Beneath The Surface (33 page)

“Which one is that?” Monika asked.

“That’s Josh,” Carmen said quickly.

“Geoffrey will be all right. He’s never let me down before,”
Redding said to Josh.

“But what if he does? You could be exposing yourself to something that I may not be able to contain,” Josh said.

“Something
you
can’t contain?” Redding laughed. “I don’t think there’s anything that you can’t contain, Josh,” he said and patted Josh on the back. “You worry too much, Josh. Everything will work out perfectly. They always do,” Redding said as the two men entered the building.

“You’re not going to lose the signal now that they’re inside, are you?” Carmen asked.

“Eventually. In a large structure like this, distance and other factors will cause degradation the signal,” Monika explained.

“Like what?”

“Background noise will become harder to filter out.”

As promised, their conversation became harder to make out. So for the next five hours, Carmen and Monika waited. They passed the time with Monika reading the newspaper, and her showing Carmen how to work some of the equipment in the van.

“That image you’re looking at is a satellite generated, 3-dimensioal thermal image. The red lines represent walls, and those dots represent everybody in the building. But we’re not gonna use that this time,” Monika said and turned that function off.

It was after three in the afternoon when somebody knocked on the door to the van. Carmen looked at Monika. She took out her gun and covered it with the newspaper that she was reading. “Look and see
whose
out there.”

Carmen looked outside and didn’t see anybody as the knocking continued. “Go ahead and open it,” Monika said and hoped that it wasn’t the police or Homeland Security, or some shit like that.

Very slowly Carmen cracked open the door to the van. She smiled when she saw who it was. “Afternoon, ladies,” Black said and got in the van. “What; y’all think I was the cops?”

“Yes,” Monika said and brandished her weapon.

“And if I were, were you going to shoot me?”

“Glad I didn’t have to find out,” Monika said and saw the way Carmen was looking at Black. She shook her head and got up from the console. “I’m gonna get some air,” she said and went outside.

“Hi,” Carmen beamed.

“You look surprised to see me,” Black said, taking Monika’s seat.

“I am. Even though you said you might come, I still wasn’t expecting you.” Carmen smiled. “Can’t stay away from me, huh?”

“No.”

Just then, the van door swung open and Monika jumped in the driver’s seat. “We’re up. They’re on the move,” Monika said and started the van.

They watched as the congressman separated from his entourage and walked off with Josh. “Same as last time,” Carmen said. She was convinced that she was on the right track. Redding and Josh got in a car and drove off with Monika on their tail. “Black.”

“What?”

“Get up here,” she demanded.

Black climbed in the passenger seat and Monika handed him some binoculars. “I’m gonna drop back a little. Keep an eye on that car and don’t lose them.”

Black saluted. “Yes, sir.”

Monika gave him the finger and kept driving. They followed the congressman and Josh, as once again, they drove out of the city and across the Tappan Zee Bridge.

“You think they’re going to that same restaurant?” Carmen asked.

“Too soon to tell,” Black answered.

This time they went to an out-of-the-way motel and parked. Josh got out of the car and went in the office, while Redding stayed in the car. He emerged ten minutes later and went toward the rooms.

Monika handed Black a camera. “Get some pictures of this,” she instructed.

Black took the camera and looked back at Carmen. “I guess you are that type of guy,” Carmen mused while Black took pictures. A few minutes later, Josh returned to the car and got in.

“What’s happening?” Carmen asked.

“He went to clear the room before Redding goes in there,” Monika reported.

“Clear the room?” Carmen asked.

“He checked it out to make sure it was secure,” Black said.

Monika laughed. “Probably swept it for bugs, but they ain’t ready for me.”

It wasn’t long after that when another car arrived in the parking lot. Redding and Josh got out of their car and approached the vehicle. Nobody was surprised when Geoffrey Canfield got out of the car and shook hands with Redding. As Black took pictures, the two men walked toward the building and went in the room, while Josh and Canfield’s aide remained outside.

“They are either gay or expecting some working girls,” Carmen speculated.

It was then that they noticed two more men approaching the room. One of the men was carrying a briefcase. Once Josh patted the two men down, he knocked on the door. Black snapped a few shots of the men entering the room. “Congressman Redding, Congressman Canfield,” Josh said. “This is Robert Benson and John Hall.”

After introductions were made and Josh left the room, Monika was ready.

“If we’re going to transition to a cleaner coal and the Federal government is going to invest in clean coal technology and carbon sequestration, obviously New York needs to be in the forefront on that,” Redding began.

