by Mark Donovan
“Excellent,” Dave responded. “Let’s pack up and get the hell out of here before my presence raises any alarm bells. Too many old friends, and enemies, out here for me to be showing my face around here too much. “
Within an hour they had packed up their equipment and were on the Cessna Citation M2 heading back to Idaho. During their ride back to San Jose International, and unbeknownst to them, they were followed by a blue Toyota Land Cruiser.
Chapter 27 (March 8, Saturday 6:00pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)
The flight back from San Jose had been uneventful. They mainly discussed the repercussions of the administrations “Transportation Movement Act” and its future impact on the economy. All were in agreement that it would be devastating and extremely invasive to the lives of every citizen in the country. The government would ultimately be able to keep track of every person in the country and know what they purchased and when they purchased it. It would bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “big brother”. Moreover, the mileage tax was effectively a new form of a Value Added Tax (VAT) placed on every person and product in the country. It would effectively kill personal travel and interstate commerce in a very short period of time.
“We can’t let this Act happen,” vented Dan. “The only ones that will benefit from it, if it is enacted, are the administration and its cronies.”
“Agreed, and we won’t let it happen,” responded Dave. “That is why our work is so important. By gathering the intelligence, that we have now enabled ourselves to do, we will be able to show and explain to the American public what this administration and its allies are all about.”
“And based upon today’s conversation between the Secretary and Barbas it shouldn’t take too long to connect all the dots,” chimed in Ron.
They arrived back in McCall, Idaho late in the day, however, they all headed back to the office to check voice and email messages. Jane had already left for the evening when Dave returned to his office. He plugged in his laptop to the docking station on his desk and fired it up. A few minutes later he was sifting through his email inbox. Most of the emails were correspondence from other NSurv employees. However, there was one outside email of particular interest. It was from a General Russell Jarod from the Pentagon. He had never met or heard of the general, but based upon the contents of the email, General Jarod was apparently familiar with him and NSurv. He was requesting to meet Dave at NSurv as soon as possible to discuss an urgent matter.
Dave wasn’t sure what the urgent matter could be about, however, he responded back to the General, offering him a few dates and times that he could be available in the next couple of weeks. Dave was not interested in selling any of NSurv’s intellectual property, nor offering the company’s products or services to the military or government. However, he was curious to learn what the General’s interests in NSurv were about.
Chapter 28 (March 13, Thursday 6:00pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)
Dana had arrived in McCall earlier in the day. She had flown direct from JFK to Boise, Idaho. From there, she jumped on a puddle jumper up to McCall. The scenery from Boise up to McCall had been breathtaking with expansive views of the mountains and lakes. However, she could have enjoyed the scenery a lot more if the flight hadn’t been so bumpy and nerve racking.
Though Dave had urged her to stay with him while she was in town for the weekend, she had declined and chosen to stay at a large hotel in the center of McCall. Though Dana held Dave in the highest regard, and still found him very attractive, she didn’t want to complicate either of their lives right now by mixing business with pleasure. Their breakup years ago had been rough on both of them, and she didn’t want to potentially reopen that painful memory.
The hotel Dana had elected to stay at was a beautiful resort hotel that offered all the same amenities as any five star hotel in New York City, but without the pomp and circumstance. The hotel had that western flair ambiance with timber frame construction and a huge stone fireplace in the main lobby. Similarly, her room was decorated in a western theme, with lots of exposed wood and copious amounts of washed river stone used in the bathroom. A large plate glass window in the room provided a fabulous view of the nearby lake and the mountains beyond it. The sun was just sinking behind the mountains and casting the room in a warm and fading light as she looked out the window to admire the view once more.
An hour later she was just wrapping up getting prepared for an early evening dinner. Though she had passed on Dave’s invitation to stay at his home, she had graciously accepted his invitation for dinner. Besides enjoying his company, they also had a lot to talk about. ABO had told her on Tuesday that they were not going to run the video clip of the Vice President, on account that they did not have corroborating evidence to back it up. She had been furious with Jeff Kolosky when he told her of the network’s decision. So much so, that she told Jeff she would be taking a few days off to do some serious thinking about her career and future. Jeff fully supported her decision, which it wouldn’t have mattered anyways if he hadn’t. She was going to Idaho to see Dave regardless of Jeff’s approval.
Dana’s room phone rang. It was Dave in the hotel lobby.
“Are you all set for a lovely dinner in the beautiful city of McCall?” said Dave, as she put the phone’s receiver to her ear.
“I sure am,” responded Dana in a somewhat flirtatious and youthful sounding voice. “I will be right down.”
“I look forward to you gracing my presence,” Dave said, before he hung up the lobby phone.
Two minutes later Dana walked into the hotel lobby wearing a beautiful knee length red dress. As usual she greeted Dave with her signature smile and green eyes, and with her long brunette hair flowing behind her.
“You look as gorgeous as ever,” commented Dave as she approached him.
“You’re looking pretty dapper yourself tonight as well,” Dana responded, as she gave him a hug and a light peck on the cheek. “Where are you taking me to dinner tonight?” she questioned him smugly.”
