The Fusion Cage

XXXV

‘Time of death?’

‘Ten fifteen this morning,’ the police officer said. ‘We called you guys in as soon as we identified him. Looks like a suicide, but given what this guy’s been through we figured it the smart play.

‘You did good,’ Hannah Ford replied.

The patio beneath the balcony was partially concealed by a canvass forensics tent that flared brightly in the sunshine as Hannah looked up at the fifth floor room. Mickey stood beside her.

‘The guy’s found innocent of any crime, then he commits suicide?’ Mickey asked her.

‘Doesn’t add up,’ she replied. ‘Let’s go take a look, shall we?’

Hannah led Mickey up to the fifth floor, where the entrance to the penthouse suite was being guarded by two police officers. They walked in to see the suite undisturbed, the balcony doors open and fine white nets billowing in the morning breeze.

‘No sign of a struggle,’ Mickey said, ‘but forensics found evidence of vomit on the carpet over there by the wall.’

Hannah Ford glanced at the wine bottle on the nearby table, a half — empty glass alongside it, and the hastily applied marker tape surrounding a damp stain on the carpet nearby.

‘Gets drunk?’ Mickey hazarded, ‘takes a fall outside?’

‘Doesn’t explain the blood trail,’ Hannah said as they followed a faint trail of blood drops and walked outside onto the balcony to look down at the stain by their feet.

‘Forensics have taken samples, so whoever this blood belonged to should show up if they’re in the system. I’m guessing it’s Meyer’s though. Maybe he took a fall out here and then went over the edge?’

Hannah frowned and shook her head.

‘On half a glass of wine?’ she asked. ‘If he fell out here, why are there blood drops inside the suite? And why haven’t we found his wife and daughter yet? None of this makes any sense. The entire top floor to this hotel was rented out by Seavers Incorporated, a Kentucky mining firm, right?’

‘According to the hotelier, yeah.’

‘So where’s the company’s CEO? He’s registered as having stayed at the hotel, but was seen leaving this morning. He hasn’t booked out though. Stanley Meyer stayed in this room, so we’re told, but has no connection to Huck Seavers that we know of. Stanley’s cleared of any involvement in that commune fire and is no longer wanted by the Bureau, despite his case being classed as a high — priority, and now he’s topped himself? What the hell is going on out here?’

‘I don’t know,’ Mickey shrugged. ‘Jenkins says we need to hand any evidence found at this scene over to her, something to do with orders from Langley.’

Hannah looked about her in confusion.

‘Something else doesn’t make sense about this,’ she said. ‘Meyer was supposedly on board that jet that we intercepted at Charlottesville, right. But he’s not aboard, and neither are Warner, Lopez or Amber Ryan. We then hear they’re all alive and well in Kentucky, but I didn’t see any evidence to support that, did you?’

‘Report came in from on high,’ Mickey shrugged. ‘I guess they didn’t need to prove it.’

Hannah’s mind raced as she looked down at the pool of blood at her feet. ‘Somebody else was here. And who knew that Warner and his accomplices were both safe in Kentucky and not involved in the fire near Nathalie? One moment they’re highly dangerous international fugitives, the next we’re closing the case despite multiple civilian deaths?’

Mickey watched her for a moment before he replied.

‘There’s nothing connecting the deaths in Nathalie to Stanley Meyer or his accomplices,’ he pointed out.

‘There was yesterday, right up until Stanley here suddenly reappeared in the company of lawyers and Huck Seavers. This stinks, Mickey, and Jenkins wants it zipped up as soon as possible.’

‘I don’t like the way you’re thinking.’

‘I don’t like the way the bureau’s acting,’ Hannah shot back.

She looked down at the blood, and on an impulse she knelt down and pulled an evidence kit from her pocket.

‘What are you doing?’ Mickey asked. ‘Samples have already been taken.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘So I’m taking one for myself.’

Ethan did not know how the men with whom they travelled had gained access so quickly to police radios and other law enforcement agencies, although he had an idea, but they were supremely well equipped and within minutes of making a call their vehicle was travelling rapidly toward a massive hotel.

He could see through the windows that the hotel was located amid sumptuous grounds, forested hills and broad lawns that spread as far as the eye could see in the bright sunshine. The image would have been picture perfect were it not for the flashing hazard lights of multiple police cars, a pair of ambulances nearby.

Amber Ryan leaned forward in her seat as her face crumpled in grief.

‘No,’ she gasped.

Ethan remained silent as the vehicle pulled up alongside the police cordon and Amber yanked open the door and virtually threw herself out into the sunlight. Ethan followed, Lopez behind him as Amber ran to the nearest police officer, who was guarding a cordon preventing any vehicles from getting closer to the hotel.

‘What’s happened?!’ she asked, the tension in her voice palpable.

‘I’m afraid I can’t discuss the details of the incident with you ma’am, would you kindly step back from … ’

‘Stanley Meyer,’ Amber cut across the officer. ‘Is he … ’

Amber could not complete the sentence as the officer frowned. ‘Are you family, ma’am?’

