Land of the Blind (Chapter 10)

Land of the Blind



Chapter 10



Lee Chiang had no problem operating in the shadow of his brother Kober.  He was content to run his myriad of construction businesses, albeit with the help of contracts made through Chiang's connections.  On this particular day, he was in Brazil to shore up a huge contract to exploit natural resources within the Amazon River Basin for the North American Federation.

Getting the contract had been expensive.  He had run into numerous obstacles hiring the mercenaries from rogue elements of the Brazilian Air Force.  And it had cost him almost three times as much in hush payments to explain how 90 missiles had disappeared from Brazilian inventory.  He just hoped it would all be worth it.

He peered out the fifth-story window of his hotel suite in Belem and frowned.  He saw nothing but green trees.  He hated how cities were now trying to reclaim a balance between modernity and nature.  He believed that Man should control nature and he was willing to back his words with force whenever he found opposition from the local population.

He moved over to his private communication center on the room's faux antique writing desk.  He pushed his finger down upon the center of the table and a thin red beam played out from a camouflaged source.  The beam created a three-dimensional keyboard about a foot above the desk.

Lee put his hands to the keyboard and began typing.  At his motion, another beam from the computer placed a screen against the wall above the desk.  On the screen appeared nonsensical symbols.  Lee tapped “Enter” and the screen went blank.  Three seconds later, the screen totally disappeared as did the keyboard.  Two seconds after that, the face of a man appeared holographically and Lee could see the familiar lapel pins of a Praetorian support staffer.

“Your uplink is verified as secure, Mr. Chiang,” the staffer said, stonily.  “Please hold on for a moment.  The

General is finishing up another link.”

“Lee, it is good to see you,” Kober said, a second after his image appeared.

“It is very good to see you, too, brother,” Lee replied, nervously.  “Especially in light of the happy news.  You should be congratulated.”

“Too bad your mercenaries destroyed the main economic vehicle for the Western Hemisphere,” Kober retorted, with more than a little disdain.  "I am getting so much grief from the Joint Chiefs that I think I could have done the job myself with less hassle."

“Kober, I told you that the whole thing was fraught with uncertainty,” Lee shot back, looking disappointed and hurt.  “You provided the information, but you wanted an outside source to handle it in case something went horribly wrong.  Or, maybe I should say that Mr. Paulius suggested the outside source and the assault vectors.  Why?  I don’t know.  In any case, our business can now go forward.”

“As usual, you do not appreciate the political ramifications of your actions,” Kober snorted.  “The families of fifteen hundred dead people from the cruise ship might not be so flippant.  I’m not even including all the canal workers, who were citizens of the Federation, in case you forgot.”

“A Federation member being covertly courted by CubanZuela, much like the rest of Central America and the Caribbean,” Lee countered, angrily. 

“Look, this arguing is getting us nowhere,” Kober relented.  “What is your status?”

“The gantries are being transported to the site right now,” Lee answered.  “In fact, the first one is probably being raised as we speak.  We should be ready to drill within the week.  I’ve explained all of the technical details to Major Donat in our meeting this morning.  I’m surprised he hasn’t already relayed it to you.”

“Major Donat is going to be busy with Paulius, trying to clear up the mess in Panama,” Kober said, curtly.  “Quite frankly, I'm afraid of burning my people out with so much short-notice flying.  Now, do you have anything else I should know, Lee?

Lee smiled deviously.  He seemed full of himself as his brother frowned.  He finally decided to come clean.  He went straight to the desk and sat down so he could look his brother straight in the eye.

“I had a heart-to-heart session with Irene a few hours ago,” Lee said in a low voice, though he didn’t need to for the room was totally secured.  “She has agreed that family honor usurps Elise's beliefs.  She…has agreed that whatever you can do to persuade our wayward niece, short of physical violation.”

“You have done well, Lee,” Kober finally said.  “This might almost make up for the mercenaries.  Okay then.  Continue with the gantries, but relay your information directly to my AI.  Any recommendations on who should do the procedure?”

"Procedure?" Lee asked, suddenly concerned.  "What procedure?  Brother, Irene expects us to use persuasion short of harming her.  Anything more would be more of a dishonor to the family than her refusal to help us."

