Alternating Current: A Tesla Novel (24 page)

A fleet of N.Y.P.D.
cruisers flanked the black Escalade on both sides, blue lights everywhere. Lawson
and Arnold waited on the loading dock. The officer escorted Carrie and Cosmo
out the door and relinquished custody to the agents. “They’re all yours. Can I
go home now?”

“Sure, get out of
here.” Arnold told him. “And by the way, good job.”

The officer
thanked Arnold and headed back inside.

Lawson glared at
Carrie. “You guys have gone too far this time. What the fuck were you thinking?”
He screamed at her.

Before Carrie
could answer, Cosmo stepped up to defend her.

Lawson and Arnold
stood in front of him. Close enough to smell the alcohol on his breath.

Cosmo faltered,
but balanced himself. He raised his hand and pointed at the agents. Ready to
admonish them on Carrie’s behalf. He held his hand up for a moment, but
concentrated more on his balance than what he would say. Soon his hand came
down; he doubled over and vomited all over the agents shoes. Then he passed out
on the loading dock.

“Well, that was
bound to happen.” Carrie couldn’t help but laugh.

Arnold and Lawson
cursed aloud and kicked the vomit from their shoes. That’s when Carrie heard a
commotion coming from the Escalade. Laughter and cheers, loud and exuberant,
enough to rock the vehicle from side to side. The blue-lights from the cruisers
failed to penetrate the dark tint on the glass and reveal the occupants. Still,
Carrie already knew who they were.

“You hear you’re
dumb ass friends over there?” Lawson had removed his shoes and socks and stood
there barefoot. “They think this is a big game.”

“You can’t blame
them, especially Turbo. You’ve already false arrested him twice.”

“She has a point,
partner.” Arnold stood there in socked feet.

“It’s not a false
arrest this time.” Lawson grabbed a nearby uniformed officer and pointed at
Cosmo. “Take him to the drunk-tank. We’ll pick him up when he’s sober.” Then he
carefully stepped over the vomit, hooked Carrie’s arm and escorted her to the
Escalade. He threw the keys to his partner. “Arnold you drive. Miss Carrie can
sit on my lap.”

***

The interrogation
room at C.I.A. Headquarters on Reade Street intimidated them. Everyone but
Turbo, he’d been there before. Still, the elongated room had stark white walls
with a large two-way mirror in the center of one, and an oversized conference
table that conveyed the seriousness of the room and their situation.

They all sat on one
side of the table and faced the mirror. “What happened? I thought you all got
away?” Carrie asked.

“No, Lawson and
Arnold were waiting for us when we opened the kitchen door.” Phillip explained.

“Yeah, somehow
they knew we were there, but how? We didn’t speak about it my shop.” Turbo
looked at Alex.

“Don’t look at me,
I didn’t know you were coming, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Well, at least we
know it wasn’t Cosmo. He was too drunk.” Turbo was happy for that.

Lawson and Arnold
entered the room with another man who looked like Kojak, baldhead and all. The
only thing he lacked was the lollipop. “Hey everyone, this is Special Agent
Yuri Petrovic, one of our international agents.” Arnold announced.

“Are you Serbian?”
Turbo asked him.

“Montenegrin.” The
agent replied.

“Close enough.”
Turbo smiled.

“Okay, that’s
enough of the pleasantries.” Lawson pulled out a chair and motioned Arnold and
Petrovic to do the same.

Before their butts
hit the seats, Carrie started with the questions. “Why is he here? We didn’t do
anything that violated international law. What are you gonna do with us?”

Lawson slammed his
hand on the table. “Carrie, stop!” He screamed at her, but earned the attention
of everyone else in the room. “I’ll ask the questions if you don’t mind.”
Lawson controlled the interrogation from then on.

They had
interfered with a U. S. Government investigation, obstructed justice, kidnapped
a federal prisoner, and soiled a Federal Agent’s shoes. “I don’t get it, why
are you idiots tangled up in this case.” He looked for an answer, but they were
smart enough to stay silent.

Lawson stood up
and walked around to their side of the table. “I’m telling you for the last
time, forget about that fucking formula. Is it worth dying for?” Still no
answer, smart.

“No, it’s not
worth dying for, so here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m putting you all in the lock
up and you’re not getting out until we apprehend Mika Kosanavic and Marco
Fagan.”

“You can’t do
that.” Carrie cried. “What are you charging us with?”

