Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1)

by Mark Donovan

  Chung Lee looked over at Jason Rowe in utter disbelief and confusion. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The President of the United States, of arguably now the most powerful country in the world, offering handouts to companies around the globe for self-imposed reparations for his country’s past behavior. It sounded incredulous, but on the other hand he was a business man. He certainly was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If the United States government wanted to give him a contract worth well over a trillion dollars he would certainly fulfill their wishes.”

  Though Chung already has some idea of the enormity of the size of the potential contract for this project, he had to ask Jason for a few specifics. “How many MAGLEV locomotives is the president’s TMA looking for?”

  “The TMA initially calls out for twenty-five cities to have MAGLEV service between them. Based on initial projections we estimate 750 locomotives and nearly 10,000 passenger cars will need to be produced.”

  Chung looked at Jason incredulously. “Has your president any idea of what the cost will be for interconnecting 25 cities in the United States with a MAGLEV system of that size and complexity?”

  “Yes, it is projected to cost approximately $20 trillion dollars over a ten year period to implement such a rail network system in the country,” responded Jason.

  “Who do you have in mind for manufacturing the guideway?” asked Chung. “As I am sure you are aware there is a very close symbiotic relationship between MAGLEV locomotives and the guideway rail system they run on. We have a couple of close guideway partners who we have worked with over the years that I would highly recommend you contract with.”

  “Indeed,” responded Jason. “I’m sure you’re familiar with DGK International in Germany. They have a very reputable history of installing MAGLEV tracks on a large scale.”

  “Yes, they are the best in guideway construction, and as you say, they have the size and infrastructure to support a project the scale of what you are talking about.”

  “So do you think Yeh Electric Train would be interested in participating in such an endeavor?” asked Jason already knowing the answer.

  “Of course we would,” responded Chung, “And I am sure the Chinese government will be just as pleased and supportive of the opportunity. As you know, our country’s economic growth rate has begun to slow in recent years and our major cities like Shanghai have been struggling to keep up with the continued influx of unskilled labor from the rural areas. A business opportunity of this magnitude will be very helpful to the people of China.”

  “Excellent,” responded Jason with an ear to ear grin. “My boss, the Secretary of Commerce, and the President will be extremely pleased with your acceptance of our proposal. I was also asked, assuming you accepted our offer, to invite you to come to Washington D.C. and meet with the President in person for a weekend retreat at Camp David. He and some of his aides would like to personally meet with you and provide you with more specifics about the MAGLEV goals and objectives for our country. He’d also like you to come prepared with some initial budgetary cost estimates for building the locomotives and passenger cars.”

  “Yes, I would love to visit Washington D.C. again and meet your President. Please let him know that I am available at his convenience,” responded Chung Lee.

  “I will indeed let him know. I can tell you already that he will probably like to see you in the next several days. As you may have already read or heard, the President is very anxious in getting the TMA legislation passed and its implementation underway. We are anticipating its passage in Congress in the next few weeks, and the President signing it into law in a large formal ceremony days later. At that point, we will immediately want to begin the work of building the greatest mass public transit system in the world.”

  Jason picked up his Martini from the dining table and raised it up for a toast. Chung Lee responded in kind. “To a better and more prosperous world,” spoke Jason. The two clinked glasses and celebrated their newly forged agreement and rekindled relationship. As they placed their glasses back down on the table a waiter arrived to serve them their dinners. Chung once again returned his gaze beyond his dining partner and out into the night Shanghai skyline. It was a strange world he thought as he stared out into the dark space, but what was not to love about it.

  Chapter 43 (March 19, Tuesday 3:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

  Chief of Staff Ken Hardy sat across from the President at his desk in the Oval Office. They had been talking about the President’s day so far and the Chief of Staff’s planned visit to the Virgin Islands this upcoming weekend. President Coleman had already spoken to the Vice President earlier in the day and asked for his resignation. Though the Vice President had initially pushed back on having to resign from his post, he eventually came around when the President suggested he would offer him a pardon in the event that he was found guilty of any crimes associated with the death of the woman. The President also promised that he would not allow Houlton to be extradited to Argentina if the Buenos Aires police wanted to proceed with a legal trial against him. Though President Coleman didn’t like to make promises to anyone, he had no choice with Houlton. The Vice President was a dangerous wild card. He could have made the President’s life much more difficult than it already was if he hadn’t offered those concessions in return for his resignation letter.

  “Have you already figured out a successor to Houlton yet?” asked Hardy.

  “Yes, I have a candidate in mind who is a member of the Senate,” responded the President. “He’s actually a member of the opposition party. Senator Tom Landers from Virginia.”

  Hardy looked at the President in astonishment. “You’ve got to be joking.”

  “No I’m not,” responded the President seriously. “By choosing a Vice President who is of the opposite party we can demonstrate to the American public that our administration is willing to put differences aside and work across party lines for the best interests of the country. Not to mention, it may help us obtain a few additional votes on the TMA legislation. Some of the moderates in the opposition party may reciprocate my gesture by supporting the bill. Actually, I’m counting on a few of them to do so.”

