Storm Killer

by Benjamin Blue

  Dan returned the laugh, “Okay. I thought you were coming on to me. Damn girl, while I like you a lot, I don’t like you that way.”

  Kim smiled, “I know, Dan. Me, too! You’re not my idea of a romantic interest. Your too much of a beast with all of those muscles for my taste.”

  She continued, “But really Dan, the Kata seems to help reduce the pain in my old injuries.”

  Kim turned toward the back of the house and saw Lt. James walking away from them. She thought, I wonder if he saw me kiss Dan? Crap. That’s all I need! To have my boss think I’m having a relationship with my work partner. I’ll have to figure out some way to get it across to him that Dan and I aren’t an item.

  The situation receded from Kim’s thoughts as the hurricane descended on them. The thought of talking to her boss was replaced by the animal need of just surviving the approaching monster that would all but flatten their refuge.

  22

  Five Years Before; The Beast Makes Landfall

  Hurricane Buford hit St Thomas and the surrounding islands with a vengeance. While small and weak by comparison with hurricanes like Katrina, it still packed a tremendous one-two punch of wind and water.

  The resort’s large plate glass windows looking out on the pool and onward to Saint John’s Island had been left un-boarded. It was felt they were protected under the three-meter deep overhang of the patio roof. The roof was masonry and was actually the floor of the deck that came off of the master bedroom suite and ran the length of the house on floor up.

  Four hours into Buford’s attack on the area brought a small funnel cloud to the eastern corner of the island. The tornado had been spawned on the outskirts of Charlotte Amalie, the major town on St. Thomas where thousands of cruise ships’ passengers descended almost daily to shop in the large duty free area.

  It had weaved and jumped its way across the length of St. Thomas and had briefly touched the island of Large Saint James just a few hundred meters to the south between the CORDEX refuge and St. Thomas.

  Debris picked up as far away as Charlotte Amalie was hurled at the plate glass windows, shattering them all. Glass fragments blew inward into the living room and punctured the skin of many CORDEX employees. Two people got glass in their eyes.

  Panic set in as the people huddled in the living room tried to get away from the flying glass, debris, and rain pouring through the broken windows. Several ran to the front door and throwing it open, ran into the storm. One immediately turned back when the wind whipped rain pelted their face with hard, viscous stings. The other, a man named Manny Jenkins, a communications technician, continued to run toward the mobile communications van sitting on the highest point of the small island. The sea covered the lower third of the island and waves crashed onto the hillside close to the van.

  He slipped on the steps leading to the van’s door and fell hard, hitting his head on the edge of the topmost metal step. Dazed, with blood in eyes, he tried to stand only to fall again. He crawled to the door on his hands and knees, and still on his knees, he began several vain attempts to enter the correct combination to the van’s security lock.

  He finally keyed the correct combination of letters and numbers on the lock’s keypad and he heard the lock’s audible click even with the winds howling around him.

  He tore open the door against the heavy winds and crawled inside. The wind slammed the door behind him. He lay on the floor panting and shivering from his injury and the cold from the evaporation of the rainwater from his storm soaked clothes.

  As his breathing became easier and quieter, he became aware of the rain striking the metal shell of the van like thousands of tiny bullets. He lay with his back on the floor with his eyes shut, listening to the rat-a-tat-tat sound of the rain. Suddenly a gust of wind rocked the van. The van’s right side wheels left the ground as the wind teeter the van almost to the point of flipping over. The only thing that prevented this disaster was the anchor cable that had been attached to a long steel pin driven over a meter into the rocky island. The anchor cable extended to its full length and held the van safe from flipping over. As the wind gust passed, the van slammed back down to the ground.

  The impact of the van hitting the ground brought a grunt from Manny and his eyes flew open at the violent crash the van had made. He couldn’t see anything out of his left eye since it was filled the trickling blood from the head wound he had given himself on the steps.

