Quantum Planet

By Elsie Daringer

 

Chapter 1

 

Nicki Anderson, a girl of 16 in her junior year at Pasadena High School in Southern California, was awakened by her cellphone singing Cyndi Lauper’s, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Her best friend Cheryl Lindsey, also 16, screams in the phone to Nicki, “Meet me on the steps of the library.”

“Huh! Its Saturday, what’s going on and why are you even awake?”

“Just hurry and get down here, I will explain everything to you then.” Cheryl replied sounding extremely excited.

“Okay but I will have to ask my dad first, we are supposed to go to lunch at Balrey’s.”

Cheryl cried “Please tell him I am pleading with him and besides Balrey’s is just a couple of blocks away and you would have plenty of time to make it before lunch.

Nicki hung up the phone and got out of bed. She put her fluffy green alien slippers on her feet that her dad had gotten for her last Christmas. She could smell coffee brewing as she proceeded to the kitchen. Her dad was standing there holding out a cup of coffee for her. Nicki gave her dad a kiss on the cheek and took the cup. Her dad, James Anderson, decided to let her drink coffee when she handed him a report on it not being harmful to drink at her age.

James and Nicki lived in a house close to Nicki’s high school.  Her mom, Jennifer Rose Anderson, had passed away when she was just 11 years old after a brief battle with breast cancer.  Since the loss her mom, she and her dad became very close.  Nicki shared the love of Quantum Physics just like her dad.  They would spend many nights out in the back yard looking through a telescope that he had gotten for her 3 years ago. They always talked about what it would be like to visit another planet.

James Alexander Anderson started a company called Quantum Planet which dealt in advanced satellite systems. His clients ranged from telecommunications companies to government contracts. He received his PhD in physics from University of California, Berkeley where he and his wife both graduated at the top of their class. The two had met in high school and were inseparable till her passing. Her mom was known as Dr. Rose by her friends and colleagues and her death had hit both Nicki and James very hard. She had promised her mom that she would always look after her dad. She also told her mom that she was going to follow in her footsteps and become the best physics major she could be.

“Thanks dad, how did you know I was awake?”

“I just happened to be walking by your door when I heard your phone singing, so how is Cheryl?”  He said with a huge grin. 

“Well you heard right. Cheryl wants me to meet her at the library soon. She wouldn’t tell me why, she just sounded super hyped up. Would it be okay with you if I go?” She promised we would be out by time we have our lunch date.” James shook his head yes and just seemed to stare at his daughter. “Uh, earth to dad you here?” Nicki said looking a little confused. 

“Oh sorry about that, it’s just you are looking so much like your mother every day. Anyway you go right ahead I have to deliver some papers to Andy’s this morning anyway. If you want you can ask Cheryl if she would like to join us for lunch.”

“That’s super dad, knowing Cheryl she will not want to pass up on a chance at going to Balrey’s.”

Nicki arrived at the library 20 minutes before they opened.  Cheryl asked “What took you so long, I was going crazy here waiting for you.”

“Seriously Cheryl, first I had to get dressed and then catch the bus, I am lucky I got here this early, plus I have no clue why I am here in the first place.” 

Cheryl, who is Nicki’s best friend, started jumping up and down clapping her hands. “You will never believe who is going to be here today doing a reading.” 

“Calm down girl, you are getting strange looks from people.” Nicki said “Okay please tell me before you explode and I end up having to find a new BFF.”

“First how do I look?” Cheryl asked. She was wearing a pair of faded tight-fitting jeans and a light blue V-neck short sleeve blouse that buttoned down the front. Cheryl also had long light brown hair that came down the middle of her back and was fairly tall at 5 ft. 9 inches. Her eyes were brown and flecked with gold. She was a very pretty girl who looked older than her 16 years. 

“You look great, but then you always look great. Now would you please tell me why I am spending my Saturday morning, on the first day of spring break, in front of a library?”  

“Okay, Okay, my mom talked to Andrea Healy who works here and last night she told her that Emory Long was going to be doing a surprise poetry reading here this morning. There are only a limited number of seats and it will be announced as soon as the library opens.”

“Okay.” said Nicki “Not to be a prude or anything but who the hell is Emory Long?”

“You’re joking. Am I on one of those hidden camera shows were they show people’s stunned reactions? OMG you are serious. Girlfriend don’t you ever watch TV? I mean I know you were into your studies but this is just wrong.”

