Nick realized that Chris wanted him close. “I’m not leaving Chris, we’re in this together.”
Nick showered and changed clothes and rejoined Chris and the two CIA agents in the living room.
One of the agents said, “You wouldn’t believe the shit this guy can do on the computer. This is some heavy science going down right now.”
Nick asked Chris, “Are you at a stopping point? You could probably use a few minutes of fresh air. We can stand by the back door in case Elliott needs you.”
Chris nodded. “That sounds good. Do you have a beer by any chance?”
Nick opened a beer and handed it Chris. He watched as Chris chugged it to the bottom and handed it back.
Nick said, “You really like your beer.”
Chris answered, “I hate it, that was my first beer ever. I heard beer relaxes people.” Chris frowned. “I’m not relaxed. I hope the odds are better on girlfriends. Angel’s my first one.”
Nick smiled, “Just take it slow. You’ll be fine.”
Chris pointed to the house, “Uh…in case you haven’t noticed, there’s nothing we can take slow now.”
Nick pulled a patio chair over for Chris and they sat in silence. Chris finally pointed to the sky. “You see what looks like a jet vapor trail up there? That’s seeding. We’ve been seeding the clouds since the late 50s.”
Nick asked, “Why?”
Chris shrugged, “It’s only one of a thousand theories on how to slow the buildup of CO2 in our atmosphere. Obviously, none of the experiments have worked. There have been unprecedented increases of CO2 in the last five years. That’s why the pressure is really on research to find something fast. It’s all very scary.”
Nick said, “It must make you feel better now that there are international councils talking about the climate issue.”
Chris stood to go back in the house. “If we stopped all emissions today, completely, all around the world, many believe it would still be too late. Our measurements now are at the max and there are carbons that have not reached the ionosphere yet to even be measured.” He grabbed the doorknob and turned it, “As easy as it is to open this door, we may stumble onto a solution. That could happen any day.”
Nick said, “Or not.”
Chris stepped into the house. “Or not.”
Nick heard Lacey’s voice talking to one of the CIA guards. He stepped into the living room to greet her.
Lacey stood holding five pizza boxes. “What happened to you?” She stared at Nick’s bandages and the chaos in his living room.
Nick answered, “I saw Mom today.”
“She shot you?” Lacey looked horrified.
Nick smiled, took the pizza boxes from her arms and kissed her cheek. “No, Mom didn’t shoot me, other people did. I’m fine.”
Lacey’s mouth dropped open at the sight of the wall monitor in Nick’s living room and the man at the keyboard. Two men stood against the walls and watched the monitors. The entire wall from floor to ceiling was filled with images of satellites, views of the Earth and data screens.
Lacey lowered her voice, “Nick?”
Nick guided her into the kitchen and brought her up to date on what was happening.
Lacey shook her head. “This has all happened in two days? We spoke yesterday at noon. You said you had to babysit some guy.” Lacey pointed to the living room. “Is that him?”
Chris yelled from the living room, “Do I smell pizza?”
Nick smiled at Lacey, “Come meet the man we hope is going to save the Earth.”
Lacey looked puzzled, “Save the Earth when?”
Nick said, “Right now.”
Nick took a paper plate with two slices of pizza in to Chris. The two CIA agents each helped themselves and Nick and Lacey brought chairs in from the kitchen to watch Chris’ monitors.
Chris talked into his communication monitor. “Elliott, are we ready?”
Elliott answered, “Yes. I’m sending you the clock display we are using…can you see it?”
Chris answered, “Yes.” He took his cursor and put the clock in the top left corner of the monitor and enlarged it.
Elliott said, “Send the initiate order now to Geneva for 6:29 exactly. We’ll initiate the shield at 6:30. The shield should begin to appear everywhere but near the beam site. That will be the last to close.”
“Got it.”
Chris entered a few keystrokes, leaned back in his chair and grabbed one of the pizza slices.
One of the CIA agents asked, “Now what?”
Chris answered, “Now we watch the middle of the monitor where you have a full view of the Earth. We should see a yellow sparkle start to form and shoot to the egg. There should also be a blue fishnet looking surface that begins to enclose the Earth.”
The agent asked, “How long will it take to start a beam?”
Chris answered, “Sunlight takes eight minutes and seventeen seconds to travel from the surface of the sun to Earth. Our computer signals travel somewhat slower so our visual will be delayed to real time by about one minute.”
Lacey looked at Nick, her eyes wide open. “Is this really happening?”
“Yes.”
“What if this doesn’t work?”
Nick squeezed her hand. “All the more reason I want you here with me.”
