It was nearly ten a.m. as we neared the impressive Three Powers Square, and our Brazilian co-conspirators had done their part by gathering a massive crowd of dissidents, four times larger than the day before. The chanting was deafening, and I activated my heads-up display to zoom in on the soldiers surrounding the capital buildings; there were double the number of soldiers compared to yesterday, but the overwhelming group in front of them had caused the uniformed men to bring out clear plastic shields and full helmets with darkened face screens. Many of them had their hands on their holsters, as if they were ready to draw their weapons and fire on the crowd.
Hassim went ahead of us and barreled into the crowd, pushing protesters aside as he went. “Clear the way!” he shouted in Portuguese. “The ones you have been told about are here!”
A hush slowly took over the massive assembly, as they turned to watch us move to the center. “Looks like the group text worked,” Cheri hissed as we hurried forward.
“I don’t imagine there are that many teenage girls with short blonde hair with an Asian man with one arm in this group. We kind of stand out,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.
The crowd was now parting for us, so Hassim didn’t need to clear anyone else out of the way. I glanced at the soldiers, and they were focused on us just as much as the rest of the enormous throng. The air was now buzzing with chatter as the protesters passed along the message, and finally we reached the center where they had cleared out a circle about ten meters across. Eloa Oliveira and Antonio Costa, the two protest leaders who were in on our plan, approached us right on cue with a microphone; they had arranged for loudspeakers to be set up around the perimeter of the crowd. “You’re on. Let’s hope this works,” whispered Antonio as he handed me the mic, and he and Eloa took their places beside Cheri and I.
I glanced at the soldier closest to us, although still forty meters away, and saw, standing just behind him, Pedrina Rossi, the human rights attorney, Izabel Souza, clerk for the vice president, and Jose Silva, the military executive. The soldier gave us a slight nod, and that was our signal that everything was in place. There’s no way this will work… Okay, Ava, help me out…
“Relax, sonny boy. You have the speech memorized, and if you get hung up, I’ll know it and feed you the lines. Just imagine you’re on Broadway.”
What is Broadway? Oh, boy…
I looked at the overcast sky, clearing my mind. I took a deep breath, blew it out, and began in my best girl’s voice, speaking Portuguese: “This illegal and immoral occupation of the government by the criminal Leitao must end, and we are here to end it.”
A massive roar went up from the crowd, and as Ava had instructed, I waited for the noise to die down before continuing. As I paused, I glanced again at the soldiers, and there was movement amongst them as if they were preparing to advance.
“It is clear that Leitao will not do the honorable thing and resign; he and his cronies are too busy raping the land and stealing the meager resources of the people, including all of you, enriching themselves at your expense.”
Another overwhelming howl went up from the masses, and I continued: “We have reached the conclusion that the only way to end this corrupt gangland administration is to cut off its head. We must kill Leitao, and I am here to do it.”
The crowd bellowed their agreement, but mixed in were some doubters: ‘How could this happen? She’s only a teenage girl. This is ridiculous.’
The military were now clearly advancing on our location, pushing protesters out of the way as they went; members of the crowd threw some bottles and rocks, but there wasn’t much resistance to them as they came forward. The soldier who had nodded to us was closest, and he gave a signal to halt when they were about ten meters away. After a ten-second pause, I spoke into the mic again. “You need a whole army to stop me? I am a teenage girl, as you can see. I am wearing shorts and a t-shirt; you can easily see that I am not hiding any weapons. Send forth your strongest, best fighter to face me.”
“You’re doing great, sonny boy… our plan is going perfectly.”
Yeah, but here’s where it gets tricky…
The nodding soldier gave a signal, and a gigantic man stepped forward; he tossed aside his shield and helmet and stood directly in front of me. “I don’t know who you are, but you should stop right now. I don’t want to hurt you, but you must have some abilities. Otherwise, you would not have been able to organize all of this. Just turn around and walk away, and we will do the same,” he said, his voice low and guttural.
“You want me to turn around and leave? Are you afraid?” I yelled into the microphone, causing a massive howl from the protesters.
“Okay, I warned you,” he growled, and lunged forward.
27
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC
121552 14:11
-What’s the word from the ‘interrogators’? Anything more from (IG) or (SRB)?
-After some, ahem, ‘advanced interrogation techniques’, (SRB) finally admitted to being in on (IG)’s plan. You were right to suspect him after all.
-I knew it! You owe me five bucks. Anything else?
-We’ve gotten nothing from them to indicate that they relayed the plan to the Americans, which means they are either terrified, or they didn’t have a chance to get the plan out. I suspect the former.
-For once we’re in agreement. Is there anyone we trust implicitly? I have a plan in mind, but I want to run it by at least one other member first.
-I suppose you can trust me.
-Oh, settle down, you know what I mean. I know I can trust you; I meant anyone else.
-Of course. That was simply my version of a joke. I think there are several members you can trust, but none of them are in the immediate vicinity, and I would suggest not relying on electronic communications for this. Even the safest of networks can be compromised. You of all people would know this.
