Arctic Fire (19 page)

The camera zoomed in on the reporter who had a
swirling combination of horror, anger, surprise and embarrassment
etched on his face. At first, he stood there frozen with
indecision, not knowing whether to ignore the disaster and continue
on with his question or to simply get out of Dodge. The decision
was made for him as Cain called out his name again. The reporter
whirled back around and faced the podium. Putting on his best, the
show must go on face, he salvaged what dignity he had left then
asked his question.

Pike burst out in laughter as did Mallory and
Cain. “I’m sorry.” Pike said, “That wasn’t very nice but it sure
was funny. That looked like a Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd scene
from
Saturday Night Live.”

“Oh it gets better.” Cain replied. “Elizabeth,
can you get me something to drink please?”

“Sure thing.” Malory reached over and took the
lid off the champagne cooler, but instead of a chilled bottle of
expensive champagne, she pulled out a can of beer and tossed it to
her boss. Pike just looked at Cain for a moment and thought how odd
it seemed to see one of the richest men in the world in jeans and a
T-shirt, looking like an everyday Joe drinking a beer.

The press conference continued as several more
reporters asked questions. The same reporter in the back raised his
hand again and Cain called on him. This time the man cautiously
looked around before he stood. Satisfied he wasn’t going to be
ambushed; he stood and asked his question.

As he sat back down, the same waiter came
walking behind him with a towel folded over his arm. Just as the
reporter sat down, his head hit the waiter’s arm. The downward
motion caught his hair on the towel. The man sat down, but his
hair, his toupee, stayed on the waiter’s towel; for a moment it
looked like the waiter was carrying a small cat.

The cameraman filming the news conference was
the first to pick up on the bizarre accident and immediately zoomed
in on the man’s bald head. Suddenly the room erupted in laughter
again. This time there was no saving face as Toupee Man shot out of
his seat, grabbed his hair and stormed out of the room.

“I don’t know what to say.” Pike managed to get
out between bursts of laughter. He looked over and his companions
were laughing hard as well.

“That was classic.” Mallory said. She snorted
when she said it, froze in embarrassment as she looked at Cain and
Pike, then all three laughed even harder. Pike had been laughing so
hard his side was beginning to hurt. Finally the laughter subsided
As Mallory wiped tears from her eyes.

“Thanks Nigel.” Pike said. “That was worth every
minute of enduring my hardship as the Blast from the Past just to
see that. I know it’s mean of me but I hope everyone in America
will see that.”

“Don’t worry, they will.” Mallory said. “I up
loaded it to YouTube and it’s already gone viral.”

“I’d like to shake that waiters hand if I
could.” Pike said.

Cain clicked the remote and turned off the TV.
“Well you’d better hurry. Your Toupee Man, as you like to call him,
demanded from his network that the man be fired for embarrassing
him like that.”

Suddenly the smile ran away from Pike’s face and
he felt his stomach twist. “No. Please don’t tell me you fired him
because of what I wanted?”

“I had to fire him to avert any suspicion from
the network, but don’t worry. He’ll take a little vacation, paid of
course, then go to work in one of my California spas.”

Pike let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to
know.”

Mallory stood up and headed for the door. “I’ve
got a couple of things to take care of then I’m going to give Tom a
call.”

“Thank you, Elizabeth.” Cain said. “I’ll see you
in the morning, and give Tom my best.”

“Thanks. Good night.”

“If you will excuse me too, Mr. Cain, I need to
finish up my reports from this morning. Tomorrow I’ll start my
hands-on inspection.” Pike got up and had reached the door when
Cain called him.

“Thank you, Gabriel.”

“Sir?”

“Sometimes I forget.”

“Forget what?”

“To have fun in life. I haven’t laughed that
hard in a long time.”

“You’re welcome,” Pike said nodding his head.
“See you tomorrow.”

Chapter
Twenty

Pike dotted the last “i” and crossed the last
“t” then clicked the save button and pushed away from the desk, his
report done. He yawned then stood and stretched and looked at his
watch. He was tired but at 8:30, it was still too early for bed. He
decided to take a walk and go up to the observation deck, take in
the view, then come back and do a little conspiracy surfing.

