Alternating Current: A Tesla Novel

by Agostino, John

  “Yes, it was terrible.”

  “I know, is Phillip okay?”

  “Yes, he’s just been through a lot with his grandmother and then Rudy.”

  “Yeah, it’s been tough on everyone.

  “Turbo, I really feel bad about asking you this, but could you come over to my apartment right away. I really need to talk to you,”

  “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “Please hurry.”

  Turbo walked to the end of the counter and hung up the phone. “Cosmo, I need to borrow your car.”

  Cosmo didn’t answer.

  “Cosmo, I’m not kidding, I need to borrow your car.”

  Cosmo handed him a square fob.

  “How do you work this thing---where’s the key.”

  “You don’t need a key. Put that in your pocket and the door will unlock automatically.”

  “You’re full of shit, gimme the key.” Turbo grew agitated.

  “I’m not kidding. And when you get in, push the start button and the engine will start up.”

  “You’re serious.”

  “Yes, I’m serious; it’s done with radio waves.”

  “Oh, that’s one more thing they stole from my uncle.”

  ***

  Turbo knocked on the door of Carrie’s apartment. “Carrie, are you there?”

  Carrie opened the door and gave Turbo a big hug.

  While still in her embrace, he saw Agents Lawson and Arnold sitting at the table. “What are they doing here?”

  “They want to talk to us about Rudy. They know we were with him at Aquaduct. They saw us on the security camera footage.”

  “Mr. Trbojo---hell, is it okay if we call you Turbo.”

  Turbo nodded.

  “Turbo, I’m Agent Lawson and this is my partner Agent Arnold. We’re with the FBI.

  “No you’re not; Rudy told us you’re CIA.”

  “I don’t care what Marco told you, we’re FBI.”

  “Marco? Who the hell is Marco?”

  “Marco is Rudy,” Carrie said. “His real name is Marco Fagan.”

  “He told me his name was Rudy, and that’s good enough for me.”

  “His name doesn’t matter.” Agent Arnold was perturbed. “We need to know what you talked about at Aquaduct.”

  Turbo glanced at Carrie. Had she told them anything? Regardless, he wasn’t about to tell them squat. “Well, you see he really liked Vickie’s Revenge in the last race, but I told him he was crazy, Up Early placed in her last start and was due for a win. Besides, Vickie’s Revenge was a 19 to 1 long shot. He wasn’t that crazy after all, because Vickie’s Revenge won the race.”

  “That’s all well and good, but we need to know what Marco---I mean Rudy---told you about The Bahamas and Doctor Armaly.” Arnold pulled out a pad from his pocket to take notes.

  Again, Turbo glanced over at Carrie. “We didn’t talk about The Bahamas or any doctor. Why, is Rudy sick?”

  “Okay, we don’t have time for this.” Agent Lawson rose from his chair and got right in Turbo’s face. “No, Turbo, Rudy isn’t sick. Rudy is dead---you know he’s dead. And since you and the other two Musketeers were the last ones to see him alive, you’re going to give us some answers. Otherwise, you and Ms. Carrie here are going downtown, and don’t worry, little Freddie Washington will be joining you, too.”

  “Phillip.”

  “Phillip? What are you talking about?”

  “His name is Phillip. Little Freddie Washington’s name is Phillip.”

  Disgusted, Lawson turned to his partner. “You gonna help me here?”

  Agent Arnold took a softer approach. “Listen, Turbo, nobody has to go downtown. I know Rudy’s death was a shock. It was to us. He was our friend. And I know you’re probably scared. But we really need your help. Whoever killed Rudy needs to be brought to justice.”

  Arnold’s last remark made Turbo laugh. “Justice. You don’t care about justice, and we all know who killed Rudy. It’s a shame that you chumps can’t track him down.”

  “Did he just call us chumps?” Agent Lawson was back in Turbo’s face. “That’s it, grease ball, you’re going downtown.” Lawson lifted him up by the arm.

  “No, wait.” Carrie finally spoke. “Turbo, maybe they can help us, now that Rudy’s gone someone has to.”

