David looked at the President. “The level of radiation indicates that they would have enough material for several weapons.”
The room was silent as everyone thought about the implications of what David had found.
“This makes no sense,” Arthur said. “Why would they go to the trouble of hiding it on the base? Once they put the uranium into the reactor, there would be no way to hide it. Why would they delay loading the fuel into the reactor?”
Evan leaned back in his chair. “It’s almost as if they knew that we would be checking their radiation levels and wanted to wait until we stopped looking.”
“Are you saying that they were tipped off that we were sending in a detector?” William asked.
“I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist. It just may be that they were being cautious, but it seems odd that they would hide it rather than use it unless there was an upside to hiding it.”
William looked at Evan and rolled his eyes. “Is there anything else to report, David.”
“No. I have told you everything I can discern from the data.”
“Thank you, David,” William said. “Is there anything else you need from our group, Madam President?”
“No, William,” she said as she got up from her chair to leave. “In light of this news, I shall be spending the afternoon with my advisors from the satellite reconnaissance group. I will let you know if I need your group for anything. ”
Evan and David got up to leave and walked to the door ahead of the others. Once they reached the hallway and were sufficiently far enough away from William, David put his hand on Evan’s shoulder and stopped him. Then he took a shiny piece of metal out of his pocket and showed it to Evan.
“Do you know what this is?” David said.
“I don’t recognize it, what is it?”
“It is a guide pin for the wing-unfold mechanism on your glider. It should have been attached to the glider before you left. Its job was to stop the wings unfolding at exactly the right point. Without it, the wings would continue to unfold too far and then the wings would snap.”
“That’s kinda what happened,” Evan said.
“The pin was in place when we finished the final assembly of the glider and put it into the MAC-25 for shipment. It is part of our checklist to verify that critical parts are installed. I found this pin in the back of a drawer in the toolbox in the lab. I think somebody removed it on purpose.”
“Why didn’t you say something at the meeting?” Evan asked.
“I didn’t want to say anything until I knew more,” David said, putting the guide pin back in his pocket. “Maybe somebody did accidentally miss a step in the procedure, but I’m still looking into it.”
Evan thought about what David said for a moment. “Do you have a list of people that had access to the lab past the time that you loaded the glider into the MAC-25?”
“I checked the security logs for the lab. Six people either were in the lab or came in later. Three lab technicians, William Mason, Karl Becker, and me.”
“Karl Becker? What was he doing in the lab? He doesn’t have a mission planned,” Evan said.
“He came in to have one of the technicians replace the battery in his watch. You can’t just go to the mall and have the battery replaced in one of the agent watches.”
“Did you show the pin to William?”
“Yes, he said that I must have forgotten to install it on the glider and that I was to stop wasting time worrying about my mistake.”
Evan put his hand on David’s shoulder. “William is right. There is no way that we can know for sure what happened so I wouldn’t spend any more time thinking about it.”
Both men continued to walk down the hallway. David continued to stew about the guide pin. Evan had to get him to take his mind off it.
“Say, David,” he said. “What’s the deal with our kids tonight? Going to a movie?”
David’s face brightened at the thought. “That’s what Alex said. Melina is going to call him this afternoon and firm up the plan.”
“I’ve got to tell you,” Evan said. “I’m not too thrilled with my daughter starting to go out with boys, but it makes me feel a lot better that the boy she is going out with is your son.”
“Thank you,” David said. “For the kind words about my son … and for not being mad about the glider.”
As two men came to the elevator at the end of the hall, Evan stopped to wait for the elevator and David continued toward the lab. As he passed, Evan gave him a pat on the back.
………………………….
Evan and Melina walked toward the car parked in front of their house. Melina was headed for the passenger side, but as they approached the car, Evan tossed her the keys. Melina stopped in her tracks, surprised.
“You want me to start driving now?” she said.
Melina understood that they were going to practice her driving while they were going to see her mom. But she also knew that it was a long drive. She had been taking driver training at school since the start of the school year and had already made some drives in the school car, but nothing even close to the distance from her home to the hospital.
“I want you to start driving in an area that you are familiar with,” he said. “Let’s just see how far you can go.”
Melina walked over to the driver’s door, pressing the button on the keychain to unlock the doors on the way there. They got in, settled into their seats, and buckled their seatbelts.
“Before we get going,” Evan said. “I want to find out where you think your driving skills are at this point.”
Melina thought for a moment. “We spent the first couple of months of class in the classroom learning the traffic laws and seeing movies about what not to do. And we have been out in the school car six times. There are three students in the car when we go out, so I get to drive about ten minutes each time. I have driven all over the city but not on the freeway.”
“All right,” he said. “Start the car, drive down the street, and make a right turn at the end of our street.
Melina looked over at Evan and gave him a look. “Dad, I don’t need directions yet. I know how to get out of our neighborhood.”
“I’m sorry kiddo. Go ahead.”
