by David Archer
“Yeah, but we already know they aren’t just hunting around here. You know, if you look at all the actual, genuine people who go missing each year in the United States, you’re talking about seven hundred to a thousand or more that vanish without a trace. The vast majority of people turn up alive, much smaller percentage were found dead, but I think the average of people who disappear without a trace is like two or three a day. If we assume these people are responsible for at least some of those, then they find victims all over the country.”
“Yes, we know that,” Noah said. “Only a few have actually been connected directly to the Galveston area, but this seems to be where the organs are shipped from. There have been several intercepted in different countries, and the people caught transporting them all left Galveston shortly before. It’s the only thing they all have in common, so it makes sense that this is where the organs are coming from.”
“But none of the people they’ve caught know anything about who’s behind it, right?” Neil asked. “That makes it very difficult to know where to look. The only name they’ve come up with is this Doctor Linden, but nobody knows for sure if he’s really involved or not.”
“That’s what I’m going to try to find out,” Noah said. “I’ve been given a lot of information regarding how organs can be transported safely, keeping them basically alive and viable until they get where they’re going and can be implanted into a recipient. I think the idea is to try to infiltrate the organization. They certainly need someone with those skills, and there are only a couple of people connected with the university that would have them. There’s a fair possibility I might be approached.”
They continued talking while Sarah made breakfast, and then the three of them sat down to eat. They had just finished when Jenny’s voice suddenly came through all of the subcoms.
“Hey,” she said. “Everybody awake?”
“I’m here,” Neil said. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting ready to head down to the beach,” she replied. “Have you looked outside? It is an absolutely beautiful day. I love it in England, but I am certainly going to enjoy getting some sun on the beach here. Are you coming?”
“You bet I am,” Neil said. “I’m over at Noah’s place, so give me a few minutes to get home and change. I’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
“So will we,” Marco said suddenly. “Just finishing up breakfast, and then we’ll head down to the beach. See you there.”
“Okey-dokey,” Jenny said. “I’m going to go find me a spot before it gets too crowded down there.”
Neil was up and headed for the door, but Noah called him back. “Remember,” he said, “Jenny is supposed to be introverted and shy. Don’t sit too close to her, and don’t make it obvious that you’re watching over her.”
“Oh, it will be obvious,” Neil said. “You ever seen Jenny in a bikini? Every man within a hundred yards will be watching her. Nobody’s gonna pay any attention to me.” He hurried out the door, and Noah turned to Sarah.
“He’s right, you know,” Sarah said. “Nobody’s going to notice one more guy watching her.”
“I know that Jenny is supposed to be attractive,” he said, “but I don’t personally see it. The only woman I actually react to, in any sort of sense of attraction, is you.”
Sarah giggled. “Every man says that to his wife,” she said. “The only difference is, when you say it, you’re actually telling the truth.”
The rest of the day was uneventful. Noah and Sarah decided to go down to the beach for a while themselves, but deliberately chose a spot some distance away from where the others would be. They spent time playing in the surf and Noah rubbed lotion into Sarah so she wouldn’t burn, but they still only stayed a couple of hours.
Sarah put a roast in the oven and asked about inviting the rest over for dinner. Noah looked at her for a moment before responding.
“I think that’s a good idea,” he said. “Being seen together shouldn’t have any disastrous effect on infiltrating this organization. I don’t think we need to keep any kind of distance between us.”
“You didn’t say anything when Neil came over this morning, but I wanted to ask before I said anything to them. It’s okay, then?”
“I think so,” Noah said. “We can use the fact that we all live in the same building if anybody ever asks how we became friends, and it might even help somewhere down the line to be able to be seen together.”
Noah busied himself looking through the documents related to his new job. It seemed to consist mostly of preparing paperwork to help confirm that the organs being delivered were definitely the ones that were requested, but it also involved arranging the transportation. There were special companies that dealt with that sort of work, and the paperwork had to be perfectly in order before they could take possession of an organ, and deliver it to the doctors waiting to perform the transplant. None of that was particularly difficult, and it took him less than two hours to feel confident that he could do it properly.
Everyone else showed up at six, and they all sat down to dinner. Noah looked around the table once they were seated.
“Everybody ready for tomorrow?” he asked.
Marco nodded. “I’m set,” he said. “I’m headed to work at the ambulance service, gotta be there at six a.m.”
“And I start classes tomorrow at nine,” Jenny added. “Poor Neil has to sit around his apartment all day and play computer games.”
“I won’t be playing games,” Neil said. “I’ll be watching every move you make. I’ve got your cell phone tracking set up, and I’ll be listening to you on subcom. And no flirting with the college boys!”
“All right, then,” Noah said. “I’ll be at the medical center, getting into my new job. It’s time to find the people behind this and get it shut down.”
FOUR
Sarah kissed him goodbye as he got ready the next morning. “I love you,” she said.
Noah felt the corners of his mouth twitch upward, and the sensation surprised him. “I love you, too,” he said.
