“Formula? What formula?”
“Don’t play dumb, Doc. We’re all looking for the same formula. Dr. Trump, the C.I.A., the N.S.A., the K.G.B., the S.D.B., British Petroleum, Exxon-Mobil, O.P.E.C., and God only knows who else.”
“Wow, I didn’t know O.P.E.C. was involved.”
“Well, if you think about it, they stand to lose the most.”
“I never thought about who would lose, but there’d be so many winners.”
“Yes, if we could just figure it out.”
“Well, I’ve tried for years and so has Trump, something’s missing.”
Rudy and the doctor discussed the formula as they walked along a dusty road somewhere south of Boston. Rudy checked his iPhone for a signal every few minutes.
“I’ve been over that formula ten thousand times and I can’t make it work.” The doctor explained. “It doesn’t make sense, most of Tesla’s notes are clear and cohesive, but that formula is a huge complication of molecules. If I didn’t know better I would have thought a child drew it.” Years of frustration with the concept were obvious.
“Well Doc, what if I told you there was another copy of the formula in existence?”
Dr. Armaly stopped walking. “You can’t be serious.”
Rudy nodded his head.
“How is that possible?”
Before Rudy could answer, a car sped by and pulled off the road about a hundred yards ahead of them. The driver got out and called over to them. “Hurry up and get in before I leave your ass here.”
Rudy and Dr. Armaly hustled over to the Lincoln Town Car. Tires squealed and gravel spewed before their backs had fully pressed against the leather. Dr. Armaly reached for the seat belt and fastened it in a hurry.
“Relax Doc, Buddy gets a little carried away sometimes, but he’s a good driver.”
Dr. Armaly wasn’t reassured, he grabbed the handle above the window and braced for a wild ride.
“What took you so long?” Rudy asked.
“Well, I thought it might look funny if I went chasing after the crazy son-of-a-bitch who just stole a prisoner and a police car. So I sat there slumped down in my seat for an hour until things calmed down enough to leave unnoticed.” Buddy glanced down at the dashboard. “Ah shit, we gotta stop for gas. I don’t know why we didn’t steal a car that got better fuel mileage.”
Dr. Armaly looked at Rudy.
“He’s kidding, Doc, we rented the car.”
“Heard any news about that bitch, Carrie, and her asshole friends?” Buddy asked.
“No, but if you calm down and be quiet I’ll call her.”
“You can’t call her, she thinks you’re dead.”
“Shhhh. Dr. Armaly is gonna call her.”
“Me? Why would I call her?”
“Because Doc, she has the other copy of the formula.” Rudy punched in the number and handed him the iPhone.
CHAPTER 42
Cosmo greeted Carrie and Phillip as they entered the repair shop. “Phillip, where are your shoes?”
Phillip let the remark pass and went over to the counter.
Turbo was on the phone. “. . . Fine, if you want to be that way, fine . . . and stop fucking calling me William.” He slammed the receiver onto the hook.
Carrie rushed over to the counter. “Turbo, we have the trunk.”
Turbo didn’t turn around right away; he wiped his eyes using his shirtsleeve.
Carrie’s cell phone rang. “This is Carrie.”
“Uh---hello---Carrie.”
“Who is this?”
“You don’t know me; my name is Mike Armaly---Dr. Mike Armaly.”
Carrie hesitated. Was this really Dr. Armaly? How did he get her number? “Dr. Armaly, from the Bahamas?”
“Yes, that’s right. Carrie I need to meet with you and your friends. It’s very important.”
“How did you get my number?”
“That’s not important. Can we arrange a meeting?”
“This is Agent Lawson, isn’t it? Quit disguising your voice.”
“No, Carrie, this is serious. Rudy said to contact you if anything happened to him. He called me from Aquaduct and gave me your number.”
“Oh my God, you are Dr. Armaly. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, dear. Is there a place we can meet?”
Carrie thought for a moment. She hadn’t been to work in days, but she still had a key to the building. “Let’s meet at the Barnes and Noble on 7th avenue in Brooklyn, tonight at 11, come to the back entrance.”
