Balance of Power Shifted

by Karl, Victor

  Bill nervously waited at an auxiliary building that they had moved him into due to all the activity he was generating. He kept looking at himself in the mirror and was not totally unpleased with what he saw. Most of his hair had grown back, but an angry red scar could easily be scene. Everyone played it down and told that is made him look tough or rakish. He had also put back all the weight he had lost plus five pounds due to the fantastic food here. Looking at his watch, he was thinking to himself that the limo should be here any second and as if on cue, it pulled up just outside the door. It took about a minute for the sole passenger to emerge and when she did, his heart started pounding. She looked as beautiful as ever, yet she carried a hint of sadness around her normally bright, mischievous eyes. Slipping back into his office, he waited.

  Charlene was both nervous and excited at the same time. This was her first trip to Europe, let alone Rome, and the sights and sounds of Italy and Rome were even more exciting then she had expected. She had dressed in a business suit since she would be meeting her boss for the first time whose name was William Hart. She knew nothing about him or what his plans were, but was excited all the same to have such an opportunity. The office was basic and had a couple of doors off the main room. One door had the name William Hart on it so she put her bags down and strode to that door, which was partially open. Knocking firmly on the wooden panel, she said “Mr. Hart, this is Charlene your new assistant.” She heard a voice from inside say ‘come in.’ Pushing the door aside, she walked in and looked at the man behind the desk. As she focused on his face she became confused and was trying to process why this person looked just like her Bill. When he said, “Hello Charlene, I missed you.”

  Charlene dropped in a dead faint to the floor. She felt dampness on her forehead as someone applied a cool cloth and when she opened her eyes she was looking at Bill’s face and then at his scar and back to face again. “She heard Bill say, it’s really me baby, it’s really me.” All she could utter was “but how…but how?” which Bill cut off with a soft kiss as tears fell from his eyes onto her cheeks.

  An hour later, they were both still sitting on the office couch with their hands in the others, as Bill filled her in on the events of the last couple of months. Charlene kept reaching to his head and softly tracing the scar as if she could not believe that it all happened. “Charlene, you are not just here to see me, we really do need you, and I really need you here to help me put our program in place. You just cannot call me by my real last name, but Bill works fine.” Charlene had never felt some much love in her life. She already knew Bill was the one for her and she was devastated when she had heard the news that he died in the attack. Now that she had a second chance to be with him, she was not going to let anything stop her, so when he got down on his knee, right then and there and proposed to her, she burst out into tears again and said “yes…yes…yes.” Bill slipped a ring, he had purchased just that morning, on her finger and stood up and kissed her.

  While the weather in Rome was delightful, Beijing was experiencing a torrential downpour and Professor Ling was jittery as could be this morning with beads of perspiration dripping profusely as he was trying to look into the lens of his powerful microscope. Mopping his brow every 10 seconds was making it difficult to focus in on the organism on the slide. The sweating had nothing to do with his corpulent frame gained through a lifestyle of excess. No the sweat came from fear of failure and consequences the General had in for him if he could not solve the puzzle that was Electricus. His control samples of Electricus were thriving and had done so even after a couple of months in his possession, however every sample he tried to get to reproduce ended up with the organism slowly dying as the sample evolved from a green hue to a brown color. Being honest with himself, he knew he did not have a clue. The most expensive analysis equipment and a team of microbiologists at Ling’s disposal were unable unlock the secret. Unfortunately, he had been telling the General that a breakthrough is just around the corner and now the General will be coming to the lab this morning and he had hinted that he knew things were not going well.

  The Professor thought to himself that he knew what had happened. A junior associate working with him took it upon her to file her own report with the General. That bitch Fei Yen, with her US degrees was always looking for a way to promote herself. Another big problem was the need for a larger supply of Electricus to get more aggressive in the testing. The amount stolen in the raid was gone, except for a 12-ounce jar and what was in the stolen Power Mats, which the General forbid using. Looking at his watch, his stomach tightened as he realized the General would be here in less than a half hour. He could not resist himself and snapped off a chunk of German chocolate from a half-pound bar he had been consuming all morning.

  General Hu was sitting in his limousine with his two bodyguards trying to get to the fringe of Beijing where their sprawling lab complex was located. News had not been good lately. His own little lab rat had informed him that there had been zero progress by Professor Ling even though he had been pumping me up with positive reports. Regular reports coming out of US news agencies, discussed Efficio signing contract after contract with major automobile manufacturing companies and with large construction firms. It appeared that every one of the 100 lottery winners for the housing project were interviewed with each one touting how great it was to live in a home with no power utility bill or heating costs. Efficio’s blonde PR woman was holding regular press conferences and had indicated that they were gearing up for mass production of Electricus in the US and will soon follow suit around the globe.

