"I have not even agreed to give you amnesty, Mr. Camal de Leon. There will be no agreent on either point until the crisis is resolved. If you turn yourself in, you will remain free as long as you are providing useful support against the threats we now face. I remind you that we would not now be faced with this crisis if not for your actions."
The President’s secretary handed him a note: WE ARE UNABLE TO TRACE THE PHONE CALL. Arroyo read it silently as he spoke.
"Fair enough," Rafael replied. "That’s all I have to tell you for now. You will hear from again." The line went dead.
---
"Joe," I asked, "I thought he was on our side now."
"I believe he is," Joe replied, "Rafael is, however, a known criminal. Politicians who have worked with him in the past were notoriously corrupt. If he appears to be too cozy with Mr. Camal de Leon, his reputation would suffer, both among the people and among the honest mbers of the governnt."
"Hmm," I shrugged and ntally sent for a cup of hot chocolate which appeared on a floating serving tray at my side less than 30 seconds later.
---
Back in the President’s eting room, General Gutierrez suddenly reached for his cell phone. It was buzzing quietly. He looked at it then answered it. His face grew cold, his features hardening as he listened. "Get people working to find out why, and get them fixed as quickly as possible." He hung up.
"Your new ally has crippled our air force. Not a single plane or helicopter will start. We have found small holes burned in the fuselage, perhaps a powerful laser or a blowtorch... we don’t know yet. They were on secure bases or secured hangars with multiple guards. No one saw anything. Reviewing security footage, we can see the holes appear with a little puff of smoke, but no one near. Even inside secure hangars, with no damage to the buildings. Our people have no clue how that could have happened. We don’t yet know the extent of the internal damage to the aircraft, except that not a single engine will start."
The Chief of the General Staff slamd his fist on the table, "He distracted us with his phone call, while his people destroyed the air force. If large numbers co over the Chiapas border, we won’t have air support to track or hit them!"
President Arroyo stood up raising one hand in a ’stop’ gesture, "We don’t know he was behind this. Before we make assumptions that we know who all of our enemies are, maybe we should wait for evidence. Please keep us updated as you learn more General Gutierrez. General Perez, get the Chiapas border roads closed off with strong checkpoints, block the roads. Focus there, then send what you can to the El Salvador and Honduras border roads. Commissioners, please coordinate with other district police agencies to have your people cover the Belize border checkpoints. Check every vehicle, turn away anyone who even seems suspicious. Anyone with weapons should be detained. Each station should be ready for a fight." The three n answered, Yes, Mr. President in unison, then reached for their cell phones to begin making arrangents. "Javier," he continued, addressing his secretary, "if we get any intel about incoming vehicles from Mr. Camal de Leon, send it directly to these three for imdiate action. I don’t know if he can or will keep that promise, but if he does, I want us ready to act. We simply don’t have enough manpower to monitor the back-country borders. We’ll have to hope Camal de Leon keeps that promise as well."
His secretary nodded an acknowledgent, still typing notes on his laptop.
---
Dad and I looked at each other back at headquarters. "Oops. I guess I jumped the gun a little on that one...," he admitted sheepishly.
I glared. "We all agreed. We couldn’t risk losing the television stations."
"Should we have Rafael call him back?" Dad asked.
"No, send texts to General Gutierrez and the president’s secretary telling them what parts we hit, and how to repair them. Joe, can you fabricate replacent boards for the helicopters and drop them sowhere in the hangar where they won’t be seen appearing out of thin air on a security cara. Include that location in the texts."
"Acknowledged, King Tim," Joe replied. "Should I sign them as Rafael?"
I considered. "No, sign them from Maria Isabel Flores."
"Really?" Dad asked.
"Yeah, I want them to know she’s not just along for the ride, but that she’s part of the top leadership in Rafael’s corner. Include an apology, explain the rationale for hitting the aircraft to protect the transmissions. Warn them there will be another at 6 PM local ti."
"Excellent," Joe said. Dad nodded approvingly.
I sighed. "I’m going to take a break. Joe, have you got the high school stuff queued up to shove into my brain?"
"I do," he answered, "but you really do need a break first. Perhaps so guided ditation in the simulation room?"
"So what?" I asked.
"Guided ditation," he repeated, "just helping you relax your mind and calm things down, before we add the stress of mory implant training. Rember, we’re trying not to fry that little brain of your yours." I swear I could hear him smiling at his own joke.
"Yeah, fine, whatever," I replied, "but make it the observation tower instead of the sim room." I finished my hot chocolate, put the cup back down on the floating tray and stood up to go. "Dad, you should take a break, too. Joe can watch things and let us know if anything happens before Rafael’s next TV appearance."
He sighed, reached over and tousled my hair. "Maybe you’re right. Hey, Joe, can you put together a strength and conditioning program for in the sim room? I want to add a little muscle. Schedule for... what’s good? An hour every day?"
Joe chuckled out loud, "Feeling a little inadequate are we?"
Dad scowled, "No... maybe."
I was already on the elevator disk to go up to the observation deck so I didn’t hear the rest of their conversation as I was lifted up above the trees. A few minutes later, I was finding inner peace with a mindful controlled breathing exercise guided by my friendly interdinsional quantum computing alien artificial intelligence friend, Joe.
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