Land of the Blind (Chapter 6)

Land of the Blind



Chapter 6

Anna shifted back in her seat and tried her best to relax.  Something had been gnawing at her ever since she and her team had left the old air force base in Minot, North Dakota.  She was sure the information on Fox had improved her position within the command, but she didn’t know how long the respite would last.  It was frustrating not knowing her place.

Anna had been a person obsessed with knowing, ever since the massacre of her family’s rebel camp.  Though she had, at times, been depressed and rebellious in the succeeding years following the trauma, she had always had one goal – to find a way to kill Marshall Fox.  That goal had been her guide in recovering from her horrific injuries in Fort Worth.  Yet, for all her travails, she found herself marginalized, unsure of just what to do or where to go.

"Penny for your thoughts, ma'am?" Red Horse said from across the aisle of the jet transport.

Maria Red Horse was the exact opposite of Anna.  She’d glided through life letting someone else decide her future.  She’d been the pride of her family, lettering in track & field, softball and lacrosse in both high school and college.  Truth be known, she’d only done sports to appease her father, who had come from a long line of Mescalero Apaches in eastern New Mexico.  Her mother, a Lipan Apache, had pushed her daughter just as hard to be more academically-oriented.

She’d acceded to her mother’s wishes and had gone to college.  Eventually, though, her father’s influence broke through and she joined the Federation military after graduation.  Her indecision at deciding when to join and not disappoint her mother had cost her a chance at the college’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps.  However, after a few years of being enlisted, she’d decided that she didn’t want to be an officer – too much responsibility, in her opinion.  Which made it all the more ironic that she sported lieutenant’s bars now.

She’d spent so much time trying to please her parents in one way or another or trying to live up to the image of a tough Apache warrior that she hadn’t told anyone her main desire – love.  Despite the relaxed social mores that had set in during the last century, she still didn’t feel comfortable telling her parents about her lifestyle.  They wanted grandchildren and constantly bugged her about it. 

After checking on Hasagawa and Fuller to get her mind off her personal problems, she'd returned to her seat across the aisle from Anna and stared at her boss.  She’d noticed Anna’s constant fidgeting and trembling whenever she was dozing.  She knew what had brought those spasms on, for she’d hardly had an undisturbed night of sleep herself since Fort Worth.

“Just wondering how they're taking it?”

“Huh?” Maria asked, suppressing the urge to laugh at her boss's failed attempt at lying.  “Oh, our two newbies.  They seem to be having a blast.  Much better than being stuck inside the command center in always sunny Florida.”

“That’s good because Oklahoma in July is no joke,” Anna said, as she sat upright and opened her eyes.  “I don’t need to tell you that.  I don’t expect to see them outside like they were in Minot.  I hope the air conditioner is working.”

"I hope so, too, ma'am," Maria agreed. "They're so used to living in smart houses that keep everything just right;"

Anna suddenly became quiet again and Maria noticed that the fidgeting had started again.

“I’m actually glad I got this mission, Maria,” Anna blurted out, as she forced herself to stop messing with her hands.  “Well, I mean I don’t like being shoved off to the side, but being out of the main office has given me a lot of time to think some things out.”

“Hopefully for the better, ma’am,” Maria said.

“Well, I figure that if I, eh, I mean, if we can be transferred to a mobile command structure and get out from under Chiang’s thumb, we might actually keep our sanity just a little while longer,” Anna said, casually, catching Maria off-guard.

“Wow, I hadn’t even considered that option, ma’am,” Maria noted. "Although that's not what's been bothering me lately. If the general has purposely marginalized us, that means he's up to something. Which means Paulius, Donat and Rickholts are messing up our good Praetorian name. Has that thought ever occurred to you, ma'am?"

“Please, Maria, we’ve known each other for more than eight years,” Anna retorted.  “When we’re in less formal circles, call me ‘Anna.’  All this ‘ma’am’ stuff is making me feel like my grandmother.  I already tremble enough when I sleep.  I don't need to add in old-age spasms just yet.”

“Okay…Anna,” Maria said, awkwardly.  “What’s our next step when we reach Fort Sill?”

"Well, more research," Anna answered. "And we might be able to have Fuller patch us into the network to find out what the Triumvirate of Evil are up..."

The intercom buzzed. 

The pilot came online and announced an urgent comm link from Colonel Mavromichalis. 

“Message is registered as alert level Red-one-A,” the pilot reported.

Maria gasped involuntarily.  Level red-one was normally the highest status, meaning an attack had either happened against the Federation or was imminent.  Red-one-A or red-one-alpha, however, was considered even more serious than that and was reserved for one man  – Devereaux Marshall Fox. 

