Zero Margin: Nick Stryker, Book Three The Shallow End Gals (Nick Stryker Series 3)

by Vicki Graybosch

*****

  Lenny finished moving the last of Frankie’s belongings into the New Buffalo house. It had been a long afternoon and his muscles ached. He thought about going to the casino and then quickly changed his mind. The last time he went there, he ended up killing two people.

  Lenny called Uncle Artie as he promised when he was through. Artie told him to leave Frankie’s key on the top of the front door frame. Lenny left the key as instructed and drove back toward Chicago. Tomorrow was the Fourth of July and he needed help with his party plans.

  Lenny went through his list of contacts on his phone and pressed the number for Travis.

  “Hey, any chance you want to party tomorrow for the Fourth of July?”

  Travis stared at his phone in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

  Lenny said, “Yeah. Uncle Artie made me the property manager for his apartment building as long as I don’t drink anymore. He asked me to decorate the little park there and put on a fireworks display for the kids. The pay is really good, but I think I need some help.”

  Travis rolled his eyes at the thought of Lenny around fireworks. “Have you ever lit a fireworks display before?”

  “Not on purpose.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Elliott reviewed his request for Titan for the third time. It had to be perfect. Based on the data generated by the Geneva Super Collider at initiation, Elliott needed Titan to calculate the speed of the escaping ions after the shield formation. Elliott looked at his watch and hit send. Jules had prepared an update for him on the number of government and military satellites capable of injecting charged particles from satellite-borne electron accelerators. Jules estimated they had a total of 574 potential satellites in orbit capable of contributing to the shield creation. The new question was where to position them and could they get there in time.

  Elliott was already working on code for patching the shield order from the DIANA code to the new host satellites. The challenge now was verifying that based on the Earth’s rotation, the orbit of the satellite and the strength of each accelerator, their position orders were correct for their capabilities. Elliott had a massive headache brewing.

  Jules walked over and sat next to him. “Well, I’m stumped until we hear back from Titan. Anything I can do to help you?”

  Elliott smiled. Their fields of expertise were complimentary, but hardly supportive. “If we’re going to tighten the shield beyond our existing code, I need to determine the effect it will have on the regional coverage.”

  Jules frowned, “Why are you dumbing down things for me? I have four PhDs in physics. I’m capable of a discussion of exciting second electron cyclotron resonance in plasma to produce relativistic electron energy.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

  Elliott burst out laughing. “You’re something else, Jules.”

  Jules smiled, “Yes, I am.”

  *****

  Chris’ image came over Angel’s communication monitor. “We might have a plan.”

  Angel answered, “I hope your plan includes getting me security clearance with Titan. That damn computer won’t talk to me.”

  Chris sent a quick email to Elliott regarding the security clearance. “Okay, that should get fixed soon. Here’s the plan. Elliott has asked Titan to calculate what intensity a follow up beam from the original source would have to be to begin ‘bunching’ ions.”

  Angel thought for a moment. “Bunching occurs when lead ions are accelerated and injected into the LHC ring to energies of 328 TeV per ion. This was the theory used to investigate quark-gluon plasma from ‘early universe’, wasn’t it?”

  Chris answered, “Yes. The theory is that the lead ions will bunch and create paths for ion particles to escape therefore creating cooling.”

  Angel’s mind was swarming. “So, we are trying to recreate an early universe atmosphere within the beam?”

  “Well, that’s an oversimplification, but yes.”

  Angel hated it when Chris was condescending. “Do you even think about how you sound? Here, I’m practically your girlfriend and you talk to me like some first year physics student!”

  Chris was stunned. “You’re my girlfriend?”

  If it was anyone other than Chris, she would have been devastated by the response.

  “Yes, I’m your girlfriend. At least I think I am. Is that okay with you, Mr. Science?” Angel was still a little angry and the stress of the day was taking its toll. At this point she had little to lose by letting Chris know how she felt.

  Chris chuckled, “Wow! I have a girlfriend! Who knew?”

  Angel couldn’t help but smile. “Down boy. What’s Elliott working on?”

  “Elliott and Jules are working on satellite placement to ensure full global coverage of the shield. Depending on Titan data, the number and booster power of the satellites is still a question. Elliott’s biggest concern is that we can’t get the shield tight enough, fast enough to cover the entire globe. Titan will give him that data also.”

  Angel asked, “At the risk of sounding stupid, which comes first? Do we establish the shield and then send up the second beam? Or do we send up the beam and then establish the shield?”

  Chris grinned at the monitor. “Well, girlfriend, that is a very good question.”

  Angel frowned at him and shut off her monitor.

  Todd looked over at her and chuckled. “He really didn’t know you liked him?”

  Angel shook her head. “Not a clue.”

  *****

  Benson received a message from Elliott that the Lead facility was being denied access to Titan for DIANA model creations. Benson began the tedious process of obtaining the clearance when he hit the proverbial brick wall. He buzzed the Director for a briefing.

  In the Director’s office, Benson asked, “Can you explain to me why I have to order models through the Defense Department to access Titan for DIANA? The CIA doesn’t have security clearance?”