“Well I thought since you are out west, I’d take you to the best steakhouse in McCall.” It’s a small and unpretentious steak restaurant, but it could put any of New York City’s finest steakhouses to shame.”
“It sounds fantastic,” said Dana. “Other than a soda and a couple of airline dog biscuits today, that’s all I’ve had. A steak sounds perfect for tonight.”
Dave took Dana’s arm and escorted her out of the hotel to his Mercedes Benz E-class Sedan. He opened her door and allowed her to step into the car before closing her door and stepping around to the driver’s side. Five minutes later they had arrived at the Ellis Steakhouse. As they drove to the steakhouse a black SUV with two men inside it trailed them.
Chapter 29 (March 13, Thursday 7:00pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)
Dana described to Dave the conversation that transpired between Jeff and her on Tuesday. As Dana explained the rationale for ABO’s decision not to run the video, Dave just listened quietly and contemplated his next move.
“I couldn’t believe they rejected the video on the grounds of lack of corroborating evidence,” said Dana. “ABO has all the resources to validate the authenticity of the tape. They just didn’t want to run it because they wanted to protect the Vice President and the entire administration’s hides.”
“Your spot on,” replied Dave. “We have additional surveillance evidence that we have been continuously collecting for the past week on the administration, and I can assure you they have ABO running defense for them.”
“What do you mean?” asked Dana.
“At last weekend’s business leaders meeting with the Secretary of Commerce, we attended it. Or more specifically, we observed it. And we continue to observe the results of that meeting as we speak.”
“Yes, the ABO offices are abuzz with excitement over the administration’s proposed new Transportation Movement Act. As a matter of fact, this weekend we’re running a two hour news special on the decay of the nation’s roa
ds and bridges and how the TMA will effectively eliminate these major public safety concerns. But what are you saying about continuing to observe the results of that meeting? How can you continue to observe something that is over?”
Dave looked at her hesitantly for a couple of seconds before responding.
“As you know Dana, NSurv is all about designing and producing surveillance assets that are constructed out of nanotechnology materials.”
He leaned closer to her, and in a quieter tone continued. “Over the past 18 months we’ve been developing a new and very sophisticated type of carbon based nano-dust material. We are now at the stage in the development of it, that through precise manipulation and control, we can construct, at the nanometer level, this dust into various types of sensors; including Radio Frequency IDs (RFIDs), chemical and biological trace monitors, and even audio and video recording devices. The information that the nano-dust sensors gather can then be transmitted back to NSurv where we can process and store it.”
“That’s unbelievable. It’s science fiction,” Dana commented, as she looked across at Dave with an incredulous and somewhat confused look.
“No, it’s not science fiction,” responded Dave dryly. “It’s real, and I can show you some of the results of it back at the NSurv offices tomorrow.”
“But you said you are still observing the results of the business leaders meeting,” questioned Dana. “What do you exactly mean by that?”
“Ah,” whispered Dave. “I’ve not yet told you how the nano-dust is delivered and employed in surveillance targets. Due to the fact that each nano-dust particle, or cell, is only a nanometer in diameter, it can easily be ingested or inhaled. In a matter of just a few inhalations a target can breathe in literally billions of nano-dust particles. Once in the target’s body, we can identify the target via a DNA comparison, and then manipulate and configure the ingested nano-dust particles for whatever type of sensor or sensors we so choose. Every attendee at last Saturday’s meeting is now under constant surveillance, courtesy of NSurv.”
Dana stared at Dave in shock. She didn’t know if she was looking at a genius or a mad scientist.
“Do you realize what you’re doing?” asked Dana. “You’ve created frightening technology that if used by the wrong people in government or businesses, or in general by any malicious person, could be extremely destructive.”
“Yes, we fully understand this fact. However, we have implemented many safe guards to protect the intellectual property and its use. We have no intentions of selling this type of surveillance technology to the government or any businesses.”
“You’re inevitably going to be responsible for creating a surveillance society with this technology,” shot back Dana as she slowly shook her head.
“Actually our government has already created a surveillance society,” responded Dave matter-of-factly. “They now fly surveillance drones every day in this country spying on everyone and anyone they want to. And with the implementation of the administration’s new “Transportation Movement Act” they will only further expand it. Do you realize that every vehicle will be required to have a transponder and GPS system installed in it so that the vehicle’s mileage and location can be tracked by the government? Similarly do you realize that every product produced or sold in this country will have to have an RFID tag embedded in it so that it too can be continuously tracked? Our own government is spying on all of us with increasing frequency and impunity. The public doesn’t care, because they don’t even know it’s going on around them. Only if you’re in law enforcement, or if you’re somehow involved in the aviation industry, would you have any sense of the amount of drone flights that are occurring over our own homes on any given day.”
“Yes, but if the government gets a hold of your nano-dust stuff what’s going to happen then?” questioned Dana. “It will intrude into every aspect of our lives. Not only will they be looking down over our homes with drones, they’ll be looking inside our homes through our own eyes and ears.”
