by Robert Boren
“I don’t trust him, to be honest. I wish you were meeting with Walter instead.”
“Well I never liked Dannon, but that was political. I look at him as an opportunist who traffics in the worst sort of conspiracy theories. He wasn’t popular in the GOP. He was considered a loose cannon. I know that for a fact after talking to others in the GOP. Off the record, of course.”
Mayor Fine was silent for a moment. “If something happened to Walter, you are all that stands between Dannon and the Governor’s slot.”
Tracy sucked in air. “You’re right. He might murder me for that.”
“You get my drift. I would not meet with him alone.”
“What should I do?”
Mayor Fine thought for a moment. “Do you have connections with any of the TV stations in Albany? People you trust?”
Tracy was silent for a moment. “Yes, one of the on-screen personalities at NBS was a college roommate. I’ll try to contact her.”
“Do that, then sneak in and get on TV, showing everybody that you are okay. Then bring in people you trust to get the government working again. I’ll help in any way I can.”
“That’s what I’ll do, she said, her voice stronger. “Thank you so much, Mayor Fine. I hope we get to work together through this mess.”
“I’m willing,” Mayor Fine said. “Be careful. Talk to you soon.”
“Bye.”
Mayor fine ended the call, leaning back in his chair for a moment. Then he texted Jean, asking her to send his senior staff into the meeting room. Julio, Kate, and Chief Harvey entered the room a moment later. The Mayor told them what happened in the call.
“She’ll be lucky to survive,” Chief Harvey said. “Wish we could get some commandos at the NBS studio.”
“Albany is too far away,” Julio said.
“NBS was on the cutting edge of the woke movement,” Kate said. “They might not be friendly to Tracy if she doesn’t tow their line to the letter.”
Mayor Fine thought for a moment. “There’s nothing we can do to protect her, beyond the advice I just gave her.”
There was a rap on the door.
“Come in,” Mayor Fine said. Jean opened the door. “Mateo wants to talk to you.”
Julio burst out laughing.
Mayor Fine shot him a glance, then looked back at Jean. “We’ll take the call. Tell him he’ll be on the line with my staff, since we’re already in a meeting.”
Jean nodded, leaving the room. The call hit Mayor Fine’s cellphone, so he hit accept and put it on speaker.
“Mateo, can you hear us?”
“Yes, Mayor Fine. I trust you and your team are safe?”
“We’re stuck in a bunker under no-man’s land, so safe might not be the best choice of words, but we’re alive and have plenty of supplies and weapons.”
“We were trying to dig you out,” Mateo said. “Somebody blew up our equipment and men from the air.”
“Look, Mateo, I’m not going to mince words with you. We know what the UN Peacekeepers have been doing, and my first priority is to rid the city of UN Peacekeepers as quickly as I can.”
“We had some rogue commanders doing things we didn’t ask them to do,” Mateo said. “For that I am sorry. You’ll like the news I’m about to give you.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ve ordered my Peacekeepers to withdraw from the city immediately. We’ve done the same thing in Pennsylvania after the dreadful event that happened in Penn Wynne. I’d be setting up punishment for our people involved in that, but they’ve already been killed by citizens there.”
“Where are you withdrawing the UN Peacekeepers to?” Chief Harvey asked.
“Some are going to temporary barracks on the UN property in Manhattan, but most will be boarding ships and leaving the United States.”
“If true, that is indeed good news,” Mayor Fine said. “Why the change of heart?”
“There was no change of heart, sir,” Mateo said. “The initial tragedies weren’t planned, they were due to mis-communication. They will not happen again, and as I said, I am deeply sorry.”
“Then what happens next?” Mayor Fine asked.
“We will investigate how the bad events happened and make changes to our chain-of-command,” Mateo said. “We’ll work toward building trust with the US Government as well, in the hopes of working together again in the near future.”
Mayor Fine rolled his eyes, glancing around at the others, who shook their heads. “Well, Mateo, I can’t ask for more than that. We’ll be in touch. Thank you for the call.”
“You are welcome, my friend. Stay safe, and we’ll talk soon.”
The call ended.
“What a lying sack of crap,” Julio said. “You don’t trust him, I hope.”
“Well, Albena is seeing the withdrawal,” Kate said. “I doubt the reason is what he said.”
“Agreed,” Chief Harvey said. “They’re leaving because they don’t have enough UN Peacekeepers her to ensure a victory over the local police and citizenry. I’m surprised he didn’t ask any questions about the drone attacks.”
“That surprised me too,” Mayor Fine said. “He might not think we were behind it. He might think it was the US Airforce, and that’s the real reason he’s pulling back.”
“He’s not pulling back totally,” Julio said. “While I was doing the social media work out there, I heard accounts of UN Peacekeepers arriving in California in large numbers. Rumor has it they’ve been battled to a standstill in LA and Orange Counties. They might want to move troops from here to the west coast.”
Mayor Fine’s brow furrowed. He pulled his phone out and sent a text. Albena walked in a moment later.
“Yes, what do you need?” she asked.
“Is there any way we can keep track of where the fleeing UN Peacekeepers are going?”
