“Hmm, that sounds simplistic.”
David shrugged as he nibbled on some luncheon tapas. He didn’t bother with explaining the dynamic simultaneous latent-factor time series statistical modeling which went into his calculations. After all, sociology was now an exact science.
***
Phyllis concluded her presentation, “As you observed, the cost of our generators is eleven times cheaper than your wind and thirty times cheaper than your solar generators. That is fold, not percent. The per watt costs will be far lower than ALL by at least a factor of four, and after our initial costs are recouped by a factor of ten. That will be in writing. We don’t suffer from the ecological, safety, maintenance, cloud or wind variability issues. We don’t have any radioactive or any other type of wastes. We are as reliable as the earth’s gravitational pull. In fact, there are no drawbacks to our unique generators. I won’t even mention the obvious benefits over oil, gas, or coal, whose price historically has always increased. Our prices are fixed, pegged to the inflation rate. That will be in our contract. You know the effect that economic stability will have on all of your country’s industries, and long term growth.”
The governmental representative stood, “You’ve answered all of our questions. In fact, you were able to do it from memory. This was a most impressive presentation. We want to thank you both for coming.”
Phyllis shook his hand, “We’ll be in Córdoba for the next week and can meet. Otherwise, we can answer any question by phone. You have my card.”
It was late, 7:30 PM. The meeting had taken much longer than expected. A few of the other attendees were listening to their phone messages or talking as they left. David waived to the old engineer, with whom he talked to over lunch. The engineer, who was glancing in David’s direction, waved a finger as he continued his telephone conversation. David and Phyllis walked past the glass doors to the old elevator. In Spanish David said, “Magnificent job, Phyl.”
Phyllis: I could hardly believe it myself; I think they’re all on-board.
David: Yeah, only that old engineer I was speaking to over lunch was on the fence. His voice was saying yes-yes-yes.
Phyllis chimed in as they both said, “But his eyes were saying no-no-no.” They both laughed. They had met many holdouts from the local bureaucracies. Those holdouts were either too old to consider novel approaches, made their reputation on one mode of energy production and didn’t want to lose their status, or were in the pocket of big energy – an unacknowledged consulting agreement, also known as a bribe. The C H Electricity ‘product’ was so underpriced and superior to all their competition to warrant trying to convince every one of them. David knew that they had made another sale. The engineer waved again as the door to the elevator closed.
David: What about dinner tonight?
Phyllis: David, you might think me a heathen, but can we do Chinese?
David: In the middle of Spain? Sure.
The elevator stopped on the seventh floor to let in a short man, with a full beard, who also pressed the garage level. The man moved to the rear corner of the car. Hilda stood between David and Phyllis and the man. Hilda sniffed and suddenly lunged at the man’s right hand. David heard the shriek. The man’s hand was oddly bent. Hilda hung on to the arm.
Hilda: Gun oil. Terrorist. Mohammed Surfeit.
The man cursed, as he pulled a pistol out of his belt with his left hand. He moved further back into the corner and whipped the muzzle of the pistol against Hilda’s head. David heard a crunch and the dog fell down, Hilda didn’t move.
In Spanish the gunman shouted, “Don’t move.” He pointed the pistol with the left hand at David. “Any sudden movements and I shoot.”
David: My knees suddenly went dead.
Phyllis: I did it. Watch.
David saw eight half second videos of clerks or bystanders swing a fist or club to thwart a gunman, only to get shot. David deactivated the block put on his leg muscles by Phyllis.
Phyllis: Don’t be a dead hero. I NEED you. You never EVER hit another person. Only in silly fantasy movie can a muscle move faster than a bullet.
David: Martin, we’re at the Córdoba building and there’s a man with a gun.
Martin: Give him your money!
David said, “You want money, let me give you my wallet. I’ll move slowly…”
In a middle-eastern accent, the man said in Spanish, “I don’t want your money, infidels.”
David looked at Phyllis, “What do you want?”
Phyllis: Don’t try anything heroic. You’re too far away. He’s scared.
The gunman said, “Don’t move.”
David looked down at Hilda and saw the dog’s shallow, labored breaths. She was alive.
David repeated, “What do you want?”
“Just your company for a small trip. Your phone señorita, into my pocket.” He slowly nodded his head gestured to his left pocket and pointed the gun at her.
Phyllis slowly took the earpiece off and made a show of turning the phone off. Her phone’s off switch was actually an off switch. She moved slowly and slid the phone into the gunman’s pocket. She then backed up to the door, as it opened.
David: Dad get the transmission. I’m not sure how long we can transmit. His name is Mohammed Surfeit. Terrorist.
