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“No digas nada,” read the awkwardly jotted words Sam pointed to on her notepad as Renzo stood confused at the top of the ladder, halfway in the cockpit space. She then held up her mobile and pointed to her disconnected status. She then pointed further down the page to: “desconecta el WIFI.”

Renzo started doubting coming over the second he started reading things in Spanish she took time to translate or formulate on her own, assuming she was up to something. [Huh?]

“Shh!” She flashed an angrily impatient face with a finger over her mouth, then pointing to his mobile in a commanding fashion.

He rolled his eyes, figuring to at least entertain her long enough to see what she was up to, now disconnecting his mobile from the internet and data network. He showed her the screen before tossing it back into his pocket.

She then showed him the next page where she had written down paragraphs of ideas, all roughly translated but hopefully well enough to convey the ideas she had organized in her head. She watched his eyes, hoping he was able to make sense as he progressed downward while she imagined him reading: “We can’t trust anyone, not even Kaylen, like Sebastian said, right? Does this mean we don’t even trust Enrai as a whole, not even Hexa at this point? Do we only trust in ourselves on this one?” was one of her summarized thoughts she reiterated in her head.

Renzo’s eyes met a blank line at the bottom of the first set of statements. His head tilted as if in agreement before reading the next.

“We can only move forward with our own thoughts and plans, and the rest we just have to go with the flow. Do you trust what I am about to show you?” Was the other summarized thought she rehashed as Renzo read through.

His head nodded as he looked back up with hesitant affirmation which soon lead to curiosity.

The page flipped again. “Anything we say or exchange outside this notepad can be tracked or listened in on, understood? I bet this is how my brother handles business once I thought long and hard on it. He controls the communication lines most likely, but we can at least disappear from them and become an element of surprise.”

Renzo’s enthusiasm quickly stepped up a notch as he kept reading: “Kaylen and I agreed to this whole Rex thing because it suits both of our goals, but I worry about you Sebastian and Dani more than Kaylen ever will, I’m afraid. So, what I need you to do is run through these ideas I have drawn out for when we arrive in the Capital. They’re all the possible outcomes I can think of, so please add in more of what you can while I go pick Sebastian up. We will meet here as we explain everything to him. Sound fair?”

He took the notepad from her to flip through several drawn-out diagrams of attack, retreat, and encirclement patterns before looking back at her with still-hesitant but steadily increasing approval.

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●　● Hexa Central HQ, Akkadia One, Eden Space Territories

Vincent’s office was rather quiet that evening despite the chaos that seemed to have become the norm ever since the Manila incident. With Project Excalibur still delayed and detoured but with his prized pair of pilots in relatively safe hands, a breather was afforded for everyone who had been working around the clock.

“They’ve responded, sir,” an officer on one of his holographic projector screens spoke up just as he popped up into view. “The shipment will reach point A within the next twenty hours. No sign of pirate activity and only two hours until it will enter the SAU’s surveillance zone.”

“Thank you for the update,” Vincent replied through his weary voice, taking the time to look back at the young man. The location displayed below revealed him to be calling in from Infinity Cuba’s CCC. “We are awaiting correspondence from our field agent housed within Enrai’s network as we speak. By that time, however, my stand-in logistics director will be back with you as the liaison.”

“Understood.”

Vincent then grimaced, letting out a labored sigh as he leaned over his clasped hands. “Also, relay to your director the closing of surveillance case one-thirty-nine. The stolen Ap50 shipment has been labeled as headed south from the point of theft and will pass it on fully to our orbital crew.”

“Yes, sir. Will contact him immediately.”

He ended the call as he looked back over to a screen that showed a satellite view of Bahia Blanca’s airspace, augmented with layers of diagnostic and security data. He then eyed the contact log from Kaylen, showing their last communication established to have been thirty minutes prior.

He then reached for his control panel to bring up Lucian’s contact, initiating a call. “I know you’re on break,” he started the moment Lucian picked up. “But let me inform you ahead of time.”

“I’m listening,” an even more exhausted Lucian replied.

“Take note before you return: Rodgers requested a move directly into the Capital Federal as soon as cleared. Our intel from them shows the next big move to be there, sequenced with the upcoming Senate session where our suspect Representative Orsi is expected to make a move on that crippling proposal we’ve been following, and my gut says our stolen A-P package is involved somehow.”

“I could guess that as well, but can we trust she has plans for safe entry? I don’t think I like the idea of putting our few best resources in like that.”

