Haley explained that deep in the sea, oceanologists had discovered that the oceans did have a sort of self- cleansing mechanism. Miles below the surface, fracture lines occurred on the ocean floor, where the earth's crust's tectonic plates rammed each other like slow-motion bumper cars. The collision of the plates created geographic features like the mid-Atlantic ridge. They also created cracks, which allowed seawater to flow down into the earth's crust. Water forced into the crust was superheated to seven hundred degrees or more, then returned, under great pressure, back into the ocean through vents. Over the course of 6 to 8 million years, every molecule of seawater would have traveled, at least once, down into the earth and back out into the oceans.
'Okay,' Sam said. 'Where would that mean he's leading us?'
'I don't know. Vent sites are found a mile beneath the sea and lower. We won't be seeing them any time soon, so he must either be referring to studies or photos of the fissures or vents. He has plenty of pictures.'
'Where?'
Haley took a moment to think about it. 'One of his friends was on the team that took the deep-diving submersible Alvin down to the Snake Pit. A couple of miles deep, if I recall.
The pictures would be in his house.'
'We've got two things to do,' Sam said. 'Ditch this car, and send Frick some place other than Ben's house. Did Ben have a safe-deposit box or any place a person might logically keep papers?'
'He had a box at the local bank,' Haley said.
'We need to talk with Sarah. She'll be frantic about Ben.' He thought for a moment.
'Maybe we can tell Sarah to let Frick know about the bank.'
Haley grasped the idea immediately. 'Okay.'
Sam hastily outlined a plan. They would have Sarah call on the phone and ask Frick about Ben's disappearance. When Frick asked the obvious questions, she would tell him about the safe-deposit box. Then she would disappear to ensure her safety.
CHAPTER 9
They were proceeding along the water on the south side of the island while Haley called Sarah on her cell. Sam's own cell rang in the middle of the conversation. It was Ernie, of the FBI.
'I have a new boss and he's not real into meddling in your situation,' Ernie began. 'I guess he's impressed that Frick's an eyewitness to the murder of Officer Crew Wentworth. I told him that was bunk and that you would murder no one, and that sort of moved him back to center on the thing. Just to let you know the situation, I still can't be real aggressive on this like I could if the boss really believed your side of this. I gotta work with it, you know. I called the state police and it's a damn holiday, but they will get an assistant attorney general, they say. By Monday they'll be in full swing. They've called deputies on the island that they know and they say you killed Wentworth. And uh…'
'What?'
'You met my boss once in New York,' Ernie said. 'I guess you were trying to get some movement by the bureau on something. Anyway, you'd recall him as Special Agent Arnold Cross.'
'Say no more. I understand,' Sam said. 'Does he still go around with a telephone pole up his alimentary canal?'
'Pretty much. And his daddy is a senator, so that doesn't hurt. If you were still in business, you'd be using 'Big Brain,' I suspect.'
'I suspect you're right,' Sam said. Ernie was talking about a supercomputer that Sam had used frequently in his previous life.
'So I, ah,' Ernie's voice went quieter, 'sort of ignored the boss
… insubordination really… and got Grogg on a conference call. He connected to Big Brain remotely and we did a lot of checking real fast.'
'I'm impressed,' Sam said, smiling for the first time since this ordeal began. 'And grateful.' For a moment the sun burst through the clouds.
'It seems that Sanker Corp is in a merger deal with American Bayou Technologies,' said Ernie. 'They're both heavyweights, and the deal started friendly, but it couldn't stay that way because they're both predatory. Management of one won't live with the management of the other. Someone is going to win and someone is going to lose. Up until recently, Sanker thought they were certain to win. Maybe American Bayou knew something Sanker didn't. Now Sanker desperately needs a bump up in its stock price.
Stock price will decide who ends up with the controlling interest in the conglomerate.
Does anything you're dealing with have the potential to affect Sanker's stock price?'
'Yes. To say the least. In fact, one press release could do it.' Sam gave Ernie a thumbnail description of the possible range and impact of Ben's work. 'Of course, we don't know if this 'fountain of youth' discovery is all that potent. Or even real,' he added.
'But just a good story would do it,' Ernie completed the thought. 'I get it. I wish I could call Cross on this, but, of course, I can't, because officially I don't know what you just told me, about the fountain of youth-thing. We never had this call. Somehow, though, I'll find a way to run across the information, and when I do, then I'll tell him.'
'You're a good man, Ernie. You make me feel lucky.'
'I'm touched by your compliment.'
'Good. I have one more favor.'
'Uh-oh. With you it's always the second favor that costs me.'
Sam asked Haley if she had a home fax; fortunately, she did.
'Please fax me the memo about Frick.'
'Are you out of your mind? That's FBI property.'
'It could be critical in trying to bring in the Washington State Police.'
In the long silence that followed, Sam could sense Ernie's stress.
'I must be losing my mind.'
'Thanks, Ernie. I'll be careful with it. I wish I had a choice, but they want to put me in jail. We do have a dead officer.'
Haley had ended her call with Sarah, so Sam filled her in.
'Sanker is merging with American Bayou, as you know.'
'I don't really understand it.'
'It means the strongest guy wins. The old man and all his henchmen could completely lose control of Sanker because their stock price tanked.'
'When I told the truth about my new strain of sea grass, they screamed about the stock price. I just didn't know it was such a big deal for Sanker.'
'They tell me the work you did was brilliant, coming up with the new strain of sea grass. What all does it do that's good?'
'Makes cheap protein. Feeds people. Has a lot of pharmaceutical applications like so many things from the sea. Immune-system drugs.' Haley sighed as if wistfully remembering when she was at the height of her glory. 'The issue was that the sea grass is host to a whole little universe of life. When I genetically altered it, you know, you change the house, you could change the inhabitants. I wasn't saying we couldn't use it, for God's sake. I'm not like one of these nuts who says we can't use genetically improved corn. I said we need to study it before going hog-wild on production. The seaweed seemed to be functioning differently after the genetic change. The single-celled organisms weren't acting the same. I wanted time to study it. Evidently Sanker was desperate about their stock price and wanted a big announcement.'
'So McStott and Frick concocted the scheme to make it look like it was mostly his work, and that you stole it.'
'That's it. Of course, McStott had no concern about the sea grass's effect on the environment. Frick and McStott saw to it that my article with the warnings was never published. Instead, they published an article touting the discovery. But they had no credibility because some university people cried foul. And see, that also hurt my
