by Mark Donovan
He had introduced himself as a lawyer representing an international organization focused on reducing automobile carbon emissions around the world, and asked if she would be interested in earning some extra cash. The man described the job as providing an escort service for an evening conference dinner with a dignitary who was flying in the following week for the International Global Climate Change Conference.
She had reluctantly agreed to the job as she had a tuition bill payment coming due in a couple of weeks. Though she didn’t enjoy working as an escort, as she knew the extent of what the job would most likely entail, she desperately needed the money. The man said he would meet her again at a nearby hotel bar the night of the event, and leave her in the care of two men who were protecting the dignitary.
A week later, on the evening of the conference dinner, she met the man at the hotel bar that he had specified. While they waited for the dignitary’s men to show up, they had ordered cocktails and talked about the Global Climate Change Conference that was in town. While having their drinks, the man had discretely slipped a small vial of liquid into her cocktail when she had stepped away to use the restroom. Fifteen minutes later, when the dignitary’s security men had arrived to pick her up, she had become very relaxed, and to some extent, confused with her surroundings. The two men greeted her and the lawyer, and then promptly escorted her into a waiting car outside the bar.
Chapter 3 (Feb 26, 9:00pm)
An hour after Dan had entered his hotel room the two secret service agents walked down the 10th floor hallway of the Grand Hyatt Hotel with the young woman somewhat staggering between them. As they walked, the two agents had to partially hold the dazed woman up as it was obvious she was under the influence of something. When they reached the door to Suite 1024, one of them knocked lightly on the door. The aide to the Vice President of the United States opened the door and quickly drew the woman into the room, leaving the two secret service agents outside.
In the room adjacent to the aide, sixty-seven year old Vice President Houlton waited impatiently in his bathrobe for the knock on the door that connected the two adjoining rooms. He heard a slight sweeping tap on the door and quickly opened it. The young woman slowly stepped through the doorway and into the Vice President’s room. The door closed silently behind her.
The woman stared vacantly at the Vice President as a numb coldness ran through her body. She was wearing a short red dress with a plunging neckline and three inch pump heels. The Vice President looked at her lasciviously as he quietly greeted the young beautiful woman. She in return responded with a nervous hello. She did not recognize the man, nor did she really have any interest in knowing who he was. All she knew from the lawyer was that she would make a thousand U.S. dollars for the evening. Even in her dazed state, as she stood looking at the man, she realized she would not be having dinner tonight.
Chapter 4 (Feb 26, 9:00pm)
A housefly traveled down the 10th floor hallway of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. It silently flew unnoticed past the two secret service agents standing outside the door of Suite 1024. As it approached Suite 1026 the housefly came to rest on the hallway floor just in front of its door. The fly then quickly crawled underneath the doorway via the ¼ inch gap between the carpet and the bottom of the door. Once inside the room it rose off the floor and came to rest on a lampshade.
Dan watched the Vice President and young woman talking, but only faintly heard their voices. With a quick adjustment of a soft switch on the computer’s GUI he adjusted the microphone amplifier on the nano-fly. Instantly he could clearly hear them speaking.
“What is your name?” asked the Vice President to the young woman. “Mandy,” she responded.
“You look very beautiful this evening Mandy. Would you like a drink?” asked the Vice President.
Nervously the woman responded, “No thank you sir.”
“Well then, would you like to come over here and sit on the bed?” asked the Vice President, as he walked over to the bed himself.
Standing next to the bed, and staring back at the young beautiful girl, the Vice President slowly untied the belt to his bathrobe and let the belt fall away to the floor. He then seated himself on the edge of the bed. As he did so, his soft belly protruded and hung down through the open bathrobe like a large and swollen bulbous appendage.
The young girl walked nervously over to the bed and stood in front of the Vice President. They stared at each other, neither saying a word but both understanding what was about to happen. The woman stood visibly shaking and the Vice President breathed noticeably heavy. As he reached out to her, she fell into his arms and her shoes dropped to the floor.
When the woman fell into the Vice President’s arms she had completely passed out. The Vice President, not to be denied, proceeded to have his way with the young girl. As he did, the nano-fly filmed and recorded. Dan in the meantime sat silently. As he watched the scene unfold a single tear ran down his cheek for the young woman.
The next morning at sunrise, a young couple was taking a walk along a quiet and empty Buenos Aires beach when they observed a woman’s lifeless body resting at the water’s edge. She was wearing a red dress and her long brown hair, mixed with sand, lie matted over her face.
Chapter 5 (Feb 28, 1:45pm Mountain Time)
A light snow was falling in Idaho. On the northwest corner of McCall Municipal Airport sat a large white building that was the official headquarters of NSurv, Inc. The two story building contained nearly 100,000 square feet of offices and laboratories for NSurv’s engineers and scientists. Located on the second floor east-end corner of the building, directly overlooking the airport, was the corner CEO office of Dave Henson. Dave was seated at his desk and deeply engrossed in reviewing some papers.