‘He’s her father,’ Lopez informed the officer gently. ‘We’ve been searching for him.’

The officer’s eyebrows raised as he suddenly recognized Lopez and then Ethan, probably from a BOLO likely issued to local law enforcement, and his hand moved momentarily for his sidearm before he then recalled that the BOLO had been withdrawn recently.

‘Can you tell us what happened?’ Ethan asked.

The police officer gestured over his shoulder to the hotel, where Ethan could see a white tent pitched in front of the building, police maintaining a cordon to prevent the residents from seeing what was happening.

‘Suspected suicide,’ the police officer said. ‘Victim has been identified as … ’ The officer hesitated. ‘I’m sorry ma’am, Stanley Meyer.’

Amber let out a wail of grief and threw her hands over her face as she turned away. Lopez moved to her side, arms wrapping around her as Ethan stepped closer to the officer.

‘Do you have any details? I’m here with the Defense Intelligence Agency.’

‘What’s the DIA got to do with this?’

‘It’s a long story, believe me.’

‘I can’t divulge any information without the say — so of my superiors and with all due respect sir, you’ve recently been a suspect in a homicide case yourself.’

‘I know,’ Ethan said. ‘The whole thing’s a major set up and Stanley Meyer was its chief victim. All I need to know is whether this was a suicide or not.’

The officer chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before replying.

‘The officers called to the scene reported that staff witnessed many suits travelling to and from the fifth floor,’ he said.

Ethan looked at the hotel, and up at the fifth floor balcony where a female detective was examining something.

‘No evidence of anybody else in the suite at the time?’ Ethan asked.

‘Not that I’m aware of, but the feds like to keep their cards close to their chests. Makes them feel more important … ’

‘Feds?’ Lopez asked as Amber was gently led away by her escorts.

‘Yeah,’ the officer shrugged. ‘Can’t imagine what they’re doing here, and now you’re with the DIA asking questions. Is this one of those big cover — ups or something?’

Ethan watched the detective on the hotel balcony as she produced an evidence bag from her jacket and began collecting something from the balcony floor.

‘Does this place have security cameras in place?’

‘That’s the thing,’ the officer replied. ‘They’ve been wiped.’

‘Right this morning before the suits left the building?’

‘How did you know that?’

‘Seen this sort of thing before,’ Ethan explained. ‘I think that there was somebody else involved. Chances are he’s an African — American, over six feet tall and well built, mid — fifties. If any of the staff recall seeing a man of that appearance visit the hotel this morning, you might want to pass it on to the detectives — or take a little of the glory for yourself?’

The officer virtually beamed at Ethan.

‘I’ll check it out. Anything else?’

‘Yeah, as a matter of fact. Do you think that you could get me a direct line to the DIA from here? I don’t have my phone anymore and we need to place an urgent call.’

‘Stand by,’ the officer agreed, ‘I’ll get on it.’

As the officer walked away Ethan turned to see Amber now sitting on a low wall nearby, the two escorts watching over her and consoling her as Lopez approached Ethan.

‘Are you going to tell me what this is all about?’

‘Stanley did not invent the fusion cage,’ Ethan replied. ‘He deliberately drew attention to himself by fleeing, and of course given his history everybody assumed that he was the inventor. We’ve all spent this time chasing the wrong person around the globe.’

‘Then who invented it?’

Ethan smiled, impressed by the ingenuity of it all.

‘The only other person who disappeared but was not paid off,’ he replied. ‘Stanley’s wife, Mary.’

Lopez stared into space for a moment and then her eyes lit up. ‘Stanley said that she was a biochemist.’

‘Exactly,’ Ethan said. ‘By the time she retired, Fleischmann and Pons had already had their cold fusion scandal. She would have been working at the time and would have had access to the data they produced in order to replicate the success, or alleged success, of their experiments. What if she saw something in the experiments that the others did not?’

‘Maybe she decided not to report her findings,’ Lopez echoed his thoughts, extrapolating what might have gone through Mary Meyer’s head. ‘Maybe she saw through the MIT fudging of the test results and realised that there was a conspiracy behind attempts to suppress the technology. If she is anywhere near as determined as her husband was, she might have decided to forge ahead alone.’

‘And then planned to give the device away, for free,’ Ethan finished the story. ‘They’ve been in this together from the start. Mary did not flee because she was afraid of persecution, Mary was the target that should have been. Now she knows what’s happened to Stanley, my guess is that she’ll do everything she can to expose the technology and spread word of it before Majestic Twelve are able to pin her down.’

‘We need to find her,’ Lopez said urgently. ‘We can use Amber’s cell phone and … ’

Ethan was about to agree with Lopez when suddenly he heard a car door slamming. Ethan whirled in time to see their escorts leaving in the people carrier, the vehicle cruising away from the hotel.

‘Where the hell are they going?’ Lopez snapped.

‘Damn it, Amber’s taking off on her own,’ Ethan said. ‘The only person who could have found us so accurately and sent heavies has to be somebody that Amber spoke to.’

