Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1) (5 page)

Chapter 12 (March 2, 1:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

              Dave was in deep thought as he cruised west at 38,000 feet and 400 knots back to Idaho in his Cessna Citation M2. He knew he was putting Dana’s job at risk by asking for her help in airing the video. Dimitris Barbas had a take-no-prisoners history when it came to anyone interfering with his progressive-liberal agenda. Many seasoned journalists at ABO had been summarily dismissed since Barbas took controlling interests in ABO five years earlier. In every case the dismissed journalist was quietly let go with no explanation from the network. However those in the news industry, who personally knew the journalists, whispered amongst themselves that the real reasons were due to their unwillingness to toe the line with Mr. Barbas’s political news programming agenda.

              Though Dave suffered with some guilt asking Dana for help, he also knew that she felt just as strongly as he did about the corruption in the news media and press in recent years. Historically, the press acted as the fourth body of government in the country by providing another layer of checks and balances for the American people. With the news media and press now working hand in hand with the administration and elite billionaire political puppeteers, in part to protect their own futures, Dana knew her industry’s historical role was at risk of forever being diminished and helpful to the American public. Ultimately he knew Dana was acting on her own volition in bringing the information forward on the Vice President, but deep down he feared for her, and more than for just her job security. He also feared for her personal safety. The Barbass of the world had no compunction of being ruthless when necessary.

              “54SUG, descend to 34,000 feet and maintain your current heading,” blurted Chicago air traffic control into Dave’s David-Clark headset.

              “Roger that, 54SUG descending to 34,000 feet and maintaining current heading,” responded Dave as he hit the transmit switch.”

              The air traffic control voice shook him from his thoughts and concerns about Dana and onto NSurv’s mission next weekend. Prior to leaving New York he had spoken to Ron about his meeting with Dr. Gillian on Saturday. As usual Dr. Gillian had come through for the company in a big way. From Ron’s description the nano-dust looked like a homerun product for a plethora of applications. However, it was next Saturday’s meeting that it would first be put to good use.

              Next Saturday’s meeting with the Secretary of Commerce and business leaders in San Francisco could potentially start the avalanche that could politically destroy the administration and its allies. There were quiet whispers in the Department of Commerce and halls of Congress of a new tax that would be discussed at this meeting. A progressive tax that would change how the average American citizen moved. It had been suggested that this creative new tax had the potential to add huge revenues to the government coffers and for funding the administration’s national and international political agendas.

              Though it was still unclear about the specifics of the new tax and the administration’s plans, it was obvious that there were going to be some big winners and losers associated with the law if enacted. Based upon the business leaders who were on the invitee list to the meeting that Dave had gotten an early peek at, it appeared obvious that Hollywood and some heavy industry transportation companies were going to be on the winner’s side. 

              Though Dan and Ron were totally capable of pulling off next week’s project on their own, Dave had already decided that he was going to personally lead the mission. Though he could have chosen to sit back and watch a live feed from NSurv’s headquarters, he wanted to be there in person to do some old fashion reconnaissance work, as well as witness NSurv’s new technology in action first hand. When he landed back in Idaho today he’d call for a meeting first thing tomorrow morning with Ron, Dan, and Dr. Gillian. This mission had to go off flawlessly.

Chapter 13 (March 2, 7:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

              It was an early Sunday evening in Washington, D. C. The sun had long set, and the weather was cold and raw outside. The grounds around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the White House were barren, even though the cloudy skies had spit snow off and on all throughout the day.  President Jesse Coleman sat behind his desk in the Oval Office. Across from him sat his Chief of Staff, Ken Hardy, and Secretary of Commerce Nancy Devins. They were discussing the Secretary of Commerce’s meeting agenda next week in San Francisco with the administration’s business leader allies.

