He made his way down the shaft and peeked into the reception room. Kim was backed into the far corner facing Greg who held the edge of the desk with one had and covered her with Hoch’s gun with the other.
Bolino floated aimlessly around the room with what appeared to be a broken arm and a large welt over his right eye. He was out cold.
Kim seemed ready to launch herself at Ballard. She seemed almost like a cornered animal. Her eyes were slightly glazed over, her breath came in heaves, and her face had a somewhat crazed look. She moved her fingers almost like claws.
It suddenly dawned on Lt. James. Oh no, she’s high! She took more of that drug crap! What an idiotic thing to do. Get high while about to make arrests of very dangerous people. She’s gone stupid on me.
The lieutenant made a quick decision. This has to end now!
Adam Sand had yelled at Ballard to leave Kim alone. He had turned slightly to look at Sand. The lieutenant saw that this had gotten Ballard’s attention away from Kim. She made ready to launch herself at him.
Lt. James gathered himself up and launched himself at Ballard’s back. They collided with considerable force, knocking the breath out of both of them. The gun in Ballard’s hand fired.
Fighting in freefall was not easy. There was nowhere to get leverage on an opponent. The lieutenant wrapped one arm around Ballard’s neck and applied pressure. He pressed his gun against Ballard’s temple with the other hand. “Enough, Greg, it’s over. Toss the gun away.”
He could feel Ballard tense up struggling to find some way out of the headlock. He applied more pressure to Ballard’s neck and quietly said, “Stop, now. It’s over.”
He felt Ballard go limp and saw the gun float away. Almost at the same moment, the personal communicator ringing stopped.
He looked over at Kim to ask her to get the gun and saw the shot Ballard had pulled off had hit her. The blood was bubbling from the wound in her right shoulder. A bleeding wound in free fall was very different than in gravity. The blood bubbles out of the wound and forms little balls of blood that float around.
She was staring at her wound with a look of surprise and helplessness.
The lieutenant became infuriated. He saw Ballard through a red haze. He applied all the pressure he could to Ballard’s neck. He wanted to kill him. He would kill him. Ballard realized his precarious position and attempted to pull free.
Ballard’s wind had been cut off. He struggled for short time and then went limp. All of the time this struggle had been playing out, Kim had been observing in detached, almost dream-like, view of what was happening.
She snapped back to reality as she saw Greg Ballard’s face go from vivid red, to scarlet, to a shade of blue. He was being strangled. No, I can’t let this good man commit murder!
“Stop! Stop! Please don’t kill him. He’s not worth it,” she yelled at the lieutenant. She pushed away from the wall, and leaving a trail of blood balls in the air, grabbed the lieutenant by the arm around Ballard’s neck and started pulling on it. “Stop, please.”
Ballard was limp. The lieutenant slowly emerged from the red haze of ultimate anger and regained his senses. Kim was pulling on the arm he’d wrapped around Ballard’s neck, yelling for him to stop.
He released Ballard, who drifted away, unconscious, but still alive. His face was already returning to a shade of red from the pasty blue color it had been previously.
Lt. James pulled Kim to him. He reached for his handkerchief and placed it over Kim’s wound to staunch the bleeding. Free floating red blobs of Kim’s blood splashed onto their faces and bodies.
They held each other for what seemed like forever. The lieutenant eventually held her out at arms length and said, “You took more coke, didn’t you?”
She nodded her head but didn’t say anything.
“I told you before that if I thought that crap was interfering with the investigation, I would take over, didn’t I?” he asked her.
Again, she just nodded.
“Now is the time. You were very stupid taking that crap and then trying to catch these guys.”
She just nodded again.
“Okay, so that’s done. Now let’s find that chip and truss these guys up and then get you some medical attention.”
For the first time, she spoke, “Don’t worry about my wound. It’s almost stopped bleeding. We have to get the chip back to the control center!”
Adam Sand interrupted, “Sorry, guys, but would you mind untying me before you run off?
Kim and the lieutenant both laughed. Kim began pulling the tape from Adam’s wrists, and Lt. James began taping Ballard’s wrists and ankles and then did the same to Bolino.
Adam asked Kim, “Where did you learn to hand fight like that? When you took out Bolino, it was almost like a zero-G jujitsu.”
Kim answered, “Hoch had come up with some unique ways of hand fighting in zero-G. He taught me and we practiced several times a week during the early days here on the station. I have Hoch to thank for still being alive.”
Adam unbound his own feet while Kim felt through Bolino’s pockets looking for the chip. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt its form inside his shirt pocket. She pulled it out and held it up to Sand and James. “We have it!”
Adam said, “Get going, I’ll finish trussing up these guys and stand guard until you get back.”
Kim replied, “Okay, we’re off to return the chip. You should also check your phone to see who was so persistent at trying to call you a minute ago!”
He nodded and pulled up the PCD phone. He read the caller id, “Its Rose Magruder! I hope she has good news for us! I’ll let you know.” He started dialing her back as Kim and the lieutenant headed down the shaft to retrieve their PPUs and head to the control center.