  “Rudy didn’t trust them.”

  “Yes, but Rudy didn’t trust anyone.”

  Carrie had a point. Rudy was their only hope and he was dead. Turbo pulled away from Lawson’s grasp and sat back down. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

  “Why was Rudy going to The Bahamas?”

  “He was going to meet that Doctor; he told Rudy he had some information for him about Teleforce.”

  “You know about Teleforce?” Arnold asked.

  “My uncle invented it.”

  “Did he say anything about a special kind of water?”

  Turbo was silent.

  “You know about the water?” Carrie asked.

  “Yes, Doctor Armaly worked on the formula for years.”

  “Formula? What formula? What the hell is it.?” Turbo waited for an answer.

  Agent Arnold hesitated. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell them.”

  Lawson shrugged his shoulders. “It’s your call partner. They’re in pretty deep already.”

  Arnold continued. “Well, it seems that your uncle invented a way to make water combustible.”

  “Combustible? You mean like gasoline?”

  “That’s exactly what we mean.”

  Turbo began laughing uncontrollably.

  Carrie smiled, still unsure why he was so giddy. “Turbo, are you okay?”

  He continued laughing.

  Arnold and Lawson had dumfounded looks on their faces.

  “Turbo, what’s so funny?” Carrie asked.

  He took a few deep breaths, calmed down and gave Carrie a big hug. “We need to call Phillip, right away. “ Tell him I know what it is?”

  Carrie grabbed her cell phone. “What what is? What are you talking about?”

  “Electrostatic Deuterium Oxide---The end of tyranny!”

  CHAPTER 27

  Carrie’s attempts to reach Phillip by cell phone went unanswered. Nonetheless, Turbo was still grinning and carrying on about the news.

  “Don’t get too excited, Doctor Armaly never perfected the formula.” Lawson said.

  “That’s okay,” Carrie pushed the redial button. “Phillip has the form---

  “Maybe we should just go over to his house.” Turbo glared at Carrie.

  “That’s not a bad idea. I’ll drive.” Lawson pulled a set of keys from his pocket.

  They piled into the black, government issued, Escalade parked out front. Turbo and Carrie sat in the backseat, he whispered to Carrie not to mention anything about Tesla’s papers.

  “It’s not polite to whisper,” Agent Lawson said.

  “Oh, I was just asking Carrie if you knew where to go. Phillip lives over on---

  “I know where he lives.” Lawson made a hard right turn. “Sorry, I almost missed the turn.”

  Lawson brought the subject back to the Tesla Water. “That would be something if your uncle really invented a car that ran on water.”

  “Yeah, that would have been great, but he did one better. He invented water that could be used instead of gasoline to run any car.”

  “Wow, it’s too bad it didn’t work.”

  Turbo just smiled. “Yeah, too bad.”

  A small wreath hung on the front door of Phillip’s house. His Aunt Edna hung it there before she went back to Philly. Lawson tapped on the door above the wreath.

  “Maybe he’s asleep.” Carrie said.

  Lawson knocked harder.

  “He could be out of town.” Turbo suggested.

  Lawson turned the doorknob. It was unlocked. “Phillip Washington,” he called out as he gently pushed on the door. “Agent Lawson, FBI.” Once Lawson had peeked through the doorway, he pushed the door wide open. S
omeone had ransacked the house.

  “Oh my God.” Carrie gasped.

  Lawson put a finger up to her mouth. Then pulled his revolver from its holster. “Arnold, get them out of here while I check it out.”

  They retreated to the Escalade.

  A few minutes later, Agent Lawson gave the all clear.

  “Somebody really did a job on this place.” Lawson returned his gun to the holster.

  “Who would do this to poor Phillip?” Carrie was upset.

  “Probably some of their CIA buddies,” Turbo said.

  “No, this wasn’t done by the CIA, or by the FBI.” Lawson was adamant.

  “How do you know?” Carrie asked.

  “These guys were amateur.”

  “Amateur?” Turbo raised his tone slightly. “Look at this place---it looks like they did a pretty good job destroying everything.”

