Tripple Chronicles 1: Eternity Rising (15 page)

Camden
wondered if Mace would go so far as to make Enira vanish over this.
 
He would miss her company.

After
minutes of the two men staring at each other waiting for the other to say
something, Mace slammed his fist on the table.
 

“So, what,
Professor?
 
The good general’s wife
not worth saving to you?
 
So she
is
just a whore to you. Someone to pass
the time with after your wife ate it?
 
What was her name? Rosa?”

Camden
lunged at Mace.

“Don’t you
ever mention my wife
again!
 
You don’t even get to speak her name!”

Mace smirked
and strutted to the door.

“Too bad
she’s dead.
 
Clearly she would have
been the better bargaining chip.”
 
Mace
walked out of the room, satisfied that he had gotten to Camden, even if he
didn’t confess.
 
He would have his
answers soon enough.
 
Now that he
had his own spy in place.

Camden’s
face was on fire and his fists were shaking.
 
Aldretti even looked nervous to be left alone with him;
however, Camden’s pride in being a gentleman took over after a few moments and
he managed to re-gain composure.
 
Not for Aldretti’s benefit, but for whoever might be watching the cameras
in this room.
 
He went to the cot
in the corner and sat with his back against the wall and his feet up.
 
Camden’s heart hurt.
 
He habitually blocked his mind of
Rosa’s death when he was not alone.
 
The grief was still massive, even though it had been seven years, and
having the reminder of it thrust in his face like that from Mace Magner widened
the open wound.

Two doors
down, Mace continued his attempt to gain information on the crime he was
investigating.

“Mrs. Enira
Pike, what an honor to have you with us.
 
I’m Major Mace Magner.” His smile was wide, but his eyes were
snakelike.
 
Enira was sitting at
the small table in the room. She was put together quite well considering the
night she had just endured.

“Major, what
do you want from me? I demand to know.”

“Ooh,
Feisty, I like that.”

Enira rolled
her eyes.

“Oh, all
right. I will make a deal with you, sweetness.
 
Your affair with the good professor will remain a secret
from your husband if you tell me everything you know about your lover.”

“I don’t
know what you are looking for, Major but I’m sure I don’t know anything that
will help you.”

“I’ll be the
one to determine that,
Dear
. Let’s just start with
yesterday. Why were you in Professor Riles’ building?
 
Did you have a rendezvous set?”

“No. I went
to check on him. He missed having lunch at the club and his colleague was
worried. After a while, so was I.
”

“And who is
this colleague?” Mace asked.

“Dr. Lee
Tripple, of course.
 
That’s no
secret; everyone knows they dine together several times a week. In all the
years they have been coming to my club, I’ve never seen either of them with
different company.”

“In the last
few weeks, have you seen the professor give anything to Dr. Tripple? In a bag
or a box?”

“They
exchange things all the time.
 
Who
could keep track?
 
I think you are
wasting time with these questions, Mr. Magner. I’ve never heard any private
whispers or seen any secret exchanges between the two and I would tell you if I
had,” Enira said.

“Would you?
Forgive me if it’s hard to trust a woman who lies to her husband on a daily
basis.”

“Don’t you
judge
me!
You are speaking of a situation of which you
know nothing about! You should let me go home now. I’m sure my husband has
already sent out a search party.” She paused a moment. “If you let me go, I
won’t mention to him the humiliation you have put me through.”

“Again,
because you don’t get it, Mrs. Pike, I don’t trust you. Maybe you’ll just have
to remain missing for a few days, or forever.”

“Are you
threatening me? And all because you believe I know something that I do not.”

Mace did not
answer her, but got up and walked to the door.

“I’ll be in
touch, Mrs. Pike. You take care now.”
 
The door closed and locked behind him. Then he addressed the two guards
by her door. “No one goes in or out of this room and block the window. If
anyone else finds out who is behind this door, it’ll be your
asses
on the line. Got it?”

Mace headed
off down the hall. He would visit the weaponry lab before lunch. Nothing
aroused his appetite like heavy artillery. Walking toward him from the
elevators was Colonel Ganesh and his new sidekick, Sergeant Quinn. Mace gave
Ganesh a salute and an uncharacteristic smile.
 