“I’ll be there, make sure you bring Phillip and Turbo with you and the formula.”
Carrie hung up the phone. “He wants to meet us, all of us.”
“Even me?” Cosmo asked.
“No, not you, Cosmo. But the rest of us, and he wants us to bring the formula.”
“I don’t know about that.” Phillip said. “How do we know we can trust him?”
“Rudy trusted him. He even gave him my phone number.”
“Yeah, but Rudy also told us not to trust anyone.”
Turbo came from behind the counter. “Well, I don’t care if we can trust him or not, I say we meet with him, he’s probably the only person who can explain that stupid formula in the first place.” Turbo had grown weary of their cause. Maybe it was the phone call from Maria. Maybe not. Either way, a few answers would be nice.
On the way to Barnes and Noble, they stopped at the Wal-Mart over in Brooklyn Heights to buy Phillip a pair of shoes. The old man who greeted everyone tried to stop Phillip from entering the store barefoot. Turbo intervened and suggested the old man look the other way. He was in no mood for such nonsense.
Carrie assured the man that Phillip would soon have shoes.
Turbo ventured over to the produce section and stood in amazement. He’d never seen anything like it.
Carrie tugged at his shirtsleeve to get him moving again. They walked up the main aisle toward the rear of the store, stopping once or twice for Turbo to absorb it all. “They got everything here. Now I know why nobody comes to my neighborhood anymore.”
Near the back of the store, they veered away from the grocery section toward the clothing and shoe departments.
While Carrie helped Phillip find shoes his size, Turbo strolled along the aisle admiring all the shoes. There were so many. Before long, he had wandered two aisles over from where Phillip tried on a pair of loafers, still marveling at all the shoes until he reached the sneakers. Hundreds of sneakers, mostly white. He rushed back over to Carrie and Phillip. “Haven’t you found a pair of shoes yet? It’s getting late.”
“What do you think of these?” Phillip raised his foot.
“Those are just fine.” Turbo didn’t really care much for the loafers. He probably would’ve said the same thing regardless what shoe Phillip wore, just as long as it wasn’t a white sneaker. “Now can we get outta here, please?”
Carrie picked up the empty shoebox and headed to the cash registers. On their way out, Phillip made sure the Greeter noticed his new shoes.
***
The Barnes and Noble building was dark. Carrie drove around back and parked in the alley. It was only 10:30. “I think we should come up with a plan.” She turned around to look at Turbo.
“What sort of plan?”
“Well, maybe we should leave the trunk in the car until---
“Until what?” Turbo screamed. “Until he pulls out a gun and shoots us. I’m sick of this fucking formula, I say we just give it to him and go home.”
Phillip had been quiet until then. “Then what do we do, just wait till those guys in sneakers come back?”
Turbo sat up in his seat. “Well, thanks to you, they’re coming for me.”
“Yeah, they already beat the shit out of me, it’s your turn.”
Turbo grabbed Phillip by the shirt collar. “Why you---
“Stop it!” Carrie screamed. “There’s a car coming.”
The car approached from the other end of the alley with its headlights o
ff. It stopped well in front of Carrie’s car. Too far ahead to distinguish the occupants. Carrie flashed the headlights once.
Nothing happened.
Two minutes later, she flashed the headlights again.
Still nothing.
“This is bullshit.” Turbo got out of the car. “Armaly is that you? Hey, Armaly.”
The doctor got out of the car and walked toward them. “You must be Turbo.”
“Yes, I’m Turbo. Good to meet you.”
Carrie, now out of the car, suggested they go inside. Phillip followed with the trunk.
Once inside Barnes and Noble, they made their way through the storeroom and went over to the reading section of the store where there was a sofa, coffee table, and a few chairs. Carrie introduced herself and Phillip.
“Dr. Armaly, we’re so glad to meet you, we’ve been going crazy trying to figure out what to do since Rudy was killed.”
“Yes, it was quite unfortunate. I’m sure Rudy was a good man. May I see the formula now?”