Just then Danny Johnson, who is a good friend of both of them and an openly gay male, rode up on his bike and said “Hey it’s my two favorite GF’s, what brings you two to the library on a Saturday morning? Cheryl why are you awake, it’s not a school day?”

“Ha, ha Danny, can you please inform our bookworm friend here who Emory Long is.”

“Girl you are messing with my head right? Oh no you are serious. Nicki you have got to lay off the science. Emory Long is just the hottest thing in pants to walk this earth. Haven’t you ever watched Shadowland? He is the dreamy hottie who plays Vance the teenage Vamp, and I would let him bite my neck any day or every day for that matter.” He did a little flip with his head and blinked his bright blue eyes. “Okay, so still why are you gals here?”

Nicki looked at Danny smiling and said “Alright I have heard of that show, but you guys know I am not a big TV buff. Danny you might want to pretty yourself up because apparently your dream god, or vamp is going to be here at the library doing a poetry reading.

“No way are you guys having some fun at my expense?”

“Nicki is telling you the truth.” Cheryl started jumping up and down and screaming,

“Yes oh yes my dream man will be here in about one hour.”

Now it was Danny’s turn to flip out. “OMG I should have worn a nicer shirt. Why didn’t you guys tell me this yesterday? OMG I am going to faint.”

“Take it easy lover boy.” Nicki said with a sigh, “We just got the big scoop this morning. You both really need to relax after all he is just a guy for heaven’s sake.”

“Just a guy who’s name is listed under dreamy in the dictionary, and who I plan on slipping my phone number to.” said Cheryl.

That’s when Danny said, “Cheryl you do realize that Emory is gay don’t you?”

“No way Danny, you say that about every hot guy in town.” Cheryl gave him a little push with her hip.

“Okay honey, but when Mr. Dreamy see’s my ass swinging by him you will see those big blue eyes following my every step.” he said as he pointed his finger to his butt cheek and made a sizzle sound.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

James took his morning coffee to his home office and began loading his briefcase with papers he had piled on his desk. He then proceeded to his wall safe which was hidden behind a copy of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. He removed a hidden panel from the bottom liner and pulled out a carved wooden case. He carefully wrapped the case in some bubble wrap and put it inside a box. He printed out a shipping label and attached it to the box.

First stop was to the post office where he dropped off the box at the inside drop box. He then went to his friend and partner of the company, Andy’s house. Andy and James were the same age and had been friends since grade school. Andy also graduated from Berkeley with a physics degree. Andy is a six foot three inch tall guy with just touches of gray in his brown hair. He is well built and his eyes a light Caribbean blue. James calls him the perfect bachelor.

James rang the doorbell and the door was opened immediately by Andy. “Thank god you’re here I was just going to call you.”

“Well then I guess it’s a good thing I am here.” James said smiling. “What’s up, I just came to drop off the last of the files for the VADAR satellite system. I am then going to meet up with Nicki at Balrey’s for lunch. Would you care to join us?”

“No can do bro,” Andy replied “the office just called and said there was a reporter there asking questions about you. Scott is on duty and he said the reporter’s credentials looked official but the guy wanted to know if you were there today. He said the guy was acting strange so Scott tried your cell number and didn’t get a hold of you, that’s when he called me. Scott told him if he wanted to talk to you he would have to make an appointment.”

“I guess I never turned my volume up on my phone. Nicki says that is one of my bad habits. I will call Scott and save you a trip over there.”

 “That’s okay James I have a lot of work I want to get done before next week’s press conference, so I was going to go to the office anyway. I will check on this guy when I get there and give you a call if it’s important.”

“Thanks man, this is why you make the big bucks,” James said kidding around. “Well I still have some time left before I go and meet Nicki so would you like to check out the final plans?” Andy led James to his home office and James produced the files.

“Want some coffee?” Andy asked.

“Nah, I just drank most of a pot of coffee at home before I came here.”

Andy laid out the papers on his desk and began studying them. “You really outdid yourself on this project, how did you find a metal that would work on the way this one panel maneuvers?” James answered Andy with a big grin on his face, “It was in front of me the whole time.”

“Exactly what does that mean?” Andy stood there waiting for James’s answer.

James looked at Andy and said, “That means that I may have come up with a solution that creates a problem. Seriously the metal for the panel was easy it is just the materials some old pennies were made from, but with that said, I made another discovery that could be a problem, but until I can prove or disprove anything I cannot tell anyone about it. Not even you my friend.”

