by Danny Dunn
Tom tells David to thank her for everything, my friend. You are pretty amazing. You have this sixth sense about this stuff. I am very happy to have you watching out for me. I do need to say one thing to you. If we ever do run out of lives for me, don’t miss a minute of sleep over it. As far as I am concerned, we are home free in terms of making this happen with or without me, and I living on borrowed time already. Well, that got a little intense, but thanks. Well, I am turning in as they say. Tom is escorted to his room. Code red employ decoy to the room. We are closing in on a sniper/RPG. David rushes Tom away, and three come out already dressed as Tom, Michael, and David. The two bots dressed up like David and Michael rush Tom to his hotel room and close the door. David orders that they take will back to the Pong Pound
The RPG gunman sees the men rushing for the curtain, and the gunman fires the RPG. There is a massive explosion in the room. And the three robots are killed. Drones speed toward the window as the gunman gathers his stuff. Michael tells them to break the window and stun the gunman. The drones fire a tire popper at the corner of the window and then stun the gunman. Michael and two bots arrive a couple minutes later.
Michael has a drone dress up as a woman walk to underneath a video camera. Pulls a small spray paint can out attached to a telescopic selfie stick and presses a button on the stick and paints the lenses of the video camera. Then he walks around and sprays two more. Michal and the others gather the stuff and the gunman and hustle him down a flight of stairs just as the bot in the old lady outfit arrives, and they toss the body wrapped in a body bag into their van.
They cuff the guy. Michael injects a sleeping agent into the gunman. While they are still parked, Michael goes through his stuff and waves a bug detector over him and gets several alarms, including one embedded in his armpit. Michael wipes off his knife, heats it up, pours alcohol onto the knife, and digs out the small transmitter under his skin. They gather up the bugs and toss them into a lead box and tells Dan to drive.
Dan drives them to the airport at a normal pace while Michael continues to look through Mr. RPG’s stuff. Michael sends his prints and photos to the Pongettes. The plane lands drop everyone off, and Joe flies the plane back to pick up Tom, David, and the team. The other plane is already on its way to pick up will in Arizona. It should be there by now.
Michael shakes his head, knowing that these guys are not going to stop. The shooter awakes to the same scene the sniper woke up to. Michael says to Mr. RPG, “you killed our boss and our man, and now you are mine.”
Not for long, the guy says and smiles.
Michael says, “oh, you must be referring to the implant under your armpit and in your stuff. We ran a full scan on you while you were out at the building. Look around and memorize what you see. The guy looks around and sees there is enough to live on for months and feels under his arm. There are stitches where his implant was and drops his head. Michael turns out the lights and shuts off the sound system.
They get everyone back to Pong’s place, and David asks for a meeting and specifies that Pong, Zaria, Tom be present. They all know what it is about and there are several possibilities and the most like one is that David is going to tell us we have this in the bag and if we keep pushing it, eventually Tom or Will, or both and more, are going to die.
They all meet in a very serious mood. Tom says that he has decided to do the rest on TV and Radio. David smiles and says, thank you, Tom.
Tom says, “so what did you want to talk about David?” And laughs.
David says, “Oh. I just wanted to know if you have set a wedding date yet. I want to make sure I am free.”
Zaria smiles.
Tom suggests that Will join them at Pong’s place. Will says yes. It is scary out here and laughs. Great Tom. We can have a plane pick you up at any time. Will says how about an hour from now. My mother is worried, sick. Is your mother alone, Will? Tom asks if he wants to bring her or her have her join you soon. Will says that would be great. She would be so happy to meet Zaria and the family.
Great, we will have two places next door to each other is that good?
We will be doing the interviews here now, so this will be a good time for you and me and for you and your mom. I haven't seen her in 20 years.
Will and his mother arrive, and it is a very festive occasion having them all together. Tom and Zaria show them their places. They each have a pool, and Pong assigns a bot to each of the guests. Tom’s mother gives him a big hug and tells him she knew he and Will would do great things someday. It seems that you just need the right woman and walks over to Zaria and gives her a hug.
David is in his control room with his team. They are trying to find anything to link the RPG and the shooter to anything, and they are getting nowhere. After the RPG explosion, David sent in a team to gather evidence, and so far, they haven’t found anything to pinpoint the origin. They have the tube, but the information is all erased, or they have ground it off. The shooter has a tattoo on his bicep that looks like a picture of a ship, but it has been filled in.
David, Michael, Alby, Joe, and Linda all meet. David, this looks like a military operation, but why would we get away with the shooter. They look around, and Joe says that if we got caught with the shooter that might bring down Tom
When the shooter woke up, and I told him how screwed he was, he replied, not for long. That is their plan. So, they may have surveillance on us taking him, but they weren’t counting on us finding the implant. They can’t go public and say hey, where is our guy that fire the RPG at the presidential candidate.
David “Did the van have plates?
Michael “yes, but they were covered until we got on the road.”
David “ok, let’s say they know it we have the shooter. Then what?”
Well, Tom doesn’t know. Let’s say the feds arrived with a warrant, would they find the cave?”
Michael, “not a chance.
David “OK, so maybe their play is that when Tom takes office, they blackmail him. Still not so bad.”
When will you talk to him, Michael?
Michael “A couple more days. When I let the first one sit for a week. The guy told me he was sure it was a month.”
David “ok, you are in charge of this guy, so when you think he is ready to try to get him to talk.
