Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 03 - Snow Cone (16 page)

I let the matter fade.  It was just another workplace scuffle, the same as anyone would have in their regular job.

“I just don’t like him.  I’ve come into contact with him numerous times and each time I want to smack him in his face.  That isn’t healthy, is it?”

“No.  You may need some good face time with a professional psychologist,” I explained.

“You’re telling me.  I’ve always had problems with these CIA guys.  I need to get over it.”

I nodded my head in agreement. 
Galveston was good at holding grudges.

We landed at
London’s Heathrow Airport, and the Gulfstream jet taxied to a private hanger at the far end of the field.  Galveston made sure Sally was able to get out of her seat, as if she had something wrong with her legs.  Browning met us at the exit of the airplane.

“There is an agent waiting to take you to your flight home.  I’ve cleared everyone with British customs,” Browning told us as a group.  “Thank you for your help.  We’ll take it from here and find out what happened.”

We shook his hands as we left the plane and walked across the tarmac to a waiting car.  The agent inside drove us to a security door outside one of the airplane terminals.  A neatly dressed British man was waiting to take us inside.  We walked into the terminal building, and the British man opened another security door that led us directly to our gate for a flight to Kennedy Airport in New York.  I decided this was treatment I could get used to.

I found a seat next to the windows overlooking the parked planes outside.  I hadn’t talked to Alex and Jane in a while and figured this was the best time to catch up on any new information they had.  It was a call I’m glad I made.

-Chapter 27-

Galveston sat by Joe and Sally a few seats away from me.  Maybe it was because I didn’t smell so pleasant, or maybe it was because Galveston was now sweet on Sally.  I didn’t care.  I needed the reprieve to make my call.

I located my phone in the bottom of my backpack, the battery having run out many hours ago.  I pulled out a spare battery just for this occurrence and waited for the phone to come to life.  When it made it through turning on
, my heart began to race.  There was the tiny message icon on the phone’s screen showing I had eight voice messages and about as many text messages. 

“Oh, God.  What now?” I thought to myself. 

I pushed the button to check the text messages first, thinking that would give me a good idea of what was going on.  They popped up on the screen.  Most were from Alex and the rest from Jane.  Something was terribly wrong, and I felt it in my nerves.

The first message from Alex told me to call him immediately.  He had some information about the head of Terrain Scape.  “Good,” I thought, “that isn’t so bad.”

As I went to the next, it was more of the same, usually followed by Alex’s subtle scolding for not calling him back.  When I got to the fourth message the tone began to change.  It read:
Call me back now.  We have a major problem.  DO NOT LEAVE WHERE YOU ARE.

The next message was the same, but from Jane.  All the messages that followed were in the same vein, and I quickly scrolled through them.  I had no idea what was going on.  We had instructed Alex and Jane not to use our location in any text or voice messages, but why didn’t they want us to leave
Iceland?

I didn’t bother listening to the voice messages.  I knew they probably were the same topic.  I dialed Alex, sensing he would have more information.  He immediately picked up.

“Where are you?” he said seriously, which caused me to become frightened.

“Can I say, or should I say?” I asked since I was suspicious someone was listening to us.

“Yeah, it’s okay.  Where are you?”

“We’re in
London.  We got picked up by the CIA and were flown to Heathrow.  We’re about to fly to New York.”

“Are they there with you now?”

“I don’t think so.  An agent dropped us off, but no one followed us in,” I answered hurriedly.

“You need to get out of there, and you definitely don’t want to get on that plane.”

“What the hell is going on, Alex?” I asked with a growing level of angst.

“We’ve been questioned about Tony’s death.”  Alex paused for a second.  “But they’re not after us—they’re after you and
Galveston.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  “What do you mean?  Who’s after us?”

“Jane and I were questioned by the Nashville Police.  They asked where you two were.  They wouldn’t tell us why so I did a little digging.  They got an inquiry from the Connecticut State Police that the death of Tony was the work of you and Galveston.”

“But how is that possible?  I don’t want you or Jane answering for this, but we have proof we were out of the country.”  I was relieved they weren’t questioning Alex or Jane, but I didn’t want to be implicated in the killing either.