Andy stood there just shaking his head. He knew James well enough to know not to ask any more questions. They both sat there and looked at the rest of the plans and just smiled. Andy then said he was going to head out to the office. “I will call you later and let you know about the reporter, he probably wants the inside scoop on VADAR. I can’t believe we have finally done it.” He and James walked out together and headed for their cars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

At 9:00 a.m. sharp the doors to the library opened. Nicki, Cheryl and Danny were the first ones through the door. “Hi Mrs. Healy,” Cheryl said with excitement in her voice. “Which room is the reading going to be in?”

“It’s in the lecture hall and I am glad to see your mom gave you the news, I know how much you love this young man. Hi Nicki and Danny, I see Cheryl has dragged you two along,” she said laughing, “ you can go on in, the reading isn’t for one hour but once the news spreads this place is going to be busy.”

“I would have died if I would have missed this.” Danny said to Mrs. Healy. She just gave him a pat on the arm and then excused herself as she had to put the notice out in the front.

They headed into the lecture hall and took the first three seats in front of the lectern.

“Oh look over there, they have Emory’s new book out. Life in Words, I hear he just loves poetry.” Danny said with a dreamy look on his face.

Before they were there long the lecture hall started filling up. The three of them sat there chatting until 10:00 am rolled around. Mrs. Healy came up to the microphone and introduced Emory to the crowd. Emory was wearing faded black jeans and a silk black shirt. His blond hair was down to his shoulders and wavy. His blue eyes looked haunting with the way he wore his hair. He had very pale skin and looked very much like the vampire he played on TV. Danny let out a big sigh.

Emory did indeed read poems from his new book. After 20 minutes of reading, Emory told the audience that he was giving away thirty copies of his new book and that he would sign them. He picked the first three rows of people saying that they had to be true fans if they made it to the front rows.

Cheryl was the first in line. When Emory signed her book she was speechless and blushing. Next came Nicki, she thanked Emory and told him she loved his poems. Danny was next, he shook Emory’s hand and while shaking his hand he pressed a small piece of paper in Emory’s palm. Emory gave him a huge grin and a wink.

When they got outside Cheryl was hitting herself in the head with the book saying, “Stupid, stupid, stupid. I can’t believe I choked, of all the times for my brain to fart it had to be in front of Emory Long.” Nicki gave her friend a hug and told her it was not the end of the world.

Danny however was smiling from ear to ear. “I gave him my number and he took it and gave me a wink. I do believe I have died and gone to heaven. Don’t feel bad Cheryl I told you he bats for my team.”

The three started to walk towards Danny’s bike when Nicki asked if he would like to join them for lunch at Balrey’s. “I am sure my dad wouldn’t mind.”

 “Sure thing GF, this is my lucky day, first the man of my dreams and now lunch at Balrey’s. Life is just too good to me.”

Nicki called James and told him that Danny was going to join them and that they were just a few minutes away. “Great,” said James “I just got here so I will get a table for four. See you in a few minutes sweetheart.” They arrived and James already had a table for them.

James stood up to shake Danny’s hand and he gave both Nicki and Cheryl a kiss on the cheek. “So, Dr. A, I read in the paper that your company has some big news coming up. What’s the scoop?”

“I would have to kill you if I told you.” James said laughing.

“Seriously though Dr. A, the papers say you are going to change the world, is that much at least true?”

“Danny I will tell you this. We humans tend to think things on a small scale. Now let your mind expand and go way beyond the box. Would you say that the world is limitless, that we have only just begun to really understand energy?”

“Wow Dr. A, you mean you came up with a new light bulb.”

“In a way only it was the light bulb that turned on in my brain. Some day in the near future you will see exactly what I mean.” James laughed again.

Nicki was just sitting there staring when James asked her, “A penny for your thoughts.” He had always asked her that question when she seemed to be deep in thought.

“Sorry dad it’s just something you said kind of clicked in. It reminded me of mom always telling me “Always think beyond the box.”

Danny said, “Well I am thinking beyond the box and more like into my stomach. How about a serious discussion on what we are going to eat.” Everyone laughed and looked at their menus.

Nicki ordered the eggplant parmesan sandwich with sweet potato fries this was her favorite meal at Balrey’s. James ordered an apple walnut salad with raspberry vinaigrette. Cheryl and Danny both ordered the grilled onion burgers. Balrey’s was known for having great food in a casual atmosphere. Nicki and her dad ate here often. Her dad claimed his best ideas came from eating here.