"I was referring to the process to get her into my headquarters for a face-to-face meeting," Kober corrected.

“Then, I wish you much luck, Brother," Lee said, politely.  “I eagerly look forward to the details of your success.”

Lee cut the connection.  He smiled again and went back over to the window.  This time when he looked out over the city, he actually didn’t mind the plethora of trees.  Somehow, they all seemed to matter less.

“The world is a much better place without you, Fox,” he said, his face beaming.  “And a lot better for me.”

#

Paulius was already taking the elevator up to the loading gantry for the transport shuttle to Keystone, the primary space city orbiting Earth, when he got the recall.  It went right into his implant, shocking him like he’d been hit with a low-level cattle prod.  Cursing loudly, he brushed aside three other passengers and took the other platform back down to the tarmac.  Leaving the departure dock – one of twelve at Cape Canaveral – behind him, he headed back inside the glass-domed terminal.

As he strode purposefully towards the communications center, he kept thinking about Panama.  He knew he’d helped plan a lot of the operation, but he hadn’t counted on the general’s own brother creating such a huge headache.  For that matter, he also wondered how the Praetorians, one of the finest special operations forces in the world, had been involved in three huge internationally-known debacles – the errant ambush in downtown Fort Worth, Fox’s swift payback for that ambush and, now, the deaths of close to 2000 civilians in Panama.  At this pace, he thought, Mavromichalis would have the last laugh because her tenure as commanding officer had been free of such embarrassments.

He entered a glass room that immediately began to fill with a fine mist.  Afterward, he left the room and entered another one that seemed to do nothing.  After waiting impatiently, he saw a light on a door go green and he stepped back out into the passenger waiting area.  He sighed heavily, glad that the process used to prepare people for movement in normal gravity was far shorter than the process to get them used to artificial gravity.  It all looked normal and harmless until the human body suddenly shifted from one extreme to the other.

He walked up to a door marked for airport personnel only, stood before the AI biometric machine and let himself be scanned.  He silently fumed that he still had to go through such a lengthy identification process.  He thought being the aide-de-camp to Kober Chiang should have been enough.

He had never minded scanning machines until eight years ago.  That was when he'd found his brother Leonard being scanned by scores of machines searching for any sign of life after Fox had shot him to pieces.  He came to loathe the machiness simply because they reminded him of the vast amounts of time and energy wasted trying to save his brother.  Not that he didn't love Leonard; he just knew from his training that no amount of nanobot technology could reverse such catastrophic bodily damage.

Once identified, he stepped through the open door and looked around for the officer of the day.  Instead, he saw Donat waiting for him in the kitchen area.  Shocked, he quickly walked up and got right in the major’s face, almost making the man drop his cup of freshly poured coffee.

“Ah, Colonel, there you are,” Donat stammered as he swiftly set the coffee down to tend to the hot liquid that had splashed on his fingers.

“Jesus, Donat, are you out of your mind?” Paulius snarled in a low voice so the communications duty staffers wouldn’t hear.  “I was just about to board the rocket.  Weren’t my instructions clear enough?  Do I need to stamp them on your forehead?  And what the hell are you doing here?  You’re supposed to be in Panama.”

“The general sent me, sir,” Donat replied, his eyes racing wildly as he tried to handle Paulius’s humiliating rant.

With that news, Paulius calmed down.  He also began to wonder if the general’s plan was going to be too much to handle.  It seemed that only Donat, Rickholts and he were being tasked with the success of the mission.  He clearly needed more staff, but that wasn’t totally feasible.

“What’s the word then?” he asked, huffily.

“The General pulled some strings and leaked word to the press that the CZ’s might have been responsible for the attack on the Pedro Miguel Locks,” Donat stated.

It figured, Paulius thought.  The CubanZuelans had been trying to get serious sway with Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica for years.  Putting some heat on them might remind them who really ran the Western Hemisphere and might keep them distracted.  That said, Paulius suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s all about Panama, sir,” Donat answered, grimly.  “Personally, I was glad to get out of there.  Seeing body parts for two thousand people being pulled out of wreckage was almost too much to take.  I finally just got my appetite back.  It’s a fiasco of the worst order.  And it’s all wrong, too.  I’ve had to deal with PDF lieutenants and captains smugly snickering at all the carnage, like they know something we don’t.  I know it was an inside job, but the PDF is supposed to be part of the Federation defense link.  I sure hope they can’t be so easily bought or corrupted.”

