Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1) (10 page)

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 onto 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.

“Help,” murmured Dana.

Dave reached in and held her as he released the seat belt that she had fortunately put on during their high speed chase. He then pulled her out the passenger window of the SUV and carried her over to his car. He placed her on the ground beside the car and quickly assessed her to see if she had any major lacerations or broken bones. Though bruised and battered she did not seem to have any serious injuries.

As the kidnapping and accident began to set in with Dana she began to cry and shake uncontrollably. Dave lifted her into the passenger side of the Mercedes and covered her with a blanket that he pulled out of the trunk.

Dave decided that it was best for Dana and him to flee the scene quickly before anyone else arrived. Whoever the dead man was in the SUV, he had zero compassion for. In addition, his accomplice was somewhere out there in the woods and could still have a gun. He started up the Mercedes, turned it around, and drove directly to his home on the northeast side of McCall. As he departed the scene, Lazaro watched from the edge of the woods. He had pulled out his cell phone and had just dialed the number of Christos Grivas. It wasn’t going to be a pleasant phone call. Grivas was not going to be happy with what just transpired. But regardless of Grivas’s rage, NSurv and Dave Henson would pay for the death of his friend he thought, as he waited for Grivas to pick up on the other end.

Chapter 31 (March 13, Thursday 10:30pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

During the entire drive back to his house neither of them spoke. Both were exhausted and still in shock from what had just occurred. Strange men had kidnapped Dana and were willing to kill. They were no common criminals. They were professionals and on a mission. But why Dana? What did they want with her? For now, neither Dave nor Dana had the energy to attempt to answer these questions.

Thirty minutes later Dave drove the Mercedes into the attached garage adjacent to his house. He went around to the passenger side and helped Dana out of the car. She winced in pain as her neck and back had stiffened up. Once inside his house, Dave directed Dana down to his guest room where he helped put her down onto the bed. He removed her shoes and placed a blanket over her. Though she was awake and in some pain, she chose to say very little. She was obviously still in shock. 

“Get some rest tonight Dana and we will talk about this in the morning,” said Dave quietly to her.

Dana just nodded as Dave turned the light off to her room and closed the door. After closing the door he stood in the hallway. He looked down and saw that his hands were trembling. He needed to rest himself, but he first needed to call Ron back and tell him what had happened. He also needed to tell Ron to make sure everything in NSurv was locked up tight before he left the building tonight.

Chapter 32 (March 14, Thursday 7:30am Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

Dana and Dave were sitting at his kitchen table early the next morning having a light breakfast of coffee and toast. Dana was sore and achy, but overall was none the worse for wear.

“You realize what this means Dave. Someone knows what you’re up to.”

“I realize that,” said Dave glumly. “But they’re not going to stop us. We already have the wheels in motion. We’ll just need to be more vigilant in the steps we take.”

“I think I recognized one of the men last night who had abducted me. I could have sworn I’ve seen his face before, and not so long ago.”

“Do you remember where you saw his face?”

Dana paused in thought for a couple of seconds thinking back to when and where she may have seen the man before. Then a light went off in her head.

“I believe it was at the company’s holiday party back in December. I could have sworn I saw the man talking to Christos Grivas and Jeff Kolosky during the party. If I remember right, they were rather subdued in their conversation, and shortly after they spoke I don’t remember seeing the man again at the party. Until last night I had not seen him since.”

“Well it seems like your boss, or your boss’s boss, sent him out here to keep close tabs on us,” commented Dave.  “They probably had him and his sidekick observing us to confirm that NSurv was the source of the Vice President video tape.”

“You’re probably right,” Dana said.

“I also think they’ve been aware of NSurv as a suspect and tracking us for more than a week,” commented Dave. “Remember I called you last week to tell you about the run-in we had with my Husky plane? Again it was two guys on a snow machine that were taking pot shots at Ron and me.” He paused for a second as he thought.

“I think my ABO bosses are more interested in terminating the source of the video than they are about informing the public about the administration’s nefarious actions,” said Dana.

“Yes, but I also think they’ve done their homework on NSurv and maybe interested in more than terminating our business,” responded Dave.

“What are you getting at?” asked Dana as she looked at Dave inquisitively.

“Why do you think they tried to kidnap you?” asked Dave.

Dana shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“Because I believe they know of our current and past relationship and wanted to use you as a bargaining chip to learn more about NSurv’s capabilities, and possibly to even get access to them.”

