Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1) (2 page)

Chapter 1 (Feb 26, 8:00pm)

              The air was warm and humid as it was most nights in Buenos Aires in late February. There was a gentle sea breeze blowing in from the southern Atlantic, and even though it was nearly midnight the city was still abuzz with traffic and people. This year, Buenos Aires was hosting the International Summit on Global Climate Change, and political leaders and scientists from around the world were in attendance. Protest groups had also come, and when they weren’t shouting into news cameras during the day, they were partying hard at night, as they were again this evening.

              Dan Edmond entered his hotel room with his roller bag trailing behind him and his knapsack slung over his shoulder. His thick brown hair sat in a twisted mess on top of his head and his eyes were bloodshot red from a lack of sleep. He had just flown in from Chicago, Illinois’s O’Hare International Airport and was exhausted from the grueling fifteen hour flight. Dressed in jeans, sandals, and a severely wrinkled Tommy Bahama shirt, his 5’ 6”, 150 pound frame was sagging with fatigue. But before he could crash for the night and get some much needed sleep, he had a job to do first.

              As he walked through the entryway of his hotel room he flipped the wall switch that turned on the hallway light, and dropped his knapsack onto the bed. He wheeled the roller bag over to the other side of the bed and stopped to stare out the large plate glass window.  He could see the Grand Hyatt Hotel directly across from him. It was a new and ultra-modern luxury hotel with opulent grounds that graced its front grand entrance. As he stood for a couple of minutes looking at it and studying the hotel’s layout, he observed several taxis and limousines enter and exit the cobblestone driveway that led up to the hotel’s entrance.

              Wasting no further time, Dan unzipped the roller bag and pulled out a large box that resembled a mini subwoofer. The box, however, was not for producing low frequency audio sounds. Instead, it was a magnetic resonating power source for remotely powering the small object he had in his knapsack. He plugged in the electrical cord emanating from the back of the box into an electrical outlet next to the large plate glass window.

              He then unzipped his knapsack and pulled out a laptop, joystick, tool bag and a small black box. He connected the joystick to the back of the laptop and powered it up. After the laptop had booted up, he clicked on an icon that activated a program. On the computer screen a Graphical User Interface (GUI) popped up that included a camera viewing area, and a set of soft control switches. 

              From the tool bag he removed a pair of tweezers. Carefully opening the small black box, he used the tweezers to gently lift out an object that very closely resembled an ordinary housefly. He placed the object onto the table next to the laptop.

              Dan then flipped on the power switch on the magnetic resonating power source box and the object flinched for a brief second.

              On the computer screen an image appeared showing the dresser and television sitting across from him in the hotel room. With a simple keystroke, he clicked a start button on the GUI interface and the object lifted off the table a couple of inches and silently hovered. Using the joystick Dan remotely controlled the movement of the small object, first raising it up a couple of feet and then moving it side to side several feet in the room. He then tested the audio on the object to ensure it was recording sound properly and that the computer was receiving it clearly.

              Dan then turned off the lights and opened the window in his hotel room. Using the joystick he guided the nano-surveillance fly out the window and across the street in the direction of the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Chapter 2 (Feb 19, 7:00pm)

              She had recently turned 19 years old and was in her freshman year majoring in communications at the University of Buenos Aires. She had dark brown eyes, and her skin was flawless with a slight olive tint to it. Brown hair flowed in a thick mane down the back of her neck and to shoulder length. Standing nearly 5’ 10”, she had a lithe frame and the curves of a model. To help pay her way through college she worked part time as a cocktail waitress at a club in the heart of the city. On occasion she was also known to do a little work as an escort.

              Last week, while working her shift, she had been approached by a man who was a frequent patron of the club. Based upon a couple of prior brief conversations she had had with the man over the past year, as well as observing the Armani suits he wore, she had gotten the impression that he was a wealthy businessman.

              He had introduced himself as a lawyer representing an international organization focused on reducing automobile carbon emissions around the world, and asked if she would be interested in earning some extra cash. The man described the job as providing an escort service for an evening conference dinner with a dignitary who was flying in the following week for the International Global Climate Change Conference.