“Not so fast,” Phillip nudged the trunk under his chair, “I’d like a few answers first.”
Turbo agreed.
“Uh, what sort of answers?”
“Well, I don’t know, how ‘bout you tell us what this fucking formula really does.”
Carrie suggested they all remain calm.
“I don’t blame you for being mad.”
“We’re not really mad.” Turbo explained. “More like frustrated.”
“Frustrated! You’re frustrated! I’ve been working on that formula for the past forty years. You don’t know what it’s like to be frustrated!”
“I still want answers.” Phillip reached down for the trunk. “No answers. No Formula.” He rose from the chair.
“No wait, Phillip. Sit back down. I’ll tell you what I know, but that may not be enough.”
“Oh, thank you, Doctor.” Carrie inched up to the edge of the sofa.
“The formula is for Electrostatic Deuterium Oxide, what many call Tesla Water. It’s combustible water.”
“Combustible water?” Carrie asked. “How is that possible?”
“Well, it seems that Turbo’s uncle devised a way to negatively charge ions that molecularly excite the water. Thus creating an emulsion composed of tiny droplets of the ion charged water. When the excited water droplets are placed into a combustion zone and ignited, the charged ions in the water combust.”
“Wow, it makes me afraid to take a drink.”
“It’s not that kind of water, Carrie. It’s heavy water.”
“Heavy water?”
“Yes, dear, heavy water, the kind they use in Nuclear Reactors. D20 has a high heat transfer.”
“Enough about the heavy water.” Turbo grew impatient. “Get back to the formula.”
“Well it’s real simple if you think about it, and God knows I’ve been thinking about it for forty years. Nikola Tesla wanted free energy for everyone. He tried to give the world free electricity, but Edison, Westinghouse, and J. P. Morgan would never stand for it. Besides, the public wasn’t ready to embrace large bolts of electricity flying through the air all around them.”
“I can relate to that.” Carrie said.
“Yes, Carrie, me too.” The doctor stood up and looked toward the back of the store.
“What is it Doctor?” Carrie stood as well.
“I thought I heard something.”
“You locked the back door, didn’t you?” Phillip put the trunk back under the chair.
“Yes, I’m sure it’s nothing, go on Doctor.”
“Well, since the world wasn’t ready for free electricity, Nikola Tesla decided he would create an energy source the public would embrace. I mean who’s afraid of a little water?”
“But it’s heavy water---
“Stop with the heavy water already.” Turbo glared at Carrie. “Go on Doctor.”
“He created Electrostatic Deuterium Oxide. Combustible water that can power just about anything. Cars, boats, trains, planes, you name it.”
“No wonder everyone wants it,” Phillip said.
“Yes, everyone wants it. There’s only problem. It doesn’t work.”
Suddenly a large shelf full of books tumbled over creating an awful racket.
“C’mon Doc, you can’t be serious. What do you mean it doesn’t work?” Alex and Mika emerged from the pile of books, their automatic weapons drawn.
CHAPTER 43
Phillip fidgeted in the chair. Hopefully his new shoes wouldn’t call attention to what was underneath the chair.
Carrie was the first to speak. “How did you know we were here?”
“Carrie, darling, you always ask the most insightful questions.” She didn’t answer her.
Alex approached the doctor who was still sitting on the sofa with Carrie, the barrel of the AK47 level with his head. “Why do you say the formula doesn’t work?” He walked over to the sofa.
“I’ve tried for forty years and I can’t get it to work, Professor Trump either.”
“Professor Trump is dead?”
“Yes, but his son is still working on it.”
“Not for long, he’ll be dead soon, too.” Mika aimed her weapon at the doctor.
“Doctor Armaly, I have some questions about Teleforce?”
“No, Alex, we are not here to talk about Teleforce.” Mika pushed him away from the sofa and took over the interrogation. “Tell me Doctor, darling. You were assigned to the Teleforce Project, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then how was it that you became so enamored with the Tesla Water?” Her weapon pointed downward at the Doctor.
