Elements

"What do the autopsies on the victims tell us?" asked Mitchell.

"We have the human autopsies and the animal necropsies on the wildlife suspected of mercury poisoning," said Carlson. "There have been eleven elk and fourteen mule deer confirmed killed by mercury poisoning. All of them, human and animal alike indicate that exposure was through both ingestion, and inhalation. The chelation therapy being performed on the living human victims are taking this into account by being augmented with respiratory therapy."

"What notices have been sent out?" Mitchell asked.

"We've requested the media specialist team in Washington work with the Crow nation to assist them with warning everyone on the reservation about the risk from water. The air quality around the reservation is still being tested and appropriate warnings will be communicated once we know the exact risks. Fish and wildlife, such as deer and elk have been a staple for the people on the reservation, and the leaders are encouraging residents to have anything they have already caught or killed tested before consuming it. Domestic animals on the reservation for consumption are limited to several families with chickens, so those should be safe."

"Okay," said Mitchell, "but what about outside the Crow reservation?"

"I don't have to tell you," said Carlson, "that we're dealing with a very remote and rural area here. We have notified the relevant health department organizations in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota to make them aware of the contaminated waterways, and how this impacts the water and wildlife in their respective areas. They will be responsible for communicating the risks to their residents, but many of those are unlikely to get the message until they have been contaminated to some degree. Then there are the thousands of non-resident visitors who come to the area to fish and hunt once the weather gets better."

Mitchell said, "I'll get in touch with the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service so that they can post warnings accordingly. You should contact the Department of Natural Resources for Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota asking them to notify anyone with a current hunting or fishing license about the risk of eating potentially contaminated fish or wildlife. I'll include the US Department of Health in my report and encourage them to start tracking incidents of suspected mercury poisoning from doctors and hospitals. They also can help get the word out to the medical community with a higher degree of respectability than we do at the EPA."

"You may want to delay your communications to headquarters and the Department of Health until after you hear my report," said the other agent in the room, Stacie Langston.

"You have more to add on Jon's report?" Mitchell asked.

Stacie brushed a lock of hair between her left ear, squared her shoulders, and began to present her report, "In an unrelated incident, the Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Project facilities in Meagher County have been shut down due to excessive radon contamination to the pumping facilities and the water on both the upper and lower reservoirs. The radon was discovered after two residents of the town of Martinsdale succumbed to radon poisoning last week. The air in the community and all buildings except for the pumping facility are at acceptable radon levels, so the contaminated water appears to be the only source at this time."

"Now radon in this region I know something about," Mitchell said. "Although I'm not familiar with any uranium or thorium in Meagher County, there are the radon bathhouses in Jefferson County, which is just two counties east."

"That's correct," Stacie said, "but due to the proximity of the known radon fields east of the area where the Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Project was proposed, the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency required extensive geological testing of the site to ensure that no veins of uranium, thorium or any other substances would be exposed by the project. That was done in 2015, so something has changed in the Earth's crust since that time. As with the recent discovery of mercury in the Pryor Mountains, a new geological study around Meagher County will be required to identify the cause."

"And once again, no suspicion of anything other than a natural source of radon being the cause?" asked Mitchell. "No chance of sabotage or terrorism being involved?"

"Highly unlikely," Stacie said.

Dave Mitchell looked at the map on his office wall once more and asked, "How far is Martinsdale from the storage project, about five miles?"

"The southeast corner of the town is much closer than that, but the fatalities occurred in the center of the town. Varying levels of radon are being detected up to ten miles from the storage project site and Martinsdale Lake is reading off the chart for radon in the water," Stacie said.

Glancing between the two agents, Mitchell asked, "Have either of you contacted the US Geological Survey offices in Colorado to request their assistance?"

Stacie glanced at Jon Carlson before responding, "We were waiting for you to get back. We weren't sure if you wanted to make the request through our region, or let the Office of Land and Emergency Management, the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, or some other department out of headquarters get involved first."

Mitchell smiled at the consideration that his agents had displayed. Like any other bureaucracy, the EPA had its 'fiefdoms', with insecure and politically motivated leaders who would raise all kinds of problems for a region administrator if they felt that he, or she, had overstepped their authority, regardless of the reasoning or justification. He would include Angie Stone, Director of the Office of Continuous Improvement, and Todd Berger, Acting Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics in his report to his immediate supervisor, William Shepard, Assistant Deputy Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.

