Tripple Chronicles 1: Eternity Rising

by M. V. Kallai

Back in Camden’s interrogation room, Mace was trying to use his knowledge of the affair as leverage for a confession. So far, he was unsuccessful.

  “Face it, Major. You can’t keep her here.” Camden’s smugness had returned.

  “I will leak it to the press then. Do you think you will be so beloved by the public when this gets out?”

  “Sounds like an empty threat to me. And I don’t care if you leak it. I’m a high profile man who tragically lost his wife. People will sympathize with me. Do you think General Pike will be sympathetic with you when you drag his wife’s name through the dirt?”

  “Well, maybe I’ll just get the general down here to deal with you himself.”

  “If that’s what you need to do. There will still be no confession here,” Camden said.

  “I know what you and Ganesh have done and I am well on my way to proving it, so you might as well confess!”

  Camden folded his arms and rocked back in his chair.

  “Where is Ganesh?”

  “Maybe your girlfriend will have more to tell me then.”

  “She won’t. There’s nothing to tell.”

  “You know, Professor, the general doesn’t yet know his wife is here. I’m sure he knows she’s missing, though. And maybe it stays that way. So one last time…what do you know about the stolen biomer?”

  Camden wondered if Mace would go so far as to make Enira vanish over this. He would miss her company.

  After minutes of the two men staring at each other waiting for the other to say something, Mace slammed his fist on the table.

  “So, what, Professor? The good general’s wife not worth saving to you? So she is just a whore to you. Someone to pass the time with after your wife ate it? What was her name? Rosa?”

  Camden lunged at Mace.

  “Don’t you ever mention my wife again! You don’t even get to speak her name!”

  Mace smirked and strutted to the door.

  “Too bad she’s dead. Clearly she would have been the better bargaining chip.” Mace walked out of the room, satisfied that he had gotten to Camden, even if he didn’t confess. He would have his answers soon enough. Now that he had his own spy in place.

  Camden’s face was on fire and his fists were shaking. Aldretti even looked nervous to be left alone with him; however, Camden’s pride in being a gentleman took over after a few moments and he managed to re-gain composure. Not for Aldretti’s benefit, but for whoever might be watching the cameras in this room. He went to the cot in the corner and sat with his back against the wall and his feet up. Camden’s heart hurt. He habitually blocked his mind of Rosa’s death when he was not alone. The grief was still massive, even though it had been seven years, and having the reminder of it thrust in his face like that from Mace Magner widened the open wound.

  Two doors down, Mace continued his attempt to gain information on the crime he was investigating.

  “Mrs. Enira Pike, what an honor to have you with us. I’m Major Mace Magner.” His smile was wide, but his eyes were snakelike. Enira was sitting at the small table in the room. She was put together quite well considering the night she had just endured.

  “Major, what do you want from me? I demand to know.”

  “Ooh, Feisty, I like that.”

  Enira rolled her eyes.

  “Oh, all right. I will make a deal with you, sweetness. Your affair with the good professor will remain a secret from your husband if you tell me everything you know about your lover.”

  “I don’t know what you are looking for, Major but I’m sure I don’t know anything that will help you.”

  “I’ll be the one to determine that, Dear. Let’s just start with yesterday. Why were you in Professor Riles’ building? Did you have a rendezvous set?”

  “No. I went to check on him. He missed having lunch at the club and his colleague was worried. After a while, so was I.”

  “And who is this colleague?” Mace asked.

  “Dr. Lee Tripple, of course. That’s no secret; everyone knows they dine together several times a week. In all the years they have been coming to my club, I’ve never seen either of them with different company.”

  “In the last few weeks, have you seen the professor give anything to Dr. Tripple? In a bag or a box?”

  “They exchange things all the time. Who could keep track? I think you are wasting time with these questions, Mr. Magner. I’ve never heard any private whispers or seen any secret exchanges between the two and I would tell you if I had,” Enira said.

  “Would you? Forgive me if it’s hard to trust a woman who lies to her husband on a daily basis.”

  “Don’t you judge me! You are speaking of a situation of which you know nothing about! You should let me go home now. I’m sure my husband has already sent out a search party.” She paused a moment. “If you let me go, I won’t mention to him the humiliation you have put me through.”

  “Again, because you don’t get it, Mrs. Pike, I don’t trust you. Maybe you’ll just have to remain missing for a few days, or forever.”

  “Are you threatening me? And all because you believe I know something that I do not.”

  Mace did not answer her, but got up and walked to the door.

  “I’ll be in touch, Mrs. Pike. You take care now.” The door closed and locked behind him. Then he addressed the two guards by her door. “No one goes in or out of this room and block the window. If anyone else finds out who is behind this door, it’ll be your asses on the line. Got it?”

  Mace headed off down the hall. He would visit the weaponry lab before lunch. Nothing aroused his appetite like heavy artillery. Walking toward him from the elevators was Colonel Ganesh and his new sidekick, Sergeant Quinn. Mace gave Ganesh a salute and an uncharacteristic smile. This made Ganesh scowl. Quinn noticed his reaction and asked.

