Invisibility Formula: Code Name If

By Elaine J. Anderson

International Detective Rosa Arroya is back in this third installment of the thrilling Rosa Arroya Crime Novel Series. A NASA security employee is suspected of a serious in-house crime, and nobody wants to believe it could happen within the halls of the nations space program. Suspicions escalate as a division secretary becomes a person of high interest, too. How could something like this happen?

The Rosa Arroya International Detectives are called in to investigate. In cases of this magnitude, two heads are better than one, so Rosa teams up with Barry Bud Black. Together, they discover that a secret invisibility formula has been stolen. Who would have suspected NASA to be infiltrated with spies, secret surveillance, and even traitors, who will stop at nothing to keep the IF in the hands of the wrong people?

Invisibility Formula: Code Name IF is a fast-paced mystery that will keep you guessing. Filled with intrigue and high-tech spy technology, this case wont be easy for Arroya and her crew. But with a little intuition and a lot of courage, Arroya and Black just might stumble on the guilty party and prevent a world of harm from being committed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450274289

Elaine J. Anderson

Elaine J. Anderson is the author of four crime stories available on amazon.com and www.nettisplace.com. She is a retired biology professor emeritus living in Provincetown, Massachusetts, with her spouse and pets.

Book preview

The Letter

Dear Exotic Orchid Collector,

As agreed to in our recent telephone conversation, please arrive at the secluded La Selva Resort in Panama for our organizational meeting as collectors. Come incognito so that other collectors will not recognize you. This is the first of many professional meetings for our group in search of exotic orchids and other rare plants.

Plan to arrive Friday, by noon, and stay until Sunday afternoon.

Rosa A. Collector, International Division, CEO

Her chosen RAID team consisted of twelve trusted and competent crime fighters. She kept a personnel file of each agent in her safe.

Personnel Files

The personnel files and anecdotal notes indicated that the agents touched all parts of the globe. Each agent was extraordinary and an accomplished law enforcement professional. All the agents were capable of undercover work and were eager to join RAID.

The Agents

1. Barry Bud Black: had been lead investigator, Miami Vice Squad, recipient of Top Cop Award in Miami, and Rosa’s classmate in police academy. Barry has accepted Rosa’s invitation to join RAID as her partner. Bud has been her long-time confidant.

2. Captain Guy Fox, NYPD: Rosa’s previous partner at NYPD and honored officer with the highest commendation for outstanding performance in law enforcement in New York City. He is highly respected with a wide network of contacts.

3. Chief Inspector Eduardo Raphael, San Juan, Puerto Rico: Rosa’s trusted uncle and mentor. Graduated with honors from police academy and advanced to San Juan Chief of Police. He coordinated the international investigation and manhunt of diamond thief Jack Gutsy Bucco.

4. Juan Perez, Special Crime Unit, Panama City, Panama: Rosa worked with Juan in the Bucco case and recognized his crime-fighting skills. He was honored in Panama for years of loyal service and was selected to represent Panama’s special crime unit alongside the international team to track and capture Jack Gutsy Bucco.

5. Klaus Stern: field coordinator with Interpol, Swiss division, with impressive credentials and background experience in surveillance, having tracked Rosa in Europe when she went missing in the Chameleon case.

6. Sal Del Vecchio: a freshman officer with NYPD, boasting impressive research skills, ambition to succeed in law enforcement, respected, and recommended to Rosa by Captain Guy Fox.

7. Captain Hans Schwartz, Zurich, Switzerland Police Department: has glowing credentials and recognition awards for his impressive number of solved international cases. Rosa was impressed with his efficiency and attention to detail.

8. Captain Juanita Pacheco: internationally respected head of Lima, Peru’s city police department, known to have a wide network of agents working throughout the world on money laundering cases, and personal friend of Chief Inspector Raphael in Puerto Rico.

9. Inspector Kirsten McNeil, Scotland Yard agent: frequently on loan to investigate international cases of significant thefts. Rosa met her in an advanced global police training program. She impressed Rosa with her crime-solving skills.

10. Tom Ryan, Canadian Mounted Police: highly recommended by Kirsten McNeil because of his amazing tracking ability, distinguished service awards, and multilingual abilities.

