Chapter 16 Chapter fifteen

The world headquarters of Kingsley International Group is located in south Manhattan, two blocks from the East River.Covering an area of ​​about five acres, it consists of four huge reinforced concrete buildings, plus two small residences for staff, surrounded by walls and guarded by electronic equipment. At ten o'clock in the morning, Earl Greenberg and Robert Pregidzer entered the lobby of the main building.The modern and spacious lobby is furnished with couch and coffee table, as well as five or six chairs. Inspector Greenberg glanced at the various magazines on an end table: Virtual Reality, Atomic and Radiological Terrorism, Robot World... He picked up a copy of Genetic Engineering News and turned to Prey Yoshizawa. "Aren't you tired of looking at this in the dentist's waiting room?"

Pregidzer grinned, "Yeah." The two detectives went to the receptionist and identified themselves: "We have an appointment with Mr. Kingsley." "He's waiting for you. I'll send you guys to escort you to his office." She handed them each a KIG badge, "Please return it when you leave." "no problem." The receptionist pressed a button, and a moment later, a beautiful young woman appeared. "These gentlemen have an appointment with Mr. Kingsley." "Okay. I'm Rita Taylor, one of Mr. Kingsley's assistants. Please follow me."

The two detectives walked down a long corridor, the doors of the offices on both sides of the corridor were tightly shut.Down the corridor is Tanner's office. In Tanner's reception room, Kathy Ordoniz, Tanner's bright young secretary, sat behind a desk. "Good morning, gentlemen. You may go right in." She stood up and opened the door to Tanner's private office.The two detectives froze as soon as they stepped in, they were dumbfounded. The huge office is filled with mysterious electronic equipment, and the soundproof walls are lined with ultra-thin wafer-like TVs, and the screens show live scenes from cities around the world.Some are busy conference rooms, offices and laboratories, others are hotel suites where meetings are taking place.Each TV has its own dedicated audio system, and even with the volume turned down so low, there's something eerie about hearing fragments of speech in a dozen different languages ​​at the same time.

The name of the city is printed at the bottom of each screen: Milan...Johannesburg...Munich...Madrid...Athens...On the far wall is an eight-story bookshelf lined with leather-bound volumes. head books. Tanner Kingsley sat behind a mahogany desk, on which was mounted a console lined with five or six buttons of different colors.He was dressed in an elegant gray tailored suit, light blue shirt, and a blue plaid tie. Tanner stood up as two detectives walked in. "Good morning, gentlemen." Earl Greenberg said, "Good morning. We're—" "Yes, I know who you are. Earl Greenberg and Inspector Robert Pregiser." They shook hands. "Please sit down."

The detectives take their seats. Pregidzer stared wide-eyed at the rapidly changing images of the world on the huge number of televisions.He shook his head in amazement: "Speaking of today's most cutting-edge technology! This is—" Tanner held up a hand. "We're not going to talk about today's state-of-the-art technology here, Inspector. This technology won't be on the market for another two or three years. With this, we're able to observe The videoconferences held here. The information sent from our offices around the world is automatically classified and archived by these computers."

"Mr. Kingsley, excuse me for asking a simplistic question. What does a think tank do, exactly?" Prigidzer asked. "Bottom line? We're problem solvers. We devise solutions to problems we might encounter in the future. Some think tanks focus on one field—military or economics or politics. We tackle national security, communications, microbiology and Environmental issues, etc. KIG acts as an independent analyst and commentator on major long-term global issues for governments.” "Interesting," Pregidzer said. "Eighty-five percent of our researchers have senior titles, and 65 percent are PhDs."

"very impressive." "My brother, Andrew, started this company to help third world countries, so we undertake development projects there as well." Suddenly there was lightning and thunder from a TV.They all looked back. Inspector Greenberg said, "Have I seen an article before about a weather experiment you're doing?" Tanner grimaces: "Yeah, the industry calls it Kingsley's stupid mistake. It was one of the major failures KIG ever had. It was a project I most hoped to succeed. Quite the contrary, we called it closed." Prigidzer asked: "Is it possible to control the weather?"

Tanner shook his head: "Only to a small extent. Many people have tried. As early as 1900, Nikola Tesla experimented with the weather. He discovered that the ionization of the atmosphere can be radioactive Waves have changed. In 1958, the Ministry of Defense of our country threw copper needles into the ionosphere for experiments. Ten years later, the Popeye Project was carried out. The government attempted to extend the rainy season in Laos and increase the amount of mud on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. They used a Agents of silver iodide nuclei, the engine shoots rows of silver iodide into the clouds as seeds for rain."

"Does it work?" "Yes, but only in a limited geographical area. There are many reasons why no one can finally control the weather. One of them is that El Niño creates heat in the Atlantic Ocean and disturbs the world's ecosystems, while La Niña creates cold temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. Together, they completely veto any realistic weather control plan. About 80 percent of the southern hemisphere is ocean, while the northern hemisphere is 60 percent ocean, creating another imbalance. In addition, the jet stream determines The path of the storm, that is simply uncontrollable."

