Storm Killer by Benjamin Blue Read Free Book Online Page A

drug to kick in.
    She’d become hooked on cocaine during her recovery from the life threatening injuries sustained from the madmen who had killed her family and abused her in the riot. Whole groups of disenfranchised rioters from various ethnic backgrounds had, en mass, rioted across the country when the INS began a serious effort to deport the millions of illegal immigrants. Some riots had ended quickly with only property damage. Other riots had become extremely violent, as the one in Los Angeles, where she had lived with her family.
    During her hospital stay, she had become dependent on morphine. Her doctors had weaned her from the drug and thought she was free of its effects. She hid from them that she had started regularly visiting a local drug dealer buying drugs of ever-increasing potency.
    She’d tried several common drugs plus several designer drugs before settling on cocaine. Cocaine gave her a euphoric feeling and deadened the pain from her old injuries. She also seemed to get a jolt of fresh energy after using the drug. She was careful not to abuse it. She only used it when the physical pain or life’s pressures became too great.
    Today’s one of those painful days, she convinced herself as the solution had disappeared into her vein.
    She did without the support the drugs gave her for several months twice in her life, the first time was when she joined the police department and had to pass a drug test. The second was when she had joined CORDEX security and had to pass yet another drug test. Neither organization did random testing after hire. Nor did NASA require random testing. So once she passed the hiring phase, she felt it was safe to go back to using.
    She sighed again as the wonderful euphoric feeling descended over her very soul. She lay quietly for a few minutes appreciating the warm feeling and the rush of energy.
    She jumped up, put the paraphernalia in its leather case and placed the case back in her drawer.
    She wasn’t worried about needing another fix today. If and when that happened, she had another small black bag in her office desk. Just a quick trip to the lady’s room and she would be good to go again.
    She hummed a tune as she exited her quarters and headed back to work.
        
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    13
Buoy 41040
    NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center buoy number 41040 was moored in the Atlantic Ocean one thousand kilometers east of island of Martinique.  
    The buoy was a six by twelve meter aluminum platform with two carbon-steel masts of weather sensors and transmission antennas projecting six meters into the air.
    It was a bright yellow object easily seen by ships. It was easily seen in good weather, but, today, the buoy was invisible from only two hundred meters distance.
    Hurricane Edna raged around buoy 41040.  Wave crests approaching thirty meters were straining the tether, threatening the connection of the buoy to the anchor resting on the sea floor. 
    The waves were freaks caused by combination of factors. Edna was moving very slowly westward and had one hundred and twenty KPH winds that caused a long buildup of wave action. An ocean current moving eastward was opposing the storm’s fetch. These factors were causing the monster waves pounding buoy 41040.  
    Buoy 41040 was sending a signal to National Data Buoy Center saying “I’ve got something interesting here!” The NDBC acknowledge the alert and sent a request to collect real time data from the little buoy’s sensor array.
    41040 began sending the data when the tether snapped. Power for the little buoy came from three sources. The first was its internal battery. This battery was charged and the systems run by solar energy when the sun was out and by a special power generation feature of the tether. The temperature difference between the deep ocean and the surface was sufficient to generate a sizable electric current using an ammonia vaporization process. Cold ocean floor water was brought to the surface to