Chapter 13
Even before her mother finished her sentence, Holly was shaking her head.
“This is a case that threatens national security. You can’t turn yourselves over to the bad guys.
They’ll use your knowledge to build weapons they can use against our country.
” She reached for her mother’s hands. “Promise me you won’t do it. Promise.”
Her mother stared into her eyes, her frown deepening. “I’m sorry our work got Paul killed and put you and our country in danger. Had I known this would be the result, we would’ve stuck to lobbying the state to protect the bayou.”
“We can’t change the past,” Simon said.
“No, we can’t,” Evangeline said. “Otherwise, we would never have teamed with BioEnergen.”
Simon’s eyes narrowed. “Something our data guru learned in researching your disappearance is that though the BioEnergen facility was shut down, it’s still drawing electricity.”
Bastian and Evangeline Gautier directed their attention to Simon.
“It’s supposed to be completely shut down,” Bastian said. “Abandoned,”
“We sent a recon team out to observe and report back.” Simon dug in his pocket where he’d deposited his rabbit’s foot and cell phone after their shower earlier.
He pulled out his cell phone, hoping the earlier dunking in the water hadn’t affected its functionality.
Sadly, the screen was gray—no digital clock or temperature displayed in bright colors.
No amount of turning it on achieved that result. He turned to Holly.
She shook her head. “Mine was just as waterlogged. I left it at the houseboat.”
Simon glanced at Joe. “I don’t suppose you can get a call out?”
The former Marine’s lips pulled upward in a smile. “I might live off-grid, but I have access to satellites, which gives me internet and cell phone service.” He held up one of the newer smartphone models. “Who do you want to call?”
“Since you have internet, we might want to do a video call.”
“Can do.” Joe spun toward the lab side of the dining room. “Follow me.”
They all rose from the table and entered the lab.
On the far side of the room, an array of monitors was mounted on the wall, with a keyboard on the desk below.
Joe hurried across and touched a key. The monitors blinked to life, displaying various angles outside the bunker, lit only by starlight.
He hit another key that brought up another screen with a place to enter a phone number. “Who do you want to call?”
“I’d like to do a three-way with Remy Montagne and our computer guy, Swede. We can start with Remy.”
Joe stepped back. “You know the numbers; you enter them.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Gautier and Madam Gautier, you might want to step away from the camera.” Simon waved them away from the monitors and the camera mounted above. “Like you said, the fewer people who know you’re alive, the better. You, too, Joe.”
Joe moved to the side with the Gautiers.
Thankfully, Simon remembered Remy’s number, keyed it in and initiated the video call.
Remy answered immediately from what appeared to be the conference room inside the boat factory.
“Simon, I’m glad you called. We’ve been trying to get in touch with you for the past hour.
Shelby told us what happened at the Crawdad Hole and the attempt to kidnap Holly.
Then you disappeared. Shelby even drove by the boathouse and said no one was home. ”
Simon held up his dead cell phone. “My cell phone went with me into the water and no longer works.”
“Where are you?” Remy asked.
“I’d rather not say at this moment. I’ll fill you in when we’re face-to-face.”
His brow creasing, Remy nodded. “Okay.”
“I was hoping your recon team has news on the BioEnergen facility.”
“That’s why I was trying to contact you,” Remy said. “Hold one and let me bring Swede online.” Moments later, the screen divided into two displays, one with Remy, the other with Swede.
Swede came up with a concerned frown denting his forehead. “Simon, I heard you and Holly ran into some trouble earlier.”
“We did, but we’re okay for now.” He reached for Holly’s hand and brought her into range of the camera. “What did they find out about the BioEnergen facility?”
“Let me bring up some of the video they sent.” Swede disappeared, and a grainy video of a building appeared on the screen. No lights shone on the corners or over exterior doors.
“As the satellite images indicated, there are people at this site,” Swede said. “If you’ll look closely, you’ll see armed guards standing in the shadows at the corners and doors. At one point, the guards escorted two people into the building. Watch.”
In the video, the shadowy figures of four guards appeared to approach a side entrance with two unarmed men in between. When the door opened, light shone on the faces of the men flanked by the guards.
“They were able to zoom in...”
The images grew larger, trained on the faces of the two men, getting a clear picture of each.
A gasp sounded from the direction of the Gautiers.
Simon tapped the mute button. “We’re on mute,” he said.
“The gray-haired man is Dr. Harlan Jeffries, our old boss,” Mrs. Gautier said. “He worked with us as an employee of BioEnergen.”
