There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 16

I just remembered we own a railroad. Isn't that weird? I've never been on a train in my life. What does it feel like?"

"They are noisy, bumpy, and profitable."

"I like the last part."

"Most people like the last part. Some people like it too much, and they get very greedy. When will I get to see you again?"

"We will fly you down here in about a month; is that okay?"

"That will be great, I'll see you then. Goodbye Delicious and thank you so much for your help."

"It was great to help you out of such a terrible existence."

********

"Congressman you don't want to start your speech with a flourish. This is a dreadful day for the nation, and for you.

You are the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. What you uncovered caused you such grief and anguish you had to disappear for a weekend, because you were so torn up inside. How do you tell the nation that our own intelligence agencies are spying on us, the American people? Do you let it continue unabated because they do some good, some time?

This was so important you couldn't tell anyone, not even your family where you were going. You had a friend in the Army that you could trust with your life. You asked him to risk his career, his life, and the lives of ten of his soldiers to keep you safe, while you made a decision on how to deal with this enormous problem.

Do you take it straight to the President and hope he handles it correctly.

• Do you handle it through your committee and have each agency testify before you, knowing they're going to lie.

• Do you bring your evidence to the Congress and testify openly in front of your brethren and Our Nation. Do you show the Congress, the people of the United States, and the people of the world the evidence that will incriminate each of these intelligence agencies, because they have been trampling on their civil rights since the attack on the twin towers?

"Congressman you don't want to wave the American flag. You want justice for the American people. After you indict these agencies, the American people will wrap the American flag around you. Don't be surprised if in a year, at the next convention, you are the pick of your party for the presidency. If not, you are still a young man, with a great road ahead of you."

"Sergeant, how did you learn to write so well?"

"I love to read, and when you read you pick up styles of writing. Then 23 years ago I was fortunate enough to meet a Lieutenant by the name of Lucius Canyon."

"Be nice Sergeant, I can hear you."

"Yes Colonel, I said I was fortunate enough to meet you. He instilled in me what he instills in all his soldiers. 'Don't be good, be the best.' God forbid you would hand in a request for leave and it had an erasure on it. Your leave was denied. If you asked him why he would put a circle around it and tell you that's why.

There was not one time we did not come in first at any parade or general inspection. It got to the point it was a matter of pride among our men that the barracks was always spotless. It didn't matter if it was 5:30 in the morning or 2 o'clock in the afternoon, it was always spotless.

A full bird colonel once asked Lieutenant Canyon if our laundry was folded properly. Our Lieutenant asked if he would like him to check. The Colonel said yes. Lieutenant Canyon yelled out my name and said, "Present Your Laundry for Inspection." I did, and it was folded. The Colonel turned around and left in the huff. Of course mine was the only laundry that was folded, but the Colonel didn't know it.

It continues today. When you come into the Colonel's squadron you cannot be good. You have to be the best, or you wash yourself out. You are not asked to leave. You leave because you can't keep up with the rest of us. We run 1 mile in six minutes or less. We run 5 miles in 40 minutes or less. That's with 90 pounds of gear on. That also goes for the Colonel himself. He doesn't ask anything of us, he's not willing to do himself. He's going to be...."

"If you finish that sentence you're going to lose a rank Sergeant."

"I was just going to say grandfather, Sir."

"I can see pigs flying too Sergeant."

"I've been with that man for 23 years now, and I still don't know his age. He still runs with the best of us. I don't believe he's ever taken a sick day. I think the Army owes him three years of leave.

Let's get back to work on your speech. I could talk about him all day long. I can tell you about every combat mission we were in. We never lost a single man, because of his leadership. Are you still listening Colonel?"

There was no answer.

"It figures."

"Congressman in your speech you must always be: Humble, that is who you are. Patriots are always humble people. General Eisenhower ran the entire European theater, and you rarely heard his name. All you heard was Patton this, and Patton that. Patton was a great general, but he did not know how to take orders or follow them. Eisenhower nearly had him sent home, because he was insubordinate. Omar Bradley gave Patton orders, and if they were not friends, Patton would've been put in jail for insubordination during battle.

