Episode 44

Chapter 178

Ms. Q.

8:54 am, November 4th, 2006

2:54 am November 5th, 2006 (local time)

I finished filling out my current report. I put the report in its correct folder and reached for the next folder. Nobody told me back in college just how much paperwork a career in education contained.

Sigh.

And I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the Program. This week seemed too quiet. I do not need all the excitement of last week, but a week with no problems is just unnatural in a high school.

There was a knock on my door.

I looked up. "Who is it?"

"Principal Bacon."

I sighed at all the paperwork I'd have to face eventually. "Come in, please."

Bacon opened the door. "Any news?"

I indicated the various piles on my desk. "About what?"

"The missing children. Did you get any information?"

"Nope. It is as if they jumped off the face of the Earth."

"Perhaps not so much jumped off as took off. Anyway, the FBI agent assigned to this case is supposed to be arriving in my office in a few minutes."

I got up. I hope he was able to find out something. The idea of all the missing kids having taken off to fight some war is not one I liked thinking about.

The Principal led me into his office and offered me a seat.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door.

Bacon's secretary opened the door. "Agent Gred of the FBI is here."

"Send Agent Gred in."

"Yes Mr. Bacon." the Principal's secretary responded. She whispered something, and then held open the door.

Agent Gred walked in.

I spoke before my boss could. "Please tell me you found the missing kids."

"I wish I could."

"What can you tell us?" the Principal asked. "We have a lot of parents screaming for answers. The parents who are not screaming for answers, we wish they were. Those parents are talking about lawsuits."

"Remember this is only the second day of the investigation. Agents assigned to this case have interviewed every parent of every child on the list of missing children you gave me. We had no results. We then expanded out interviews to every parent within a day's travel by fast car. That turned up three youths that went to visit unannounced. One was a favorite uncle's birthday, one was an aunt back from Iraq. The third turned out to be a kidnap attempt in a bitter divorce. I know it is a bit early to think this, but all signs are leaning towards it. Mrs. Mason was correct. They banded together and left the country. We went to the Stone farm. We could not get too close to the barn before the cars were crushed without explanation. Finally, we took as much of a look around as we could. There was no evidence of any hi tech craft. We heard the Stone kid is a genius, but nobody is smart enough to make six craft invisible."

I exchanged a silent look with my Principal. "I would not bet on that."

"No?"

"No." I confirmed. "Trust me when I say that when it comes to science, things are only considered impossible because Jacob Stone had not gotten around to doing them yet. Ask the Principal to show you some of the high school's security tapes with the Flying Dutchman on it."

"Principal? Isn't she overstating his work?"

"No. If anything, she's probably understating it."

"Are you two trying to tell me that it is not such a long stretch of idea for those kids, all high school students except for one, to have left the country?"

"Yes."

"Then we may have to contact Interpol. They will be able to help us with an international search. We'll need to talk to all the parents again to get an idea of what country they might have gone to."

The door was kicked open. "Enough!!! No more talking! Forget them!!"

All three people in the office wanted to respond.

I was first and my response silenced the others. "Who the fucking shit are you????"

"You don't deserve to know my name. I'm from the Association for the Almighty America. We know what's going on. Those students are traitors. They are enemies of God and America. Our God Given President has declared the so called Density Force all enemy combatants."

"What?" The FBI agent yelled. "They are just kids. American kids at that."

"No they are not. Their citizenship has been stripped for going against American interests."

"Don't you mean the President's interests?"

We turned to see one of the aides that had come with Senator Clinton last week.

"They are the same thing. I have a message for you to deliver." the intruder threw a piece of paper onto the Principal's desk. "Inform the parents of these traitors of their fates. They were sentenced by military tribunal for treason and sentenced to summary execution. Given the severity of their offence..."

"Severity???" the Principal questioned.

"Yes. They went against the Will of God and his President. They interfered in the actions of General Colt to legally seize Stone's work. They even dared to fire upon Colt and his Marines when they were doing the work of every good American."

The way the agent of the Association said the word 'good' led me to think that the agent thought no one else in the room merited the description.

The aide to Senator Clinton had pulled out his cell phone and was having a quiet conversation. Then he hung up. "He's right. Currently, that's the law."

Bacon liked that not at all. "What???"

