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Realigning Destiny
by TT

Sometimes chance intervenes in our lives and causes destiny jumps the tracks. When this happens, fate steps in and realigns destiny’s course to bring us to where we need to be. But, as with the course of true love, the road of realignment doesn’t always run smooth.

Part 20 – News

After the initial shock of realization wore off, Stephanie grabbed her cell. She needed to talk to Ranger.

As she started to dial, her hand froze. She didn’t have his number.

It took only a second for her mind to re-engage and she selected Bob’s number, rising from her seat to pace while she waited for him to answer.

Eventually she got his answering machine. “It’s Steph. I need to talk to you about that research I was doing. I’ll try your cell.”

Disconnecting the call, she glanced at her phone to select Bob’s cell number.

As she walked closer to her desk to check out the latest news, she heard a crunch under her foot and looked down, noticing the broken coffee mug. A curse left her lips just as Bob answered his phone.

“Steph?” he asked, his voice concerned and amused.

“Sorry, Bob,” she said absently, making her way to the tiny break room where she retrieved some paper towels to wipe up the mess. “Dropped my coffee cup and just stepped in the mess.”

“I’m going to put you on speaker before Carlos hurts himself trying to hear what we’re saying.

The sound of a button being pushed sounded in her ear before the empty echo of speakerphone assaulted her. She caught the sound of a truck engine. “Are you in the truck?” she asked.

”We had some errands to run,” Bob explained.

Stephanie just nodded, not really paying attention to the fact they couldn’t see her. “I think I know what they’re planning,” she rushed out.

The sound of tires squealing as Bob’s truck was brought to a sudden stop carried through the phone.

“You what?” Bob demanded.

Stephanie ignored the question. “Ranger, if you can access any news sites on your phone, check for the late breaking news on any of the national networks.”

“Sure, Babe,” he replied, an underlying tension barely evident in his voice.

Stephanie silently mopped up the spilled coffee while she waited for him to find the news. She knew the second he found it and realized the implications.

“That can’t be,” he stated, disbelief clear in his voice.

“What?” Bob demanded.

A few seconds later, he let out a string of curses. Obviously Ranger had showed him the news. That’s what they’re brining into the city. I still don’t know why and we’re missing some key people, but we now know what to go with our where,” she said, her voice grim.

“We’re turning around and heading for the station,” Ranger informed.

“I still have half my shift to finish,” Stephanie cautioned, allowing her mind to drift away from the information she had found.

“Stephanie Mazur,” Bob said sternly. “You just revealed to us that the group in question has stolen depleted uranium (2) – something that, given the government controls and security measures put in place should be completely impossible – and you expect us to let you continue working without watching over you?”

“Nothing’s different, Bob,” she denied, prickling at the command. “I will not have you overreacting now. Charlie is still over at Kevin’s house and I still have half a shift to finish. We’re both fine and both safe.”

There were a few seconds of silence before Bob spoke again. This time his voice was much more calm. “Stephanie, you do understand the implications of the information you just gave us.”

Stephanie gritted her teeth. This was a situation that was way over her head, but she was certain what it meant. “It’s radioactive material. It means they’re looking to set off a dirty-bomb (1) in Denver,” she replied. “It means that I need to focus on my job here and on getting as much information as I can as soon as I can so we can figure out how they did this and who’s involved.”

There was silence for a few moments before Ranger spoke. “Babe,” he said, his voice even. “If it was a dirty bomb, we wouldn’t be so worried. Depleted uranium (2) is used by the armed services in weapons. There might be some chaos for a while, but the explosives would cause more damage than the uranium.”

Stephanie tossed the last of the coffee and glass-filled towels into the trash and stood. “Then why is it so important? Why are you two so freaked out by it?”

“Because it’s also used as shielding around fission fuel in a thermonuclear bomb (3),” Ranger informed.

“Oh, come on,” Stephanie said, immediately trying to deny what he was saying. Plopping into her chair she said, “You aren’t seriously going to try and convince me they’re building and atomic bomb.”

Her statement was met with silence and she swallowed, her stomach clenching. Her eyes moved to the stack of papers sitting on her desk and the information she had read from them started clicking together. “Oh, God,” she whispered, suddenly overwhelmed with the horror of what they could be doing.

“We’re almost there, Babe,” Ranger soothed.

That simple reassurance was what she needed to hear. She would be OK as soon as she could feel his arms around her. With her panic subsiding, she turned to her computer.

She noted that her most recent search on the people they had seen had turned up another chemist. That made seven chemists in the group so far. That seemed a little strange if they were making a nuclear weapon, but, then, she knew very little about the devices and still hadn’t found out why these people were together or what their goal was.

Pushing that information out of her mind, she quickly called up her search site. She wanted to find out more about thermonuclear weapons. “It can’t be that easy,” she muttered to herself.

“It’s not easy,” Bob assured her. “And it takes a lot more than just the depleted uranium. There’s the fission fuel that would be needed, the casings, propulsion if they were going launch it…”

“And we aren’t even sure that’s what they want to do,” Stephanie said, desperately wishing she had kept up with her practice of denial. She could really use it now, especially as both men were silent after her statement. That’s when she realized they knew something else. Taking a deep breath, she pushed away her curiosity to know what it was.

Before she could say anything else, her phone signaled that there was another call waiting. “I’ve got another call, guys,” she said before clicking over. “Hello?”

“Stephanie?” the voice asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Hi. It’s Merry. I got your message. Do you have time to talk right now?” she asked.

Stephanie hesitated. She really wanted to stay in touch with Ranger and Bob, but this was more important than her own comfort at the moment. This was about Charlie. “Yes,” she replied, her voice sure. “Let me just say goodbye to the other call and I’ll be right back.”

“OK,” Merry agreed.

Clicking back to Bob and Ranger, she said, “I have another call to take. I’ll see you when you get here.”

“Who?” Bob demanded before she could hang up.

“Dr. Mitchell,” Stephanie supplied.

She could almost feel the tension in increase over the phone line.

“Is Charlie, OK?” Bob demanded, his love and concern for the boy evident in his tone.

“Yes,” Stephanie quickly assured. “But I had a few questions that I thought she could help me answer.”

“OK, we’ll see you in a few,” Bob assured.

“Bye, Babe,” Ranger added.

Stephanie pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it for a moment. Had Ranger just ended a phone conversation? Putting the phone back in place, she quickly said, “Bye, see you soon.”

She hit the call button and switched back to Dr. Mitchell. “Merry?” she asked.

“Still here,” Merry assured, a smile in her voice. “So, want to tell me what’s going on?”

Stephanie blew out a breath and leaned back in her chair before going into her explanation of why she had called. Thoughts of terrorists, missing uranium and thermonuclear bombs were pushed from her mind temporarily as she focused on what Charlie would need to accept Ranger and how to give that to him.

To be continued in part 21: 072. Under The Influence

(1) For more information on “dirty-bombs”, check out this link: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/dirty-bombs.html
(2) For information on depleted uranium, use this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
(3) For information on fusion bombs (thermonuclear or H- bombs), you can check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_bomb

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