by Mark Donovan
The pilot was able to dodge much of the first blow, but the second swing of the gun slammed into his nose breaking it with the force of a sledge hammer. Blood burst from his nose and face and sprayed onto the instrument panel and windshield, just before he slumped over unconscious onto the flight controls.
The passenger instantly grabbed the control yoke handle in front of his seat and attempted to pull back on it in a wild and panicked effort to fly the plane. However, the dead weight of the pilot slumped over his control yoke handle prevented the man from pulling back on the tandem controls. The man reached over and roughly yanked the pilot’s unconscious body off of the flight controls, slamming it backwards and sideways into its seat. With both hands the passenger pulled back on the control yoke in front of him. At the same time he looked desperately out the cockpit windows and into the white void beyond. As he did, and unperceived to him, the aircraft’s airspeed dropped to less than thirty knots. A second later the passenger heard a horn go off in the aircraft and felt a tumbling feeling in his stomach. He also felt the plane lurch to its right. The passenger pulled back even harder on the yoke handle in an ignorant attempt to eliminate the horn sound and the weightlessness sensation he was feeling in the pit of his gut. Unbeknownst to him, however, the aircraft was falling from the blizzard sky at over fifteen hundred feet per minute.
A flashing greenish/grayish hue began to form in the passenger’s field of view as he looked wildly out the cockpit windows. At first he did not understand what he was seeing, but seconds later it became horribly clear. The aircraft was spinning out of control, downwards and towards a jagged mountain ridge top below. The man began to yell again in Arabic, “Allahu-Akbar.” He had only repeated the phrase three times before the aircraft plunged straight into the side of a mountain ridge at over two hundred miles per hour. The aircraft exploded instantly into a small fireball that was extinguished within minutes by the heavy falling snow. An hour later, all remnants of the crash were completely obscured by a thick blanket of frozen ice crystals. And buried under the fresh layer of snow, in the burnt and twisted wreckage of the aircraft, was a chard and dented but otherwise intact metal briefcase carrying a deadly secret.
Chapter 4 (April 6, Thursday 3:00pm, Germany)
The audience rose from their seats and enthusiastically applauded as Dr. Dave Henson walked away from the podium. He had just completed his guest lecture at the International Conference on Nanostructures. The conference was being held in Munich, Germany in the International Congress Centre. Dr. Henson had been invited to speak on the industry trends in nanomaterial development, and in particular the applications that they were targeted for. Applications in such fields as medicine, sustainable energy, transportation, domestic household products, environmental remediation, and military, just to name a few.
Though there were a number of applications he would have loved to have discussed in detail, his speaking time had been limited. Like the other presenters, he had only been given an hour time slot. It was hardly sufficient time to delve into just one application in the field of nanomaterials. Nevertheless, he had graciously accepted the invitation, and focused his lecture on the use of nanomaterials in medical applications, primarily on improving the delivery of drugs, and for detecting various diseases and toxins. Health was a number one priority for everyone. Consequently, he hoped his lecture would stimulate the international audience into advocating for additional government and private investment research in the field of nanomaterials. Research funds that he hoped could be used for not only addressing the medical field, but for other applications that he believed were also of significant importance.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed and uncomfortable by the adulation, Dr. Henson waved graciously to the crowd as he quickly made his way off the stage. As he did, Dr. Andreas Koch came running up to him and reached out to shake his hand.
“That was a wonderful lecture Dr. Henson,” said Dr. Koch as he grabbed Dave’s hand and vigorously shook it. “It was truly inspiring. The enhancements in medicine due to nanomaterial science is extremely exciting.”
“Thank you Dr. Koch,” responded Dave over the din of the applause. “It was a pleasure.”
A small crowd of conference attendees rushed up behind Dr. Koch and began to pepper Dave with follow-up questions. The crowd included other experts in the field of nano-science along with reporters from various science publications. Dave said a quick goodbye to Dr. Koch as he was swallowed up by the crowd, and began to graciously respond to the questions.