  He had to get a message out to come save them. The crazy people in command in the house were going to get them all killed. This storm was deadly and Manny had never been in anything like before. He was terrified and yelped as another gust of wind raised the van off the ground once again.

  He shakily rose to his knees and duck walked over to the communications console. He keyed the radio microphone and yelled, “Mayday! Mayday! Base, this is Little Saint James. Send help! We can’t survive this storm! We’ll all die. Come help us, please!”

  He didn’t want those assholes in the house to attempt to contact Base and override his Mayday. He reached into a jungle of wires in a patch panel next the communications console and ripped out a handful of wires. This effectively cut off the various runs of co-axial cables to the house. Not only couldn’t they send any messages; they could not receive any, nor listen to the weather radio or the satellite television feeds. The house was now totally cutoff from the outside world.

  Manny managed a thin smile. Take that you miserable bastards. You’ve got no right to put us in this kind of danger!

  He began repeating his Mayday message hoping Base would hear him and respond.

  In the house, Lt. James ran to the front door and slammed it shut and bolted it. He yelled for Kim Danby and Dan Hoch, who came running from their duty positions in each wing of the house.

  It was hard to hear anything over the roar of the wind and rain coming from the now empty window openings. A team had been quickly assembled and were busily attempting to nail boards across the openings.

  “We’ve got a problem.” Lt James started. He explained how Manny Jenkins had run from the house. He was just about to discuss what they should do when one of the communications technicians ran in and whispered in his ear. Lieutenant James’ eyebrows lifted as he listened to the technicians report.

  “Well team, we have another problem.” He said as the technician ran back to the communications room. “It appears that our boy Manny has hijacked the mobile van and has cut us off from any outside source of information. The communications folks know he sent at least on Mayday message before they lost the feeds.”

  “We can assume he is still sending the SOS.” Lt. James ended.

  Kim Danby jumped in, “Eh, Lieutenant, sir, I suggest we go get him and place him under restraints. He must be terrified of this storm. I know I am.”

  Lt. James was surprised to hear his second in command being so open about her fears of the storm. He was impressed that she could be truthful even if it made her look weak or emotional (of which she was neither). For not the first time he took a good look at her and began to like what he saw more and more. Not only as a security officer, but also as a strong, challenging woman. It’s too bad about her relationship with Hoch. I might’ve tried to develop one with her myself! He mused.

  The three quickly set about formulating a plan to secure the communications van and detain Jenkins. The plan was simple. The Lieutenant and Officer Hoch would storm the van with just their TASER weapons. Kim would take up a position outside the van in case, somehow, Jenkins managed to escape the men’s grasp and tried to run.

  While the security team had been talking, Manny Jenkins had been busy with his own defenses. He had found a coil of number-twelve electrical cable. The cable carried three wires, a black, a white and a copper. He sliced the insulation from one end of the roll and tied the white wire to the metal floor grating just inside the entrance. This grating was intended to act like a doormat allowing anyone entering to wipe the mud from his or her shoes before stepping into the in
terior of the van.

  The attached the black wire to the metal handle of the inner door to the communications compartment. A person entering the van would be standing on the grating while grabbing the interior door handle. That person would complete the electric circuit that Manny was creating between the grating and the door.

  Manny unrolled the cable to the back of the auxiliary radio unit. He searched the circuit board until he found the input leads from the unit’s power supply. He quickly spliced the ends of the cable to the two leads from the step up transformer. The circuit was now active and anyone on the grating who touched the door would receive the a little more than the equivalent of a farmer’s electric fence. Not enough to kill, but enough to stun.

  He felt protected now that he had the trap set and went back to sending his Mayday message. He was becoming more and more hysterical as the van shuddered and rocked from the buffeting of the winds.

  The Lieutenant and Hoch approached the van’s steps and quickly made their way up the steps. The noise of the storm masked their footfalls.