No one had to tell David Mitchell when to cover his ass.

~~~

"The winery and the land it is on have been in my family for decades," Amanda Wallace said. "There have never been any concerns about radon gas before."

"That's what I was told by Clive Grey and Nelson Portman," confirmed Elliot Greer. "But, be that as it may, the EPA agents have been taking measurements since late last night and have declared the entire winery unsafe. All the buildings are currently uninhabitable and even the fields have radon concentrations that are deemed excessive. If the bloody wind ever starts blowing the radon on the outside might drop enough, but the buildings hold the gas in."

Elliot heard some shuffling on the other end of the call as if someone was moving chairs around.

"Elliot, this is Sean. Has there been any recent mining activity near the winery that you are aware of? For this sudden and extensive leak of radon, something must have happened to the ground in that area."

"No, Sean, I am not aware of anything, but I haven't been to visit the winery in over eighteen months. I will check with the staff at the winery and inquire about any mining or construction activities in the area and let you know."

"The tests on the wine are conclusive?" Amanda asked.

"Yes and no," Elliot said. "The wines in the casks have been tested and it all shows levels of radon that make it too contaminated for human consumption. The wine that has been bottled is being tested by production lots and everything so far has tested good. They started with the oldest production lots first and are working backward."

"Smart move," said Sean. "That could help us identify when the radon leak started. How soon will that testing be complete?"

"The inventory of most wines is low right now," Elliot said. "They should be able to complete testing on all the current lots by the end of the day."

"Let me just throw this out there for consideration," Sean said. "If our winery is the only one in the area affected by this mysterious radon leak, is there any way that it could be a deliberate act by someone? Can radon be artificially created in some manner?"

Sean's comments brought a smile to Elliot's face, but not for the reason most people would think. Elliot had been expecting Sean to show his protective nature, so his smile was in acknowledgment that he had been correct.

Elliot reveled in telling the tale that was Sean and Amanda Wallace. He had been close friends with Amanda's older brother, Michael, and come to work for Wallace Holdings immediately after college. With their parents already deceased, when Michael had died from an undiagnosed heart ailment, Amanda had inherited full ownership of the family's extensive business holdings. She had entrusted control of the operations to Elliot and a few other loyal executives while she volunteered as a nurse at a girls orphanage on East Timor.

When Amanda and twenty-five of the girls had been kidnapped by Timor rebels and transported to the United States to be sold to a human trafficking organization, it had been Sean Wallace who had saved, first Amanda, and then the twenty-five young girls. When the gang that had been expecting the shipment of girls started getting violent in an attempt to recover them, Sean and Amanda launched a plan to get revenge.

Amanda had called upon Elliot to assist with their plan, and he was eternally grateful for being allowed to play a small role in their plans. Many of the details surrounding Sean's part in the plan were never shared with Elliot, but he suspected that Sean's experience as a former Force Recon Marine had been brought to bear on several of the gang members.

One of the most humorous aspects of the plan that Elliot loved to share was how Sean and Amanda had leveraged the fact that they both had the same last name to convince people that they were married, and then to use this false relationship to their advantage. The fact that the two had truly fallen in love, merged their two business operations and now lived a fairy tale life running a global empire as real husband and wife was the 'icing on the cake' as far as Elliot was concerned.

Amanda answered her husband's question, "Sean, radon is a chemical element. It cannot be created any more than gold can be. That being said, radon can be extracted from uranium or thorium ores, but that is very expensive and yields small quantities that decay very quickly. It once was used for radiation therapy on cancer patients, but better alternatives have replaced it. I can't see this being of man-made origin. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am."

"Okay," Sean said, "I can see your point. However, short of an earthquake or other tectonic movement of the Earth's crust, how did the uranium or thorium deposits responsible for the radon leak suddenly get located under our winery, and what can we do about it?"

"Hopefully the EPA will be able to tell us more after they have concluded their tests," Amanda said. "Elliot, please send me the details for all the employees and their families who have suffered as a result of the radon. I want to personally contact each of them to see what Sean and I can do to assist them. Everyone else remains on full pay until further notice. Do you agree, Sean?"

"Absolutely. I will also add that Amanda and I will be heading to Australia by the end of the week to show our support and assist in any way possible."

I'll make the necessary arrangements on this end," Elliot said.

"Thank you," said Sean. "Does anyone know how the Australian EPA deals with businesses in situations such as this? Obviously, the radon leak wasn't caused by anything at the winery and is completely out of our control, but is there some requirement for periodic testing or monitoring that we could be found negligent for not performing?"

"The lawyers believe we are safe from any claims of negligence," Elliot told them. "We have the recorded radon tests that were done when the facilities were constructed and to a point I believe you were trying to make earlier, Sean, radon doesn't just appear out of the blue one day, so people aren't required to monitor for it once an initial test fails to detect it."

~~~

Darshan Sridhar sat at the head of the conference table, his face in the center of the image displayed for the Prime Minister of India on her monitor.

"There is no doubt that the cause of the poisoning was extreme exposure to cadmium?" asked the Prime Minister.

Darshan nodded to a member of Garima Kumar's staff, a physician who he knew the Prime Minister respected. "Please explain what you detailed for our team earlier for the Prime Minister."

Doctor Chandra Pavri began her explanation, "Cadmium is a naturally occurring element that people are exposed to virtually every day without consequences. Given a sufficient dose, however, hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, liver and kidney necrosis, cardiomyopathy, and metabolic acidosis can occur. The autopsies performed so far on the lake's inhabitants showed severe necrosis of their kidneys and their blood had levels of cadmium such as we have never seen."

"How much are we talking?" asked the Prime Minister.

"The international geometric mean blood cadmium level for non-smoking adults is zero point three seven six micrograms per liter," Dr. Pavri explained. "The level for someone who smokes is approximately double that. Every adult from the lake has shown a blood cadmium level of greater than nine point five seven five micrograms per liter. The children have measured even higher, which is due to their smaller bodies. That is a level unheard of, even for workers who are exposed to cadmium daily in their jobs."