  The Director was surprised. “There must be a mistake. Let’s ask NSA.”

  Benson listened as the Director posed pointed questions to the Director of NSA and the Secretary of Defense. Finally, someone must have said something that made sense and the Director said, “I am overriding that directive, effective immediately. I’m acting with the authority of the President on this if you care to challenge it. I expect this to be corrected within minutes.”

  The Director rolled his neck and said to Benson, “I’m going to tell you what is happening, but I want it to stay in this room.”

  Benson nodded.

  “The Department of Defense has been utilizing Titan regarding the shield portion of the DIANA code. They did not want you to have access to the Titan history on this and see what they have been doing.”

  Benson stood. “Defense? They’re running weapon test models off a climate research project?”

  “Yes.”

  Benson sat down again. “So, is the United States government looking to fix a global climate crisis or build global weapons?”

  The Director said, “Probably both.” The Director walked over to his window and pointed to the clouds. “Regardless what is causing the increased CO2, as a global community, we are just now talking seriously about doing something. Most scientists believe we are two decades too late. That only leaves some form of manipulation or engineering of nature as we know it if we are going to survive warming.

  There are no laws that govern these experiments and there are a wide variety of players. You have governments, wealthy corporations, and of course the criminal element all wanting the power of controlling the weather. The voluntary reporting of experiments is a joke. No one really says what they are doing, including us.

  So, you ask me if our own government might be looking at the DIANA project with more than one purpose? I can’t imagine why not. That, my friend, is my biggest fear. The fear that one day we will all perish at the hands of an irresponsible experiment.”

  Benson stood to leave. “That day may be here, sir.”

  *****
>
  Jules had been studying the preliminary reports coming back from Titan. She walked over to Elliott with a concerned expression on her face.

  Elliott didn’t need any bad news. “Problems with the satellite idea?”

  Jules shook her head. “When you calculated the expected beam reverse, what start basis did you use?”

  Elliott dug through a stack of papers on his desk. “Here… my calculations were based on the test results from our Lead experiment where the beam formed in our tests. I didn’t adjust for the diffusion after making the shield. I figured I would be conservative and use maximum energy ratios. Why?”

  Jules shrugged, “That’s more your science than mine, but I don’t think the beam needs to wait for the entire mass to be ready before it reverses, does it? Couldn’t we see a drop down from an initial alignment? A vortex?”

  Elliott stared at her in disbelief. “My God! You’re right! The beam formation will begin as soon as a minimum of ions have aligned. Not the maximum.”

  Elliott grabbed his calculator.

  Jules said, “I’ve already done it. We have five hours.” Jules pointed to the monitor displaying the egg. “I’m ordering the satellites to position now. It takes a bit for some of them to move. Can you help me locate where they need to be?”

  Elliott was near panic. “I won’t know until Titan sends the data on what coverage is required to be tight.”

  Roger ran over to Elliott, “You have a transmission from Titan, sir.”

  Elliott reviewed the Titan data. It was a map for the placement of the satellites. “Thank God.”

  Elliott looked up and asked Roger, “Could you get Benson, please?”

  Elliott pressed the communication monitor for Chris.

  Chris’ face filled the monitor, “Yes?”

  Elliott said, “We have five hours.”

  If Chris wasn’t seeing the stress on Elliott’s face, he would have thought this was some kind of sick joke. It wasn’t.

  “Five hours? Okay. Do you want me to code the link to send the shield program from HAARP to the satellites or are you doing it?”

  Elliott said, “I’ll do it. I have the satellite information here. You program for the ‘bundles’ with Angel, have Titan retest it and send it to the Geneva lab so they can initiate on our command. I’m sorry about this, Chris. I made a calculation error on the realignment. We can’t have errors. We have a zero margin for error now.”

  *****

  Benson reported to Elliott’s desk and asked, “What’s happened?”

  Elliott answered, “I had an error in my calculation. Jules discovered it. We have less than five hours.”

  Benson couldn’t believe it. “Can we do this?”

  Jules answered, “Piece of cake.” She flashed her big smile.

  Benson left to make the proper notifications and Jules looked at Elliott. “I’ve never had that happen in my entire career.”

  Elliott asked, “What?”

  “Where someone admits they made a mistake and actually gives credit to the person that discovered it. You’re okay, Elliott.” She slapped his shoulder gently as she went back to her desk and began directing the NASA satellites to change course in space. At one point he heard her say to someone on the phone, “You don’t need an explanation now. You’ll get one later. Now floor that sucker over to the artic region and stay by your phone. Send me reports on your progress.”

  Jules hung up her phone and noticed that Elliott had been listening. “Scientists! They always want to know the picky parts.”

  *****

  The six o’clock news led with a story of an unidentified object in space that had been sighted by astronomers and hobbyists alike. The reporter questioned if the object had any relationship to the still unanswered question of lost communications over half of the globe for an hour.

