Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1)

by Mark Donovan

  As the two men sat in their car figuring out which airport they needed to check out next, the driver, Alex Galio, said to his partner Basil, “You know, I’ve been having this feeling ever since we left Cut Bank Airport yesterday that Henson slipped by us. I’d like to go back and check out Cut Bank one more time.”

  “You’ve got a feeling,” laughed Basil. “Because you got a feeling you think we should travel back nearly 125 miles to visit that podunk little airport again.”

  “Well it’s more than a feeling. I keep thinking about that guy who passed us in the airport parking lot in Cut Bank. He seemed to be avoiding eye contact with us and was all slouched over in his car, as if he was trying to hide himself from us. I have a feeling he could have been our man.”

  Basil looked out at the desolate Havre City County Airport and contemplated Alex’s “feelings” for a minute. Finally he said, “Alright. I think we’ve traveled far enough east checking out in-the-middle-of-nowhere airfields. We’ll head back west and have a look at one small airport that we missed south of Route 2. If that’s a bust, we’ll swing back in to Cut Bank Airport and see if you’re spidey senses begin to tingle again,” laughed Basil.

  Alex started the ignition of the beige sedan, put the car in drive, and departed the Havre City County Airport heading back west on Route 2. He could already feel his spidey senses working, as Basil had joked. The hairs on the back of his neck had begun prickling up a bit. As they started to drive east he knew they were already back on the spore of Henson and his team.

  Chapter 76 (March 29, Friday 4:00pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

  Dave and Dana landed back at Cut Bank Airport around 4:00pm. Though the weather had not changed much from their early morning trip up to Vulcan, the flight back had been uneventful, and for Dana, a slight bit more relaxing. To some extent she even enjoyed the flight as she looked out the cockpit windows at the foothills of the Cascade Mountain range far off to the west, and the barren snow layered plains below them. During their return flight the two had discussed their meeting with Jeff Kolosky. It had gone better than Dave had thought. It was obvious from their discussion that Jeff was already prepared to jump ship from Grivas and Barbas. They didn’t have to convince him as hard as he thought they would have needed to. If Jeff followed through with the plans they had discussed with him, the President and his administration would probably fold within the next week.

  After they tied down the Cessna 182 on the ramp, Dave placed the keys to the aircraft underneath the door map where Ed Clemons had told him. As Ed had indicated during their conversation, he had already left for the day.

  When they arrived back at their temporary NSurv operations, Dave and Dana explained to the rest of the group over dinner the results of their meeting with Jeff Kolosky.

  “So do you think we can trust him, and is he going to send us a preview of the news piece before he goes live with it?” asked Ron.

  “In regards to your first question, yes I think we can trust him,” said Dave. “He asked all the right questions and he seemed genuinely relieved to have a way out from under Grivas and Barbas.”

  “We can trust him,” chimed in Dana. “He’ll follow through with his commitment to us.”

  “In regards to your second question, no, there won’t be enough time for us to review what he puts together, and neither did we ask him to send us a copy for review. He’s going to need every last minute of every hour for the next couple of days to put the Presidential investigative news piece together. He also plans to enlist one of his senior reporters to actually deliver the report. It’s a guy that he trusts and knows is no fan of the President.”

  “So how did things go today here?” asked Dave.

  “Well, we edited the raw audio/video feeds and created a directory of about 20 video clips that we can use in the final video. Many of the clips came from Ken Hardy’s and Dimitris Barbas’s sensors, since they were with the President at Camp David last weekend during the meetings with Chung Lee.”

  “Okay, tomorrow we’ll begin compiling the clips into what I hope is the final video. Dana, we’ll also sit down and draft the text for the narration of the video.”

  “Looking forward to it,” replied Dana.

  “Also, I’m going to have Joe and I go over to the airport tomorrow and prep the Citation for a quick exit out of here, in the event we need to. I’ll have the tanks filled with Jet fuel and we’ll load up the plane with the equipment and supplies that we no longer need here after Sunday.”

  Dave got up from the table with his plate and silverware and went over to the kitchen sink to wash them.

  “Sounds like a plan,” commented Dr. Gillian.

  “By the way Doc, have you checked the sensors we posted along the driveway to make sure they’re still operational?”

  As Dave asked Doc his question, the rest of the team members were getting up from the table and stacking their dirty dishes in front of Dave to clean. “What am I the dishwasher?” he asked jokingly.

  “Yes, they’re all working fine. Earlier today Joe and I went out and refreshed the containers with a new charge of nano-dust. Not being in a host body to recharge their battery cells, if you will, limits the nano-dust’s operational effectiveness to about 96 hours.”

  “Great. We can never be too prepared or too paranoid about the risk of intruders. I’m nervous that the two men I passed by at the airport the other day may stop in again and pay us a visit. They gave me a close inspection as I drove past them.”

  “Well if someone drives, walks or flies down our driveway we’ll know,” responded Dr. Gillian. “If any of the sensors detect movement from something larger than a squirrel or an owl, they’ll set off an audio alarm on our computers.”

