On the Other Hand Ch. 09-10

I was on the edge of despair at that point and knew I had to get some rest before I did myself more harm than good. Tomorrow morning would be soon enough to begin my search for Nicole.

Chapter 10 The Trials of an Optimist

I didn't expect to sleep, but at some point, exhaustion overcame me and I fell into a restless slumber, waking several times with a start. I gave up at six in the morning and showered, shaved, and dressed for the day. First stop would be the motel office for some directions and whatever information I could get about the explosion.

The attendant was an older man, and I wondered if he might be the husband of the woman who was on the night desk.

"Good morning, can you tell me where I can find a decent breakfast in town?"

"Sure, The Swordfish, it's back along Center Drive here about a half mile on your left."

"Thanks. Have you heard anything about the explosion? How many dead or injured?"

"Oh, yeah, heck, it nearly knocked me and the wife down it was so loud. Blew out a bunch of windows on Center Drive too. They're not saying much yet, but we know at least four people were killed. Never had anything like that in this town. Some folks are sayin' it was a gas leak ... some others think it was dynamite. Nobody's talking though. Strange, too. They didn't take a lot of people to the hospital. Just the really bad hurt people. I don't know what they did with the rest. Strange, like I say."

It was strange.

"How many people do you figure were in the building when it blew up?"

"Can't say. Been quite a crowd around there in the last month or so. Bunch of strangers we'd never seen before. I'd bet there was more than thirty, though. The fire department knocked most of the building down to get at the fire and search the rubble. Don't think they've found anyone though. There was no one around the place last night."

I shook my head, wondering what it all meant.

"Thanks. I'll head up to the Swordfish, then to the hospital. I'm looking for someone who might have been in the building when it blew."

"Say, that's a shame. I hope they're all right. Was it kinfolk?"

"My fiancée."

"Oh ... well ... now that's hard. Well, I wish you luck. I hope she's maybe one of the lucky ones."

"Yeah, me too. Thanks again," I said and headed out the door.

So the fire department knocked down some of the building. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked. Be optimistic, I told myself. She might not even have been in the building when it blew. No ... that didn't make sense. She would have called me or her parents to let us know she was safe.

Or would she? If she wasn't supposed to tell anyone where she was, she couldn't very well tell them she was okay, could she? Sure she could. She could call me. I knew where she was. Even if she couldn't get me, she could check in with her parents without saying anything about the explosion. Round and round I went, and where I stopped I did not know.

Breakfast at the Swordfish was good and it was plentiful. The last meal I'd kept down was the night before last and I was very hungry. Two coffee refills later and I pushed myself away from the counter and put a ten on the check, still leaving a healthy tip. I walked to the car, dreading my next stop, the hospital.

"No sir, we don't have anyone named Carlisle here."

"Is it possible she was brought in with the explosion victims yesterday?"

"No sir, they've all been identified."

"I understand at least four people were killed. How would I go about finding out if my fiancée was one of them?"

"You'd have to check with the County Coroner's office. That's in Gloucester. I doubt they'll be able to tell you much if anything. You usually have to get a court order unless you are next of kin identifying a body. You should talk to the police department. Maybe they can help you. I'm sorry, I can't do anything more for you."

"I understand. Thank you for your help all the same," I said quietly as I walked out of the hospital lobby and toward the parking lot.

I drove back to the site of the explosion and noticed some people on the property. A couple of them were dressed in suits, and I wondered if they were F.B.I. or another federal agency. I found a parking spot and walked over the tape. The smell of smoke and whatever had burned up were still strong in the nostrils. I waited patiently to get the attention of one of the men in the dark suits. When one of them looked my way, I waved to get his attention. He saw me and walked carefully through the rubble.

"Hi, I'm Will Travers and I'm looking for my fiancée, Nicole Carlisle. I checked at the hospital and she's not there. Can you help me?"

"I doubt it," he said. "We're just getting a handle on what happened. Did your fiancée work in this building?"

"No ... well, not normally. She was here on a project with the federal government."

His eyes immediately narrowed and his eyebrows rose.

"What did you say your name was?"

"Will Travers."

"Do you have some identification, Mr. Travers."

"Yeah ... here," I said, offering my press credentials.

"You're a long way from home, Mr. Travers. When did you get here?"

"I heard about the explosion yesterday afternoon and drove to Detroit to catch a plane to Boston. I got here about ten-thirty last night."

"Do you know what you fiancée was doing in this building?"

"Uhhm, before I answer that, can I see some identification, please?" I was stalling, trying to get some cooperation from the man and not become a suspect.

He reached in his pocket pulled out a typical government identification folder and opened without looking. He was Special Agent Fred Kosloski, F.B.I.

"Thanks. I was pretty sure you were from the Bureau."

