by Alec Peche
He smiled as he saw his scientist walk across his veranda. He was here to tell him about the final tests he'd been running on his new designer drug. The scientist had recruited some drug users from Naples and they were confined to treatment rooms in the scientist's lab. He had to figure out what kind of purity produced the desired high, yet didn't kill anyone. His new drug would go nowhere if it killed all of its users no matter how good the high was. He knew the scientist had lost a few of his patients as he dialed back on the strength of the leaf.
“Dr. Petrov, have you completed your studies?”
“Yes, sir. I have the concentration of the drug perfected. All ten recruits took fifteen doses and didn't die. I had one recruit die between the fifteenth and twentieth dosage. That sounds about right, no?”
“Yes Dr. Petrov. If deaths slowly increase after the fifteenth dose, that's fine. Given the cost of the drug and it's hallucinations, I doubt many users will still be employed and therefore have the cash to pay the going rate for the drug. How do they die?” Denaro asked, curious about a drug-induced death, and whether it could be traced back to his enterprise.
“In my research on higher doses, the patients died from heart attacks. The drug revs the body up, then the blood pressure increases, then the patients will blow a main artery and bleed to death if the heart attack doesn't get them first. So these addicts will look like they're dying from natural causes, rather than a drug overdose. Since this is a new drug, there are no labs in the world that test for the presence of it, so we should go undetected for a while before the authorities recognize they're dealing with a new drug.”
“Excellent. How many kilos a day do you think your lab can make?”
Salvatore Denaro hired this Dr. Petrov with the understanding that once he perfected the formula and manufacturing of the plant he would receive an ongoing percentage of sales. Of course, once this was all in place, Denaro expected Dr. Petrov to have a fatal accident somewhere on the island. He would use the doctor's percentage to fund college scholarships for the children of his extended family.
“I've got two hectares of the plants growing which will be ready for harvest in six weeks. Meanwhile, we've dug out about one hundred plants located near Entella cave and that will create a small amount of advance drug. The drug will be ready by tomorrow for distribution.”
“What form will it be in?”
“Based on my research with these subjects and other drugs on the market, I've made it into a quickly dissolving tablet that the user places under their tongue. The drug then hits in under five minutes. Brilliant huh?”
“That is great news Dr. Petrov. It will be easy to distribute and administer. So you will have samples I can begin distributing tomorrow?”
“Yes. I have a few ready to go today. Would you like to try it?”
Salvatore raised his eyebrows at Dr. Petrov and said, “Are you nuts? There's no quicker way to destroy my life and my family's profits than for me to try our new drug. I am better served thinking of a name for it. Since it goes to work so quickly, I'm thinking of naming it Veloce or V.”
Dr. Petrov spoke English to Mr. Denaro as that had been the third language he learned after his native Russian, then Ukrainian.
“Does Veloce mean fast in Italian?”
“Yes. At first, I was thinking of naming it Spider for one of the Ferrari models, but that doesn't translate well into Italian, so I've almost settled on Veloce. I will be discussing later with my friends who will be selling it. I would appreciate it if you would bring what samples you have to me now as I have a meeting this afternoon to discuss the distribution.”
“Certainly. Do you have any other questions? If not, I'll fetch those pills now.”
“No further questions. Thank you for this excellent progress report. I'm very happy we hired you to develop and manufacture this drug. I see we'll have a long and fruitful relationship ahead,” Salvatore said knowing it was a good idea to reinforce the doctor's ego.
The good doctor just grinned rather maniacally, then turned and left for his lab. Salvatore made a note to push up his execution date to as soon as they were ready with the drug's production as the doctor seemed deranged enough to scare even him. He kept his fingers crossed that he would give his men the order to get rid of Dr. Petrov before he harmed anyone outside of the patients he was testing this drug on.
Chapter 26
The various branches of the Italian police force had been in a huddle since the American doctor and her team had left their conference room.
“I've made copies of the interview with Mrs. Carlucci so everyone can see what she said,” said an officer who returned to the conference room after seeing the women safely onto the international flight to the United States. Moments later there was silence as everyone read through the report.
Cavallaro finished reading, and looked around the room at others at the table wondering if they had any informants in the room. Too late now she thought, as they have already read the report. She should have thought of that earlier. It was something all of the branches of the government contended with – organized crime informants on the inside. She trusted Rosso and Lombardo as she had worked with them in the past and observed no leaks, but this larger group made her suspicious.
Rosso watched Cavallaro scanning the group and knew what she was thinking, 'Who in this group was in the pocket of organized crime?'. He watched faces and body language trying to guess who would sell them out, but he came up with no answer. Maybe they would be lucky and there would be no leaks, but he doubted it. That was evidenced by the man approaching Mrs. Carlucci on the train.
Lombardo was still the lead prosecutor on the case and based on what had happened on the train and the notes from Mrs. Carlucci's interview, they had enough to charge the man that threatened the two women on the train. It was somewhat minor stuff though, and he wanted more. He wanted an end to Mr. Denaro's family and control of a region of Sicily. He wanted to find his manufacturing process, and he wanted to prevent a new illegal drug from hitting the streets of Italy.
