Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14) (13 page)

Mark glanced up from one of the classified
documents that he was reading before he replied, “Yeah, I figured I wouldn’t
be.  So who is this guy right here?”

 She looked at the photo.  It was of an older man
who had European features.  The man was in one of the photos with members of
Al-Jaazeez outside of the weapons facility. 

“We’re not sure who he is yet.  There are agents
on the ground in Iran who are still attempting to identify him.”  Colleen stood
up signaling that she was about to leave, and Mark followed suit.  He placed
the documents in the folder and then handed the folder back to her. 

Colleen shook her head and pushed the folder back into
his hands.  “You can keep those copies, Mark.  Your superiors will be getting
the very same copies very soon, think of those as your advanced edition.  I’ll
let you know when I find out further information about the madrassa and the
mystery man in the photo,” she said, walking to and opening his front door. 
She stopped short, turning slightly looking over her shoulder back at him.  

“You should know that it’s not looking good as far
as confirming that the Russian smallpox samples are secure.  My contact within
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service is shitting bricks right now because at
least two smallpox specimens are UA.  You should also know that I consider us
even.  Don’t think about tracking me down again, I won’t be amused.”  She left
Mark watching her as she walked out of his front door and into the night. 

Hello.  It is nice to finally
meet you Ms. Sanchez.”

“It’s very nice to meet
you as well, Mr. Mickelson.  Thank you for agreeing to speak with me today,”
Victoria replied, valiantly trying to tamp down her irritation. 

It was now 1:00, and their meeting was supposed to
have begun at 11:30.  Victoria had waited for an hour and a half in the lobby
area of Mickelson & Associate while Mickelson’s secretary repeatedly
assured her that he would only be “a few minutes.”  Clearly, either the man
didn’t own a watch or he didn’t appreciate the value of other people’s time. 
She was betting on the latter.

Mickelson & Associates was located on the
ninth floor of a newly renovated ten-story glass office building in downtown
Fort Worth.  Mickelson’s business operations only took up one floor of the
office building.  From the placard outside the front door of the office, there
were three “associates” employed by Mickelson’s company—all of which just
happened to be male. 

Surprisingly, the office was decorated in a modern
art deco style.  After Googling Mickelson’s bio, she had expected to find wood
paneling and mounted antlers covering his office. 

Mickelson was a tall man in his mid-sixties.  His
hair should have been graying by now, but instead it was still a shiny black. 
It was obviously a dye job.  His fragile locks gave the appearance that if you
were to touch them, your fingers would come away with a black sheen, like
touching an oil slick.  At the present moment, Mickelson was seated in a plush
black leather chair behind his large glass framed desk. 

“I would like to apologize for the delay.  But
that’s just one of the perils of being a businessman, you understand. 
Something always manages to come up,” Mickelson smiled at her politely before
continuing.  “What can I help you with?  You work for a local newspaper company
in Dallas, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.  I’m a crime reporter for
the
Dallas Star Gazette
.”

“A crime reporter, huh?  I’m not quite sure what I
can help you with,” Mickelson said.  His his brows furrowed. 

“Well first things first,” she said, pulling out a
tape recorder from her purse, “Do you remind if I record our conversation for
recollection purposes?”

“Actually I do mind.  I’m sure that my legal team
would not recommend that I have any interview with a news reporter taped. 
Reporters around here have gained the nasty reputation of chopping up tape and
presenting self-serving quotes.  You know, to completely blowing an interview
out of proportion.  Of course, not to say that you would do that, my dear.  I’m
sure that you have more scruples than that.  But a man in my position can never
be too cautious.”

“I guess I will just have to settle for taking
notes the old fashioned way then.”  Mickelson didn’t look too happy, but he
didn’t comment further.  Victoria pulled out a pen and a pad of paper from her
purse.

“What exactly is this interview for?”

“Well, I’m just doing a profile of some of our
prominent political leaders here in Texas.  Former Congressman Richard Henning
of course is one of the most prominent figures in the region.  I’m sure that
you have been made aware of Richard Henning’s recent ordeal?” 

Mickelson leaned backwards in his seat and rested
his hands on the armrests.  “Of course I am aware.  I’m sure that you would be very
hard pressed to find anyone in America who is not aware of his unfortunate
kidnapping and spectacular rescue.  I’m sure it was a very horrible situation
for Richard.  But I can’t see how I would have any helpful information to add
in regards to his ordeal.  I haven’t spoken to Richard in years.”