She looked over at Anna and saw her boss staring straight ahead, her face a mask of total seriousness and her hands tightly gripping the arm rests of her seat.  She closed her eyes and prayed that Anna kept it together and didn’t ruin all the progress she’d made in dealing with her demons in the past few days.

#

Alec Paulius finished buttoning his shirt.  He smoothed his hair in the mirror of his hotel suite bathroom and then made sure he looked presentable.  Behind him, in the bedroom, a body stirred on the bed and threw aside the silk sheets.

The tall, busty brunette was just the kind of woman Paulius liked – well-built, less than brainy and very sexual.  She padded across the floor naked, walked into the bathroom and draped her arms over his shoulders.  She started kissing his neck and urged him to return to bed.

“Sorry, but duty calls, my dear,” he said, callously.  “Don’t forget the rules.  No promises, just great times.”

“I know, I know,” she groaned.

Paulius’ tabulator beeped several times, drawing his immediate attention.  The woman detached herself from him, walked back to the bed and threw the silk sheets back over her body for more sleep.  Paulius waited until she was out of sight and then he activated his device.  It was Donat whose three-dimensional head and shoulders appeared in the middle of the bathroom.

“Donat, this better be good,” Paulius snarled.  “I have to meet with some of my operatives in less than half an hour.”

“Sir, I just saw Fox.”

“Whoa!” Paulius exclaimed before toning his voice down, with a quick glance back to see if the woman had heard him.  “Are you sure?  We’ve had false alarms before.”

“I’m as sure as I can be,” Donat’s form replied.  “I was in a parking garage with Chiagas and his bodyguards.  Fox was at a sidewalk café.  Chiagas sent in some of his hired guns to make sure.  They said the man they confronted flashed a bright blue eye at them.  They were convinced and high-tailed it.  I’m not sure what Fox was doing here or what he’s up to.”

“Hmm, let me guess, Peter,” Paulius remarked snidely.  “You’re in Montevideo to help our friend, Chiagas.  Fox suddenly appears in Montevideo at the same time?  What for?  To eat asado and drink mate?  I don’t think so.  He must have scoped out our deal with Chiagas.  Find a secure transmission facility.  Be ready for a multiple link conference with HQ in 10 minutes.”

Paulius cut the link without waiting for Donat’s acknowledgement.  He checked the woman one more time and, convinced that she hadn’t overheard him, he left the suite as quick as possible.  Within five minutes, he was out of the hotel and across the street inside a storefront that was actually a specially-designed communications center for the Praetorian Elite and their allies within the South African security services.  He had a technician open a comm link and shocked everyone in the communications center with the “red-one-A” designation.

#

Chiang was in the Praetorian headquarters command center with Mavromichalis and Cobra discussing possible attack scenarios on Fox when the comm link came through.  When a technician made the “red-one-A” level known, Chiang cleared the center of all Praetorian personnel below field agent or direct support status.  Afterwards, he ordered the link opened, seeing holograms of Paulius and Donat appear.  Moments later, on Mavromichalis’ order (and to Chiang’s obvious chagrin), links with Anna and Maria appeared.

“What is it, Paulius?” Chiang asked.  “Where is Fox now?”

“Positive sighting in Montevideo, General,” Paulius replied.

Mavromichalis didn’t miss the general’s surprised look.  She didn’t know why Chiang should be concerned about Uruguay.  As far as she knew, the Praetorians had no interest in the country, save for some trade missions run by the Federation state department.

“When?” Chiang demanded.  “Give me the details.”

“Major Donat had the eyewitness confirmation, sir,” Paulius said.

“Yes, sir,” Donat added.  “I was on 18 de Julio, about to have lunch with, ahem, with some friends when I thought I spotted him -- Fox -- at an outdoor eatery.  I wasn’t sure until one of the country’s paramilitary units confronted him in a case of, eh, apparent mistaken identity.  According to some of my contacts in the country, the paramilitary leader said the man’s eye glowed bright blue.  Video surveillance on two street corners matched the facial recognition aspects.”

Mavromichalis frowned.  She knew Uruguay didn’t have paramilitaries like Colombia and Peru.  If the commandos who confronted Fox (and lived, she noted) weren’t official police, they could only be part of the troubling organized crime groups that were proliferating throughout South America due to some intense outside assistance.  That only made the colonel wonder about Donat’s mysterious contacts and, by extension, Chiang’s involvement.

It sounded more and more like Chiang was overstepping his authority and entering the realms of other federal agencies. She just had to prove it before he caught on. She wished she could get Anna and Maria back.

“Where did he go after the confrontation, Major?” Mavromichalis asked.

