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Chapter 9
Ivan Dexter pecked away at his keyboard and watched one of seven computer monitors scattered along the wall he was facing-blinking with fresh data-when he heard his front door slam and someone call out to him.
“Ivan? It’s me, Tea Delgado. I’m coming down.”
He stopped typing and turned around to see a gorgeous pair of legs in black high-heels, with a tiny strap cinched around the ankle, making their way down his stairs, shapely legs topped by one of the loveliest faces he’d ever encountered.
When Tea reached the bottom stair in her smart, navy suit and long, golden-brown hair, Ivan jumped up and took her hand.
“Hey...it’s great to see you, Tea,” he said, clearing off a chair and asking her to sit.
Tea felt uncomfortable as the monitors glared at her, blinking like eyes in the dim basement. There was a maze of information coming in from every source: phones were being answered by a machine, fax machines ringing relentlessly, e-mail markers going off on just about every screen, reams of paper stacked everywhere, but this awkward teenager, Ivan, just ignored them and gave her his undivided attention, his cheeks blushing uncontrollably to a shade of red that matched his curly, unruly hair.
He was a certifiable computer geek, a child prodigy who’d graduated Stanford at the age of thirteen. Both the CIA and FBI wooed him aggressively but he didn’t want to join, rejecting a conventional job to open a detective agency that utilized computers and electronic information to do all the investigating. If it was scanned, digitized, swiped, electronically coded, photographed, transmitted or archived...Ivan could find it. He could find anyone within hours and without ever leaving his basement. At seventeen he was pulling in six figures and still living at home in his mother’s house without a driver’s license.
“I know how busy you are, Ivan, but...”
“No problem. I’ve gotten lots of clients on your recommendation. I owe you. Besides, you’re my favorite...uh...client...”
Tea smiled, watching his young eyes staring at her thighs as she crossed her legs, remembering he was only a teenage boy who spoke like a middle-aged business man.
“Did you find out anything?”
“Yeah, a bit,” he said, reaching over to his desk and opening a file. “I don’t know how much help it will be. I couldn’t find any activity on Todd Manning for the last three months which tells me he was holed up in one place, but a few weeks ago he entered Alberta, Canada at about 7:00 PM in the evening.”
“Canada? How did you find that out?”
“Generally passports aren’t required to enter Canada from the US, but since 911 security’s been pretty tight. His passport was scanned...I picked it up...but his trail stopped there. Other than that there’s been no activity for the last few months...no credit cards purchases, no funds moved from his accounts, no hotel registrations, no ATM activity, no rental properties, no plane, train reservations or car rentals. Nada.”
Tea looked disappointed.
“Well...that’s not much.”
Ivan smiled.
“No...but there’s more. Todd Manning’s passport was scanned with another one, they scan them in groups by vehicle. Apparently he had a traveling companion with him, a Dr. Hymen Reese. Now...this is where it gets weird cause Dr. Reese is a strange dude, bit of a crackpot, an outcast in the scientific community because of his questionable ethical practices with human growth hormones. He kinda disappeared from public life about fifteen years ago. Anyway, instead of following Todd’s trail, which was ice cold, I tracked Dr. Reese’s. That night he checked into a hotel using his credit card, which was issued by his employer, The Drolrotciv Institute. He got two rooms. The following day he charged two plane tickets and the two flew from Calgary to Fairbanks, Alaska.”
“Alaska? What would Todd be doing in Alaska?”
“There’s more. They spent the night in Fairbanks, ordered room service and made reservations for a flight to Dawson-that’s in the Yukon-then flew to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. They went the rest of the way, presumably, to The Drolrotciv Institute in Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories. I believe that’s where Todd Manning is,” he said, handing her the file.
“What kind of institute is this?”
“Strangely, there was very little on it. They have a private, internal computer network...so I couldn’t get much. It’s some sort of private research institute that studies growth hormones mostly funded by off-shore companies with only a series of numbers as names. Top secret stuff.”
“Growth hormones? This is really weird. Maybe Todd is off on some new business venture and I’m worrying for nothing. I’ve heard he’s lost much of his fortune. I guess that solves that mystery. Oh, well...it’s not the first time my instincts have been wrong about Todd,” she said with a melancholy tone.
“Well, that’s all I could get, Tea...but, there is one more...interesting thing.”
“What?”
“When they reached Inuvik, Dr. Reese requested a private ambulance and they rode back to the institute in it, it’s the last charge on his credit card.”
Tea stood up abruptly, looking anxious.
“An ambulance? Oh...I hope Todd’s not...well, there’s no proof that Dr. Reese’s companion was actually Todd, Ivan...I mean this is all contingent on that one fact...just speculation based on ambiguous computer data.”
Ivan reached into the folder and pulled out a picture.
“This is Dr. Reese, I got it off the hotel monitor in Fairbanks, they digitally photograph everyone who registers there, and this is whom Dr. Reese was traveling with,” he said, handing her the picture.
Tea examined a printout of an older, dark-haired man and behind him was Todd, with shorter hair looking pale and tired, his lids half closed.
“Is that Todd Manning?”
Tea nodded slowly, concentrating on the picture.
“He looks awful. I don’t understand. Do you think Todd is sick?” she asked, her heart sinking.
Ivan shrugged.
“Well, it looks that way. I’m not sure. Anyway, Dr. Reese hasn’t left the institute since...so, that’s all I’ve got.”
Tea got up and placed the file in her bag.
“Thanks so much, Ivan,” she said, tousling his curly hair. “You’re amazing, do you know that? I really appreciate this.”
Ivan smiled shyly, as she headed for the stairs.
“Hey, Tea...if...uh...you want to have dinner sometime...”
Tea turned around and flashed him a smile.
“I’m a little old for you, Ivan, don’t you think?”
“I like older women...specially when they have beautiful minds, like yours.”
“Oh...if I were fifteen years younger, watch out! Well, unfortunately for me...I’m going to be married in a week. But you should really get out of this dark basement,” she said, looking around. “You need to get out and have some fun.”
“Yeah...I know. I’m kind of a loner...most girls don’t really get me. I guess I’m kind of strange...and girls don’t really go for that.”
“On the contrary, Ivan, there are many women out there who are very attracted to ‘strangeness’. Complexity and mystery are very sexy...beautiful really,” she said, with a faraway look. “You just have to go out and find the right woman, one who can appreciate it. And, you’re not going to find her in one of your computers. I’ll see you around, handsome,” said Tea, winking at him. Leaning over she gave him a kiss on the cheek then headed for the stairs.
Ivan watched her shapely legs disappear up the stairway and looked down at the bulge rising between his thighs.
“Damn...I’m destined to be a virgin for life.”
2003 Copyright by Trog
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