“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we might not be able to come back here,” he said. “We might not be able to talk to our families or go into our jobs or show our faces in public for a while.”
He started pacing around his living room. “Grace, what if we’ve stumbled across something really big? And really bad? Like I’m talking JFK assassination level, or Iran-Contra, or even something as big as a procurement scandal like the tanker leasing crap back in the 90s and 2000s. I don’t live in that world, but I have buddies from the Academy who do, and it’s scary.”
“Ok, so we pack some stuff,” Parkowski said. Her boyfriend arrived at the same realization she had experienced weeks ago. This was big.
“I’m probably getting worked up over nothing. More than likely, I think Dr. Pham is going to tell us something mundane, something that’s either already on Wikipedia or in a movie somewhere, but that we’re spending millions of dollars to protect in a SAP for God-knows-what reason. He’ll tell us what we want to hear, we move on with our lives, and both of us have the satisfaction of knowing what is fucking up your missions in the VR environment.”
She shrugged. “I hope you’re right.”
The two engineers spent the next half-hour or so packing up overnight bags; she with clothing that she had left at the townhouse over the last year, and DePresti with what little clothing he had washed, dried, and folded. Parkowski packed a separate bag with water bottles, protein bars, and fruit.
She hoped that all of this was all unnecessary. And was a little excited that she might finally get to the bottom of all of this.
As he was packing, DePresti dropped something with a crash and spilled its contents all over the carpeted floor of his bedroom. “Is everything ok?” Parkowski asked from the kitchen
“Honestly, I’m a little nervous,” her boyfriend responded. “Don’t worry about it. I get worked up when I’m doing this kind of secret squirrel stuff.”
She shrugged and continued packing their food bag.
At twelve twenty they were ready to leave. The two engineers carried their bags down the townhouse steps to the parking lot. The sun shone brightly and a slight breeze came in off of the ocean.
“Let’s take my car,” DePresti suggested.
She opened the Subaru’s trunk. “What is all of this?” she asked. She saw what looked like an oxygen tank and associated tubes strewn across the back.
“Forgot to tell you, I bought my own scuba gear last week,” DePresti told her. “I want to start doing more once the weather gets nice.”
Parkowski shrugged. “Fine by me, but I’m still going to rent mine.”
DePresti laughed as he helped her create space in the trunk for their bags. Then they got into the car, the Space Force officer driving. Their destinatio: Manhattan Beach.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The drive was mercifully short.
However, once they got there, they had an issue. The beach was surprisingly packed with tourists and locals and parking was at a premium. The lots by the beach were completely filled, and street parking was seemingly full as well.
DePresti cruised the side streets, looking for a spot, as he nervously tapped the steering wheel. Parkowski sat next to him quietly as she watched the clock. It was now twelve thirty-five. They were likely going to be late for their meetup.
Finally, they found an unoccupied spot along a residential street. DePresti carefully parallel parked and the two engineers got out.
They started walking in the direction of the beach, the breeze in their faces and the sun beating down overhead. It was warm, in the low seventies, and Parkowski was glad they hadn’t overdressed for the southern California weather.
The streets were packed. Parkowski wondered if there was some kind of festival or concert going on, but as they neared the beach she realized it was just a nice Saturday. Families sat enjoying picnic lunches while teenagers played volleyball in the white sand.
In the back of her head, she had a strange sensation, like someone was watching her, but as she scanned the streets everyone minded their own business. It was probably just paranoia, she thought. No one else knew about this meeting other than herself, her boyfriend, and her boss.
She wished she was going to the beach to enjoy it.
But she recalled their meeting with Pham. Today was all business. Time to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
The pier itself was just as busy as the streets.
Parkowski saw surfers in wetsuits below and anglers with their poles hanging off the side of the structure, trying to catch cod and surfperch.
She and DePresti started looking for Pham. There were plenty of Asian-American men of a similar age walking around, but not the one they were looking for.
Parkowski started to get worried, did they arrive too late, did they miss him, did something happen to her boss? DePresti seemed nervous as well; his eyes darted from side to side as he scanned the crowd.
Finally, they found him at the far end of the pier. Pham sat on a bench down by the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab & Aquarium at the quay’s terminus.
In stark contrast to the rest of the pier’s visitors, most of whom were in bathing suits and flip flops, Pham wore a rumpled black suit with dark gray pinstripes that looked like it hadn’t seen the inside of a dry cleaner’s in years. He looked tired, haggard, like he hadn’t slept at all the previous night. The engineer sat on a bench by himself, facing away from the ocean, with his head down and supported by his hands.
“Hey, Dr. Pham,” Parkowski said as she and DePresti approached.
He looked up at her and gave her a wan smile. “Grace,” he said softly. “Mike,” he said to DePresti. “Sit down.” Pham slid to the edge of the bench to give them room.
They both did just that, with Parkowski taking a seat next to Pham, as the senior Aering engineer scanned the pier with his tired eyes. He then turned to Parkowski. “Grace, I wish you had just let it go,” Pham said to her.
“I know,” Parkowski replied. She had prepared for this statement by her boss. “I sometimes wish I had, too.”
“And now you brought Mike into this…” he said, his voice trailing off as he stared off in the distance.
Pham was acting strangely, Parkowski thought. He slurred his words slightly and his eyes were glazed over. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he was drunk, but Parkowski knew that he wasn’t a drinker.
“Anyways,” Pham said, “Grace, you were right.”
“Right about what?” she asked.
“About everything.”
“What do you mean?” DePresti asked, speaking up for the first time.
Pham ignored him. “I went to the facility today, I was going to try and troubleshoot the MICS issue we saw yesterday,” he said in almost a monotone. “I couldn’t sleep. I was worried about the mission.”
He took a pause. “The high bay was completely closed, Grace. My badge wouldn’t get me in. I went to talk to the security desk and was told that men in suits with government badges came in the middle of the night and closed the entire ILIAD mission room up. I couldn’t even get to my office.”
“Did they say what agency they were from?” DePresti asked.
Pham answered this one. “No, but I have my suspicions.”
He was still being vague. Parkowski needed to move the conversation along. “Dr. Pham, Jake,” she said. “Can you tell me about Bronze Knot?”
“No, I’m not allowed to, but I need to,” Pham replied. “Like I said in my text back to you, it’s not what you think it is. Bronze Knot is just a cover story for…”
His voice trailed off as he turned his head slightly towards the east.