  US manufacturing companies were already contacting Chinese firms to farm out the building of the Power Pads for all kinds of custom installations as well as custom power and control panels needed for a variety of purposes. This was good for China, however the real money-maker and control of power was with whoever had the secret to Electricus. His spies have also heard rumors of a lot of activity coming out of Europe with discussions happening with governments in the region. The weird part of this was that the Catholic Church seemed to be brokering these meetings for Efficio. The General found this odd indeed.

  Arriving at the lab, Professor Ling met him. The General observed that he looked like he had eaten bad dog meat or something. The professor offered his hand to shake and the General strode by ignoring him. Hustling his fat ass after the General, he scanned his retina in the biometric reader and held the door for the General and his bodyguards. Grouped around an 80 inch LED screen was the Professors entire team who all bowed down upon his entrance. Without wasting any time, the General looked at Professor Ling and said, “Professor I have received disturbing information regarding your efforts to reproduce the Electricus organism. I understand that we are no closer to understanding it then we were two months ago. Is this true?” The professor stammered and started to wipe his brow as he started to explain. “Umm ahhh we have umm been analyzing the organism, which suddenly appeared on the large screen in full magnification, and have created a new classification and…” The professor stopped when the General put his hand up for him to halt. “Do you know how the organism reproduces successfully?” the General slowly said. Hesitating for a couple of seconds the professor replied “No” and put his head down.

  The General turning to one of his bodyguards and pointing to the Professor said, “Take this poor excuse for a researcher and back to his quarters for now.” Looking around the room, the General saw Fei Yen and pointed to her and said, “You are now the lead researcher on this project and have complete control of everyone in this room. Do not disappoint me and I want a report at the end of each day, 7 days a week.” With that, the General turned around and strode out of the room. Fei Yen looked around and saw everyone staring at her. With cold realization, the phrase came to her ‘careful for what you wish for because it may come true’ came into her head and all of sudden her excitement changed into concern as reality hit home.

  The General was not finished with this yet and sent a coded mess
age to the US team to try and infiltrate the Efficio production locations at any cost. Looking at his watch, he realized he had some time to swing by Ying and Yang as he liked to call them for a morning tryst with the identical twins that worked as models when not fulfilling his wishes...

  Back at the Vatican and in deference to the place in which they were living, Charlene stayed in a dorm room building set aside for female visitors. Father Emilio Jovinni had agreed to marry them as soon as the proper paperwork was completed and he already had received permission to use one of the lesser-known chapels on the Vatican grounds. Father talked to one of the female team members working with us to see if she could help Charlene pick out a dress, which was met with an enthusiastic ‘yes’ by her co-worker with much smiling. Luckily for Charlene, her English was very good. Father also gave me directions to a jeweler on site where I could pick up wedding bands. Since I was still keeping a low profile this worked out well. Charlene was a little nervous since she had not attended church since her mother had passed away 7 years prior. Her father had passed away when she was an infant from a heart defect. She confided her fears to Father Jovinni and he allayed her fears and heard her confession. Mike and Bill had set up a secure communications channel between both of their laptops. Powerful encryption secured the entire path and anonymizers employed to help mask the origin of their communications. They were not taking any chances since the tracking incident of their cell phones. He shot off a message to Mike and Fiona telling them he was getting married in two days.

  The wedding was a spiritual event. Unbeknownst to all, Father got a violinist to play at our mass. Every one of the people involved in supporting Efficio showed up to witness the ceremony as did the Archbishop. Although Charlene walked solo down the aisle to the violin music, she looked radiant in a beautiful traditional wedding gown adorned with small white pearls and full veil. The vows that we practiced went smoothly although our voices cracked and when I kissed her, it was like the world stood still and we were the only two people in the room. When we walked out of the Chapel there was a small reception waiting for us compliments of the Archbishop.

  A teenage son of one of the office team walked over and handed me my camera back as he said in broken English, “I hope I did good.” I smiled and said, “I’m sure you did fine,” and handed him forty dollars for his time. Fiona had insisted that I buy a camera and film the whole ceremony. She was insistent that she had it when she awoke that morning her local time. After the short reception, Bill had taken a chance and booked a local tour guide to see Rome. He made reservations in a famous restaurant for dinner and booked a honeymoon suite in a fancy hotel to complete the romantic evening. Charlene actually booked the suite since they insisted on a credit card. Since all transactions were in cash, he was not overly concerned about being traced, since everyone else on the planet thought he was dead. Changing into street clothes, they caught a cab to the tour guide’s shop and spent the rest of the day in awe and the night tightly entwined in each other’s arms.

  Matt sat patiently in his boss’s office as he was dressed down for not making any arrests in the Efficio case. Matt knew that he could not fault he boss, the news was having a field day with this, as there were now five people dead due to the actions of foreign nationals on US soil. Thank God, the press had not put two and two together and linked the death at Efficio’s California location and the now proven link to mainland China and industrial espionage. The only promising lead he had was the identification of one of the attackers from the first California break in thanks to Clavis. With the information provided by Clavis and a description of the knee injury provided by Mike Carter, they canvassed emergency rooms up to 100 miles away. The name he had given was fake, but the camera footage obtained allowed the FBI to run facial recognition software against the still shot of the attacker. Since the attacker was in the military at one time, it came back with his name and records within 5 minutes and bang, it was the same guy Jason Moorehouse. Jason and Pinnacle Professionals, where Jason supposedly worked, had been under surveillance for weeks now.