After having a lunch filled with lots of laughter, James paid the bill and they all headed out the door. James asked Nicki if she wanted a ride back to the house. “No thanks dad, we are going to walk with Danny back to the library to get his bike and then Cheryl and I will catch the metro. Oh, can you take mine and Cheryl’s book back with you?”

“Of course, I will be more than glad to. See you two back at the house, Danny it was nice seeing you again.”

“You to Dr. A and thanks for the lunch.” James gave his daughter a kiss and a hug and headed to where he parked his car.

A half hour after they left Balrey’s Nicki and Cheryl said their goodbye’s to Danny and caught the bus to Nicki’s house. When they reached the house Nicki noticed that her dad’s car was not in the driveway. “That’s odd I thought for sure dad would have beaten us home, maybe he stopped at the office.”

“I hope he gets back before I have to leave,” replied Cheryl “he has my book with him and I really want to show it to my mom.”

“If he’s not here soon I will call him and remind him about the books. Let’s work on our science project while we are waiting.” They spent a good hour working on it before realizing the time.

“Nicki, your dad still isn’t home do you think you should call him?” Cheryl asked. Nicki picked up her cellphone and dialed James’s cell number.

“It went right to his voicemail. I know he had it on at the restaurant because I called him before we got there.”

“Maybe your dad had a meeting or something came up and he didn’t want his phone ringing. Your dad has done that in the past.”

“No he never takes meetings on the weekend. He did go see my Uncle Andy this morning, maybe he stopped back over there.” Nicki said with some concern in her voice. “I will call him up and see if my dad is there.”

She called her uncle and after two rings he answered with a cheery “Hey there sweetheart, to what do I owe this pleasure of you calling me?”

“Hi Uncle Andy, I was just wondering if you have seen my dad? I called his cell and it went right to his voicemail so I am hoping he stopped by your house.”

“Sorry Nicki, the last time I talked to your dad was this morning when he dropped of the plans. I also tried calling him and got his voicemail. In fact I was just getting ready to call your house number. Maybe you should try and call his office he might have thought that I was still there.”

“Okay, I guess he could have done that, but usually he calls me before driving that far. Thanks Uncle Andy, if he happens to call you can you ask him to call me?”

 “Sure thing kiddo and you let me know if you get a hold of him, I would also like to talk to him.” Nicki hung up with her uncle and immediately dialed her dad’s office. Once again the line went to his voicemail.

Now Nicki was beginning to get worried. “This is not like my dad at all I really think he would have called me if he knew we would be waiting on him.”

“What about asking your Aunt Amy, any chance he might have stopped over her place?” Amanda Anderson was James’s younger sister. She is an agent with the FBI, Los Angeles field office.

“Good idea Cheryl, he might have stopped there and lost track of time.”

Once again Nicki picked up her cellphone and this time called her aunts number. “Hey Nicki, how’s my favorite niece doing?”

“Hi Aunt Amy, listen have you heard from my dad today at all?”

“No I haven’t, why is there a problem? You sound like you are worried, what’s happened?” Nicki explained to her aunt exactly what they had done today and how she could not find her dad right now.

“I am coming right over, in the meantime if he does come home or call, give me a call right back.”

“I will see you in a little bit, thanks Aunt Amy, I am really getting nervous, it’s not like dad to not contact me at all, especially if he knows I am waiting for him.”

“I know sweetie, it may just be that he forgot to charge his phone and somehow lost track of the time. We will get this figured out when I get there. See you soon.”

“My Aunt is on her way over. Can you stay at least till she gets here, it shouldn’t take her more than fifteen minutes.

“I am not going anywhere Nicki, I don’t want you to be home alone and worried. I will call my mom and tell her to pick me up in a half hour, by then your Aunt will be here.”

“Thanks Cheryl, that means a lot to me. I just have a bad feeling about this. I wonder if it has something to do with this new satellite that he and Uncle Andy are working on. Everything about it has been so hush, hush. Dad was not even able to tell me anything about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

Amanda Anderson arrived at her brother’s house and was immediately greeted by her niece. “I am guessing no word from your dad yet. Hi Cheryl, glad to see Nicki has not been home alone. Nicki, I want you to tell me as much details as possible on what happened today.”

Nicki relayed all the details she could remember. Amanda asked if she could look through James office. “Do you think this may have something to do with dad’s most recent project, Aunt Amy? I mean dad wouldn’t say anything about this one to me at all. He and Uncle Andy were always talking in hushed whispers.”

