Off The Grid

by Dan Kolbet

  “This might be the most important single project you’ve ever worked on in your entire lives,” he told the team. “You damn well better get it right.”

  Most of the techs were working 14-hour days and sleeping in the dorms.

  Kathryn had called the hospital several times to check on Luke, but they wouldn’t provide any information. Just that he was still a patient.

  Her desire to make the Tesla project a reality had pushed aside her feelings of guilt toward not helping him. She should have stopped when she saw his rental car roll. She should have gone back for him when, through her rearview mirror, she saw the driver of the other car take Luke’s backpack out of the front seat. But she had her own samples, why did she care what happened to his? She wanted to be the one to present them to Beckman. That’s my job, she told herself. Winning was all that mattered.

  She had called 911, and knew help for Luke was on the way. She then drove straight to the office. So why did she feel so guilty, she wondered?

  The man who took the backpack knew exactly what he was doing, but she didn’t know how. Very few people could have possibly known what Luke was carrying or that it had any value at all. She’d only told Beckman. But why would Beckman send someone to snatch the samples from Luke, when he was in the process of driving them right to the corporate headquarters? It made no sense.

  She had not left the campus once since she returned four days earlier. She stayed there because she was a workaholic, just like the techs who worked for her. She kept telling herself that. Nothing could happen to her here. There were too many witnesses. She wasn’t sleeping.

  Kathryn was familiar with being uncomfortable. She had received death threats before from terminated employees and angry spouses. Those things came with the territory. She wielded the ax. She was the shark. It was expected.

  But this was different. She forced herself to admit that the reason she was hiding out was because she feared for her life. If they tried to kill Luke for some rocks, what would they do to her since she already delivered them?

  Chapter 53

  “We have to go public with this Luke,” Amir said. “We have to go to the police. It’s attempted murder. If they would do this to you, then they wouldn’t hesitate to do this to anyone. I’m a big fan of capitalism, but this is much more than being competitive.”

  “There’s no use,” Luke said. “It’s a huge company. Think about it. There’s no actual evidence that Beckman ordered the hit. I assume you didn’t intercept his telephone calls legally, right?”

  “Well, no, but that’s beside the point. MassEnergy needs to be held accountable.”

  Luke felt he had to let Amir in on his secret. The man had put himself in danger to come here tonight and warn him about Beckman. MassEnergy would stop at nothing to finish the Tesla project. It wasn’t any better than StuTech’s monopoly. At least StuTech wasn’t killing people.

  “Amir I-“

  “I think it’s about time we said goodnight,” Rachel interrupted. “It’s late and Luke needs his rest.”

  She got up and started folding down the Murphy bed.

  “You two need to pretend like this didn’t happen,” she said.

  “And why would we do that?” Amir asked, an obvious look of discomfort crossed his face. He stood up as Rachel removed his chair.

  “Because if you let on about what you know, you are going to remain a target to Beckman and MassEnergy. I know egotistical men – I grew up with one. They want to be the most powerful person in the room. You need to let Beckman know that he has won. That’s the only way you can expect to stay out of any danger.”

  “You think we should just pack our lunches tomorrow, trudge into the office and pretend that they didn’t try to kill me?” Luke was astonished at what she said.

  “But I don’t know if I can look Beckman in the face again,” Amir said.

  “So don’t,” Rachel said. “Do your work and keep your head down for a few days. There’s no harm in that. Beckman will assume that once again, he’s outwitted everyone. It’ll blow over. Trust me, this will work at least until we can figure a way out of this.”

  Luke didn’t want to argue with Rachel in front of Amir, but the thought of going back to that place after what happened made him sick to his stomach. He didn’t belong there. Hell, he didn’t know where he belonged now. Yet a small part of him wanted to go back and confront Kathryn to find out why she never came to see him in the hospital. After all they had been through together in the previous weeks he expected something. He wasn’t sure what. Surely, she knew he was in an accident. Of course, she could very well have been in on it too. That made the most sense. Regardless, he didn’t understand why Rachel was insisting that everything was just fine. It wasn’t fine at all.

  Rachel waited for Amir to leave before speaking again.

  “You need to go into work tomorrow and get a sample from that shipment he was talking about.”

  “The one from Europe? Why?”

  “Because I have a feeling that the shipment is from StuTech, but for the life of me, I don’t know why.”

  Chapter 54

  Rachel spent the next hour telling Luke where she’d been over the last few months. She told him about her humanitarian missions to Bolivia, Sudan and Moldova and how she audited the records at each location to ensure that they were on the straight and narrow. She went in depth about the people she’d met and the encounters she had.

  “Some people said we were only building the medical aid stations and trying to help the people of those regions as a publicity stunt. They said we were trying to influence public opinion in favor of the WES Act. But I saw how much good we were doing and I guess I was blinded by that and never really saw the bigger picture.”

  “Which was what?”

  “That my father had an ulterior motive to send me on those trips and build those missions. He didn’t care about those people, but it didn’t fully register until Amir said MassEnergy was getting a shipment from Moldova. There is nothing in that country that MassEnergy could possibly want, except one thing – ARC.”