-Is that your version of a joke too, or are you just breaking my… wait, what about (LPJ)? She’s just over the hill, isn’t she?
-Yes, but I didn’t include her because I am not convinced of her trustworthiness.
-Do we have any negative intel on her?
-No, it’s just my intuition.
-What are you, clairvoyant now?
-…
-Never mind, you’re right. Tell you what, bring in some chips and a diet Pepsi and I’ll run down the plan, okay?
****
I braced myself as if to prepare for impact; suddenly a figure came flashing from the left like a comet; the big man’s fingers scraped my t-shirt as he flew to the right; the protesters there crashed and fell like bowling pins as he careened into the crowd; a tall, slim, lone figure wearing a faded military jacket rose from the ground in front of me and marched with purpose toward the dazed soldier. It stunned the throng into a low murmur, as Hassim pushed his way through the crowd, reached down for the soldier, hoisted him over his head, and with a mighty grunt propelled him back into the open space around me.
“Beautiful, right on cue. Try to look shocked, and maybe a little afraid if you can muster it up,” said Ava, and I did my best to do as she said; I had spent at least forty-five minutes the night before practicing that look in the mirror, and although I thought it was pretty good, I don’t know if it would convince anyone else.
Hassim dashed back into our open circle and waited for the soldier to make his way to his feet. The big man’s eyes were wide, and as he stood, he adopted a fighting stance, bellowing a profane challenge at Hassim; I took the chance to glance up at the rest of the military, and the nodding soldier had his hands up, signaling for all of them to hold back. Several had drawn their weapons, but put them away on his direction.
Hassim and the soldier circled one another, a huge grin splitting Hassim’s face. “Well? You’re twice my size, make your move!” he shouted, and the big man displayed his skill as he spun and threw a high kick toward Hassim’s head. He grabbed the foot as it swung near his fa
ce, pushed upward, and simultaneously spun low, knocking the soldier’s other leg out from under him, causing him to fall awkwardly on his behind.
A roar of laughter went up from the crowd, and Hassim stood, his hands on his hips. “This is your best fighter? I was hoping for a challenge before I eliminate this girl who threatens our president, but let’s get on with the main event.”
“Okay, this is going perfectly so far. It’s happening so fast they won’t have a chance to process how illogical it is. Are you ready?”
Totally ready.
Hassim swung around behind his foe, placed a choke-hold on him, and within seconds the soldier was unconscious; he dragged the man with one hand and tossed him onto the steps of the Presidential Palace.
“All right,” he hollered, spittle flying from his lips as he jumped back into the open circle five meters in front of me. “If you’re tough enough to kill our president, go through me first.”
We had practiced our fighting moves, but Hassim had warned that in the heat of the moment, adrenaline might kick in, as he put it, so I cleared my mind as we circled like he and the soldier had done. As we did, I heard shouts from the protesters:
“She’s just a teenager! He’ll kill her!”
“We must help her, get her out of there!”
“Why is he doing this?”
“Run, girl, run!”
I held my hands up and called, “Stay back, friends. He can’t hurt me, you’ll see.”
Hassim took his cue and rushed forward; I turned my body just enough for him to miss me, and as he went past grabbed his jacket and flung him into the crowd. Almost like a choir, the crowd went “Oooh!” and then the shouts were deafening.
Hassim came darting out of the crowd toward my back; at the last second Ava said, “Now!”, and I jumped as he careened under me; I spun in the air and landed on my feet.
Another massive “Whoa!” filled the air, and Hassim skidded to a stop, spun, and beckoned me forward.
“I don’t know how you did that, but you can’t outfight me. Come on!”
I turned and scanned the protesters nearby. I held my arms out wide and said, “How about this. You come over here and I’ll let you hit me, your hardest punch. Let’s see what happens.”
I glanced at the soldiers assembled on the steps again, and many had removed their helmets. They were whispering to one another and shaking their heads in shock. “What is she?”
“I don’t know, but she’s not human. She can’t be. No one can jump like that.”
“Is she a robot?”
“She doesn’t look like one, but who knows.”
“What will we do?”
“With enough bullets, even a robot will die.”
Oh, boy… I hope this next part goes right… I hope I learned some things from Dave, Margie, Guy, and Petey… they had real acting skills…
I waved for Hassim to approach, and he slid forward cautiously. “I know you are some kind of witch, but you can’t trick me!” he roared, and the soldiers whispered to one another furiously.
“What if she is a witch?”
“There’s no such thing as witches, you idiot.”
“Well, how do you explain this, then?”
“Maybe she’s an alien.”
“Can bullets kill an alien?”
“What if she has a force field or something?”
“She’s not an alien. Look at her.”
“I don’t know… you remember all those rumors about human-alien hybrids, don’t you?”
“You are a moron, you know that?’
“Shut up you blockheads, pay attention.”