              “Next weekend’s meeting will truly be the first step in a new direction for our country and the world,” said President Coleman in a confident and authoritarian tone. “With the failure of the country to buy into the green automobile industry and reduce our country’s carbon emissions, we need this new plan to happen. I’m depending on you, Nancy, to successfully float our new plan to the executive business leaders you’re meeting with next weekend. Are you confident you’ve picked the right players to propose our new agenda to? The last thing I want is a publicity attack on the plan before it even gets legs.”

              “Absolutely,” responded Secretary Devins. “We are meeting with fifty corporate business leaders, including folks from Hollywood and the public transportation industry that have supported our efforts for years. I am fully confident they will embrace our broad reaching new plans as they resonate with both their political and financial interests.”

              “We’ve also had the FBI do extensive background checks on all the invitees,” chimed in the Chief of Staff. “They’re all clean with no history of playing both sides, or at any time jumping ship with your global energy policies. Like a shepherd and its flock, they’ll follow you anywhere Mr. President. ”

              “You better be right Ken because this plan cannot fail. All of our butts are on the line with our largest and most necessary campaign contributors. They’ve already expressed their frustration with us numerous times on our failure to convince the American public to buy green cars, irregardless of the trillions of dollars we’ve spent subsidizing the industry with U.S. tax dollars.”

              “Our new plans won’t fail Mr. President,” responded the Secretary of Commerce. “The new mileage tax plan is a progressive tax that our liberal supporters and allies will fully embrace. With the right political campaign and their financial help, we’ll successfully sell it to the American public in short order. By the time we get done, congress will have no choice but to pass our “Transportation Movement Act”, as their constituents will be screaming for them to support it.”

              “Excellent,” responded the President. “I look forward to hearing an initial report from you Madam Secretary as soon as you’re on your plane heading back to Washington.”

Chapter 14 (March 3, Monday 3:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

              Dana sat in the waiting area of Jeff Kolosky’s office. She had received the video from Dave in the morning and watched it in total shock and disgust. Right after viewing the video she had called Jeff’s administrative assistant to see if she could meet with him later in the day to discuss an important new story. She had placed the DVD, and a copy of it, in a safety deposit box at a bank just down the street from ABO’s offices. The last thing she wanted to do was to turn over the DVD to Jeff before at least first judging his reaction to the story.

              Jeff walked out of his twenty third story executive office into the waiting area of his administrative assistant and greeted Dana warmly with a firm handshake.

              “So my assistant says you have a potentially significant news story that you wanted to run by me,” said Jeff, as he guided her into his office and shut the door.

              Jeff directed Dana to sit down in a plush leather chair in front of his desk while he walked around to the back of the desk and took his seat. The view from his office was stunning. Dana could see all of Manhattan from the large plate glass window, including central park.

              “Yes Jeff,” replied Dana. “Frankly it’s pretty shocking and disturbing as it involves the Vice President of the United States.”

              “Really,” responded Jeff. “I know there have been some incidents over the years of the Vice President showing some overt affection to women in more than a fatherly way. But there’s never been any belief, nor evidence of, the Vice President going beyond the level of friendly flirtation. Heck he’s been a married man for over 25 years.”

              “Jeff, we both know that many a politician’s spouse has had to live with the pain of a cheating husband in order to protect her financial status and lifestyle,” parried Dana. “I can assure you that what I am about to tell you goes far beyond “just a flirtatious little old man syndrome” with our Vice President. To be succinct it’s quite disgusting and damming to hell.”

              “Okay, you’ve piqued my interest. Fill me in.”

              Dana proceeded to describe to Jeff what she had viewed earlier in the day making sure to leave out none of the sordid details. She did, however, hold back on who provided her with the information. After finishing her report Jeff sat back quietly and stared at her for a few seconds. If what Dana was saying was true, and he had no reason to doubt her, it would prove to be very damaging to the President and his administration. The Vice President would certainly have to resign and he possibly could be indicted as an accomplice to murder.

              “Who was the source of this information and video?”

              Somewhat embarrassingly, as she had some level of journalistic respect for Jeff, she responded with, “reporter’s privilege, I can’t divulge that information.”

              “So how do you expect me to run a story like this without providing the source of the information?” asked Jeff.