  An unnamed source stated that some climate experiment had gone terribly wrong and that a secret lab in Geneva had been discovered and sequestered. The reporter posed the question to his audience that perhaps it was time to stop climate research altogether.

  His other news story focused on a CIA raid of a Wall Street area building. The CIA arrested some people and killed at least twenty in what was being called a terrorist raid. The reporter gave his best suspicious look to the camera and said, “Hmmm. Terrorist raid, communication block, weird things in the sky. Just where is our intelligence community? Do you think the CIA has some explaining to do?”

  Benson and the Director watched a repeat of the news account in the Director’s office. The Director was preparing to update the National Security Council on the shortened timeline.

  He looked at Benson and asked, “Any gut feelings on any of this?”

  “Not yet, sir.”

  *****

  Benson’s cell phone displayed that his son was calling. “Dad? You’re coming to our Fourth of July party, right?”

  Benson answered, “Nothing on this Earth can stop me, Son.”

  *****

  Nick and Sophia’s jet landed in Chicago. Martin met them in the United terminal to drive Nick home and take Sophia on to their cabin. Nick waved to get Martin’s attention.

  Martin rushed over, “What in the heck happened to you two?”

  Both Sophia and Nick were covered in bandages.

  Sophia smiled, “Nick came to my retirement party.”

  *****

  Jules directed Roger to get monitors ready to accept the communication bands from four large military satellites. The purpose of these satellites were to provide global views, with overlays for gasses, electromagnetic fields and heat densities. She asked Roger to have his team program data feeds from the control center, through Titan and back. That way she would have a real time visual of the actual effect of their actions. Elliott could tell that Roger was concerned about meeting her requirements in the timeframe she gave him. One hour.

  Jules walked over to Elliott. “Is there any way Chris and Angel can have the program code to Geneva completed and ready to initiate in an hour?”

  Elliott was stunned, “I can ask. Why?”

  “I think we should do a test run. Why wait? This way if something is wrong, we will see it on the Titan view on the monitors. We may have time for a correction.”

  Jules noticed Elliott had an odd expression on his face. She said, “I’m not suggesting you have made another mistake. I’m worried our government satellites may not be up to the job. Some of these are practically relics.”

  Elliott realized she was right. If there was an error in any of their calculations or any equipment failures, it was better to find out as soon as possible. Titan would provide code that had been simulator tested, but the real test would be initiating the beam in the real world.

  Elliott asked, “Are your satellites going to be in position in an hour?”

  “If they can keep from crashing into space junk, they should be. As soon as Titan provides the new codes, they will be uploaded to the satellites and waiting for our command.”

  *****

  Chris listened as Elliott explained that they wanted to initiate in one hour.

  Chris asked, “Have we decided yet which comes first? Beam or shield?”

  Elliott answered, “Beam first, followed immediately with shield. We are going to put our strongest satellite beams on the shield nearest the beam exit. That should provide for the tightest shield formation in the shortest period of time.”

  “I agree. I completed the code for the insertion of the bundles and pulses to our DIANA code. The Titan test should be returning soon. I think we’ll be a go in one hour assuming the Geneva collider has adequate capacity.”

  Elliott asked, “How’s Angel holding up?”

  Chris smiled, “Great. Did you know she was my girlfriend?”

  Elliott chuckled, “I suspected as much. It sounds like you just found out.”

  Chris grinned, “Yeah. Sure hope we have time to have a first date.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Nick ca
lled Lacey and asked her if she could stop by his place after work. Lacey looked at her watch and said, “It’s almost six now. You just caught me.”

  Nick said, “I want to be with you tonight, but I can’t leave my house. I’ll explain when you get here, okay?”

  Lacey was curious, “You want me to pick up a pizza?”

  Nick answered, “That’s a great idea. Can you get five? I’ve got company.”

  Lacey chuckled. “Five? I’ll see you soon.”

  Nick opened his front door and was met with a pistol in his face by one of the CIA guards.

  “Whoa. I live here. Nick Stryker, Chicago P.D.” The agent checked his phone identification picture of Nick and let him in. Nick walked into the living room. Chris was busy on the keyboard and the large wall monitor was filled with images.

  Nick turned to one of the agents. “Has he been eating or resting?”

  The CIA agent said, “He killed off some goulash that was in the fridge and I ordered sandwiches at lunch. For the most part he’s been glued to that keyboard and talking to people on the communication monitor.”

  Nick walked over and stood by Chris. Chris looked up and yelled, “Nick! Oh my God what happened to you?”

  Nick answered, “I’m okay. Got shot a couple of times, nothing serious. What’s the news here?” Nick sat in a chair next to Chris.

  Chris answered, “You won’t believe it.”

  Nick was sure he didn’t want to hear anything bad. “Try me.”

  Chris smiled, “I have a girlfriend! Angel!”

  Nick started to laugh. Only Chris would mention that before a report on whether or not the world was going to end. Chris’ expression returned to serious.

  “We’re in a bad spot right now. We found out we only have about five hours. That was two hours ago. We’re almost ready for a test run to see if our plan works. Are you going to stay here?”