11. Rimsky Kordova, Russian Secret Police: available agent with distinguished service awards for international crime solving, penetrating crime circles, and highly recommended to Rosa by Klaus Stern of Interpol, Swiss division.

12. Rosa Arroya, RAID creator and director: born in Puerto Rico, influenced by her uncle to excel in a criminal justice career. She has received numerous commendations, performance awards, and promotions during her career with the NYPD. She is known in the business for always getting the perpetrator! Her most recent recognition and honor was a national award designating her as Investigator Extraordinaire.

The Meeting

On the third Friday of September, each RAID member arrived incognito, as they were instructed to, at the island hotel, La Selva. The group was booked as buyers of exotic plants, with each member representing a different faux company. One by one, they registered at the secluded La Selva Hotel.

Rosa had decided to bring everyone together in Panama to establish a firm connection between the agents of the RAID team. Even though she considered having the special equipment and instructions they needed couriered to each agent, she believed that a group meeting was far more effective for instilling a feeling of belonging, commitment, and loyalty among the RAID team members.

Rosa had carefully planned the infrastructure of the agency. Regardless of how tough its missions were, RAID was ready. Every member was committed to enforcing the United States law, as well as international law, and swore to seek justice for the victims of crime. They also were sworn to secrecy and agreed to the clandestine style that would become the trademark of RAID. Their goals were to successfully infiltrate, track, and set up stings to implement captures of criminals and provide the evidence needed to attain justice.

At an appointed time on that September day, the agents who had come to La Selva Hotel left their rooms, their high-backed rattan reading chairs in the lobby, and their seats at the bar and meandered down the long hall to the meeting room marked Exotic Plants. They found their seats on one of the twelve chairs arranged in a semi- circle facing the small stage in the well-lighted room, a room filled with decorative plants, a podium with a microphone, tall windows, and a patio door that opened to a lush tropical garden. Rosa stood at the rear of the room as they entered. When everyone was seated, she moved to the front of the room, and stepped up onto the small stage. A hush fell over the group as she stood poised at the podium to address them.

She was wearing a navy blue pantsuit, a brightly flowered blouse, and a straw hat covered with orchids. Her beautiful chestnut hair flowed down her back from under her hat, and her tall stature rose above the microphone and podium.

She took a moment to collect her thoughts and began.

You are all here because you believe passionately that criminals have no right to steal, murder, or rape people of their peaceful lives. You are here because you believe that you have the skills that can make a difference in the fight against international crime. You are here because you have been chosen to join this agency to do what you do best—solve challenging crimes. And not the least of all, you are here because I trust you!

There was a burst of applause and cheers from the handpicked agents representing the best enforcement officers around the world. Rosa smiled at their enthusiasm as she waited for them to settle again so she could go on.

RAID, with its cyberspace technology and know-how, will take on the most difficult cases with private as well as established agencies like Interpol, Scotland Yard, the FBI, and the CIA. I have arranged to access data files with sophisticated software, use advanced forensic labs, and lead the undercover operations in crime fighting around the globe.

Another burst of applause resounded.

She continued, We will communicate in code. You will be identified by your eye and thumbprint in any of the undercover RAID offices. You will wear disguises if needed and keep me informed of progress on cases you are assigned.

She paused.

Rather than sending you a very special piece of equipment by courier, you can have it today for use in future assignments. You have a folder on your seat. Take out the pen inside the folder.

There was fumbling as the agents found the pen from their folders. Rosa held up a black-and-silver pen with red, yellow, and green buttons running down its side. The agents turned their own pens, trying to analyze their potential as they waited for Rosa to explain how they worked.

The pen you are holding has been designed not only to write, but it will also take pictures, inflict harm with a numbing microdart, and much more, Rosa told them.

She demonstrated the pen’s ability to take a picture when she held it upright and pressed the green button.

The picture can now be transmitted back to your home office through our fiber-optic network by twisting the cover a quarter turn. She showed them in the demonstration.

