“You are completely wrong,” Olivia stated. It took every bit of control she could muster to keep her voice even and avoid creating too much drama. She didn’t need drama, she had the facts. The attack from Chekaldin was completely unjustified. He had no data and he had no competing theory. All he had was the will of the Russian government to try and take control of the project. It would take more than that to dissuade Olivia from what she knew to be the truth.
“One only needs to look at the coincidence of the startup of the operations of Drake/Kotlas and the beginning of the Crane deaths to know there is a connection,” Chekaldin said. “I don’t need any fact beyond that to make the recommendation to the Environment Ministry that they assume control of the oilfield.” He spoke as if what he was saying were truth even though the actual fact of the matter was that the Drake/Kotlas operations had begun two years before the Crane deaths started and none of the monitoring that had detected contaminants from the oilfield in the marshes. Olivia marveled at the way he could stick to a story without facts to support it. It was a level of confidence she would never achieve.
Semyon inserted himself into the conversation, “I agree with Olivia that there are no facts to support the charge that the Drake/Kotlas operations are the cause of the Crane decline. However, it is also true that we do not have an alternative explanation. This is what we need in order to resolve the problem.”
Olivia and Chekaldin stared at one another, the animosity between them radiating so strongly that the other six people sitting around the table could feel it in the air around them.
Into this charged void Alexis Moiseyev dropped a bomb. “I believe it is related to nuclear research conducted at the Gulag camp in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.”
Seven pairs of eyes swung at him in disbelief.
“What are you talking about,” Cooper gave voice to the astonishment of them all.