Chris jumped up from his chair, his pizza flew past Lacey. “Elliott, do you see it? Oh shit! Shit!”
Everyone in Nick’s living room stopped chewing and had a look of terror on their faces.
Elliott shouted back, “It’s a scatter, it’s not forming! Send a second order. It isn’t fast enough!”
Chris yelled, “What frequency? What’s my margin of error?”
“Zero margin. Same frequency…we’ll piggyback the plasma.”
Nick didn’t like the sound of a zero margin of error. Especially on an experiment that had never been done before.
Chris sent the second beam order. Two minutes later the screen displayed the faintest of yellow particles that twinkled above the Earth. They all watched as the yellow twinkles became more visible and appeared to align in a beam toward the ‘egg’ mass.
Chris asked Elliott, “Can you see the entire shield? I can only view the top.”
“Use your rotator. It looks like the shields are forming and spreading. I don’t see any holes and Titan isn’t reporting any. We have Titan running this in real time.”
Chris smiled, “That was brilliant!”
Elliott answered, “That was Jules idea, not mine.”
Lacey said, “The yellow line is almost to the egg. What happens next?”
Chris glanced at her, “Hopefully, Fourth of July fireworks.”
Watching the yellow line slowly inch toward the egg had them all holding their breath. Finally, it touched. They waited and waited.
Elliott came over the monitor, “I don’t understand. It should be fragmenting.”
Just then it looked as if there had been a cosmic explosion. Every color of the rainbow shot from the egg and flew into space. The egg was gone. The yellow twinkles were floating back toward Earth.
Chris yelled at the monitor, “Come on! Come on!”
Nick asked, “What’s wrong?”
Chris answered, “The shield has to close the hole where the beam left Earth. See the black center of the central blue net? That has to fill in or it will act as a vacuum and pull the radiation into our atmosphere.”
Lacey looked like she was going to faint. “Radiation?”
It looked like yellow fairy dust drifting closer and closer to the Earth. At the last second the blue net closed. The yellow radiation particle rain slid off the shield and dropped into space.
Chris took a big bite of pizza. “Holy shit, it worked.”
Over the monitor they could hear a crowd of people cheering in the control room at Langley.
Elliott’s face filled the monitor screen. His smile was ear to ear. “Chris! We did it!”
Nick asked, “It’s over? It’s do
ne?”
Chris smiled, “You want more?”
Chris asked Elliott, “Who’s in charge of clean up?”
Elliott answered, “Not us. Titan reports normal atmospheric conditions under the shield and estimates a two-hour window of shield decay time. Go home. I’ll see you in a few days. I think Jules and I are going somewhere to celebrate.”
Chris turned to face one of the CIA agents. “Can you guys fly me home?”
Angel’s smiling face appeared on Chris’ monitor. “You’re going to fly?”
Chris answered, “I don’t think anything can scare me after today. Not even flying! See you in a few hours. We’re going to have a first date!”
Lacey had regained her composure and her heart beat had returned to normal. She glanced at Nick and said, “You throw a hell of a pizza party.”
*****
Benson and the Director clinked their scotch glasses together in a toast and threw their drinks down their throats. The worst day of their careers had ended well.
The Director said, “Preliminary reports from Titan is that a large amount of CO2 escaped our atmosphere during this fiasco. At least some good came from all of this.”
Benson said, “A new report that CO2 levels have decreased will not be easily explained and will lead to a field day for the deniers.”
The Director pushed his arms above his head in a stretch and said, “That’s going to be tomorrow’s problem. Right now I want to go home for the holiday.”
Benson said, “I’ve got an important BBQ. Thank you for your support in all of this, sir.”
Benson listened to the news on his car radio as he headed home. The newscaster proclaimed that certain Senators were calling for heads to roll at the CIA for not notifying the mayor of New York City about the terrorist attack at Mason’s office.
Benson changed the channel on the radio to his oldies but goodies music. The Beach Boys song, California Girls, was playing. Benson turned up the volume and sang along. His heart filled with memories of simpler days and warm beaches. His thoughts turned to his son and the Fourth of July BBQ at his ex’s. The predicted weather was for blue skies and warm breezes. Any kind of weather would have suited him just fine.
*****
Frankie Mullen couldn’t get out of Chicago fast enough. Lenny had finally called saying that he was finished with the moving and placement of Frankie’s belongings. Frankie had a small suitcase of clothes and a blue cooler with Jimmy’s head left to pack into the car. He locked his apartment and tossed the key into the building manager’s mailbox along with a note that said, ‘Good riddance’.
