Keys Chapter 7

Joe

The Trujeque house, a largish light blue ranch style home with a detached garage and crowded with pines in the backyard, was only occupied by his father when Cent dropped Joe off. His bedroom had become a jump site for her by default in the days that they had been hiding Joes' activities from his parents, and Cent had said that she thought that had caused it to be quite a bit cleaner than most teen boy bedrooms. She apparently thought it was cute.

But Joe was did not altogether fit the mold of the 'hang loose, party on, dude' snowboarder that she had assumed he had been. He had been a straight A student and captain of the snowboard team, organizing people and resources effortlessly.

Then Cent had entered his life. She was beautiful, brilliant, read the same books and seemed to return his feelings like a perfect mirror. He fell in love with her faster than he would have believed, enjoyed every moment with her.

Then he found out she was superhuman.

Her family didn't think of it that way. They had an ability; it was wonderful and all, but it made them the target of some secret society that wanted them to either work for them or die. If what they could do became general knowledge, who knew how many others would want the same? Smugglers, terrorists, military, corporations, all the way to vacationers would want a piece of the jumper action. Three people in all the world, out of seven point something billion people could do this amazing thing. And it painted targets on each and every one of this family he had grown to love.

Joe sat on his bed a long time after Cent left him with a lingering kiss. She said she was going to put in some time organizing the warehouse her mother used to store emergency supplies for humanitarian catastrophes. Joe couldn't imagine what it was like to travel the world constantly, only to dive into the very worst parts of it to help. It was the ethos of Mrs. Harrison-Rice, a woman that was determined to use her ability to help the most in need of her help, who couldn't see her extended family without extreme disguises and distractions.

Cents' father was another case of doing well by way of doing good. He had been kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed by the people that were after him and yet he persisted in helping his wife aid others and being the best father he could possibly be. He had overcome his terror of being caught by the genuine evil that pursued them enough to not only participate in Joes' harebrained scheme of spaceflight but to allow his only child to do so. And there was no doubt at all about how much he loved his daughter and wanted to keep her safe.

It seemed to rest on safety, this thing that was unsettling Joe. He had talked Cent into this madness that had her and her father exposed, and the only thing that might keep them safe were the security procedures and personality tests of someone that they barely knew. But now, there was a different kind of safety that concerned him, the hazards of space itself. He himself was beyond excited to be part of the teams working on the station… but there was nothing special about him except whom he knew. Risking the singular talents that the Rice family possessed was… well, was it a sin? It was like betting on something with the stakes being the last three lions in the world. The loss of any of them would be that much greater a tragedy for their unique quality, one that may in the end be irreplaceable.

Ah, but the bet… Joe had always been a dreamer, reading his books and watching his movies. He could put himself on other worlds as easily as cross the street and the desire to do so ached. He had opened up to Cent as a good boyfriend does, and she had taken his half formed ideas and run with them. Now… she was committed. At 17, his girl had dedicated herself to his dream for what was likely the rest of her life. She and her family were the keys to the universe. Joe tried to put himself in her place, to feel the need to do something important for poor old homo sap, and after a moment he remembered something he had read written by Robert Heinlein.

"The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in."

Yes, some things are worth the risk. Joe stood up and went to talk to his Dad about it. His parents above all knew about acceptable risk.

Davy

The assembly team was mostly suited up when Davy and Joe appeared a few minutes late. They both hurried to the corner for the morning meeting and Joe was handed his paper with the expected jobs to cover for the day. He went over to the prep area, reading as he went.

Sean asked Davy, "Did Cent fill you in about what happened yesterday?"

"Yeah. She wasn't frightened, just a little hopped up with excitement. She said the evac went well."

"It did. She did great, our procedures worked out, I think it was a good shakeup that proved out our safety considerations. Are you up on our follow-up flare process?"

"Not really."

Sean smiled easily. "It's not much except 'Do as much as possible for the next 1 – 5 days'. The leading edge of the flare is the most dangerous time, it could have a large dose of energized protons. Bad for your health. However, the next few days are case of good air pushing out bad air. Heightened flare activity lowers cosmic radiation by about half during that time. I'm not sure why, you can ask an astronomer sometime."

"How close are we to getting module one completed?"

Sean picked up another clipboard and flipped through the pages. "We'll get the exterior finished and airlock installed in the next couple of days. Then minimum interior work and the radiation shield… we should have our first pressure test in about a week. After that, the fittings and equipment… we should be ready for overnight occupancy in three weeks. Jules is working on getting us more of everything, but that pre-engineered stuff has to be put in the pipeline to be manufactured and tested before we take possession. It helps that the next three modules are general purpose like module one."

