Chapter 102

This is the last post of 2019. Happy New Year and have safe travels.

The next week went, just went fast. One more week and the first wing of the prison would able to house prisoners minus some of the luxuries of life. At least they would be out of the barbed wire and mud. The first wing - A wing - was one hundred and fifty cells.

The Matamoros utility crews would have the water and sewer hooked up by then. The sewage pumping station was sitting on a trailer waiting for them to place it. The power from the state-run power system would be hooked in a couple days.

The march on the pipeline from Tampico to Puerto Vallarta was going slower than expected. The terrain was rougher and there were the most taps we had seen in a couple sections. On top of that, the natives were restless and fighting back on losing their free gas and oil. The morgues on the way were kept busy.

As if all that was not bad enough, several newscasters died when they came running out of the brush with cameras – unannounced - to get their big story. They ended up being the story.

It was not that my men were trigger happy but after being shot at several times, they were taking no chances.

Friday I was on Air Force 2 filling in for the Vice President again, this time to Japan for a summit. This time it was just me with an assistant from the State Department and a note book of the past summits and agreements for my reading pleasure. The Secret Service VP security detail was assigned to me for any trips replacing the VP.

There was a second notebook of Japanese customs, traditions and the no-no’s of the diplomatic mission. I didn’t need the notebook; I had a part in this movie more than fifteen years ago.

I went to see the Vice President for anything I should know about the meeting before I left for Andrews. He did not look well. I knew in my mind that he was not going to finish his term with the President.

The President would have a major decision to make, political, for himself, the party and for the sake of the country. Vice President Mason had been a unifier able to negotiate across party lines, respected by both houses and worked with the President on the best policies to any problem.

I felt sorry for his wife; a decade younger, strong and beautiful. She knew when to be quiet and when to be forceful in any crowd. She was as respected as he was. Behind the scenes she had a distaste for politics but in public she was rock solid. They had two girls, both in the medical profession; one a brain surgeon, the other a cancer specialist.

It was one long flight from DC to Tokyo. The two day meeting was a welcome relief between arriving and returning home.

Landing at Andrews on Tuesday afternoon the girls with JJ and RJ were waiting with the G5. Traffic had been stalled on RT50 since Monday morning. A double tractor trailer accident with one of the trucks hanging off the high middle span had the east-west span closed, including the shipping channel below.

The west-east span had two head on accidents within seconds from impatient drivers, both with massive numbers of deaths. The highway would be closed until the accident investigations completed. It takes many hours when deaths are involved, bridge or not.

Those on the shore were left with few options. One was to drive 301 south to Virginia Beach and across the Bay Bridge tunnel - a very long way around, depending on where one was going on the shore.

The other was to drive to Baltimore then to Elkton and then RT301/896, the shortest route. That route was now jammed and stopped with accidents of its own. Three JBG Blackhawks were pressed into service to carry critical patients to the western shore hospitals.

My mates short circuited the mess with the G5; it was a thirty minute flight to Morton. I had been concerned that my mates would be upset with me filling in for the Vice President, spending so much time away and not helping with the business.

I was wrong, I had to tell them about all the people in the pictures and explain everything that was served with the five star meals that the world’s taxpayers furnished. I also explained the sights that I had seen behind closed doors.

Next Thursday was the UN - Iran fiasco. I had a plan in my head, I just needed people to carry it out and I had ones I could trust.