"Oh, and why did you think that?"

"Look, I know Nicole wasn't supposed to tell anyone where she was or what she was doing, but I was able to track her down by fairly straightforward means. She boarded a chartered private jet in Saginaw. A friend in the business told me who owned the aircraft and where it was going.

"Once I knew it was heading to Beverly, I went back to my files on the Hepplinger Foundation where Nicole works and started digging. When I came across SOCK, I noticed there were some strange things about it. I made an educated guess. When I heard about the explosion here, I put two and two together. Nicole never told me anything about this project. I figured it out on my own."

He looked at me right in the eye and didn't blink. He was trying to make up his mind about something.

"Wait here," he said at length, turning to walk back toward the other suited man. He had a few words with him, then started back toward me.

"Come with me," he said. "I want you to talk to someone."

I really didn't have much choice. I had to know what happened to Nicole and this was the first hint that I might be getting somewhere. I followed him to another ubiquitous black SUV and got in the passenger side. We drove in silence westward to what looked like a secure area in the industrial part of town. A gate guard checked the driver's identification and waved us forward.

We pulled up in front of a nondescript building that might have been offices with a warehouse in the back. I didn't need to be told to follow agent Kosloski. We stepped into a room that looked like a reception area.

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes," the agent said. "Help yourself to a coffee if you like."

"Thanks," I nodded.

Just what I needed, more caffeine. Didn't matter though, I made myself a coffee with extra cream and sat in an uncomfortable wooden chair that looked like it was older than my father. Kosloski was gone for over fifteen minutes before he returned, standing at the door he had gone through.

"Come in, please," he said politely.

I was happy the attitude was good with this agent. I didn't feel he was trying to intimidate me. I was ushered into an equally austere office and an older man, slim and dressed in the obligatory dark suit stood and stuck out his hand.

"I'm Special Agent Crandall, Mr. Travers. I'm in charge of the operation here. Have a seat. We need to talk."

I nodded and sat in a slightly more comfortable wooden chair with a covered foam pad on the seat. It wasn't the kind of chair I would expect if I was going to be interrogated.

"We've had a chance to look you up, Mr. Travers. You appear to be a solid citizen. No black marks against you. Agent Kosloski said you didn't have much trouble tracking Ms. Carlisle here."

"I have some contacts that the rest of the public wouldn't have access to. I'm a reporter and I do feature stories. Some of the people I do stories on are grateful and when I need a favor, usually information, they often respond. As I told Agent Kosloski, it was a simple matter to find out where Nicole's plane was headed."

"You told him that you were able to look up Hepplinger files. How did you do that?"

"I wrote a feature piece on the foundation about eighteen months ago. I did quite a few interviews and a fair amount research on them as background. Not everything I learned went into the story, but I kept all the files anyway. As it turned out, Hepplinger only had five clients in this area and three of them were not likely to be subject to scrutiny by any government agency. The two that stuck out were FONE and SOCK. I checked out FONE and discovered it was almost dormant. SOCK, on the other hand, seemed to be dripping in cash and had grown exponentially since the Hepplinger grant had been issued."

"And that alerted your 'Spidey Senses,'" he grinned.

"Yes," I chuckled at the strange metaphor.

"You're very good at this, Mr. Travers. Unfortunately, if you could track us down that way, I'm sure others can too."

"Look," I interrupted. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm only here for one thing and that's to find out what's happened to my fiancée."

"Well, you can relax. She survived the blast with fairly minor injuries. She's lost some of her hearing, but our doctors think she will recover most if not all of it. The rest is cuts and bruises. She is one sore lady right now."

I let my head fall back and let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"We've set up a field hospital in this building and as you can imagine, we've secured it pretty tightly. I can't let you see her just yet, but I'm guessing later today I can slip you in for a few minutes."

"Thank you. I have a cell phone. This is my number," I said passing him my card.

"We'll call you when it's time. Relax, Mr. Travers. She's going to be fine. You look like you've been through the wringer in the past eighteen hours, so get some rest."

"Is this project of hers over now?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yes, it's done. She did a hell of a job untangling the web that was woven by the people behind SOCK. We've got enough to round up the main characters in this mess. The explosion was an attempt to cover their tracks but it was bungled and besides, it was far too late for that. We're keeping the survivors under wraps in case some fool tries to silence someone who knows what they've been up to."

"Is Nicole still in any danger?"

"No. I don't think anyone knew who she was. We never let anyone know she was with Hepplinger. As far as they knew, she was doing an audit for the I.R.S. They weren't about to mess with a government agency until some nutbar decided to use C4 to put an end to their work here. Unfortunately for him, he went up with the building and took three of his comrades with him.

