Fatal Dose (5 page)

Wendy nodded “That’s only a part of it, Mark.”

Before he could continue the conversation any further, John returned to the table and asked, “What are you two discussing so intently?”

“Oh, just the vagaries of illegal drug distribution,” Mark replied. “I sure hope that your rumor mill is right about me joining the PDS. I’d really like to be a part of tracking down the people responsible for Brice’s death and for the illegal pharmaceutical drug distribution in this country.

“Well, forget I told you, but I hear that you’re already in.”

They made another toast. This time they toasted the success of their mission.”

Burning River was beginning to burn a lot as Mark held back the need to urinate. “You’ll have to excuse me for a minute. I really need to visit the men’s room.”

“Hold on,” John said, “you’re not alone.”

After they both relieved themselves and were washing up, John looked up at Mark in the mirror and asked, “How are you and Wendy hitting it off?”

Mark looked up and met John’s eyes in the mirror. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no special reason. You two will be working together a lot. I just thought she might be good for you. I happen to know she isn’t seeing anyone right now. Her fiancé was killed in Iraq eight months ago and she hasn’t dated anyone since then. I know because she is good friends with one of the tech support gals assigned to me. Just thought you might like to know.”

Mark grinned at him, “Well thank you for that little bit of information, Mister Matchmaker.”

“Glad to be of service. Anything to help a buddy,” he said as he made a sweeping bow.

When they returned to the booth, John picked up his mug and made some lame excuse about having to talk with one of the other agents. Just as Mark got ready to indulge in some more conversation, Wendy looked at her watch. It was ten o’clock.

“I hate to leave you here alone, but I really have to be going. I’ve got a thirty-minute drive and I have to get up early for my Tai Chi exercises before work. Our squad meets at nine.”

“Well, from what John just said, it sounds like I’ll see you there. It was great working with you today, Wendy. You’re a real professional.”

“That’s kind of you, Mark. I wish I was that certain. I know I’ll be running it over in my mind on the way home, trying to figure out if I should have said something else, or maybe not said something. You just don’t know ahead of time what you’ll run into. It’s tough when you know that what you’re going to say to someone will break their heart. I guess it’s one of those things you can get hardened to, but I sure hope I never do. Well, you have a good night, Mark. I’ll see you at the meeting.”

“Can I walk you to your car?”

“You don’t have to. The parking lot is well lit and I’m packing,” she said as she patted her sling-pak.

“Well then, I guess I better catch up with my good buddy John before he stiffs me for the bill.”

“Oh, my gosh, that’s right. How much do I owe you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is going to be on John. It’s the least he can do after the difficult job we had to handle today.”

She smiled. She put her suit jacket on, picked up her sling-pak and said goodnight again. Mark watched her worm her way through the crowd and took note, once again, of all the heads that turned as she did. He was sorry to see her go.

He knew that John was right. He needed to get back in the game. He should probably pursue a relationship with Special Agent Wendy Farrell. They seemed to be hitting it off okay. He recalled something his father told him about a year after his mother died. He said, “There comes a time when you have to stop the mourning, cherish the memories and move on.”

Once again, Mark was certain that that’s what Susan would want for him. He wondered if Special Agent Wendy Farrell would eventually feel the same way.

CHAPTER THREE

Mark’s life as a covert FBI agent has been very challenging. Part of the agreement when he signed on was that he would continue to operate his PI business in Centerville, Ohio as a cover. The name was changed to International Investigation Specialists (IIS) to broaden the scope of their potential clientele and to provide a cover for his “travel” away from his office. Mark hired Bruce Crandall, a retired Dayton Police lieutenant, to run the office and pick up the slack for local cases. Bruce had no difficulty obtaining a PI license and went to work immediately, signing up new clients based on his contacts with the police force. Neither Bruce nor their secretary Brenda knew that Mark was a Special Agent and neither asked questions about his long absences.

