Redoubled

by Warren Esby

  I apologized profusely since I never want to appear piggish to Anya in any way, and she graciously let the matter drop.

  During this period back in Charleston, we both took time out to keep practicing our skills in our other area of expertise. We found a gun range near Summerville that had twenty-five yard ranges and also rented a variety of weapons including AR-15 rifles. Anya was, as usual, the center of attention whenever she went shooting, not only because she was so attractive, but also because she could really shoot. It just came naturally to her, and people at the range noticed and stopped to watch, even the most experienced shooters. She didn’t seem to be rattled by all the attention, which was ninety per cent male, and I benefited from the excitement and satisfaction she received from all of them admiring both her shooting skills and looks because, invariably, after a session at the gun range, she would get in the car and say those words I never get tired of hearing but I have given up trying to count.

  “Alexei, let’s go home and have sex.”

  On one of these trips to the shooting range, Anya took the three tee shirts I had bought at the Piggly Wiggly and hung them up as targets. The pig’s head was shown full face on the Tee shirts, and both ears were quite prominent. Needless to say, Anya shot the ears completely off all of the pigs’ heads during that session and discarded the tee shirts before we left.

  On the way home, she said to me with satisfaction,

  “Alexei, those tee shirts didn’t turn out to be such a bad gift after all,” and she reached over and kissed me on the cheek when she said so. And she rewarded me even more for those gifts after we got home.

  We also took advantage of some of the other things that Charleston had to offer. We kept hearing about an event called SEWE, which Anya thought was a pig calling contest. It turns out SEWE stands for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition and consists mainly of wildlife art and related exhibitions. One of these was something called a Dock Dogs competition and we went with Muffy to see what it was all about. Well, the skill exhibited by the dock dogs was a dubious skill if I ever saw one. They had a simulated boat dock set up with a large and long tank of water at the end of the simulated dock. It was like a long jump for dogs. The dogs would run as fast as they could down to the end of the simulated dock and leap as far as they could into the water and land with a big splash. Whichever dog leaped the farthest would win. Their handler would generally toss one of their toys at the right moment and the dog would leap after it and occasionally catch it before it hit the water.

  We wondered if Muffy would like to do that. She hadn’t been back to the Cayman Islands with us or out on our boat, so we had no idea whether she liked water or not. We decided to find out. There were several different levels of competition with the highest level showcasing professional trainers of dock dogs. We asked one of them how one went about training them, and he said that you first had to find a dog that liked to jump in the water. We asked if he could assess Muffy for us, and he told us to come out there the following morning before the competition and bring one of her favorite dog toys, and he would give her a quick assessment.

  The next morning we showed up as scheduled and he made friends with Muffy by giving her a bunch of dog treats. She followed him up the ramp to the simulated dock and he walked with her to the end near the pool to show her the water. Then he had his assistant bring one of his experienced dogs, and Muffy and the dock dog had a meet and greet doggy style. Afterwards, with the assistant holding Muffy back, the trainer’s dock dog did his thing in grand style. Muffy watched the whole thing up close and personal, as they say. Then it was her turn. The assistant held Muffy at the beginning of the dock and the trainer waved her toy at her and called to her. When she was let go, she bounded to the trainer and was given a treat. Then the big test came.

  The assistant took Muffy to the end and when she was called, she bounded down the dock and just as she got to the trainer, he tossed her toy out into the tank. She came to a screeching halt, looked up at the trainer and then out into the pool to see where her toy squirrel, which she really liked, had gone. There was a concerned look on her face. We fished the squirrel out of the pond and gave it to her. She shook it, and the water went everywhere. She then poked it in the appropriate place and made it squeak, and then she whined back at it as if to say she was happy it was still okay because it still squeaked.

  The trainer decided that he would try again. He said what had happened was not uncommon, and he planned to push her off when she got down to the end of the dock to give her the idea. He did and she followed her squirrel unceremoniously into the tank of water. We got her out and stood back while she shook herself off. We gave her the squirrel which she shook off once again and poked at until she was satisfied it could still squeak. The trainer then told us that now that she had been in the tank, we would find out how well she liked it, and we would see if she would actually go in herself without being pushed. Once again he took her squirrel and stood at the end of the dock while the assistant held Muffy, and once again he called to her while waving the squirrel. This time she took off and charged down the dock and as the trainer tossed the squirrel out into the tank, she took a mighty leap. No, she did not leap into the tank as he had hoped.

  She swerved slightly towards the trainer at the last minute and took a mighty leap directly into him. She hit him chest high with her front legs and he tumbled backwards into the tank of water. She landed on the dock. She walked to the edge, and as he surfaced, she barked at him as if to say, “Take that and now we’re even.” We fished out her squirrel and handed it to her. She picked it up without shaking it off, walked over to the end of the dock and dropped it in. I think she was trying to train the trainer to retrieve it since he hadn’t left the pool yet. We fished it out once more and tried to give it to her again, but she wouldn’t take it. I guess she thought it had caused her too much trouble. She went back down the ramp and sat next to Anya as if to say, “Take me home,” which we did. She actually looked like she was smiling sitting in the back seat on the way home. As you may have guessed, the trainer told us before we left that he didn’t think Muffy would like being a dock dog. Well, duh. Muffy had already told us that.