  “What was that all about, sir?”

  “Nothing Quinn, I’m sure nothing,” Ganesh said even though he was wondering what Mace was up to.

  “All right, Sergeant, I want you to wait outside while I go in and brief Professor Riles on our new project.” Ganesh said to Quinn.

  “But, sir, I have project clearance. I’d really like to go in and see you work.”

  “Yes, I understand that, but Professor Riles will not appreciate the extra company and this needs to go smoothly, so just do what I say and stay out here.”

  Ganesh took a deep breath and walked in to explain to Camden that he was now a prisoner of the government and had to publically state that he willingly put all of his other projects on hold to be here. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

  “Ganesh! You’re back. Are you here to release me?”

  “Camden, my hands are tied here. I want you to know that before we continue this conversation. We are in this situation together, whether you believe it or not.”

  “What are you telling me here?”

  “Well, first the good news…you’ll be getting a much nicer room.” Ganesh’s attempt to make light of the situation passed right over Camden, who looked like he was about to burst. Ganesh turned to Aldretti. “Get out, Officer.” When he left, Ganesh took a chair and boosted himself up to cover the cameras.

  “Should you do that?” Camden asked.

  “Doesn’t matter now. I have orders and they need me.”

  “And me??” Camden said with a defeated voice.

  “I’m sorry, Camden. Sit down with me and I’ll go over what’s going to happen to us from here.”

  Ganesh opened the project folder and handed it to him.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Welcome to the Family

  “He works for the government,” Dana said to Lee who was sitting next to her at the conference table and staring across at the young Sergeant Bearden Leitner. “I suggest low level security clearance and one half day a week.”

  “Yes. I think so. That is more than enough time to give us word on Camden and exchange working notes.” With that said, Lee left the room to return to his lab.

  “
I will speak to the lady at the desk and she can get your clearance set up.”

  “So are you running his lab after one day? You seem pretty high up on your horse today, Miss Hanks.”

  “I think that what you are missing is that I was hired because I can predict what he needs done and then do it.”

  “Well then, by all means, let’s go and get my clearance set up.”

  “Fine. Follow me.”

  Bearden’s gut clinched with guilt. This lab had gone from being the first place he wanted to be to the last in a matter of hours. Now he was stuck doing everyone’s dirty work and would apparently be reporting to snotty little Dana Hanks once a week. All he wanted was to be an honest scientist who was loyal to his government and whose work bettered society. Now he didn’t even know who he was.

  When the two reached the lobby, they could see that the lady at the desk was already talking to Lee. She was pulling files and frantically looking for something.

  “What’s that all about? Me?” Bearden asked.

  “No, Mister Self-Centered, and don’t worry what it’s about because it doesn’t concern you.”

  She stopped walking and held out her arm to cue Bearden to stop as well.

  “We should wait till they’re done before we go over there.”

  The lady at the front desk was looking for Ari’s information. She knew that he was Camden’s driver, to Lee’s relief, but was having a hard time locating his personal data. Lee felt like a fish out of water standing there at the desk. He had never spoken so much to this lady and he could tell he made her nervous…which made him uncomfortable. Finally after several minutes and files, she found his file and handed it to Lee. He stood there for a moment scanning the information. Camden’s driver…wife…three children. Lee’s eyes widened and he seemed frozen.

  “Is there anything else, Dr. Tripple?”

  “No. I mean yes. Dana will speak with you now.” He backed away awkwardly staring at Ari’s phone number and shuffled off to call him. He gave Dana an impatient glance, which she noticed.

  “Okay, I have to do this fast because Dr. Tripple needs my help.”

  “And you know this by what…telepathy?” Bearden joked.

  “I just know, okay?”

  She walked up to the lady at the front desk dragging Bearden by the wrist to explain what was to be done with the young soldier. Then she left him there and rushed back to the lab.

  “I’ll meet you in an hour, Sergeant Leitner. Right here,” she called back to him as she left.

  The lady at the front desk gave a little gasp when she saw who was standing in front of her.

  “Well, I see you’ve bullied your way back in here, Sergeant,” she said to him.

  “I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to scare you. But see, I really am supposed to be here.”

  “Yes, we’ll see.” She looked skeptical and wondered what the heck was going on around here.

  Dana walked into Lee’s office without knocking and sat down across from him.

  “Have you made the call yet?” she asked.

  “No. Not yet.”

  “Do you want to make it in private?”

  “No, you can stay. You should hear anyway. It may be necessary in planning our next step.”

  Dana could tell that Lee was not handling the news of Camden’s incarceration very well, even though his prime focus remained on securing the stolen material. Lee punched in Ari’s number and turned on the speaker.

  “Hello?” A nervous sounding Ari answered.

  “Hello. Is this Ari?”

  “Yes. It is. Who is this?”

  “Lee Tripple. Do you know who I am?”

  “Of course I do, but you shouldn’t be calling me. I’m sure that the government is listening to this call.”

  “My line is secure. This call is just between us…oh and Dana Hanks. She is with me from now on…in my lab.”

  Dana smiled.

  “Hello, Miss Hanks.”

