by Dan Kelly
Twenty minutes later he gets one of the return phone calls he’s been waiting for. It’s Maurice Montevideo, a man who has more connections than the phone company. “Thanks for getting back to me, Maury. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate with the Minneapolis World Exposition only three months away and under any other circumstance I wouldn’t bother you, but I really need your help.”
“A call from you, Joel, is never a bother. I owe you big time for all the favors you’ve done for me. What do you need?”
“What can you tell me about Basil Halkias? For someone as successful as he is, very little is known about him.”
“I know you are involved in a lot of hush-hush activities, Joel. Can you tell me why you are so interested in this man?”
“Only that his name came up in an investigation I’m involved in and I need to find out more about him.”
“Might that investigation have anything to do with what’s been going on all over the country lately?”
“Whatever made me think I could ask questions about Halkias without raising Maury’s curiosity? Nothing gets by that shrewd mind of his.”
Pausing only for a moment, Joel quickly decides to level with him. Maury knows things that people who should know don’t. He could be the key to discovering who is behind these attacks on the American people.
“Yes it does, Maury. He’s one of 24 people we’ve singled out for closer scrutiny who might be involved in what’s been going on. Emotions of the American people are approaching critical mass and my colleagues and I are doing everything we can think of to find out who is behind these onslaughts and put them out of business. From the sequence of events to date, we believe these creeps are working on a short time schedule and the next thing on their agenda could be the straw that breaks the public’s back.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you what I know, but a lot of it is gut feeling based on my observations. I’ve had business dealings with the man and our paths have crossed from time to time in other circles as well. He seems to enjoy playing the invisible man role. The Phantom must have been his role model when he was growing up. He doesn’t like being in the public eye yet the public has a very positive attitude about him. They see him as a brilliant, quiet, unassuming, philanthropic man who doesn’t need, who doesn’t relish public accolades for his actions or accomplishments. In short, the general public has a lot of respect for him, holds him in high regard.
“From personal experience, I know this is all a mirage. He’s a barracuda when it comes to conducting business. You don’t negotiate with this man. He is willing to pay the price you are asking for something he wants or he isn’t. You either pay the price he’s asking for something you want or you take a hike. If he wants something badly enough, he’ll find a way to get it, legally or illegally. The word ‘scruples’ isn’t in his dictionary. Others in my business circle hold the same opinion.”
“What do you know about his political proclivities, main stream or off the wall?”
“I’ve not known him to be involved with any political party or movement. Hmm… Something just jiggled loose in my memory. About a year ago, maybe more, I got a curious phone call from a guy who said his name was Bob Feldman. He indicated that he was referred to me by Halkias. Feldman’s story was that he was the owner and CEO of a company called Intricate Information Security Systems a top notch company that addresses physical, computer systems and political security issues Halkias thought I might be interested in those services. The political security service intrigued me and I remember asking him to explain what that was all about. He said that it was rather involved and asked if we could get together to discuss it. He suggested that we include Halkias in that meeting to get his input on the subject. At the time, my calendar was crammed and I told him that I would get back to him when my schedule permitted it. I never managed to find the time and eventually the matter slipped my mind entirely until now.”
“In your opinion, do you think he’s the kind of person to get involved in something like what’s happening across the U.S. right now?”
“If he saw a significant advantage to his business empire and it would afford him the opportunity to foist his opinions on the decision makers in high places, yes. Joel, this guy can rationalize anything to suit himself. He’s got a head that’s way too big even for Texas.”
“That may be why he’s still single. He’s too much in love with himself.”
This brought a chuckle from Maury and a final comment. “Joel, be very careful about who you approach to inquire about this man if you want your investigation to go undetected. He has eyes and ears everywhere. I mean everywhere.”
“Thanks for the warning and thanks for your comments. This conversation never took place right?”
“What conversation?”
Chapter 12
-Chicago-
At five o’clock, Collette was standing in the doorway of Joel’s office with her suitcase in hand and an eager look on her face. “How long will it take us to get to the airport?”
“About 45 minutes. Barbara and Tania are coming with us. When they show up we’ll be off. Their queries have led them to New Jersey as well and Barbara also has to go to Tampa to talk with James Hollingsworth’s ex.”