Lawson leaned over
Carrie’s shoulder to make sure she heard what he was about to say. “Were not
charging you with anything, yet. Ever heard of protective custody?” He motioned
at the mirror for another agent. A younger agent with blonde hair entered the
interrogation room. “Throw them in the holding cell and don’t let them out without
my okay. You got it?”

The agent hesitated.

“What are you
waiting for?”

“We only have one
holding cell available, what about the girl?”

“Don’t worry about
her, besides they’re all friends.” Lawson headed to the door. “Let’s go,
Arnold. You too, Yuri, I want to find that bitch tonight.”

They were almost
out of the room when Alex spoke loud enough to get their attention. “I can help
you with that.”

Lawson came back
into the room. “What did you say?”

“I said I can help
you with that.”

“With what?”

“With finding that
bitch, of course.”

“Okay, I’ll play
along.” He sat down across the table from Alex. “How can you help?”

“I know how to
contact her.”

“Oh, why didn’t
you say so, hey Arnold, Yuri, he knows how to contact Mika. Do you have her
cell number?”

“No, but I can
contact her.”

“How?”

“By shortwave.”

Lawson laughed. “I
think they gave you too much morphine.” He told the blonde haired agent to
throw them in the holding cell.

***

The holding cell
had no bars. Four concrete walls and a heavy metal door, it resembled a vault
more than a cell. Carrie expected an open cell with a concrete bed and a nasty
commode that she had already vowed not to use. The vault had a small a/c vent, and
a fluorescent light overhead and a small intercom box mounted on the wall next
to the door. Folding chairs lined the wall.

To Carrie’s
delight, there wasn’t a nasty commode or even a clean one. She asked one
question before the agent closed the door. “What if I have to go potty? She
pouted.

“Sorry, Miss, we
don’t usually keep prisoners here for more than a couple hours.” The agent
closed the door. A minute later, a voice came over the intercom. “Try to hold
it, but if you can’t, press the green button on the intercom, okay?”

“Okay, thanks.”
Carrie went to sit down, but all the folding chairs had occupants.

“Here, take mine.”
Phillip offered.

“No, thanks. If
they’re gonna hold us here, they need to upgrade the accommodations.” She
pressed the green button on the intercom.

“Yes, what is it?”
A grumpy, much older voice asked.

“Uh, I need to
speak to the young blonde agent please.”

“Sure thing,
honey. Don’t get your panties in a wad, he’ll be back soon.”

“Okay, thank you.”
Dejected, Carrie leaned against the wall.

Alex stood up at
once. “Take my seat, Miss.”

“No Alex, you’re
hurt, sit down please.”

“No, I cannot sit
while a lady stands.”

Turbo stood up as
well. “Fine, let’s all stand. But we need to figure a way out of here. Alex,
can you really contact Mika by shortwave?”

“Yes, absolutely,
she calls her grandfather in Belize every day at 1:30 a.m. to check in with
him.”

“Are you sure?”
Turbo asked.

“She told me so in
Belgrade, after we had sex.”

“How does that
help us?” Carrie wanted to know.

“Well, if Alex is
correct, we can monitor the transmission and talk to Mika.” Turbo’s optimism
showed, but faded quickly. “That is, if we had a shortwave and we weren’t in
here.”

“I have a shortwave.”
Alex said. “Don’t you remember? You repaired it.”

“Of course, the
one that reaches Mars, but where is it?”

“I have in locker
at bus station with other belongings.”

Turbo wanted to
hug him, but he didn’t. “Okay, she calls at 1:30, that’s in an hour, we have to
hurry.”

Phillip pointed
out a few small problems they still needed to work out. “Okay, first of all,
it’s 1:30 a.m. Belgrade time, not Eastern Standard Time, so you have to wait 7
hours if my calculations are correct. And, second of all, what makes you think
Mika will talk to us?”

“He has a point.”
Carrie told them.

“She’ll talk to
us.” Turbo said. “We have something she wants.”

“We do?” Alex was
surprised.

“She already has
the formula.” Carrie was quick to point out. “What else could she want?”

“There’s something
else. We don’t actually have it, but were gonna make her think we do.”

“What else could
she possibly want besides the formula?” Phillip asked.

“The thing they
beat you up for. The Edison Medallion.”

“Have you lost
your mind?” Phillip paced back and forth. “If you tell her we have the
medallion over the airwaves, those goons in black suits and sneakers will be there
in a second.”