Thirty minutes later Dave exited the conference center. He stopped for a second to take in a breath of the afternoon fresh air and to observe the weather. It was a cool and dreary day in Munich. The clouds were low and dark and the wind was whipping rain nearly sideways as he walked out onto the conference center’s covered sidewalk. He hailed a taxi waiting in the taxi queue. The driver immediately surged his Mercedes forward to where he stood. The taxi had barely come to a stop when Dave slid his two hundred pound, six foot four inch frame, smoothly into the backseat of it and said, “Hotel Munich Palace, bitte.”
The International Congress Centre was only eight kilometers away from his hotel, but Munich was a large and bustling city. It was going to be a lengthy and expensive taxi ride. Dave looked down at his Breitling SR-71 Blackbird chronograph. It was still on Mountain Standard Time and it showed nearly eight o’clock in the morning. He never changed his watch when he traveled. It was partly a comfort thing. He traveled a great deal and often very far from home. Home being, McCall, Idaho. By not changing his watch he felt a bit closer to home, even when he was on the opposite side of the planet.
There was also a practical side for not changing his watch when he traveled. Dave was the Chief Executive Officer of NSurv Incorporated. He, along with a few close friends and colleagues from Silicon Valley, had founded NSurv nearly four years earlier when they moved to McCall, Idaho. By not changing his watch he could easily see if it was a reasonable time to call his colleagues back at the office when he was somewhere else on the globe.
NSurv, Inc. was Dave’s latest success story in his illustrious twenty five year high tech career. NSurv was in the business of developing and manufacturing nanotechnology materials for a variety of markets including surveillance, bioengineering and medical, and industrial. His team of engineers and scientists had a stack of patents in the field of nanotechnology. And more importantly, they had several dozen large contracts and customers that they were regularly shipping product to. More succinctly, NSurv, Inc. was extremely profitable, like all of Dave’s previous business endeavors.
Upon graduating from Stanford University with a doctorates degree in Electrical Engineer nearly twenty five years earlier, Dave co-founded his first hi-tech company in the San Francisco bay area. It was a Silicon Germanium semiconductor start-up that developed high speed telecom integrated circuits. Five years after founding the company he and his partners sold the company for three hundred million dollars. Dave’s cut of the profits from the sale of the company made him an instant deca-millionaire.
Not choosing to rest on his laurels, Dave immediately went out and founded his second startup, a software/internet company. He spent over a decade building the company into an international leader in online business software tools and services, and with annual sales in excess of two billion dollars. A year before starting NSurv, Inc., he sold the company for fifteen billion dollars. And in the process, raised his personal wealth, and his ranking on the Forbes 100 list, to “billionaire” status.
Though he had amassed a personal fortune from his business ventures, Dave had always remained true to his humble roots, growing up in the Midwest as a poor farmer’s son. Unlike many other successful hi-tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley he had maintained his humility and privacy throughout the years. He never cared to seek the public limelight or publically espouse his political opinions. He preferred to do his part in helping to improve the lives of others by focusing his energies on developing new and useful products for
the world, rather than spouting political platitudes into a microphone and camera.
Another benefit of keeping his Breitling watch on Mountain Time when he traveled was that it allowed him to take better care of his health. Though traveling to the opposite side of the globe required him to meet with customers during local hours, he did his best to try to maintain some level of continuity with his sleeping and eating routines back in Idaho. He was also a bit of a fitness buff. Pending what time zone he was traveling in, he’d frequently go out and do his daily five mile run so that it coincided with either an early morning or evening run in Idaho.
After checking the time Dave pulled his cell phone out of his sports coat breast pocket. He needed to make a couple of calls. He first wanted to call his wife Dana Cogswell at the hotel. They had dinner plans with an old colleague of theirs from Silicon Valley, and he wanted to let her know that he was on his way to the hotel. He also had to call his close friend and colleague Ron Blackwell back at NSurv. Though it was still early in Idaho, he knew Ron would already be in the office. He was working on another hot new project.