“Like Diegas?” Paulius mentioned.

“Well, sir, we expect men like Diegas to be corrupt,” Donat said.  “He had a waitress service him under the table, right in the middle of lunch hour.  You and I, we’re expected to get high-priced hotel rooms and to be extremely discreet, to boot.”

“Don’t worry about Panama,” Paulius warned.  “The General’s got that taken care of.  Or does he?  Jeez, why do I have the feeling this has something to do with you being called back to Florida?”

“Not just me,” Donat answered, glancing around to see if anyone was close enough to spy on them.  “Rickholts is on his way back as well.  He should be landing here in one of the suborbital flights in about 30 minutes.  The general has a regular Praetorian T-180 at Patrick Air Force Base.  Look, sir, we should take this outside.  I have an escort vehicle in the private area.”

Within five minutes, both men were inside the armored fusion car.

“Okay, spill it, Peter,” Paulius demanded.  “What have I missed in the three hours it took me to get ready for space?”

“As expected, the CZ’s denied that they were responsible,” Donat answered.  “Then, they dropped the political bomb of the year.  They told the world that they needed the canal in one piece.”

“Why?”

“Because they inked massive trade deals with two huge economic powers.”

“Wait,” Paulius interrupted.  “Don’t tell me.  The Russians and the Occidentals?  Damn it!  And they wanted the canal to trade back and forth.  Christ, how do we keep getting caught with our pants down?  How is it that no one caught a whiff of such a deal?  What the hell were you doing while this was going on?”

“I was courting Diegas, sir,” Donat snorted, miffed that he was being questioned for doing what he’d been ordered to do.  “Apparently, the Russians and the Occidentals had no-name agents with carte blanche to make agreements.  The moment word got out about Diegas’ agreement, they must have done the deed.”

“And word leaked out because Diegas called in some less-than-trustworthy commandos to turn tail and run away from Marshall Fox,” Paulius finished.  “Even in death, the man continues to haunt us.  Aw, hell, Peter.  HQ could have told me that on my implant.”

“They couldn’t have told you that the Russians and the Occidentals have sent civilian rescue crews to the canal to assist,” Donat added.  “I saw the first of them arriving just before I was hurtled across time and space in the Vomit Express -- or the T-180 Turbo as they sometimes call it – so I could catch up with you.  Man, I hate those things."

"What are you upset about, Peter?" Paulius asked, curiously.  "You're suit's not even wrinkled, so it couldn't have been that bad."

"It's okay for you to say," Donat retorted, snippily.  "You're good with roughing it.  I come from a long line of Donats.  We're not used to such things.  I had to stop by the personal spa at the airport to fix my appearance before meeting you."

"Jeez Louise," Paulius said, while rolling his eyes.  "I'll remember that the next time I see you coming out of one of your specially-arranged orgies.  Now get back to what you were supposed to be telling me before you went off-track.  As usual."

"Oh, sorry about that, sir," Donat said, sheepishly.  "As I was saying, they also couldn’t have told you that both empires have asked the United Nations, feeble as it is, to open a special investigation into the deaths of all those innocents.  I tried to contact Diegas so that he could score a PR coup by offering assistance, but he was apparently getting another servicing under a restaurant table and couldn’t be reached.”

“I’m sure there’s more you have to tell.”

“The Russians and the Chinese have both offered Panama extra military forces as security for the Canal Zone.”

“Offered?  How can they offer anything?  Panama is part of the Federation.  Do they want a war?”

“Actually, sir, Panama is a provincial member of the North American Federation,” Donat corrected.  “America, Canada and Mexico formed the federation.  Central America, the Azores and Bermuda were tacked on as an afterthought to keep them out of the sphere of influence of the Russians and Occidentals.  When the CZ’s got their act together and stopped alienating their Spanish-speaking brethren, they picked off Argentina, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, thus inducing some of the Caribbean nations to join us.