A few minutes later the other ladies arrive with Midnight bringing up the rear and they head out. Fifteen minutes into their commute to the airport Joel’s cell phone sounds off. It’s Hank with more bad news. Without any preamble Hank barks out, “The rest of the nation is now suffering power outages. The President has declared a national emergency and ordered all National Guard units to report to their duty stations and be prepared to assist local law enforcement in controlling public uprisings and dealing with looting and other crimes. ‘Escalation’ appears to be our enemy’s operational word for the day, so we’ve got to work harder and faster to turn the table on these bastards before our time runs out. Our best shot at nailing these scumbags seems to be what you can uncover in Jersey and Florida. Keep me posted on any new developments ASAP.” Hank clicks off and Joel passes the word onto his passengers.
Barbara blurts out some very colorful expletives with the others joining in with the more common ones. Midnight added his comments with a few well timed barks as well. “Ladies, stow it. Save your energy for what lies ahead. Man, I was hoping that Ashok’s computer security procedures would have been distributed and implemented by now and his virus software installed in the targeted and vulnerable computer systems. I was banking on these attacks being thwarted at least for a while to give the public and us a respite and allow us to solely concentrate on finding out who is doing this to us.”
For the rest of the drive to the airport everyone keeps quiet, deep in thought about what their tormentors might do next. It is a good night for flying. They take off on time and level off at 25,000 feet without incident. The skies are clear, the moon is full, the stars are doing their twinkling thing and a good tail wind is shooing them along to their destination. Joel first touches down at Newark Airport and lets Barbara and Tania off and then flies down to Atlanta to drop off Collette before flying back to Newark to meet up with Barbara.
Barbara and he had agreed that it would make more sense for him to accompany her while she was snooping around New Jersey, posing as her assistant, than to fly back to Chicago only to have to return to Newark to take her to Tampa a day or two later. Besides, her tutelage has resulted in his becoming a pretty good snoop in his own right. He was also thinking that he might be able to shed some light on the elusive Mr. Halkias if he were to sniff around the guy’s base of operations posing as an exporter of aircraft parts. Midnight would be the muscle if they needed it.
Chapter 13
-Elizabeth-
At 8:30 in the morning of their first full day in Jersey, they hit Hollingsworth’s office hoping to catch him in, but are told he is out of town for a few days. They next made the rounds of the civic organizations Hollingsworth is active in and although they heard some interesting stories about his socia
l activities nothing raised any red flags. On the slim chance they might find some household help to talk to, they drove out to his Hillside home and a maid answered the door, fortunately for them a talkative one.
When they told her they were doing research for a book they wanted to write about Mr. Hollingsworth, it was like a dam had burst and the words kept tumbling out. Trying to stay afloat in such a rapid current of verbal flotsam and jetsam was a major chore, but once they were able to close the flood gates they were able to glean some interesting tidbits from the remaining trickles.
It appears that Mr. Hollingsworth has some real off the wall ideas about what is wrong with America and how things could be made right which he has shared with Edwina his maid from time to time when he’s had a few drinks. After about an hour and a half with the loquacious Edwina, they bid her adieux and headed back to Elizabeth with plans to put a tail on the megabucks real estate guru who has definitely reached ‘person of interest’ status.
When they got back to their hotel in Elizabeth it was after 7:00 p.m. and they were starving. They hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and their stomachs were growling like a couple of highly agitated pit bulls or maybe that was Midnight. He hadn’t eaten all day either. “Barb, how about you getting some restaurant info from the concierge and I go up to the room and give Hank a call to let him know what we found out and ask him to arrange for a tail on Hollingsworth? You can meet me back in the room, freshen up and then we can put on the feedbag. Okay?”
“Deal.”
“I’ll feed Midnight and take him out for his toilette and get him settled in for the night. I’ll turn the TV on to keep him company. I don’t think any restaurant we go to will allow dogs.”
“You’re probably right. I’m glad we didn’t have to have him stay in the car while we were making our rounds today. I was surprised no one seemed to mind he was with us. It must be that captivating personality of his.”
“Either that or he scared them silly.”
Laughing she said, “He does have that effect on some people.”
Thirty minutes later they are in a cab headed for Chez Genevieve on the outskirts of Elizabeth. Supposedly, it offers the best French cuisine outside of Paris and has a wine cellar that puts most upscale restaurants to shame. Of course, the concierge only has Chez Genevieve’s word for those claims. Whatever. They are so hungry that a hot dog with oodles of onions, relish and mustard would taste like filet mignon swimming in an exquisite béarnaise sauce.
As things turn out, the food and wine isn’t half bad and the service is excellent. As they are hashing over the events of the day, something catches Barbara’s eye over Joel’s right shoulder and she stops talking and stares. “What’s up?”
“Don’t turn around. This has got to be the coincidence of all coincidences and I don’t believe in coincidences. Damn it, Joel, don’t turn around!”