              “The video in itself is all the evidence necessary for the American public to draw its own conclusions,” responded Dana.

              “How do you know the video is not a fake and somehow doctored or photo-shopped in some way,” pressed Jeff.

              “Jeff, you and I both know that we have the resources here at ABO to assess whether a video is real or not,” replied Dana. “I will provide you with a copy of the video for our IT guys to evaluate it for its authenticity. If it’s authentic, which I am sure it is, the question to you Jeff is whether or not you will run with it and allow us to report this information to the public.”

              “Dana, I will personally review the tape and have our IT boys examine it to assess its authenticity. However, at this point and time I cannot promise you that we will be able to run it. I’ll need to talk to Christos about it first.” Appointed four years earlier, after Mr. Barbas had done some restructuring at ABO’s executive and board levels, Christos Grivas was the CEO and Chairman of the Board at ABO.

              Dana understood how the chain of command worked and knew how explosive a story like this was, however she felt a bit of trepidation when she agreed to provide the video to Jeff. But it was the only way the story ever had a chance of seeing the light of day. She could only hope that Jeff and Mr. Grivas would appreciate the importance of this information and feel just as compelled as her to want to inform the American public about it. She had to put her trust in them, however she walked out of Jeff’s office with a sick feeling in her stomach.

Chapter 15 (March 3, Monday 4:30pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

              One hour after leaving Jeff Kolosky’s office Dana returned to the bank where she had stored the two copies of the video in a safety deposit box. She wanted to make sure Jeff got a chance to view the video before the end of the day.

              After being greeted by a bank employee she was directed into a back room. As she waited in the room, the bank employee took her safety deposit key and went to find her safety deposit box. The bank employee returned two minutes later with the box. He closed the door behind her to allow Dana to review the contents of the box in privacy. She quickly opened the box and removed one of the copies of the video and stuffed it into her purse. She then closed up the box, opened the door and walked out of the room with the safety deposit box. Another bank employee took the box from her and stored it in the vault before returning the key to her. The employee then let Dana out of the back area of the bank.

              As Dana was leaving the bank and walking out the main entrance, a man sat in a chair in the bank’s main lobby area watching her every move. He had instructions to only observe her movements and report back. He was not in any way to approach or engage with her.

              Dana returned immediately to ABO headquarters and to her own office, where she placed the video recording into a large manila envelope and wrote Jeff’s name on it. Dana then went up to the twenty-third floor of the building and left the envelope with Jeff’s administrative assistant, as Jeff was wrapped up in another meeting. She explained to the assistant that it was urgent Jeff receive the envelope this evening before he left for the day.  The assistant promised Dana she would personally deliver it to him when he finished his meeting.

Chapter 16 (March 3, Monday 4:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

              Immediately upon Dana’s earlier departure from his office Jeff had picked up his cell phone to call Christos Grivas. He knew the information that Dana had was explosive and could be the torpedo that could finally sink the administration. Over the past twelve years of the administration’s reign of power it had become increasingly bold and arrogant, and it had frequently stumbled, embarrassing itself and to some extent damaging its credibility. If it had not been for its national press allies the administration would have been tossed out on its behind years ago. Fortunately, and conveniently, it had influential friends in high places, and this included Mr. Barbas and Mr. Grivas.

              Though Jeff could already predict Mr. Grivas’s reaction and response to Dana’s report, he believed he had a legal and ethical responsibility to bring the information to him before deep sixing it himself. He also had his own personal career to think about as well. Jeff was sure Mr. Grivas would not allow him to run the story, no matter how sordid and legitimate the video was. However, instead of rejecting the story himself, he would raise it up the flag pole and would prove to Mr. Grivas once again that he was a trusted soldier that deserved to be compensated handsomely during his next contract negotiation. 

              Grivas answered his phone.

              “Hello Mr. Grivas, it’s Jeff.”