“Only the founding three get full permanent voting status with representatives, senators and parliamentarians.  The others rotate among five seats on a three-year basis and get limited voting rights.  They’re just like the territories once administered by the United States.  Truth be told, if it wasn’t for the fact that we have some huge commercial companies and some important military bases in a few of them, we probably wouldn’t even remember we had some of these countries on our side.”

“They can request open security pacts from whoever they want,” Donat continued.  “The CZ’s have enough problems trying to protect all those scattered islands, not to mention keeping Cuba, Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela safe.  They can’t protect the Canal, which is why they couldn’t pry Central America from us by force.  Now, if Russian and Chinese ships suddenly show up, we’ve got a huge problem.”

“And there goes the plan the general still wants us to finish,” Paulius muttered.  “Which we can’t finish if we’re tied up leading response forces in and around the Caribbean.  What about Mavromichalis?  She and Velasquez have nothing to do, now that Fox is finally dead.  Hmm, amazingly, in all this mess, I actually forgot that Fox was dead.  At least there’s one silver lining.”

“Well, sir, as much as I don’t want that bitch Red Horse anywhere near me, I don’t really have to lose any sleep over it,” Donat answered.  “Word is that the general is keeping them on their Fox hunt, no pun intended.  That’s been confirmed by just about everyone who was in the command center at the time of the exchange between the General and Mavromichalis.”

Paulius’ face reddened at the news.  He'd been there when the General had humiliated Mavromichalis with the orders regarding Velasquez.  At the time, he had agreed.  Now, he desperately wanted to scream out the futility of Chiang continuing to sideline vital unit resources.  He knew Velasquez and Red Horse could stay out of his hair just as easily by being on the front lines against the Russians and Chinese.  Yet, he knew better than to question the man who was keeping him from playing out his career in lonely dumps like Point Barrow, Alaska and Truk.

“Oh, and just to finish out the bad news, we have to find a replacement for Warrant Officer Cobra,” Donat said.  “He’s been transferred to the colonel’s staff.  He’s probably already caught up with Velasquez, wherever the hell she is.”

“Well, that’s not really news,” Paulius remarked as he gazed out the window towards the terminal.  “You can’t play both sides in this game.  He was on the right side of the fence and then he climbed over to the other side.  Hope he likes being with Velasquez.  She’s a total head case who doesn’t even give me a rise.  Cobra’s also too senior to mess with Hasagawa.”

“And Red Horse is a dyke,” Donat added, unnecessarily.  “She closely guards the secret from her parents, but she’s almost ready to lie down on the carpet.”

“Sweet Jesus, Peter, do you kiss women with that mouth?” Paulius asked, somewhat incredulously.  “This is the year 2150.  Hard to believe you’re an Ivy Leaguer.  Besides you opinion on Red Horse's love life, is there anything else?"

“There is a bit of good news,” Donat replied.  “I’ve got inside information that Elise Chiang is going to be joining us very soon.  I can’t say how, but I think it would be a boon to us.”

Paulius’ mood perked up instantly.  He’d always admired brainy woman and, especially, brainy women like Elise Chiang who had fantastic bodies.  Of course, he also knew trying anything other than long-range ogling with Elise was tantamount to career suicide.  Still, if he couldn't get access to Angie Morris, then he could at least admire the general's niece, if only from afar.

“I sure hope it all goes away quickly,” Donat lamented.  “I jetted back here, then back to Panama and then straight back here.  My stomach hasn’t even caught up to the second trip.”

“Well, it might not be as bad as all that, Major,” Paulius quipped.  “Three good-looking, intelligent and eligible men together with one of the smartest minds and most fantastic bodies on the planet.”

“Hmm, I think you should amend that to just us, sir,” Donat countered, as he stared out the window.  “Here’s Rickholts and he’s still wearing his Antarctic gear in this heat.  Can’t imagine he’ll do too much brown-nosing in all that white.”

#

“Will you stop looking around so much?  You’re beginning to make me feel suspicious.”