Your team is the American people. You are working for their rights. Fight hard for them, and one day 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. may be your home address for eight years.

Bordeaux's chest was out so far, he was about to burst the buttons on his shirt. Over the next 7 ½ hours he was in his tent writing and rewriting his speech. Every few hours Paul Zachary would join him in the tent, make corrections and additions to the speech.

At times he would stop him, and have him read his speech aloud so he could get a better feel for it. As it approached dinner Paul said, "You've had enough for today Congressman. It's time for you to put down the pencil and relax. If you would like to take Miss Duchene for a walk along the river after dinner, we can arrange escorts to make sure the two of you are not interrupted. You've done great work today sir. You should be very proud of yourself."

"Thank you, you've been a great help Paul. You are better than my speechwriter in Washington. If you decide to get out of the Army, give me a call."

"I'm not getting out until..."

"I can hear you Sergeant."

"Sir, when you bury me, will you put that phrase on my headstone."

"It will be my pleasure."

"I swear that man thinks for me."

****************

In the New Orleans tradition, laying your love ones to rest, it is in a party atmosphere. Throngs gathered around the mausoleums, Sunday morning, where what remained of the three Dons' were to be laid to rest. There were stories told about their great deeds. How they gathered the community together after that disastrous hurricane. How they brought in food and water from the outside world, helped rebuild hospitals, drain low-lying areas, and had looters thrown in jail (or killed them).

They didn't mention how much money the Don's made off these good deeds.

At the end of the speeches, the three new crime family bosses were officially crowned kings by their families with golden crowns. The bands started playing Dixieland tunes, people started singing, and throwing beads and excelsior into the air.

Then, without warning, the eight mausoleums surrounding the Dons' final resting places exploded in a massive conflagration. These explosions leveled the mausoleums, and killed, maimed, or injured over 700 crime family members who were in attendance. The entire hierarchy of three mafia families was wiped out, and would not recover completely for 2 to 3 generations; if there were anything left for them to take over.

************

As they watched it repeatedly on television, Congressman Bordeaux said, "Colonel, Team 1 certainly does excellent work. I feel bad for the men at MicMillian."

"Don't feel too bad for them Congressman. Before we take off tonight, they will be joining the three Don's and their families to the place they have earned in life. Who is the tip of the spear?"

"You are not going to like my answer. He is going to be very hard to get to, and you are going to have to disappear for a long time."

"Just tell me his name and let me be the judge of that."

"It's the Vice President of the United States, William Silvers. He is owned by many of the companies that are building that rocket. The attack on those two armored cars was approved by him. A company called 'Advanced Logarithms', in Southern California, had found a way to transmit sound around mountains and was about to patent it. They didn't know it had really been patented, and offered the vice president $100 million in support for his presidential run. He jumped at it, and ordered the NSA to destroy those two trucks, through me. They are also the prime communications contractor for the Super-Rocket Program; ground and spacecraft. They were going to lose billions of dollars if the rocket program was cancelled."

There was another attack more recently at Even Luck's headquarters building in Temple. He wanted to kill one of his executives, or scientists. He didn't care which one. He wanted to scare everyone that worked in that building. If he could kill one of them, he could kill any of them while they were at work or while they were at home sleeping. He wanted to get as many people as possible to quit their jobs so it would slow or stop the process of building that spaceship. He needed NASA to get to Mars first.

I am going to have a problem proving the vice president had any part in this, because it was all verbal between him and me."

Colonel Canyon said, "Do you know how much danger you are in Congressman? Not only are we going to have to go underground, we are going to have to take you and your family with us. There is no safe place in the United States for us to hide you after you tell the world what you know. I will have one of my men drive your limousine to and from Congress. We will transfer you to an armored vehicle and to another vehicle after that, as soon as it is safe. While we are playing this game of cat and mouse, we will move your family to a safe house and bring you to them. I will have to make some phone calls when we get back to the states. I have to get you and your family new identification kits."