“That’s even
better, the more the merrier.” Turbo’s adrenaline increased. “Let’s get
everybody together in one place.”

“You’re fucking
losing it.” Phillip said. “Carrie, would you tell him he’s crazy. Those goons
beat the shit out of me.”

Carrie just
stared.

“Not this time.”
Turbo said. “This time we’ll have the upper hand, we’ll have all the big guns.”

Carrie couldn’t
take anymore. “Turbo, you’re talking crazy, we’re locked up, how are we gonna get
any guns?”

“That’s easy.” He
choked back a laugh. “The C.I.A. will give them to us.”

The blonde haired agent’s
voice came over the intercom. “Hello, Miss, do you need to use the restroom?”

“Uh, no, I’m
okay.” Carrie didn’t feel the need to complain about the chairs since everyone
was standing anyway.

“I have to go.”
Turbo cried. “I have to go bad, please hurry.”

“Okay, I’ll be
right there.”

The agent escorted
Turbo to the restroom, but he didn’t go in. “I don’t really have to go, but I
need you to get Agent Lawson on the phone right away.”

“Why?” The young
agent asked.

“It’s important. Just
call him.”

“I’m not calling
him, you don’t know Agent Lawson.”

Turbo understood
the agent’s apprehensiveness. “Okay, you’re right. Let’s call Arnold.”

The agent was
uncomfortable negotiating with a prisoner in front of the restrooms. “Come over
to my desk.” The agent agreed to call Agent Arnold.

***

Lawson had parked
the Escalade in the doctor’s parking lot again, but they didn’t get out. Yuri
Petrovic sat in the front passenger seat while Arnold sat in the back. From
their parking spot, they had a clear view of the Emergency Room entrance.

“Keep an eye out
for your favorite brunette.” Lawson told Arnold.

“Brunette. Mika is
a blonde.” Yuri informed them.

“Not anymore, according
to Arnold back there. He saw her come out of a hair salon this morning. She
dyed her hair. He could’ve apprehended her, but he was busy admiring her new
hairdo.”

“I do not
understand,” Yuri said.

“Don’t listen to
him, Yuri, he’s full of shit.” Arnold changed the subject. “Who does she really
work for?” He asked Yuri.

“The best we can
tell she’ll work for anyone sympathetic to her cause, or, I should say, Sava’s
cause.”

“Sava?”

“Sava Kosonavic, her
grandfather, Tesla’s nephew.”

“I heard she
killed her grandfather.” Lawson added.

“Yes, but we never
found the body. We’ve had an agent on Sava’s apartment for years. The only
visitor he had recently was Gaeshenko, so either Mika killed him or Alex did.”

“How long was
Gaeshenko, how long was Alex in Belgrade?” Arnold asked.

“Four or five
days, I think. It’s in the report.”

“Four or five
days, maybe Mika confided in him, maybe he can contact her.”

“What?” Lawson
screamed. “Are you falling for that bullshit?”

“It’s possible---

Arnold stopped
talking and answered his phone. “What is it?” He heard Turbo’s voice on the
other end of the phone. “How did you get out of the holding cell?”

Lawson and Yuri
turned around at once. “Who’s out of the cell?” Lawson demanded.

Arnold listened
closely. “You can’t be serious?”

“Who is that?”
Lawson was livid.

“It’s Turbo. Now
shut the fuck up so I can hear him.”

Yuri looked at
Lawson who faced forward and pretended to look for Mika.

“Turbo, you’re
crazy, but it just might work.” Arnold hung up the phone.

“What might work?”
Yuri asked. Lawson was silent.

“Turbo has an
idea, a crazy one, but it might work.” Arnold said. “Even if it doesn’t, it’s
better than sitting here. I’ll let him explain it. We need to get back to
headquarters.”

***

Thirty minutes had
passed since Turbo left the holding cell to use the restroom. In his absence,
Phillip and Alex sat down right away. Carrie paced back and forth the whole
time. “What’s he doing?” She asked repeatedly.

After the second
or third time, Phillip didn’t respond. Oblivious to her rants, he thought about
what Turbo said. Would the C.I.A really help them? Would they give them guns?
Turbo was being facetious; he knew that, but he couldn’t get the image of
Turbo’s smile out of his head. A devious smile, sinister. Yes, Turbo had a
plan, and the fact that he hadn’t returned from the restroom told Phillip it
must be a good one. He told Carrie to sit down and relax.