Mavromichalis looked at Steve Nguyen sheepishly and returned her gaze to her plate of steak and potatoes.  She knew she should be enjoying her rare natural food meal with one of the senior agents of the Federation’s Criminal Investigative Department (CID), but she didn’t feel right.  She’d snuck out of Praetorian headquarters after he’d phoned saying he’d finally gotten some free time to spend with her.  Though she’d desperately wanted to spend that time in bed with him, she had too much going on.  She’d wanted bed time to be lasting and enjoyable.

Across from her, Nguyen, who was actually half a foot shorter and five years younger than his lady love, eyed her coyly.  He’d first met her two years earlier when he’d helped her compile dossiers on potential civilians who wanted to join the Praetorians.  He’d quickly begged off the assignment within a week as he made it clear that he wanted more than just a professional relationship.  There was just one obstacle to that relationship.

“Chiang.”

Mavromichalis nodded sullenly at Nguyen’s guess of her reasons for rushing the lunch at one of Jacksonville's poshest restaurants.

“Look, Steve, don’t think I don’t appreciate the meal because I do,” she said, slowly.  “It’s just that, with the situation in Panama right now, I’m going to be very busy for a long time.  In fact, I should be checking up on my staff and their preparations right now.”

“Except that we all know that you don’t really have any preparations to make,” Nguyen commented, wryly.  “I can’t imagine that the general has suddenly done an about face and pulled you back from the sidelines.  I mean the man isn’t even on the news trumpeting Fox’s death.  Maybe he’s being low-key and maybe he doesn’t want to gloat, but that is not the Chiang I know and loathe.  So, what gives?”

Mavromichalis looked at him carefully.  She was taking a huge chance letting him in on her suspicions, but knew it couldn’t be helped.  She needed allies and the closest one she had was Warrant Officer Cobra.  Unfortunately, he’d been sniffed out, most likely by Rickholts or Donat and had been shipped off to Area 51 with her other erstwhile allies, Anna Velasquez and Maria Red Horse.

“I’ve activated my personal scrambler so our conversation won’t be heard,” she finally said.  “I really need your help on a few things.”

“Ah, so this is a working lunch,” Nguyen deduced.  “I work and you eat.”

“No, it’s not like that at all, Steve,” Mavromichalis countered, looking hurt.  “Think of it as, well, as tongue planted firmly in cheek.”

“Whose tongue in whose cheek?”

Mavromichalis nearly choked on the small forkful of mashed potatoes she’d just eaten.  It took her a moment and three gulps of water to get her composure back.  Then, she took a playful swipe at Nguyen.

“We really shouldn’t talk here,” he said, his face becoming serious.  “Too many people even with the personal scrambler.  Come on.  There’s a neat little place and it’s on the drive back to the base.”

“Right now?” she asked, stunned.  “What about my steak?”

“I’ve got my own steak for you,” he said, naughtily as he came around the table and pulled a thoroughly embarrassed Nia Mavromichalis to her feet.

The sex they had less than fifteen minutes after leaving the restaurant was raw and intense.  It took all of Steve Nguyen’s physical training to match the well-toned physique of his lover.  Each thrust into her only seemed to make her hungrier as she squeezed her knees and legs solidly against his hips.  When he finally spent himself inside her, she arched her back as a mind-blowing orgasm ripped through her body.

Steve, however, knew his lover like no other.  He’d long ago learned her needs and he eased out of her and then rolled onto his back.  She eagerly took up his offer and straddled him, lowering herself on to his still hard member in one move.  This time around, she set the pace, rising and falling on him as he lay prostrate, enjoying the moment.  Occasionally, he would lift his head, knead her full breasts with his hands and then pull them close to his hungry lips. 

For Nia Mavromichalis, it was just the release she needed.  Her lips kissed harder and longer.  Her hands roamed, massaged and kneaded deeper.  Her body ached for release from the pressures of the outside world and, especially, from Kober Chiang.  She ground against her lover with more intensity as she matched his rhythm and practically implaled herself on him as far as she could go. 

Beneath her, Nguyen let her take control.  He concentrated on controlling himself to make the sensuality last as long as possible.  He could feel her desperation and moved in time with her, sensing her building climax and matching it with his own.  When her body tightened around him, he let himself go, savoring the waves of pleasure that washed over him and smiling as her body finally relaxed, free of the tension that had wracked it for far too long. 

