Storm Killer (16 page)

34

Rear Admiral Olsen had just been apprised of the demise of the crews of the two vessels to the west of the Abraham Lincoln’s current position. Based on the observed speed of the light cone’s drift, his ship was threatened with extinction in a little less than one and a half hours.

He gathered his senior staff and the lead civilian scientific observers on the bridge. They were all murmuring in low tones among themselves. They had all been on duty when Storm Killer took its first victims. They knew the deadly light cone was headed their way. They knew what the power of the murderous cone could do to their own vessel.

As Olsen walked onto the bridge, the murmuring turned to silence.

“As you all are aware, the vessels, Gordon Gunter and Albatross IV, were directly hit by Storm Killer’s light beam a little over five minutes ago. No one lived through the tremendous heat spike when the cone passed over the vessels. The Storm Killer staff is currently not able to control the station because of multiple acts of sabotage,” Olsen briefed the staff.

“The heat cone is now drifting our way. It will be here in less than seventy-five minutes unless the Storm Killer staff can regain control. We have two motor launches, with a dozen crewmembers, still attempting to return to the Lincoln. They had been placing sensor buoys for storm data gathering, until I issued a recall. I did that as soon as I received word of the Gordon Gunter and Albatross disaster. We can move the ship about fifteen miles south of our current position and all but ensure our safety but it’ll be at the cost of those dozen crewmen. If we take that option, we need to move now. So I put it to you, what are your thoughts.”

Olsen was proud of his regular navy staff. To a man, his officers said they should stay at their post and recover the sailors. The civilian staff agreed.

Olsen nodded and said, “That’s my feeling, too. We’ll stay here and recover the away crews. And pray that Storm Killer’s staff regains control in time.”

The captain offered the staff a possible way to save themselves, if needed. “We may survive the cone, if we set up safe rooms deep in the bowls of the ship using the refrigerated meat and vegetable lockers. That would put at least fifteen decks of steel between the flight deck and us. I’ve ordered the kitchen crew to move all of the ice on board into those lockers. We’ll make safe rooms in them. We can go hungry for a day or two. The entire complement of crew and civilians can barely fit into those two refrigerated spaces. If all else fails, we’ll all take refuge in these spaces and pray we can survive the temperature spikes we expect to be subjected to.”

The assembled group nodded and voiced agreement. Olsen dismissed the group with a curt, “That is all, return to your duties.”

Olsen turned to the bridge window and stared to the west through the heavy rain where a definite yellow glow could be seen over the horizon.
God help us,
he silently prayed.

35

The President of Mexico was on the secured telephone with his counterparts in Belize, Costa Rico and Guatemala. “Gentlemen, we have a serious situation developing. Senator Gutierrez has just briefed me. He is here with me now if you have any questions.”

He explained the current status of Storm Killer and the deaths of the people in the storm’s eye. “It is as we thought,” he continued, “the experiment is running wild and will probably cause the storm to actually gain strength. We must inform the U.S. President of our intention to demand an immediate emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council and force the United States to discontinue this project at once.”

The listeners asked several questions about the current situation and all agreed to pressure the UN for an immediate meeting.

The Senator nodded as he heard the four leaders discussing the political approach to the current crisis. He smiled to himself as he mulled over the situation.
The political solution is no longer viable. I’m glad I have my other network. My associates on the station will either shut it down or destroy it
.

_______

Storm Killer – 9:30 AM

Kim sat opposite Francine in the makeshift interrogation room. Lt. James was releasing Bolino so he could assist in capturing Denuza and regaining station control.

Kim looked at Francine for several moments without saying a word. She continued staring at her until the doctor became uncomfortable and began fidgeting in her seat.

“Sit still, Doctor Cruz. What are you so nervous about?” Kim queried.

“What am I charged with? Why are you holding me?”

“Don’t play dumb, Francine. We know everything. Rafael is your half-brother. We know you and Rafael staged the accident at the mainframe. We know you stole Bolino’s security badge and Rafael used it to access the workstation that loaded the worm. We have Rafael on video loading the worm. We know you gave Bolino a medication that knocked him out while this happened. We know you supplied the anesthetic that knocked me out. What I don’t know is why you decided to take me prisoner. Care to explain that?”

With each statement made by Kim, the Doctor appeared to crumble a little more. She remained quiet.

Kim went on. “Until today, you two were responsible for acts of sabotage and kidnapping. That’s all changed. You two are now responsible for mass murder.”

Francine bolted upright. “Murder? What do you mean? My God, what has he done?”

“Rafael’s appropriation of the station’s control center and his changes to Storm Killer’s targeting caused the deaths of three dozen people on several weather monitoring ships near the hurricane’s eye. And you are his accomplice!”

“No! My God, No!” Francine broke down in tears. “Rafael promised me that no one would be hurt by any of this.”

“Well, Doctor, that promise is long broken, isn’t it? We have less than three hours to get control of the station or our own government will blow us up. Now, why did you two do this? What’s in it for you?”

Francine wrung her hands and in a trembling voice responded, “As you already know, Rafael is my half-brother. Over the years he has become more and more involved with environmentalist groups. He really cares about the Earth and what we have done to it. He knew I was going to be on Storm Killer. He applied for a technical position and was second in line for an assignment. He asked my help in getting selected. It was easy to find some small medical issue with the first choice and get him removed.”

She stopped for second gathering her thoughts and asked for a glass of water. She then continued, “He told me that the Storm Killer concept was considered far too dangerous by a large number of highly respected scientists that were in his latest save-the-environment action group. He told me that the government of Mexico had also expressed major concerns over the USA making any attempt to affect a hurricane.”