The door finished opening and the sign said ‘Garage Level’, two other gunmen, wearing hoods, were standing there.
“Your phone, señor.”
David said, “I don’t have one.”
One of the gunman, pocketed his small gun, moved the hair from David’s ears, and patted David’s shirt and pants.
“Nothing.”
One gunman asked, “What happened?”
In Arabic David heard, “This flea infested dog attacked me before I got my gun out. I think it’s broken. Fortunately the dog attacked my right arm.” The gunman kicked Hilda hard in the ribs.
David jumped forward as the gunman leveled his gun at him. “No, Señor.” David backed up.
Slowly David said, “We can give you money.”
David: Dad, check out the Spanish engineer, I’ll transmit everything I know about him, especially his bank account.
One of the masked men ran up to David, he had a gun in one hand and a bag in another. David stood still as the terrorist put the hood over his head. The man grabbed David’s hands from behind and quickly tied them together. David felt himself being pushed forward. He heard a vehicle skid to a stop nearby. David heard a door open and tripped as he was pushed into the floor of what must have been some type of truck. He felt someone shoved onto the floor next to him.
“Phyl?” David whispered.
“Yeah.”
“Are you OK?”
“So far. David I’m scared.”
David whispered, “So am I. Hilda is alive though. Dad knows about what’s happening to us. Help is on the way.” David angrily said, “I told you to allow me to use the terahertz detector. I would have seen the gun.”
Phyllis almost laughed. “The nude body scanner?”
Petulantly David said, “I told you I wouldn't use it for that. You know what I look at. You know I love you.”
Phyllis said, “You just wanted to stare at ...”
Phyllis paused then resumed in a more subdued and trembling voice. “David, I'm sorry. Because I didn't trust you, I got you into this mess. I'm so sorry. You, I mean, I could have seen the gun. We could have jumped him before he held the gun, rather than waiting for Hilda to ... to … I'm so sorry, David, even after a year, I'm still not able to wrap my jello brain around this 'In' business. If we ever get out of this, I …”
“Phil, we'll get out. I can't transmit to the satellite cell receiver from this van, but we'll call Dad, both of our Dads and they'll get us out. Let me listen to the engine.”
They rode in silence for the rest of the trip as David listened to the transmission and the shift in their positions as the van made each turn in the road.
***
They
drove for a while and David felt the vehicle come to a stop. The men pushed, shoved David up an external set of stairs. Wooden steps from the sound of it. They came to the top of the stairs, pushed forward into a room, and threw him onto the floor. David tripped and landed hard on his rump. His computer bounced against something metal and he heard a slight metallic click. In Arabic the men screamed at one another and hastily reached behind David and pulled his computer free. David had been desperately trying to get his computer to handshake with the cell phone satellite.
In Spanish David said, “No, I need it to live. It’s a medi…”
***
David awoke; he was sitting on the floor. He still had the bag over his head. One of his arms was handcuffed to the floor. He felt his bottom-half unclothed on top of plastic.
Martin: David are you OK?
David: I’m feeling very dry and weak, Dad. What happened? Where’s Phyllis?
Martin: You’ve been out for three and a half days. You‘ve had no food and little water. We’re in Córdoba ourselves. I’ll tell you more, but get some food and drink. Let them think you’re too weak to have the computer removed.
David: Probably the truth too.
In Spanish David said, “¿Water please. How long was I in the coma?”
“Three days, you were quiet when you weren’t whimpering like an infant.”
The bag was taken off. He noticed the radiator behind him was the anchor for the handcuff. The radiator was only a foot wide, but solidly welded to the wall. David was sitting half naked on a shower curtain. The person who handed him a dirty glass of water had a mask over his hair and most of his face. David drank the water and started to choke and cough. He then sipped the water more slowly.
David: Dad, where is Phyllis?
Martin: I spoke to her very briefly. She’s alive. Let me talk fast. Who knows how long before they unplug you again. They want to put you on the phone to convince me you’re alive. I hung up on them twice, especially when they said you hadn’t eaten in three days. You couldn’t swallow. We know about the engineer who tried to deep-six the Córdoba meeting. I’m not supposed to know, but Murray and Matt got him to give us a name. We’re getting some leverage now. We’re also getting some leverage with Mohammed Surfeit, the one who kicked Hilda. By the way, Hilda is recuperating now.
David: Leverage?
Martin: You don’t want to know. That’s Murray’s department. Now do you have any clues where you are?
David: I was able to listen to the engine, and have a notion of which way I rolled on the floor. All this is plotted by time. I just downloaded that information to you.