  It wasn’t long after we got back to Charleston and my work started ballooning that Sick Sikh Singh approached me and told me he noticed I had been having a lot of success. He said that he wanted me to meet a representative from the foundation that funded his work. He told me he had told them about my work, and that they were very interested in it and thought it could be something they would be willing to fund as well. I agreed and we arranged to meet for lunch the following week. We met at a restaurant called California Dreaming , located just across the Ashley River from Charleston on a spit of land that jutted out into the river. It was next to a marina, surrounded by marsh and water and overlooked the harbor. It had a very pleasant view, and I never could understand why someone would sit there and dream of California, unless that person was a surf bum because I have to admit that the surfing in California was better, but then again, a surf bum probably would have found a cheaper place to eat and dream.

  Sick Sikh Singh introduced me to a man named Ahmad Noorzai who had a dark complexion and a full beard, but neat and close cropped. He also wore dark glasses and he never took them off even though we were inside, and I never could see his eyes. The conversation started.

  “I have heard about the very interesting experiments you are doing from my compatriot, Dr. Singh,” said Noorzai. “Since the foundation I work for, and which is funding Dr. Singh’s work, is very much interested in this line of research, I would like to think that you and he could be collaborators and not competitors.”

  “I believe in scientific collaboration as long as the goals of the investigations are the same,” I replied.

  “And what are your goals, if I might ask.”

  “I’m interested in seeing if I can use viruses to deliver other genes that would express a variety of factors that could affect large segments of
the population. Sort of like a two for one immunization or infection.”

  “Well that could prove very useful, but also could prove dangerous if the wrong gene got expressed or something mutated. Aren’t you concerned about that?”

  “Not particularly. I’m mainly concerned with the concept. I don’t really care what it is used for. If it is useful, then there will be a market for it. And if something is produced that is dangerous, there would also be a market to protect against it. In either case, it is a valuable technique.” I had thrown an indiscreet statement out there at the end that let him think I was willing to do something a little unethical for personal gain.

  “What if the gene that was expressed would have a wide-spread detrimental effect, sort of like a biological weapon?”

  I played dumb at first. “I hadn’t thought of that. But it doesn’t bother me. If I did develop something that could be considered a biological weapon, I’m sure there would be a big market for it.”

  “Who would buy it, for instance? Certainly only enemies of the United States.”

  “Well, not necessarily. The United States Government should be interested, if for no other reason than so they could use it to learn how to come up with a way to protect from its use.”

  “But you wouldn’t get anything from them, if you did give it to them. And if you are working under a Federal grant, they have the right to use your discoveries for their own purposes without paying for it even if you could patent it yourself. So you wouldn’t make any money from it. And it could be extremely valuable to others.”

  “Well, you’re right about the government using it without me getting anything for it. My real worry is that they would prevent me from selling it to someone else and getting anything for it for myself, even though I’ve worked hard to develop it and should benefit financially from it.”

  “You could sell the rights to it to someone else to develop it before the government learns about it. Someone who would pay you well for it, support your research and help you make progress before the government could decide to stop your effort. Once someone else is involved, if they had deep pockets, they could use their resources to help prevent the government from stopping you from getting anything for it.”

  “Well, that depends on the organization, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t want to be involved in an organization that would use what I developed against the United States Government and take the chance they would arrest me for plotting against them.”

  “Ah. You are a patriot.”

  “Not really. Just careful. I don’t want to fall into a trap.”

  “I understand. You think I may be trying to trap you. But I will tell you, I represent a foundation that is interested in this line of work for a variety of reasons. It is very difficult, with such a big population that exists in countries such as India and Pakistan, to effectively immunize large numbers of people. It is very expensive. That is why we are interested in work such as yours and Dr. Singh’s, and why we would be interested in supporting a collaboration between you. We would not only support your work, but we would pay you a large bonus to give us the rights to what you discover. We could make you very wealthy, set for life, if your research works out for our benefit.”

  “That sounds good, in a way. But it is risky for me since I don’t know anything about your foundation and don’t know if the United States Government has any suspicions about it. I presume it is from a Mid-Eastern country, and I would be more comfortable dealing with you if you represented a different country.”

  “Which are some of the countries you would feel more comfortable with?”

  “Well, Russia for one. I have contacts in Russia.”

  “Do you? I know you have a Russian name, but I thought you were American.”

  “I am, but my wife’s foster parents live in Russia, so we have ties to the old country. Their names are Federov and not Astrov, by the way.”