  The Lieutenant took the lead with Hoch following. Kim took up her position at the foot of the steps with her regulation firearm.

  Lt. James slammed through the outer door and took the single step to the inner door. He reached out, grabbed the handle and --- CRACK. All he saw was an orange and yellow ball of fire leaping from his hand to the door and felt the jolt as his muscles seized. His body was thrown backward by the electrical jolt. He crashed into Hoch who had just stepped through the outer door. Together, they fell in a heap out of the door and tumbled down the steps to the base of the van. Hoch had the breath knocked out of him and Lieutenant James was still out from the electrical charge he had taken. His TASER fell at Kim’s feet.

  Manny Jenkins stuck his head out to see if the men were going to be of any more concern to him. Kim saw his head appearing from the edge of the door. She reacted without thinking and, with all of her strength, slammed the heavy metal door into Manny’s head. Not once, but three times in rapid succession.

  Manny slid to the bottom of the door as he tried to focus his eyes. Kim grabbed the TASER, step onto the first step of the van and slammed the TASER against the side of his neck. She fired two charges into him to make sure he was down.

  She then tended to the Lieutenant while Hoch reconnected the patch panel and brought the house back into the communications loop.

  Together they aided Lt. James back to the house fighting the winds and rain from the unrelenting storm. By the time they arrived there, he had pretty much recovered from the effects of the electrical charge he had taken.

  The medical team insisted that the Lieutenant should rest for the remainder of the evening. He was still a little shaky and Hoch assisted him to his cot. They had talked about how Kim had responded and what a great addition she made to the security team.

  As Hoch turned to leave, the Lieutenant said, “Officer Hoch. That is one great woman you have there.”

  Hoch turned with a confused look on his face. “Woman? What woman?”

  “Why Officer Danby, of course.” Lt. James exclaimed.

  “Danby? And me? Where the hell did you get that idea? We’re just good friends!”

  “Good friends? Excuse me, but I saw her kiss you after your Karate exercises and I thought that you two were -.”

  Hoch interrupted with a deep laugh. “Danby and me? God no. She just thanked me for getting her started in Karate as she loves it so much.”

  “Oh, I see. So you two aren’t together?”

  “No way. We really aren’t each others’ type.”

  “Well that’s good to know. I mean you didn’t want me to have the wrong idea did you?” Lieutenant James hurriedly tried to continue as amusement played on Hoch’s face.

  “Oh no sir! Certainly not! You’re getting the wrong idea. Our Officer Kim Danby is a free spirit with no attachments as far as I know.” Hoch said with a smile.

  “Good night, Lieutenant.” Hoch said as he left the room.

  “Good night, Officer Hoch.” Lt James replied.

  23

  In Closet 21

  Kim requested an immediate meeting with Bolino. Brad was seated at his desk dealing with mundane day-to-day business of running the station. Kim dropped heavily into the chair facing him across the desk.

  She was edgy about how to begin with Brad. The desk between them felt like a fortress with Kim as an enemy at the gates.

  The effect melted away when Brad sneezed into a tissue and wiped his watery eyes. He went from being an emperor in his fortress to just an administrator with a cold. Kim cleared her throat, became the professional law enforcement officer she knew she was, and began. “Director Bolino, we have come across evidence of a nature that implicates you in the second sabotage incident. I must advise you that anything you say can and will be used against you in court of law. “

  Bolino looked stunned. He bolted upright in his chair, looked Kim in the eye, and demanded, “What evidence? What are you talking about?”

  “We have evidence that your security card was used to access the workstation where the worm was introduced to the guidance system. We have computer forensics that indisputably proves this. I need to ask you some questions. Will you cooperate?”

  “My God, woman, yes. Ask me anything. I’ve done nothing wrong.” Bolino sat back and awaited the first question, still with a tissue to his eyes.

  “First thing is do you have your security card with you? Can I see it, please? And, please, only hold it by the edges. There may be prints we can lift,” Kim demanded.