He made a quick stop at his favorite barber for one last haircut. His barber kept talking about having a Fourth of July BBQ and it started to make Frankie hungry. At the meat market, he purchased a package of bratwursts, some lunch meat, a loaf of bread and a box of sparklers that were displayed by the register.
His butcher said, “Here, I’ll throw in this jar of spicy mustard for ya. Gonna miss ya, Frankie. You have a nice retirement.”
Frankie grunted a response and left. When he exited the shop he had a brief moment of panic. Where was his car? After a few moments of wandering the lot, he found it. Inside the car, he cursed his body and mind for getting old. He glanced at the cooler and said, “I think you and I are retiring just in time. I bought us some sparklers for the holiday. Probably have to stick yours in your ear.” Frankie laughed so hard at his joke he started coughing. He cursed again.
He took his time driving to New Buffalo. He chuckled at the cars that raced up behind him and passed him with their middle finger up. It was fun pissing people off. He was only driving five miles under the speed limit. Young people needed to learn to enjoy life, slow down some.
At the lake house, Frankie saw a huge bouquet of flowers on his kitchen table. He figured they must be from Lenny since he was the only one with a key. Frankie dropped his suitcase on the floor and read the card stuck between the roses.
Enjoy your new home. We’re square now. Artie.
Frankie chuckled to himself. “Like hell.” If Artie thought some flowers repaid his debt, he was sorely mistaken. Artie’s nephew, Lenny, would have surely been caught with a dead body if Frankie hadn’t told them what to do with it.
Frankie carried the cooler into the pantry and set it on the floor. He turned on the television and the overhead fan. Once Jimmy was in his new ‘house’, he would lean back in his recliner, smoke a cigar and take a nap.
Frankie opened the secret brick door in the back of the fireplace wall to the freezer cavity and gasped. There sat Dominick Guioni’s head. Frankie started laughing. This was the best present he had ever been given. He inched Dominick’s head to the left and put Jimmy next to him.
Now his laugh became a roar as he stared at the pair in the freezer. Retirement was going to be better than he imagined.
“You boys enjoy your reunion.”
Frankie stretched out in his recliner, turned on the remote for his television and said, “Hey, just in time for ‘Wheel of Fortune’.”
He and Artie were square.
List of Characters for Zero Margin:
Law Enforcement:
Nick Stryker Lead Homicide Detective at Chicago’s 107th Precinct
Jen Taylor Chicago Homicide Detective, Nick’s partner
Wayne Dunfee Chicago Homicide Detective, on Nick’s team
Sam Flores Chicago Homicide Detective, on Nick’s team
Steven Phillips Supervisory Special Agent, FBI, Mob Task Force
CIA:
Benson Anders Directorate of Sciences and Technology
Darren Trayer Assistant to Benson Anders
Dalton Grant Team Chief for Lead, SD, project
Rex Strubel Second in command for Lead team
Scientists:
Dr. Elliott Nobel Head astrophysicists on DIANA project
Dr. Chris Larson Elliot’s second in command on DIANA project
Dr. Angel Sanchez Astrophysicist on Elliot’s team
Dr. Jules Sanford Astrophysicist from NASA
Dr. Gustoff Kyser Head Astrophysicist on Malaysian mirror team
Dr. Stramoud Worked for Dr. Kyser on the Geneva team
Mobsters:
Dominick Guioni Westside Crew boss, Chicago
Frankie Mullen ‘Retired’ hitman for Dominick
Artie Corsone ‘Retired’ document man for Westside Crew
Travis Cummings Mob accountant turned FBI witness
J.T. Barrimore President of Goliath Security, firm used by mob
Mason New York representative for International crime family
Secondary Characters:
Momma Owns sandwich shop, Sophia’s friend and confidant
Mitch Jordan Momma’s son, half owner of sandwich shop
Lenny Corsone Artie’s nephew, contractor on Frankie’s New Buffalo house
Norman Nick’s tenant
Sophia Stryker Nick’s mother
Martin Stryker Nick’s father
Lacey Star Nick’s fiancée
Other books by The Shallow End Gals:
The New Orleans Series
Alcohol Was Not Involved, Book One of Trilogy
Extreme Heat Warning, Book Two of Trilogy
Silent Crickets, Book Three of Trilogy
Catahoula, Book four of Series
*****
The Nick Stryker Series
Cusp of Crazy, Book One
Twisted, Book Two
Zero Margin, Book Three
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Zero Margin: Nick Stryker, Book Three The Shallow End Gals (Nick Stryker Series 3) Page 21