“You’re probably right. However, the only way we can prevent your prediction from coming true is to bring a new level of transparency to our political leaders and their friends, including their media allies and financial campaign backers. Only by ensuring the public is provided with raw and unfiltered information about its government servants’ actions, and their allies, can we hope to keep them in check and ensure a free society. The bottom line is that we need to make sure they are working solely in the best interest of their constituents, and not themselves and/or their friends.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” responded Dana. “If word gets out what NSurv is doing, you and every one of your employees’ lives will be at high risk. There are politicians and other nefarious people out there that would love to get a hold of your nano-dust technology.”
“I, as well as every principal employee at NSurv, understand fully the ramifications of what we are doing,” said Dave. “We understand the risks we face, but more importantly we understand what’s at stake with our country. We’ve all personally watched the economic and moral decay of our country over the past decade. Moreover, we’ve witnessed a corrupt political administration sell our country out to a handful of international billionaires with progressive-liberal agendas. Billionaires I might add, who still have an insatiable thirst to increase their own personal wealth at everyone’s and anyone’s expense, including the poor and deprived souls they claim to so badly want to help raise up.”
“What you’re saying is all true,” responded Dana. “However, if these billionaires and the administration get a hold of this technology before you can expose them, you’ll increase their power grip on the American public tenfold. What will you do then?”
“We’re not going to let that happen. Again, we’ve already acquired a wealth of information from our targets in just the past several days. We’ve already begun to piece together the evidence to show the close relationships and inner workings between the administration, certain media channels, and even a couple of the billionaires, including Mr. Dimitris Barbas.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing Dave. These people are ruthless and they’ll go to all ends to get what they want, and to eliminate any threats to them.”
Chapter 30 (March 13, Thursday 9:30pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)
The waitress came up to their table and handed Dave the check. He looked down at his watch and couldn’t believe that they had been at the restaurant for over two hours.
“I guess I should pay the bill and call it a night,” said Dave to Dana. “Unlike New York, these folks like to close up relatively early and you’ve had a very long day.”
After paying the waitress Dave and Dana got up from their table to leave the restaurant. As they approached the restaurant lobby area Dana excused herself to the lady’s room. While Dave waited for her, he had decided to place a quick call to Ron to see how the day’s events had gone on with their surveillance targets. As Dave listened to Ron’s update to him on his cell phone, all of a sudden Dave saw Dana intercepted by a large man as she exited the lady’s room. The man placed his arm firmly behind Dana’s back and proceeded to direct and push her out the side entrance of the restaurant. Dave shoved his phone into his pocket and ran to the side entrance door. Just as he exited the restaurant he saw Dana being forcibly pushed into the back seat of a black SUV. The SUV started to speed away as soon as the man jumped into the vehicle beside Dana.
Quickly Dave ran to his car and started it up. The roads were pretty much empty this time of night in McCall, so he could clearly see the SUV racing off down the road. He gunned his own car and took off after them in pursuit.
Whoever was driving the black SUV knew how to drive, he thought. They accelerated fast on the straightaways, slowed down as they entered into winding turns, and then accelerated again coming out of the turns. The SUV was headed out of McCall and towards Lake Payette. After traveling northwest on Route 55 for a short distance, the SUV swerved abruptly o
nto an exit ramp that led down to a side road just west of Lake Payette. Dave stayed on their backend as they raced down the side road next to the lake.
As they sped further north and adjacent to the lake, the road became very winding and dark. There were few people who lived up in this area and so fortunately the road was empty of other vehicles. As Dave followed the SUV, he knew that if he was to save Dana he needed to be more aggressive and run the SUV off the road. But he also knew that in doing so he was going to put Dana’s life at risk. After a few seconds more thought, he concluded to himself that it was a risk he was going to have to take. If he didn’t save her she could end up assaulted and potentially killed. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if that happened. He had to try to save her, even if it meant risking both their lives.
Dave accelerated the Mercedes so that he came up on the rear passenger side of the SUV. As he did, he heard two gun shots ring out and his front window exploded into a thousand pieces of small glass. He used an ice scraper that was sitting on the floor next to him to knock out the remaining broken glass in the front window, so that he could continue to see out of the car unobstructed.
“These guys are willing to kill,” said Dave to himself. He was going to have to move quickly if he was going to save Dana. He stomped on the Mercedes gas pedal and the car responded with gut wrenching acceleration. This time he wasn’t going to hesitate as the Mercedes came up to the rear passenger side quarter panel of the SUV. He swerved the left nose of his Mercedes into it hard. Immediately the SUV skidded sharply to the right directly in front of him. As it did, the SUV began to roll over careening out of control and off the road.
Time seemed to slow down to nearly a stop as Dave watched the SUV roll twice before the driver side of the vehicle smashed into a tree off the side of the road. Dave slammed on the brakes of his Mercedes and jumped out of it. As he approached the mangled SUV he saw a man pull himself from the upside down vehicle and run limping into the woods. Dave ignored the man and ran to the car. He looked in and saw Dana sitting in the car hanging upside down by her seat belt. She was alive, but visibly cut and bruised. The driver on the other hand was mangled into the steering wheel and showed no sign of life.