“That’s why I would like to check his office out. As of now we can’t even report him as missing, but if I can find any kind of clue at all, I can at least get a head start on things. Cheryl, do me a favor and don’t mention any of this to your family just yet. We don’t even know for sure he is actually missing yet.

“I won’t, I know you don’t need any more problems with a bunch of people calling and stuff.” Just as she finished speaking her cellphone rang, it was her mom telling her to be out front she was going to be there in a minute to pick her up. “I have to go now, Nicki if you need anything at all just give me a call, also if you find anything out.” Cheryl gave her friend a big hug. “Bye Aunt Amy, it was nice seeing you.” Amy gave her a hug and thanked her for taking care of her niece.

After Cheryl left Nicki joined her Aunt Amy in her father’s office. I knew your father was a brainiac but seriously how do you make any sense out of this?” she said pointing at the pile of papers stacked on his desk.

“Oh that stuff is all just some of the schematics from some of his past designs.”

“You understand this; you really are your father’s child.”

“You should see some of the page’s he has with formulas written on them, dad is like this super genius.”

“You know your grandfather was just like that, I guess your dad got all the smart genes when he was born and I got the leftovers.” Nicki laughed. It made Amy feel good to see her smile.

“Nicki, can you tell if any of this stuff is recent.” Nicki looked through the files and told her aunt that none of this stuff was from his recent project. “Does your dad have a safe were he might keep some of the sensitive documents?”

 “Yes he does, he has always told me if something were to happen to him I could figure out the password by looking in the top drawer of his desk.” They opened up the desk and checked out a few papers, than Nicki noticed the piece of paper taped toward the back of the desk.

Amy read it aloud “Einstein’s theory of relativity proved, okay I hope that makes some sense to you, because I am lost on this one.”

“Oh that’s an easy one.” Nicki took a pencil and piece of paper from her father’s desk and wrote down 05-29-19-19.

“My niece you really amaze me, just what do those numbers mean.”

“That’s the date that Einstein’s theory was proved. That was pretty clever of dad.”

“So where is the safe?”

“Another easy one, it is behind dad’s print of Starry Nights right here on the wall.”

They went to the wall and Nicki swung the painting out. Her father had hinges installed on the frame to make getting in and out of the safe easier. Nicki then punched in the numbers and then put her thumb on a small glass panel. The light on the panel turned green and the safe door opened. “Wow your dad really went all out on that safe, sweet.”

“Yeah dad added my fingerprint to it a year ago. He said he knew he could trust me.” They looked in the safe and took out a stack of folders. Toward the back of the safe were several stacks of cash.

“What is your dad doing with so much money in there?”

 “Dad said we needed and emergency fund in case the banks ever collapsed or if there was a war.”

“I guess my brother believes in planning ahead.” Amanda said shaking her head.

They took the files to the living room and sat them on the coffee table. As they were going through them Nicki came across one that read, In case of death. That was when Nicki lost all her composure and hugging her aunt she cried out, “Please tell me dads okay, please Aunt Amy. I don’t think I could take it if something were to happen to him.”

“There, there sweetie, we are going to find your dad, I will not rest until we do. You need to stay strong, I will find my brother and you will help me do it.”

She held on to her sobbing niece a good ten minutes. After Nicki was calmed down they finished going through the files with no luck. These were mainly papers to do with household things.

“Nicki can you call up Andy and see if he will come over. Maybe he can shed some light on what has happened to James.”

“I called him earlier and he said he only saw dad this morning when he dropped off the papers for the project.”

“Call him again anyway and tell him I would like to talk to him.”

“Ok I will call him right now.” Nicki picked up her cell and called Andy. Andy told her that he would come right away. While waiting for him to show up, Nicki made a pot of coffee for them.

Amanda told Nicki that if they did not find him by the morning that she would call her office since they were going to be the ones who would handle the case because of his involvement with government contracts. She also told her that she would not be allowed to handle the case, but not to worry a lot of her coworkers owed her and she was going to do her own investigation.

Andy arrived at James’s house fifteen minutes after hanging up with Nicki. He rang the doorbell and when Nicki answered she ran into his arms and started crying again. Andy held her tight and kept telling her that everything was going to be alright. They stepped into the living room where Amy was waiting. “How are things going Andy?” Amanda said as she gave him a hug.

“They were going great till I got the calls from Nicki. Do you have any clue as to what has happened?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Amy said.