Mr. Gautier added, “Though he’s a scientist, he wasn’t in the weeds of our project. His role was more of management, expediting logistics, making sure we had the resources we needed.”
Simon unmuted the mic. “The man with the gray hair is Dr. Harlan Jeffries, a former employee of BioEnergen.”
“Correct,” Swede said. “We were able to find his employee record and photo. The other guy in the photo is more interesting. He didn’t show up in the employee database, so we ran facial recognition software on him. My counterpart, Kyla Russell, thought he looked familiar, and she was right.”
Another image appeared on the screen, showing men in suits at what appeared to be a lavish party, with women dressed in cocktail dresses and expensive jewelry.
The man with Dr. Jeffries in the previous picture stood at the elbow of another man Simon recognized.
“Isn’t that Marcus Solberg, the billionaire tech giant? ”
“That’s him. The man at his elbow is his trusted fixer, Gunnar Reznik.”
“Fixer?” Holly asked.
“Bodyguard, bouncer, enforcer,” Swede said. “What Solberg needs done, he executes. Though some think he’s been responsible for the disappearances of several of Solberg’s corporate spies, no one could get enough evidence to convict him.”
“What’s he doing with BioEnergen?” Simon asked.
“We did some digging into the ownership of BioEnergen. Its corporate stock tanked when the feds shut it down. Several companies swooped in and bought the stock at bargain basement prices. One of those companies was a subsidiary of one of Solberg’s holding companies.
Another company that bought a significant number of shares belongs to a private foundation linked to—get this— the U.S. Secretary of State, Edmund Carver.”
Simon glanced toward Bastian and Evangeline Gautier.
Evangeline pressed her hand to her mouth, her eyes widening.
Swede continued. “The Secretary of State recently performed a diplomatic mission to meet with Russia’s Ministry of Energy.”
“BioEnergen was working on an energy alternative to fossil fuels,” Holly said.
“Which tracks with everything we know about the company and its new owners. Some insider trading is going on there. Also note in the photo of Solberg and Reznik. The woman on the other side of Solberg is Lisa Carver, and beside her is her husband, Edmund Carver. The party was thrown by Solberg. He invited numerous CEOs of tech companies, a dozen billionaires, US and foreign, and US politicians to whose campaigns he contributed significant sums of money.”
“Major conflicts of interest all around,” Holly murmured.
“Do we have an address where Dr. Jefferies lives?” Simon asked. “Think we could get him alone long enough to question him?”
“I’ve got an address in Thibodaux where he lives with his wife, Amy Jefferies,” Swede said. An address appeared on the screen.
Holly grabbed a pen and paper and jotted it down.
“Remy? Still with us?” Simon asked.
The photo images disappeared, replaced by Remy’s and Swede’s faces.
“I’m here,” Remy said.
“We don’t have any evidence that something illegal is going on in the BioEnergen facility, but...”
Remy nodded. “I’ll talk with Shelby and Sheriff Bergeron. They might want to investigate activity in a supposedly closed facility.”
“You might hold off sending anyone until Holly and I’ve had a chance to pay a visit to the Jeffries’ home in Thibodaux,” Simon said.
“Will do, but I think I’ll put the rest of the team on standby in case you need back up to keep Ms. Gautier safe.”
“Thanks.” Simon cocked an eyebrow. “Anything else?”
Swede chuckled. “Wasn’t that enough?”
“More than enough,” Holly said.
“You two be careful out there,” Remy said. “Seems like things could be heating up. Do you want me to send a different member of the team to talk with the Jeffries?”
“No.” Holly shook her head. “Dr. Jefferies knew my folks. He might be more open to me than a stranger.”
“Anything we can do in the meantime?” Remy asked.
“No. Swede—” Simon started.
“I’ll keep digging into the Carver-Solberg connection to see if we can find any legally nefarious dirt on the two. If that’s all, then, out here.”
“Out here,” Remy echoed.
The faces disappeared, leaving Simon and Holly staring at a blank screen.
“Wow,” Holly turned to Simon. “That’s a lot to process.”
“Dr. Jeffries didn’t look happy in those pictures,” Evangeline said.
“He was surrounded by four guards and Solberg’s bouncer.” Bastian’s brow dipped. “Think he’s there on his own steam?”
“If they’re trying to recreate the formula, they might have enlisted him to do it.”
“Does he know enough to succeed?” Simon asked.
Both Evangeline and Bastian shook their heads.
“He hasn’t been hands-on in years,” Bastian said, “and he wasn’t fully engaged in the specifics of the formula.”