The observation deck was a bubble sitting on top
of the casino affording a 360-degree view of the floating palace.
When he got there, he found the observation deck deserted except
for one couple who were more interested in the view on the inside
rather than the outside. As soon as they saw Pike, they acted like
a couple of teenagers getting caught in the back seat of their
father’s car at make-out point. They straightened up their clothing
and headed for the door, saying goodnight in passing, never looking
him in the eye. He laughed to himself as they left; they were both
in their forties.

Alone now, Pike watched as the sun hesitated on
the horizon for a moment, then slowly began to sink. It cast out
great rays of light, reflecting off the water as if trying to hold
itself up, but the ocean would not be denied as it pulled the sun
farther and farther into its depths. The last rays of light lashed
out, hitting the iceberg and setting it ablaze in an orange hue as
if lighting a signal fire so it could find its way back in the
morning. The remaining flickers of light vanished as a dark, heavy
night sky pushed the reluctant sun below the horizon.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Surprised, Pike turned around.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” The woman
had shoulder-length blonde hair and was wearing a navy blue
pantsuit that was business like yet very stylish.

“Hi, Ms. Amies, I didn’t know anyone else was up
here and yes it is.” He turned back around as the last rays
vanished. “I don’t think I have ever watched a sunset from sea
before.”

“I have a couple of times, and it never gets
old. The last time was from the deck of a navy frigate, I was doing
a story on modern pirates. Trust me, the view this time is much
more pleasant.”

“You must lead an exciting life going all over
the world on assignments.”

“Trust me, it’s not all glitz and glamour. It’s
a lot of hard work and the competition is ruthless out there. You
have your major networks, local people, and anyone and everyone
with a cell phone camera all scrambling to get the story. But when
a gig like this one comes along, it makes it all worthwhile.”

“Yeah, I bet the food on this trip is a little
bit better than navy chow.”

She smiled, “I just wanted to say thank you for
what you did today but that it wasn’t necessary.’

“All I did was give you an interview, nothing
special about that.”

She frowned at him. “I’m a reporter; it’s my job
to know things.”

“Know things? Like what?” Pike asked, starting
to feel like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar and hearing
mom’s footsteps.

“Things like it was you who arranged for me to
have the exclusive interview with Mr. Cain and the first look
inside this giant ice cube. And things like it was your idea to get
back at the Toupee Man, as you call him, for the things he did to
me. Thank you for the interview but I can take care of myself and
this in no way will get you any special privileges with me or a
break on the way I cover the story, good or bad.”

Pike was red-faced at being caught red-handed,
embarrassed that the cat was now out of the bag. But there was
something about her last statement that didn’t sound right and then
he realized what it was.

“Listen Ms. Amies, I think there has been a
misunderstanding here. None of this was set up to curry your favor,
personal or professional. Call me a chauvinist pig, but I didn’t do
this for you or to get to you. I asked Mr. Cain to arrange
something that would put Toupee Man in his place so to speak. I was
tired of seeing him do whatever he wanted.”

“Chauvinist pig?” She said, a small smile
curving her lips.

“Sorry, a dated term. You probably don’t know
what it means.”

“You’re not that old and I’m not that young. I
know what it means.”

“I’m not doing too well here am I?”

“It depends.”

“I’m not trying to impress you so you’ll feel
obligated to me in anyway; I just hate pushy people who think they
are better than everyone else, that’s all.” Pike paused and took a
deep breath. “Can we move on to something else now…please?”

Amies stood and sized Pike up for a moment,
deciding if he was telling the truth or just another really good
liar. “I’m sorry, Mr. Pike. It’s just that in my business, I hear
every line there is. Everybody is always trying to get something,
trying to get an angle. It’s hard to take what someone says at face
value.”

“You’re so young to be so jaded…wait, I forgot,
you’re not that young.”