“Alright already! What are you staring at and if you don’t want to be noticed stop staring.”
“Sitting at the corner table to your right rear are Basil Halkias and someone who looks like Robert Feldman the security guy that’s on our list of 24. They are in a very serious discussion about something.”
“Well, well, well. That could prove to be a very interesting twosome. I think a couple of more tails are warranted, don’t you?”
“I do, indeed I do.”
Suddenly, Joel gets a puzzled look on his face. “Okay it’s my turn. What’s up?”
“I must be tired since it just occurred to me that this restaurant has power and the street lights were on and the traffic lights were working all along the route the cab took to bring us here. What’s with that?”
“The restaurant probably has a backup generator.”
“I can buy that, but why are those street lights on and the traffic lights working and everywhere else is experiencing a blackout? The route we took to get here is the most direct one from Elizabeth’s downtown area. My instinct is telling me that this didn’t happen by chance.”
“Your instinct could be right. I’m wondering if those two gentlemen know anything about what’s going on.”
“I’m going to give Hank a call and have him get a tail on those two as soon as possible.”
Hank answered on the first ring and Joel briefed him on what they had found out and asked him to arrange for two more tails. “You two might be on to something and I think what I have to tell you will make the picture that is forming a bit rosier. Tania and Collette called in to give me their progress reports and guess where their targets have their head offices.”
“Elizabeth?”
“George Palmer has his in Elizabeth and Ronald Baltzinger has his in Linden which borders Elizabeth. How about that? Also, Tania managed to find out that it was Basil Halkias that intervened in the litigation between Palmer and the pharmaceutical company. Happy hunting.” The line went dead and a big smile broke out on Joel’s face.
“Okay, give, Jergensen. I want to have something to smile about too. Judging from that smirk on your puss, you just got some good news.”
Joel enlightens her and after a few seconds of deep thought she responds with “Elizabeth seems to be developing into a prominent common denominator with respect to our list of 24. I think it might be interesting to find out what relationship the rest of the people on our list have with the city of Elizabeth.”
She pulls her cell out of her purse and places a call to her office manager, Samantha Wallace. “Sammy, it’s me. I need you to drop whatever you’re working on and check out some people for me. I don’t want you to do a complete background check. I just want you to look for any connection any of them might have with Elizabeth, NJ. And, Sammy, I need this info yesterday.”
“Okay boss. Give me the names.”
After giving her the names and some pertinent ID info, she paused for a moment and then modified her request. “Sammy, there’s one person on this list that I’d like you to do a complete background check on and do it first. Give me everything you can dig up on Mr. Robert Feldman.”
“Will do. I suggest any future communication be on our cell phones. The land line service here in Chicago is intermittent. I’m surprised that your call got through.”
“Okay, Sammy.”
As Barbara ended her call with Sammy, Halkias and Feldman walked by their table on the way to the valet counter to retrieve their cars. Barbara watched them as they waited for their cars to be brought around and a couple of minutes later nodded her head towards them and said, “Evidently, they met elsewhere and decided to drive together to the restaurant. They’re both getting into a black Mercedes and Feldman is driving. I wonder where they’re headed. Why don’t we follow them and find out?” Joel left enough money on the table to cover their dinner and a generous tip and they raced to their car which they had parked in the street, hoping Feldman didn’t turn off the main thoroughfare until they had him in their sights again.
Five blocks later they caught up with him, but since traffic was almost non-existent they hung back a block because they didn’t what to be spotted. As things turned out, all of this haste and caution proved to be a waste of time. Twenty minutes after leaving the restaurant Feldman pulled into the underground parking garage of the Renaissance Newark Airport Hotel where, after slipping the bell captain a twenty, Joel found out Halkias had a long term lease on a penthouse suite. Looking up at the top of the hotel Barbara said, “Well, it looks like these guys are calling it a night. I suggest we do the same. Maybe we can uncover something when we pay a visit to Mr. Halkias’s office tomorrow.”
“That sounds good to me. I wonder how Tania and Collette’s day went.”
Chapter 14
-Elizabeth-
Tania’s day went exceptionally well all things considered. After spending most of the morning calling dozens of tennis and golf clubs in the Elizabeth and Summit areas posing as an old acquaintance of Mr. Palmer who has just moved into the area and is trying to track him down to see if they can get together
, she finally hit pay dirt at the Mayfair Country Club in Summit. She explains that she knows that George loves to play tennis and golf and thought she might be able to find him by calling the clubs in the vicinity. The man she talked with wouldn’t give her any contact information, but he did tell her that Mr. Palmer had a tee off time tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.