  I said this in case he wanted to check on us and I thought I would make it easy for him.

  “Well, our foundation has ties to Russia. We do get some of our support from them. Does that make you feel any more comfortable?”

  “Possibly. Where are you going with this? It is a curious conversation and makes me uncomfortable. It could be that you represent the United States Government and are trying to trap me into making incriminating statements so that you can arrest me and tell the world you have stopped another terrorist plot or something. It is just the type of thing the government would do, and it makes me hesitant to continue this conversation.”

  “Ah. You don’t trust your own government. I think a lot of you Americans are like that. Well, perhaps we have talked enough for one day. I am interested in your work, and I think you will find I can make it more worthwhile for you to work with my foundation than with any other group. So why don’t we both think about how to proceed with this conversation without compromising you with your government, which you seem to be worried about. I will discuss it with others in my organization and get back to you. Thank you for meeting with me.”

  With that, the meaningful part of the conversation ended. We finished lunch with small talk about Charleston, and I left to report the meeting to Ben and Edy, who had decided to stay in Washington, D.C. for the time being. They reported back to me the following week that Noorzai did work for a Mid-East foundation, but they were not sure if it was connected to Al Qaeda and that we had given the CIA a reason to keep closer tabs on what they were doing.

  Chapter 33

  About a week after our first meeting, Noorzai called and asked if we could meet again, but outside the United States. He suggested that I might want to take a mini-vacation in Bermuda with Anya at his expense, and we could discuss whether there was any potential to work together. I agreed.

  When we met with Noorzai over a very nice lunch at one of the better restaurants outside of Hamilton, he was still wearing his dark glasses, even though it was dark inside the restaurant.

  He began the conversation, “You know, what I’m about to suggest may put me at as much risk as you thought you might be in, which is why I suggested meeting outside of the United States. I am asking you to work with me without the knowledge of the United States Government on something that they may not benefit from and may prove detrimental to them if it gets in the wrong hands. So this is a two-way street. I don’t know if you may be working for the United States and trying to entrap me, and you don’t know whether you can trust me because I may be working for them and trying to entrap you. In fact, my foundation gets its support from the Inter-Services Intelligence agency of the Pakistan government. Does that make you uncomfortable?”

  “Don’t you have ties to Al Qaeda?”

  “No. A lot of people think we do, but we don’t. But as with any intelligence service, we have contacts with others in all forms of government and, of course, work with whomever is necessary to fulfill our goals and the goals of Pakistan. Your CIA operates along the same lines and sometimes we work together and sometimes we are at odds depending upon the issue we are addressing.”

  “Okay. I understand.”

  “And how loyal are you to the United States? Since we last spoke I have contacted some people in Russian intelligence to check on what you said about your wife’s foster parents, the Federovs,” he said and nodded at Anya as he said it. “Apparently their son was part of a sleeper cell who was trying to get information about a drone operation system before he was killed, but the information somehow got back to Russia anyway. So I expect you have mixed loyalties and may be willing to cooperate with me, but I’m not sure. Were you part of the sleeper cell?”

  I suspected he knew we were not, and I decided to not try and fool him, so I said,

  “No, but Anya decided she owed it to the Federovs to complete the mission, and we agreed to help.”

  “And so that didn’t bother you? Working for an enemy of the United States?”

  “Well, Russia is not technically an enemy of the United States at present, and we
are of Russian descent. Besides, we don’t care who has what. If we didn’t get it to them, someone else would have.”

  “So you would be willing to work against the interests of the United States if it was in your best interest?”

  “I suppose so. Is that what you are asking us to do?”

  “Perhaps. I will take a chance and tell you that we have an offshore operation that is working on what you are working on. We are getting close to solving the problems we face but are lacking the necessary talent to move as quickly as we would like. We have had a slight set back with some of our personnel not performing as they should and disappearing without providing us with some of the materials we need. We suspect the CIA may have come across their trail and eliminated them.” He looked at me intently as he said that, but I expressed no reaction to his statement, so he continued. “But that is only a minor setback since our operations in the United States, using American grant funds by the way,” and he laughed as he said that, “was only opportunistic and gave us the satisfaction of having the United States help us do our work at their expense and without knowing about it. The United States Government is filled with fools, but I’m sure you know that,” he said and laughed again. “So what I would like to do is to hire you to help us, if you are willing and not averse to doing something that is not in the best interest of America. And I can pay you quite a bit to do so. I can make you both quite rich. Greed is something we are comfortable with, especially greed that certain Russians have exhibited since the fall of the Soviet Union. There are quite a few billionaires in Russia now as you know, and there never were any before the breakup of the Soviet Union. So if you are interested, I will continue. If not, we should probably end the conversation now before you know so much that you are a danger to us.”

  It was, of course, a threat and a test. I responded and said, “We will want a million dollars apiece in a Swiss bank account.”