Serpentine

by Peter Parken

  The NSA man said very little at first. He just opened his laptop, made a few keystrokes, and then turned it around so Tom could see it. He recognized what he saw right away.

  All Tom said was, “What do you want?”

  And he was told.

  The next step for Tom was to visit an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night to meet with a shadowy figure—someone else without a name—who demonstrated to him the fine art of applying military grade Thermate-3 to steel structures. It was pretty simple—just had to be applied with a brush to a specified thickness, and the stuff’s color was even disguised to blend in with the color of the steel track. They’d thought of everything. Then he learned how to apply the tiny magnesium fuses, and was given the substance that would have to be used to adhere them.

  So, after that late night meeting, he had his supplies. A container of Thermate, a brush, four magnesium fuses, and adhesive.

  He was also given a remote control unit, which he had to program with the radio receivers contained in the fuses, as well as configure the radio frequency to be exactly in line with the frequency used for the unlocking of the lap bars. Then he had to meet the spook again and give him back the programmed remote.

  Yes, his friend and former Navy Seal, Ron Collens, had figured the whole scenario out perfectly. The clever bastard. He’d guessed it right.

  And even though Tom was the ‘inside man,’ that still didn’t stop his contact at the NSA from arranging to scare the shit out of all three of them down in Key West. The prick didn’t care that Tom was on that helicopter, too.

  Yes, Tom was the ‘inside man.’ The reluctant ‘inside man.’ He still had no idea what this was all about—had been given no reason at all as to why one particular rider on that rollercoaster had to die that day, and everyone else with him. Tom didn’t know anything beyond what his singular job was.

  Ron had been right on that point, too. This had been a ‘diversion murder.’ A grizzly mass murder to cover up the murder of one.

  Tom was now an accessory to a mass murder.

  But he had decided three months ago that that was better than having his secret double life exposed. And he still felt that way. What his wife, children, extended family and friends thought of him was paramount. In fact, if they found out what he was, he knew he would simply kill himself. There could be no other choice.

  He had been a cursed male his entire life. He hated the way he was, had tried to fight it, but always to no avail. He was simply…cursed. A piece of human garbage who would repulse everyone if they knew what he really was.

  The NSA spook had calmly and softly explained to him that they were capable of tapping into every single Internet entry, transaction, communication, and download. Nothing was sacred…or secret. And neither were Tom’s clandestine activities.

  The international child porn ring that Tom was an active member of had been discovered a decade ago, and watched ever since. The NSA had no inclination to bust the ring—instead they chose to use it for national security purposes. Most of the two thousand members were well-placed, well-heeled, and, well…useful as hell. Instead of busting the network, the NSA was better served in blackmailing the members where it served their purpose.

  And Tom apparently served their purpose right now.

  He wasn’t paid a cent for what he did—all he was promised was secrecy. His double life would remain his to enjoy.

  But, the problem was, Tom didn’t enjoy it anymore. His affliction had become more of a curse than he ever imagined it would. Now it was responsible for the deaths of twenty-five innocent people. No, make that twenty-six including Bill Shanahan.

  It was bad enough that Tom was sick in the head.

  Now he was a killer, too.

  Chapter 30

  He tried not to think of it as a ‘date’—focusing on that just made him nervous. It had been more than a decade since he’d been on one, and there he was starting over again. There with a brand new woman and one that he happened to be very attracted to. Which made him even more nervous.

  And they’d met in a rather unconventional way, to say the least—not many couples could boast that they’d met hanging off the side of a rollercoaster. That intense experience did make their connection unique. Even if nothing happened between them, they would always remember that and would always be special in each other’s hearts.

  Nate had saved her life and she had put her life in his hands.

  He was sitting at the dining room table. A scented candle was burning and flickering in a gold leafed wine glass that Shelby told him she’d brought back from the island of Murano. It was the most beautiful wine glass he’d ever seen. She said she’d never even had one sip out of it yet—she liked it better as a candle holder because the flames were enhanced so much by the deep red of the glass interspersed with pure gold swirls. He had to agree—it made a great candleholder.