She stopped again to take a drink of the glass of water that Kim had brought to her. After a small sip, she started again, “Seems that in the late fifties, the US had attempted to seed the clouds of a hurricane in an experiment to lessen the impact of the storm. Mexico had protested that the US should not be experimenting with a storm that could change direction and hit Mexico and threatened to hold the US responsible for damages caused by such a storm. The international community sided with Mexico and pressured the US to suspend further experimentation.”

“Rafael thought he could cause enough disruption here to give Mexico and her allies time to force an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and have the Storm Killer project condemned by the UN. At first, he promised me that his various actions would simply stop the activation of Storm Killer. He finally escalated his actions in an attempt to get Storm Killer’s heat ray turned off. He probably knocked you out with anesthetic and tied you up so that your two companions would stop their efforts at stopping him and go looking for you. Although, I don’t know that was his doing for sure, I’m sorry for that, Kim.”

Kim just nodded and ordered the Doctor, “Go on.”

“He said he was going to take over the control room and force the staff to turn the light beam off.”

“Something has gone badly wrong,” Kim replied. “The beam is at full power pointing in exactly the worst place possible. The scientists think the storm will now grow into a monster that cannot be stopped.”

The Doctor looked ill. “I have no control over him anymore. He listened to me in the past and almost always took my advice. Now, it’s like we’re strangers. He even threatened me with having violence done to the rest of our family back in Mexico if I didn’t do exactly what he demanded.” She began sobbing.

Kim grabbed the doctor by her arms and shook her violently. “Stop it! Now is not the time to have a breakdown. You brought this whole thing on yourself by not reporting your brother’s actions. Now we have over thirty innocent people dead on those ships and millions more exposed to unnecessary destruction. Help us get Rafael to give himself up. Before it’s too late for all of us!”

The Doctor sobbed, “Rafael has been out of my control for several months. He keeps saying that his ‘boss’ is running things now. I don’t know who this ‘boss’ is, but apparently it’s someone on the station.”

As this dialog was playing out, Sand and Hoch were watching two sweating technicians, under the direction of Layne Bartlett, carefully drill a small hole in the bulkhead wall of the control center. This was being done with a laser drill to avoid any noise from a drill bit or drill motor. They watched as the techs snaked a small digital camera into the hole and attach the leads to the video inputs of the laptop computer in front of Sand and Hoch.

The closest technician pressed a touch pad on the camera and the picture suddenly appeared on the laptop screen. Using the lead wires, the technicians slowly moved the camera around to see more of the room on the other side of the bulkhead. Layne gasped as he saw his team members sprawled out at each workstation in the room. He couldn’t discern by looking at the picture if they were dead or alive. All that was known was that they saw no one moving, nor apparently conscience. After about five minutes of surveying the interior, it became apparent that Rafael was not in the room.

Layne ordered another crew of technicians to begin cutting through the door. He stood behind them as they began to attack the door with the laser.

Hoch suddenly grabbed Adam’s arm and pointed at the laptop screen. They had panned in for a close up of the interior of the door about to be broken into. There, on the interior of the door, was a device about half a meter square. They saw what appeared to be wires leading to other similar devices wired to the wall of the control center that was exposed to the outer hull of Storm Killer. Each device had letters stenciled on their sides. Hoch focused the camera on one of the devices and the letters became clear. They involuntarily held their breath as they read:

C4 Explosive

M112 1.25 pounds

Store at Temps of
-10 to +35 °C.

Adam yelled to Layne to stop cutting the door. Layne tapped the techs’ shoulder and ordered them to stop. He rapidly moved back to view the computer screen.

Hoch exhaled. “Jeez, I haven’t seen this stuff since my military days. I know that M112 designation. It’s definitely a military grade C4 and that much of it can knock out a six-by truck. I’ve seen it happen. It could easily punch a hole in the hull the size of the Grand Canyon and, with the door destroyed, the station would be drained of oxygen in no time. He was way ahead of us again. Getting in there will take time. We’ll have to cut an entrance through the bulkhead.”

Hoch glanced at his watch and muttered, “And we damn sure don’t have the time to be neat about it.”

Layne shoved Sand to the side and picked up the cutting torch. He looked at Sand and Hoch and said, “Get the hell out of here. If something goes wrong, at least you guys have to be able to tell what happened.” He turned to the bulkhead and turned on the laser.

Hoch said, “Hell, no! We aren’t going to leave you to blow yourself up!”

Adam grabbed Hoch’s shoulder and spun him around. “Don’t you think someone should go after Denuza? Since he doesn’t appear to be in the control center, what other mayhem is he planning? I can stay here and help Layne with the cutting.” With that, he gently pushed Hoch toward the door, and then turned to assist Layne in cutting the bulkhead. Without looking back, he said, “Go find him and stop him.”

Hoch stood up and hurried for the door yelling back, “He’s as good as gotten.”

______

The President entered the briefing room and all assembled personnel rose. He sat, and nodded at the forty-ish woman who was just taking her seat again. “Rose, what is the crisis?”

Rose Magruder, the National Security Advisor, examined her note pad and said, “Mr. President, we have a confirmed situation involving the Storm Killer project. Apparently Storm Killer has lost its targeting control and is now focused on the ocean at the very eye of the storm. The intense heat generated by Storm Killer’s beam of light almost instantly killed thirty-six people on scientific vessels in the eye. Furthermore, NOAA believes that the hurricane is now intensifying because of the added heat to the ocean around the eye. We have contact with the station, but they cannot enter the control room. Someone has taken over the control room and barred the doors.”