“I hesitated as well, of course. I’ll debrief you on all of that, but time is ticking and we are desperate for any window of opportunity we can get.”

“Well, that’s all the more why we need to make that move on the president to sign with us. Argentina is the place we least can afford to sit out on- we need official presence there, even if it’s in cooperation with SAU active duty.”

“It’s too late to re-convince him. We really have no choice but to to meet over that request from Rodgers, so think about what that could entail if we allow or deny.”

“Will be on it once I return in the morning.”

“And also, don’t forget to bring your leads’ information on Miss Delacroix. She might be key in this whole debacle more than we were let on. I expect you have that collected by now.”

“Yes, sir. I have.”

After that call was ended, the last screen Vincent’s eyes wandered to was a map of possible locations of the Curtana and the estimated paths of movement from Amelie Delacroix. In grayed out colors were two more sets of points, each labeled with the names Danielle Norris and Gabriel Silva. His eyes especially narrowed in on Gabriel’s, seemingly suspicious of his status ever since he was announced KIA.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

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●　● Bolivian and Argentine Border, SAU

Most railway cargo ran across the border uninterrupted, but several wide-gauge rail cargo had to run through checkpoints. And at this one particular border crossing was a larger hub for that, and at one gate was an exceptionally large container train parked and awaiting clearance.

From the exit doors of the rear-most car, Adrian along with a few of his associates deboarded and shook hands with one of the SAU inspectors as they exchanged pleasantries.

[Well,] the inspector started soon after as he looked down the line of cargo containers. [I don’t know if you realize how dead you’d all be without our help covering your tracks, especially knowing how many active duty Colombianos got transferred there since July,] he spoke in reference to the SAU military forces placed there to temporarily take control from the government policing. [You’re all some seriously lucky bastards, you know?]

[All we need to know is if your administration has our backdoor secured,] Adrian replied with a calm demeanor. [Because everything on our end, well, you can rest assured the groundwork has been well laid out right on schedule.]

[Oh, it is,] the inspector answered with a light chuckle, now returning the same level of calmness. [You don’t know how bad our boys back home have been itching for this change.]

[Yes, actually. Yes, I do,] Adrian spoke back with a sudden heaviness in his tone, losing his polite smile as he took out his tablet to bring up a document. [And I speak for my men here as well. And don’t think we didn’t lose others in our successful attempt to divert special forces away from us using the still-unstable situation in Colombia. It’s nice when things go your way when it’s all so quiet and peaceful, huh,] he now added with a hint of disgust mixed with irony.

[My apologies,] the inspector quickly attempted to revert the mood as he placed his signature on the tablet screen Adrian held out. [But, by the way, this is out of curiosity,] he continued as he put away his stylus. [While things are set on our end, what do you plan on having done during those two hours and fifty minutes?]

[Watch the clock and you’ll see,] Adrian flatly replied as he offered his hand once more before departure. [A pleasure, inspector.]

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[Breaker, this is Bender,] Adrian spoke into his communicator from one of the empty cargo containers toward the rear, accompanied only by several machines powering the train’s communication equipment. [Signature acquired, train moving. Entry into the Capital Federal cleared as well.] He then looked over a page he had written notes on from his clipboard. [Last stop should be for the last of our pilot acquisitions. Contact after I check in at rally point D.]

He then put away his things as he took out his earpiece, powering it off along with his mobile.

[Say, Breaker,] a similarly dressed man from behind him spoke as he approached. [I keep hearing that two hours thing. What exactly is that?]

[Oh, that’s right,] Adrian smiled as he turned to him. [You never served, huh.] He knew his compatriot was barely past twenty, but never thought much of the experiences of others as long as their skills and sense of duty were on spot. [We in the Capital Federal always had three numbers memorized from way early on, and two-fifty is the time it takes for SAU mechanized forces to arrive.]

[Huh?] He responded with an awkward smile, crossing his arms. [To arrive from what? From where? You talking about in response to like, say, a threat or attack?]

Adrian paused in thought before answering. [Remember the orbital strikes from 2161?]

[Yeah, who doesn’t remember? I was ten… at school when it happened.]

[Yeah, well…] Adrian paused again as he took in and let out a long, slow breath. [That was the longest two hours and fifty minutes of my life riding in that airdrop carrier in from Curitiba,] he spoke in reference to the major SAU airbase located in Brazil, situated between Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo, serving both regions. [Wondering if family is okay, you know that kind of story. I mean, at least I wasn’t sent up north to Sao. They got leveled in comparison- but still, it made me question why that was ever a thing to begin with.]