  “Hello, Ari. We’re calling about Professor Riles.”

  “I was hoping,” Ari replied, “I haven’t known what to do. They stopped us and took him away in broad daylight. I’ve had government transports following every little thing I do.”

  “Ari,” Dana said, “It’s important that whatever Professor Riles is hiding from the government gets safely here to Tripple Laboratories. Do you think you can help with that?”

  “I will try. I can’t be seen going into his transport or they will pick me up, too.”

  “So you know where it is, then,” Lee said.

  “Yes. He got in with a case and left with nothing and when the transport was searched, nothing was recovered.”

  “So you think he has it hidden in a compartment somewhere?” Dana asked.

  “Yes, exactly, and I have the combination to the compartment. I never thought I’d need it.” Ari sounded sad. “They see me on the phone. They are flying closer. We must be quick,” He added frantically.

  “You sound young, Miss Hanks. Listen…I have an idea. Camden has a niece, Liana. She visits from time to time. Has short blond hair, average height and build, dresses very conservatively. She travels with a small black rolling bag, square and leather. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “Yes, I think so. Do you know when she is scheduled to visit again?”

  “In two days at 10:00 in the morning…precisely. She’s always punctual and uses the back elevator.”

  “I understand Ari,” Dana said, “Will you have time to do what you need to do?”

  “I hope so. It is going to rain tonight. That will be my best shot. Dr. Tripple, Miss Hanks, I must go. They are flying close enough to my window to use their listening device.”

  “Goodbye, then,” Lee said and hung up abruptly and looked at Dana who seemed out of breath though she was sitting still. “We must transform the way you look now.”

  “Wig?”

  “No, too risky. Needs to be real,” Lee replied.

  “You want to give me a haircut?”

  “No, but I have to. There are some nice scissors in the storeroom. Center shelf on the right. I’ll get the lightening chemicals together. We’ll do it tonight. You should go home and gather your conservative attire.”

  “What about the rolling bag? Should I purchase one?” Dana asked.

  “I know this bag, and Camden owns more than one. I will look in his office. Hopefully I will find a match.”

  “Does he have a photo of Liana in his office as well?”

  “Um…I don’t know.” He felt almost embarrassed in front of her for not knowing about the family of such a dear friend but those kinds of details had just never been essential to the relationship.

  “I’ll be back soon. Can I bring you something to eat?” She asked assuming he had not eaten since lunch yesterday.

  “Yes. Okay. That would be fine,” Lee replied.

  Just as Dana was about to leave, she stopped.

  “Argghh!”

  Her loud, frustrated growl took Lee by surprise and his shoulders flinched.

  “What is it?”

  “I almost forgot about Sergeant Leitner. I am to meet him in forty minutes.”

  “Then you should hurry,” Lee said.

  Dana turned on her heel and ran out feeling glad that she lived so close to the lab. She would grab some fruit, bread, and cheese from her house for their breakfast. Tomorrow she would shop and stock the lab’s kitchen for the both of them.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Missing

  After lunch, Mace was ready to question his prisoners again when he received a message from General Pike marked ‘Urgent’. He marched into his office with his head held high and saluted his mentor.

  “Mace, sit down. I need to talk to you about a personal matter.”

  Mace pretended to be concerned as he had a pretty good idea what that matter was.

  “I think my wife is missing.”

  “Missing? Are you sure?”

  “Prett
y sure. We have grown accustomed to each other’s schedules, she works late at her club, and, well, you know the hours I keep. We always check in though. Even after twenty five years.”

  “Touching story, sir,” Mace tried his hardest to sound sincere. “Are you saying she didn’t check in?”

  “Not since yesterday. Didn’t even come home last night. I was here at 6:30, so I just figured she had a really tough night at the club…happens sometimes.”

  “I bet it does,” Mace said.

  “So?” the general asked.

  “So…Oh! You want me to find her for you.”

  “Yes, Dumbass, did you think I brought you here to share my marital habits with you?”

  “No, of course not. I will put my best men on it right away, sir.”

  “Listen to me a little closer this time, Magner.” The general’s voice was gaining volume. “If I wanted your best men I would have sent for them. You find her…personally! That’s all. Let me know when you have something.”

  “Yes, sir!” Mace saluted and headed for the door.

  “Oh and Mace…”

  “Yes?”

  “Be discreet.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  Mace smiled when his back was turned to the general and thought. Well I guess I can take a few hours off since I know exactly where the little slut is.

  Upstairs, Camden rubbed his face with his hands while Ganesh explained that they would need to make a joint public statement side-by-side. Camden put his hands on the table and looked at Ganesh.

  “I won’t do it.”

  “We don’t have a choice, Cam. This comes from higher up than me.”

  “Turn yourself in then, and let me go home.

  “Humph. Two days in interrogation and you’re already cracking. C’mon, Cam, I need your help with this.”

  “I didn’t ask to be a part of this”

  “I know that! And I know that it is entirely my fault that you are here. But this is bigger than you and me. If we don’t work to stop what is happening downstairs in that lab, no one will. Don’t you understand the magnitude of all this.”