She smiled. “Okay, I deserve that one. So tell
me, Mr. Pike, are you always in the habit of rescuing
young
damsels in distress?”

“Only if there are dragons to be slain.” They
both laughed.

“Well, Mr. Pike.”

“Gabriel, please.”

“Tabatha. Well, Gabriel, like I said, life as a
correspondent is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Like when you
have a morning show to do, 3:00 am comes far too early. Perhaps we
can have dinner sometime if you can find the time between slaying
dragons.”

“I have an ogre scheduled in the morning and a
small Cyclops late afternoon, so I can’t make any promises, but I
think we can definitely work something out. Until then, fair
maiden.” Pike reached down and kissed her hand then bowed low with
a sweeping motion.

Tabatha curtsied, nodded in approval, then left.
Pike watched her as she disappeared down the stairs. This could
turn out to be an interesting trip after all. When this whole thing
started with Toupee Man he had no idea it would lead to a date with
a TV personality. He smiled to himself as he returned to his room.
He wondered if this was one of Cain’s Butterfly Effects.

Chapter Twenty
One

“Good morning Dean,” Pike said as he stepped
into the office in the Hoth cave.

“Good morning Gabe. What can I do for you
today?” Dean Miles replied with a smile.

“I went over all the plans and the ordering
manifests, so with the paperwork out of the way I thought I’d start
with the physical inspection.”

Miles nodded. “Sounds good. Where would you like
to start?”

Pike unslung the map tube that hung on his
shoulder like a quiver and drew out a

large schematic like an arrow and unrolled it on
the work table. “I have to check from stem to stern so I thought
I’d work on the outlying access and service tunnels first then work
my way in.”

“Mr. Cain is sure going to get his money’s worth
out of you.” Miles said smiling as he walked over to his desk. He
opened the top drawer and pulled out an electronic notebook. “Here,
take this,” Miles said as he handed it to him.

Pike’s eyes lit up like a Broadway marquee when
he saw it. “This is cool. It looks kind of like an iPad only a
little different and a bit bigger. How’s that for a technical
description from an engineer?”

Miles laughed. “It’s a prototype, not yet
released to the public. There are advantages to having the richest
man in the world as your boss. It’s got more apps than Carter has
pills. Here, let me show you.” Miles took it back and walked Pike
through the simple set up routine. “And this is how you access the
plans to the barge.”

He tapped a few more icons and the plans for the
iceberg came up. The first screen showed a two dimensional view of
the plans like one would see looking down on a piece of paper.
“Watch this,” Miles said, “this is really cool.” He tapped another
icon and the screen switched to a three-dimensional side view.
Pike’s smile grew even bigger.

“And check this out.” Miles tapped again and a
small green dot appeared on the screen. “Your own personal GPS
guide of the barge showing your exact location at any given time.
And watch this.” Miles typed in the word ENGINE ROOM ONE. As soon
as he touched the enter key, a flashing red line appeared,
emanating from the green dot, blinking through the different levels
to show the most direct route.”

“I gotta get me one of these things.” Pike
beamed.

“So I guess you don’t want to take your paper
maps with you then?”

Pike just frowned at him.

“I didn’t think so,” Miles said as he went back
to his desk and picked up the phone. “Brian, would you come in here
please?” Miles hung up then took a cell phone out of his desk
drawer. “These are walkie-talkie phones.” He said as he handed one
to Pike. Keep it with you at all times when you’re below decks. I
usually have the guys turn them in at the end of their shifts but I
don’t see you as a nine-to-five guy, so just keep it.”

Just then the door opened and a young man about
twenty-two walked in. He had short curly blonde hair and bright,
blue eyes that seemed to have a little apprehension in them. Pike
thought he had the look of a kid being hauled into the principal’s
office.

“Gabriel Pike, this is Brian Centers. Brian,
Gabriel Pike.” Miles made the introductions. “Brian here is one of
our best tunnel rats. He can find his way around these tunnels in
the dark, in fact he has a couple of times. So even though you have
the map, it never hurts to have a local guide.”