79
White House
Rose was ecstatic, she had her job back and based on the President’s remarks, was more entrenched in halls of power now than she had been before. Now, to get through this crisis with minimum damage both materially and politically.
She retrieved her phone from Agent Rocky and selected Adam Sand’s number. After thirty or more rings, she hung up.
Something was wrong. Why wasn’t Adam answering? Where was he? Should I tell the President I can’t raise him?
She fretted over what to do. She decided to call Kim Danby, the security office in charge of the investigation and see if she knew where Adam was. She dialed Kim’s number and was concerned that it rolled over to the voice mail, indicating the phone was turned off.
She tried Lt. James, the senior security officer onboard, and got the same voice mail response.
What’s going on up there? Adam doesn’t answer and the two main security people have their phones turned off. This isn’t good!
She began walking back to the Situation Room. Just as she reached the door to the room, her phone rang. She answered, “Rose Magruder.’
“Rose! It’s Adam Sand! Sorry I wasn’t able to take your call. I was tied up so to speak,” Adam announced.
“My God, Adam. Am I glad to hear your voice. I was really worried that something bad had happened to you.”
“No, nothing bad. I have good news. We have the chip. It’s on its way back to the control center right now.”
“Oh, Adam, that’s wonderful! I have good news for you, too. The President aborted the missile strike.”
Adam could be heard breathing a huge sigh of relief, “Great! I’ll let the staff know at once. Tell the President we should have full station control back within a few minutes. The only thing left to fix will be the film array deployment, so we can turn off the beam. But we’ll need the beam for a while I would think, right?”
“Yes, you are to resume the attempt to “kill” Edna. Or, at least weaken her before she hits Florida,” Rose replied.
“Okay, will do! I’ll contact you again after control is regained,” Adam said and disconnected the call.
Rose walked into the Situation Room and reported the good news t
o the President. Things were finally returning to normal.
80
Kim Explains
As they rode the PPUs back to the command center, Lt. James thought about the events that had just transpired. From the conversation between Brad and Kim, the lieutenant got the distinct impression that Kim was not involved with Dr. Rosen’s plot. Statements he had heard Greg Ballard make as they had talked about tying up Kim reinforced this. And then the final straw was when Greg had shot Kim.
Would he have shot a friend and co-conspirator? Maybe he was trying to tidy up loose ends, the lieutenant thought.
Lt. James broached the subject that was still gnawing at him, “Kim, listen, I’ve got a couple of serious questions to pose to you. Please answer them truthfully, because you know I’ll eventually find out if your answers aren’t true.”
Kim looked into his face and saw his features set in a determined, serious frown.
Kim replied, “You know I could never lie to you. You saved my life. You’re my rock. I’d die before lying to you!”
He took a deep breath and jumped in, “Okay, I believe you. I reviewed the call logs from Dr. Rosen. As we thought, they showed a clear connection to Greg and from Greg to Brad. The troubling part is that immediately after Dr. Rosen made the call to Greg, he called – you.”
Kim snapped her head around sharply and said in a muddled tone, “Me? Right after he called Greg? I don’t understand.” The effects of the cocaine and the gunshot were taking a toll on her mental facilities and she wasn’t thinking clearly yet.
“What did you two talk about? And why did you call Greg right after the call with Rosen?”
Kim tried to remember the conversation with Dr. Rosen. She had only talked to him once. When was it? What was said?
It came back to her in a flash and she excitedly replied, “I talked to him once. It was when you were getting the chip out of Rafael. He called to tell me that the president had asked him to phone and offer all the resources of the government to be at my disposal for investigating and stopping the plot on Storm Killer. He asked me to pass on some similar words to Greg. I did.”
“That’s it?” the lieutenant asked.
Kim thought back and replied, “Yes. But now that I think about it, it was almost like he was reading a prepared script. I never gave that any thought until now. I’ll bet I was passing a coded message of some sort on to Greg and didn’t even know it.”
The lieutenant considered Kim’s words and finally said, “Okay, I believe you. I think Dr. Rosen was trying to throw a red herring into the investigation. If he got you implicated, the investigation might have bogged down until things could get sorted out. Thank God things developed so quickly. That phone call surfaced too late to do him any good as a delaying tactic.”
Kim relaxed. “I agree. Hell, I only talked to the man once. My phone records will bear that out. Since he was a senior advisor to the president, any of us would have willingly taken a call from him.”
The lieutenant nodded saying, “Yes, we would have. Don’t sweat it. I’m sure we got it all cleared up. Now, let’s get this chip home and wrap up this whole thing!”
She nodded as they continued their PPU power drive to the control center.
81
Tanechka
The launch specialist monitoring Tanechka’s progress picked up the ringing phone. It was a direct line from the Russian Missile Defense Command.
“Ya?”
“Corporal Korabek, listen carefully and write this down. Command code is AABB66MM33. Authorization is Delta Omega Tango Delta Tango. Abort code is 1100774455. Repeat 1100774455. Abort the mission.”