Mark is away from the Centerville office about seventy-five percent of the time. He keeps in contact primarily by email or telephone. Much of his work for the FBI is done at his home computer center, so even when he is in town, he spends much of his time there. Bruce and Brenda understand this. The FBI-equipped super-center is vastly superior to his company’s network. It helps him get more done in less time, normally logging in about forty percent of the company’s revenue due mostly to the “high profit margin” background investigations he performs for large defense sub-contractors that are his responsibility-his “house accounts.”

Part of Mark’s time during the past year was occupied with finding a buyer for Cybernetic Solutions, the business front that Susan Harrigan operated in Hudson, Ohio. Dennis originally hired Mark as a backup for Susan, so Mark became the most logical person for the assignment. After Susan’s death, a team of technicians immediately dismantled the covert data center behind the Cybernetic Solutions business office and moved it to the FBI headquarter building in Cleveland. Since it was commonly known to her employees that Mark was seeing Susan, it seemed fitting that he should be the one to work with the realtors to find a buyer for the software company.

The FBI, through a dummy corporation, was the real owner of the business. Under the circumstances of her death, Washington agreed that any surplus after the payment of the mortgage on the building and on Susan’s condo would be passed on to Cybernetic Solutions. Dennis offered Mark the use of the condo until it was sold, but he declined. There were too many memories for him to even consider such an option. Within a week of listing the software business an offer was made by an employee group headed by Joan Talbot, Cybernetic Solutions’ office manager. The group received immediate financing at a rate subsidized by the sale of the condo. The control of the business was transferred within a week. Mark was relieved when that assignment was finally behind him; there were too many memories attached.

The rest of his time was spent finishing the FBI training that was interrupted by Susan’s death. Like all other Special Agents, he went through the eighteen-week training program at Quantico, Virginia. His hours at the firing range during his years as a PI paid off, although the change from his Sig Sauer to the official handgun, the .40 Glock semiautomatic, required a few adjustments, but, in his view, it was a far superior weapon. The hours spent doing surveillance work also served him well. Mark got the most benefit from the hand-to-hand combat drills. With no previous experience at all in this type of fighting, he managed to get better than average marks in that area, although it was at the price of many bumps, scrapes and bruises.

He was now an awesome combo: a trained FBI Agent and a skilled Private Investigator.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dennis was already in his office when Mark arrived the next morning promptly at eight. From the look of his desk, it appeared that Dennis had already been there for a few hours. He looked up as Mark appeared in the doorway.

“Come on in Mark, and close the door.” He directed him to a chair and got right into the purpose for the meeting. “I’ve decided that I want you on the Pharmaceutical Drug Squad, starting today. We have a meeting next door at nine. The Squad has six members including you. The others are Special Agents Wendy Farrell, Tom Norton, Brock Pennington, Joan Vespy and the lead investigator, Chuck Wesson. Each has been chosen based on their specific areas of expertise.”

He hesitated for a moment, giving Mark enough time to get a legal pad from his briefcase. “Charles Wesson has been with the FBI for eight years. He has a PharmD degree from Case Western Reserve, School of Medicine, which, incidentally, is the same educational background as Brice. He’ll be picking up some of what Brice was doing. Unfortunately, we’ve lost the advantage of having a man on the inside at Atronen, but it’s far too risky to attempt to plant someone else, at this late date. If they know about Brice, they will be on a high alert.

“Wendy handles the distribution of drugs from the factory to the consumer. That includes mainstream manufacturing and distribution as well as franchising operations.

“Tom Norton, who you’ve worked with before, handles sub-contracting, specifically that done by the major drug manufacturers.

“Brock Pennington is our RICO Act specialist. He’s an ex-RICO Attorney at Law. He’s also our liaison with Justice, headquarters, other government agencies and our good friend Chief Jacobsen at the Cleveland Police Department. Brock really has a full plate.

“Joan Vespy specializes in mail fraud, pharmaceutical drug imports and generic drugs. She also backs up Brock whenever he needs help.”

Mark was surprised at the broad scope of the PDS. Dennis handed him a thick file that detailed the assignments of each squad member.