  Dinner had been wonderful. She made a perfect veal parmigiana with a side plate of spaghetti and chicken meatballs. The sauces on each dish were just perfect, enhanced by the Chianti Brolio that Nate had brought.

  Nate leaned his head to the side and watched her working in the kitchen. She was putting the final touches on their tiramisu dessert—he loved tiramisu. How had she known? Woman’s intuition? Or did he just look like a tiramisu kind of guy?

  She looked so adorable—humming away in the kitchen, her cute little butt moving in time with the jazz music that was playing softly on the stereo. She was wearing bright white shorts and a yellow halter-top. It was indeed a hot night, so Nate assumed she just wanted to be comfortable. But as a man, he kinda figured she was also dressed in that cute casual way just for him. And he loved it.

  Shelby was nicely tanned, which stood out in stunning fashion against the bright clothes she was wearing. She was easy on the eyes, especially with that beautiful blonde hair that flowed down over her shoulders. The sparkling blue eyes finished off the image.

  They’d spent dinner laughing about some of the events in their lives. She told him some more stories about her skydiving adventures and giggled about the rollercoaster experiences she’d had with the Coaster Crazies.

  Nate asked her if she intended to remain with that group and she told him she just couldn’t. Even though she was a daredevil and still intended to skydive, she didn’t think she could ever get on a rollercoaster again. The thought of it gave her the chills and made her feel faint. She told Nate all about the weird fainting problems that she’d had since she was a kid—the doctors had no idea what caused it, but they suspected sudden spikes or drops in blood pressure. Something she just had no choice but to live with.

  Nate told her about his marriage to Stephanie—all the gory details. And he lamented how they’d never had kids, but also said he was sort of glad they hadn’t, now that they were divorcing. Kids from broken families always came out a bit damaged—in one way or another, and sometimes the effects didn’t show themselves until several years down the road.

  He discovered that they both loved horror movies and disaster flicks. Anything exciting or with some buzz to it. They also seemed to like the same foods, loved wine, and neither were keen on the club scene, preferring instead gatherings at home. He hadn’t told her yet about his childhood football accident and resultant eidetic memory. He’d leave that for a later date. Didn’t want to spook her!

  Travel was something Shelby enjoyed as well—and that was one of Nate’s passions. He thought to himself how nice it would be if this relationship developed to the point where they could take a vacation together. He was looking ahead already and fantasizing in his mind about them doing “couples” things together. Nate knew he was getting ahead of himself—this was after all only their first date. But, he couldn’t help it. She was having that kind of effect on him.

  Although, it felt as if he’d known her for a lot longer than he had. It helped that they were comfortable with each other, could be themselves. Nate felt totally at ease in her company and enjoyed her immensely.


  His thoughts were interrupted by a humming Shelby dancing into the dining room carrying their desserts.

  They both dug in—delicious. She was indeed as good a cook as she’d boasted. He loved that about her. The confidence and spunkiness she exhibited. Gave a dimension to her personality that most people lacked. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind and stand up for herself—he’d observed that about her.

  She looked up, dabbing at some errant dessert at the corners of her pretty mouth. Then she smiled mischievously at him. “Well, what do you think?”

  “It’s delicious! And your mouth looks wonderfully clean!”

  “No, not that, silly! Of course it’s delicious—I made it! No, I’m talking about that skydiving idea I mentioned to you.”

  Nate winced. “Gee, Shelby, I don’t know. I can’t picture myself doing that.”

  She made a pouty face, and then said to him in a teasing voice, “Oh, you big baby.”

  Nate protested, “I’m not a baby—I’m just scared shitless!”