Lopez closed her eyes. ‘Amber’s damned phone. She contacted her mother.’

‘Mary’s got a fortune to play with if Stanley did what I think he did, and sold out before sending the money to Mary. She’d have hired professional bodyguards to grab Amber — we just got carried along for the ride. Now, Amber’s going to join her mother.’

Lopez watched as the vehicle disappeared down the drive and then she grabbed Ethan’s arm.

‘Majestic Twelve would do anything now to stop Mary from broadcasting anything about the fusion cage. They’ll send that agent we ran into in Argentina, the tall guy, Mitchell?’

Ethan nodded. ‘He’ll stop at nothing. The moment Amber makes her move he’ll cut her down without hesitation. Majestic Twelve are protecting him from prosecution, including this.’

Ethan gestured to the hotel behind them.

‘You think that Mitchell did this?’ Lopez asked.

‘I think that he realised what Stanley had done, what Mary has done,’ Ethan replied. ‘Stanley didn’t want to die, and had family relying upon him. Yes, he would fight tooth and nail, but throwing himself over a balcony would serve no purpose. He must have been pushed.’

As Ethan finished speaking the police officer hurried back down to the cordon. He had a cell phone in one hand and excited looking on his face.

‘Looks like you were right,’ he said conspiratorially as he handed Ethan the cell phone. ‘The detective on site is not certain, but she thinks there’s a second person involved. There are traces of blood on the balcony, and drag marks in the carpet that she thinks may have been caused by somebody dragging a body and throwing it over the balcony. So that means there’s a homicide here. I passed on your description of the perpetrator to the team.’

‘Thanks, I appreciate it,’ Ethan said as he took the cell phone and dialled a number. ‘The FBI can talk to our senior officer at the DIA, Doug Jarvis. I’m calling him right now.’

The line rang repeatedly for several long seconds, and then finally picked up.

‘Hellerman.’

‘Who?’

‘Warner, is that you?’

‘Where’s Jarvis?’

‘Long story, man. Listen, get yourself under cover as fast as possible. There’s a whole crap storm brewing here and yours and Lopez’s names are all over it!’

‘What’s happened?’

‘Jarvis has been forcibly retired and you’re both being hunted again by the FBI for the murders of a bunch of tree — huggers in Virginia and some guy in a hotel.’

Ethan felt his blood run cold as he looked at the hotel.

‘Okay,’ Ethan said, keeping his voice calm in front of the police officer. ‘We need a ride out of here as fast as possible. We’re at that hotel.’

‘You’re what?!’ Hellerman replied. ‘Get out of there now! Where do you need to go?’

‘Las Vegas,’ Ethan replied. ‘Mary Meyer is the one behind all of this, she invented the device and now she’s about to release it to the public across just about any channel she can find. Majestic Twelve will do anything they can to stop her. They’ve already murdered Stanley Meyer, and I believe the agent we encountered in Argentina was behind it. Mitchell.’

‘There’s a plan in place,’ Hellerman replied. ‘Get to Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base in Martinsburg, West Virgnia, as fast as you can. Transport will await. Use the clearance code Have Gray at the gates, it’ll get you through, now get out of there!’

Even as Ethan shut off the phone, he saw FBI agents emerging from the hotel and looking around, and saw one of them point in his direction. A woman, with long auburn hair and a fresh face, reached for a radio at her belt.

‘Time to leave,’ Lopez said.

The police officer’s radio crackled and he reached for it as a stern — sounding female voice shouted at him. Ethan lunged forward and un — holstered the officer’s service pistol, yanked it free as he tucked one boot in behind the officer’s ankle and shoved him onto the grass. He turned the pistol over in his hands as he and Lopez whirled and dashed across the lawns.

‘Wait!’

Ethan plunged into the woods lining the hotel drive and followed Lopez through the thickets until they burst out onto the drive as a smart looking Lexus appeared ahead, driven by an elderly couple. Ethan stood in the middle of the road as he aimed the pistol at the car. The driver panicked and stopped, his eyes wide as he threw his hands up beside his head.

Ethan rushed forward and opened the driver’s door.

‘You’re in no danger,’ he said in a perfectly reasonable voice. ‘We’re working with the Defense Intelligence Agency. Get in back, and we’ll give you back your car in a short while.’

The old man nodded frantically as on the other side Lopez helped the elderly wife out of her seat and installed her in the back.

Ethan jumped into the driver’s seat and turned the Lexus around as they fled the scene, the sound of sirens somewhere behind them. Ethan turned hard right out of the hotel’s drive and then took the first left he encountered, putting distance and direction to good use to avoid any pursuit.

‘They won’t take long to figure out what happened to us,’ Lopez pointed out.

‘This’ll dupe them for a while,’ Ethan replied. ‘Mitchell has a head start on us, and he’ll fly on a private jet no doubt with diplomatic immunity of some kind. The only advantage we have is that we know which vehicle Amber is travelling in and where it’s headed. We’ve got to get to them before Mitchell or this is all over.’