"I said the word 'currently' for a reason. Forces are afoot to remove the President through impeachment. I am allowed to say there is a group working against this person's Association."

"Yes. We are aware of it. It's guided by Satan."

"No, it's guided by ethics, honor and decency in law. This group and people allied to these ideas are going to impeach the President. That's why I used the word 'currently'. The Committee knows that it's Colt's fault, well him and those who gave him his orders that the Density Force even mobilized. As soon as the mistakes of the current administration are paid for, those students involved will be allowed to return unhindered. Then again, there is nothing the Association can really do to them, is there?"

The Association agent turned to Clinton's aide. "I suggest you disappear. As soon as I return, I expect the God Given President of the United States will declare this Committee of yours to be a terrorist organization right along with the Density Force."

Chapter 179

View of Amy Stone

9:20 am, November 4th, 2006

3:20 am November 5th, 2006 (local time)

I haven't been up this many hours straight in God knows how long.

I just hope nobody does anything stupid. My husband always said I had a low tolerance for stupidity when I needed my sleep. He's right. It cost me no end of trouble when I was in basic training.

I walked around the various terminals. Several of the high school kids were grabbing catnaps in various corners. "Lou?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Find replacements for the current group on watch. Then choose replacements for them in eight and sixteen hours. Then get this group to bed. I don't want them doing anything but sleeping and relaxing until this time tomorrow."

"Do you really think we'll be here that long?"

"I hope not."

"So why?"

"Because I'd rather it look like we are prepared to outlast them if we have to."

"Yes ma'am." Lou got up and left.

Good. People looking in from the outside might think the Density Force has all the military capability it needs. They'd be partly right. But all Jacob's tech would probably be useless if they all fell asleep. Probably. I would not put it past him to find a way around that. Even if he did that with his stuff, we are not using his stuff here. I really don't want to get the Marines involved any further than I have too.

I stopped at the coffee machine to get myself a cup.

Note to self. Get a tea machine in here before Jacob shows up.

Actually, before Jacob shows up, I'd rather have settled this mess.

"Mrs. Stone?"

"Yes, Lou?"

"This is Chuck. He'll be in charge of this shift. Just tell him what you need." Lou turned to the teenager beside him. "Chuck, this is Jacob's mother."

"Gotcha."

Lou shepherded the previous shift out.

I looked Chuck over. "Chuck?"

"Yes?"

"May I ask why you were put in charge of this shift?"

"Simple, Mrs. Stone. Lou only found so many of the nerds, excuse me, the really smart ones. So he selected two students that these smart ones could get along with, one per shift to be the go-betweens."

"I see."

"There is also the fact that a lot of students are still angry at having to do this. Having me appearing to be in charge of the group makes the situation easier to swallow until Jacob gets back."

"Whatever works. Hopefully the shift will be quiet."

"That works for me too."

General Smith walked in. "Anything happen?"

"No. It's been quiet during your nap."

"I'm afraid the quiet is soon to be over." Smith told me.

"Why? I thought that with the last couple calls I took I reduced this war to a war of nerves and posturing."

"Most of it, yes. I heard about those calls."

"Then what is the problem?"

"Do you still have the death sentence out on Colt and his merry band of pirates?"

"Of course I do."

"Then you are still going against the President. The President still has a lot of power."

"Even after all the mistakes he's made?"

"Our friends haven't managed to reach everybody yet. Remember as well that there are several people out there that share his beliefs."

"Then war is inevitable. The only question is if it is my son, my husband or I that declare it."

Chapter 180

President Twiggery

9:30 am, November 4th, 2006

3:30 am November 5th, 2006 (local time)

The Situation Room was empty. It was a sad testament on the quality of the Armed Forces that I did not think the usual officers staffing this room could be trusted to do the right thing. Later today I had better replace them.

Nice thing about being Commander in Chief. You get to command things.

And calling them 'things' is the nicest thing I can say about those who challenge the Righteous Deeds I do.

I checked the clock on the wall under the label 'Jerusalem, Israel'. Three thirty in the morning. Perfect. With luck, I'll be waking her up. Then I saw a newer label under the clock. It read 'Liberated State of Palestine'. I ripped it down and scribbled on the back that I personally forbade this sign or any like it to ever be put back up.