“All I can tell you is what went on when James came to my place this morning.” Andy told her.

“Great, any little detail can provide us with some kind of clue.” Andy told her everything including the part about a reporter showing up at the plant.

“That is something; do you have the guy’s name and what news agency he works for?”

“Let me call up Scott Sanger, he was the one on duty at the time.” Andy called Scott and beings Scott was still working he was able to provide Andy with the information. “Here you go Amy, guy’s name is Thomas Maxwell, and he supposedly works for the LA Times.”

“Let me call up my partner and see who this guy is” Amy said as she picked up her cell phone. Amanda called the bureau office where she worked and spoke to her partner Sonja Kiperman. Amanda and Sonja graduated from the Academy together and after a few years they became partners. Amanda knew her partner would be at the office, Sonja always told her it was easier getting research done when most people were gone from the office. She said it kept her more focused this way. The two of them were working on an illegal arms case.

“Hey Sonja, can you run a name through the system for me?” Amanda asked.

“Sure, what’s going on?”

“My brother hasn’t been seen in a while and my niece is very worried. My brother usually always checks in with her and right now it has been over 6 hours since she heard from him. Plus he doesn’t answer his cell and he was supposed to meet her and her friend at the house after they all had lunch together.”

“Give me the name and I will run it right through for you. I know your brother well enough to know he is one who would not make your niece worry.” Amanda gave her the information that Andy had given her.

“Ok Nicki, Sonja is running a check on this guy. He is probably legit but its best if we cover all angles.” Nicki gave her aunt a big hug and said “I love you Aunt Amy and I feel much better having you here. Maybe my dad’s car broke down and his phone battery could be dead like you said.”

Nicki brought the pot of coffee she made earlier out to the living room and the three of them sat and drank while waiting on Sonja to call back. After twenty minutes went by Amanda’s phone rang. “So what’s the word?” Amy asked Sonja.

“You aren’t going to like this. I ran this guy’s name and I came up with five Thomas Maxwell’s, none of them work for the LA Times. One of them is seventy-six years old, one is twelve, and the other three are between the ages of thirty-two and fifty-one. If you can get me a description of the guy I can check out the three men.”

“Ok Sonja I will call you back in a bit, you still going to be at the office?”

“I will be here for as long as you need me to be here.” After Amy hung up her phone she told Nicki and Andy about the conversation.

“Shit.” Andy was visibly upset, “How about we all take a drive down to my office. If Scott is still there I will have him run the footage of when the guy was there, then we can have a good description for Sonja.”

“Let’s take my SUV; I can get us there a lot faster.” Amy grabbed her keys and they all went out to her truck.

Amy drove a new black GMC Yukon Denali that was fully equipped with all the modern gadgets. They all got in the truck and Amy punched the gas. “Amy when we get there we can also ask the gate security to check their camera’s and see if James had been there at all today.”

“Good idea Andy and if he had we would have a good time line to go by.”

“Aunt Amy, when was the last time you talked to dad?”

“Let’s see he called me about a week ago and wanted to know if I wanted to come to the press conference next week. He said it was going to be very interesting. I thought he was joking around, but he said that he believed I was really going to like this one.”

“Dad has been acting a little stranger than usual and I figured it was because of this new project.” Nicki said.

Andy replied, “Your dad has done a really great job on this project. There are even some things that he told me I was going to have to wait and find out. I know enough about your dad not to try and question him when he is like that as it gets you nowhere.” Both Amy and Nicki shook their heads yes to that one.

Amy pulled up to the security gate at the parking garage and rolled down her window. Andy leaned over, “Hi Ken, this is Dr. Anderson’s sister and his daughter. We were wondering if Dr. Anderson has been to the office at all today.”

“Just a minute Dr. Kramer let me look at the book.” After reading the check in log book he poked his head in the truck and said that it did not show him in today. “I also just looked at the monitor and his parking space is empty. Are you going to go inside?”

“Yes Ken, can you tell me if Scott is still working the front desk?”

“Yeah, he told me he is working a double today, he said Denise had some kind of family function today so he took her shift to help her out.”

“Thanks Ken, we won’t be in there long but keep an eye on Amanda’s truck, I am going to have her park it in my spot.”

After they got the truck parked they headed over to the front entrance so that they could talk to Scott. “Hello Dr. Kramer and hi Nicki what brings you here?”

“Scott this is James’s sister Amanda Anderson, she is a federal agent, and we need to see the footage of when the reporter came in.”

