agentâs terse comment. âOur equipment is a little more sophisticated than what you use. Yours isnât the best on the passive devices.â Barton looked embarrassed, but Morgan finished in two minutes.
âAll clear,â he said, putting his listener detection device away. âIâm Morgan Stark.â Morgan shook hands with both strangers. âThe lady is Felicity OâBrien. Chuck tells us you guys can use some help, so weâre here to listen. What can we do for you?â
âYou can help with some street surveillance,â Alvarez said, stepping to the bar. âWant a drink?â
âNo thanks,â Felicity said. âWhat we want is to know what your problem is.â She sat on the sofa, hoping no one would notice her nose wrinkling. This had been a room for smokers, and the odor seemed to puff up out of the cushions when she sat. Morgan continued to stand.
âThe problem, as always, is drugs,â Alvarez said. âWe have a new thing taking over the streets.â
âThis stuff called ice?â Felicity asked, leaning forward to protect her clothes. âSo what is it? I thought crack was the latest thing in suicide.â
âYouâre behind the times,â Barton said. âCrack is yesterdayâs news. This stuffâs a lot worse. Itâs really a form of methamphetamine.â
âWhat, like crystal meth?â Morgan asked. âOkay, so itâs speed. I met that stuff in the Far East. Guys used the stuff to stay alert. Whatâs so dangerous about that?â
âWhat is so dangerous, Mister Stark, is that this is in a purified crystal form,â Alvarez said. âTechnically itâs not the same thing. Itâs a different but related chemical called 4-Methylaminorex. It has effects comparable to methamphetamine but with a much longer duration. Sometimes on the street they call it euphoria, spelled U4Euh. It looks like crack and it smokes like crack but itâs not cocaine. Crack might keep you high for half an hour. This stuff can keep you flying for twelve, fourteen hours.â
âCanât be,â Morgan said.
âDonât kid yourself,â Conrad said, speaking for the first time. âThis stuffâs synthetic and what weâve found on the street is unbelievably pure.â
âIt must be serious stuff to convince the FBI, DEA and CIA to work together,â Morgan said. âWhereâs the stuff coming from?â
âOriginally from the Philippines, Korea, and Hong Kong,â Conrad said. âIt made a big hit in Hawaii. Now itâs all over the West Coast. We believe the operationâs been taken over almost completely by a Colombian organization.â
âThereâs news,â Morgan said, rolling his eyes. âDrugs from Colombia. So? You want us to drive down to Medellin and bring in a drug lord for you?â
âYou donât seem to take this very seriously,â Alvarez said, a little louder than necessary. âThereâs more than fivehundred people every month getting turned on to this stuff, and they might not matter to you, butâ¦â
âEasy,â Felicity said, maintaining her smile. âI think you misunderstood my partnerâs meaning, although we do want to maintain a realistic view here, right? After all, I doubt all those people using this ice are being force fed it. Letâs agree that all these victims wonât be asking for a drug enforcement effort, or be too willing to help us out with getting the drugs off the street. However, I think what Morgan meant was, what is it that you need from us? Weâre not the police; we deal with security matters.â
âThe point is,â Barton said, âI thought you guys might have the connections to find out who the distributors are at this end. Your record indicates youâre very good at getting information. We donât want you to take any real risk, just help us