  All of a sudden, Matt realized he had zoned out while thinking about the case, and was brought back to reality by his boss’s voice saying “and you will be in front of the cameras giving the press an update in one hour and make sure they come away with the fact that this is not a terrorist plot.” Kicking himself mentally for not paying full attention, he stood and said “understood” and was about leave the office when he boss said, “and one other thing.” Taking a deep breath Matt turned around to see what else he did wrong and was surprised to see him smiling. “We got kudos all the way up the chain for your work on getting into China’s most secret operations with that software Clavis developed. The brass wants one of our computer whiz kids to see what other applications we can use it for including fighting domestic crime. They have funded hiring Clavis as a consultant since they own the code. For now the CIA, NSA, DHA and we are still sifting through the treasure trove of information that is still coming in.” He ended the conversation saying “To be honest, it is worse than we ever thought.”

  Heading back to his desk, Agent Morgan checked back with his “Efficio Team” that had been assigned to work this issue to see if anything had changed. Other than securing a search warrant for Pinnacle Professionals headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia there had been no other changes to report. The warrant process had bogged down due to fear that there might be some information in Pinnacle’s possession that was on a need to know basis. Pinnacle, it appears was a large government contractor providing security services overseas as well as to domestic corporations. Their employees have been in all the hot spots on Uncle Sam’s behalf and the rumors were they were ‘well connected’ on the DC level. Running through the facts of the case, he felt comfortable giving the press conference, although he never liked doing them period. There was always some asshole reporter trying to make a name for them that asked ridiculous questions and many selectively used words out of context to sensationalize their story. If this case were going better, his boss would be doing the dog and pony show and basking in the success.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, the latest events at Fish Island are part of an organized attempt to suppress the rollout of Efficio Corporation’s Electricus capabilities. As you have heard or seen, Electricus could replace traditional energy sources that have been entrenched into our lifestyles and economy. This is creating angst among certain parties around the globe that would see a major reduction of need for their traditional products. This is not a terrorist plot against the United States. I repeat this is not a terrorist plot. It is essentially industrial espionage taken to a very dangerous level and from what we have learned there may be more than one organization involved but working independently for their own goals. We are working on some credible leads in the investigation. As you all know, I cannot talk in detail about this at this time but the FBI is fully committed to catching the perpetrators. Thank you and now if there are any questions.” He could already see in the eyes of the reporters that this was a hot issue for them.

  The questions were as expected and some were indicating conspiracy theories that involved our own government, which I squashed as best I could. In just the last few weeks, the subject of ‘Electricus’ was the number one search item on Google and there were numerous stories of shareholders bailing out of traditional energy driven stocks in favor of companies that made electric products. On a whole, the stock market remained at stable numbers, as money did not flee the market and just shifted to other promising companies. In fact the direction that Efficio takes in rolling our Electricus is of such national importance that Congress was going to hold a special session next week so that Mike Carter can lay out the company’s vision. Leaving the makeshift podium, Matt returned to his desk to see if they were able to secure a search warrant for Pinnacle Professionals. On a whim, he made a mental note to see if Pinnacle had helicopter pilots on staff. Mike and Fiona had reported that the copter pilot was Caucasian and the copte
r itself was new and modern and did not have any registration markings of any kind.

  The good news was that the judge had the cajones to give us an unrestricted search warrant for Pinnacle. Matt’s eyes wandered down to the judge’s signature and gave a quick snort noticing it was Judge Wendy Sloan, who had signed the search warrant. This was a fortuitous situation since Judge Sloan was only a year on the bench and had yet to get political and have special interests behind the scenes. Wasting no time, Agent Morgan put a team of specialists together and using resources from their DC office setup the operation. Matt and a couple of his agents took a chopper down to Northern Virginia and was serving the papers to Pinnacle’s lead counsel by 9:30 AM in the morning since Pinnacle’s CEO was out of the country in Iraq. Nicholas Baldwing, the lawyer, complete with a polished dome and bulging bug eyes, gave every bullshit excuse imaginable not to comply. When threatened with arrest for obstruction, he shut up and spent the next hour on his cell phone. At one point, he was heard using the name of a very powerful senator. Within an hour and a half, we had copies of personnel records, 6-months of emails from senior executives, two years of financial records and confiscated 22 hard drives from various PC’s. There was no sign of our injured goon Jason Moorehouse and nobody interviewed admitted knowing who he was. Quickly packing up everything, we headed back to the DC office to let our forensic crowd work their magic on the data.