Melina started the car, moved the shift lever to drive, and put her foot on the accelerator. The car lurched forward with the awkward jerk that is characteristic of a new driver.
“Mirrors!” Evan yelled as he grabbed onto the passenger door handle.
Melina slammed on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt. “What?”
“Your mirrors. You did not check the car’s mirrors to see that it was safe to move away from the curb. If someone were already driving down the street behind you in our direction, you would have driven right into the side of their car.”
Melina nodded, composed herself and continued. She successfully negotiated the right turn at the end of the street as well as the three turns that it took to get out of their neighborhood and onto the main street. The first light that Melina came to was red. She gently applied the brakes and came to a perfect stop behind the line. Melina looked over at her dad and saw that he was holding onto the passenger door handle as if he were on a rollercoaster ride.
“Are you making a right turn here?” Evan asked in a snotty rhetorical tone.
“Yes, I am.”
“I don’t hear a signal,” he said. “If you don’t signal your intentions, people won’t know what you are going to do. That leads to accidents.”
Melina looked at her dad again. She had never seen him like this. If she did not know better, she would say that he was nervous. His voice sounded different. He even sounded a little mean. She put the right turn signal on and went back to waiting for the light.
“What are you waiting for?” Evan said, agitated.
“What!” Melina said. “It’s a red light.”
“Unless it is marked, you can turn right at a red light when the traffic allows.”
“Oh. I must have missed that in class.”
Melina looked to make sure that no cars were coming and made a right turn. Satisfied that she was doing okay, she started to relax as she drove toward the next light a mile in the distance. Evan still had a death grip on the passenger door handle.
Evan glanced over at the speedometer and then blew up. “Melina, slow down! The speed limit is forty miles per hour and you are doing fifty!”
Melina couldn’t take it anymore. She slowed down, signaled a right turn and pulled into the parking lot of a mini mall. She parked in the first available parking space located in front of a sandwich shop and turned off the engine. Then she turned to look at her dad, prepared for the biggest fight she could imagine. Only, he wasn’t looking back at her. He had his face buried in his hands and was softly muttering no, no, no.
“Dad, what is the matter?” Melina said with equal parts shock, anger and concern.
“I have a slight problem with this. You being a driver,” he said.
“Ya think?” she said.
Evan forced a smile. “It’s more than just a dad worried about his little girl. There is something else you should know. I haven’t wanted to tell you because I wasn’t sure how you would react.”
Melina shifted in her seat. “Is there something I have done?”
“No, no,” he said. “It’s nothing you have done. It is something I have done… it is my fault that Mom got into an accident.”
“What?” Melina said. “You weren’t even there. She was alone. It was determined that some hose had come loose, and that caused the car’s brakes to fail. That was why she ran that red light and went into that intersection. How are you at fault?”
“Whose car are we driving now?” Evan said.
“It’s Mom’s. She was driving your car the night of the accident.”
“Exactly,” Evan said. “She hated that car. After that friend of mine threw up in the back seat, she even started referring to it as The Barfmobile. She said that she could still smell it.”
“So why was she driving it?”
“On the day of the accident, I took Mom’s car to the store to buy some groceries because her car had the bigger trunk. As I was leaving, she asked me to put gas in her car because it was almost empty. On the way there, I got interested in the baseball game on the radio and forgot to get gas in her car. Later when Mom went to leave to run an errand, her car had no gas, so she took my car.”
There was a long silence as Melina waited for her dad to continue. To get to his point. But he did not seem to have anything else to say.
“Is that the end of your story?” Melina asked. “Mom took your car and you feel responsible for her getting into an accident?”
“If I had just filled up her car with gas, she would have driven her own car and not mine. That should have been me in that car.”
Melina thought for a moment. “Dad, is this why you won’t go in to see Mom when we go to the hospital?”
Evan looked up at her. “I can’t face her. I can’t be in that room and have your mom look at me with those sweet brown eyes, knowing that I am responsible.”
Melina leaned over and put her arm around Evan’s shoulder. “Dad. It was not your fault. Mom happened to be driving the car when something faulty happened. Yes, she hated that car, but she still drove it on occasion. Something could have happened any one of those times.”
Evan felt better that Melina did not think he was responsible, but she had not changed his mind.
“Would you mind if I finished the drive to the hospital?” he said.
“I will make a deal with you,” Melina said. “You finish the drive, but when we get there then you come with me into Mom’s room.”
Evan sat up and looked her in the eye. He knew this was something significant to her.
“It’s a deal.”
Melina and Evan both got out, and they each headed toward the opposite side of the car. As Melina got to the front of the car, and she slowed down to let her dad go by, she glanced into the window of the sandwich shop. She stopped in her tracks when she spotted Alex sitting at a table near the window. Then she saw who was sitting opposite him at the table …
Ellen Barlow.
