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.”
______
Washington, DC. – 9:45 AM
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.”
The briefing continued with various specialists providing the President with the facts of the situation.
The consensus of scientists was that if Storm Killer continued to focus its concentrated light beam on the ocean water for another twelve hours, the hurricane would strengthen to a category five. He was also advised that Mexico and its neighbor states had already asked for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to place the issue of Storm Killer’s apparent deviations in front of the world.
The President wondered. Where have these people been? My own secretary knew more about goings on aboard Storm Killer than all of these supposed security experts.
The President asked his security advisor, “Rose, options?”
“Our primary option would be to wait for the security forces on Storm Killer to regain control. If they don’t regain control within the next five hours, I’m afraid we must destroy Storm Killer. We must begin evacuation of Storm Killer personnel immediately. We must notify the UN that we are taking appropriate action to avoid any further strengthening of Hurricane Edna. We must defuse the situation as quickly as possible and avoid the calling of an emergency session of the Security Council.”
The president nodded and simply said, “Do it.”
Rose contacted NASA control and instructed them to pass the evacuation order to the Storm killer crew.
______
Storm Killer - 9:50 AM
Adam received the evacuation order from NASA mission control and called all department heads to begin loading their staff members into the one shuttle already at the station and the other shuttle being launched to their site in the next half hour. It would be tight but they could evacuate all personnel in the three hours granted them in the evacuation order.
He then contacted Lt. James and informed him of the latest developments.
36
Interrogation
Hoch hurried back to the interrogation room. Lt. James and Kim were still questioning the Doctor about this ‘boss’ her brother had supposedly mentioned.
Lt. James stood bent over with his face only inches from the doctor’s face. He slammed his hand on the table and bellowed, “Come on, Francine. There is no ‘boss’. You’re just trying to divert your blame in this to some unknown individual that doesn’t even exist.”
“No, that’s not true,” sobbed the doctor. “There is a person on the station that Rafael takes orders from. And it’s not me! He did say that the boss was biding his time until certain events happened that would allow the boss to provide protection for Rafael.”
Hoch signaled to Lt. James from the door and walked out. Lt. James came out of the door a few seconds later and asked, “Does Sands have control of the station?”
“No, the control room is wired with C4 that will detonate if we try to blow the door. Sands is cutting through the bulkhead. It’ll take time,” Hoch replied glancing at his watch. “Time we can’t afford. Look, we have to find Denuza before he does any more damage. The doctor probably knows where he might be, let’s put the pressure on and break her.”
Lt. James nodded and sticking his head back through the door he interrupted Kim’s continuing interrogation. “Kim, Hoch and I need about ten minutes alone with our suspect. We can’t screw around playing with the doctor any more. We need answers and we need them now.”
Kim looked from Lt. James to the doctor. She nodded her head and said, “I understand. What you’re going to have to do shouldn’t have any witnesses. I don’t want to know. But please don’t leave any bruises or scars that can come back on us later.”
As she said this, the doctor’s eyes grew larger. Kim knew that Lt. James and Hoch would employee some methods that Lt. James had learned while interrogating Middle East terrorists at the Guantánamo Bay detainment camp during their military duty. No marks left on the body, quick breaking of the person, and truthful responses was the fruits of these methods. And he was very skilled in getting results.
“Francine, I feel sorry for you. You would best be served by telling these gentlemen what they want to know before they introduce you to some of their ‘truth techniques’. You’ll not like what’s about to happen if you don’t cooperate fully,” Kim implored.
With that, she walked out the door and casually said over her shoulder, “Guys, you have ten minutes. I’ll stand guard and ensure you aren’t disturbed. Make sure the noise level is kept down to a minimum.”
Hoch took his plastic ties and secured Doctor Cruz to the chair she was sitting in. Her arms and legs were each tied to an arm or leg of the chair. She was spread eagled and helpless with little ability to move in any direction.
Lt. James had been rummaging around in the small duffle bag he’d brought to the interrogation room earlier in the day and found a section of rubber hose about six feet long and a roll of duct tape. He then duct taped her head to the back of the chair so she could only stare straight ahead.
He placed one end of the hose in the doctor’s mouth and then taped her mouth closed around the hose but leaving her nostrils open. The other end of the hose was threaded. He removed the aerator from the room’s water faucet and tightened the end of the water hose to the threads of the faucet.
Looking at the results of their labors, Lt. James nodded to Hoch. “Good job. This shouldn’t take long.”