"The wildlife found dead at the sanctuary also had extremely elevated cadmium levels in their blood," Darshan offered. "There is no doubt that cadmium poisoning is the cause. What isn't clear is the source of the cadmium or how extensively polluted the water in Lake Dhebar is. Our teams are conducting tests as we speak, but the size of the lake will require them to test hundreds of locations around the lake, as well as all input and outputs from the lake."

"Minister," began the Prime Minister, "In our earlier conversation you mentioned that cadmium doesn't exist in large quantities and has to be extracted from other sources, yet you deny the likelihood of this being an industrial source. How can you justify that conclusion?"

"Madam Prime Minister," said Darshan, "Most cadmium used in India, and elsewhere in the world, is extracted as a byproduct during the production of other metals such as zinc, lead, or copper. Cadmium is also recovered from used batteries. Zinc is still mined at Zawar, but the distance from the lake would tend to rule that out as a source. Cadmium can be found in phosphate fertilizers, and there is significant agricultural activity around the lake, but for the levels of cadmium we are seeing to have come from fertilizer, it would need to have been applied ten feet deep and had all of it erode into the lake."

"Well, it had to come from somewhere," the Prime Minister growled. "You say cadmium doesn't exist in nature in high enough concentrations to be the cause, and you say that cadmium as a byproduct of some industry isn't likely. Could it have been purposely brought to the lake from someplace else and deliberately used to contaminate the water?"

"Minister Shah has the staff at the Ministry of Law and Justice checking with all local authorities for any reports of cadmium thefts from industries that would have an inventory, such as battery manufacturers or recycling operations. Minister Bahnda has the intelligence staff at the Ministry of Defense investigating as well, but they have found no evidence of foreign involvement as of this time."

"Can you at least confirm that the contamination is limited to Lake Dhebar at this time?" asked the Prime Minister.

Darshan said, "I can confirm that we have had no reports of similar deaths anywhere else in the country. I cannot confirm that the situation will remain that way."

"I am calling a cabinet meeting for tomorrow afternoon," the Prime Minister said. "That should provide everyone enough time to get to the capital. I'll expect updates from everyone between now and then. I will not appreciate any surprises during our meeting. If it is going to be discussed, I want to be informed about it beforehand."

"Of course, Prime Minister," said Darshan. "With your permission, I will request Minister Shah establish a quarantine zone around Lake Dhebar to prevent anyone unauthorized from being in the area during the investigation and potential clean-up."

"I will speak to Minister Shah myself," stated the Prime Minister. "I have some specific instructions for him relative to the news media. Make certain that everyone on your staff and that of Minister Kumar understand that my office is to be the only source of information on this event to anyone."

"That has already been communicated," Darshan assured her.

"Make certain that it is followed."

Chapter Four

"I'm sure that you'll make me the brunt of some blonde joke over this," Cile said, "But you're going to have to explain to me why a fertility test is a good first anniversary present for you to give Tyler."

Katie laughed and said, "It's the perfect gift because the test results will be on paper which is the traditional gift for the first anniversary. However, notification that I had the Progesterone rod removed will tell Tyler that his real gift is my womb."

Cile squealed through the phone and said, "You and Tyler are going to start trying to have a baby! Oh, Katie, that is great news."

"I can't wait to see Tyler's face when I give him the card with the test results inside," Katie said. "I was considering waiting to give it to him until dinner on June 8^th, but if I know my husband, he'll want to start enjoying his present immediately, and a restaurant, surrounded by my family would not be an appropriate setting for that. I'll wake up early that morning and give it to him in bed."

"Right," Cile laughed. "This present is your anniversary gift to yourself, and we both know it. Tyler will love the idea of breeding you, but you are even more anxious for him to start enjoying his present."

"Why Cile, you make me sound like some scheming, conniving, deceitful nymphomaniacal..."

"Well," Cile said after laughing again, "At a minimum, the nympho-maniacal part is true. Remember, I'm the one that you share all your most intimate secrets with, cousin."

"You're right," Katie agreed, "And since you also share all your most intimate secrets with me; Miss Pot, meet Miss Kettle. I can't believe that either you or Toby are still able to walk from what you have described to me."

"Oh, I always know where to draw the line in order for us both to maintain the power of locomotion," Cile giggled. "It's sometimes tough to not cross that line though. I can't get enough of my guy, and I make no apologies for that."

"No apologies are necessary," Katie assured her. "Your mom is over the moon excited that you and Toby are so serious. She was convinced that you would probably be collecting boyfriends like a philatelist collects stamps until you were too old to give her grandkids."

"Oh, that's nonsense and I've told her so," Cile said in rebuke. "I keep telling her that Joey was older than me when he got Jen pregnant. She's already a grandmother through them."

"That's not good enough, according to my mom," Katie explained. "I've been informed that it's different for a mother when her daughter presents her with grandchildren. Something about their ability to share the bond of motherhood directly with their own daughter."

Cile considered what Katie had said, along with her relationship with her mom. She also considered her relationship with Toby's mom.