"Take care of that young lady, Mr. Travers. She's someone special. Did she tell you I offered her a job in our forensics department?"

"No. She didn't, but I'm not surprised. She refused to talk about anything related to her project."

"Well, there you go. Shows you what kind of woman she is. Oh, by the way, I have something for you," he said, opening a drawer and handing me a small envelope.

I opened it as saw her engagement ring and a gold chain and locket inside.

"Thanks. Thanks for taking care of her."

"You might as well stick around if she's going to be released in a day or so. We'll give you a ride home to Saginaw on our plane. Much quicker and less hassle," he grinned.

"I appreciate that. Thanks again."

"It's the least we can do for Ms. Carlisle. Someone will call you when you can see her."

I nodded as Agent Kosloski opened the door and led me out.

"Feel better?" he smiled.

"Oh yeah. Way better. I was born an optimist, but when I saw that building last night I was sick to my stomach. It was all I could do to make it through to this morning. You saved me from going crazy, Agent. I don't know what I would have done if I'd have lost her. I don't know what I'd have told her son or her parents."

"I'm thinking you might want to call them and let them know she's okay. Assuming, of course, that they should be worried," he grinned.

"Yeah. I promised I would. They don't know where I am, but they know Nicole was in danger when I left. I'll call them right away."

"Good idea. I'll probably see you this afternoon when your lady can see you."

"Yeah," I nodded. "See you then," I said and took out my cell phone.

The agent drove me back to my car as I called Mary and Angus and let them know Nicole was going to be all right and we'd be home in a couple of days. I could hear Mary weeping before she handed the phone to Angus and he wasn't too steady himself, but very grateful that she was safe and would be home soon.

I signed off as we arrived at my rental and I shook Agent Kosloski's hand in thanks once more. I seemed to be saying "thank you" a lot that morning and I meant it every time. I was enormously thankful that Nicole was going to be okay and we would be home soon.

I found I was hungry despite the big breakfast and went back to the Swordfish for lunch. A hearty bowl of New England clam chowder, some fresh baked bread, and a fiddlehead and asparagus salad was just the thing for a cold late-fall day on the coast of Massachusetts. The seas were gray and forbidding that afternoon, and I saw a few fishing boats working their way south in what looked to be heavy seas. It was no life for a landlubber like me. I didn't envy them at all.

I hung around my motel room, waiting for a call from one of the agents that would tell me I could visit Nicole and it finally came just before four that afternoon. I was in my car and over to the compound in a flash, announcing myself to the gate guard and being courteously shown where to park and where to enter the makeshift hospital.

"Follow me, Mr. Travers," a young, smartly-dressed man said as he walked through a doorway and down a long hall.

He stopped at a closed door and knocked three times before opening it and standing aside so I could enter. I saw Nicole immediately, lying on a simple metal bed with and sheet and blanket over her. Her eyes were closed and she looked pale. I couldn't see any sign of injury, but then I could only see her face and hands.

"She's sleeping, but you can wake her," the young fellow said quietly before closing the door behind him and leaving us alone.

There was a chair near the side of her bed and I moved it silently closer and sat, looking at my beautiful woman. I took her hand gently and held it. At first she didn't stir, but then I saw her eyelids flutter slightly and then open. She turned toward me and I saw them open wide in surprise.

"Will! Oh, Will, you're here," she said, tears forming immediately.

"Yes, my love. I'm here. I've come to take you home when you're ready."

"How did you find me?"

"I had a nice long talk with Agent Caldwell and with Agent Kosloski's help, they let me in to see you."

"Oh, Will. It was horrible. I didn't know what was happening. All I remember is the blast knocking me back against the wall, and a little bit when a fireman found me under the rubble. He rescued me and they brought me here. I'm going to be okay, Will. I really am. I'm just bruised and I have a few little cuts, but I'm going to be fine very soon."

"Yes, I know. Agent Caldwell told me we might be able to go home in a day or two."

"Oh, good. Did they catch the guys who did this?"

"Sort of. Apparently they were all killed in the explosion. They didn't know what they were doing, I guess."

"There were four people involved in the money laundering," she said.

"Well, then, I guess they are all gone. They were the only deaths in the explosion."

"Serves them right," she said. "Caldwell said they were planning all kinds of horrible things all over the country. I hope this stops them."

"I hope so too, honey. So tell me, how are you feeling?"

"Sore. I feel sore all over. They say it was the effect from the blast that slammed me against the wall. My head hit a window and it blew out, but it kept me from getting a concussion, or worse."

"I guess we can call it lucky, but I'm having a hard time with that."

"Oh, Will, just stay with me for a while, please. It's so good to have you here. I know I'm going to be okay now."

"Yeah. I'll stay as long as they let me," I promised.

To be concluded.