“¿I feel sick. Have I eaten for the last three days?”
“¿Now its food?” The gunman snickered.
“Please.”
The terrorist left the room.
David: I know that the ride was 27 minutes and 21 seconds, and I’m pretty sure we’re in the north western quarter of the city from the turns we made out of the garage. After 18 minutes, we were on a high-speed road for 7 minutes. Then local streets. I put into the download when we might have turned right or left and the rpm of the engine. They took us up a back wooden staircase, two steps to the first landing, and then thirteen steps to a second landing with the door. The room I’m in has a window, which they painted over in white.
Martin: That’s a very big help. I’ll get our computers to go over everything, correlating it against the map. Maybe we can get a better idea where you are. What else can you tell us about the terrorists?
David: I saw three. One was Mohammed Surfeit. The other two were masked. I think one is five foot eight inches tall, and the other was six foot one inch tall, both plus or minus 1.2 inches. The shorter one is from the south-western part of Pakistan. There was a driver also.
Martin: The engineer mentioned someone called Babu Qarit, from Saudi Arabia.
David pulled up what he knew about him into memory.
David: No dad, I haven’t seen that one.
Martin: We have a surprise for him, when he shows up. Thanks to our cooperative engineer.
The terrorist returned with a bowl of white dip and some pita bread.
“Hummus. You eat now and then we make a phone-call.”
Martin: Stall.
David dipped the bread into the white bean paste took a bite and started to gag. He threw up the food and most of the water he drank. David’s eyes rolled up and he fell backwards onto the floor.
Martin: David, David, are you all right?
David: Sure Dad. Thank god I can still control most of my autonomic functions. I don’t think they’re going to take the computer away again. I’m glad they never removed the buttons on my shirt under my sweatshirt.
Martin: Cameras?
David: Of course.
The terrorist ran out of the room and another joined him. The second put his cowl on as he approached David. He lifted David’s eye and saw the pupil contract, but very, very slowly. He noticed the cold sweat on David’s forehead.
“I told you this one was too weak. Americans are weak babies. This skinny one was sickly. The woman said he would die if we unplugged him too long. That American will never pay if he won’t speak to him. He lives, but who knows for how long.”
“It wasn’t me who unplugged him, it was Little Mo.”
“What are you feeding him?”
“Hummus and pita.”
“Are you an idiot? He’s been fasting for three days and he’s sick. Take away all but a handful, then mix it with two glasses of water. Feed him slowly. You stupid fool.”
The terrorists left the room.
David: OK, we now have a visual on the second one. Six foot and a half-inch tall, his accent says he’s from Syria, I think.
Martin: I’ll work on that, too.
David: So, who is with you?
Martin: Murray and fourteen mafia types. We already recruited twenty mercenaries, ex-Green Berets. They all know that their only objective is that you and Phyllis walk out unharmed. I also brought Eagle One, Son-of-Alex, Sniffer and Hansel. We have all types of arms too.
David: Tweedle-dum just returned, time for me to wake.
David moaned and slowly moved his arm.
“¿Are you alright Señior?”
David’s eyelid twittered and then opened. “¿What happened?”
“You fainted, from lack of food, perhaps. You eat, but slowly.”
David took the bowl into both hand and slowly sipped.
***
Martin said, “Preposterous. All our money is tied up in capital expenditures.”
The terrorist said, “I don’t understand your English. We want 100 million dollars for the two Americans.”
“You’re insane. We could only afford to have two people in all of Europe. And one is an education major and the other is a college freshman, they aren’t even engineers. They even had to borrow a used Fiat from her aunt. Now do you really want to negotiate or not? We didn’t call the police, like you asked. But you need to look at our company realistically. We don’t have any stock or rich patrons. We aren’t a Shell Oil company.”
“If you can’t give us the money, let me speak to someone who can.”
“The only person who is higher than me is the genius who invented the breakthrough. He’s not in town, I can have him available in two days from now.”
“I’ll call then.”
***
Martin: I got us another two days.
David: I heard, any news on my location?
Martin: Sniffer and the birds are watching our three best guesses.
***
David saw a familiar shadow on the painted, but translucent, window. It was far too large for a pigeon, especially with its mammoth tail. A macaw?
David: Eagle-One?
Eagle-One: David! I’m outside your window now.
David: The coast is temporarily clear. It’s great seeing you again.
Martin: Finally! I’ll tell Murray that Sniffer found your scen
t. David, how’s the power levels to your computer?
David: OK, I’ve been doing drastic power savings. I think it can last another two and a half days. Thank god I installed the new batteries.
The Infinite when it was Two Digits Old Page 25