Albena leaned against the wall, thinking for a moment. “To a degree, yes, but we’ll lose them if they board aircraft. Why?”
Mayor Fine told her about the conversation with Mateo. She thought for a moment.
“Okay, I see what you’re getting at. You want to know if UN Peacekeepers are being moved from here to the West Coast. Let me work it.”
“Thanks,” Mayor Fine said. Albena left, closing the door.
“Good plan,” Chief Harvey said.
“We’ll see what happens. We’re grasping at straws.”
{ 12 }
Scoring
M ateo stood on his balcony, looking out over Lake Geneva, trying to calm his anger after the call with Mayor Fine. He went back inside, and placed a conference call to Charles Livingston and Lance Evans. It took about ten minutes to get them on.
“Mateo, you hear me okay?” Charles asked. “I’ve got Maggie and Jean here with me.”
“I can hear you fine,” Mateo said. “Lance, are you on yet?”
“Yeah, sorry it took a few minutes. I can hear all of you.”
“Good. We’re making a change in direction. I wanted to regroup with you on Manhattan and the greater New York area.”
“Seems like Pennsylvania is the place you need to work the hardest,” Jean quipped.
Mateo chuckled. “I’ve already had this conversation with Governor Hinkley.”
“Of course you have,” Lance said. “I see the retreat. You’re pulling UN Peacekeepers out in great numbers.”
“This is correct, and I’ve already had a chat with Mayor Fine, telling him that I’m doing that. I apologized profusely.”
Jean chuckled.
“Shut up, Jean,” Charles said. “This is a serious discussion. Mateo, I agree that we need to do this, but what is your plan going forward? We need to lock down this city. If we don’t, the resistance will radiate from here at a level we won’t be able to contain.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Lance said. “New York City is very divided. My sources are telling me that nearly half the citizens of this fair city wanted the UN to come in.”
“This is why we’ve deci
ded to go slow,” Mateo said.
“Where are these UN Peacekeepers going?” Charles asked.
“Mostly to California,” Mateo said. “Saladin requested help. This is a win-win situation.”
Lance chuckled. “Ivan the Butcher did quite a job on you guys.”
“You guys?” Charles asked. “In this case, you are part of that you guys.”
Jean burst out laughing again.
“Yeah, I figured the poodle would get a kick out of this,” Lance said, “and yes, Charles, I agree that I’m on this team, but I’m not calling the shots for the UN. UN leadership is what I was referring to.”
“Let’s not bicker,” Maggie said. “What is the way forward? We aren’t giving up New York City.”
“Lance, do we still have contact with the building captains?” Mateo asked.
“We won’t know for sure until we get the cell towers back up and running,” Lance said. “Some of them are already back, by the way. We have pretty good coverage again in Queens and the Bronx. Manhattan is still struggling, but we’ll get there.”
“Didn’t we lose a lot of building captains due to the bomb?” Jean asked.
Lance chuckled. “Use your head. Everywhere that we lost building captains, we also lost their targets. It makes no difference.”
“That’s true, except for in situations where the building captains were too far south from home when the bomb detonated,” Charles said. “I think I know where you’re going with this, Mateo. You want us to surveil and kill the leaders of the resistance.”
“Not just the leaders,” Mateo said. “All of them, down to the gophers. That alone will stop the resistance, because people will be afraid to join.”
“Depends on how you do it,” Maggie said.
“Yeah, what she said,” Lance added. “If you get heavy handed, you’ll become a recruitment tool. Like I’ve said before, you don’t understand Americans. We don’t like to be pushed around. We push back.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with that,” Charles said. “We should target leadership and quietly take them out, slowly making our way down the organization to kill the lower levels. It will need to be done with surgical precision.”
“Give that gentleman a cigar,” Lance quipped.
Jean laughed again.
“So we understand each other, then?” Mateo asked.
“Better make sure Mayor Fine and his team can’t see you moving the UN Peacekeepers to California,” Lance said. “I’d be watching if I were them, and we’ve still got this stupid MVS system out there to help them.”
“You can’t kick their hacker off the system?” Charles asked.
Lance chuckled. “This chick is good. She’s got me locked out at the moment. I’ll get back in, but it’ll be a cat and mouse game for months, unless we can find her and kill her.”
“She’ll screw up,” Mateo said. “Take advantage when it happens.”
“That’s the plan,” Lance said. “Oh, and by the way, don’t bother to attack the City Hall bunker again. Mayor Fine and his team are no longer there.”
“What?” Charles asked. “How the hell do you know that?”
“I’m seeing their routing setup for calls. They’ve got programming in place to make it appear that their communications are coming from the bunker. They wouldn’t need to do that if they were there.”
“So where are they, then?” Maggie asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Somewhere on Manhattan. I’m working that, but might not be successful. And by the way, how are you guys so stupid? Didn’t you account for all those Peacekeepers you lost in the subway tunnels outside the bunker?”
“I’ve got people on that,” Mateo said. “Given what I know now, I think there’s a better than 50-50 chance that Lance is correct, but we don’t understand how they could’ve left via the tunnels. It’s a very long way to safety, and there is still radiation down there.”