  “Yes, you’ve suggested a couple of good reasons, however, have you fully thought this one out?” asked Hardy who was still not fully bought into the concept yet. “Do you really want to have a gadfly in our administration regularly reporting back information to our opponents in Congress? And what happens if, God forbid, we lose you, or you’re incapacitated for a period of time. Do you really want Tom Landers replacing you or temporarily filling your shoes?”

  “Ken, I might be thinking a bit out of the box here, but I’m not crazy,” laughed Coleman. “You know Senator Tom Landers. By all accounts he’s a moderate. Take a look at his voting record for the past twelve years he’s been in the Senate. Heck, some of his own party member colleagues have publicly questioned his party affiliation. If the House and Senate approve him, we’ll keep him under constant wraps. Other than the occasional photo op with me, he won’t be spending any time here in the White House. And as far as losing me, I’m going to personally vouch that I’m not going to let that happen.”

  “Do you think he’d actually take the job,” pressed Hardy.

  “Of course he would. He’s a politician first, a party member second. We’ve all got aspirations. Like any other politician he’ll jump at the opportunity to hold the second highest political office in the country.”

  Hardy nodded his head more in resignation than in agreement with the President’s decision of nominating Senator Tom Landers. “Alright, if that’s your decision, I’ll work with it.”

  “Good, I’m glad to hear that, as I’ve already planned to speak with him later today. If he accepts my offer, which again there is no doubt in my mind that he will, we should have no issues getting him approved by Congress.”

  Hardy flinched briefly from hearing that the President had already planned to talk with Senator Landers with
out letting him know first.

  Seeing his Chief of Staff still not looking completely comfortable with his decision he threw him one more reason for his choice.

  “Ken, don’t worry about my decision on Landers. I’ve thought it through carefully. Keep in mind that the Governor of Virginia is a member of our party and a close friend of mine. At a minimum, look at my decision on Landers as an opportunity for the governor to replace him with someone who we know we can count on going forward.”

  Hardy smiled at the President and nodded in full agreement. “You’re right. There are some significant positives with your decision. We’ll make this work, and putting Houlton behind us quickly is what needs to happen if we want to have any chance of getting the TMA passed. He was becoming an increasing distraction.”

  “Speaking of the TMA,” interrupted President Coleman. “You’re still planning to head down to see Barbas this weekend in the Virgin Islands?”

  “Yes, I’m heading out on Thursday. I’m flying into Cyril E. King airport in St. Thomas. Barbas is then having his helicopter pick me up from there and fly me out to his yacht off of St. John. Jason Evans is scheduled to arrive Saturday morning.”

  “Have you and the Secretary of Commerce worked up a proposal to present to them?” asked the President.

  “Yes, we’ve put together what we believe is an attractive and fair proposal based upon your suggested outline. Barbas and Evans should be quite pleased, as they’ll each become much wealthier. Suffice it to say they’re getting a very sweet deal.”

  The President could tell from Hardy’s last comment that he had some concerns with the proposal.

  “It’s a necessary evil,” responded the President as he looked intently at Hardy. “We need them to continue to financially back our efforts, Barbas with his media network conglomerate, and Evans with his financial campaign contributions. Without their past support the two of us wouldn’t be sitting here today. And without their continued support, we’d be hard pressed to achieve our goals of eliminating global warming and raising the standard of living for everyone on this planet.”

  “Yes, you’re right Jesse,” sighed the Chief of Staff. “But the financial magnitude of the proposal to Barbas and Evans is almost criminal. Each of them, through their business enterprises, could potentially make a trillion dollars over the next decade.”

  “It’s still a small price to pay,” replied the President. “The benefits far outweigh the price our country will pay them.”

  The President got up out of his chair to signal he was done with their conversation. Ken Hardy understood and immediately stood up in response, as he got the message that the President wanted to be alone and focus on other business.

  “Have a good trip Ken, and don’t catch too much sun while you’re down there.”

  “I’ll try not to,” said Hardy as he left the Oval Office.

  Chapter 44 (March 19, Tuesday 2:00pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

  General Russell Jarod was escorted up to Dave’s office waiting room area by Jane Nanders. General Jarod was a large muscular looking man. He stood nearly 6’ 4” tall and weighed at least 250 pounds, but still possessed a well cut ramrod straight figure. At West Point he had played football as a tight end. The same fierce energy and competitive skills he had used on the gridiron, he had used throughout his career on and off the battlefield. During his illustrious military career he had spent a large extent of it overseas, both in Eastern Europe and Asia. He had also completed three tours of duty in the Mideast deserts of Afghanistan.

