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Dating : When Toxic Rivers Flow Part 3

h2>Dating : When Toxic Rivers Flow Part 3

My name is Sunny Alexander-Johnson, and I’m Henry James, and we’re writers for Dark Sides of the Truth Magazine.

Part 1, Part 2

We called the offices of Robert Johnson and Manny Hermanos as we left the parking garage at Dark Sides. A short drive later and after going through the stringent security processes, Manny had instilled we were able to gain entrance.

Since this was Tim Rice’s first visit into the inner sanctum of Manny and Robert’s world, we sat in Robert’s office waiting for the handshaking and introduction ceremonies finished.

Tim seemed genuinely surprised to discover Roberto was no stranger to the two men. It was only after a brief reminiscence of Roberto’s own story as a boxer and Robert’s assistance in freeing his mother and siblings and Roberto’s involvement with Manny and his wife Victoria, who’d once been in the witness protection program that Tim understood.

“Guess you didn’t read those stories, huh Tim?”

“Henry? It’s not like you ever read any of mine, huh?”

“I’d rather eat sawdust.”

“Okay, children, enough of that. Baby, are the cyber-twins available? Roberto’s got a photo of a man we need them to run through their routines.”

“Wu’s on vacation, but Donnie’s here, Sunny. Roberto, you remember where Donnie and Becca’s office is, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right back, folks.”

Roberto eased out of the office and disappeared.

“You might as well get comfortable. Depending on how deep Donnie chooses to go, it might take a bit.”

After choosing our respective seats, we made small talk until Roberto walked back into the office and sat. The discussion quickly turned to the reason we were all there in the first place. Tim filled Manny and Robert in on what we knew, which at this point was very little.

“So Tim, you think this textile company is cutting corners and dumping their waste products in the Colorado River, right?”

“Yes, Robert, I do.”

“And the photo Roberto took of the floater you and he discovered is supposed to be your information source?”

“We ain’t sure of that little brother. That’s why we’re here.”

“Okay, Henry. I’ll give you that. Tim, doesn’t a textile plant have to submit their processes to some type of regulatory watchdogs? Like, routine inspections by the environmental protection agency?”

“They do. The problem is Robert, somebody’s evidently been tipping them off. Uttar Textile has passed every surprise inspection over the last five years in flying colors.”

“Is it possible the company is legit? I mean, maybe they’re not doing what you think they’re doing.”

“Impossible. We have water analysis reports taken over the last two years that tell a different story. Two years ago, from several locations downstream of the plant, water analysis showed microscopic traces of Chlorobenzene and Azo dyes. In addition to that, the analysis showed altered Ph levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. Last year, an analysis performed at the same locations showed increased traces of the chemicals and an even more significant alteration of the Ph levels. This year, the levels of chemical trace and the alteration of Ph is even worse. A river doesn’t produce those chemicals or change it’s Ph levels of its own accord Robert.”

“And yet they…”

Donnie’s voice interrupted Robert’s comment. He leaned over and punched the speaker button on his phone.

“Yeah, Donnie.”

“So, after running facial recog, I got a few hits, so I tapped into the DOT database and found him pretty quickly. The man’s name is Louis Delgado. He lived in Brownwood, which makes sense because, at the time of his death, he was working for Uttar Textiles. You guys need his address?”

“How does he do that?”

“Don’t ask Tim. Otherwise, we’ll be here all day.”

“I heard that, Henry.”

“Hey, Donnie boy. How’s it hanging?”

“Not bad.”

“So how do you know he worked for Uttar Textiles?”

“Who’s that talking?”

“Tim Rice. Roberto and I work together at Dark Sides.”

“Well, Mr. Rice, It was pretty easy actually. Uttar may be one of the premier textile companies around, but their I/T staff is a bunch of amateurs. Their firewalls and proxy servers had so many open ports I was able to slip through on the first try. After polling a few routing tables, I found an administrative password and was able to pull up Mr. Delgado, info in one of the HR databases.”

“See, I warned you not to ask Rice.”

“I see what you mean, Henry. Donnie? One more question. What was Mr. Delgado’s role there at the plant?”

“You want his job description?”

“Uh, I suppose if you have it.”

“Trust us Tim, he has it.”

“Hey, Sunny.”

“Hey, Donny. So what did Louis Delgado do at the plant?”

“He was the VP of quality. You know, making sure all the processes and procedures were being performed correctly. Stuff like that.”

“Did that include effluent containment?”

“What?”

“Just another one of Tim’s favorite words Donnie. What he’s asking is, did Louis Delgado have anything to do with wastewater containment, and disposal and purification?”

“Hang on.”

“What’s he doing now?”

“He’s probably reading the position’s job description if I know Donnie.”

“Seriously, Sunny?”

“Seriously.”

“So his job description says part of his responsibility is to manage the daily containment, disposal and or purification processes in accordance with government regulatory statues.”

Tim smiled then twisted around and stared at us, his face beaming with a proud expression of triumph.

“Thank you, Donnie. Thank you very much.”

“No problem, Mr. Rice. Oh, one last thing. I was skimming their financial records, well, because I can, and I came across something interesting. Sunny, you and Henry may want to have a chat with Cynthia about Uttar Textiles.”

“And why would we want to do that, Donnie?”

“It seems like Alexander Investments and Uttar have been best buds for the last ten years or so.”

“No way.”

“Yes, way Sunny. In fact, two years ago, Alexander Investments dropped five million dollars into Uttar for a pretty hefty chunk of shares. If Uttar continues to stay top five, it’s probably going to announce a split. Uttar makes good, and so does Alexander Investments.”

“Ah, Jesus H. Christ.”

“No, Henry, but probably pretty close to financial heaven if you catch my drift.”

“Thanks, Donnie. We’ll let you know if we need anything else.”

“Cool.”

When Donnie disconnected, we all just sat there and traded glances. It’s pretty amazing how small a place this world of ours had suddenly just become. The fact Cynthia Alexander was the CEO of Alexander Investments could be helpful, or this situation could turn out to be disastrous.

“So, now what?”

“Well, two things, Tim. One of us needs to get into that plant, and Henry and I need to have a conversation with my mother.”

“I ain’t looking forward to that last part one bit.”

“Me, neither old man.”

Read also  Dating : Careful What You Wish For -Part 2

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