“You used to be business partners with Richard
Henning a while back,” Victoria continued.  This was clearly a statement and
not a question on her part.

“Yes, I was a silent partner in what is now the
Henning Cooper Company shipping conglomerate.  What does that have to do with
anything?”

“Well, I’m just curious.  I did some research on
Henning after his well-televised rescue.  Part of the background research
involved his shipping company.  It caught my attention when I saw that you left
the company two years back with hardly a dime to your name—at least as far as
stock ownership goes.”  Victoria looked directly at Mickelson, who had leaned
back in his seat.  She could tell that she had already started to annoy him.

“I have to ask,” she continued with her question,
“why would you leave a company that you helped to found with so little to show
for it?”

“Well, it’s quite simple really.  I left and
decided to pursue other endeavors because I fundamentally disagreed with the
future direction of the company.  I assure you, it’s a common grievance in
business relationships.”

“I won’t argue with you about that.  Certainly, I
understand that there can be unanticipated creative differences that could
cause business associates to part ways,” Mickelson nodded his head slightly and
she continued on, “But what is uncommon, however, is the lawsuit that you filed
in order to recover monetary damages.  Public records indicate that you had two
causes of action in your civil lawsuit: the first being unlawful conversion of
your stock interests, and second fraud.”  Victoria paused briefly as Mickelson
took this in.  “You see those types of accusations are not common after leaving
a company, for just as you put earlier, ‘a simple misunderstanding.’”

“Look Ms. Sanchez, I’m not quite sure what you are
getting at with this inappropriate line of questioning, but I’m positive that I
don’t like it.  Just because I disagreed with the direction that the partners
of my former company was taking the company in, and that I believed that I
deserved fair compensation does not mean that I hold a grudge against them. 
Any issue that I may have had with Richard and Walker has been fully resolved. 
And per our settlement agreement, I am not allowed to disclose the specific
terms of the resolution.  I wish both of them nothing but the best for their
future endeavors.”

“About that,” Victoria quickly interjected, “you
keep mentioning that you disagreed with the direction that the shipping company
was heading in.  What exactly was that direction, if you don’t mind
elaborating?”

“To be concise, I disagreed with some of the
clients that we were taking on before I left.  Now, if you will excuse me I’m
going to have to end this conversation because I have an important client
meeting due to start in the next few minutes,”  Mickelson said, getting up from
his seat and walking over to his office door to show Victoria out.

“But wait, what do you mean the new clients that
the company was taking on?”

“My concern wasn’t as wicked as you appear to be
thinking.  As a business executive myself, I just felt that there were more
lucrative contracts that we could have been pursuing given our limited number
of container ships.  I felt that the current course of the company was foregoing
better opportunities to expand our brand and to bring in better profits for our
shareholders.  Now really, I do have to show you out.  I have to prepare for my
next meeting.”

Victoria picked up her attaché case and walked out
of Mickelson’s office.  “Well thank you for your time, Mr. Mickelson,” she
said, shaking his hand.

“No problem, I hope that I was able to help you in
your inquiry.”

****

Mickelson closed his office door after he watched
Victoria walk down the hall and enter the elevator.  He sat back down at his
desk and drummed his fingers.  He then picked up his telephone and dialed a
number.  The phone was answered on the third ring.  “We may have a problem.”

****

Victoria Sanchez was now convinced that there was
more to the Henning incident than met the eye.  Walt Mickelson was either
withholding some important information, or outright lying to her. 

Mickelson’s hesitation was surprising because she
had assumed that he would have been eager to talk about the nature of his
relationship with his former partners.  Especially, given the way he exited the
shipping company.  Something about this whole situation stunk, and Victoria was
now even more determined to uncover what was going on.

After her semi-successful meeting with Mickelson,
Victoria placed a call with an old friend who worked for the FBI out of the FBI
field office in Dallas.  Monika Rodriguez had been with the FBI for around
seven years now, and Victoria had met her when she was doing an exposé on a
local drug kingpin whom had been arrested on several federal charges of
narcotics trafficking three years back.  Monika had been the arresting agent. 