A few minutes
later, the blonde agent opened the holding cell door and asked everyone to
follow him. They walked down the corridor past the restrooms to the elevators.

“Where are you
taking us?” Carrie asked.

“Miss, please
don’t ask any more questions.” The agent implored. He pushed the button for the
seventh floor.

The Situation Room
was much nicer than the drab interrogation room they had used earlier. The
cream-colored wallpaper had watermarks of the American Flag and the C.I.A.
insignia in an alternating pattern throughout. Plush carpet covered most of the
floor area, only a rectangular section in the center of the room had tile. An
oversized oak, or perhaps mahogany, conference table with about twenty padded
leather chairs dominated the tiled area. At the front of the room, there was a
large movie screen with overhead mounted projector. Also mounted from the
ceiling, but off to the side, there were large glass panels that illuminated a
map of the world.

Carrie noticed two
telephones at the head of the table. One of the telephones was red. The leather
chair behind them had been swiveled 180 degrees and left in that position with
its back to them. This bothered Carrie, everything else in the room was neat
and proper. She obsessed about the chair as the agent ushered them into the
room and asked them to take a seat. Suddenly the chair swiveled back around and
faced the table.

“Yes, make
yourself at home.” Turbo had already done so.

“Turbo, please
don’t be in that seat when Lawson gets here.” The blonde haired agent begged.

“Turbo, what are
you doing?” Carrie walked to the head of the table and hugged him. “I was
worried.”

“Nothing to worry
about, everything’s under control.” He told Phillip and Alex to have a seat and
relax. “We’re waiting for the Feds to come back, hey I’m hungry, Blondie, how
‘bout some pizza.”

“That’s not very
nice.” Carrie admonished Turbo. “He has a name, although I don’t think anyone
ever told us.” She looked at the agent. “Well, what’s your name?”

The agent
hesitated. “It’s Russell, Miss.”

“See, Turbo, his
name is Russell.”

“I’m sorry. I
didn’t mean anything by it. So, Rusty, we’re starving. Would you get us a
couple of pizzas? Uncle Sam will foot the bill.”

“I’ll see what I
can do if you switch seats.”

Turbo did so at once.
“Call Mario’s in Tribeca, they’re close and they make a good pie.”

“Okay, sit tight
and don’t touch anything.

***

Lawson barged into
the room ahead of the other agents. “Turbo if your fucking with us I’m gonna
shoot you right between the eyes.” Lawson sat at the head of the table.

“Nice to see you,
too.” Turbo remained calm, impervious to Lawson’s antics.

Agent Arnold
entered the room next followed by Agent Petrovic. Arnold locked the door.
“Okay, Turbo, I got them here, lay it on us.” Arnold sat across from Turbo.
Yuri sat at the opposite end of the table from Lawson.

“Okay, pay
attention, because we don’t have much time.” All eyes were on him. “Alex wasn’t
kidding before, he can really contact Mika by shortwave---

“Not this again.”
Lawson erupted. “You brought us all the way back from Brooklyn for this same
bullshit?”

“The more you
interrupt, the longer it’s gonna take and I told you we don’t have much time.”

“Let’s hear him
out.” Yuri said. Then he looked at Turbo and said, “Ugoditi pasti na teret.”

“What? What did
you say?”

“Oh, sorry, I
thought you spoke Serbian. I said, please go on.”

“Yes, please do.”
Arnold chimed in.

“Thank you.”

Lawson was still
perturbed.

“As I was saying,
Alex can definitely contact Mika by shortwave, so I thought we should entice
her to come to us.”

“Entice her? How?”
Yuri asked.

“With the Edison
Medallion.”

“You have the
medallion?” Yuri sat up in his seat.

“No, but Mika
doesn’t know that.”

“This is crazy.”
Lawson said.

“Yes, crazy enough
that it might work.” Yuri told him.

“That’s what I
said when I first heard it.” Arnold smiled. “Only one problem, we don’t have a
shortwave radio.”

“Oh, yes we do.”
Turbo and Alex said in unison.

“Alex, what’s the
locker number?”

“Number H317.”

Turbo told Arnold
to send an agent to the Linden Boulevard Bus Station and retrieve the contents
of locker H317. “Tell them they’ll have to break into it. Alex lost the key.”

“Also tell them to
be careful, the radio is old and fragile.” Alex added.

Arnold left the
room.

“So what do we do
next?” Lawson asked.

“We wait.”

“Okay, Turbo,
since we have a little time, what makes you so sure Mika will talk to Alex?”

