The story told by Robert Yazee, the shrunken, pale, weakened young man from the Reservation near Bluff, Utah appears to be just another routine worker’s compensation claim. But when his problems are diagnosed as the side effects from a near-fatal radiation exposure, the case becomes something else entirely.
An obscure company calling itself EnviroGuard Recovery Services has contracted to clean up an abandoned uranium processing plant site near Moab, Utah. While most of the waste from the cleanup operation goes to a dumpsite far out in the desert wastelands west of Moab in huge, open earth haulers, Robert’s loads of strange stainless steel barrels are the only freight that goes south to a secretive, highly secure facility located just outside the tiny reservation border town of Montezuma Creek. Robert’s cleanup of an accidental spillage from one of the barrels is the apparent cause of his radiation exposure.
As Danny and his partner, Jason Stevens, and Chaco, the team’s superbly able investigator, begin looking into the case, they quickly discover EnviroGuard is a company without an apparent past and absolutely no intention of helping Yazee. Rather, the investigation triggers an immediate violent reaction that threatens the lives of all involved. EnviroGuard clearly has something to hide; something they think important enough to kill over.
Unbeknownst to Danny and his partners is that they have stumbled across the most dangerous environmental terrorist conspiracy in the history of the United States. Criss-crossing the country as they reach into the highest levels of industry and government to solve the mystery, they peel back layer after layer of the conspiracy until finally they realize they are dealing with a monumental disaster in the making. But when they try to enlist the help of those who can stop the culprits, no one believes them.
As the last precious seconds tick away toward the plan’s catastrophic conclusion, only Danny, Jason and Chaco are left to try and stop it. If thy fail, the terrorist’s diabolical scheme will wreck the economy of the United States and wash away the lives of literally tens of thousands of people.
Brief Synopsis
EnviroGuard Recovery Services, is a mysterious environmental cleanup company without an apparent past. Seeming to come out of nowhere, the previously unknown company has obtained a lucrative government contract to dispose of the plant tailings and unprocessed ore left behind after the closing of the old Steinhowser uranium processing plant located on the banks of the Colorado River at Moab, Utah.
Robert Yazee is a young self-employed truck driver who lives with his wife and newborn infant on the reservation side of the San Juan River near the small southern Utah town of Bluff. Robert has hauled more than twenty EnviroGuard loads between Moab and the company’s secretive, highly secure facility just outside the tiny hamlet of Montezuma Creek. One fateful day Robert hears a loud “Thump” from the back of his truck and pulls over to investigate. One of the fifteen heavy stainless steel barrels he carries has overturned and spilled about half its contents. Muttering to himself over the unexpected delay, he rights the barrel and refills it with all the mess he can sweep up before continuing on his way.
At Montezuma Creek Robert asks the dock supervisor just that the hell the heavy stuff in the unmarked, unlabeled stainless steel barrels is? The manifests say only, “Granulated Mineral Content.” He’s told in no uncertain terms that it’s none of his business, and if he wants to keep hauling for the company he better turn a blind eye and keep his mouth shut. “National security,” the supervisor says ominously. “And you don’t want to get crosswise with that.”
That night Robert begins to feel the effects of his contact with the strange, gray, BB size pellets he cleaned up. By the next morning he is deathly ill. Over the next few weeks his life is turned completely upside down as he fights the mysterious illness that has completely debilitated him, made much of his hair fall out and completely confounded the doctors at two different medical clinics.
It a six-week recovery and facing a mountain of medical debt, Robert finally is feeling good enough to drive. He returns to Moab and informs the company he is ready to resume hauling. But EnviroGuard will no longer accept his services. Angry at their insensitivity to his situation, Robert demands that the company at least help with his medical bills since it was their material that made him sick. The company turns him down flat and invites him to leave the premises.
With no income and facing more debt than he’s ever had in his life, Robert doesn’t know what to do. How can he tell his wife, Lena, that his attempt to go back to work has failed. In desperation he decides he needs a kind of help he’s never needed before. He points his truck south toward Farmington, New Mexico. He’s heard that the now legendary Navajo attorney, Danny Whitehorse, has helped others in desperate straits and with little money. Perhaps he can help him.
After hearing Robert’s story, Danny Whitehorse has the man examined by the best doctor the attorney knows. All are shocked to learn the diagnosis is that Robert has apparently been exposed to a massive, near-lethal dose of radiation. EnviroGuard is obviously concealing the hazardous nature of the loads Robert has been hauling.
Danny calls and demands help with Yazee’s medical bills but is rejected out-of-hand. Far worse, his call triggers an unexpectedly immediate and violent reaction that has Danny, Jason and their investigator, Chaco, trying desperately to protect Robert and his family from EnviroGuard’s deadly attempts to silence them.
Just as Danny has law enforcement ready to descend on the company, EnviroGuard suddenly seems to disappear from the face of the earth. Unbeknownst to all is that Danny7 and his colleagues have stumbled upon the most dangerous eco-terrorism plot the United States has ever faced. If successful, EnviroGuard’s nefarious plan will cost tens of thousands their lives, will destroy of some of the most valuable and expensive infrastructure in the country and render a huge area of the United States inhospitable to human habitation. As the Whitehorse team peels back layer after layer of the mystery surrounding EnviroGuard, they find themselves in a desperate race against time if they are to prevent a monstrous disaster that will dwarf the attacks of 9/11 by comparison
Readers awaiting the latest Danny Whitehorse/Jason Stevens adventure will be more than amply rewarded by the chilling, nail-biting, frighteningly real twists and turns of Author Steven J. Clark’s latest legal thriller, Fountains of Fire.