This made Ganesh scowl. Quinn noticed his reaction and
asked.

“What was
that all about, sir?”

“Nothing
Quinn, I’m sure nothing,” Ganesh said even though he
was
wondering what Mace was up to.

“All right,
Sergeant, I want you to wait outside while I go in and brief Professor Riles on
our new project.” Ganesh said to Quinn.

“But, sir, I
have project clearance. I’d really like to go in and see you work.”

“Yes, I understand
that, but Professor Riles will not appreciate the extra company and this needs
to go smoothly, so just do what I say and stay out here.”

Ganesh took
a deep breath and walked in to explain to Camden that he was now a prisoner of
the government and had to publically state that he willingly put all of his
other projects on hold to be here. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

“Ganesh!
You’re back. Are you here to release me?”

“Camden, my
hands are tied here.
 
I want you to
know that before we continue this conversation.
 
We are in this situation together, whether you believe it or
not.”

“What are
you telling me here?”

“Well, first
the good news…you’ll be getting a much nicer room.” Ganesh’s attempt to make
light of the situation passed right over Camden, who looked like he was about
to burst. Ganesh turned to Aldretti. “Get out, Officer.”
 
When he left, Ganesh took a chair and
boosted himself up to cover the cameras.

“Should you
do that?” Camden asked.

“Doesn’t
matter now.
 
I have orders and they
need me.”

“And me??”
Camden said with a defeated voice.

“I’m sorry,
Camden. Sit down with me and I’ll go over what’s going to happen to us from
here.”

Ganesh
opened the project folder and handed it to him.

“He works
for the government,” Dana said to Lee who was sitting next to her at the
conference table and staring across at the young Sergeant Bearden Leitner.
 
“I suggest low level security clearance
and one half day a week.”

“Yes. I
think so. That is more than enough time to give us word on Camden and exchange
working notes.” With that said, Lee left the room to return to his lab.

“I will
speak to the lady at the desk and she can get your clearance set up.”

“So are you
running his lab after one day? You seem pretty high up on your horse today,
Miss Hanks.”

“I think
that what you are missing is that I was hired because I can predict what he
needs done and then do it.”

“Well then,
by all means, let’s go and get my clearance set up.”

“Fine.
Follow me.”

Bearden’s
gut clinched with guilt.
 
This lab
had gone from being the first place he wanted to be to the last in a matter of
hours. Now he was stuck doing everyone’s dirty work and would apparently be
reporting to snotty little Dana Hanks once a week. All he wanted was to be an
honest scientist who was loyal to his government and whose work bettered
society. Now he didn’t even know who he was.

When the two
reached the lobby, they could see that the lady at the desk was already talking
to Lee.
 
She was pulling files and
frantically looking for something.

“What’s that
all about? Me?” Bearden asked.

“No, Mister
Self-Centered, and don’t worry what it’s about because it doesn’t concern
you.”
                               

She stopped
walking and held out her arm to cue Bearden to stop as well.

“We should
wait till they’re done before we go over there.”

The lady at
the front desk was looking for Ari’s information. She knew that he was Camden’s
driver, to Lee’s relief, but was having a hard time locating his personal data.
Lee felt like a fish out of water standing there at the desk. He had never
spoken so much to this lady and he could tell he made her nervous…which made
him uncomfortable.
 
Finally after
several minutes and files, she found his file and handed it to Lee. He stood
there for a moment scanning the information.
Camden’s
driver…wife…three children.
Lee’s eyes widened and he seemed frozen.

“Is there
anything else, Dr. Tripple?”

“No. I mean
yes. Dana will speak with you now.” He backed away awkwardly staring at Ari’s
phone number and shuffled off to call him. He gave Dana an impatient glance,
which she noticed.

“Okay, I
have to do this fast because Dr. Tripple needs my help.”

“And you
know this by what…telepathy?” Bearden joked.

“I just
know, okay?”

She walked
up to the lady at the front desk dragging Bearden by the wrist to explain what
was to be done with the young soldier. Then she left him there and rushed back
to the lab.

“I’ll meet
you in an hour, Sergeant Leitner. Right here,” she called back to him as she left.

The lady at
the front desk gave a little gasp when she saw who was standing in front of
her.