Sarah giggled. “I love hearing you say that,” she said, “even if…”
“I love you, Sarah,” Noah said, cutting her off and holding her close. “I really do. I know it may not be exactly the same way you feel it, but I definitely do.”
“Okay.” Sarah sighed. “Say it again?”
“I love you, Marsha,” Noah said, slipping into their mission identities. “I’ll see you tonight, babe.”
The Charger was sitting where he had left it, although there were a couple of men standing close and staring at it. When Noah unlocked the door and opened it, one of them hurried over.
“Man,” the fellow said, “that’s got to be the most beautiful car I’ve ever seen. Is she fast?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Noah said, and he slid behind the wheel and shut the door. With the Robert Townsend documents in his wallet, Noah decided that being in character would mean driving under the speed limit. He pushed the car up to forty-five and cruised on his way to the university medical center.
Twenty minutes later, Noah parked the car in the employee parking lot of the medical center. He had to walk all the way around the building to get to the front door, where a sign directed him to the second floor for the personnel office.
He rode the elevator and found the office with no trouble. The receptionist asked him how she could help, and Noah handed over the documents he had been given for this purpose, along with his driver’s license.
“Oh, yes,” the receptionist said, “Mr. Townsend. Mr. Daniels is expecting you. Just have a seat for a moment, and he’ll be right out.”
Noah sat in one of the chairs in front of her counter and waited a moment before Nathan Daniels stepped out and walked up to him. Noah rose as Daniels extended a hand.
“Robert Townsend? I’m Nathan Daniels, I want to welcome you aboard. Your references and credentials were outstanding, and we are certainly delighted to have you co
ming to work with us.”
“Thanks,” Noah said, with a bit of humility in his voice. “I’m really glad to be here. It’s not often I get a chance to work with such a prestigious university.”
Daniels grinned. “Oh, be careful with your praise. We are not much different than anybody else, but we do like to do the best we can. Come on in and we’ll get all your paperwork ready so you can start work today.”
He turned and walked past the receptionist’s counter and Noah followed him into an office. Daniels shut the door and sat behind his desk, pointing to a chair in front of it. Noah took the seat he indicated and waited patiently while Daniels pulled out several different forms he would have to sign.
“Okay, then,” he said. “We got all the information regarding your tax status and such, but I need you to sign the forms. Also, I’ve got your insurance and benefits program, you’ll need to fill out dependents and beneficiaries and such.”
Noah nodded. “No problem,” he said. “I didn’t think insurance would start right away, though.”
Daniels looked him in the eye for a moment, his grin never leaving his face. “Like I said, we pride ourselves on doing the best we can,” he said. “There are an awful lot of opportunities available here at the university, and I’m not just talking about advancement. I don’t suppose you’d be open to some extra chances to make money, would you?”
Noah tried to look confused. “Who, me? Of course not, but I don’t know much of anything other than my own craft. Well, I’m a pretty fair mechanic, if you need somebody to tune your car up for you.”
“Uh-huh,” Daniels said with a grin. “Well, here’s the deal. We are always looking for people to teach seminars and special interest groups. You’re an organ transplant specialist, and there could be some interest in that. Would you be interested in teaching a short course?”
“Wow,” Noah said. “I’ve never given that any thought, it never occurred to me that the opportunity might arise. I really need to think about it.”
Daniels reached down beside his desk and picked up a urine sample cup and held it out. “No problem,” he said. “They did tell you about our mandatory drug testing policy, right?”
Noah took the cup and got up from the chair, stepped out of the office, and found the bathroom. A few moments later, he returned and set the cup on Daniels’s desk. It was nearly full.
Daniels glanced at it and then grinned at Noah. “Okay,” he said. “You’re all set. Follow me and I’ll take you down and introduce you to your supervisor.”
Noah followed him out of the office into the elevator and they rode up to the fourth floor. The organ security office, in charge of making sure any harvest organs were properly prepared for transport, was directly across from the elevator when they stepped out, and Daniels let him inside.
“Linda?” Daniels said to the woman sitting behind the desk. “This is your new prep tech, Robert Townsend. Robert, Linda Phillips.”
“Robert?” she said, standing and extending a hand. “It’s good to meet you, finally.”
Linda Phillips was about five foot six and athletically built. She was wearing a dark business suit that emphasized her red hair, which hung to her shoulders.
“Same here,” Noah said. “I’ve heard some great things about your department.”
Linda smiled at him. “Now, now,” she said. “There is no need for flattery around here. Follow me and I’ll show you to your office.”
As an organ transport specialist, Noah didn’t have to work with the organs directly. His job was to ensure that all the paperwork was properly prepared and that the shipping containers were properly labeled with the right identifiers and the blood type of the donor, so it was primarily a clerical position. Linda led him to an office that was lavishly appointed and pointed at the stack of file folders on the desk.
“Those are already in the pipeline,” she said, “so I’d appreciate if you would dive into those as soon as you can. All of those organs will be harvested today, and they have to be shipped out pretty soon.”