After graduating with a PHD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University just over two decades ago, Dave had founded several hardware and software high tech companies throughout his career in the San Francisco Bay area. The companies ranged in scope from a Silicon Germanium based semiconductor startup company that he founded right after graduating from Stanford, to a software/internet company that he had sold just four years ago for over five billion dollars.
As a direct result of his business ventures over the years, he had amassed a personal wealth of nearly three billion dollars. However, along the way he had always kept his humility, humbleness and privacy. He was also a bit of a fitness fanatic. Almost every morning he’d go out for a five mile run before beginning his day.
Unlike a number of very popular and public billionaires who had chosen to become increasingly political as they increased their wealth, he had chosen to stay focused in the fields of engineering and science. In his mind, he had always believed it was in these areas, rather than in the world of politics, that he could truly affect and improve the lives and welfare of people and the planet. A few years ago his views began to change on this front, however.
Dave, along with several of his close friends and engineering colleagues, had relocated to Idaho from Silicon Valley three years earlier to launch NSurv. Dave had chosen to locate their new operations in Idaho for two major reasons, privacy and economics. First, located in west central Idaho, their work, as well as their personal lives, were much less susceptible to prying eyes and questions from media and old high tech work and university colleagues. To some extent, they were off the grid here in Idaho. Second, Dave wanted to escape California’s twenty percent State income tax and separate ten percent Wealth Tax.
Though Dave and his closest partners believed in providing a helping hand to those who were truly in need, they had had enough of supporting an out of control state legislature. A government body that effectively viewed entrepreneurs like themselves as some form of unrepentant criminals that needed to be punished and financially drained, simply due to their personal hard work and related success. Their move to Idaho, however, still didn’t protect them from the federal government’s similar actions and opinions of them. But they were about to rectify that situa
tion too, if their work and objectives at NSurv were successful.
It was a Thursday afternoon as Dave sat reviewing a design specification on one of his team’s latest development projects when his administrative assistant Jane Nanders stepped into his office. She wanted to let him know that Ron Blackwell had just called her and had asked to speak with him.
Jane had worked for Dave for more than twenty years. They had met when he was working as an intern engineer and she as a young secretary, at a small startup company in the valley. They were both the same age. With her quick witted personality and intelligence, a slim and athletic figure, and accompanying good looks and long blond hair, Dave had been attracted to her instantly. Though they had dated during his summer internship their hot and heavy relationship cooled after he returned back to Stanford to pursue his graduate studies. They continued to stay in contact with each other during his remaining college years, however in a platonic way. Both had moved on with other relationships, but they continued to have a developing mutual respect for one another. When he started his first company a few years later he had contacted her to see if she would come work for him. She jumped at the opportunity, with the mutual understanding that their relationship would only be professional. He had agreed, and more than twenty years later they had maintained their professional relationship with one another, with each having the utmost respect and care for the other.
“Sure Jane, tell Ron to meet me in the Redfish Lake conference room in fifteen minutes,” Dave said. “I just want to wrap up my review here of this spec.”
“Will do Dave, but remember you have a conference call with Dr. Zempke in Boston at three o’clock this afternoon. I doubt he wants to spend all evening waiting for you in his office.”
“No problem Jane. We shouldn’t be too long.”
Jane turned and began to walk out of his office. As she did, Dave said to her, “Just in case, please call me at three o’clock with a reminder.” As she continued to walk out of his office she looked back at him and gave him a slight smile. She knew him all too well.
Chapter 6 (Feb 28, 2:00pm Mountain Time)
As Dave walked into the Redfish Lake conference room Ron was already in the room setting up his laptop computer and connecting the overhead projector cable to it. Sitting beside him was his field engineer, Dan Edmond.
Ron stood nearly 6’ 4” tall and weighed 250 pounds. Like Dave, he had attended Stanford University. He had majored in Computer Systems Engineering and had also played as a tight end on the Stanford football team while he was an undergraduate there. He was now the Director of Engineering for NSurv’s Nanotechnology Electronics division and had worked for Dave at his previous internet/software company. The Nanotechnology Electronics division was responsible for developing NSurv’s nano surveillance technology. Since NSurv had opened its doors three years ago, Ron had led the successful development on a number of new surveillance nano-bugs, or more specifically winged flying insects.
Ron greeted Dave as he walked into the conference room in his typical jovial manner. Similarly, Dan said hello to Dave but in a much more subdued tone. Dan had just gotten back from Argentina and was worn out and exhausted. He had only landed at McCall Municipal Airport a few hours earlier, and since then he had been sequestered in Ron’s office providing him with a full debriefing of his mission.
Though Ron was in his typical upbeat mood, it was obvious from his anxiousness that Dan and he had some important information to share with Dave. Dave had already known what Dan’s purpose had been down in Buenos Aires, as he had ordered the mission. NSurv’s corporate objectives were for not only developing new surveillance technology, but for also deploying it in the field to provide the ultimate in political transparency and intelligence gathering. And, due to the fact that all of their research and development was privately funded through Dave and his partners, rather than through the federal government’s DARPA program, no government oversight could taint their objectives.
As Dave sat down at the conference room table, Dan shut the door and turned down the lights.
