Feed the Hungry Atom

1

Tuesday, 10 April 2018, 8:30 AM

Washington DC

Seven Days to Tax Day

Although it had rained last night, the sun had come out this morning, and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. The grass on the Capital Mall was becoming greener by the day, and the air had a fresh sweet scent that made you feel relaxed and in no hurry to do much of anything.

Unfortunately, the nearby traffic was as noisy as ever. Most of the people, as they were walking along, were staring at their cell phones completely lost in their own little social world. None of them were paying any attention to what was going on around them.

Lieutenant Junior Grade (JG) Jane McCalla, from the United States Navy Special Investigation Unit (NSIU), neatly dressed in her crisp navy-blue uniform, was sitting on a bench across the wide walkway by the Capital stairs. She had arrived early for a scheduled meeting at 9:15 AM with the newly elected minority representative from Kentucky’s eighth district, Sally Martin.

Jane was anxious to meet her. She hadn’t seen her for more than three years when, at that time, she was still a student at the University of Kentucky and Sally had been her math professor.

Sally, just ten years older than Jane, had found that she was a natural in figuring out complex problems, and soon they became close friends.

When Jane graduated from college with honors and went off to the Naval Officer Training School, Sally had thought the navy was going to get a super young officer. It had turned out much as she had thought, and within a year, Jane had been assigned to NSIU and became an assistant to Rear Admiral Harry Walker, the head of the unit.

Just last month, she was awarded a second one-half stripe and raised in rank from ensign to lieutenant junior grade.

It was Jane who was the first to call and congratulate Sally when she won the election last fall, and they had stayed in touch ever since. But it was today, after two years, that the young navy officer was to first see her friend again, now an elected representative of Congress.

Over at NSIU, Lieutenant Harold Jarrett and Chief Petty Officer Paul DeNice sat across from Admiral Walker as they were reading through the action request that had been in the admiral’s lockbox that morning.

It seemed a shooting took place in downtown Chicago yesterday evening that had targeted two city officials, both of whom had survived. The gunman, a tall man wearing a full helmet with a plastic shield over his face and gloves on his hands, had ridden by on a motorcycle, shot both men, raced off, and disappeared around the corner.

The report stated that local police found the motorcycle, parked by a fire hydrant, five blocks away. It had been reported stolen from a parking lot two hours earlier, and there were no identifiable markings found that would lead to who the thief or shooter was.

Paul looked up at Admiral Walker and said, Why does the NSA [National Security Agency] want us to look into this? It would seem that the local and state police have a much better chance of finding out who did this than we would.

That was also my reaction, said the admiral. He continued, But I think they feel there may be a political entrapment involved. Chicago politicians, with their strong political malfeasance, have a reputation of showing a lack of support for law enforcement.

Turning his head to Chief DeNice, he added, "Paul, would you take a look and see if you can find any ideas regarding a course of action we might take with this?

Paul nodded and said, Yes, sir.

On another subject, the admiral said, we have received an inquiry from NSA regarding a rumor they heard that the Chinese may be building a nuclear site near the city of Suzhou in eastern China. It is unconfirmed at this point, but they asked if we will please take a look and see what we can find out about it. Harold, would you check your sources and see if we can find anything about this?

Harold nodded and said, Aye, sir, I’ll look into it.

Paul asked, "I believe the only other open item we have, sir, is this very unusual request we got from the State Department to look into a possible takedown of a terrorist cell in Aleppo, Syria.

That is usually in the province of the DOD [Department of Defense] and done as a joint action military strike along with our allies. I understand it’s the leader of the cell that is the target they want, taken alive if possible, but why us?

Admiral Walker, shaking his head, answered, "I really don’t know why; all I know is that this cell leader is a ‘real bad momma’ who, it seems, also has a strong direct connection with Iran; and they really want to interrogate him. In addition, from what I’ve been told, he apparently has a big hold over the Damascus Ba’ath Party leaders.

That’s all I know at this point, but while I get better answers, why don’t you see if we can get a team together and have them set up and ready to go.

Dismissing the meeting, the admiral stood up and said, I have to go over to the DOD for a meeting, so maybe get started with these and see what you can find out.

Both Paul and Harold stood as well, and Harold said, Aye, sir, we’ll get on it.

Back at the mall, Jane had walked over to the Capital and met Sally at the stairs, and the two began their anticipated visit together over coffee in Sally’s office.

2

Friday, 11 May 2018

Chen Chow Wan Restaurant

East Fourth Street

New York City, NY

The smell of cooking shrimp, chicken, and spices permeated the atmosphere of the small Chinese restaurant; actually, the smell was all around the neighborhood. It had wafted out the kitchen door and was caught by a light breeze that carried it to the street like a sensory advertisement for an exotic experience.

Emilio Watson sat and waited for his three other companions to join him at the small table near the rear of the restaurant. Every Friday, the four friends got together for a Chinese luncheon, with a pot of green tea and the special of the day.

They were late today, and he was getting hungry with that sweet smell from the kitchen. He hoped they would get there soon, because he had to get back to his office for a scheduled meeting at the International Ocean Shipping Company (IOSC), where he was director of Pacific Ocean shipping coordination.