Melina stared into the window. Ellen looked up, spotted Melina and gave her a fake, exaggerated look of having been caught at something. Melina ran to the passenger side of the car, opened the door, and then paused to take one more look into the sandwich shop window. This time her eyes met Alex’s. His eyes grew wide at the realization as he saw Melina look down, get into the car and close the door.
“You okay?” Evan said.
“Let’s go,” Melina said coldly.
Evan backed the car up and pulled out of the parking lot onto the street. Melina pulled her phone from her pocket and pressed a button on the screen. After a moment, the phone flickered and then shut off.
………………………….
The rest of the drive to the hospital was quick and without conversation. Evan was lost in thought at the prospect of facing Laura. Melina was contemplating the meaning of Alex having lunch with Ellen. But once they got to the hospital, Melina’s spirits began to lift when her thoughts shifted to seeing her mom. Nothing was going to ruin her visit.
Sensing that her dad may have trouble, she walked arm-in-arm with him as soon as they got out of the car. She was right as Evan slowed when they approached Laura’s room. He suddenly felt as though he had to explain why he had not been in her room in months. Although she would not be able to hear him, he needed to tell her. But he did not have the words yet. Melina, on the other hand, was more than ready. She grabbed the door to the room and swung it open.
“Let’s go Dad. We’re goin’ in.”
Melina swept into the room and greeted Laura with a loud and happy ‘Hey Mom’ and an enormous hug. Evan slunk behind and stood at the foot of the bed. He was clearly uncomfortable.
“Look who I brought today,” Melina said with obvious happiness. It sounded like the opening of a conversation. Evan reflexively looked over at Laura for her response. He felt a sting in his psyche when she did not respond.
But Melina continued as if it were a conversation. “Lots of things have happened since I was here last week. Let’s start with the biggest news. Do you remember that boy Alex that I told you about that is in my physics and language arts classes? You know, the one that I’ve had a crush on since the beginning of the school year? Early in the week, we were assigned to be lab partners on the new magnetics unit that we are studying. Once we got to talking, he said that he kinda liked me. Great, huh?”
Evan felt strange. Like he was intruding on their conversation. He slowly backed away from the bed. He grabbed a soda from a mini refrigerator in the corner of the room and sat down. Melina did not notice. She was still talking to Laura.
“We hung out together at school all week, and he has been walking me to my classes. Last night he came over to study, and while we were sitting on the couch, we held hands. There was no kissing though.”
There was a loud noise as Evan choked on his soda.
Melina briefly looked at Evan and then continued. “Tonight, Alex and I are supposed to go out together on our first date, but on the way here, I saw him in the sandwich shop having lunch with another girl from school that I know for sure is interested in him. I don’t know what to do.”
Evan sat back in his chair. He had no idea any of this was going on. But now it was clear to him why it was so crucial for Melina to come to the hospital. Laura could not hear her, but Melina was still talking to her about things a daughter would talk to a mother about. Things she would not feel comfortable talking about with her dad. She needed this.
Melina continued to talk for another hour, telling her mom about everything that happened to her that week. She detailed conversations she’d had and told of things she had done and people she had met. She spent twenty minutes on Angela alone. All the while holding up one-half of a conversation and never showing
the slightest sadness.
After a while, Evan stood up and came over to the side of the bed. “Do you mind if I talk to your mom for a while, kiddo?”
Melina backed away and sat down in the chair as Evan took her place by the side of the bed. He took one of Laura’s hands into his own, held it to his lips, and kissed it.
“I realize that I have not visited you for a while,” he began. After a moment to gather his emotions, he continued. “I have not been able to face you. I feel that I am responsible for your accident. If I had just filled your car’s tank with gas, you never would have been driving my car. Melina has tried her best to convince me otherwise, but I will spend the rest of my life knowing that it is my fault that you are here. I am so sorry.”
Melina stood up and walked to the foot of the bed. Her mom had a look on her face that she had not seen before.
“Laura, I miss you so much. I have never told you this, but I fell in love with you the day we met. I have loved you every second since then. I will love you until the day I die.”
Evan put his head down on Laura’s chest and closed his eyes.
“Dad, look!” Melina shouted.
Evan looked up at Melina, who was pointing at her mom’s face. He looked over at Laura. Her face was still expressionless, but there was a single tear running down her cheek.
He stood up and pushed the emergency call button to summon help. Seconds later, Laura’s doctor rushed into the room.
“Doctor Johnson!” Melina cried. “Look at the tear!”
The doctor ran to the side of the bed to take a closer look at the tear. He shined a light into Laura’s eyes to check her pupil dilation, and then grabbed her wrist to check her heart rate.
He turned to Melina and Evan. “Her dilation is a little improved over normal, and her heart rate is a little elevated. This makes no sense, even for Laura.”
“What do you mean, even for Laura?” Evan asked.
“I know you have not been around for many months, but I thought that your daughter had you kept you up on her condition.”
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