Chapter 13 #2
“I’ve heard of Teuling,” Crusher said. “Isn’t he the guy who proposed that all foreign governments pull out of the Middle East and let the people that have been fighting each other for so many centuries finish each other off?”
“One and the same,” Swede said. “His non-profit spends a lot of money researching the causes of global warming and the degradation of our planet’s surface and atmosphere.
One of the studies was on overpopulation and how the human race has damaged the earth.
In that study from five years ago, they concluded that humans are the plague that could kill the planet.
The scientists involved said that, if the population doesn’t stop increasing, the planet that supports it will die.
Seems a bit coincidental that people are dying from the clean water initiatives provided by Helvetic and Teuling’s nonprofit. ”
Crusher came to a stop in front of Draco, where he stood with the cell phone. “I don’t believe in coincidence.”
“Is it possible that the people in Uganda, Paraguay and Bangladesh are dying of one of Helvetic’s research projects?” Crusher asked. Marta had rubbed off on him. “Are you tracking Teuling? And where else is Helvetic and Teuling’s non-profit scheduled to help next?”
“Helvetic and their clean water solutions are on the schedule for the Global Health Security Summit in Vienna, and Teuling is their speaker,” Swede said.
“A number of third-world countries are excited by what they have to say. Helvetic and Teuling hope to deploy more of their clean water solutions over the next ten years.”
“And nobody noticed the deaths in the areas currently using Helvetic BioSolutions’s products?” Royce asked.
“Not until Marta’s contact with the World Health Organization, Priya Patel, started looking into it. She’s sending people in to take water samples in the affected areas before they ask Helvetic to look into the matter,” Crusher said.
“Smart,” Draco said. “If Helvetic is purposely poisoning the water with viruses, they’ll be the first to cover it up, especially since they’re trying to sell their product at the Summit.”
“Could they have abducted Dr. Hale to have her stop whatever virus has erupted around their clean water solutions?” Hank asked. “Maybe they know there’s a problem, and they’re trying to get ahead of it before word leaks out.”
“Either way, Dr. Hale is missing,” Crusher stated.
“Marsh’s daughter is being held hostage, and we don’t know where to start looking.
Let’s go out on a limb and say Helvetic and Teuling are behind the abductions.
They clearly need Dr. Hale’s skills for some kind of research.
They’d take her to a lab where she could work with dangerous viruses.
Those don’t come easy or cheap. Vasquez built an entire complex just for her work.
Where’s Helvetic’s primary research lab? ”
“Zurich,” Swede answered.
“Can you access their computer network, security cameras—anything that might show them bringing Dr. Hale into their facility?”
“Already on it,” Swede said. “It will take time to transfer her to Switzerland. I’ll search for private plane flights to Switzerland from Miami or nearby airports and see if I get a match on Helvetic, Teuling, his non-profit, or other corporations’ jets.
I’ll also search nearby general aviation FBO surveillance feeds for a van pulling up to a plane over the next few hours. ”
Crusher couldn’t sit around and do nothing. Marta was in trouble, and he’d promised to protect her. “What can we do to help?”
“I’ll arrange for a jet to take you from Miami to wherever we think they’ve taken Dr. Hale,” Hank offered.
“Will it help if we go to the general aviation airports to look for the van?” Draco asked.
“They could have gone anywhere,” Swede said. “You’d be on a wild goose chase in Miami traffic.”
“The best you can do is to be ready,” Royce said.
“Hank, let us know where the plane will be,” Crusher said. “We’ll hang out there.”
“Roger,” Hank replied. “We’ll find Dr. Hale, and hopefully, that will lead us to Marsh’s daughter.”
Crusher, Draco, Phantom and Marsh returned to the hotel to wait, out of the Miami heat.
An hour passed. Then two. Crusher paced so much that the hotel staff offered them an empty conference room to wait inside.
At two hours and fifteen minutes, Crusher’s burner phone rang. He answered, without checking the caller ID, hoping Swede had found Marta. “Yeah.”
“Crusher, it’s Priya.”
Disappointment gnawed at his gut. “Hey, Priya, find anything?”
“We did,” Priya said. “My colleague in Paraguay confirmed that the virus killing people at those three sites originates in the clean water system, as we suspected. I’ve sent everything we’ve found to Royce's secure email address.
When we cross-referenced the WHO regional mortality reports for Uganda, Bangladesh, and Paraguay with Helvetic and Teuling's clean water project deployment dates, the correlation became clear once we looked for it. The mortality spike began four months after the water infrastructure went live in each region. We tested the water treatment additives. The additives are the delivery mechanism.”
“I’ll ask Royce to research the patents on the additives,” Crusher said. “Good job.”
“How did the handoff go?” Priya asked. “Did Marta make it into a lab?”
Crusher’s chest tightened, guilt twisting his insides. He’d failed her. “The entire rescue operation was a setup for someone else to take Marta,” he admitted. “They succeeded.”
“Holy shit,” Priya exclaimed. “Any idea who took her?”
“We think it might be Helvetic,” Crusher said. “We have people working on it. We hope to find her soon.”
“I have faith that you will,” Priya said. “You care about her too much to give up now. Love is a powerful motivator.”
“I’m not—” he started.
“I have an incoming call,” Priya interrupted. “It might be my other colleagues from the other locations. Kiss Marta for me when you find her.”
The call ended, leaving Crusher frowning down at the cell phone.
You care about her too much to give up now.
Love is a powerful motivator.
What was Priya talking about?
Sure, he cared about what happened to Marta. He was supposed to protect her.
Love?
No way.
He wasn’t cut out for that kind of commitment.
Rescuing Marta was all part of the work he’d signed up for.
So, when had falling in love become a side effect of the job?
Since he’d met Marta.