“Hi Agent Anderson, I will pull that footage up right now, why don’t you all come back over here.”

“Thanks Scott,” Amy said while shaking his hand “please just call me Amy. I am not here on official duty it is more that I care about my brother’s whereabouts.”

“Dr. Kramer told me he hasn’t been seen since this afternoon, how you holding up Nicki?”

“I am just glad to have everyone’s help right now.” She replied.

They all went over to the monitor that Scott was sitting at. He punched in some numbers and on the screen it showed the guy walking over to the security desk. Amanda made notes on the guy’s appearance. He was around six feet tall with short cut brown hair. He looked fairly young and had a slim build to him. She would guess his weight at about 180. “See how he never makes eye contact with me. I am usually a pretty good judge of character and this guy had something about him that struck me the wrong way.” Scott said. Amy asked if there was any way he could take some still shots from the video. He took some stills of the guy and got one good one of the guys face.

“Great, Andy can we go to your office so I can send these pictures right over to Sonja.”

 “Sure thing, right down this way, thanks Scott.”

Once they reached Andy’s office he sat down at his desk and booted up his laptop. After everything was set up and running he turned it over to Amanda. She asked Andy to set up his scanner for her. He got that running and started to scan the photo’s that they got from Scott.

Amanda called Sonja and told her that she was sending over the photos at that moment. “Okay, got them, give me a while to check out the descriptions with the photos. If I don’t get anything from that I will run the one with the guy actually facing the camera through our face scan program.”

They hung up and Amy said “Now all we can do is waiting to see if we get a hit on whom this man is.”

“Why don’t we head back to your house Nicki, if your dad shows up there he will think something has happened to you?”

“James office is locked up right Andy?”

“Let’s double check just to make sure.” The three walked down the hall and stopped at James office. All the doors were locked up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5

After coming out of Balrey’s James took the two books to his car and headed for home. He looked into his rearview mirror and was startled to see a face looking at him. “Eyes on the road big guy, I do have something pointing right at your head.” The guy had very dark sunglasses on and all James could make out was that the guy had short cropped hair, almost military style. “I want you to head over to the Target parking lot on E. Colorado. I know you should know your way there, so just drive nicely and don’t get stupid on me. James heard a click and felt the gun against the back of his head. This is just a friendly reminder Professor for you to do exactly as I say.” His voice had a very deep bass tone to it. James nodded yes and drove about ten minutes to the Target parking lot.

“Now I want you to head on over to that black SUV in the back of the lot there. When we are parked I want you to hand me the keys.” James had no way to do anything else but listen. After they were parked, James turned off the car and handed his keys back to the man.

His front door was then opened by another man dressed in a suit, “Please follow me Dr. Anderson.” he said as he opened the back door of the SUV.

James got into the backseat. He heard the suit guy talking to the guy with his keys. The suit guy then got into the backseat with James and told James to put on a black hood that he pulled out of the pocket of the seat in front of him.

“Is this really necessary?” James asked and the guy just shook his head yes.

“Also, I need your cellphone, before we take off.”

They drove off and James tried to keep track of the turns but soon gave up on that idea.

“Mind if I ask what’s going on?”

“Not at all, we are bringing you to a secure location where we would like to have a chat with you. Seems like you may have something we are very interested in.”

“You could have just made an appointment with me at my office, why all this?” James said with his arms pointing out.

“Mr. Anderson, I mean Dr. Anderson, we need a secure place and your office is far from secure.”

“Exactly who are you guys and just what is it you think I have and do I really need this hood on?”

“The hood comes off after we arrive at our destination, not one minute before.”

After fifteen minutes went by James asked suits how long this was going to take, he said it was very hot under the hood. “We will be there in another forty minutes or so. Just be patient, we have no intention of harming you unless you give us a reason. If it makes you feel any better my name is Matt and I will be the one looking after you. Sit back and just relax, it is all you can do anyway.”

Another thirty-five minutes passed when James could feel the tires driving over gravel. After another five minutes they were back on either black top or concrete.

Finally the vehicle came to a stop. Matt took the hood off of James’s head and James took in a gulp of fresh air. He was guided out of the vehicle and was led through a door into a hall lighted with fluorescent bulbs and painted a steel gray color. “What a cheery color.” James said. Matt just shrugged his shoulders and led James by his elbow forward. They had passed a lot of doors, none with any windows. They walked down several more halls and finally Matt brought out some keys and unlocked a door on his left. James was led into a room with a sleeping cot, a chair and small table, and a bathroom.