"Thank you Colonel, thank you for thinking of my family's safety and welfare."

"For what you are doing for our country, it is the least we can do for you. Add this part to your speech and start reading it out loud. Before we break camp, I want you to read it to all of us to see how it flows."

*************

The news was so inundated with stories of the destruction of the mob hierarchy in New Orleans; it was barely a footnote when they mentioned the deaths of three high executives at MicMillian Industries, due to an accident. It was not known by the public, until several days later, the breadth, and depth of the accident. The new super rocket NASA was depending on to send astronauts to Mars would be set back at least two years, if not more.

***********************

Dick Schneider called me and told me to hurry to the NEST. There was a huge problem, and he needed my help to find a way to fix it. (Where was that fucking pretzel jar when you needed it?)

He greeted me outside with a stern look on his face.

"I think we can get a handle on this; I really do. I need your expert advice to help me through it."

We walked through the hanger door, through the rubber webbing, and into the NEST. Everyone, every worker, every scientist, every family member, and every friend was there. They were all holding a glass high in the air. They all yelled, "SURPRISE!"

Jennifer kissed me as the tractor holding my 'Beach Ball' began to rotate 360°. As it came around I saw they had given it a name, "THE BEST LUCK." In all the things I had been caught up in doing, naming this ship was not on my list.

My eyes became misty, but I smiled.

Dycke whispered, "You don't think this was the surprise do you? This was done two months ago. Come with me Captain, and Commodore, come inside your ship, and see what else we've done."

We climbed to the second level catwalk, and walked through the large bay door. Delicious' magnetic engines were installed. Wires were hanging out everywhere waiting for the electricians, but the main components were in and locked down.

"Dycke, you can't do this until the second shell is completely installed."

"You have to love geniuses; they are blind as bats."

I didn't realize Delicious was standing behind me.

"I will give your husband permission to spank you, if you're not nice to me."

"My husband no longer spanks me, unless I ask him to. Did you notice anything different when you walked into our ship today? There was no yellow tape at the frame edges to remind you not to touch them. There was a large rubberized covering that connected two pieces of graphine and carbon fiber filament panels, approximately 2 feet apart, which are going to hold 60 million gallons of water to protect us from radiation and gamma rays."

I grabbed Dycke's shoulders, and shook him. "The second shell is done? We can start laying the cables, plumbing, fiber-optic lines, the lasers, and everything else that goes between the second and third floors?"

"You are right Delicious. If the man who designed this big balloon doesn't know what part comes after the part you finished, I wouldn't want to take a ride in this thing, would you?"

"Yes I would, because he's my dad, and he has never failed me yet."

"Would you take Zoie with you please? You can put her in charge of organizing the inside of the ship. There will not be one centimeter of wasted space in it. I can guarantee it. If she doesn't leave home soon one of two things is going to happen: Payne and I are going to run away, or we are going to kill her. You have never seen a neat freak like her in your life. I thought Payne was neat when she was young. Dirt runs away from Zoie."

"How old is she?"

"She just turned15."

"Oh God, Gordon will be 13 in September."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"You don't know the stories about Danielle and Brandy, when he was six."

"What could he possibly do when he was six?"

"That's not the point Dycke. The two girls were fighting over him. Danielle was eight years old when Gordon asked us if she was too old for him. Gordon asked if he could keep both of them if she wasn't."

"If Zoie comes here, I'm putting her on the pill first. Payne will be thrilled."

"Why is that?"

"Isn't it obvious? The pill will help with her hormones, and Zoie will be away from home. Payne will be the happiest mother on the planet. She will have lost her daughter, and gained her airplane."

"I can see how losing a daughter would make anyone happy."

Delicious swung at me but I moved too quickly.

"I will get you for that dad."

"I know. How are the electricians doing?"

"They are doing great. Do you want me to spring the final on them?"

"Yes please, let's see if they're ready to go to work."

***********

"Gentlemen, ladies, I have good news for you and I have bad news for you. Which do you want first? The good news always wins so I will give it to you."