“The Connecticut State Police have a flight record and a car rental agreement that says you were in the area, along with a credit card receipt of a gas purchase about a mile from Tony’s house.”

I was shocked and dismayed.  Someone was setting us up.  My mind swirled around the possibilities.  The gunmen in
Greenland?  Maybe, but not likely.  Who else had we made an enemy?  Usually by this point in an investigation we had made plenty of enemies, but this was a different situation.  There simply wasn’t a person that stood out.

“What should we do?” I asked Alex.

“Have you cleared customs?”

“Yes,” I answered quietly.

“Get out of the airport and find a hotel.  Don’t use a credit card, only cash.  Call me when you get settled, and we’ll figure out what to do next.”

I swallowed my pride.  Having to listen to Alex give orders was like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard.  I wasn’t about to question him though.

“Take the professor with you too.  He knows too much about what is going on.  Keep him close,” Alex instructed.

“Understood,” I replied.  “How is Jane?  Is she doing okay?”

“She’s a little freaked out, which is understandable.  I’m trying to keep her calm.”

“Tell her we’re fine, and that we’ll iron this out.”

“Okay, I will.  Now get going.  Get somewhere safe and call me within the hour.”

“Thanks, Alex.  I’m glad you’re on our side.”

“You guys better give me a huge raise after this or I quit,” he quipped.

“I’m sure we can work out something.  Bye, Alex.”

I ended the call and walked quickly toward Galveston, pulling him from his conversation with Sally.

I whispered in his ear.  “I need to speak to you.  It’s important.”

He could sense the urgency in my voice and excused himself from his conversation.  I explained the situation in as calm a way as possible.  Galveston couldn’t believe it was true.

“Alex is right.  We have to leave,”
Galveston stated.  “It’s not safe here.”

He walked back to Joe, and in a calm voice gave him the information about us being suspects in a murder.  I thought Joe was going to faint.  He was not up to dealing with these kinds of situations.  His face took the color of a white piece of chalk.  I was almost afraid he was going to scream. 
Galveston stood him up using his arm and guided him away from the airline gate.  Sally followed, but looked confused until Galveston whispered in her ear.  She stopped suddenly at the news, almost dropping her bag.  I picked up my pack and walked quickly after them since we were now all on the same page. 

Galveston
hailed a taxi as we stepped outside to the front of the airport terminal.  Joe was still in a state of shock as Galveston helped him in the cab. 

“Roger, go with Joe.  I have a place in mind,” he told me.  “Hotel Marmot,” he then barked at the driver.  “Sally and I will be right behind you.”

I stumbled into the cab and sat next to Joe with my pack on my lap.  He tried to speak, but I put my finger to my mouth for him to be quiet.

Galveston
and Sally followed in another cab as we traveled to the hotel, which was a short ten minute drive away from the airport.  I remembered that Galveston had lived in London for years and was familiar with the area.

We pulled up outside of the hotel, and
Galveston got out first and disappeared inside as Sally struggled to place her bag on the sidewalk.  I handed the driver a wad of American cash and told him it was all I had.  He counted it and smiled.  I had given him much more than the cab ride was worth. 

Within minutes
Galveston returned.  “I got two rooms on the third floor.  This isn’t the nicest place, but we won’t be here for long—I hope,” he added.

He was telling the truth about the place; it was a dump.  I cringed to think what had been on the bed before me.  It didn’t really matter because we were safe.  No one would find us here.

Sally and Joe didn’t want to go to their room.  They wanted answers.  I couldn’t give them any, nor could Galveston, so they sat in the room to wait until we called Alex.

“Damn, I’m starting to get tired of this,”
Galveston said.

“I agree.  We need some answers.  I’m starting to get ticked off,” I replied angrily.

“Yikes, look out.  Keep your cool,” he attempted to joke.

But I was mad.  Most of the time we were the aggressor, having to hide was not one of our strong suits.  I wanted answers, and I decided we were going to do everything in our power to get them.

Galveston dialed Alex and informed him we had made it to a safe location.  Alex reiterated that we would definitely have been picked up by the authorities had we arrived in New York.  Coming home was too dangerous.

“Do you have any new information?”
Galveston asked eagerly.