Lord knew she needed more than just one day with him every few months, but he knew that wasn't possible.  Neither of their jobs afforded them the luxury of time.  They had to make the most of what they could get.

Afterwards, they showered while the hotel room’s AI sent in an automaton to change sheets thoroughly soaked with sweat.  When the loving couple returned, clad in plush terry cloth towels, they fell back on the bed and slipped under the fresh covers.

“Whoa, the AI is fast in this room,” Mavromichalis remarked just before Steve planted a lingering kiss on her lips.  “Okay, okay.  I really do have a time limit.  Seeing as how you couldn’t wait to get me into bed, we have to do our talking now.”

Nguyen sighed heavily and then relented.  He sat up and rested back against the thick down pillows.  Nia joined him a moment later.

“You want to know exactly what happened in Panama, don’t you?” he asked.  “You realize that CID is just one of a dozen agencies --including yours I might add-- that is in on this.  That doesn’t even count the Russians and Occidentals.”

“You know me too well,” Mavromichalis retorted.  “And you want to know how anything you do could be different from what the other agencies are doing.  I’ll say that I need a real assessment, not one that will almost surely be whitewashed by the Pentagon.”

“Do you honestly think Chiang would be stupid enough to be directly involved in this?” Nguyen asked, rhetorically.  “Over two thousand people died and the canal will be blocked for months.  That’s a pyrrhic victory at best.”

“I can’t prove it yet, but I can see the general’s fingerprints all over this,” Mavromichalis said, huffily.  “He’s trying to make the Praetorians into something more than they are.  He’s reaching beyond his means.  And, worst of all, he’s got the Unholy Trinity doing his dirty work.”

“Yeah, I guess if you add in the mania of Alex Paulius, the hubris of Peter Donat and the sycophancy of Erich Rickholts, you get a very unhappy total,” Nguyen noted.  “Okay, I’ll do it, but only on one condition.”

“Name it,” she replied, turning over to run a hand down his smooth chest towards his towel.

He grabbed her hand and then looked her straight in the eye.

“This isn’t personal, is it, Nia?”

She shot him a dirty look and tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go.  She pulled harder, but seeing that he wasn’t going to let her get her way, she gave up.  Finally, she sagged and then buried her head against his chest in mock submission.

“You already know I hate Chiang’s guts,” she said, slowly, but firmly.  “He’s trying to use the Praetorians as tools and you know what it took out of me to remold them after all the turmoil following Fort Worth.  I can’t see that all thrown away or sacrificed for nothing.

“But, to answer your question, no, it isn’t personal, despite what I just said.  I’ve grown to care about the men and women under my command.  I also care about the integrity and reputation of the Praetorians.  We fouled up tragically in Fort Worth and Fox, may God damn his soul, made us pay in spades.  We’ve made great strides since then and I owe it to the unit to make sure the house is kept clean.  The truth needs to be known.  Maybe not in the public eye yet, but in government circles.”

Nguyen pulled her tighter against him and looked away when fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.  He knew she had to be strong and resilient in public, but she was only human.  Whatever he could do to help her get her frustrations out of her system, he was more than willing.  When she’d regained her composure, he let her sit up and roll out of bed.  He watched her move over to the chair where her uniform rested and begin to get dressed.

“I’ll do my best,” he said.

“That’s all I ever ask from people, Steve,” she replied, with a slight grin.

“I’ll be honest with you, Nia,” Steve commented.  “When I heard about Panama and what’s happened afterward, I actually believe I know the reason why Fox was around.”

Mavromichalis stopped dressing for a moment and looked at her lover, oddly.

“Why would you think that?” she asked, perplexed.

“Because of the Russians and the Occidentals and even Chiang,” Nguyen replied, solemnly.  “Before Panama, they always did things while looking over their shoulders, wondering if the Adventurer was going to appear out of nowhere and blow them to kingdom come.  Without Fox, however, there’s no one to really keep them in check.”

The words hit Mavromichalis like a ton of bricks.  She stood by the chair, blouse half-buttoned, mouth slightly agape as the meaning of Fox’s death suddenly sank in.  A huge chill suddenly ran up her spine and she shivered visibly.

“Oh, my God,” she murmured.  “What the hell have we done?”