Target Alaska The Meeting

"I lost a child to leukemia five years ago, Mr. Ryan, thanks to the poisons dumped in the ground many years ago. Contractors falsified records to get their building permits. No one asked and no one cared. We lived over that filth for two years before our first child developed the disease. Homes were abandoned and the site still isn't cleaned up. The lawyers keep shifting the blame back and forth. The original polluters, who dumped those toxins legally, are long gone. Contractors closed their shop. However, the creosote in the soil was not the only thing in our backyards; it wasn't concentrated enough to cause severe illness. Those poisons came later.

"They found buried drums with all kinds of poisonous chemicals right under our homes. The corroded drums were leaking concentrated toxic chemicals right into our basements. The vapors permeated our homes for years. We realized too late that the chemicals were slowly attacking the most vulnerable ones in the family - the children. Others in that neighborhood eventually developed illnesses and two children died of leukemia. A criminal who escaped justice dumped the toxic chemicals there. No one has paid yet. The poisons still remain trapped in the soil, waiting for the courts to decide who should pay for the cleanup."

Sean was quiet.

Since her child's death, Mrs. Gutierrez had moved up the ranks with a resolute furor, to become deputy assistant director of the FBI. She was skilled at her job, put herself through all the rigors of the training, and worked very hard at organizing this new unit. She wanted the best people; she was determined to bring the villains to justice.