  “Honestly, you’d love it, Nate. We’ll do a tandem. I’ll be with you the whole way. In fact, there’s a family rally coming up in a couple of weeks. All the regulars will come out for the day, and the families come along to watch. There’s a picnic as well, and music. It’s a fun day—an annual event. Whaddaya think, big baby?”

  Nate sighed and surrendered. “Alright. Email me the details and I’ll join you.”

  Shelby shrieked with joy and clapped her hands together. “You’ve made me so happy! And I get to show you off to some of my friends there—they’re gonna love you!”

  Nate grumbled, “I just hope I survive to love another day.”

  She pouted again. “Okay, I can see you’re nervous about this—and I understand. The thought of jumping out of a plane is a bit scary, scarier than a rollercoaster by far. So, no pressure. If you don’t want to do it, I’ll understand. I’ll only register myself for the rally—I won’t even list your name as a guest. That way, you don’t have to feel committed, okay? If you want to come, you just come, and I’ll register you at the last minute. Deal?”

  Nate grinned. “Okay, deal.”

  “It’ll be held at a private airfield just on the outskirts of Alexandria. This is the club I belong to—the Virginia Sky Pilots. We have a little hangar there where we keep all our own equipment, but we also have plenty of outfits for guests.” She pretended to study Nate for a second. “Yeah, I think I can get you outfitted with a nice pink jump suit and matching helmet.”

  “Gee, now I’m really excited!”

  She laughed. “Honestly, you have nothing to worry about. You’ll love it! It’s such a wonderful experience. I’m actually a certified Jumpmaster now, so you’ll be in good hands.”

  “Well, that’s the first part about this that I like.”

  “What?”

  Nate grinned. “Being in your hands.”

  Shelby smiled at him warmly, and Nate could see that her cheeks were suddenly flushed.

  He broke the uncomfortable silence, rose from his chair and walked to the front foyer where he’d left his briefcase. He opened it up and took out a sheet of paper, holding it against his chest.

  Nate sat back down in the dining room. “Okay, you little daredevil. Time for us to compare sketches. Did Paul leave his sketch with you?”

  Shelby went into the kitchen and opened up a cupboard; returned to the dining room with a sheet of paper held up against her chest, too. With a sly grin on her face she said, “You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”

  They both put their sketches face up on the table. And gasped in unison. The sketches were so identical, it was uncanny. The bald head, strong jawline, cold black eyes behind designer glasses.

  They looked up from the sketches and Nate whispered. “It’s the same guy, for sure. Whoever the hell he is, he does get around. And who he works for is anyone’s guess.”

  Nate then told Shelby all about their little adventure down in Key West—about the helicopter that took them on a wild ride, seemingly flying itself. And about what they discovered in the scrapyard—the molten metal at the spot where the track split. Then how he and Tom were accosted by the military and, if it hadn’t been for Ron saving the day, might have been forced to board the ship that was primed to head out to sea to dump their wreckage. And maybe dump him and Tom, too.

  “God, it’s obvious that someone doesn’t want you guys nosing around. They tried to scare you off. And what you discovered with the molten metal jibes with what I learned the other day.”

  Nate perked up. “What?”

  “You know about that NTSB investigator, John Fletcher? He’s the one Tom talked with originally when the inspection was done?”

  “Yes, right. He told Tom that the track split at the non-existent weld.” Nate shook his head in frustration. “The prick. He’s the one who also confirmed to Tom that the wreckage was being hauled away to a location he couldn’t tell us about, and that we weren’t allowed to inspect it ourselves. I’d love to get my hands on that guy.”

  Shelby smiled. “Well, you’re going to get your chance.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll recall that I met him, too, after the accident. I went to his office and confronted him about the report that the lawyer told me about. Where it said the lap bars disengaged at impact. I was angry with him that he didn’t bother to interview me.”

  “Yeah, I remember that.”

  “Well, I told you that he seemed out of sorts when I met him—seemed ashamed, like he wanted to tell me something.”

  “Okay, where are you going with this?”