  “You saw ARC there?”

  She explained the Block warehouse she’d visited and how she’d only been able to see half of the place. The other half was locked up tight. She told him how the earth rumbled below her feet and no one thought it was odd except her.

  “I have no doubt now that inside that warehouse was a mine for ARC. They were using that half of the building, but it was buttoned up tight when I was there.”

  “How can you be so sure if you never saw the inside of it?”

  “The amount of cash on the books in Moldova was over a hundred times more than it could possibly need for the activities that I saw. It’s ridiculous to build a manufacturing plant in the middle of nowhere, with no access to high-traffic roads or a shipping port. It’s the only answer that makes sense.”

  “But why would StuTech send its proprietary material to its competition?”

  “That’s just it. I don’t think it would. That’s why you need to get a sample of the material at MassEnergy tomorrow. I wish that backpack from Nevis wouldn’t have been stolen.”

  “They didn’t get all of it. I stuffed a handful into my suitcase. I wanted to keep some for myself, just in case.”

  He went to the other room and zipped open the laundry storage section of his suitcase and pulled out six rocks, each roughly the size of a deck of cards. Rachel saw the flecks of silver reflecting as she held the rocks up to the light. She was instantly transported back to her childhood.

  “I used to play with these same rock chips when I was a kid. My father had a wooden tray of these sitting on a table in his office. I would sneak in there when he was away and see how high I could stack them on top of each other. One day my mother caught me doing it. She startled me and the rocks smashed to the floor, breaking into thousands of pieces. Just then my father came home and saw what I did. He never raised his voice at me, but he told my mother to leave. He sat there wi
thout saying a word, watching me clean up the mess.

  “I swept up the floor with a broom and a dustpan until there was nothing left. When I was finally done, he said, ‘There are few things in this world that are one of a kind. You just ruined one of them.’ Then he left and I didn’t see him again for days.”

  “ARC only comes from Colorado. That must have been where those rocks were from. Are you sure that these rock chips from Nevis are the same type?”

  “There are some memories that you never forget. These rocks are identical to the ones I saw as a little girl. I’m sure of it.”

  “That means the material that makes wireless electricity possible isn’t just found in Colorado. It’s in the ocean off the shore of Nevis and probably in Moldova too. Maybe other places as well.”

  “We can’t be sure about either sample. It’s crazy to think StuTech would give it up. There’s no logic behind it. If you can get us that sample, we can compare them and see if they are the same.”

  “But without a pure sample from Colorado, we won’t know if all three of these places are producing the same raw material.”

  “Leave that to me. Just get the sample tomorrow and I’ll figure out a way to get one from Colorado.”

  “Are you sure you want to get involved in this?”

  “Luke, my father is an asshole, I’ve always known that. But now it looks like he might be intentionally manipulating the market for wireless power – leaving millions of people to suffer off the grid like your sister, when there is more raw material out there to provide cheap power to everyone. I can’t let that go. And up until now, we’ve just been a pawn in his game. I won’t be his pawn anymore.”

  “So you’re saying you want to take down StuTech?” Luke wanted confirmation.

  “Yes, but we’ve got to do it my way.”

  “What about MassEnergy and Beckman – they are the ones who tried to kill me.”

  “I’ve got a plan for that too,” she said, grabbing a pen and jutting down an idea. “But in order to protect you, we need to find out what my father has been hiding first. That’s most important.”

  Luke hadn’t expected Rachel to willingly – in fact insist on destroying her father’s company. Once they met and fell in love, he’d put his original plans for StuTech on the back burner, knowing that she’d hate him forever if he ruined the company. This effort was personal for more than just him. As he saw the anguish on Rachel’s face and heard the resounding confidence in her voice, he knew that she too was ready for the daunting effort ahead of them. They each had their individual reasons, but now they could do it together.

  But Warren Evans could still stop Luke with one phone call to the authorities. He had to tell Rachel about what happened to Elliot Cosgrove in Mill Creek. She deserved to know what he did. But he missed his window. She laid out her plan in sophisticated detail and by the time they had finalized it, he was too exhausted to go another round. The time wasn’t right.

  ***

  Rachel lay awake that night. Luke’s snoring was enough to keep anyone awake. It was good to be together again, sleeping in the same bed. It felt like old times, before Luke left, except now she had no idea what the future held for them. Her mind was spinning with scenarios about what sort of business her father was really running. What had been kept from her all these years and why she hadn’t seen it before now?

  She must have drifted off at some point. The alarm clock buzzed when it was still dark outside and Luke got up for his last day at MassEnergy.

  Rachel had some work to do herself, but she also gave Luke a detailed “Honey-Do” list.

  Chapter 55

  Luke walked through the front security entrance at MassEnergy. Frankie, gave him a once over with the wand, even though he didn’t notice the machines giving her any indication that a secondary search was required. The lobby, normally a hive of activity with people coming and going, was strangely empty.

  “Where is everyone? It’s not Saturday is it?” Luke asked.

  “Everyone is in the exhibit hall, some big announcement. You’d better get a move on or you’ll miss it,” she said. “What happened to your arm?”