“Do we have a picture of the plant involved in Mrs. Carlucci's lotion and the future street drug of the Denaro family?”
“Yes, Dr. Quint shared it with us when she got the text from Angela Weber on the train. Let me pull it up,” Rosso said finding the link from Jill and putting it on the wall with the room's projector.
Lombardo stared at the plant that had so much potential to do good and harm to Italy.
“I believe we need to search Mr. Denaro's holdings for evidence on the plant. If he's planning on manufacturing a drug, he must have a ready source. I can't imagine that he plans to send his men over to the caves each day to pick plants. Don't you agree?”
Rosso and Cavallaro knew exactly what conclusion he was heading toward with this line of thought.
“Would you like us to search his property for the plant?” Cavallaro asked.
“Not yet. Simply growing the plant is not against the law. We need to discuss how the plant can lead us to the manufacturer hub. That is against the law if it is the production of an illicit drug. So how do we do that?”
That was the focus on the room for the next hour as ideas were tossed out by everyone.
“Could we have specialized dogs sniff out the plant?”
“Could we use satellites to find the plant?”
“How about if we sent a drone or helicopter over his property to photograph it?”
Cavallaro had been thinking as each idea was tossed out and offered her own ideas, “How about we compare satellite images to see if any new buildings and crops have been added to his estate or nearby and how about we search for purchases of the equipment that one would need to produce an illegal drug. We don't know what form he plans to hit the street with, but it's likely to be some sort of powder rather than a liquid, I think. Could we speak to a pharmaceutical manufacturing company here in Italy to get a list of what equipment to look for?”
“Those are great ideas, Sara,” Lombar
do said. “Let's organize to do just that, but I would also like to get a dog in here that can scent the plant as that could be key in an eventual search of his property.”
All of their branches of law enforcement used dogs in a variety of ways – search and rescue, crowd control and anti-drug. The dogs were specially trained to smell cocaine and heroin, but a new plant was another thing altogether.
One of the other men spoke up and said, “Our search and rescue dog Lupo is fantastic at following scents. I bet he could find the plant with a little work beforehand. I'll make the arrangement for him to arrive here with his trainer. I will head over to the cave to find the plant, and begin training the dog on it. Perhaps he'll be ready to go by mid-day tomorrow.”
“I think it will be hard to find the plant in the dark, perhaps you'll have to wait until tomorrow morning.”
“That's probably true, sir. But since it's a two-hour drive, I'd rather head out now so we can get to work early. I will try to find the plant tonight, but I won't waste much time looking for it.”
“Very good,” Lombardo nodded approvingly as the man stood up to leave. He liked the officer's attitude.
Another officer from the Finance Division offered to run down the drug manufacturing equipment.
“I feel fortunate that we don't have any pharmaceutical manufacturers in Sicily. That should make your lead on equipment much easier to follow,” Lombardo said.
“Yes, but perhaps it's a small-time operation that uses basic high school chemistry supplies. I always wonder how a plant goes from being made into a lotion for decades and then someone crushes it and tries to swallow it or inhale it to see what happens. I certainly never look at plants, and ask myself if I eat their leaf will it make me high?”
Lombardo sighed and agreed, “You and I will never understand drug users. We're just too content with the here and now. As far as Salvatore Denaro, he likely doesn't use it either, but sees the potential for money to flow into the family.”
After a few more assignments, they broke up the meeting. Lombardo hoped they would be raiding Denaro's estate later the next day, but he needed some answers to the questions he'd tossed out to the group. Otherwise, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Chapter 27
Jill and Marie were up early the next morning planning their day trip to the Entella Cave. The previous evening, they'd had a wonderful meal and wine tasting and the shared camaraderie of long term friendships. There was also the depression of the group breaking up with Marie, Jo, and Angela flying home late that day. Perhaps they would be lucky and find evidence of Randy's killer, but she doubted that. She would stay a little longer on her own to see if there were any other leads to follow, but this might go down in her record book as her first unsolved crime. That was a depressing thought, but at least there had been several positive outcomes from her involvement on the case – Italian law officials were tracking down Salvatore Denaro who likely ordered Randy's death, and Randy's company now had the expert they needed in Mrs. Carlucci to manufacture the product he thought so highly of.
They were planning to leave by eight as they had at least a two-hour drive to Entella Cave and they wanted to be back in plenty of time to make sure her friends made their evening flight out of Catania. It felt like a fool's errand to make the long drive, but at least they would see a part of Sicily they hadn't been to before.