“You can freshen up here. I will be back in a half hour but first I need you to empty your pockets.” Matt put all James stuff from his pocket onto a small tray. He then patted James down. After Matt left he heard the door being locked. He tried the handle just to see and it did not budge. James checked out the small room. There were no windows and the walls were bare and painted in the same dull gray as the halls. James went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. He then went and sat down on the cot and waited.

Half hour later Matt came back with a couple of sub sandwiches and bottles of water. He sat the stuff on the small table. “Here eat one of these and have some water, it will be morning before you get to eat again.” Matt grabbed one of the sandwiches and started eating. James decided he better eat also plus he was very thirsty so he downed half the bottle of water. “So is there anything that you are allowed to tell me Matt?”

“No I really can’t but everything will be explained tomorrow so just try to relax. You will have to sleep on the cot tonight. I will be just outside the door if you need anything.” Matt told him.

After Matt left the room James had lain down on the cot and was trying to think.

Someone was serious about his project and he had to make sure that Nicki was safe and Andy. This was not good. James knew it was going to be a long night. James had fallen asleep. He woke up to a knock on the door. He sat up and Matt came in carrying a tray with some breakfast on it for the both of them.

“Rise and shine doc. We have some eggs and bacon, toast, juice and my favorite, coffee. Matt sat the tray down on the table and poured them both a cup of coffee from a carafe.

James and Matt sat and ate their breakfast in silence. After they were finished Matt told James that it would be a while before he was taken to see his boss. He told James he would be back in a couple of hours and that James was welcome to use the shower.

“What time is it?” James asked.

“It is 9:15 a.m. You seem to have slept alright.” Matt said.

James could not believe he slept so long. He was guessing that the stress had gotten to him. Matt left the room and James went in and showered. He then sat on the chair and waited. Finally after what felt like hours Matt came back.

 “Ok doc, up on your feet, we are going to see the man.” James noticed that Matt was a fairly big guy. He wore his dark brown hair cut short and was the same height as James. Nothing unusual stood out about him except his suit look well-tailored. They walked down several halls and then came to an elevator. Matt needed a key for that also. The elevator had two buttons one up one down, which Matt pushed. After what felt like five minutes, the elevator stopped.

James looked out to see highly polished stone floors and the hall was painted in a deep mauve. “So this is how the better half-lives?” James said lightly.

Matt led them down a hall with one door directly ahead. Matt had to put his hand up to a panel. The panel turned green and the door slid open. This led to another hall with a few more doors;

 Matt stopped at the third door and knocked. The door slid open and James was again led inside.

The room was huge. It contained a nice mahogany wood desk with some comfortable looking leather seats. Off to the side were a couch and chairs and a big screen TV. The desk had a built in control panel. Sitting at the desk was an older man in a black suit similar to Matt’s. The man got up and went over to James and introduced himself.

“Dr. Anderson my name is Frank Pierce, and I am the director of the IIA.” James shook Franks hand and asked what the IIA stood for. “International Intelligence Agency, we operate in almost every country in the world. Our job is to look out for the security of many countries including our own. We are not even known to our own CIA.”

“Why then am I being introduced if you are such a secret?”

“Sit, you are here because we have had our eyes on your company for a long time. Your current project is of extra special interest to us.”

“That project was commissioned by our own government and was supposed to remain highly classified.” James replied sounding a little confused.

“Yes Dr. Anderson, but I am afraid your security on this project has been breached somehow.”

“What do you mean?” James protested.

“I am saying that our own country is trying to sell your secret to others, we seem to have a mole in our own countries top security and we need to find out just who it is. This satellite your building must never make it to space in working condition. The consequences could be astronomical.”

“I don’t get it this is being built to the exact specifications that the government required. How do I know you are who you say you are? How exactly do you know what this satellite can and cannot do? What proof do you have, and why should I tell you anything?”

“Hold on Dr. Anderson, I don’t blame you for being cautious, that’s actually a very good thing. We have anticipated this. As proof, please let’s sit over by the screen. There is someone you need to meet that can verify who we are.”

The three of them went over to the couch where the big screen TV was. Frank picked up a remote and turned it on. He then took out a cell phone and punched in a series of numbers. In less than a minute the screen came on and James heard the voice as the picture came to life. “Hello Dr. Anderson, I am here to seek your help on a matter of international security.” James stared at the screen and whispered, “Madame President.”