  “I met him again the other day. At the hospital—he was checked in as a patient. There was a gas explosion at his house. John tried to save his wife, but it was too late. He told me that he has a brain tumor—that he has about a year left to live. But now he has nothing to live for. He said he was forced to sign that false investigation report—didn’t say who forced him. But he admitted to me that he knows the track was melted and the lap bars didn’t disengage on impact. He wants to meet with us. He’s at the point now where it no longer matters to him if he keeps his job, benefits and life insurance. He only went along with the falsification because of his wife. Didn’t want to leave her destitute when he died.”

  Nate just stared at her, mouth open wide. Then he found the words. “This story just gets weirder by the day. I can’t believe this. So now we have the chief NTSB investigator on our side. That should be a big help. Sad to hear about his situation though, and the death of his wife. He must be very despondent right now.”

  Shelby crossed her arms across her chest. “It gives me the chills when I think about what happened to him and his wife that night. Must have been so terrifying for both of them. But, I also get the chills when I think of one other thing he said to me.”

  “What was that?”

  “He said he wants revenge now. I don’t know what he meant by that—it wasn’t his rollercoaster that killed twenty-five people, it’s not his company that’s going to get sued and maybe go bankrupt. So, I don’t know what he meant by that.”

  Nate nodded. “Maybe when we meet with him we’ll find out more. But…that is an odd thing to say. The only thing that occurs to me is…does he suspect that the gas explosion wasn’t an accident?”

  “I…don’t know. I never thought of that.”

  “Okay, well, let me know when he’s out of the hospital and wants to meet with us. Oh, I have one other thing I want to leave with you.” He got up and walked back to the foyer to retrieve his briefcase. “I should have just brought this damn case back to the table with me, but I was trying to be polite!”

  Nate opened the briefcase and pulled out a folder. “Here. This contains a complete list of the riders who were killed on the rollercoaster. Along with photos and any bios we could dig up on them. Tom just finished the report today. I’ve gone through it, but nothing jumps out to me at first glance. But you’ve ridden a lot
of coasters with these people, so some of them you probably know, at least casually.”

  Shelby took the folder, opened it and started scanning the list. She made the odd little comment and nodded several times, as she ran her finger down the pages. Suddenly, her finger stopped at one name. Then she shook her head and continued running her finger down the page.

  Nate noticed her hesitation. “I noticed you stopped at one name. What was that all about?”

  Shelby shook her head. “No, nothing at all. I just didn’t remember that name, but then when I saw the photo it came back to me.”

  “Okay. Well, study it a few times and see if it jogs anything at all in your mind—even the most insignificant detail might be important. Read the bios—see if they jog anything, too. I’m sure you chatted with some of those people occasionally, about jobs, families, troubles, etcetera.”

  Shelby nodded. “I will, Nate. I’ll give it a good look.”

  Nate got up. “Well, I’d better get going. Early morning tomorrow and a long day ahead.”

  Shelby got up, too, and walked him to the door. Then she spun him around gently and wrapped her arms around his neck. Gave him a squeeze and a kiss on the cheek. Nate pulled his head back and studied her.

  “You know, Shelby Sutcliffe, the last time our faces were this close was when I threw you up against the trestle after you almost fell. I pinned you with my body while studying your face carefully. But you’d fainted and your eyes were closed. I must admit, I like it much better this way—I can gaze into those blue eyes of yours.”

  She flashed him a tender smile, almost a thankful smile. Nate then leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips.

  Chapter 31

  It was another typical Monday morning. For some reason Mondays were one of the busiest days for surgery. She’d just finished assisting with an appendectomy, which went fine, but the gall bladder operation first thing that morning had some complications. First, the surgeon who was scheduled to perform the surgery was called away on a family emergency, so another specialist was substituted at the last minute. The patient was just being prepped when he heard the news and almost had a panic attack. They managed to calm him down and the surgery went ahead as planned.