              She had reluctantly agreed to the job as she had a tuition bill payment coming due in a couple of weeks. Though she didn’t enjoy working as an escort, as she knew the extent of what the job would most likely entail, she desperately needed the money. The man said he would meet her again at a nearby hotel bar the night of the event, and leave her in the care of two men who were protecting the dignitary.

              A week later, on the evening of the conference dinner, she met the man at the hotel bar that he had specified. While they waited for the dignitary’s men to show up, they had ordered cocktails and talked about the Global Climate Change Conference that was in town. While having their drinks, the man had discretely slipped a small vial of liquid into her cocktail when she had stepped away to use the restroom. Fifteen minutes later, when the dignitary’s security men had arrived to pick her up, she had become very relaxed, and to some extent, confused with her surroundings. The two men greeted her and the lawyer, and then promptly escorted her into a waiting car outside the bar.

Chapter 3 (Feb 26, 9:00pm)

              An hour after Dan had entered his hotel room the two secret service agents walked down the 10th floor hallway of the Grand Hyatt Hotel with the young woman somewhat staggering between them. As they walked, the two agents had to partially hold the dazed woman up as it was obvious she was under the influence of something. When they reached the door to Suite 1024, one of them knocked lightly on the door. The aide to the Vice President of the United States opened the door and quickly drew the woman into the room, leaving the two secret service agents outside.

              In the room adjacent to the aide, sixty-seven year old Vice President Houlton waited impatiently in his bathrobe for the knock on the door that connected the two adjoining rooms. He heard a slight sweeping tap on the door and quickly opened it. The young woman slowly stepped through the doorway and into the Vice President’s room. The door closed silently behind her.

              The woman stared vacantly at the Vice President as a numb coldness ran through her body. She was wearing a short red dress with a plunging neckline and three inch pump heels. The Vice President looked at her lasciviously as he quietly greeted the young beautiful woman. She in return responded with a nervous hello. She did not recognize the man, nor did she really have any interest in knowing who he was. All she knew from the lawyer was that she would make a thousand U.S. dollars for the evening. Even in her dazed state, as she stood looking at the man, she realized she would not be having dinner tonight.

Chapter 4 (Feb 26, 9:00pm)

              A housefly traveled down the 10th floor hallway of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. It silently flew unnoticed past the two secret service agents standing outside the door of Suite 1024. As it approached Suite 1026 the housefly came to rest on the hallway floor just in front of its door. The fly then quickly crawled underneath the doorway via the ¼ inch gap between the carpet and the bottom of the door. Once inside the room it rose off the floor and came to rest on a lampshade.

              Dan watched the Vice President and young woman talking, but only faintly heard their voices. With a quick adjustment of a soft switch on the computer’s GUI he adjusted the microphone amplifier on the nano-fly. Instantly he could clearly hear them speaking.

              “What is your name?” asked the Vice President to the young woman. “Mandy,” she responded.

              “You look very beautiful this evening Mandy. Would you like a drink?” asked the Vice President.

              Nervously the woman responded, “No thank you sir.”

              “Well then, would you like to come over here and sit on the bed?” asked the Vice President, as he walked over to the bed himself.

              Standing next to the bed, and staring back at the young beautiful girl, the Vice President slowly untied the belt to his bathrobe and let the belt fall away to the floor. He then seated himself on the edge of the bed. As he did so, his soft belly protruded and hung down through the open bathrobe like a large and swollen bulbous appendage. 

              The young girl walked nervously over to the bed and stood in front of the Vice President. They stared at each other, neither saying a word but both understanding what was about to happen. The woman stood visibly shaking and the Vice President breathed noticeably heavy. As he reached out to her, she fell into his arms and her shoes dropped to the floor.

              When the woman fell into the Vice President’s arms she had completely passed out. The Vice President, not to be denied, proceeded to have his way with the young girl. As he did, the nano-fly filmed and recorded. Dan in the meantime sat silently. As he watched the scene unfold a single tear ran down his cheek for the young woman.