“Once the government realized what they had with Tesla Water, they put everything else on hold. The Teleforce Project had just gotten started in the United States, but we diverted all resources to Tesla Water almost immediately. We let the British take the lead on Teleforce.”
“And they killed my father.”
Mika turned her weapon on Alex. “Stop it, now.”
“I’m sorry about your father, Alex. And the other scientists, too.”
Alex thanked him.
“Listen, Mika, this is really between you and me. Why don’t you let everyone else go and we’ll finish it.”
“Oh, Doctor, if it were only that easy, but enough reminiscing. Young Phillip, would you be kind and hand me the trunk. Oh, by the way, those shoes are much better than those old boat shoes you had”
Phillip didn’t move, but Turbo stood up.
“Turbo, darling, we are family, don’t make me shoot you. Sit down, please.”
Turbo walked over and leaned against one of the bookshelves. “Mika, darling, just this past week my wife took my kids and moved to Florida. Some nameless faceless company wants to squeeze me out of my building. I think my best friend is dealing drugs. I drudged through a mile of trash at a dump in Jersey. I saw a man shot to death at Aquaduct. And they arrested me for his murder. So, if you want to shoot me, darling, go right ahead.”
“Oh, Turbo, you’ve had a rough week, I feel sorry for you. And here poor Alex and I have been at the Ritz all week ordering room service and fucking every night.” She jabbed the AK47 into his chest. “Sit back down, now.”
“Do what she says, Turbo.” Phillip stood and walked over to the pile of books that had fallen from the overturned shelf.
Mika turned toward him. “Don’t tell me, you’ve had a rough week, too?”
Phillip stood there in silence. He thought about his Grandmother’s funeral. Yes, he’d had a rough week, but he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of an answer. He picked up a book and turned it so Carrie could see its cover. They both began laughing aloud.
“This is funny book no doubt.” Mika, caught off guard, grabbed the book. “Nymph? Why is Nymph so funny?” She handed the book back to Phillip.
“It’s a long story, Mika.” Carrie walked over to the pile of books on the floor and sifted through them until she found a rather large volume. “You see, Mika, t
hat book has a rather unusual story behind it, and so does this one.”
Mika had a dumbfounded look on her face, but Carrie wiped it right off using the large book in her hand. Mika fell to the floor.
Phillip flung Nymph at Alex who began firing his AK47 aimlessly. Everyone scattered for cover.
Phillip tried to grab the trunk, but Carrie pulled him out of the gunfire. They crouched low in the “Reference” aisle.
Turbo headed for the front of the store and wound up in the “Inspirational” section of the bookstore. He said a quick prayer.
Alex stopped shooting and tried to regain his composure. Mika lay unconscious on the floor.
“Okay, I know you can hear me so listen up.” He gave Mika a gentle nudge with his boot just to be certain she was out cold. “First I’d like to thank Carrie for knocking Mika out, she can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.”
There wasn’t a reply.
“I know you’re not gonna speak ‘cause you think I’ll start shooting at the sound of your voice, but we all want answers, so we need to talk about it. No shooting, I promise.”
Still, no reply.
“Hey Doctor Armaly, did you know there was more than one formula for Tesla Water?”
There was a long pause. “There were a few copies going around, but they were all the same.”
“You really think so, Doc? What about the formula Phillip has?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet.”
“Well come on out and let’s take a peek before Mika wakes up.”
“No, Doctor, don’t do it.” Carrie screamed.
“C’mon, Doc, it’s the only way to know for sure. Everyone come out, I promise not to shoot anyone.
Carrie was the first to emerge from the aisle.
“Anyone else?”
“I’m coming.” Turbo made his way from the front of the store.
Doctor Armaly and Phillip joined them. Philip grabbed the trunk and placed it on the coffee table in front of the sofa. “We’ll have to break the lock; I don’t have the key.”
“That’s not a problem, stand back.” Alex fired a few rounds at the lock, ripped it from the clasp, and threw open the trunk lid.
Alternating Current: A Tesla Novel Page 18