  “That’s how I know they were amateur.” Lawson walked over to the sofa. “See how they cut open all the seat cushions and spewed foam everywhere?”

  Turbo nodded.

  “Well, that’s too much work and way too messy. The CIA and FBI have portable scanners to find things in seat cushions or mattresses, or in frozen food for that matter.”

  Carrie was impressed for a second or two, and then worry came over her. “Oh my God, what about Phillip?”

  Arnold offered hope. “Hopefully, he wasn’t at home when they arrived.”

  “That’s wishful thinking.” Unfortunately, Lawson was a realist. “Yeah, but if he was home they probably have him.” He reached for his cell phone. “I’ll call the crime lab, and put out an APB on Washington.”

  Arnold suggested Carrie and Turbo wait in the Escalade.

  “I’ll be there in a minute.” Turbo said, obviously looking for something.

  “Turbo be careful, this is a crime scene. Don’t touch anything.”

  CHAPTER 28

  The flight attendant asked Alex to wake up his wife; they would be landing soon.

  Alex gave her a gentle nudge, but Mika didn’t respond. Was she even asleep? Alex thought she could have been pretending the entire flight to avoid talking to him. He nudged her again, much harder the second time.

  Mika jumped. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’re about to land.”

  “Did I sleep the whole way here?”

  “Yep.” After waiting so long to talk to her, suddenly Alex wasn’t in the mood to talk.

  “I’m gonna use the lavatory to freshen up.”

  Her bag was stowed under the seat in front of her. Alex used the opportunity to rummage through it. He didn’t notice anything unusual among the typical makeup and lipsticks.

  “Could you hand me that one.”

  Alex didn’t look up. He handed her the tube of lipstick in his hand. “Don’t you have any tissue---I’ve never seen a woman’s purse without tissue before.”

  “Oh, so looking through women’s purses is a hobby of yours?”

  “I have allergies. I need a tissue.”

  Mika went back into the lavatory. A few minutes later, she returned with fresh made lips, and a handful of tissue.

  “Thanks, but I already used my sleeve.”

  “Gross!”

  “I’m just kidding.” Alex folded the tissue and placed it in his pocket.

  The flight attendant instructed them to fasten their seat belts and return their seatbacks to the upright position. A few minutes later, they were on the ground.

  Alex got an even better look at the contents of Mika’s purse when the Customs Agent searched it. He felt foolish for going through it earlier.

  Mika was excited to be in New York. “I haven’t been here since I was a teenager.”

  Alex flagged down a taxi. One stopped at once. “See, that’s how it’s done in America.”

  “Where to, folks?” The cab driver removed the earphones from his ears.

  “Brooklyn.”

  The driver waited for more. “Brooklyn’s a pretty big place---you got an address?”

  “No, I’ll tell you where to go when we get closer.”

  “Hey, it’s your money.” The driver put his earphones back in and then sped off.

  Alex couldn’t believe his luck. His experience with taxi drivers was that they usually wanted to talk your ear off, either telling you their life story or prying into yours. Their driver was simply content to listen to his music, oblivious to who, or what he was carrying in the back seat. Would he care that he was carting around a killer? Regardless, it was the perfect opportunity to hear what the killer had to say.

  “Okay Mika, you said you would tell me everything. Go ahead.”

  “Here? In the taxi?”

  “He can’t hear us.”

  Mika looked closely at the driver. As far as she could see, the earphones were fully inserted in his ears. “I don’t know where to begin.”

  “Why don’t you start by telling me who you work for?”

  “I don’t work for anyone, I work for Sava.”

  “So all that stuff about disobeying orders to kill him was a lie.”

  “No, that’s all true. I used to work for the SDB, but they cut me loose years ago. I guess they grew tired of all Sava’s theories. Theories he couldn’t prove.”

  “So, they just let you go, gave you walking papers?”

  “Sort of. There were a few conditions.”

  “Like what?”

  “I had to keep Sava out of their hair.”

  “That’s it?”

  Mika nodded.

  “They’re a lot nicer than the KGB.”