Dave hit speed-dial one on his phone and waited for Dana to answer. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hi honey, I’m on my way back to the hotel.”
“Good, I was beginning to get a little worried about you,” responded Dana. “I thought you would have been back half an hour ago.”
“I know, but apparently many of the conference attendees enjoyed listening to me,” joked Dave. “I wound up spending nearly half an hour answering questions after my lecture.”
“Well I know you’ve always had the gift of gab,” laughed Dana over the phone. “Just as long as none of them plan to follow us to Obertauern, Austria for our ski trip tomorrow.”
“No, I’m all done with the conference. Dinner tonight with our old friend Spencer Williams and tomorrow morning, off to Austria.”
“Sounds good,” laughed Dana. “I better let you go so I can finish getting ready.”
“I’m sure you already look stunning,” joked Dave. “But yes, I should let you go. I want to talk to Ron for a few minutes before I get back to the hotel.”
“Alright I’ll see you in a few.”
Dave hit the end button on his phone and then scrolled down his list of contacts and tapped on Ron Blackwell’s phone number. Three rings later Ron picked up.
“Hey Dave, how are you enjoying Germany?” asked Ron as he answered the phone.
“It’s been great. The conference was very interesting. I’ll have to give you and the rest of the team a full data dump on it when I get back to McCall. Suffice it to say we have some competition nipping at our heels in the surveillance space.”
“Cool, I look forward to it” responded Ron. “Have you and Dana been able to enjoy yourselves at all?”
“Absolutely,” laughed Dave. “The city of Munich has been a lot of fun. Dana and I have been out every night dining with other conference speakers and attendees. The German beer and food are fantastic. In my book, the German fare outshines French food, hands down. I could have sauerbraten and potato dumplings every week.”
“Well it sounds like the two of you have been pretty busy. I hope you newlyweds are getting in a little private time as well while there,” joked Ron.
“Oh we are,” laughed Dave. “Just about every night Dana and I have taken early evening walks along the Isar River before going to dinner. The outdoor vibe in this city, particularly along the river, is just amazing.”
“So I assume you called me to see how my project is coming along,” said Ron as he pivoted the conversation.
“You are indeed correct,” responded Dave. “I am anxious to hear the results of your tests on the carbon nanotube based solar cells.”
“They have been going very well,” said Ron. “We’ve been conducting field tests over the past couple of days on several of the new solar cells and they are showing tremendous promise. Early measurements indicate that the carbon nanotube solar cells are converting nearly eighty percent of the sunlight into electricity.”
“That’s beyond our wildest hopes,” responded Dave in amazement. “It seems like the future of silicon based photovoltaic solar cells is not for long.”
“Especially when you consider the cost differential between the two types of solar cells,” added Ron. “Carbon nanotube based solar cells cost a fraction to manufacture compared to silicon based ones.”
“Well I am pleased to hear the news,” replied Dave. “It’s very exciting and I cannot wait to listen to your full report when I get back.”
“I should also let you know Dr. Gillian has also been working on a new, secret, and unscheduled project.”
“Oh, what is he up to now?” laughed Dave. “I’ve only been gone a week.”
“To be honest I am not really sure myself. All I can say is that he took a few samples of my new solar cells to his lab. He told me today that he will have a new prototype of something to share with us when you get back in a week and a half.”
“Well I look forward to finding out what Dr. Gillian has been up to when I return.”
The taxi pulled up to the curb outside of the Hotel Munich Palace.
“Ron, I have to go. I’m at my hotel.”
“Okay, give my regards to Dana and don’t either of you break a leg skiing.”
Dave hit the end button on his phone and slid it into his inside coat pocket. As he did, a hotel bellboy with an umbrella opened the taxi door for him. Dave quickly paid the taxi driver and then stepped out of the Mercedes. He went up to the hotel registration desk and asked for his room key. Two minutes later Dave opened the door to his hotel suite.
