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"Direct phone calls to or from the UN," commented Jose.
"I heard that companies such as ClearFieldz are sometimes contracted by the
UN. It's at least a place to start."
"You won't find any direct calls from the UN," warned Rebecca. Jose looked
up.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Mr. Cushing never spoke with anyone from the UN, directly," said Rebecca,
taking a seat on the couch.
"Tell me, Mrs. Newton," began Jose, "if I understand this correctly.
ClearFieldz has, on occasion, been contracted by the UN to demine portions of land--
is this correct?"
"Well, yes and no. You see, Mr. Cushing was responsible for gathering groups
of subcontractors or individuals with similar field experience and lease them out,
under ClearFieldz name, to other contractors who were hired directly by the UN or
private parties to perform certain jobs requiring specialized capabilities,"
explained Rebecca.
"Let me run this by you and see if I have it straight," said Jose. "The
UN contracts a person or corporation to do a specific job; they, in turn, hire Christopher
Cushing (for instance), and he gathers the necessary personnel from smaller corporations.
This reminds me of the fish who swallowed a smaller fish, who swallowed an even smaller
fish, and so on," commented Jose wearily.
"The process is necessary, I assure you, Mr. Fernandez," said Rebecca.
"No one corporation owns all the technology or individualized skills required
for complex operations. It takes years of technological advances from multiple universities
and commercial developmental corporations to pioneer the needed technology. Someone
has to bring it all together into an operational team. This layering, however, does
have a downside. There's a lot of money to be made in the demining of land, especially
when governments pay for it. It only takes one person in the non-governmental side,
such as Mr. Cushing, to forge documents when they assemble their teams. Maybe the
personnel might not have all the experience their credentials claim, so Mr. Cushing
falsifies them. This way, he can create more teams and make more money." Rebecca
stood up from her seat on the couch and walked over to the window. The view of the
Niagara Falls was breathtaking. However, Rebecca did not notice it, for her mind
was elsewhere. "I'm not saying all the demining companies do this, only ClearFieldz."
"How can the UN not know all this?" asked Jose. Rebecca turned around.
"The UN is not omniscient. They are not God, no matter how many safeguards they
have. Only God has the right to claim that He never makes mistakes, Mr. Fernandez,"
reminded Rebecca stoutly.
"Very true," Jose replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Tell me,
Mrs. Newton are you aware of a phone call your husband made to me, before he died
in the car accident?" Rebecca's mouth opened wide in astonishment.
"Peter called you? about this?" she asked, pointing to the files Jose was
holding. "Mr. Fernandez, that's impossible. Peter never knew anything about
these files. I didn't want to worry him," said Rebecca. Jose nervously ran his
fingers through his thick, black hair.
"Then," Jose said thoughtfully, "Peter was not my anonymous caller."
"What made you think it was my husband?" asked Rebecca.
"Because he used the name 'Collins,'" Jose explained, his voice betraying
more emotion than he had intended.
"I never told anyone what I told you this morning," affirmed Rebecca. "But,
who could have made the call?" she asked, nervously. |
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