The Fall by R. J. Pineiro Read Free Book Online

rights,” he retorted. “You sabotaged a military mission. Plain and simple. You destroyed highly classified and valuable American military technology, setting us back years —not to mention the murder of a highly skilled and unique military contractor.”
    â€œIs that what you’re calling Jack now? Last night he was a dog on a leash.”
    â€œI should have Riggs shoot you right now for gross insubordination, and I would be well within my rights as leader of this Pentagon-sanctioned military operation.”
    â€œThen do it, General,” she said, calling his bluff. “Have your oversized eunuch put a bullet in my brain.”
    Hastings slowly leaned forward, looked over Angela’s head, and nodded slightly.
    She surprised herself at how at ease she felt when hearing Riggs draw his weapon and press the barrel against the back of her head. Perhaps that was one of the benefits of growing up among rough bikers at her father’s shop and the local bars.
    Angela and Hastings locked eyes.
    â€œNice knowing you, General,” she said in a steady voice that also surprised her. “And best of luck finding your fucking suit or designing the orbital version,” she added without breaking her stare, referring to the next generation suit that Angela was starting to design to jump from the International Space Station. “Most of the key details of building it are locked in the little brain that you’re about to splatter all over this office.”
    For the second time since Jack vanished, Hastings blinked, leaned back, and waved a hand at Riggs, who put the gun away.
    â€œNow, General, do you have any important questions for me, or can I get back to trying to figure out what happened to my husband?”
    Hastings rubbed his eyes and exhaled heavily. “Doctor, I don’t seem to be getting through to you. There are very, very technically valid reasons that I couldn’t share with you—and still can’t—that justified the change in descent profiles. The mere fact that I was sent down here the evening before the launch with a pair of federal scientists should have been enough to accept the change. But instead of getting with the program, you chose to sabotage a military operation and caused this mess.”
    Hastings stood and added, “I’m going to consult with my guys and then I’ll be back, and I can promise you that our next chat won’t be nearly as pleasant.” He looked at Riggs. “Keep one of your men outside this door. No one comes in or out without my permission.”
    â€œYes, sir,” Riggs replied, following Hastings out the door and locking it from the outside with the card.
    Alone, Angela took a deep breath while staring at the gray metal door, wondering how the hell things had gone so bad so fast.
    Jack, where are you? she pondered, going through what little information she had, trying to find an explanation for his disappearance right in clear sight of a high-resolution camera.
    And what’s Hastings’s problem anyway? Treason for changing the descent profile back to the original plan, which was backed by carefully collected and analyzed data?
    It didn’t make sense. Hastings and his Los Alamos friends hadn’t provided her with any technical explanation for the change. She did what she did because all of her data told her this was the safest descent profile for this version of the OSS. Alpha-G was the smoothest of reentries, one that guaranteed Jack would remain within reasonable velocities and in the middle of the planned pipe down to the target area northeast of Orlando. Alpha-B would have kept him supersonic for longer, putting the OSS through more stress than she would had liked, and Jack would have missed the target by nearly two miles.
    On top of all that, Hastings’s approach was in direct conflict with NASA’s crawl-walk-run philosophy.
    Alpha-G was a “crawl” in the learning