  For much of his career he had worked as a field intelligence officer conducting covert intelligence and surveillance operations. As a result, he was considered an expert in the field of surveillance technology, including the latest in drone technology. He was also well connected and respected with the current administration due in part to his political leanings, but mainly because of his ambitions. The Joint Chiefs of Staff had been in his career sights for a number of years now.

  Though open political involvement was discouraged in the military, at least for lower ranking personnel, General Russell Jarod, like all high ranking military officers, frequented the political circles in Washington. Due to his Joint Chief of Staff ambitions, as well as simply good old fashion timing, General Jarod had ingratiated himself with the administration over the years.

  It was because of his close relationship with the administration, and the fact that he could play the heavy when necessary, that Ken Hardy had personally contacted him. Hardy had asked him, on behalf of the President, to visit NSurv and see what he could find out about them, and in particular Dave Henson. Hardy explained that besides doing a favor for the administration, the General might also find some value in meeting with Dave Henson for military applications. From what Hardy had told him, NSurv was believed to have some of the most state of the art surveillance technologies, including nanoscopic sensors.

  General Jarod had already done his homework on Dave Henson and NSurv and was quite impressed with both. Dave Henson had a flawless career in the high tech space and had a large number of patents in the field of surveillance and nanotechnology. What limited public information he was able to uncover on NSurv was also just as impressive. All of NSurv’s top management and staff had similar illustrious credentials and careers. Moreover, the few NSurv surveillance products that were of public knowledge were state of the art. If for any other reason, meeting with Mr. Henson would prove to be interesting from a pure professional level. However, he understood why Ken Hardy had called him. The administration had credible evidence that suggested NSurv was using its surveillance assets for monitoring the administration. The Vice President’s debacle that was transmitted over national television the other night was believed to have been at the hands of NSurv. Hardy wanted him to ascertain what NSurv had for operational assets that could have been used against the Vice President. Moreover, he was to assess if they needed to either be brought to criminal justice, or quietly disposed of. In either case, NSurv’s technology was somehow to be acquired by the government, either through contractual or forcible act.

  Jane Nanders knocked lightly on Dave’s open door and proceeded to walk into his office with General Jarod in tow. Dave stood up from his desk and welcomed the general with a firm handshake. He then thanked Jane for bringing the general up as she walked out of his office and closed the door.

  “Thank you for taking some time out of your busy schedule to meet with me,” said General Jarod.

  “No problem,” Dave responded in a feigned eager and interested tone. “I’m always interested in talking with prospective customers about NSurv’s business and products.”

  “Well that is exactly why I am here today,” replied the general. “As you can imagine the Pentagon is always looking for new surveillance technology that can help keep our country a safer place. From what I’ve been hearing in the industry, you folks here at NSurv are involved in some pretty sophisticated new and shadowy surveillance products. I’ve read a little bit on some of your aerial mini-drone products, but I hear rumor that you may have some even newer and more sophisticated birds out there. I’d really like to learn a little bit more about them.”

  “Yes, you are correct,” responded Dave. “We introduced on the market a year ago a family of drone products. For the most part we’ve been selling them for a variety of commercial applications, including to ranchers for monitoring their cattle and to oil companies for inspecting their pipelines.”

  “You’ve not been selling them to any international governments for military purposes?” asked the general in a pointed tone.

  “No. So far we’ve only sold them nationally for commercial applications. As you know, we’d need to file an application with the federal government if we had an interest in selling the drones to international entities.”

  The general continued to press Dave for information on the current drone products that they were selling. He asked questions on their specific physical size, their range and d
uration of flight, and how they were powered and controlled. Dave answered most of his questions directly since he knew that he could find the information out for himself by contacting some of NSurv’s current customers who were using the products. He also figured the general already knew the answers to most of his questions. Dave’s assessment of the general from reviewing his dossier was that he was one thorough and sharp cookie. And based upon the line of questions General Jarod had fired at him for thirty minutes straight, it was obvious he had done his homework on him and NSurv.

  “Dave, I also understand you, as well as several other NSurv employees, have done a great deal of research in the nanotechnology field throughout your educational and professional careers. As a matter of fact, I’ve read that you and several of your NSurv colleagues have a couple dozen filed patents and pending patent applications on nanotechnology.”

  “Yes, I, as well as many of my colleagues here at NSurv, have done a considerable amount of research in the field of nanotechnology.”

  “So can you tell me what you and your team of engineers and scientists at NSurv are working on in the field of nano surveillance sensors?” asked the general in a more serious and accusing tone.

  Attempting to be coy and vague about this particular subject matter, Dave simply indicated that most of NSurv’s work in the nanotechnology field had so far been limited to research, and that they were still years away from having commercially viable nano surveillance products.

  “Currently our nanotechnology work has been limited to drawing boards and the laboratory,” responded Dave. “At this point and time I’d have to say we are still years away from having any nano based surveillance products to offer customers.”

  “Well, can you at least share with me what particular areas in nanotechnology that you are doing research in?” asked the general.

  Dave again attempted to be vague with his response to the general.