After entering the office, Peter immediately shut the door and locked it.
Chris turned with a baffled look. “What are you doing?”
Peter could no longer contain his anger. With Carl dead and his friends’ lives in jeopardy, the fury that raged within was begging to be released on this pathetic man. After years of restraint, Peter was ready to unleash the deserving wrath on the man he felt played a part in his father’s death.
He accepted the fact he was about to blow his cover.
With his adrenaline at an all-time high, he cocked back his fist and in a flash unleashed a powerful punch that connected right on the helpless man’s jaw. The forceful impact knocked Chris off his feet before his body crashed hard to the floor. A feeling of joy overtook Peter as he watched the shocked man grab his jaw and look up with fear in his eyes. Peter leaned down and pulled the feeble man up to his feet by the collar, before slamming him hard against the wall. “Why did you have Carl killed?”
A slight dribble of blood trickled down Chris’s chin as he gasped, straining to breathe. “What the hell are you talking about? Who’s Carl?”
Peter narrowed his eyes as he pushed Chris harder against the wall. “You know who Carl is.”
Chris grabbed Peter’s arms trying to loosen his grip, but was having no luck. “Are you talking about the guy who died? I don’t even know the man.”
Peter was getting irritated. “Why do you have secret bank accounts?”
Chris’s jaw dropped. “What?”
Peter wanted answers and punched the asshole again before banging him back against the wall. Chris’s aging body couldn’t take much of this punishment. “I’m enjoying this too much so you better answer my God-damned questions.”
With a pleading expression, Chris cried out, “What the hell has come over you? So I have some secret bank accounts, so what? What’s it to you?”
Peter stayed composed as he continued with his questioning. “Why do you have them?”
The pitiful man winced and shrank back, his gaze falling to the floor. “Because I have a gambling problem. The accounts are so my wife doesn’t find out. I already lost my first family because of the addiction.”
Chris was sounding convincing, but any undercover spy would have a good alibi. “What’s with the big dollar settlements? How have you been coming up with that money?”
Chris’s body went limp as if he was giving up the fight. He looked up. “How do you know all of this?”
Peter stayed forceful as he clinched his jaw. “Tell me.”
Chris’s eyes dipped in shame. “Selling my space memorabilia. It’s embarrassing, but I’ve had to sell much of it to pay off my debts. I even had to sell some of your dad’s stuff flown to the moon that he gave to me as gifts.”
Peter was getting frustrated as every question was being answered soundly and without hesitation. It was time to trip the asshole up. He figured if a bomb was onboard Iris, the most obvious place to explode it would be when visiting the International Space Station. Whoever suggested moving Blake’s spacewalk at the last minute was probably behind the conspiracy, knowing the rendezvous wouldn’t happen if the risky EVA failed. “Why did you move Blake’s EVA to after visiting the ISS?”
Chris’s demeanor became combative as he shot Peter a surprised look. “What are you talking about? I didn’t move the EVA. That was Walter’s call. All I suggested was cancelling the second EVA because I didn’t think it was smart doing back-to-back spacewalks.”
Peter was stunned. He let go of Chris as he took a step back. Walter? He tried to remember his conversation with the president. He couldn’t remember exactly how it was worded and wondered if he just assumed it was Chris that had the EVA moved.
“I can show you the email from Walter asking for the change.”
Peter pointed to the desk. “Show me!”
Chris brought his arm up, wiping the blood off his lip with his shirt as he slowly turned toward his desk. The man wasn’t walking fast enough for Peter, so he gave him a solid push from behind. Chris turned with an evil glare as he kept moving. When he reached his chair, Peter shoved him into it.
Chris lifted his hand. “Okay, relax.”
Soon the email was up on the screen. Peter positioned himself so he could clearly see the computer screen. The email looked legit. Peter was stumped. He didn’t know what to believe. He grabbed Chris, forcing him up on his feet as he looked him directly in his eyes. “Don’t tell anyone about this or I’ll kill you.”
Peter let the man fall back into his chair before turning to leave the office. As he hustled across the floor, Chris called out, “I assume you’re working for SID. But I don’t care, you’re still fired!”
Without breaking his stride or turning, Peter raised his hand and jutted up his middle finger.
Once in the hallway, Peter put both his hands through his hair. He was mystified. Either Chris had given one hell of a performance, or he was telling the truth. But how could Walter possibly be behind all of this? Why would he? Was he working for China? It just didn’t make sense.
Not knowing who he could trust and no longer part of the team, he needed to call Gavin right away and come up with a plan on how to save his friends.
He scurried to his own office and locked the door. It was only a matter of time before security would come knocking to escort him out of the building. He quickly called up Gavin. He wiped the bead of sweat sliding down the side of his face as he leaned back in his chair, taking in a deep breath.
The SID director answered. “Hello.”
Peter let out the breath as he lurched his upper body forward. “Hey, Gavin, it’s Peter.”
His boss’s grating voice joked through the phone. “Hey, I guess you’re not on that rocket. I heard the launch went off without a hitch.”
Peter replied in a no-nonsense tone. “It did, but we have a major problem.”
Gavin’s voice turned serious. “What’s that?”
Peter swallowed hard, knowing the words would shock the SID director. “I believe there’s a bomb on that spacecraft.”
“What? Is this related to the picture you sent us?”
Peter wiped away another bead of sweat. “Yes, the bomb is in the parachute deployment device.”
The director’s voice was strong as he spoke with crisp precision. “I just got some early input on that picture. The device looks to be consistent with an advanced new bomb recently developed by China, typically having the same Chinese markings. Even though it’s small, it’s one powerful son-of-a-bitch. We weren’t able to determine the size from the picture, but these bombs can have the power of up to a half a ton of TNT. However, our experts aren’t sure what to expect when one of those babies goes off in space.”
Peter craned his head back. “Wow. I’m convinced China is behind all of this. I’m sure their goal is to detonate that bomb when our men rendezvous with the space station.”
Gavin’s tone rose. “What? They plan on destroying the space station?”
Peter’s voice stayed steady. “Not sure what kind of damage can occur since we’re not docking with the ISS.”
Gavin sounded intense as his voice sharpened. “Doesn’t matter. If they plan on exploding any bomb within its vicinity, no telling what damage it can do. We can’t let this happen. Besides, if China is behind this, I bet they have a plan on how to get the maximum impact from such a blast. This needs to be stopped. Who’s behind all of this at EarthOrbit?”