“Okay, okay!” he yells. “I’ll tell you everything.”
“That’s the spirit,” I say smiling. I stand and sit back down on the bullet-ridden sofa, gesturing with my hand for him to speak. “In your own time…”
He sighs and composes himself, occasionally wincing from the pain, which I assume by now he’s feeling pretty much everywhere.
“I saw that GlobaTech Industries had this land on their books that they weren’t doing anything with,” he begins. “I’d read about Pellaggio’s plans for expansion in the area and I approached him with the deal so I could make some money on the side. I didn’t think for a second that GlobaTech would notice. The land had been purchased for next-to-nothing over seven years ago.”
“So you wanted to make a sneaky bit of cash? Makes sense,” I say. “So why pull out at the last minute?”
“A few days ago, one the directors assigned me to a new project with a militia organization called Dark Rain. It was off the books, which was why I’d found no record of the land being part of it. The project was being overseen by a small division within GlobaTech that worked outside of the standard protocols and operating guidelines. This project required the use of the resources found on that land, and it was my job to set things up with Dark Rain. I had no choice but to walk away from Pellaggio’s deal. I knew I was causing myself problems with the mob, but I also knew that I'd be protected by this deal, so I went along with it and kept my mouth shut.”
I look at Clara, who I can see already knows some of what Jackson is saying, but is either confused or disinterested with the rest. I look back at him.
“What do you mean when you said ‘the resources found on that land’?” I ask.
He sighs, momentarily reluctant to continue, but knowing he has no choice. “That land sits on top of the only natural uranium deposit in the United States.”
Huh…
Well, I did not expect that.
A private military contractor and a militia organization working together to mine Uranium on U.S. soil… what could possibly go wrong there?
For the first time today, words fail me. All accept two…
“Holy shit.”
9
Silence descends on the room as I’m left reeling from the bombshell Jackson had just dropped.
Perhaps bombshell isn’t the best choice of words, under the circumstances…
I do my best to gather my sense again and I aim my gun at Clara who, if I’m honest, looks as shocked as I am.
“Tell me about Dark Rain,” I demand.
“I don’t know much about them,” she replies, somewhat absently. “They only recruited me a couple of years ago.”
“What are they planning?”
“I don’t know.”
I put my gun an inch away from her forehead. “Don’t lie to me, Clara.”
She remains calm, but her eyes betray her concern. “I honestly have no idea. My mission was to protect Jackson and keep him safe. That’s it.”
She’s very matter-of-fact about it and my instinct is to believe her. I’ve already concluded she’s good at her job, but I get the impression she got the short straw assignment because she’s relatively new to this Dark Rain outfit. Plus, the look of shock on her face when Jackson mentioned the Uranium was genuine. I turn back to Jackson and put my gun against his forehead instead. He starts crying again.
“Ted, you gotta start talking. Uranium? What’s the big picture here?”
“W-we were going to mine it and then process it in one of our labs.”
“Process it, how?”
“We’d use gas centrifuges to enrich the material highly enough that it becomes weapons-grade.”
“Weapons-grade? As in, the stuff that goes in nukes?”
“You could use it in nuclear bombs, yeah. Having control of our own deposit meant we could sell it on for a hundred percent profit. GlobaTech approached Dark Rain after learning of the mine’s location and proposed the operation.”
“So, you were going to sell the land to Dark Rain but do all the mining for them? That doesn’t make any sense. If they owned the land, wouldn’t they technically own the Uranium? Why would GlobaTech offer to sell something on someone else’s behalf?”
“The United States and Russia set up a joint program back in ‘93 to convert all highly enriched Uranium into nuclear fuel. Ever since then, practically all weapons-grade material has been disposed of. We saw an opportunity to fill a massive gap in the market.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’d give it to Dark Rain?”
“Having weapons-grade Uranium isn’t exactly legal. If they owned the mine, they would have liability.”
Ah… I think I’ve figured it out now.
“So you offered to do all the mining and processing and selling to make it look like you’re doing them a favor — but you were just setting them up to take the fall while you reaped the profits?”
He shrugs. “That was the plan.”
“Christ, is there anyone you won’t screw over?”
Jackson shrugs again. “It was simply too much money and too good of an opportunity to overlook.”
“But you essentially gave an underground militia control of a Uranium mine!” I say. “Is the almighty dollar so important you’d risk the lives of millions?”
“Says the hired assassin?” he laughs with desperation.
“Don’t try and lecture me on morals, Teddy, this really isn’t the time.”
We fall silent and I find myself trying to think of a plan that would allow me to make all this right… You could argue it’s not my place to get involved, but… think of the consequences if nuclear weapons are manufactured on U.S. soil and sold on the black market. Or worse… imagine if somebody detonated one? If I could’ve done something to prevent that and didn’t, I’d never forgive myself.
“Has the deal for the land been finalized yet between GlobaTech and Dark Rain?” I ask him.
“That’s what I’m in town for,” he says after a heavy breath. “I’ve got all the papers with me, I just need to sign them and the land’s sold. Then mining can begin with no liability to GlobaTech.”
“And does anyone have any idea what you personally were intending to do with the land before you were brought on board to broker this deal for GlobaTech?”
“No, I covered my tracks well enough, I think.”
“You were just shit outta luck, right?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” he says, gesturing toward me with his head.
I walk over to the desk he was working at earlier and pick up his briefcase. The same one handcuffed to him yesterday. There’s a combination lock on it. I look over at Jackson.
“What’s the code for this?” I ask him.
“Six, eight, seven… three, four, nine,” he reluctantly replies.
I lie it down on the bed, enter the code and open it. Inside are documents relating to the land purchase resting on top of a quarter of a million dollars in cash.
I spin it around so they can both see the contents and walk over to them both. I stand in front of Jackson and aim my gun at his head, nodding over at the briefcase.
“Is that everything?” I ask.
He nods.
“And I suppose it’s too much to ask for you to have any information to hand about Dark Rain?”
“I never dealt with them directly,” he explains. “My only contact with them is through her.” He gestures at Clara with his head.
“Okay, fine,” I say. “So to recap: your company, GlobaTech, is selling land that has a Uranium mine underneath it to some militia outfit called Dark Rain. They think you’re being really nice by handling all the mining and processing of the material itself, but they actually have no idea that you’re setting them up to take the fall for everything, freeing you guys up to sell the material and make loads of money…