Then, looking at Francine, Lt. James stated, “Okay, Doctor, I’m going to give you a thirty-second treatment. At the end of that time, I’ll ask you some questions. I expect the truth and I expect your full cooperation. If I get neither, your next treatment will be for twice the amount of time. One minute doesn’t sound like much but my personal observation is most people think that it’s a lifetime.”
With that, Lt. James turned the handle of the faucet about two turns and said, “Francine, you’ll become very uncomfortable in the next minute with this water flow of only a couple of turns of the facet. Remember what will happen next time, it will be much longer, and I will turn the water flow up a few more turns. Remember that.”
The doctor was barely listening to him. She had water pouring out of her nose. She could not swallow the water fast enough to keep up with the flow. She felt like she was going to drown. She couldn’t breathe. If she tried to take a breath, she just inhaled water. She began coughing and gagging into the tape holding her mouth closed tightly around the hose. She began to loose consciousness, her eyes were blurring, and her lungs were burning for lack of oxygen when Lt. James turned off the faucet.
He ripped the duct tape off of her mouth and removed the hose. Water poured from her mouth and nose as she struggled to take a gasp of air. He waited a few seconds for her to regain some air and then said, “The next time you go twice as long. If you’re stubborn, the third time I’ll stuff the hose down your throat and fill your stomach with water until you reach the point you’re ready to explode and then punch you in the stomach until you wished you were dead. So save yourself some agony and tell us what we want to know right now.”
Francine tried to nod her head but could not because of the duct tape holding her head to the chair. She finally said in a croaking sound, “I’ll tell you anything I know. Don’t torture me anymore!”
Hoch walked over and began the questioning. “Where would your brother go? Where would he be now?”
Francine, looking desperate, replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know!”
“Now, Francine, let’s try this again. Where is your brother?”
Francine sobbed, “I really don’t know! He didn’t tell me anything about where he was going! I swear I don’t know!”
“Not a good answer, Francine. In fact, that’s a very bad answer. Where do you think he might be?” Lt. James queried.
“I don’t know!” she sobbed. “I’d tell you if I knew! I really would!”
“Make an educated guess. Did he say anything that would suggest somewhere he might go?” Hoch asked.
“God, I- I- I don’t know. I can’t think I am so s…s...cared. G...g...give me a minute, please?” Francine stuttered.
“You have ten seconds. Where would Rafael be right now?” he countered as he began unrolling more duct tape.
The doctor’s eyes widened even more and she said, “I do remember he had talked several times about the international space station treaty and the terms on seeking asylum in different nations territory on the station. He found it hilarious that you could commit first-degree murder and seek asylum in an area under control of one of the nations that didn’t have the death penalty. He even chuckled about spies seeking asylum in friendly nations territory and living out their days in that nation’s territory on the station or even on the ground with
in that nation’s borders.”
Lt. James said, “So you think he’s on his way, or has made his way, to one of the domains in Core City.”
“Yes, I do. And it would be one of a friendly nations not having the death penalty.”
Hoch and Lt. James exchanged glances and nodded to each other. Lt. James began cutting away the plastic restraints that held the doctor’s extremities to the chair.
He helped the doctor to stand and said, “Hoch, take her to the cell. But on the way, stop by her quarters and let her cleanup some. She looks awful.”
The doctor did, indeed, look awful. Her head was a tangled mat of hair, water and mucus. Her eyes were red and her nose was still dripping liquid. Her clothes were soaked and her balance was all but non-existent.
Lt. James went on, “While you’re doing that, I’m heading for Core City and will try to run this weasel to ground. Join me there as soon as you take care of the good doctor.” Hoch nodded assent and grabbing Francine by the arm, headed out of the door.
Lt. James joined Kim outside the interrogation room. She gave him an inquisitive look. He nodded and said, “Got the info. Come on, we’re going to Core City.”
37
Prelude To Death
Rafael received all his instructions from the unknown man he called ‘the boss’ by phone or hand-printed notes left at his two dead drops. These dead drop locations been identified to him by his unknown superior long before Rafael arrived on Storm Killer.
When they needed to exchange communication, they would place an item on the station’s electronic swap board, announcing they had a specific issue of Playboy for swap. If the month of the issue was odd, dead drop 1 was where the communications was stashed. If it was an even month, the communications was at dead drop 2.
He was approaching message dead drop 1. The drop location was simply a small pocket made of duct tape. It was suspended under the right corner of the third pew in the last row within the multi-denomination chapel.
Storm Killer Page 12