The red button controls the microdarts. You will need a firm push of the button while pointing the pen toward the target to release one of the six preloaded darts. This compartment has a second use by removing the numbing darts and replacing them with tracking bugs. You will be able to monitor and track a person of interest.

She paused and then continued, You can transmit and receive voice messages by holding down the yellow button and talking or listening through the cap of the pen.

Rosa then handed out the codes they needed to program the pens. They each had time to work with the new piece of highly sensitive microchip-powered equipment. The agents gathered into groups of two or three as they each programmed their new pen. They milled about sharing comments and stories as they worked out the needed codes. After what seemed like a short session of experimentation, a light tap on the podium drew the agents back to their seats.

Rosa spoke. You are joining something bigger than any one of us alone. There are twelve of us, a mighty dozen! Together, we cover the world. Criminals will not escape us.

After a short pause, Rosa said, You are all invited to a meal in the Parrot Dining Room before you leave.

Her comments were the end to the formal meeting and were met with enthusiastic applause once again.

The agents filed into the private dining room. They milled around and eventually took seats, some with agents they knew and others with new agents they wanted to know. The atmosphere was one of anticipation and commitment. They had a lot in common.

When the meeting room was empty except for Rosa, she took a seat in the front row, folded her hands in front of her, and felt a smile begin in the corner of her mouth. This is the beginning of something very exciting, she whispered to herself.

Rosa walked to the dining room to join the agents. An electric energy filled the dining room that was buzzing with conversation as she entered. She looked around the room for an empty chair. Juan Perez waved to her to join his table. He was sitting with her uncle Eduardo Raphael and Guy Fox. Everyone stood and applauded as Rosa walked to the empty seat. Juan moved to hold the seat out for their leader. Once she was seated, the agents sat down and continued to chatter, laugh, and exchange spy stories.

*****

Twelve months after the meeting in Panama, RAID had sprung into the international spotlight.

Kirsten McNeil and Rimsky Kordova led authorities to the capture of a major international drug lord in Turkey and turned him over to Interpol.

Juan Perez, teaming up with Juanita Pacheco, had solved six related cases involving drug trafficking, human trafficking, and money laundering in South America.

Klaus Stern, working with Hans Swartz, had made significant inroads into a Swiss network of fraudulent money brokers.

Inspector Raphael and Guy Fox, as RAID agents and at the request of the FBI, had closed in on the gang involved in illegal substance transport between Puerto Rico and New York City.

Sal Del Vecchio and Tom Ryan had pursued a band of Canadian poachers of wolf, seal, and caribou pelts and the movement of the pelts from Canada to the New York and Los Angeles underground exotic markets.

The RAID team was making major ripples in the crime world.

Rosa Arroya was widely respected within crime-fighting circles, and her agents’ performances were exemplary. The agency’s reputation had become stellar.

Rosa Arroya and Bud Black were soon to be immersed in a major theft case at NASA.

The Crime

Chapter 1

The front-page headline in the Washington Post read, security breach at langley? An unnamed guard on night duty heard sirens blaring and lights flashing at midnight to signal the breach. Spokesman Dieter Jones said, "It was the first time in ten years that I can remember the sirens indicating a breach of the security system, or maybe it was just a false alarm. NASA has confirmed a possible short in the security system but has given no details.

The breach was breaking news on Monday morning on the Internet, television stations, blogs, and newspapers across the nation. Speculations on the cause of the blaring sirens ran the gambit, from theft to a frayed security wire. No one at NASA was talking.

Rosa’s telephone line was ringing as she entered her office at the RAID agency early that Monday morning. The ringing telephone usually meant more business for the fast-growing Rosa Arroya International Detective Agency.

Hello, she said into the phone as she dropped an armful of case files on the desk.

Rosa! a male voice said with an urgent tone. I need your help right away.

Is that you, Alex? Rosa asked, thinking she recognized Alex Wadsworth’s voice.

Yes. We’ve been robbed. A top-secret document is missing here at NASA. Can you help?

I’m swamped with priority cases. Can you be more specific?

Not on the phone. Meet me for coffee at ten this morning at the Jiffy Coffee Shoppe near DuPont Circle.

Rosa was reluctant, torn between friendship and the nagging feeling that there