When Hassim got within three meters, he said, in the barest of whispers, only loud enough for me to hear: “You really want me to hit you as hard as I can?”
“Yeah, but you will probably hurt yourself, so you might want to back off just a little.”
“Where should I hit you?”
“Well, normally I would say in the chest, but that would look a little funny to hit a girl there. How about the stomach?”
“Okay, get ready.”
He stepped forward and used his momentum to propel his fist into my belly; he flew backward, spinning like a top, and ended up flat on his face; I staggered backward a couple of steps and would have fallen backward, but my gyroscope took over and brought me back to a standing position. Wow, that was hard… it felt harder than getting hit by a bullet…
I felt my midsection, and found a round dent where Hassim’s punch had plowed into me, and had a surprising small twinge of pain there. The dent was quickly filled in, but it was a weird experience that I hadn’t had since I they shot me in the back during our escape from the hospital all those weeks ago in California.
Hassim was rolling on the ground, moaning and clutching his right hand to his chest, and I took a deep breath and strode forward. “Okay, sonny boy, here’s where things get crazy…”
I hope they get to me before I get to Hassim, because I’ll have to throw him or something, and he’s hurting…
I sensed two people rushing up behind me, then two quick jabs on each side of my neck… Okay, here’s where the acting really needs to kick in…
I stumbled forward as the two ‘military nurses’ pulled the ‘syringes’ from my neck and sprinted away from the witch/alien/alien-human hybrid/robot they all suspected me to be, fell to my knees, then down on all fours, and finally face to the ground. I hope that was convincing… Ava…
“Don’t worry, I’ve got control. You just hold still, sonny boy.”
Above the din, I heard Eloa Oliveira and Antonio Costa at the microphone, ordering the protesters to back off and go to their homes, that things were too dangerous, while Jose Silva, the military executive, directed the soldiers. “Use chains, zip ties are no good. They won’t hold her, whatever she is. Quickly! We gave her enough anesthetic to put down an elephant, but we don’t know how long it will keep her under. Quickly, men!”
Everything according to plan… so far…
28
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC
121552 15:27
-So, what do you think? Simple, right?
-For us, yes. Embarrassingly so.
-Think about it. No one wants Dr. Taylor out more than the kid, right?
-Undoubtedly.
-And he’s already gotten himself out of situations that required clever planning, guts, and raw ability. Any of us would have been dead long ago.
-That much is abundantly clear.
-I mean, we would do great if the task was to develop some new software, or martial resources to build a rocket away from this crap-hole planet, but none of us is good with the kind of physical derring-do a job like this takes. If any one of us was confronted with this task, we’d just try to hire other people to do it for us, right?
-As potentially embarrassing as it is to admit, yes, that’s what any of us billionaires would do.
-Well isn’t that exactly what we’re doing? We’re hiring the kid to get his own dad out, and the pay for his services is his dad’s freedom. A pretty good deal for everyone, I’d say.
-I suppose that’s one way to spin it. So, our main contribution, aside from possibly some tech, is to create a massive diversion?
-Yeah, big enough to draw all the security away to the perimeter of the compound. It’ll be epic.
-The mythical ‘Storming of Area 51’ in the flesh, eh?
-Right, and I heard that we just located the person to pull it all together.
-Let me guess: the soldier?
-None other. Bright Hand found him in Temecula, north of San Diego. He’s committed to the kid, would do anything to help him and to repay his debt.
-It’s appears that it’s a day for myths coming true. First the ‘Storming of Area 51’, and now the legendary Dave Concannon. It’s so crazy, it just might work.
-Right. Now why don’t you work on getting us some sushi in here?
****
O h, boy… the biggest risk now is that they just open fire on me… hopefully Jose Silva has enough control to keep them organized… They will want to question me, so that should hold them back too…
I opened my left eye just enough to see through the lashes, and Cheri was helping Hassim escape through the crowd. He’s strong… I thought Ernie was strong, but he’s no match for Hassim… I’m pretty sure his hand is broken, though, just like Ernie…
A firm yank on my arms and legs got me off the ground and onto a stretcher, and straps and chains went around my body, securing me to it.
“She’s heavy for a teenage girl,” one of the men whispered.
“Yeah, she doesn’t look heavy, though. In fact, she’s kind of slim. Maybe she is a robot after all,” came a whispered reply from the other side.
“Must be the most human robot ever, then. She’s cute.”
“You want me to arrange a date with her for you?”
“Shut up, you idiot. You think she’s cute, too. You even said so.”
“Yeah, but that was before. She’s just scary now.”
“You men, there, silence. Let’s get her moved before she comes to and kills both of you.”
There were two audible gulps, and the stretcher lurched into motion; my internal compass told me we were moving directly away from the capital buildings, but quickly turned parallel to them. The rumbling of the boots of dozens of soldiers and the odor of sweat and dust surrounded me; shouts from all directions ordering people to stay away and stopping traffic to roll me across the Eixo Monumental filled my ears.
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