  While Joe, Dr. Gillian and Ron went back to the lab area to continue on with the work associated with the video, Dana stayed behind and picked up a dish towel to dry the dishes as Dave cleaned them.

  “I think we’re going to actually pull this off,” she said to Dave.

  “You doubted us?” gasped Dave jokingly with feigned shock. “I’m disappointed in your level of trust in me. Of course we’re going to succeed, for the simple fact that we are right. If you accept the hypothesis that most people will make the right decision if given all the facts, then there is no way that we can fail. I believe in the American public to make the right decision, when presented with all the information and facts about a person or situation. This country’s national media has purposely withheld information on this crooked President and its administration from the American public for years in order to further its own political and economic agenda. As we’ve already witnessed with our video releases to date, the public has acted just as we expected. Shocked and outraged. And not at us. But instead at the President and his political cronies in Congress, and his international financiers.”

  “You’re right. I hadn’t thought along that line of reason before.”

  Dana finished drying the last plate and the two went out again for another evening walk. The air was crisp and the stars were out. The sky seemed to encompass them as they walked. The Big Dipper Constellation sat low on the skyline as they looked up at the darkening night sky. As they walked, they held hands and talked quietly about their futures together after completing this job.

  Chapter 77 (March 29, Friday 11:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

  Jeff had just gotten back to his ABO office an hour before midnight. After flying out of Vulcan Airport in the small Cessna aircraft, something he hoped he never had to fly in again, and returning to Calgary International Airport, he was able to immediately catch a connecting flight back to JFK International.

  It had already been a very long day for him, but he had more work that he wanted to do before he called it a night. It had been both a physically and mentally draining 24 hours since receiving the email from Dana. But now, with his decision to fully commit to Dana and NSurv made, he was running on adrenaline. He wanted to make sure that he still had access to the
archived files on the President and various members of his administration. If he didn’t, he’d need to put himself at some additional risk in the morning by asking IT to give him permissions to the files. It could raise some warning bells within the company.

  He hit the on button to his computer and waited several minutes for it to boot up. God he thought to himself, as he waited for his computer to boot up, how much he hated Microsoft and its latest offering of what it called an operating system. It was as pathetic as the last revision they came out with. After what seemed like an hour, he was finally able to log into the ABO’s network. As he began to click his way down the corporate directory structure to the archived folders his cell phone rang.

  He paused to look down at his phone to see who was calling him at this late hour. Damn! It was his boss Christos Grivas. “If Christos was calling me this late he must really have something urgent to talk to me about,” he thought to himself. He hesitated answering the phone as he re-hashed in his mind his alibi on why he was out of the office today. He finally hit the answer button on his phone.

  As the connection was made Jeff said into the microphone, “Hey Christos, what’s up?”

  “What’s up? I ask you the same question. I’ve been trying to reach you all day. Where the hell have you been?”

  “I had to fly out of town this morning to meet with someone who supposedly had some information on Dave Henson and NSurv. I told my administrator to let you know if you called.”

  “Well she was out sick today,” said Grivas. “When I called your office I got sent to the main switch board where they said both you and your administrator were out of the office.”

  “I apologize for that,” Jeff said. “I wasn’t aware that she was out today.”

  “Apparently the mice played while the cat was away,” responded Grivas in a loud and accusing tone.

  “Again, I am sorry I was out of pocket today. When I wasn’t in my meeting, I was on flights most of the day with my cell phone turned off.” Jeff always had a knack for obscuring the reality while at the same time telling the truth. Some might call him a sociopathic liar.

  “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. Hell, you’re the Vice President of our news division. I should be able to get a hold of you anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice.”

  “Yes sir. I understand Christos.”

  “Good, now that that’s settled, tell me about your meeting today. Did you learn anything on Dave Henson and Dana Cogswell’s whereabouts?”

  “The meeting was with a former colleague of Dave Henson’s out in the San Francisco Bay area. He had alleged to me over a phone call earlier in the week that he had some very revealing information to share with me about Henson. It turned out to be a dead end. The guy simply has a grudge against Henson and would love nothing better than to see him hanged. Unfortunately, he had zero information on Henson’s whereabouts. It was a big waste of my time.”

  “Hmm. Sounds like it, however, I’m glad to hear you’re still on the investigative hunt for Mr. Henson. As a matter of fact, I called you to talk to you about a related matter.”

  “And what matter is that?” asked Jeff.

  “The two men of ours, Lazaro and Aftonio, who went missing in Idaho a few days ago, finally were located. Or I should say their bodies were located. Department of Homeland Security agents found them. Both were found dead northwest of a small town called Grangeville, Idaho. Aftonio was shot dead, and Lazaro apparently died of injuries suffered when their car crashed and burned.”

  “Do they have any idea who killed them?”

