Category Five by Philip Donlay

the console and marveled at the pictures being sent back from
Jonah
. Her thoughts went out to the men aboard the destroyer. She hoped they could safely navigate their way back out of the storm.
    â€œLet’s go to my office,” Calvin whispered so only Lauren could hear. “We need to talk.”
    Lauren was reluctant to leave, but she knew from the tone of Calvin’s voice what he wanted to say must be important. All of the information from
Jonah
would be recorded by a round-the-clock team of meteorologists. Her job had been to design it and get it operational. Others would mind the store while she finished up her Bermuda report, then somehow find time to rest. In her brief conversation with her mother, she’d heard Abigail in the background. Despite her triumph with
Jonah
, she could feel her fatigue beginning to drag her down. All she wanted was to go home and be with her daughter.
    Calvin Reynolds breezed past his assistant. “Unless God or the president calls, I don’t want to be disturbed.”
    â€œYes sir,” the assistant replied, as if it were a typical request.
    Calvin went into his spacious office and gestured for Lauren to take a seat across from his desk. Then he closed the door behind them.
    Lauren took a seat, eyeing the more comfortable wing back chairs behind her. It was where she and Calvin usually conducted their meetings. Apparently his intention was to be more formal. She waited patiently as he quickly sifted through his message slips. He glanced at one sheet of paper on his desk, then lay it aside.
    â€œFirst, I’d like to say how impressed I am with
Jonah
. From what little I just witnessed, it would appear that we’re on the right track. Nice job.”
    Lauren nodded and waited for the other shoe to drop. Calvin was nothing if not a bureaucrat. His highly political job demanded a constant level of maneuvering. They’d known each other for years, from her days at MIT. He’d tried to recruit her back then on behalf of the Defense Intelligence Agency, but she’d declined. Then, right after she’d left Donovan, she sought him out. Calvin cleared the usual red tape, and within days, Lauren held a position as a senior member of the DIA’s meteorological forecast team. The information she and her staff gathered was disseminated to every branch of the military, as well as to the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. Meteorology often played a role in the government’s intelligence-gathering capability, as well as in ongoing military operations.
    â€œI’ve just received some more disturbing news.” Calvin scratched his nearly bald head, careful not to disturb what little hair he had. “Kenneth Browning’s body was just discovered in Bermuda. He was murdered.”
    â€œOh no.” Lauren shook her head in disbelief.
    â€œThis business about someone swapping computers is,frankly, mind-boggling. What at first appeared to be an accident, is now shaping up to be a full-fledged attempt at stealing classified information.”
    â€œDid they find my computer…with Kenneth I mean?” Lauren sniffed as she fought her tears.
    â€œNo. We think whoever killed Kenneth has your laptop. Everyone else in your department is accounted for, which makes this person or persons from an outside agency. I don’t need to remind you of the magnitude of this breach.”
    â€œDo you really think people would kill to get their hands on what I had in my computer?”
    â€œYou only have to pick up a newspaper to understand how many third world countries might have biological or even nuclear weapons, but no way to deliver them accurately. The contents of your laptop would go a long way in solving their problems.”
    â€œI’m sorry. I think like a scientist, not a soldier. You’re right. We took those radar components right out of the front-line missile inventory. It was the only way to solve