Free Tripple Chronicles 1: Eternity Rising by M. V. Kallai Page B

continued.
    Camden
planted his feet firmly on the floor and stood up.   A confused expression flashed across Mace’s face at this
bold gesture.   He was in no way
afraid, but he was not going to let this criminal professor think for a moment
that he had any authority here.
    “Of course,”
Camden replied and offered his hand in spite of himself.   Damn! Camden thought to himself. This is not
the way to approach this man. What am I doing?   He realized that he was, in fact, a little scared.   He pressed on with his friendly gesture
though, so as not to look weak.
    “You must be
Major Mace Magner.   I have heard so
much about you.”
    “Sit down!”
Mace boomed.
    Camden put
his hands in his pockets and sat down slowly.
    “Hands on
the table!”
    Camden
obeyed.
    Mace cleared
his throat and took a deep breath.   He had planned to control his temper during this meeting, even if he did
deeply loath men like Camden Riles.   Men who were happy to charge his respected government piles of money for
their services, but who didn’t have the balls to join in the ranks.   He put his hands on the table and with
an intimidating stance, leaned toward Camden.
    “This is not
a game professor. You’ve stepped in a pile of deep shit and I can smell it all
over you. So why don’t you make this easy on all of us and admit what you’ve
done.”
    Camden
looked at him with steady eyes and did not say a word.
    “Tell me
what you know!” Mace yelled.
    “That could
take a while Major, I happen to know a lot of things,” Camden said.
    Mace lost
it. He picked up the metal chair opposite the one Camden was sitting in, hurled
it against the wall and made a frustrated guttural sound. Camden backed up and
ducked instinctively. Aldretti’s eyes widened with delight at the sight of
Camden flinching away.
    “Maybe it
would be useful if you gave me a hint about the information you are looking
for, Major, then I can tell you if I know something about it,” Camden suggested,
trying to reel the situation back to where he felt more in control. Mace turned
back to him, took two deep breaths, and tugged on the bottom of the front of
his uniform jacket. After the vein in his forehead stopped throbbing, he spoke
again.
    “Perhaps you
are right, professor, maybe if I jog your memory a bit you will be more
agreeable. And if not, we can resort to pain.”
    “Sounds
fair,” Camden said feeling confident that his celebrity was the only reason
pain wasn’t the first option for this vile man.
    Mace
motioned to one of the soldiers with him to bring the now dented chair back
over to the table. He sat across from Camden and the two stared at each other
for a moment, not making a sound. Perhaps Mace was deciding how best to get
what he wanted from Camden without beating him senseless.
    “There is a
bit of a mystery here in the unit, Professor,” Mace said finally. “It seems
that there is a traitor among us.”
    “And you
think I have something to do with that?” Camden asked.
    “I didn’t at
first. But I should have. People like you think you are entitled to whatever
you want.”
    “What is it
that you think I want, Major?”
    “The biomer
of course. I’ve read the files. I know it was your research that paved the way
for our team to harness the possibilities of the stuff. So when the lab was
breeched and material stolen, I could see a clear motive for you to steal from
us. The problem with that theory, though, was how you did it.”
    He stood
back up and put his hands behind his back and started pacing around the room as
he spoke.  
    “But there I
was, walking through the main science atrium this morning when I heard your
name mentioned.   Then I remembered
hearing somewhere of your friendship with our very own Colonel Ganesh,” he
paused, waiting for some sort of reaction at the mention of Ganesh’s name.   There was none.   Camden remained cool as the Major
finished.
    “Well, we
thought it in our best interest to bring you in.”