Greenberg nodded, then hesitated: "Do you know why we are here, Mr. Kingsley?" Tanner looked at Greenberg for a moment: "I thought it was a rhetorical question. Otherwise I would have found it offensive. Kingsley International is a think tank. I had four employees die mysteriously or within twenty-four hours. Missing. We have embarked on our own investigation. We have offices in all major cities around the world and employ 1,800 people, and I obviously have difficulty keeping in touch with all of them. But I currently have We know that two employees were murdered apparently because of their links to criminal activity. That is why they took their lives - but I assure you that it will not cause damage to the reputation of Kingsley International. I look forward to our Humans are going to fix that very quickly."

Greenberg said solemnly. "Mr. Kingsley, there are other circumstances. As far as we know, a Japanese scientist named Akira Iso committed suicide in Tokyo six years ago. A Swiss scientist named Madeleine Smith also committed suicide three years ago. ,exist--" Tanner cut him off: "Zurich. Neither of them committed suicide. They were murdered." The two detectives looked up at him in surprise. "How do you know that?" Pregidzer asked. Tanner's tone was grim: "They were killed because of me." "You say so—" "Akira Iso is a brilliant scientist. He works for a major Japanese electronics company called Tokyo Daiichi. I met him at an international industry conference in Tokyo. We got along very well. I think KIG can provide He had a better vibe than the company he was working for at the time, and he accepted it. In fact, he was very excited." Tanner tried to keep his voice calm, "We agreed to wait until he got permission to leave his company legally. Announced it. But he apparently mentioned it to someone, because it appeared in a newspaper column about it, and..." Tanner paused for a long time before continuing: " Akira Iso was found dead in his hotel room the day after the article appeared." Robert Priggiser asked: "Mr. Kingsley, is there any other reason for his death?" Tanner shook his head. "No. I don't believe he committed suicide. I hired detectives and sent them and a few of our own to Japan to find out what happened. They couldn't find any evidence of what happened, and I thought maybe it was I was wrong, and there may be some tragedy in Akira Iso's life that I don't understand." "Then why are you so sure he was murdered now?" Greenberg broke the casserole and asked. "As you said, three years ago a scientist named Madeleine Smith was presumed to have committed suicide in Zurich. What you don't know is that Madeleine Smith also wanted to leave the people she worked with and come to our The company is here." Greenberg frowned. "What makes you think these two deaths are connected?" Tanner's face was as cold as ice: "Because the company she works for is a branch of Tokyo Daiichi Industrial." There was a startled silence. "There's something I don't understand," Pregidzer said. "Why would they murder an employee just because she wanted to transfer? Did—" "Madeleine Smith is not just an employee. Neither is Akira. They are very talented physicists who are solving problems that will make the company richer than you can imagine. So they don't want to lose any of them One, let's get them." "Have the Swiss police investigated Smith's death?" "Investigated. We investigated. But again we don't have any evidence. Actually we are still doing research on what happened and I think we can definitely solve it. The KIG is well connected all over the world. If I get Any intelligence of value will be glad to share with you. I hope you will reciprocate." "Fair enough," Greenberg said. A gold-plated telephone on Tanner's desk rang. "Excuse me." He walked to the desk and picked up the microphone. "Hello...yes...the investigation is going very well. I actually have two detectives in my office who have agreed to cooperate." He glanced at Pregidzer and Greenberg. "Yes... I'll keep you posted as soon as I have further news." He hung up the phone. "Mr. Kingsley, are you doing any sensitive research here?" Greenberg asked. "You mean we're working on some kind of sensitive subject that has resulted in the murder of five or six people? Inspector Greenberg, there are more than a hundred think tanks in the world, some of which are the exact same subject as ours. We don't Build a nuclear bomb. The answer to your question is no." The door opened, and Andrew Kingsley walked into the office, holding a stack of documents. Andrew Kingsley bears little resemblance to his brother.His features are blurred.His hair is gray and thin, his face is wrinkled, and he walks with his back slightly arched.Tanner Kingsley was youthful and intelligent, while Andrew Kingsley was dull and insensitive.Talking hesitantly, it seems that it is difficult to cope with the coherent expression of sentence after sentence. "Here are those -- you know -- those notes you asked for, Tanner. I'm sorry I didn't get them -- got them done sooner." "Nothing at all, Andrew." Tanner turned to the two detectives. "This is my brother, Andrew. Greenberg and Detective Prigidzer." Andrew looked at them in a trance, blinking his eyes. "Andrew, do you want to tell them about your Nobel Prize?" Andrew looked at Tanner and said vaguely: "Yes, the Nobel Prize...the Nobel Prize..." They watched as he turned and shuffled out of the room. Tanner sighed: "As I said, Andrew is the founder of this company, a truly talented person. He won the Nobel Prize for a discovery seven years ago. Unfortunately, he failed in an experiment. Mistake, that—that changed him." His tone was pained. "He must have been a remarkable man." "You can't imagine it at all." Earl Greenberg got up and held out his hand: "Well, we won't delay your time any longer, Mr. Kingsley. We will keep in touch." "Gentlemen—" Tanner said firmly, "let us solve these crimes—as soon as possible."