"The second shell of the ship is in, as is the second floor. My magnetic engine is installed waiting to be connected to the controls. The engineers are preparing to install the Ion/H2 engine as we speak. Everything is moving ahead faster than we ever expected. That is the good news.

Are you ready for the bad news? Of course you aren't; no one ever is, so I will lay it on the line for you. For the next four days I'm going to work your asses off. Friday you are taking your final exam. As you recall there is only one passing grade. Those of you who make the grade will go to work. Those of you who don't will stay with me for two more weeks. You will take the test one more time, and if you fail a second time you are fired. Take your books out and let's go to work."

****************

At the end of Thursday's class she said, "Tomorrow's test will start at 8 AM. It will be a six-hour exam. There will be a 30-minute break mid-morning, a one-hour break for lunch, and another 30-minute break in the afternoon. Be smart; don't go out drinking tonight, have a nice meal, go to bed relatively early, and come in tomorrow morning refreshed. The test is going to be a bitch. My teacher made up this exam at my request. He was a bastard. I will be taking his test tonight, so I will know where the errors are, and call him in the morning, to make sure I got them all. If I miss anything, he will read me the riot act, and I will be late for class.

I hate that man, I think I always will, but he is the best of all of us in electrical design."

A groan went through the classroom.

*************

Delicious sat in the cafeteria looking at the clock; it was 8:05 AM.

She went over to the chef and said, "I need to look like I was crying, do you have any onions?"

The chef said, "Take a whiff of this."

Delicious started coughing, sneezing, and crying.

"I said I wanted to look like I was crying, not dying?"

"Now you know how your students are going to feel when you walk in."

"I guess you heard about my little ploy?"

"The cook hears everything that goes on in this building."

"I think we'll have you sign the nondisclosure agreement."

"Your father did that the day he hired me."

"My old man is smarter than I give him credit for."

"Remember that as you get older, it will serve you well. Would you like another sniff before you go in?"

"Yes, maybe I will have a little one."

She walked into the classroom at 8:11 AM. Her eyes were bloodshot, her nose was running, and her cheeks were flushed. It had the desired effect on her class. They all wanted to run to the bathroom and take a shit.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I apologize. If each of you will come up to the front and take your exam folio you may begin. Exam time starts at 8:15 AM. Cameras are on in the room. Stay at your own desk, and I hope you have as much fun finding the deficiencies as I did last night, and this morning."

It was the last three words that struck horror into all of them.

At 4:15 PM she walked back into the room and said, "Time. Before you start badgering each other about how many faults you found on your exams, don't do it. I left some pages out of one exam, left the exam complete in another. You'll never know which one was on what exam. Don't fret over it. Enjoy your weekend; I'll see you Tuesday with your results."

"Tuesday, we won't live until Tuesday without knowing how we did."

"What would you like me to do? Give up my weekend with my baby and my husband just to grade your papers?"

"YES."

"You all failed. I don't like that answer."

"You're going to lose two weeks with your son if we failed. Give us a break teach, help us out."

"You have to help me out. My family and I are going to be on that ship. It had better not fail because of one of you. I will haunt you until the day you die, and it won't be over with when you're dead. That's when I'll really get even with you. Be here tomorrow morning at 8 AM, and I'll start grading your tests."

*****************

She walked into the room in a foul mood. She slammed her coffee cup on her desk and picked up a folio from the middle of the stack. She looked up at her class and said, "Don't come near me. Newton cried when he saw me leave for work this morning, because he knows mommy doesn't work on Saturdays. Be thankful this is an objective test and not a subjective one. You would all fail instantly if it were. You can leave the door to the class open and walk in and out as you please until I'm done. No questions or talking to me until that time, is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

Not one eye left her hands as she used her fingers to trace the electrical paths on each page of the test. She knew were each fault was so it made it easy for her. She crucified them with that red marker. Every once and again she would scream, "We went over this and over this. I should kill you for missing this." Then she would throw folio on the ground and move along, and move along, and move along.