Dana was standing in front of a dresser mirror putting on a pair of diamond earrings. As usual she looked stunning. She was leaning her head back and to the right so that her long mane of brunette hair flowed away from her left ear as she put on one of the earrings. A royal blue three forth sleeve business dress that cut just below her knees accented her slim five foot eight inch athletic figure. She looked up from putting on the earing with her emerald green eyes and gave Dave a gorgeous smile as he walked into the suite.
“Hey honey, glad to see you didn’t get too wet out there,” said Dana as she came up to him while putting the clasp on the back of the earring. She gave him a light kiss on the lips.
“Wow, that’s quite the greeting,” laughed Dave as he kissed her back and gave her an embracing hug.”
“Well I missed you today and I am excited for the two of us to be officially on vacation, now that your conference is over. It’s been over a year since our last vacation.”
“Has it been that long since our honeymoon?” asked Dave. “It seems like it was just yesterday.”
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” said Dana with a laugh and a twinkle in her green eyes.
Dave placed his cell phone and wallet on the nightstand next to the bed and took off his sports coat and tie. He then flopped down in a chair next to the bed and pulled off his shoes.
“You look tired. Would you like a glass of wine?” asked Dana as she went over to the hotel suite’s wet bar.
“Sure, I’ll have a glass of whatever you’re having,” said Dave as he rested his head in the cushioned high back chair.
Dana walked over and sat down on the bed next to Dave and handed him a glass of Germany’s finest Pinot Noir brand, Spatburgunder.
Dave took a sip of the red wine and swirled it in his mouth before swallowing it.
“Excellent,” commented Dave.
“Yes, I thought so too,” responded Dana. “As a matter of fact, so much so, that I ordered a case of it to be sent back to McCall.”
“How did you do that?” asked Dave with a laugh.
“Well, after having a glass of it at lunch today at the hotel’s restaurant I asked the hotel’s concierge to contact the winery and order us a case. He called me a half hour ago and confirmed the order and shipment.”
Dave took another sip from his
wine glass. “So did you call your boss Jeff Kolosky today?”
“Yes, I called him this morning. He wants to talk to me when I’m back in New York in two weeks. He says he’s got a major assignment for me. He hinted that I’ll probably be coming back to Europe in the next few weeks.”
“So what’s the assignment?”
“He was vague. All he said was that it was an international political health story that he wanted me to follow. He wouldn’t give me any more details over the phone when I prodded him for more specifics.”
“Jeff Kolosky is always the cagey one,” responded Dave. “He never wants to show all of his cards until he absolutely has to.”
Dana took a sip from her own wine glass. “He’s an old fashion news reporter,” defended Dana with a laugh and shrug. “He’s always wanting to protect his sources and not risk getting scooped by his competitors. Plus, he’s the head of the American Broadcast Corporation. He has to be cautious in everything that he says or does.”
Dana raised her glass of wine and looked at it admiringly. “I am so glad I ordered us a case. This wine is wonderful.”
“Agreed,” said Dave. “I guess, however, that I need to get up and get ready for dinner.” He looked over at the clock on the nightstand next to the bed. “We are supposed to meet Spencer for six o’clock down in the lobby.”
“Do you know where we are going for dinner?” asked Dana.
“No. When Spencer bumped into me yesterday afternoon and we were chatting, he simply insisted on taking us out to dinner this evening, but did not say where. But knowing Spencer, I am sure it will be five stars dining.”
“How long has it been since you’ve seen him?” Dana asked. “I haven’t seen him since we were at Stanford.”
Dave leaned his head back in the chair again and closed his eyes for a couple of seconds. “I’ve probably not seen him in fifteen years. Not since I started my last company.”
“So what has he been up to?”
“He told me that his small consulting company, Sand Industries, was doing some work for a U.S. government agency in the Bay Area, and that it involved some research work on nanomaterials, but he didn’t elaborate any further.”