“No. They couldn’t have known about our past relationship,” whispered Dana as she thought out loud.

“Why don’t you think so? They’ve most likely been monitoring your phone calls to me over the past couple of weeks. A few background checks on both of us and they could have easily put the pieces together. With little effort they would have been able to discover that we attended Stanford together, and that we had dated while both there and when you were working at that news affiliate in San Jose.”

“Yes, your right,” commented Dana. “We’re talking news men who have all the resources at their disposal for investigating dirt on people. Heck, they do it all the time on anyone they want to character assassinate.”

Dana hesitated before continuing, as she contemplated their next steps.

“Dave, this is exactly what I feared. These are the types of men I spoke of last night at dinner. They will do anything to protect their investments, both political and financial. And they would love to get access to NSurv’s technology. With it, they would be unstoppable. Their enemies, and the general public, would be completely at the mercy of them. You need to destroy NSurv’s technology before it gets into their hands.”

“No Dana, we can’t go backwards and put our heads in the sand. If it’s not NSurv, it will be someone else who develops this technology. I can assure you NSurv has competitors who are nipping at our heels, and who are not far behind us in the development of this type of technology. I can also guarantee you governments all around the world are funding work in the field of nanotechnology. Destroying NSurv’s technology is not the answer. The real answer is in using this technology to educate and inform the public about its own corrupt government and their allies. And along the way, making them aware of this technology, and how it could be used against them if they are not vigilant themselves. By following this course of action, the American public can learn what politicians and wealthy egomaniac businessmen are capable of when there is a lack of a truly free press. Or more specifically a separate and independent fourth branch of government.”

“But how can we educate and inform the public?” questioned Dana in resignation. “The media outlets effectively control what is reported and said about the administration and its allies. As you know, the media and the administration is effectively owned by the egomaniac billionaires that you mention. They’ll never let news be reported that could negatively impact their global plans and financial wealth.”

“Dana you lack faith in NSurv’s capabilities,” said Dave with a smile. “Do you think a company that can create sensors that can be implanted in human beings is incapable of also overriding the country’s broadcasting and communication networks?”

Dana looked at Dave questioningly. “What are you saying?” she asked.

“Dana, NSurv already has the resources to jam and broadcast over radio and television broadcasts,” responded Dave. “We can also hack into any website and upload any information to it we so choose.”

“You’re kidding,” gasped Dana.

“No I’m not,” responded Dave. “Heck, zitfaced teenagers have been breaking into websites and company servers, as well as local public access television broadcast stations, for years. The Chinese government, as well as other nefarious hackers, regularly hack into our government computers, including the Department of Defense’s computers. Do you really think NSurv can’t do the same?”

Dana just stared back at Dave. He was right. She had recounted in her mind the dozens of reports over the years of people hacking into websites, computer servers and even television broadcasting stations.

“Your right,” she whispered back. “And I am sure the folks at ABO and the administration realize this too. This is why they’ve already been so aggressive in learning more about NSurv, and attempting to kill you and kidnap me. They will move extremely fast to take you and NSurv out.”

“Agreed,” responded Dave. “But unfortunately they also see you as an expendable player in their war against us. Whether or not you realize it, you’ve been compromised and your days at ABO are effectively over. As far as they’re concerned you’re an employee of NSurv now.”

Dana gasped in the realization of what Dave was telling her. It was true. Her career at ABO was effectively over. They would never allow her to have the freedom to work as an investigative journalist again. At best, she may be assigned to an internal desk position within the company doing some menial task, and where they could keep a constant eye on her. Dana looked back at Dave in acknowledgment of what he had just told her.

“Dana, I think at this point in time you should plan to stay out here for a while and work with us,” said Dave. “I think it’s too dangerous for you to be by yourself back in New York. I think you can do more good here by helping us in achieving our goal faster. To expose this administration and its puppeteers for what they are, criminals of the worst kind. Morally decrepit men, whose sole goal is to make themselves more powerful and wealthy at the complete expense of the American public.”

Dana shook her head slowly in agreement. She would work with Dave and his team to expose this administration and its allies for what they were. With any hope, maybe the American public would wake up and respond appropriately after seeing the unfiltered truth of what these men were up to.

“Yes Dave, I’m with you,” said Dana in a determined and resolved voice. “Let’s bring these bastards down.”