“With the full senate poised to consider a climate change bill, the usual talking points from environmental public-interest groups have begun to rear their ugly heads,” Canfield added.

“As usual, during these debates, there are those who predict that any movement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions will mean the end of the use of coal, to generate electricity,” Benson said.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Hall said. “If anything, it means the need to increase investments in carbon capture and storage technology, is even stronger than ever.”

“Let’s be perfectly clear about the facts. Coal currently provides about 50 percent of America’s electricity. And the United States has more coal than any other fuel. A quarter of all the known coal in the entire world is here in America. In fact, we’ve got more coal than the entire Middle East has oil,” Redding said proudly repeating the lines he memorized from the speech he’d been giving.

“The EPA thinks that approving new mountaintop removal coal mines can be done, provided sufficient steps are taken, but there are scientists that disagree. They say that there’s no mitigation effort that can ever make mountaintop mining safe, and the practice should be stopped,” Hall said.

“Key groups like the International Panel on Climate Change, and others, have said that you cannot achieve a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale, without successful deployment of carbon capture and storage,” Benson said.

“You question that carbon capture and storage is a viable option, consider this,” Canfield began. “North America has enough storage capacity at our current rate of production for more than 900 year’s worth of carbon dioxide.

“That storage capacity is located deep underground across the continent in varying types of geological formations including unminable coal seams, and oil and gas reservoirs,” Redding said, and then there was silence in the room. “Listen, gentlemen, we could sit here for the next week debating the pros and cons of this, but here are the facts: This bill is going to pass the full house, and then there’ll be a rush to get on the ship before it leaves the dock. So do we have a deal or not?”

There was more silence in the room; then Benson spoke. “You have our backing, congressman, you know that.”

“That’s good to know,” Redding said.

“What about that other matter we discussed with your aide?” Hall asked.

“What other matter?” Canfield asked.

“A member of the group is having problems getting a visa to enter this country from Afghanistan,” Benson said. “If a way can be made to overcome the obstacles, I’m sure that we can come to a favorable arrangement.”

“What are we talking about here?” Redding asked.

“Our group would be willing to make a hundred thousand dollar contribution,” Hall said, then added, “
to
whatever charity or cause you like, of course.”

“I think that we can make that work,” Redding said.

“What are you doing, Terry?” Canfield asked.

There was a very brief silence.

“If we’re in agreement,” Benson said, “I’ll leave this with you.”

“What’s in there?” Canfield asked.

“Thank you, gentlemen, very much for coming. And for this,” Redding said.

When the door to the room opened, Black took a few more pictures of Benson and Hall leaving the room and shaking hands with Josh. Then the door to the room closed.

“What the fuck did you just get us into?” Canfield asked.

“I just got you twenty-five thousand dollars, with twenty-five more to come from Geoffrey.”

“You should have told me, Terry. This could be something we shouldn’t be involved in.”

“You worry too much, Geoffrey.”

“Who is this individual?”

“From what I understand, he is a tribal warlord and his family was involved in the heroin business.”

“Heroin, Terry!” Canfield shouted. “Are you out of your fuckin’ mind?”

“After the Afghan invasion, coalition forces made deals with certain warlords to provide information on the Taliban and Al-Quaida.”

“I don’t want any part of that money,” Canfield said.

Suddenly the door swung open and Canfield rushed out. “Let’s go,” he said to his aide.

Redding came out of the room. He put his hand on Josh’s shoulder. “We may have a problem with Geoffrey,” he said. And the two men returned to their car.

Meanwhile, there was complete silence in the van until Carmen broke the silence. “Wow.”

“Our government in action,” Monika said and prepared to leave.

“What do you want to do now, Carmen?” Black asked.

“I think I need to go to the FBI with this,” Carmen replied.

Black and Monika looked at one another, and then at Carmen.

“We’ll drop you off,” Monika said and started the van.

“Too many law enforcement types for me,” Black said.

“I’m sayin’,” Monika said and shook her head.

As Monika drove back to the city, Carmen wondered what any of this had to do with Tangela House’s death, or if the two were connected at all.

At this point, the murder of Tangela House had become a secondary issue. Monika dropped Black at the Marriott on 45
^th
Street, and then she took Carmen back to her apartment. Monika developed the film they had taken and made her a copy of the recording. After that, Carmen took a cab to the Federal Building to talk with the FBI.

Carmen was escorted to a conference room and asked to wait there. After awhile, two agents came in the room. “Ms. Taylor, I’m Agent Todd and this is Agent Nelson.”

“It’s good to meet you both,” Carmen said and shook hands with the agents.