  Brad fumbled in his tunic jacket breast pocket and pulled out the card. Holding it by the edges with his thumb and forefinger, he stared at it a moment and laid it on the desk between himself and Kim. She carefully picked it up and placed it in a plastic sandwich bag to protect it.

  She now looked at it through the plastic and asked, “Has this card been in your possession the whole time?”

  Why, yes. At least I think so. The only time it’s not on my person is when I’m sleeping. I leave it on the coffee table in my cubicle when I’m at home.”

  Each station executive staff member had a living space about the size and layout of a hotel suite. The living area was separated from the sleeping area by a wall and doorway.

  “At the time of the guidance system worm incident, where were you?”

  Brad thought for a moment. “Why, home sleeping. The Doctor had given me a cold medication that knocked me out for a few hours. The damned stuff hasn’t helped my cold much.”

  Kim asked another dozen questions and told Brad that he would remain a suspect until she either proved his guilt or innocence.

  As she got to the door, she turned and said, “Brad, I have one more question. I know this is very personal but I need to know. Have you had sexual relations with anyone on the station the last few months? I promise I will be discrete with the information.”

  Brad looked somewhat embarrassed. “Yes. But I am not giving her name to you. There are some things that are...”

  Kim cut him off. “Brad, you can either tell me and help me, or I will find out other ways. And you know I will find out. So what’s it going to be? Be the southern gentleman and protect the lady’s good name while hindering the investigation, or aid my investigation and come clean. Now!”

  Brad appeared even more embarrassed. “Kim, you know my wife is due to arrive here next month. If she found out, my marriage would be over. I don’t want that. Please understand.”

  “Brad, I don’t want to hurt any innocent party, and certainly not your wife. Your infidelity is between you two, but I need to know who would know your personal habits and know the card would be laying on the coffee table in easy reach of the door to your cubicle.”

  Brad coughed and said, “There have been two women since I arrived here. The young Naval Ensign in the Control Center, Amanda Eads, is here every Tuesday night. And Francine Cruz, our station doctor, all but attacked me a few weeks ago
and has been my bedmate several nights a week ever since then.”

  Kim nodded and then she departed, leaving a very concerned Bolino.

  When she returned to her temporary desk, an envelope was lying on top. It was addressed simply to Kim Danby and had been laser printed. Handling it by the corners, she opened it and removed the single sheet of paper on the inside.

  The note was unsigned. It simply stated that the anonymous sender had information about the sabotage incidents that Kim would find ‘of great value’. She was instructed to come alone to Closet 21, the personnel safety shelter furthest from the inhabited area of the dumbbell. And be there within the hour.

  She placed the envelope and sheet of paper in a plastic bag and sealed the bag. She then wrote a note explaining where she was going and placed it with the bag and locked it in her desk drawer. The note was addressed to Lt. James and outlined all of the new information she had from Bolino and the mysterious note. If anything happened to her, Lt. James would find the note and hopefully complete the investigation. She could have called him, but thought better of it. If she could get information that would lead to an arrest, her peers would be impressed, especially the lieutenant.

  She went to the safe in the Security office and removed her .38/44 caliber police special. Checking the chamber, she reached into the safe and opened an ammunition box, removed six bullets and loaded the weapon. She put extra six rounds in her tunic pocket.

  Regulations called for her to notify the Station Director when any security officer determined the need to carry one of their firearms. This was so the Director could notify emergency services to be ready for a ‘meteor intrusion’ drill. Using firearms in space usually led to holes being punched thorough the hull. The meteor intrusion drill was a test of the ability of an emergency team to seal hull breaches quickly. The team, knowing a drill was being planned, would keep the sealing equipment at hand.

  She thought for a moment. It would not do to notify Bolino since he was still a suspect. She decided to inform Adam Sand and let him deal with it. She called Adam and informed him; using the excuse that Bolino was still ‘under the weather’ from his cold.