[Being way over in Brazil?]

[Right. They got any support you could name in under thirty. Us? We could get air support there in just over half an hour, but when you speak of the heavy shit the jets would encounter? Those are mosquitoes just there to get swatted in the end. That’s why they call in the mech squadrons, but set back almost three whole fucking hours… you feel me?]

[You know? You’re right,] the man raised his tone as he matched moods. [Why didn’t they ever setup shop for the mechanized within our own borders? Like we can’t be trusted to take care of ourselves?] He then stopped to realized he had the answer already, shaking his head. [Of course, that’s just another reason to pile on top of the others as far as our whole why, huh?]

[We got a long ride to town,] Adrian chuckled as he leaned back against the wall. [Anything else you need filling in on? We got all the time in the world.]

[Actually, yeah,] the man continued, taking the open spot on the wall next to him as he collected his thoughts. [I’ve been curious to hear how you got back alive from Space ever since you got taken in. I heard stories on how pilot POW’s were treated during the war.]

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●　● New General Cerri District, Bahia Blanca, Argentina

Sam stood with one hand on her shoulder bag, one clutching her mobile. She stood near a fairly crowded bus stop not far from the port, nervously watching her GPS tracker showing an incoming vehicle with Sebastian’s tag on it.

“We always send our pick-ups and drop-offs according to busy daytime bus schedules. No one tries anything stupid out in broad daylight in front of a crowd,” she remembered Kaylen explaining earlier before she set off to await Sebastian’s arrival. She had it planned out in her head once she spotted him to turn everything off. It was considerably late given the advantages she could have had knowing how much location and audio tracking was an issue before, but it was better now than never. Whatever she could plan to explain to him, it had to be done in digital silence.

Well, I keep double-checking and this is the right spot and the right time. Are they on this bus coming up?

The bus pulled up, an influx of deboarding passengers passed the soon-to-be boarders, and less than a minute later the bus pulled away. But the moment she felt isolated as the only one to stand out where she stood alone, another larger van pulled up a few meters away and a small group of people quickly unloaded.

And there he was, right next to Dani, getting off behind the other four in front of them.

Sebastian! She desperately wanted to shout out while leaping for him, but felt an unusually strong signal to stay put and keep quiet. Perhaps it was because of all the talk about never trusting anyone, or maybe it was due to the alertness she felt in the group’s aura as they quickly approached her.

Oh, right! She remembered to turn everything off, which she did in a hurry, tossing her mobile back into her bag and straightened up.

“Ven con nosotros, Ella,” the man at the front of the pack spoke under his breath to her as he now walked past her, making it clear he knew exactly who she was. “Vamanos.”

She knew what he meant despite her inability to properly reply, but she still couldn’t just turn and walk as if Sebastian wasn’t right there a few steps away. But then again, she now wondered why wasn’t he nor Dani showing any signs of relief or elation? They looked as serious as the rest, causing her to nearly panic as if they must be in danger or so.

“You heard him,” Sebastian quietly spoke as he took her in his right arm, almost as if to say he wanted to hug her as bad as she did but couldn’t. “Let’s keep moving,” he added as he firmly held her close while staying close behind the others.

Dani gave a subtle greeting nod toward Sam once their eyes met that next second, and she returned it with her own, now breathing a short sigh of temporary relief. Whatever it was happened that put them in this position, at least she still felt closer to how things were supposed to be with him by her side.

“What’s going on?” She whispered as they seemingly headed down toward the usual port entrance.

“Company,” was Sebastian’s whispered answer as the group now turned to cross the street at that next crosswalk, taking them away from the port, triggering Sam’s worry once more. “Just stay close.”

Renzo’s going to wonder what the hell’s going on if we don’t get back to base. Was it another hit attempt on them or what?!

She then remembered a pointer Renzo gave her the other morning, and her eyes looked up and around until she could see the nearest church belltower, and it was right in front of them. She then noticed the group leading them took them right into the opening which was between two small fountains near a park.

[Wait here,] the one in front quietly spoke as they came to a nervous stop.

[Eyes, what do you see around us?] another spoke over his headset as he looked to the belltower.

Sam now felt the proximity of each and every passerby, realizing there were more than a dozen now in view. The thought of any of them being a potential suspect had her heart racing, and the standing in silence had her losing her composure as she squeezed Sebastian’s hand in the process. Why are we sitting like this in the open!? Isn’t this the opposite of finding cover?!