“Abort? Are you crazy? We are on perfect flight path and all systems are functioning well. Why abort?”
“This is not your decision. Abort the missile at once.”
“My Tanechka to be destroyed? She is beautiful and true. I’ll not destroy her!”
“You will follow orders and destroy the missile. At once!”
The corporal was aghast. How could they destroy the beautiful Tanechka when she was performing her job so wonderfully?
He hesitated for a moment and then remembered a phrase the Missile Security Force Commander had used at their initial briefing on arriving in the Missile Command. He had felt a shiver through his spine when he heard the commander say this phrase.
The commander had said, “You will follow your orders to the letter and immediately. Any dereliction of duty will be considered treason, and both you and your family will be dealt with appropriately.”
The gathered military personnel understood what the Commander meant. Both they and their families would be killed if they failed to do their duty.
The corporal shuddered, entered the abort code he had received on his keyboard and pressed the abort button. He then responded to the last order. “Yes, sir. Abort performed.”
Twenty thousand kilometers above the Earth and almost half way around it, Tanechka exploded from twenty-eight kilos of C-4 detonating in the warhead section. The warheads separated and began falling back to Earth. They made a marvelous fireworks display over Hawaii as they burned up re-entering the atmosphere. Four Hawaiian children saw the two shooting stars trailing over their island of paradise and laughed and pointed at the sight. Tanechka’s ending was as glorious as her short life.
82
Recovery
Kim jumped from the cart before Lt. James had fully stopped it. She ran with the precious cargo in held tightly in her clinched fist. The computer chip was almost home!
As she entered the control center, she looked from side to side for Layne Bartlett. He wasn’t here! Nobody was in the room. Where was Bartlett? Where were the technicians? Kim was ready to scream in frustration when Layne came walking briskly through the door. He was placing his phone back into his belt loop holder.
Kim quizzed him, “Where the hell are the technicians? Why is no one in here?”
“I had them suit up and EVA to the Japanese shuttle. It’s still standing off the station waiting to pick up as many of us that can get away before the station is destroyed. The shuttle will back away to a safe distance in a few minutes. Where’s the chip?”
Kim handed him the chip she still had clutched so tightly in her fist. He held it up and inspected it. “It appears okay, but I have to run a set of diagnostics on it,” Layne said as he moved to a card table that had been set up near the sabotaged control computer.
On the table was what looked like a PC with a silver box cabled to it. He took the chip and plugged it into what appeared to be a printed circuit board mounted to the top of the silver box. A red light on the box blinked off as an adjacent green light flashed on. He swiveled the PC toward him and began touching various keys on the keyboard.
As Bartlett began his testing, Lt. James arrived. He had stopped to talk to Adam Sand on the phone. Adam had reported his conversation with the president’s advisor. The missile was being aborted!
Sand asked Bartlett to call Rose Magruder when the chip was installed and activated.
The doctor had arrived at Lt. James’ request and bandaged and dressed Kim’s injured shoulder. The bullet had passed all the way through her shoulder. The Doctor said some reconstructive surgery would be required but the bleeding was stopped and the wound was not life threatening.
The PC screen showed a progress bar as the diagnostics executed. Everyone in the room stared at the screen as the progress bar approached one hundred percent.
The PC beeped, and a new screen popped up reading, “DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETE, NO ERRORS FOUND.”
A collective sigh went up from the assembled group. Layne took the chip from its resting place on the silver box and placed it in its’ slot in the control computer.
The group watched the monitor as it continued displaying new occurrences of the same error message indicating the guidance computer needed updated direction.
“REAL TIME REQUIRES PLAN DATA REFRESH … 5:10 MINUTES REMAINING”
He entered
a few commands to the system to indicate the real time computer was now ready to accept new data from the computational computer, and that the computational computer should began feeding new real-time plan data to the control computer.
They held their collective breath and waited for the system responses to Bartlett’s commands.
83
Unhappy In Mexico
Senator Gutierrez received word the missile had been ordered aborted. He was livid. His plan was falling apart. He couldn’t reach Rosen. His intelligence said that Rosen had fled.
Rosen had failed him.
He got another email on his screen from his Washington source. It indicated Rosen’s two associates on Storm Killer were in custody and that the chip had been recovered.
The Senator was almost frothing at the mouth. Rosen! That ass has taken a great deal of our money and did not deliver. He would have to be dealt with.
The senator looked for some way to salvage some part of his plan and saw none. He had failed. But not all projects succeeded, better luck next time.
With that, he opened his secret file cabinet within his desk, removed the Storm Killer file and placed each page into his shredder. When he finished, he picked up the phone and dialed a number he knew by heart.
“Carlos? It’s the Senator. I have a job for you. Yes, one last job. Listen carefully.”
84
Control
The assembled group still held their collective breath as they waited for the systems to respond to the commands that had been entered.
The monitor continued to display the same error message over and over every five seconds:
“REAL TIME REQUIRES PLAN DATA REFRESH … 5:00 MINUTES REMAINING
Storm Killer Page 24