The door opened, and a young man and woman entered, looked around, spotted Emilio, smiled, and strode over to the table.

The young woman said, Sorry, we are late, but John and I got a last-minute phone call from Gene. He said he had to wait for a call from an investor in Switzerland who had been hearing rumors about food supplies in the Far East.

John Carrick and Annie Selene slid into the booth as Annie continued, The Mercantile Exchange, as you well know, is rather slow moving; but unusual news from a foreign source can usually interrupt a sleeping dog.

John added, Gene told us to go ahead and not wait for him. He told me that, with the time difference between New York and Luzern, he might not make it at all today.

With those very words barely spoken, Gene Elbridge walked through the door, came over to the table, and slid in next to Emilio.

Gene frowned at the others and said, Sometimes I wonder why I ever listen to financial advisers!

Emilio shook his head smiling and said, Because none of us would have a job if they didn’t exist!

I know, said Gene, "but sometimes they just move so slow that a rock in the wind would pass them by, and other times they seem to think everything happens immediately.

This guy in Switzerland is a wealthy investor who usually trades in gold and silver futures. He had heard a rumor that the United States was probably going to take a big hit on a mix of agricultural products in the international trade market. So as an arbitrageur, he wants to sell off two hundred contracts of twelve-month New York mixed agricultural futures and, at the same time, buy an equivalent amount of similar Shanghai futures.

John, who worked as associate director of a major trucking company that moved many of these food products to the West Coast for overseas shipping, said, Where did he get that idea from? That type of trade works with precious metals, not with perishable foods.

Gene looked over at him and said, He didn’t say, but said the world marketplace may change if what he heard from a European scientist is true. I tried to get him to explain, but he said to just get the trades done and then hung up the phone.

Annie asked, Did you get his trades done?

Shaking his head, Gene explained, I put the orders in, but the Shanghai exchange was already closed for the weekend; I placed the New York order, but without a lot of reason, the sale price just wasn’t going to move very far. So I called him back and told him that there wasn’t anything else I could do. He said all right but make sure I get it done first thing Monday.

Annie, a junior executive for a major international banking conglomerate, sat quietly and thought about what had just been said. She knew, as did the others, that a stray news item from an international source could have a dramatic effect, not only on the market, but almost everything.

She decided to look into all available references in regard to the trading of food production sources and those that had been in any way affected by the trade balance between countries that involved the USA.

Knowing that it could be a difficult thing to determine, she still was wondering why a futures investor would risk so much money on an arbitrage order, unless he had a really good reason for it. This type of action was usually done only by international banking investors who were really very sure of what was likely to occur.

The Chinese waitress, who had come to their table and taken their orders while they had been talking, heard what had been said. When she went to the kitchen to place the orders, she slipped out the back door, pulled out her cell phone, and made a call.

Speaking in Chinese, she repeated what she had heard to the person on the other end. After a moment of silence, she heard the person she called say, OK, I’ll pass it on that it may be out!

After lunch was finished, the four friends all went back to their respective offices and began to look for anything in the news, or for that matter, anywhere else that may have information related to the international trade of food sources.

In San Francisco, Wayne Hon, executive secretary to billionaire shipping magnate Harvey Wassel, owner of Trans World Shipping Corporation (TWSC), stood and wondered what he should say to his boss. Mr. Wassel did not always take unexpected news well; and the information he had just received, with the call from the waitress in New York, could be termed unexpected.

He stepped out the door into the bright California sunshine and walked over to his office to compose a report about the news he received. It would be on Mr. Wassel’s desk when he returned from his golf outing later this afternoon.

Harvey Wassel returned from an early afternoon of golf at the Bay Golf and Country Club and stopped in at his office before heading home for the weekend.

He had a habit of always checking his mail late in the day so as to always be sure everything was kept up to date and any problems or situations could be handled or disposed of right away.

He found the short report from secretary Hon, setting on the table. He picked it up and read it.

Holding it by his side, his thoughts were of the communications he had had with several of the leaders of the Communist Party in Beijing about the project near Suzhou and what it could mean to the world economy.

He had been positioning himself for an agreement with the Chinese that would move most of his large shipping fleet away from the United States. He wanted to be ready to become the primary service provider for a projected expansion of the Asian market.

He was prepared to invest more than half his fortune to modify the majority of his shipping fleet. He would purchase additional ships, and by having them ready to accommodate the needed transport, and with having all the work done in China, he was looking at controlling most of the Pacific and Indian Ocean shipping. Also, his plan was to use Chinese crews to man the ships and to stop using the expensive union-controlled American crews.

He went over to his fax machine and sent a copy of the note to Beijing.

3

Tuesday,15 May 2018

NASA Johnson Space Center

Houston, TX

Katie Burns was looking at the latest aerial photographs that had been recovered from the Orbital Photo Lock Satellite (OPLS). It had slowed down over the past year, slowly losing its orbital speed until it passed through the atmosphere and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico yesterday morning.

The trajectory had been calculated