              “Hey Jeff, how’s my man?” replied Christos. “By the way, I loved the segment you guys ran last week on the upcoming Iditarod Race and lack of snow. Showing those poor sled dogs with bandaged feet caused by running them on bare ground really resonated with the viewership. We need more of these types of pieces to hammer home the realities of manmade global climate change. Keep up the good work Jeff. I know Mr. Barbas loves what you’ve done for the network over the past couple of years.”

              “Thank you Mr. Grivas,” replied Jeff.  “The team did an excellent job with that piece. I will forward on your positive feedback to them when they get back.”

              “They’re not already back from that podunk wasteland?” responded Christos. “Heck, I’d figure they’d be out of there as soon as they hit the off switches on their video cameras.”

              “They should be back tomorrow,” responded Jeff. “No sooner had they completed filming the piece when a massive storm came in off the Bering Sea. It snowed for nearly five days straight bringing all air-travel to a standstill in the process. Fortunately, they were able to upload their video feeds to us from their hotel while they sat the storm out.”

              “Hmm, well, again give them my best when they get back into the office,” said Christos.

              “Speaking of videos Mr. Grivas, it’s actually the reason I called you,” replied Jeff, “My crack investigative reporter Dana Cogswell came by my office today to tell me about a disturbing video she received this morning. I wanted to discuss it with you as it has the potential to be quite explosive and damaging to the administration if it is authentic. It involves the Vice President’s attendance at the International Global Climate Change Conference down in Buenos Aires last week.”

              “So what did our country’s chief lounge-lizard do this time?” questioned Christos.

              “Well if the video is legitimate,” replied Jeff, “Vice President Houlton raped a young and unconscious woman in his hotel suite. And that’s just the half of it. Her lifeless body was found washed up on a local beach the next morning.”

              “Jesus,” whispered Christos. “Have you personally viewed the video Jeff? Do you think your reporter may have her facts wrong?”

              “No, I have not seen the video yet,” replied Jeff. “Ms. Cogswell is bringing over a copy of it to me later today, and as far as the possibility of her making a mistake, not a chance. She’s already viewed the tape and she vouches for her source that provided her with the tape.”

              “Who provided her with the tape?” questioned Christos.

              “She claimed “reporter’s privilege” and refused to provide any additional information other than the tape”, responded Jeff. “She claimed the video says it all.”

              “You’re right Jeff,” said Christos. “I’m glad you called to give me a heads up. This video could prove to be very damaging for the administration if it is seen by the public. You commented that she was going to give you a copy of the video. That must mean there is more than one. Do you think she’d be willing to give us all of the copies she has if we were to agree to run this?”

              “She might,” responded Jeff. “However, who’s to say that she won’t still keep her own private copy. Not to mention, her source has the original and assuredly additional copies.”

              “Okay, get back to me once you’ve watched the video,” responded Christos. “Also, go ahead and ask her about getting any additional copies of the video. Feed her a line that suggests we will most likely run it, but that we want to be assured of exclusivity. In the meantime, I’ll talk to Mr. Barbas to see how he would like us to proceed. But as you and I both know, don’t expect this video to see the light of day. Mr. Barbas and some of his closest friends have a lot invested in this administration and their global policies. Regrettably we will most likely end up needing to squash this story. Hopefully your reporter will understand.”

              “I’ll call you back as soon as I get done reviewing the tape,” responded Jeff. “Your points are well taken in terms of what will most likely need to be done with this story. Although Ms. Cogswell is a headstrong woman, and this type of subject hits home heavy with women, she highly values her job here at ABO. I’m sure we will be able to convince her to understand our decision not to run with it.”

              “I hope so,” replied Christos in a somewhat threatening tone. “Assuming she does, make sure she is well compensated at her next performance review. Stress that her bringing forth important information such as this, and being a team player, is greatly appreciated by both me and the Board of Directors.”

              As soon as he ended his phone conversation with Kolosky, Christos Grivas dialed another local number. This issue was going to require the assistance of someone who was not directly associated with ABO. Someone who could be discrete, and that had a certain skill set. It was imperative that he find out who the original source of the video was.