“So what did you learn Dan while down in Argentina?” asked Dave.
“That our Vice President had more than global warming on his agenda while in South America,” responded Dan in disgust.
Ron made a couple of key strokes on the computer keyboard and instantly the video that the nano-fly recorded began displaying on the projector screen. They all watched silently as the sordid activity with the Vice President and the young woman’s limp body unfolded.
When the video stopped, Dan explained that the young woman’s lifeless body was found washed up on a local beach the following morning. There was no identification found on her, and her name was still an uninterested mystery with the Buenos Aires police.
“Two hours after having his way with the woman, the Vice President was at the Global Climate Change Conference dinner giving a speech on how we all need to do our part to make the world a better place. After his speech he was glad-handing and back-slapping the fawning attendees while grinning ear to ear.”
“We need to get this to the papers and television news outlets now,” Ron said in disgust. “This creep needs to be exposed for what he truly is, regardless of our timetable and future plans with the administration.”
“Agreed,” responded Dave coldly as he looked at the frozen image of the Vice President on the screen. “I’ll talk with my contact at the American Broadcast Organization to see if she can get them to put at least a portion of this filth onto the air. Dan, I’m sure this was a tough assignment to watch unfold. Just keep in mind that this is why we are here doing what we are doing. With a little luck in the weeks ahead, we’ll expose this monster, his boss, and the whole entire administration for what they are. Not even the most politically disinterested Americans will be able to ignore this type of incendiary stuff. Again, thank you for your efforts and take a few days off. We’ll need you again the end of next week for another assignment.”
Dave left the meeting in deep thought as he returned to his office to call Dr. Zempke in Boston. He would update the professor on what had transpired down in Buenos Aires a couple of nights ago and ask him about finding him a new recruit that could help them out in their nanotechnology lab.
Chapter 7 (Feb 28, 4:30pm Mountain Time)
An hour after his phone conversations with Dr. Zempke and an old friend of his at the American Broadcast Organization, Dave drove up and parked his car next to NSurv’s private hanger at McCall’s municipal airport. Based on the two conversations, he needed to be on the east coast the following morning. It was going to be a very long night.
Though NSurv had access to a shared lease corporate jet service he still enjoyed flying himself whenever possible in his personal Cessna Citation M2 jet. He fell in love with flying back in high school after taking a discovery flight in a Cessna 172. He was so bitten by the flying bug that he had obtained his private pilot certificate by the time he entered his freshman year of college. As he worked his way through college he continued to get additional certificates, including his IFR, commercial and multi engine ratings. With the sale of his first startup, he purchased his first single pilot jet aircraft and obtained his jet license. Currently he owned three aircraft. Besides the Citation M2, he also owned a Cessna 182 Skylane and an A1-C Aviat Husky. He used the Skylane for taking short business trips to Spokane, Washington and Boise, Idaho, and used the Husky for flying solo out in the backcountry of Idaho and Wyoming. To Dave, flying the Husky out over the backcountry of Idaho was the ultimate in therapeutic medicine for escaping the headaches of running his business and formulating his future plans.
Though it was nearly 4:30pm local time he knew he’d not make it into Boston until after midnight, Eastern Standard Time. The flight was 1,976 nautical miles, and he’d need to refuel outside of Detroit, Michigan. However, he was well rested and wanted the privacy and flexibility that his M2 offered him.
After completing his pre-flight check, and filing and activat
ing his IFR flight plan, he was wheels up out of McCall at 5:30pm and heading east over the lonely skies of Montana. He was on his way to interview a potential new college hire in Boston and pay a visit to a reporter named Dana Cogswell in New York City.
Chapter 8 (Feb 28, 9:45am Eastern Standard Time)
As Joe Stevens was walking to his Electromagnetics and Application Engineering class on a cold and crisp midwinter morning in Boston, he was deep in thought pondering his future. He would be graduating this spring with a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and was unsure what he wanted to do next. With nearly a 4.0 GPA, his academic advisor had been urging him to continue on and pursue his doctorates degree. But he was itching to leave the academic world behind him and start making a living. He had already put himself $125K in debt over the past six years of college, and he was getting more anxious and concerned about how he would ever pay off the loans. Also, the adventurer in him just wanted to get out and see some of the world.
Unfortunately, ever since the collapse of the U.S. economy several years earlier, the job market, even for top engineering students like himself, had become difficult at best. Like him, many of his fellow undergraduate classmates had chosen to stay in college and pursue their own Master’s degrees in hopes that the U.S. job market would improve in a couple of years. Sadly it had not. And the economists and politicians were still indicating it would be at least several more years before the economy could possibly start to improve. Some were even going so far as to say that this was the new normal for the U.S. economy, suggesting the country’s twenty-five percent unemployment rate would never get any lower than this level.
Like many of the still-wanting-to-work population, Joe’s hopes for an economic recovery and finding a job were fading fast and desperation was setting in. However, he couldn’t stand the thought of staying in school any longer. He needed to get out and start putting his ambition and knowledge to good use. But for whom and for what was still an enigma to him.