“I’ll get right on them,” Noah said. There had been a lot of information on how to do the job, as well as a couple of videos, in the hidden documents in his phone. He was pretty sure he could handle it without a problem.
“Well, well,” he heard, and he turned around to see a man dressed in an expensive suit enter the office. “This the new guy?”
Linda grinned and nodded. “This is him,” she said. “Robert Townsend, this is Harold Conley, the director of the transplant program here. He’s our boss.”
Noah turned and shook his hand. “Pleased to meet you, sir,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working here.”
“Well, your resume was pretty impressive. I’ll confess I can’t imagine what prompted you to leave California for Texas, though. Seems to me we might be just a bit too primitive for you folks.”
Noah grinned. “Let’s just say that I’m not quite as liberal as a lot of my neighbors,” he said. “My wife and I talked it over and decided we’d be happier in the Lone Star State.”
Conley broke into a smile of his own. “Now, that’s the best answer I could’ve imagined. I got a feeling you’re going to fit right in around here.”
“I hope so,” Noah said. “The pay is definitely better than I was getting back in California.”
Harold grinned at him. “I do like a man who knows a good deal when he sees one. Well, you kids have a good day. I’ve got some things I need to attend to, so I’ll be tied up for a while this afternoon. Call me if you need anything.” He turned and walked out the door without another word.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Linda said. “He likes to give the impression he’s some kind of big shot, but the truth is that he’s just a higher ranking peon. If he’s got something to attend to, it’s probably got more to do with his secretary than anything else, I’d bet.”
Noah met Linda’s grin with one of his own. “Rank does have its privileges,” he said. “You know, they say it’s good to be the king.”
“He’s not a king,” Linda said, chuckling. “Although, now that I think about it, he certainly seems to think he is.”
There were a couple more introductions as people wandered by, but then Noah was alone in his office. He sat and picked up the file folders and began going over them.
Each of the file folders contained information on an available organ, one that would be harvested from someone who had passed away within the last few hours. There were eleven folders, and it didn’t take Noah long to discover that all of the organs listed were from only two fatalities. There were four kidneys, four lungs, two livers and one heart that had triggered matches on the transplant waiting list. All of them had already been harvested from the donors and were only awaiting the proper paperwork to be shipped out.
None of these organs were involved in the black market. These were going directly through the organ transplant system, and all of them were going to recipients within the United States. Noah completed the paperwork as quickly as he could, ensuring that there would be no delays in getting them to the people whose lives they were going to save.
His day went smoothly, and he got to spend a good part of it learning more about his job. When it was time to break for lunch, Linda took him down to the cafeteria.
“Hey, Linda,” called out a nurse as they entered. “Got yourself a new boyfriend?”
“Behave yourself, Jill Leoson,” Linda said. “This is Robert Townsend, the new transport manager. He’s on his first day, so I figured I’d show him where to get lunch. Don’t get yourself all excited, girls, he’s married.”
“True, very true,” Noah said with a grin. He followed her through the line and then they went to a table to one side and sat down.
“So, anyway,” Linda said as if continuing the conversation, “you met all the important people today, so that’s good. They’re always around, sometimes it feels like they’re trying to catch us doing something we shouldn’t. Don’t let it get to yo
u, though, just do your job and you’ll get along fine.”
Noah looked around the cafeteria and noticed that several of the patrons seemed to be trying to listen. “Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I’ll come work down here. I’ve always been a pretty good cook; I’m sure I could get a job stuffing burgers into buns here, don’t you think?”
“You? A cook? Robert, come on. I know you’re only kidding, but I can’t imagine anything more miserable than trying to be a cook down here.”
The two of them continued chatting through lunch, and Linda introduced Noah to several more people who worked around the medical complex. It seemed like just about everyone in the cafeteria knew her, and she was apparently pretty well-liked. Noah met several doctors, a number of nurses and even a couple of paramedics. One of them was a new guy, a big, dark-haired fellow with a hint of a Cajun accent.
Finally, lunch was over and they went back to their offices. Noah made it through the rest of the afternoon with no problems, although he was no closer to learning anything that might help with the mission. Doctor Linden had not been among those he met, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself by asking about the man.
He headed for home at four o’clock, making the drive back across Galveston Island to the apartment building. He parked the Charger in his slot and noticed that Marco’s SUV was already in its own. He climbed out of the car and locked it, then walked inside and up the stairs.
Neil and Jenny were sitting on his couch when he got there, and Neil seemed to be somewhat excited. He sat there and grinned for a moment, waiting as Sarah hurried to greet her husband.
“Hey, babe,” Noah said. “How was your day?”
“It was pretty good, actually,” Sarah said. “I went down to the beach for a while, and I made a new friend, Jenny West. She goes to college here, she’s in the kitchen helping me get dinner ready. How was yours?”
Noah grinned and looked at Neil. “It was a day at work,” he said. “I was stuck in the office, just trying to get all the transport paperwork ready for several organs. Nothing exciting seemed to be happening.” He playfully smacked her. “Would you get me a glass of tea?”