the agents, and they guided Susan along the barge to the ladder recessed into the lock wall as Emily walked up to the pilothouse.

  "So, at least we won't have any more of those devices to deal with," Lennie said, "that's one good thing, right? Now we can focus on cleaning up the ones already out there."

  "Once we figure out how to do that," Reyes said.

  "I'm afraid it’s not that simple." Everyone turned to Captain Charlie Graff. "You're forgetting that these things are all tied together..."

  "We need to find a way to untie them," Reyes said. "It will take a bit of time, but my people will figure it out."

  "That's my point, sir," Charlie said. "You don't have the time to do that."

  "What do you mean Charlie?" Emily asked.

  "Well, you people figured out that the devices are all connected, right?"

  "And with the boat, yeah," Chambers said.

  "But what I guess you don't know is just how it’s tied to the boat."

  No one spoke.

  "You see, me and my men had an idea for a way we were going to stop the boat ourselves a few nights ago. And for some reason, before we did, Dennis explained to me how everything was tied together, and all somehow linked to the GPS signal of the boat itself. He said that if the boat stops moving for more than one hour, the whole mess would be triggered."

  No sound other than a "Shit" from somewhere in the crowded pilothouse.

  "Charlie, what did he mean triggered?" Reyes asked.

  "Dennis said that if we don't move for an hour, the signal is sent to activate the timers on all of the devices, and they're set for twelve hours. They said it was to give people time to move away from the explosions."

  "You’re saying that if this boat stands still for more than an hour..."

  "The clock starts ticking," Charlie said.

  Chambers cleared his throat. "Well, I think the obvious question for us at the moment then is, just how long has the Francis B. been sitting here in the lock; without moving?"

  Noise and commotion.

  "We've actually been stopped for about ten minutes now, I guess," Charlie said. "That's when we got inside the lock."

  "So, we have to get the Francis B. Moving again within fifty minutes," Chambers said. "How long will it take to get through the lock?"

  "About thirty," Charlie said.

  Emily looked around the room and noticed that Lennie and Dasilva were missing. She stepped out the door and started down the stairs. If someone had asked her why, she wouldn't have been able to give them a good reason. She walked down the corridor, down the stairs to the main deck. As she stepped into the corridor, she could hear the voices.

  "It’s no use denying it; I've got the proof."

  "You've got nothing. It’s just your word against mine."

  Emily tried to match the voices with the man, but the noise from the crew in the galley was too loud.

  "I've got it all; the so-called accident, the stupid car bomb, and the pill. And that's just for starters."

  "Lies. No one will believe you. It’s just a jealous agent trying to make a name for himself."

  Who is who? Emily carefully edged closer toward the door to the small room with the computer.

  "Listen, you can deny whatever you want to, but I know you've been the mole, and I know you've been communicating with somebody involved in this thing all along. I don't know who it is or how long you've been doing it, but I know for damn sure it’s the truth."

  Emily stepped through the door and saw Lennie and Dasilva standing and facing each other in the small room, each of them looking like they were braced to kill.

  "Em," Lennie said, "I'm glad you're here. I caught our Agent Dasilva trying to mess with the computer. He's been helping them all along; he is our mole."

  "That's nonsense," Dasilva said. "Turn that story around and you'll have the truth. Special Agent Ryan here is the snake in the grass, and he knows I can prove it."

  Emily stood still, staring at the two men.

  Upstairs, the debate continued over the best next step for the boat to take. It had become more interesting as a few more agents and the lock master had joined the group.

  "I'm sorry gentlemen," the lock master said, "you can yell at me all you want, but physics is physics and only so much water can flood in and out of this lock at one time. It'll be at least another twenty minutes before we can open the upper gate."

  Frank was fidgeting in his captain's seat, looking out the windows at the lock wall.

  "That's cutting it pretty damn close,” Chambers said.

  "You ok there Frank?" Charlie asked. "It’s my watch now anyway; why don't you take a break or something?"

  "Nah," Frank said, "I'm ok. You help these guys get things figured out."

  "So," Reyes said, "it sounds like the only good option we've got is to be ready to move as soon as the gates open and buy us the time for my people to figure out how to disarm things. Are we agreed on that?"

  There was conversation around the pilothouse as everyone agreed with Reyes. No one noticed Frank as he leaned forward, reaching a hand toward the throttle levers.

  "Em," Lennie said, "you know that Dasilva lied about his trip to Washington, about when he got back. Your friend saw him sitting in a bar talking to some guy. He lied to all of us. And that's just one that we know of."

  "Yes I did lie," Dasilva said, "I admit it. I had too. But I wasn't talking to anyone from the boat, or anyone involved with it. I was talking to them about you Graham."

  "Me?" Emily said. "What about me?"

  "I had information that someone had decided that you needed to be taken out of the loop here; you were finding out things too quickly and had to be either distracted or removed."

  "Nice try Dasi
lva," Lennie said. "Somebody decided that Emily needed to be taken out, yeah, and that person was you."

  "Graham," Dasilva said, "I've got proof; evidence to support what I'm saying. You need to look at it." He moved a hand toward his pocket.

  Lennie pulled his gun.

  "Put the hand back down Dasilva. Your fancy hotshot agent talk isn't going to get you out of this one."

  "Put it away Lennie," Dasilva said. "Leaking information is one thing, but killing an agent is something you don't walk away from."

  Lennie glanced at Emily.

  "Em, how long have we worked together now; eight, nine years? Have I ever lied to you even once during all that time? Have I done anything at all that might cause you to think I'm dirty? And what about Dasilva here. He comes in with his hot shot personality, lying to everyone and sneaking around. You tell me who the best candidate for snake is."

  "Graham, ask him about the accident; or the bomb, or the pill. Ask him about those."

  "Shut it Dasilva. Emily knows I would never do anything to harm her, or her father. If anyone can tell us anything about that van, or the bomb or the pill; that would be you. Emily, take his gun."

  Emily stood for a moment as each man looked at her. One she thought she knew well, and the other not well at all. But something was eating at her inside. A neuron somewhere had fired a spark. The connections began slowly, but built until a full thought reached her consciousness. She looked at Dasilva, then at Lennie.

  "Lennie," Emily said, "how did you know it was a van that pulled out in front of me. I never told you that."

  "Van?" Lennie smiled, "I don't know, I must have read it in your report or something."

  "I haven't written a report about that yet."

  "Then I must have heard it from one of your buddies; Chambers, or Reyes; one of them probably told me."

  "I never told them either Lennie."

  Emily looked him in the eyes.

  "Lennie. You? Even my father; how could you?" She reached for her gun as Dasilva did the same.

  Lennie smiled, keeping his revolver in front of him.

  "It was never personal Em," he said, "you need to know that. It was just business."