  “No. There was no sign of who may have done it. However, I think we all have a good idea that NSurv was behind their deaths. Most likely Lazaro and Aftonio were in pursuit of them. The agents reported several patches of tire marks southwest of where their vehicle went off the road. Not all the tire marks, however, matched Lazaro and Aftonio’s vehicle. I’ve already been in contact with Basil and Alex to let them know. They said they had turned around and were heading back west as they had come up dry nearly three hundred miles east of McCall. Alex indicated that they were going to go back and check out an airport that they’d already been to the previous day. They’re now thinking that they may have seen someone there that may have been Dave Henson.”

  “So what do you want from me?” asked Jeff.

  “I want you to get on the phone and continue to try contacting Dana Cogswell. Also, try emailing her. I need to have you find out anything you can about where she is and what she’s doing. We need to get to her and NSurv before the Feds do. I want them and their nanotechnology before that idiot we call the President gets his hands on it.”

  “Christos, I’ve already tried a couple of times with no luck. I’ve also left her a voice mail message.”

  “Well keep calling her and leave her more messages. And emails too.”

  “We need to find where she and NSurv are now. Barbas is in a fit of rage over the last video that they aired. If we don’t locate Dana and NSurv soon the President will go down. And if he goes down a lot of other people will too, including you.”

  “Is that a threat?” asked Jeff angrily.

  “No. It’s a simple fact. With Barbas’s ties to the President so evidently shown to the public over the past couple of weeks, he will be implicated with the President if he goes down. And if Barbas goes down, or escapes, it’s a guarantee that both you and I are out at ABO.”

  Exactly what he had already come to the conclusion of twenty-four hours earlier, Jeff thought to himself. And why he was now helping NSurv. The President, Barbas and Grivas were going down and he would help push them over the edge.

  “I’ll keep trying,” responded Jeff. “In the meantime, I also have to manage and prod our news reporters on further discrediting NSurv’s videos, while at the same time propping up and protecting the President from the possible demise that you are suggesting.”

  “Good. Let me know as soon as you hear anything from Cogswell.”

  The phone went immediately dead. Jeff pulled the phone from his head and hit the end button. He then focused his eyes on his computer again and continued to search down through the company’s file directories for the archived folders on the President. After another few minutes he found what he was looking for. He had access to the files he was looking for. For now, it was time to go home and get some rest. The next two days were going to be long ones and he needed at least one good night sleep. He powered down his computer and put it into his laptop bag. He then put on his overcoat, grabbed the laptop bag and shut off the lights as he closed the door to his office.

  As Jeff walked down the dark hallways and took the elevator down to the parking garage of ABO headquarters, he wondered to himself how ABO would be structured in another month. He guessed it would be a much different place by then. And if he was lucky, maybe he would actually be the top man in charge.

  Chapter 78 (March 30, Saturday 7:30am Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

  Dave and Joe had gotten an early start in the morning. The temperature outside was right around the freezing point and there was a morning fog. Perfect for getting their flight preparation work done on the Cessna Citation. No one would be out at the airport flying, and overhead satellites wouldn’t be able to see through the fog. They had driven over to the airport and already had the hangar doors open.

  Dave and Joe had driven over in Ron’s Ford Explorer. They had loaded it with electronic and lab equipment that they’d no longer anticipated needing, as well as all of NSurv’s computer files and documentation on its nanotechnology intellectual property. They had also brought along some spare food supplies for any emergency situation that may come up. After spending nearly an hour transferring the contents of the Ford Explorer to the Citation, Dave towed the aircraft out onto the ramp to have its fuel tanks topped off. While Joe kept an eye on the aircraft, Dave walked over to the FBO office and spoke to the blond woman attendant about having the plane refueled. As they chatted, Dave nonchalantly brough
t up the question as to who the two men were in the FBO office a couple of days ago.

  “When I was leaving the airport the other day, I noticed two men who had walked out of here. They didn’t seem like pilots or locals.”

  “No they weren’t,” said the blond young girl as she relished the opportunity to continue her conversation with Dave. He was good looking, young enough, and obviously had lots of money. “They were asking a lot of questions regarding any recent activity at the airport. In particular, they asked about recent flight activity into and out of the airport and any strangers that may have come into town via the airport. I told them no. That I had not seen any recent new aircraft flying in, nor any strangers hanging around the airport.”

  While the blond girl spoke, Dave thought to himself that he had seen her on a couple of occasions over the past couple of years behind the counter when he flew into the airport. She must not have considered him a stranger. She also must not have been working the other night when he flew the Citation in.

  “Did they say who in particular they were looking for?”

  “No, not really. They talked as if they were looking for a group of people, but they weren’t specific. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to tell them much, because I had no idea who they were and was anxious to have them leave. They had foreign accents and seemed like tough thug types, even though they were well dressed.”

  “What kind of accent did they have?” asked Dave.

  The blond thought for a moment and then said, “Maybe Italian or Greek”.

  Greek, thought Dave. Barbas’s and Grivas’s men for sure.

  “You’ve not seen them since?” pressed Dave.

  “No, after we spoke they drove off and I have not heard or seen from them again.”

  “Well then, it sounds like you answered all their questions and I should probably leave you alone too,” said Dave. “If you could just have one of your associates top off the tanks on my Cessna Citation out there that would be great.”