Dennis gestured to the list Mark was holding. “That’s your copy, spend some time on it. It will save everybody time if you deal directly with the proper team member. I’ve observed that everyone tries to be helpful. Too often they will try to help you out rather than send you off to the proper person. That’s a waste of everybody’s time. Now, as for your participation, I need you to concentrate on conducting thorough background checks on all Atronen employees. We need personal as well as business connections. We need to know everything, including who their friends, family and neighbors are. I’m going to ask the squad members to provide you with a list of any specific individuals they might need bios on, and I’m assigning a Technical Support Services Technician to work with you. She will help with a lot of the data gathering. Her name is Marcia Maxon. She worked with Brice for a while on tech support, so she’s familiar with the work that the squad is doing.”

Dennis turned to a refrigerator behind his desk. “Water?”

“Sure,” Mark replied.

Dennis tossed him a bottle. He looked at his watch. “We’ve got another forty minutes before the meeting. Why don’t you spend some time looking over the information on the squad members? I’ll see you in the conference room at nine. Oh, and by the way, keep that list under wraps. The PDS is a very special operation and its best that it continues to operate on the q.t. as much as possible. You’ll understand why as you get into it. Of course, Marcia and the team members are okay to talk to about most things, except any special operations I assign to you.”

Mark returned to his cubicle and began scanning the file. He was interrupted by a knock. Marcia Maxon introduced herself, and added, “Special Agent in Charge Peterson assigned me to work with you.”

“That’s great, Marcia. Come on in. I have to run off to a meeting in a while, but I can get you started on something. Right now you can help me by getting acquainted with a special program you’ll be using a lot for me. Just load it into your computer. The prompts will guide you from there. Here’s a list of names you can practice on using that program. Take your time with it. I’m not sure how long this meeting will run, but I’ll touch base with you on the way out.”

“If it’s the PDS meeting, it will be for at least two hours. In the meantime, I’ll do my best,” she said as she picked up the list and computer disc.

“That’s all I can ask.”

The meeting started at nine on the dot. “Some of you may know Special Agent Mark Matthews,” Peterson began. “He’ll be joining the squad this morning. He’s a whiz at background checks and finding people. He can be invaluable to your investigations.”

His demeanor changed abruptly. “I’m sure you all know that Brice Bennett met an untimely death this last weekend.” He dropped his eyes for a moment to pay silent respect to Brice’s memory. “I know that all of you would like to be involved in finding those responsible, but we cannot let his death distract us from the jobs that we’re already working on. The cartel is getting bolder by the day. Brice’s death is just one example of that. So, I’ve set up a special team to work with Chief Jacobsen to help find the killers. I’ll keep Special Agent Wesson in the loop so you’ll all know what’s going on. That’s all I have for now. Charles, the meeting is yours.”

Dennis turned and left the conference room.

Charles (Chuck) Wesson, a tall, slim man, towered over the others at about six-three. He was in his mid-thirties, married with two young children. Charles had a bookworm persona; his reading glasses perched halfway down the bridge of his slender nose. He looked out at Mark over the top of his glasses. “Welcome to the team, Mark. We can sure use some help with the background checks for our ever-growing list of savory characters. We don’t seem to be able to keep up with them on our own.”

Several heads nodded.

Tom Norton walked over to Mark and extended his hand. “It’s great to be working with you again, Mark.”

“Same here, Tom.”

Brock and Joan lined up behind Tom to shake hands and introduce themselves. Wendy waved from the far corner of the room. She was looking great in a navy blue suit. Even at a distance of thirty feet he concluded that she wore a suit better than any woman he’d ever known, even, oddly enough, better than Susan.

With introductions out of the way, Wesson moved to the head of the table. Everyone took a seat. Mark chose an open spot next to Wendy. She was wearing her hair in an upsweep. As she swiveled her chair to listen to Charles, Mark found himself staring at her neck. He’d never paid much attention to a woman’s neck before. He wondered what it was about Wendy’s neck that intrigued him so much.
I’m turned on by the nape of a woman’s neck. That’s a new one for me.
I wonder what it would be like to kiss her there. I’m thinking that women’s necks are an underrated sexual lure.
Interesting!