excerpt of DEAD MEN WORKING

Chapter One

Special Agent Victor Harrison entered the lobby of the Holiday Inn. At 3:00 AM the night clerk did not stir from his late night movie. Although Victor had been with the agency for years, he felt that this assignment could have been accomplished by a first year Field Agent.

He reminded himself, as he quietly entered the darkened hotel room, that it was not the task itself that required his talents and experience, but rather the status of the target. He also understood that his experience would be needed if something went wrong as it sometimes does.

Using the pass key that the Agency had for every major hotel in the country, Victor quickly entered the sleeping victim’s room.

Once inside he quickly moved into the bathroom and found what he was looking for. Next to the sink was a thin, eight inch long white plastic medicine box with seven covered sections. The first five sections were opened and the other two that were closed had the letter of each day on the lid. Even a first year trainee could figure out that the "target" had taken his daily medication each of those five days. As, was often the case, the Agency's profile of the target was right on the money. Victor exchanged the pills in the Saturday section with a pill that matched the appearance of the Isoroil pill exactly. Instead of taking his heart medicine and a vitamin, the target, Chris Owens, would swallow a drug that would result in a massive heart attack within hours. 

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At 7:30 that morning Chris Owens picked up the telephone on the first ring. 

It was his Deputy on the phone.

Chris Owens is the Director of the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, his San Francisco office was responsible for the quality and safety of the food consumed by millions of people living west of the Mississippi river.

"Good morning, tell me the bad news."

Chris knew that for his Deputy to call him at this early hour, it must be a serious problem.

"Good morning Chris, I am sorry to trouble you with a problem on your day off but...."

Chris interrupted him.

"Just cut to the chase, please."

"OK, I just got a call from the Center for Disease Control they reported a large number of food poisoning cases within the last week in several states. They have traced the source to a slaughterhouse in California. The company, Westland/Hallmark Meat Company is cooperating and has issued a full recall of more than 143 million pounds of the suspected contaminated product lines at that plant. The problem is, Chris that we have only two inspectors in that area, not nearly enough to trace the contaminated products that were already shipped.”

"See if you can pull at least two more inspectors from either Chicago or Dallas," Chris responded. "By the way; what products are we taking about?"

"Frozen hamburger meat and hot dogs."

"Damm, the hardest type of meat to trace and control, one package of either could hospitalize, or worse, kill dozens of people."

"We have also", he continued, "been asked to work with a Canada-U.S. advisory group to monitor the sale of fish caught in the Great Lakes. The group report said that there may be possible side effects from chemical contamination. Chris, isn't that a job for environmental people? I mean we can't even field enough investigators for a real emergency, much less a possible side effect!"

"You're right, but this gives me more ammo to use Monday when I address Congress for the annual agency status report. If I have to, I am prepared to place the blame on Congress for those people who died or became ill from food poisoning, because of unreasonable budget cuts and changes in our regulations."

"I will also submit a report outlining just what some of our cattle are being fed. The media is reporting that farmers are feeding herbivores animal waste, dead cattle, dead cats and dogs from animal shelters and sheep. We banned these practices in 1997, as you know, because of the "mad cow disease" scare. But our current regulations still allow dead horses, pigs, poultry blood and cattle blood, to be rendered into cattle feed just because it is cheaper than grain. The public is confused and afraid that all meat is dangerous to eat. The media is destroying the government's credibility in determining what food is safe to consume. I need to... at least try to make this point clear when I address Congress next week."

 "Damm Chris, I hope that you have your resume in order."

"That would be exactly what they would want me to do. Then you would have a new boss, one that would be more ----- shall I say corporate friendly."

Both men were silent for moment. The Deputy was waiting for Chris to continue. When Chris broke the silence, his voice was lower and more controlled.

"Look, I understand the pressure that all of us have been under. I find myself asking just how long we can continue this charade. The harder we work to protect the public the more road blocks Congress puts in front of us. They almost completely eliminated all of our operations budget, staff and now their changing the regulations. If you kill everyone with poisoned food and defective products, what's left? Everyday thousands of people are sickened by a food-borne disease in the U.S., many are hospitalized and some even die. Who benefits from the destruction of the very quality of life that we are told can be bought for money? If profit is the only thing that is running America, then what will the people with the money do with it? Can they live here after they destroyed everything in order to maximize profits? Who are they and what do they want? Even put in a simpler way, who would buy Firestone tires after over a 100 people died because the company kept the defects found in their product a secret? I guess they will just change the company name and "it's business as usual."

When Chris paused, his Deputy spoke, "You can't let the Bastards beat you down. You don't want to end up all fucked up in the head. If you keep thinking this way you will go nuts and I don't want to work under a Corporate appointed Chief. So enjoy your weekend and I will take care of these problems."

"You're right and I appreciate your point."

 "Meanwhile, see if you can get those inspectors moved and review the status of these hot spots. Keep me posted, you can reach me on my cell phone or leave messages at the desk. Thanks." Chris hung up.

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available from Amazon.com, by Allan Tyson
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