  Mika explained that it was a different time. Sava was a staunch old world communist who distrusted everyone, everyone but his granddaughter. “He was devastated the day I told him the real Mika died in the blast with her mother.” Tears filled her eyes.

  Alex retrieved the tissue from his pocket.

  “It was a couple of years before he trusted me again. That’s when he divulged his plan.”

  “His plan? What plan?”

  “He told me about his struggle with the American Government over his uncle’s papers. The important ones. The Yugoslavian Government wasn’t interested in his theories at all. Although, they were instrumental in Sava’s fight to have Tesla’s ashes and belongings returned to Yugoslavia. They cared about the Tesla Museum. Proud that the greatest inventor of all time was a Yugoslav National. Sava knew there were many great concepts among the papers the American’s seized. He joined the communist party with the hope of bringing his uncle’s concepts to life.”

  “Yeah, but that was years ago.” Alex grew impatient.

  “I just want you know that he spent his whole life trying to vindicate his uncle’s work. He spent years going over papers that the Americans had altered, deleted information from, or misfiled. Many so badly they were beyond recognition.”

  “Wow, I had no idea. I just thought he was a Bolshevik like the rest.”

  “No, he was passionate. He once told me that the happiest day of his life was in 1943 when the United States Supreme Court ruled Tesla was the actual inventor of the Radio.”

  “Okay, but what about his plan?”

  “Over the years, plenty of idealists looking to get rich quick tried to get Sava to reveal some of Tesla’s secrets. They’d bring good money from emerging revolutionaries on the black market. Anyway, Sava grew old and tired of his cause. He told me what to do if anyone else came inquiring of his uncle’s work.”

  “He told you to kill him?”

  “Yes, he made me promise.”

  “That’s why you killed him?”

  “I promised.”

  Alex turned away. He didn’t notice that they hadn’t moved in a while until then. Traffic was at a standstill. “That’s it? That was his plan?”

  “Not all of it. He made me promise to kill Doctor Armaly, too.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Lawson and Arnold brought Turbo and Carrie back to her apartment. Turbo waited for them to leave and then asked
Carrie if she would come back to the shop with him.

  She agreed.

  “Hey, look at Cosmo’s fancy new car. You don’t even need a key. Watch it just unlocks when I walk up to it.”

  “That’s cool. Where did Cosmo get the money for a car like that?” Carrie caressed the leather seats.

  “That’s what I’d like to know? He’s either running numbers or selling drugs. That’s the only explanation I can come up with.”

  Carrie was shocked. “No there has to be another explanation, Cosmo wouldn’t do anything illegal.”

  “I’d like to think not.” Turbo parked the Lexus in the same spot right in front of the shop. Cosmo liked to stare out the window at it during commercials.

  They had barely entered the shop when Cosmo rushed outside to inspect the car for damage.

  “There’s nothing wrong with your precious car.” Turbo said. “Now go back to your soaps, we got work to do.”

  Carrie was surprised to hear this. “Work? What kind of work?”

  “First we need to find Phillip. Do you remember the name of his Aunt?”

  “Yes, Aunt Edna, from Philly.”

  “Maybe someone from his church can give us her number.”

  “Good idea.”

  “I hope he’s okay.” Carrie was sad.

  “Hey, cheer up. I’m sure he’s fine. When he gets back were gonna celebrate.”

  “Celebrate? Celebrate what?”

  “Tesla Water. Don’t you get it, we’re all gonna be rich; you and me and Phillip---and maybe Cosmo---were gonna be loaded.”

  “But the formula doesn’t work?”

  “The formula they have doesn’t work. But I’d be willing to bet the formula Phillip has works.”

  The small bell attached to the door rang furiously. The gorgeous woman who entered the shop blinded Cosmo. He sat frozen in his seat, not noticing the man with her.

  Turbo and Carrie were still in heavy conversation.

  Alex Gaye cleared his throat to get their attention, much as he did the first time he’d entered the shop. “Hey, can I get some help here?”

  Turbo was stunned. “You got a lot of nerve coming back here.” He reached for the phone.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, at least hear me out.”

  “Why, so you can kill me like you killed Rudy?”