Chapter 99
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The young congressman stopped his bike ride long enough to buy a throw-away cell phone for cash at the little phone store on Watt Avenue. No one ever recognized him in this part of town, especially covered in sweat, with sunglasses on, and missing his trademark Italian suits and country boy grin.
He peddled back to the bike trail and eventually made his way to the condo downtown. He hated Sacramento except for his rides along the river. While he was in the shower the phone took enough of a charge to make the call. He walked out onto the deck with one of the best views of Sacramento that graft and corruption could buy and made the call.
“It’s me,” his said and quoted the appropriate passage of the scripture.
The voice on the other end of the line was electronically altered. The voice on the other end owned the young congressman so there was no need for the person to disguise their voice. “There is a sample in secure cold storage at the Ecolab facility in Vacaville. Memorize this number. Do not write it down: Zed 678 Hache 41B. I repeat Zed 678 Hache 41B, Zed 678 Hache 41B. Do you have it?”
The congressman thought to himself, What an arrogant fuck this guy or gal was, but now he knew that he/she was English. No one else said “Zed” for Z and “hache” for H. He jotted the number down on the pad he had carried with him out onto the balcony.
“I have it,” he said.
“Good. We will need that sample.” With that the voice hung up. The congressman tore the top sheet off the pad, memorized the number, and burned it in the ashtray while he had one of the three cigars a day he allowed himself. The congressman didn’t notice the person in the condo across the way with the powerful telescope trained on his balcony. He also didn’t notice the impression that his writing made on the next sheet of the note pad.
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