As planned, they started across the A19, a four-lane highway that ran across the interior of Sicily from Catania to Palermo. It was an interesting drive and the freeway was lined with blooming oleanders. They passed many vineyards and olive tree groves. As they neared the northern coast they turned on to the A90 which allowed them to avoid going all the way into Palermo and headed south towards Entella Rock. They were down to a two-lane divided roadway that perhaps hadn't been paved recently in parts, and then the road deteriorated more when they turned onto to SS624 and climbed through the hills. The road deteriorated one more time when they made their final turn onto SP60 and found a mixture of rock, concrete, and dirt the closer they got to Entella Rock. As they climbed uphill, there were beautiful views of Lake Garcia that would appear as curves in the road changed. They parked their car and began the half-mile hike following a GPS coordinate to the entrance to Entella Cave. The path was hilly, covered in low green grass and with boulders strewn about. There were no other visitors that they saw in this part of Sicily.
“Good thing we're in a group. I feel like we have found a deserted part of the world after the zombie apocalypse,” Marie said.
“You're not one to see zombies around every corner,” Angela said as they all chuckled at Marie's comment. “Let me know if you see any real zombies.”
“This should be a zen moment as we have no noise pollution, no people, and mother nature at her finest,” Jo said placing her thumb and middle finger together, closing her eyes, and assuming a meditative pose.
“Just a reminder my friends, once you're done seeing zombies or finding your zen, we're actually here to find this plant or some bloody forensic evidence that didn't come from a zombie,” Jill said with a smile holding up the picture of the oldenlandia adscensions.
“Spoilsport,” Nathan said. “I like Marie and Jo's versions of this remote location.”
“Well, we should be seeing the plant at any moment. I can't believe the villagers go to this extreme for one plant. Angela, would Mrs. Carlucci have had a problem with this hike do you think?”
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing. Certainly I didn't observe her moving slowly or otherwise limping so she could have made this hike, but I remember she said that the plant leaves wilted so fast that they couldn't be exported to mainland Italy. So it seems like you would have to walk fast off the mountain and right to the kitchen cooking pot or to however they process the leaves, I didn't think to ask her if they cook the leaves, or grind them up raw, or do something else. Maybe the villagers making the potion teach their young children to run up and down this hill.”
Marie was looking ahead to where they were walking rather than down at the ground and she spied on the next hillside, what looked like the cave entrance.
“I think that might be our cave. There seems to be a sign just inside the rock. Didn't we learn that the cave is closed to the public because the ceiling or the walls are unstable?”
Everyone stopped to follow Marie's gaze, pausing to look at the hillsides.
“Is this the only way to reach the cave or can you walk up from Lake Garcia?” Nathan asked.
They stood looking around the area and then Marie replied, “It looks like you could walk up from over there,” she said pointing. “Why?”
“Just curious. Does this cave have another opening?”
“If it does, no one has mentioned a second exit,” Jill said.
“Why is it closed?” Jo asked.
“The walls are unstable. People used to hike inside up to a decade ago. I believe then it was closed,” Jill said.
“Are there earthquakes here?” Angela asked looking around at the rocks.
“There are earthquakes everywhere in Sicily, but I'm not aware of any big magnitude quakes for this area,” Jill said.
“So we might go inside and then an earthquake could bury us?” Jo said.
“It's a possibility, but I think it's likely due to the fact that the walls and ceiling are formed by gypsum, which is not the hardest rock. We're far away from the earthquakes of Mount Etna here, so I don't expect to feel any earthquakes. I also don't expect to go inside the cave. I'm not sure if they have the entrance blocked anyway.”
“Is this our plant?” Marie called out while pointing to a low green plant on the hillside leading up to the cave's entrance.
They were soon gathered around the plant comparing the picture to the actual plant.
“Yes, I think that's it,” declared Jill. “Let's walk around the area to see how many plants there are and while we're at it, look for anything out of the ordinary – metal, candy wrapper
s, blood stains, anything you wouldn't expect to find on a hillside.”
They spread out looking for both the plants and anything out of the ordinary. Angela had her camera out taking pictures, while Nathan stood on the hillside watching the distance with something prickling his subconscious.
He saw no zombies, but he didn't feel the peace that Jo had on the mountaintop. He slowly moved his glance from distance spot to distance spot before his eyes slid back as though hitting the breaks. He could hear the ladies conversing behind him, but his focus was on what he saw in the distance.
“Angela, do you have a telephoto lens for your camera?”
“Yes, why?”
“There's something in the distance I'd like to get a better look at. Can you quickly set it up before I lose the object?”
At once, everyone abandoned their search for something unusual and gathered at Nathan's side.
“Something has been bothering me since we arrived. Like I forgot to do something and now I remember what it was.”
Angela changed her lens from magnifying to telephoto and handed the camera to Nathan saying, “You likely need to focus it here,” putting his finger on the knob.
He quickly did as Angela advised and focused; meanwhile Jill and Marie recognized what he saw. In this peaceful deserted place, there were two cars on the way up the hill to their parking place.
“Is it a group of thugs in those cars or tourists do you think?” Jill asked.
“There are four Sicilian looking men in each car. I see no official marking on their clothing or car doors. Ladies, I believe we are in trouble.”
“Do you see any guns?” Marie asked.
Nathan found it difficult to focus inside the car as it moved around the turns in the road, but finally he nodded yes.
“I guess we have about twenty minutes before they reach this spot, what are our options?” Jill asked.