              The next morning at sunrise, a young couple was taking a walk along a quiet and empty Buenos Aires beach when they observed a woman’s lifeless body resting at the water’s edge. She was wearing a red dress and her long brown hair, mixed with sand, lie matted over her face.

Chapter 5 (Feb 28, 1:45pm Mountain Time)

              A light snow was falling in Idaho. On the northwest corner of McCall Municipal Airport sat a large white building that was the official headquarters of NSurv, Inc. The two story building contained nearly 100,000 square feet of offices and laboratories for NSurv’s engineers and scientists. Located on the second floor east-end corner of the building, directly overlooking the airport, was the corner CEO office of Dave Henson. Dave was seated at his desk and deeply engrossed in reviewing some papers.

              After graduating with a PHD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University just over two decades ago, Dave had founded several hardware and software high tech companies throughout his career in the San Francisco Bay area. The companies ranged in scope from a Silicon Germanium based semiconductor startup company that he founded right after graduating from Stanford, to a software/internet company that he had sold just four years ago for over five billion dollars.

              As a direct result of his business ventures over the years, he had amassed a personal wealth of nearly three billion dollars. However, along the way he had always kept his humility, humbleness and privacy. He was also a bit of a fitness fanatic. Almost every morning he’d go out for a five mile run before beginning his day.

              Unlike a number of very popular and public billionaires who had chosen to become increasingly political as they increased their wealth, he had chosen to stay focused in the fields of engineering and science. In his mind, he had always believed it was in these areas, rather than in the world of politics, that he could truly affect and improve the lives and welfare of people and the planet. A few years ago his views began to change on this front, however.

              Dave, along with several of his close friends and engineering colleagues, had relocated to Idaho from Silicon Valley three years earlier to launch NSurv. Dave had chosen to locate their new operations in Idaho for two major reasons, privacy and economics. First, located in west central Idaho, their work, as well as their personal lives, were much less susceptible to prying eyes and questions from media and old high tech work and university colleagues. To some extent, they were off the grid here in Idaho. Second, Dave wanted to escape California’s twenty percent State income tax and separate ten percent Wealth Tax.

              Though Dave and his closest partners believed in providing a helping hand to those who were truly in need, they had had enough of supporting an out of control state legislature. A government body that effectively viewed entrepreneurs like themselves as some form of unrepentant criminals that needed to be punished and financially drained, simply due to their personal hard work and related success. Their move to Idaho, however, still didn’t protect them from the federal government’s similar actions and opinions of them. But they were about to rectify that situation too, if their work and objectives at NSurv were successful.

              It was a Thursday afternoon as Dave sat reviewing a design specification on one of his team’s latest development projects when his administrative assistant Jane Nanders stepped into his office. She wanted to let him know that Ron Blackwell had just called her and had asked to speak with him.

              Jane had worked for Dave for more than twenty years. They had met when he was working as an intern engineer and she as a young secretary, at a small startup company in the valley. They were both the same age. With her quick witted personality and intelligence, a slim and athletic figure, and accompanying good looks and long blond hair, Dave had been attracted to her instantly. Though they had dated during his summer internship their hot and heavy relationship cooled after he returned back to Stanford to pursue his graduate studies. They continued to stay in contact with each other during his remaining college years, however in a platonic way. Both had moved on with other relationships, but they continued to have a developing mutual respect for one another. When he started his first company a few years later he had contacted her to see if she would come work for him. She jumped at the opportunity, with the mutual understanding that their relationship would only be professional. He had agreed, and more than twenty years later they had maintained their professional relationship with one another, with each having the utmost respect and care for the other.

              “Sure Jane, tell Ron to meet me in the Redfish Lake conference room in fifteen minutes,” Dave said. “I just want to wrap up my review here of this spec.”

              “Will do Dave, but remember you have a conference call with Dr. Zempke in Boston at three o’clock this afternoon. I doubt he wants to spend all evening waiting for you in his office.”

              “No problem Jane. We shouldn’t be too long.”

              Jane turned and began to walk out of his office. As she did, Dave said to her, “Just in case, please call me at three o’clock with a reminder.” As she continued to walk out of his office she looked back at him and gave him a slight smile. She knew him all too well.