“Maybe you should
tell him, Alex.”

Alex retold the
conversation he’d had with Mika that night in Belgrade. How he was desperately
trying not to fall in love with her. That he didn’t trust her and he knew he’d
wake up one morning and find she’d gone. “I guess she had feelings for me, too.
She promised she would never leave me, but she sensed right away that I didn’t
believe her. She confided in me then, something she had never told anyone
before. She said that she speaks to her grandfather in Belize every day by
shortwave. She has a handheld radio and calls him daily at 1:30 a.m., that’s
7:30 am Belize time. She assured me that if we were ever separated I could find
her by shortwave at that time every day.”

“But I thought she
killed her grandfather.” Yuri was confused.

Alex started to
explain what happened in Belgrade, but the blonde haired agent returned with a
stack of pizzas.

“Who the fuck
ordered them.” Lawson screamed.

“Turbo did.” The
agent was still holding the pizzas.

“Oh, so you work
for Turbo, now?”

He turned around
to leave, but Arnold had returned and stopped him. “Pizza! That’s a great idea,
Russell. I’m so hungry I could eat a whole pie. I hope you didn’t get any with
anchovies.”

Two hours later,
after Arnold had a janitor come in and clean up the mess, everyone lounged back
in their chairs, too tired or too full to talk. The silence was broken when the
blonde haired agent came into the room with Alex’s duffle bag over his
shoulder. He walked over to Lawson, set the bag next to his chair, cupped his
hand over his mouth and whispered something too low for anyone else to hear.

“What the fuck. Are
you serious?” Lawson leaned over and looked in the bag. “Holy shit!”

Everyone looked at
Alex, who was staring up at the ceiling.

“Arnold, Yuri,
you’re not gonna believe this.” Lawson dumped the contents of the bag onto the
table.”

“Nooooo!” Alex
screamed, but it was too late.

Two black
notebooks, a switchblade knife, a canister of mace, one 9mm, one 45 automatic,
about $50,000 in U.S. currency tied up with rubber bands, a short stack of
Serbian Dinars, a photo of a young girl, and a beat up old shortwave radio all
hit the mahogany conference table at the same time.

The notebooks slid
a few inches on the polished surface. The knife, can of mace and two handguns
bounced a few times and left gashes in the wood. The U.S. and Serbian currency
landed with a thud, and the photo fluttered to the table’s surface and landed
facedown. The shortwave radio crashed, bounced, and came to rest in several
pieces right in front of where Turbo sat.

Alex screamed and
everyone cringed in his or her seat.

“Oops!” Lawson still
had the duffle bag in his hand.

“Oh my God, Alex,
I’m so sorry.” Carrie consoled him. “I know that radio belonged to your
father.”

“It’s okay,
everyone relax. They haven’t built a radio that I can’t fix.” He poked at the
radio’s tubes and wiring. “We’re gonna have to go to my shop.”

“Oh, no were not.
First I’d like to know why Alex has all these weapons and cash hidden in a bus
locker.”

“That’s easy.”
Alex answered. “To hide it from Mika.”

They all laughed,
even Arnold and Yuri, which infuriated Lawson more. “We’ll nobody’s going
anywhere, you’re all still in my custody.”

“But we have to go
to my shop to meet Mika anyway. I don’t think she will come here.” Turbo said.

Arnold went over
and talked to his partner. He spoke softly, although he knew everyone could
still hear them. “Michael, get a grip, I know it’s hard to believe, but I think
we’re all on the same side here.”

Lawson calmed
down. “I know we are, I’m just uptight, I can’t stop thinking about Aluna.”

“Aluna---what
about Aluna?” Alex became irate. He wanted to fight Lawson.

Phillip and Turbo
restrained him.

“How do you know
Aluna?” Lawson got right in his face.

Alex didn’t speak.

Lawson drew his
weapon and pointed it at him. “Tell me what you know or I’ll drop you right
here.”

He remained
silent.

Arnold tried to
talk his partner down from the proverbial ledge. “Michael, put the gun away.”

“Not until he
tells me what he knows about Aluna.”

“Fine, tell them
to let go of me.” Phillip and Turbo looked at Arnold. He nodded okay.

Alex walked slowly
with his hands up. He picked up the photo and handed it to Lawson. The photo
was old and the girl was much younger than Aluna. Still, Lawson saw the
resemblance right away. “Why do you have her picture?”

“Because, she’s my
sister.”