“There is, but it’s spotty,” Lance said.
“I’ve got to go,” Mateo said. “I’ll keep you informed.”
“What about the State Government?” Jean asked.
“We’re still trying to figure that one out,” Mateo said. “Any help would be appreciated. Talk to you soon.”
Mateo ended the call, then went back out on the balcony.
***
Jacob and his team spent most of the day working with the new system, and meeting the leadership of other groups at the new base at the Hanscom Airport.
“You look tired,” Sunshine said, watching him.
“So do you. Maybe we should go check out our rooms.”
Sunshine nodded, and they got up.
“Does this worry you?” Sunshine asked as they left the intel room.
“How do you mean?” He led her onto a hallway, that took them past the kitchen and into the sleeping quarters.
“Being part of a bigger operation,” she said.
“Oh. It’s different, but we’ll have backing we wouldn’t have had otherwise. It’ll probably save our lives, or at least extend them.”
“You expect to be killed?” Sunshine asked.
“No, but it is a possibility, and anything that makes that less likely is a good thing, isn’t it?”
Sunshine nodded. “There’s the hallway for the rooms.” She watched as Jacob opened the door, then walked through it, onto another hallway with doors on either side.
“Lot of rooms,” Jacob said.
Sunshine opened a door about halfway down. “This one is vacant. Shall we claim it? There’s a nametag to go on the door, see it?”
“Great,” Jacob said. “Maybe I could take the one next door.”
She giggled. “Forget that.”
“Don’t trust me?”
She eyed him a moment. “Why are Philosophy Majors so dense?”
“Huh?”
“I want you to share this room with me, dummy,” she said, moving towards him, her arms going around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss, getting more passionate by the second. “There, now do you get it?”
“We haven’t even…”
She put her finger on his mouth, smiling, then pulled her top over her head. “Well, are you gonna join me or what?”
Jacob stared her in the eyes for a moment, intense enough to make her nervous.
“Surely this can’t be a surprise to you,” she said, pulling her pants off, tossing them on the floor next to her blouse, standing in her bra and panties.
“Just a sec,” he said, picking up the label for the door. “Got a pen?”
She snickered, bending over to pick up her pants, pulling out a ballpoint pen. “Checking out my butt?”
“Always,” Jacob quipped, taking the pen, writing both their names on the tag, then slipping out the door to stick it on. He shut the door and locked it, sucking in air when he turned back to her, standing naked before him, her curves building his desire.
“Get undressed,” she said, shaking her head, Jacob ripping them off so quickly that he almost fell, Sunshine enjoying his flustered state.
“I said I wasn’t a player,” Jacob said, a sheepish look on his face as he approached, hugging her, both of them moaning at the feeling of flesh to flesh, Jacob picking her up, causing her to squeal with delight. He laid her gently on the bed and joined her, not taking his time, their passion building to a fever pitch as they joined, making love urgently. It was over fast, both of them coming down, laying next to each other, looking at the ceiling.
“That was better than I imagined it would be,” Jacob said between breaths.
“Oh, you’ve been imagining this?” she asked.
“You like to tease me, don’t you?”
“Maybe. How much have you been imagining it?”
“Pretty much every second.”
“Since when?” she asked, turning on her side towards him.
“I think it started when we were walking behind the mob.”
“Good, me too,” she said, moving in for a kiss. “You
didn’t think we were done, I hope.”
***
John and Linda sat on their couch, watching pundit after pundit discuss Governor Hinkley’s remarks from earlier in the day.
“I’m getting tired of listening to these morons,” John said. “Maybe we can go back in the bedroom.”
Linda shot him a glance. “Oh please. You’ll run out of gas.”
“Try me.”
“Some other time,” she said. “I liked it too, you know.”
“I could tell. Hear from Pat and Craig yet?”
“She sent me a text, saying they’re gonna try to make it through the night there.”
“You okay?”
Linda smiled. “We needed the time alone. Turn this off if you want. I’ve seen enough.”
John nodded, picking up the remote and rolling through channels.
“Nothing good, is there?” Linda asked.
John shook his head and turned it off. “Maybe I’ll go write some more.”
“You’ve been writing a lot.”
“This book needs to get out quick.”
“Maybe things will get back to normal,” Linda said, getting up. “Want a cocktail?”
“Martini?”
She smiled. “Those are pretty strong.”
“It’s okay, we’re not going anywhere, are we?”
“No, but tomorrow I’ll have to go to the grocery store and get a few things.”
“That’s tomorrow,” John said. “Let’s wait a little while, though. I’ve got some ideas to get out, but I’ll only write for an hour. I promise.”
Linda chuckled. “We’ll see. Don’t get the idea that I mind. I don’t. It’s what you do. I married a writer.”
“I used to be just a working stiff.”
“You were always a writer,” she said. “Those three novels you finished, remember?”
“Those. I should trash them. Fantasy nonsense.”
Linda burst out laughing. “That’s what your critics say about the books you’ve published lately.”
“Some of them. I used to wonder about the people who said my books might come true. Now look at the world.”
“They’ve been prophetic, but it wasn’t that hard to see which way things were going.”