“You bet I do.  I searched for Tony’s boss at Terrain Scape, and I located a man named James Sartine.  Sartine is the President and CEO.  There are a few guys above Tony, but I don’t suspect they knew about what was going on in
Greenland.”

“How do you know?”

“I interviewed them over the phone.  I might have said I was a detective from Connecticut.  They spilled all kinds of information.”

“More lies, huh?  Alex, you’re getting as bad as us.”

“I know.  I’m going to have to have a conference call with the man upstairs after this one.”

“Aren’t we all?  What did you get?”

“The two men above Tony knew about the survey job in Greenland, but the final approval came from Sartine.  He was the one that ordered Tony to be the project manager on the job.”

“Any reason why he would be a suspect?”

“I can’t create a link.  Sartine is loaded, so it doesn’t make sense according to a money angle.  He’s an art lover and gives heavily to the New York art scene as well.  You’ll love this part.  He’s from old money, and the men at Terrain Scape explained that he is a sort of intellectual snob.”

“My favorite type of person.  But he doesn’t sound like the type that would want to help find a nuclear weapon.”

“The better question, who did they get the job from?”

“That is the million dollar question, my friend.  If you can find that out I’ll give you a cigar.”

“If you make it forty year old brandy, we have a deal.”

“I forgot, you’re one of those intellectual snobs.”

Alex laughed.  “Do you have any suggestions?”

“You’re the snob.  What do you guys like to do?”

“Drink overly priced wine and discuss how we’re smarter than everyone else,” Alex answered succinctly.

“Well, there you go.” 
Galveston paused and pulled a plan from his brain that always seemed to work.  “You like
The New Yorker
, right?”

“Of course.”

“That’s your in.  You are now a reporter for
The New Yorker
.  I know how you intellectuals love that magazine.  This guy will so excited he’s being interviewed by the magazine that I’ll bet you could get him to say anything.”

“And what story am I working on?” Alex asked skeptically.

“Just hit him with a story about environmental concerns in Greenland.  You have information that his company is funding a mining operation that is destroying the land.  That ought to get his panties into a wad.”

“Actually that’s really good.  Alright, you got it.  Now I must quit talking to you because you are beneath me.”

Galveston let out a boisterous laugh that caught our attention.  “If I only believed you were lying.  Get Jane involved too.  She needs to get back in the game.”

“Will do.  Bye, substandard human,” Alex retorted before ending the call.

Galveston looked at us and continued to laugh.  “I needed that, but he is such a jerk.”

“Do you have something good, I mean, really good?” I asked anxiously.

“We’re still wanted fugitives, if you’re wondering.  Alex was able to find Tony’s boss.  He and Jane are going to interview him.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” I was overly concerned with Jane’s safety as any good boyfriend should be.

“She needs to do this.  They’re going in as reporters so it will be harmless.”

“That’s what you said last time,” I reminded him.

“No guns this time, and do we have a choice?  We can’t go and question him.”

“We can’t sit here either,” I replied.

“I agree.  We have to do something.”

Sally and Joe sat and watched our exchange, like they were watching the ball go back and forth during a tennis match.  Both were weary and needed something to take th
eir minds off of our predicament.  I didn’t have the heart to tell Joe that the only reason they were there was because we thought he would sing like a canary to the police.  Plus I had a sinking suspicion that he wasn’t safe going back to Nashville either.

“Let’s lay out what we know,”
Galveston started, moving to a position next to Sally on the bed.  “Tony was the only one who knew we were going to Greenland.”

“But he really didn’t know.  He thought we had decided otherwise.”

“True.  Then the gunmen deduced we had a connection to Joe.”

“Could be,” I interjected, “but we don’t know who they work for.”

“That is why we have to wait on Alex and Jane,” Galveston retorted.

We were going around in circles.  Like usual, we didn’t have enough information, and it was killing us, or it could get us killed.  To say it was frustrating would be an understatement.  I frankly wanted to ram my head through the hotel wall. 

“Who else knew about us in Greenland?” Galveston asked us.

“The entire CIA and State Department, for one,” I realized, but that just seemed too extraordinary that they would be involved in our implication of murder.