“I don’t know, ma’am,” Donat replied.  “It’s like he disappeared right before our eyes.  Senor…uhm, my contacts have had their eyes out on the street and elsewhere on the continent.  Nothing new, though he may have been in country earlier.  A teenager who said three men in an alley in Cali, Colombia tried to assault her a few days ago described a man who matched Fox’s description.  She was reluctant to talk to police because she wasn’t supposed to be out in the city that day.  But, when all three men ended up either in intensive care or in the morgue, she broke down.”

“Are you listening to all of this, Anna?” Mavromichalis asked.  “Does this fit into any of the new information you’ve found on Fox?”

“Yes, ma’am, it does,” Anna’s image responded.  “Fox believes himself to be some sort of crusader.  He’ll inject himself into conflicts big and small in the belief that he is helping people by making a difference.  If he doesn’t back down from a well-orchestrated ambush, he’s not going to ignore a bunch of thugs trying to rape a girl.  It’s a chivalrous streak that still exists today, ma’am, albeit in smaller and smaller numbers.”

Chiang listened closely, but clearly chafed under his collar.  He liked to be in control and didn’t care much that his exec had taken over the conversation.  However, he was surrounded by a lot of subordinates so he couldn’t shun Mavromichalis or Velasquez.  As much as he hated it, he had to wait his turn.

“And obviously it still goes with the new information on Fox being a cyborg, right?” he asked after a moment.

“Yes, sir, I believe so,” Anna answered, smartly.  “This can be used against him, in my opinion.”

“Warrant Officer Cobra, has Major Robinson come up with a possible response to what Velasquez has learned?”

Cobra was caught off-guard by the question.  He’d actually taken a step backwards to be out of the conversation.  He’d believed that, as a mere liaison with the Elites, he was not needed for the scenario.  Indeed, if the Elites hadn’t had such a surly reputation with the rest of the command, he wouldn’t even be in the command center at all.

“Yes, sir,” he finally responded while trying not to look too stupid in front of so many senior officers.  “Major Robinson has developed several scenarios that should be able to take out a cyborg.  We just need an ambush or attack site that will not cause collateral damage, sir.”

“Make it so, Warrant Officer,” Chiang ordered.  “Paulius, you and Donat continue with what you were doing with the security protocol analyses of our allies.  Colonel Mavromichalis, you may continue with your operations.  If you can find anything else that might help us more precisely pin down Fox for an attack, please relay it to myself or Warrant Officer Cobra.  As of now, we are on Level Alpha surveillance.  That will be all.”

The comm links faded.  Chiang shook his head in disbelief at the news and then left the command center.  Mavromichalis watched him go and then set about getting the center into the proper surveillance mode.  Level Alpha required all available surveillance measures, including satellites, be used to actively look for Fox.  It was only used for the direst circumstances as it tended to wreak havoc with satellite orbits, as well as watch schedules, not to mention the heavy burden it put on allies who didn’t have access to all of the latest technology.  And, if Fox somehow found his way into the midst of one of the Federation’s rivals, like CubanZuela, it could have deep and serious political ramifications.

That wasn’t what bothered Mavromichalis, though.  It was what Chiang was up to.  She really wanted to know what Donat and Paulius were really doing and, by reason of his conspicuous absence, where Rickholts was.  She severely doubted that any so-called security protocol analyses were going on.

She wanted to know what Chiang had up his sleeve, especially since it would surely involve Praetorian assets.  Knowing how he’d slipped punishment for Fort Worth while his subordinates had paid dearly, she didn’t put it past Chiang to push his luck again.  The problem was that a second failure might lead to even worse repercussions

If Anna's information about Fox being a cyborg was correct, then Fox's brain patterns were driving it. However, Fox had been gravely injured at the Battle of Phuket. No doubt he'd suffered serious head trauma. How that might be affected his cyborg control was anyone's guess.

“Anything I can do to help, Colonel?”

She looked around and saw Cobra standing nearby.  She said she didn’t have anything at the moment, but might take him up on the offer later.  She then let him go deal with the Elites, admiring the man for his tenacity and loyalty.  The Elites could be unbearably smug and condescending, hence the need for a liaison to act for them among the other Praetorians.  It was nice to know that not everyone who reported directly to the general was a bad egg.

“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got to set the Level Alpha surveillance, so I’ll need your best effort,” she announced loudly.  “I can’t tell you how long it will last, so be prepared accordingly.”

She turned and headed out of the command center.  As soon as she was clear and in the adjoining passageway, she made mental notes to contact Anna again.  She needed the woman more than ever.  She hoped Maria was having a positive effect on Anna, but that wasn’t her most immediate concern.

“What the hell are you up to, General?” she asked herself.  “And why do I get the feeling it’s going to backfire on all of us?”