“Well, I see
you’ve bullied your way back in here, Sergeant,” she said to him.

“I’m sorry
about yesterday.
 
I didn’t mean to
scare you. But see, I really am supposed to be here.”

“Yes, we’ll
see.” She looked skeptical and wondered what the heck was going on around here.

Dana walked
into Lee’s office without knocking and sat down across from him.

“Have you
made the call yet?” she asked.

“No. Not
yet.”

“Do you want
to make it in private?”

“No, you can
stay. You should hear anyway. It may be necessary in planning our next step.”

Dana could
tell that Lee was not handling the news of Camden’s incarceration very well,
even though his prime focus remained on securing the stolen material. Lee
punched in Ari’s number and turned on the speaker.

“Hello?” A
nervous sounding Ari answered.

“Hello. Is
this Ari?”

“Yes. It is.
Who is this?”

“Lee
Tripple. Do you know who I am?”

“Of course I
do, but you shouldn’t be calling me. I’m sure that the government is listening
to this call.”

“My line is
secure. This call is just between us…oh and Dana Hanks. She is with me from now
on…in my lab.”

Dana smiled.

“Hello, Miss
Hanks.”

“Hello, Ari.
We’re calling about Professor Riles.”

“I was hoping,”
Ari
replied, “I haven’t known what to do. They stopped
us and took him away in broad daylight. I’ve had government transports
following every little thing I do.”

“Ari,” Dana
said, “It’s important that whatever Professor Riles is hiding from the government
gets safely here to Tripple Laboratories. Do you think you can help with that?”

“I will try.
I can’t be seen going into his transport or they will pick me up, too.”

“So you know
where it is, then,” Lee said.

“Yes.
 
He got in with a case and left with nothing
and when the transport was searched, nothing was recovered.”

“So you
think he has it hidden in a compartment somewhere?” Dana asked.

“Yes,
exactly, and I have the combination to the compartment. I never thought I’d
need it.” Ari sounded sad. “They see me on the phone. They are flying closer.
We must be quick,” He added frantically.

“You sound
young, Miss Hanks. Listen…I have an idea. Camden has a niece, Liana. She visits
from time to time. Has short blond hair, average height and build, dresses very
conservatively. She travels with a small black rolling bag, square and leather.
Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, I
think so. Do you know when she is scheduled to visit again?”

“In two days
at 10:00 in the morning…precisely. She’s always punctual and uses the back
elevator.”

“I
understand Ari,” Dana said, “Will you have time to do what you need to do?”

“I hope so.
It is going to rain tonight. That will be my best shot. Dr. Tripple, Miss
Hanks, I must go. They are flying close enough to my window to use their
listening device.”

“Goodbye,
then,” Lee said and hung up abruptly and looked at Dana who seemed out of
breath though she was sitting still. “We must transform the way you look now.”

“Wig?”

“No, too
risky. Needs to be real,” Lee replied.

“You want to
give me a haircut?”

“No, but I
have to. There are some nice scissors in the storeroom.
Center
shelf on the right.
I’ll get the lightening chemicals together. We’ll do
it tonight. You should go home and gather your conservative attire.”

“What about
the rolling bag? Should I purchase one?” Dana asked.

“I know this
bag, and Camden owns more than one. I will look in his office. Hopefully I will
find a match.”

“Does he
have a photo of Liana in his office as well?”

“Um…I don’t
know.” He felt almost embarrassed in front of her for not knowing about the
family of such a dear friend but those kinds of details had just never been
essential to the relationship.

“I’ll be
back soon. Can I bring you something to eat?” She asked assuming he had not
eaten since lunch yesterday.

“Yes. Okay.
That would be fine,” Lee replied.

Just as Dana
was about to leave, she
stopped.

“
Argghh
!”

Her loud,
frustrated growl took Lee by surprise and his shoulders flinched.

“What is
it?”

“I almost
forgot about Sergeant Leitner. I am to meet him in forty minutes.”

“Then you
should hurry,” Lee said.

Dana turned
on her heel and ran out feeling glad that she lived so close to the lab. She
would grab some fruit, bread, and cheese from her house for their breakfast.
Tomorrow she would shop and stock the lab’s kitchen for the both of them.