Davy nodded. "Well, we do have Phase 3 to move onto, if we run out of materials. Get a good site picked out and we can start as soon as the exterior work is done on module 1. Anything more from Jules?"

"He asked for you to get in touch with your FBI contact and see if anything is happening. He's upped the security around here, I know you don't have to go through it, but believe me that it's taking longer for me to get in here through the layers of armed men in camo."

"Good." Davy thought a moment and said, "Please ask him if there's anywhere Cent and I shouldn't jump. I don't want to go somewhere that he hasn't seen to yet."

Sean nodded and Davy jumped to the prep area to get suited.

Cent

I started my workouts with my trainer the next day. I'm no wimp; I snowboard and ski, and Joe has been teaching me skateboarding, but I've never really had scheduled and controlled workouts before. Sean had found a man on the security detail with a Pennsylvania trainer certificate named Pete Norman, and he sized me up when I appeared in the incoming jump site area inside the warehouse.

Sean walked over and said, "Your Dad's done with the morning drop offs and is in the vacuum room now. I think he's watching West Wing reruns." He turned to the man with the crossed arms while I stifled a laugh and introduced Pete and I to each other.

I got to know Pete very quickly. It's easy to do when that person is constantly talking to you, critiquing your form, asking for "One more, one more…". I've seen films that cover basic military training like Platoon, and Pete never yelled at me or called me names; but he never let up, either. I was moving constantly from one exercise to the next and had to quit after 20 minutes. Pete wrote numbers in a notebook he had, shook my hand and asked to see me at the same time in two days.

I jumped to the lodge and took a shower and a nap. Ugh.

Millie

Special Agent Martingale pulled into the Starbucks, wrapped her coat around the back of a chair and took her purse to the counter to get her latte. When she came back to her empty table, she noticed that the coat was draped differently than she had left it. Sitting, she casually felt the inside pocket and found a packet in it. She pulled it out and read her name on the cover with an italicized M in the addresser slot.

When she reached her office, she locked the door and opened the envelope. There was an inexpensive cell phone inside with a half page note.

"Becca, Millie here. This phone will only work from the cell phone tower nearest the place you found it. It has the best encryption we could find.

"We are very grateful that you are staying on to help with our mutual problem. We realize that you may have need of us for one reason or another to advance the investigation, or you might have information to pass to us. The third number in the contact list will connect with our dedicated phone. I will check for messages daily around 2pm. We would be appreciative of anything you feel you can pass along; it would help with the timing of our operations… upstairs.

"There is a message waiting; it'll provide my bona fides. One thing we are eager to know; are you in charge, or are they just using you as a resource? We were hoping you would be the one holding the whip when it comes to this bust.

"In the meantime, the next coffee is on me, and don't take any wooden sugar packets."

Becca turned the note over and pulled the tape off of the ten dollar bill, smiling.

That night, Millie made comfort food; matzo ball soup and crusted lamb chops. Dessert was a lightly sweetened fruit salad, and good catching up conversation.

Millie had gotten a voice mail from Becca; the agent was second in command to a tiger of an investigator that she respected. She seemed happy about it, and even happier that the NSA and the CIA were involved in a subsidiary role so there would (hopefully) be a minimum of interdepartmental fighting. The orders had come down from the State department; they were to proceed with all haste and any toes that needed to be stepped on were to be mashed flat.

The upper floors of the Rhiarti building that Davy had tracked the Daarkon group to had been trashed and emptied, with few clues leading to the mysterious 'retreat' he had heard mentioned. "A couple of bright spots, though." Millie said, looking at her husband, "The gravimeter that you found at the building was traced to a large order of them. The instruments sold back then for around fifteen thousand dollars, and 20 of them were ordered. That created a trail that has Becca happy, and the security men that you overheard knew too much. One apparently talked to his girlfriend and she was pissed when he bugged out. She's cooperating."

Millie was quiet a moment, then added softly, "One of the rooms they found had been rigged as an operating theater. More than adequate to implant the vagus nerve stimulators, and the capsule bombs. There's no proof that was what was happening; but Becca wanted us to know.

Davy had stopped eating and now stood up and walked to the kitchen door, looking out the small window set at eye level. He stood there in silence for a few minutes and turned to face his wife and daughter.

"I'm happy that the government is taking them seriously. I don't want you to think that I'm not. But I wanted… I thought I needed to get at them myself. I feel cheated somehow. I know in my heart I had more reason to kill Rashid Matar, but I didn't, and I don't think that I could raid some corporate campground guns blazing… but down deep where I live I do feel cheated.

He sat down again. "But if those bastards get caught, prosecuted and put away, I think I can live with that."