  “Car accident.”

  “Be careful with yourself. You’re too pretty to be broken.”

  Luke smiled. He didn’t mind the confidence boost in the slightest.

  “Frankie, you are a delight.”

  ***

  The exhibit hall was filled with nearly every MassEnergy employee on campus. The room had no chairs, so everyone was gathered around the platform in front of the scale-model Tesla tower. The space was hot and stuffy, not having been intended for this many people. A fire marshal would have emptied the room in minutes.

  Amir caught Luke’s attention and waved him over. He was standing in the back of the room with some of the other tech’s from the Dev Floor who couldn’t be bothered to greet Luke when he joined them. They were too busy working on their tablet devices.

  “I wasn’t entirely sure I would see you today,” Amir said. He really did seem surprised.

  “To tell you the truth, I don’t really want to be here all that much. I’m sure you understand,” Luke said.

  “Absolutely.”

  The last people to enter the room were two men in suits followed by a photographer. Each was wearing a media credential around their necks, probably from a financial publication. Luke watched as they made their way to the front of the room. As he scanned the crowd, he saw Kathryn. He was anxious to see her reaction to seeing him back in the office. She was on the side of the platform next to James Beckman. The fat man was reviewing a stack of note cards and peppering Kathryn with questions. Even from a distance, she looked tired. She had made no effort to hide the big bags under her eyes. Even her hair, normally perfectly coiffed, was slightly disheveled. When she looked away from Beckman, she met Luke’s eyes from across the room.

  For a brief moment, she looked shocked and Luke couldn’t be sure, but it looked like she wiped away a tear from her eyes. He lost sight of her as Beckman mounted the platform and the crowd surged forward to get a better look.

  “Thank you all for coming here today,” Beckman said. “Not that you had much of a choice, but it’s good to see you all here. I know how busy everyone is and I can promise that things aren’t going to be slowing down anytime soon. As you know, the goal of our company is to fulfill the vision left behind by the man who designed the machine behind me – Nikola Tesla. He had a vision that the world could be electrified wirelessly. He didn’t envision a world where this service was monopolized by one powerful company like it is today. At least I don’t think he did. He’s dead, so we can’t ask him.”

  Beckman paused momentarily for laughter or applause that didn’t come. The photographer took that moment to snap a picture of him. He glared back in the general direction of the camera flash and continued on.

  “Anyway, each of you in this room is helping us write a piece of history each passing day. We have been at this for a while now and this work has become a labor of love. I see the dedication of our employees as I walk through the halls and visit with each of you at your desks. I know that making advances in technology means as much to you as it does to me. Well, maybe not as much as me, but a lot, right?”

  Luke could practically hear people roll their eyes at that. The photographer raised his camera to snap another photo, but Beckman’s stare caused him to lower it again. The reporters next to the photographer furiously scribbled notes.

  “We are closer today than ever before to making a breakthrough that will help us enter into the wireless market before Congress acts to provide exclusive radio spectrum rights to StuTech. I am pleased to announce that by the end of the next quarter MassEnergy will be a viable competitor to our giant monopolistic friends in Seattle. Today is a great day.”

  This time the applause did come. Beckman’s yellow teeth showed as a jubilant smile broke across his round face. He raised his hands toward the sky like a Pentecostal preacher on a Sun
day morning, soaking in the praise from his flock.

  “As you well know, our competition does not want us to exist. We threaten their way of doing business and so we have had to keep a pretty tight lid on our progress, for fear that the good word might get into the wrong hands. But today, we are going to lift the curtain, if ever so slightly, to recognize some people who have made this achievement possible. When I call your name, please join me on stage.”

  He shuffled through his stack of cards before finding the one that he needed. He called out the names of seven employees who worked their way through the crowd to the platform. They stood on the opposite side of the stage from Beckman, smiling nervously out at their co-workers and obviously wondering why they were singled out. Luke didn’t recognize any of them. Three of them wore lab coats. Two were in maintenance uniforms, while the last two were dressed in jeans.

  “Like I said, there are many people we need to thank, who have worked to make this achievement possible. You seven on stage with me here, are not those people.”

  The employees stopped smiling and several of their faces flushed.

  “For reasons each of you knows better than I, today is your last day with us. You are each terminated.”

  The crowd gasped as four security guards ushered the seven employees off the stage and out a side exit. Whispers filled the audience as people asked each other what they thought the employees had done to deserve such public humiliation.

  “Let this be a lesson to all of you. As we introduce our product to the market we will not tolerate disclosure of any confidential information to any outside source. The seven losers who just left us aren’t just fired. They will also be prosecuted for violating their terms of employment contracts and several other legal infractions. I expect some of them will do jail time. Don’t let this happen to you.”

  He paused before continuing. The room was dead silent.

  If he didn’t have their attention before, he certainly did now. Luke had never seen anything like this before. Beckman was power hungry and vindictive. Sure, if these employees did something wrong, it was completely understandable that they needed to be shown the door and dealt with, but this little show was a bit much. Better than being run off the road and almost killed, sure, but harsh all the same.