Chapter 7

Nick went back in to Serenity. "Hey, Fred can I put this in the refrigerator?"

"Sure Nick, I take it you bowled another one over."

"Yeah and this time it was Paul's daughter."

Fred chuckled, "I'm going to have to put a sign on the door that reads 'WATCH FOR LARGE UNMOVABLE OBJECT COMING THROUGH THIS DOOR.'"

Nick laughed, "True, I'll see if Cal can pick this up for me."

"Okay, tell him if I'm not here it will be on the bottom shelf. He can help himself."

Nick handed Fred the bag. He headed out the door and almost ran into Max Newton and his wife.

Max politely said, "Nick, how are you?"

"I'm good. Hi, Melissa. How are ya 'll this evening?"

Melissa meekly replied, "Fine sir."

Nick started to head for Petra's, Max stopped him, and said, "Cal wants to see you at the weapons range. He said it was very important. He mumbled something about Chinese gangs when he walked away."

"Okay, see ya later." Nick said and decided to go see what Cal wanted first. The women could wait.

As he headed to the elevator, he wondered about Max and Melissa. Most of the women he knew were not intimidated by him. Maybe it wasn't him she was intimidated by. He headed for the elevator. Arriving at the weapons range, he saw Cal playing with a nine-millimeter pistol.

Nick slapped Cal on the arm, "Hey bud row, what are you playing with?"

"Take a look at this, it has been modified to fire full-auto. One weird thing, it doesn't jam."

"Where did you get it and what are these strange rounds you have?"

Cal skipped the first question, "That is what I want to know from you?"

Nick picked up the ammo.

He examined the rounds for a few seconds. "Cal, give me your knife and a pair of needle nose pliers." Cal handed Nick his knife and pliers. Nick took the round off the brass.

"Bud, I don't like the smell of this. Where did they put the bomb case?"

"Next door in the machine shop. I'll grab the rest of rounds."

Nick followed Cal next door. Cal opened the bomb case. The bomb case was the size of a desk standing on its end. It had a sign on it that read, "Before Using, Set Alarm for Chemical and Explosive Hazard."

Cal sat the alarm. Nick placed the round, Cal's knife, and a small ball peen hammer inside the box and locked the case. He went to the other side of the box and put his hands in the chemical and explosive's gloves. He picked up the knife and placed the blade in the middle of the bullet. He hit the top of the blade lightly with the ball peen hammer. The round exploded and both alarms went off. Nick jerked his hands out of the gloves and ran for the door. He beat Cal out of the door. He hit the emergency lock down button. The room was sealed off in a matter of seconds.

Cal looked at Nick, "What the hell was that?"

"I ain't sure. I think we were lucky bubba."

Nick and Cal look at each other, wondering what just happened. A couple of minutes later, the hazardous material crew showed up at the air lock.

The leader asked, "Are you two okay?"

Nick replied, "We're good. Get your bio hazard kit out and see if we are contaminated."

The leader gave him thumbs up. He and Cal are checked out. They find no contamination. Nick looked at the haz-mat team leader and told him what happened.

The leader got onto Nick, "Damn it man, next time let us know ahead of time what you are doing."

"Enough time later for ass-chewing. Right now, I need to know what was in that round."

The leader replied, "Okay, but it is going to take some time."

Nick smiled at him, "No problem, I have four lovely ladies waiting on me."

The leader chuckled and moved his team into the machine shop.

"Cal, let's go get some dinner, and after we find out what was in those rounds, you, me and the director are going to have a discussion."

Cal just shook his head. He knew his buddy wouldn't let this go. He also knew that Nick was going to take it out on him for not telling him everything. Cal followed Nick to the elevators not saying a word.