In her phone call to Monika, she asked the woman
if she could look into a few companies that the Henning Cooper Company had
contracted with, and find out whether those companies had been flagged for any
violations. 

Because Victoria wasn’t asking Monika to look into
any restricted files she had not had an issue agreeing to do a quick search for
her friend—even though admittedly Monika was still stepping out on a limb for
her.  Given Monika’s hectic caseload, however, Victoria wasn’t expecting to
hear back from her anytime soon. 

Instead of just waiting for Monika to get back in
contact with her, if she ever would, Victoria decided to look into a couple of
new contracts that the Henning Cooper Company had signed within the past couple
of years. 

Victoria started her research with a basic tool
for investigating public companies: the Securities & Exchange Commission’s
online database.  Since the Henning Cooper Company had gone public ten years
ago, there was a significant paper trail of their business actions courtesy of
the SEC. 

Most people didn’t realize that public companies
were required to file quarterly and annual reports with the SEC on their
business activities to aid potential investors in making informed investment
decisions.  It was amazing the information that you could dig up from home by
just having a computer with an internet connection.

Victoria found that the Henning Cooper Company had
been officially incorporated in 1976.  It had the potential to be remembered in
history as one of those great companies that had been built out of a dollar and
a dream.  Neither Henning nor Cooper had been born with silver spoons in their
mouths.  What both men had been born with it seemed, were uncanny eyes for
business.

After graduating from Texas Tech
University—equipped with a business degree and a take-charge attitude—Richard
Henning collaborated with a friend from college, Walker Cooper.  Together they
had solicited initial startup capital via a small circle of initial investors. 
They had then purchased, at a steep discount, a lone tanker that had needed
some TLC.  From that one ship, they had created a multi-million dollar company
with over twenty tankers. 

Over the years, the company’s clients and volume
of shipments had increased.  In turn, the founders of Henning Cooper had seen a
return of more than 350% from their initial investment. 

By any standard used to measure financial success
that was an amazing return for a startup.  Like with many companies, some of
the investors had cashed out during the early years when the management had
still been chasing elusive profits. 

Mickelson, however, hadn’t left the company before
it started to return huge profits for its investors.  He’d exited two years
ago, right when the Henning Cooper Company was still on the upswing and had
acquired two new extremely profitable contracts: Briev Industries, Inc., and
Nava Drug Corp, Inc.  As much as Mickelson protested that it was just a simple
misunderstanding, about money and profits  Victoria thought he was protesting
the point a bit too much. 

First, the evidence just did not bear out his
claims.  Henning’s brainchild had developed into a virtual rainmaker.  Those in
the know in the business world were stating that the Henning Cooper Company had
the “Midas touch”—every contract they acquired turned to gold.  Money was
coming into the company left and right.  

Mickelson may have very well disagreed with the
direction of the company, but given the record returns that Henning Cooper had
reported last year, his disagreement didn’t involve monetary compensation. 
Whatever the grievance was about, Victoria would bet a full year’s paycheck
that it hadn’t been about the money—even if that’s what Mickelson wanted her to
believe.

But maybe, Mickelson’s dispute was purely
ideological and had to do with the nature of the contracts themselves—the
underlying stated missions of the companies involved.  Briev Industries was an
up incoming medium-sized weapons manufacturer located in the Ukraine.  Nava Drug
Corp was a small drug manufacturer that was located in Russia.  These two
companies didn’t really qualify as a significant deviation from Henning
Cooper’s typical brand of clients; they already had existing contracts with
various other pharmaceutical companies and weapons manufacturers. 

Of the two companies, Briev Industries seemed to
be the most suspect.  Victoria knew that hundreds of thousands of illegal
weapons flooded the black market each year.  And each year portions of these
weapons were then purchased by various terrorist cells within different
countries. 

If Briev Industries was somehow associated with organized
terrorist cells, then maybe Congressman Henning’s kidnapping wasn’t just
incredibly bad luck.  Maybe this particular contract had soured and they had
attempted to get even.

It was a solid theory, but it was still just
that—a theory.  Victoria couldn’t bring her assumptions to her editor and
expect him to let her run a half-cocked story with only speculation and
conjecture, as opposed to concrete facts and direct evidence, to support it. 
He would laugh her out of his office before that ever happened.