Michael “roger that. I will try tomorrow.”
David “By the way, I want to step up everything here on the property. We have the next president and vice president of the country on this property. Losing them would be really bad.
That underground transport system is looking pretty great about now, we can play whack a mole all day. Ah, we are moving the press conference to the cavity. Also, I want pong to move her team out of there, for now, do it very quietly and make it look like the press conference is going on inside the press room. Cover the window but have the bright lights on and have our TV transmitters running.
We will take everyone’s cell phones away and run everyone through scanners at the security room at the gate. We will blacken the windows of the transports and feed the press directly into a room inside the cavity we will use as the press conference room. No one transmits live.
Alby, “We may be able to shield the room in the cavity, capture the signals and pipe them through shielded cables through the transport system to the press room and transmit audio and video without the news teams ever knowing.
David, “really, that would be great. It may cost us a press room, but that would be great. Can we do this by tomorrow?”
Alby replies. “
We can have a test ready in 5 hours. I will let you know if that works then. If it works, then I just need another 8 hours and a few thousand feet of cable. High bandwidth cable. I will talk to Karen about that.
Alby goes to Karen and tells her he needs to run a large amount of video from the cavity to the press room. Karen smiles and says, and now what are you little scamps up to? Sorry, too soon. Alby says it’s ok. You guys are keeping our next president alive, a
nd I shouldn’t minimize it. You are an amazing group. Well, you are in luck. We already ran two super cables out there to handle all the video and data you could ever want. Just go to the data room, can I go in there?
Alby says, sure. They take a Transport there, and Karen shows Alby how to connect to it. On the way back, she shows him where they can tap into it in the press room. Just a hunch, and she smiles.
Alby has it running in a couple of hours. He tests it and tells David.
David goes to Pong, where she is alone. “Pong, you know that system Zaria made on Zari 1. You wouldn’t have one of those operational her would you. Pong smiles. Do you need one?
David smiles and says if there was one here and operational, it could come in very handy.
Pong says, yes, I have one running right now. What did you think the Graphene was for? That helped us reduce the reload time to .1 seconds. There are 20 towers we drilled from the underground straight up and stopped 6 inches before poking out, which adds 5 seconds to our response time, but I am positive they will work. That last attack was military, wasn’t it?
David, “it is starting to look that way. The remains of the bots that were killed in the RPG explosion are all in the security room, as you asked. Wait until you see them, Pong. That material you are using is amazing.”
Ah, we are moving the press conference to the cavity, and the press won’t know it thanks to your underground transport system. We are piping the video from the cavity to the press room, where it will be re-transmitted from there to the trucks out front and from there out to the stations.
I don’t want to tell anyone but Tom and Zaria until it is happening. Between now and the press conference, I want you to quietly and slowly move anything dear to you like the Pongettes out of the control room just in case it is the military. If it is them, they will hit every likely target. Tonight, I want to evacuate everyone on the property to the cavity, and we will say it is a celebration. Once inside, they stay there until after the press conference.
Pong, I need about 20 bots without feelings as decoys. Are you good with that?
Pong “yes, David, no problem. They just lose memory from their last backup to the restore point. And thanks for asking.”
David, I just added the defense system to your control panel. It will alert your phone, and the Pongettes will see it as well. How much response time do you think you will need?
David “Drones maybe 2 minutes, bombs maybe 30 seconds. Fighter jets. Maybe a minute. Missiles are longer.
That was so smart of your mother leaving the attack out of the movie. They truly have no idea other than Zari 1 was attacked.
I would like to tell the employees that due to security we will ask them not to come in tomorrow but that after the press conference they can return.
David replies, “yes, that might raise fewer flags that if they were to all disappear.”
Pong asks, “do you really think they would kill all the reporters.”
Davide replies, “yes, the collateral damage of a coo. It will be small potatoes compared to everything else that will go with it.”
Michael sits down and turns on the mic and speaker and the lights and video camera to speak to the prisoner.
Michael “well, how is your stay so far?
Prisoner “how long has it been?
Michael “3 days.”
Prisoner “I will tell you anything you want to know.”
Michael “I want everything now, and you will do it on trust. If I feel you are cooperating, I will reward you.”
Prisoner “I was hired through channels by the military. They are afraid of Tom and want him gone. I was contacted by a General Manyhon out of DC. He went on and on about country and duty and that the aliens were going to take over the country. I knew it was all just about a power play, but he was also paying me $5 million to fire the RPG, so I took the job.
Michael “Did you record anything?”
Prisoner “yes, I recorded 1 conversation with him. They patted me down and took my cell phone, but I had bugged every table the moment I was told where the meeting was. Hey, I get that you have all the power, but I need to know that once I give you the location of the thumb drive, you won't just forget about me.
Michael “I am a fair guy and won’t BS you. Give me the thumb drive, and you really will be saving the country.
Prisoner “Roger that. “If I were to guess it would be that the last guy kept his information in a mailbox. That was pretty funny.
Michael, “And where is yours?
I buried the thumb drive in a hole. And the GPS coordinates are the numbers you will find on Facebook on the page for Thorwald Hueydonk’s page are the coordinates. Pretty simple, really. You aren’t going to turn those 2 lunatics loose on me, are you?
Michael “not if this checks out.”
David goes to FB and finds the page and writes down the numbers and gets on the plane with Joe and 10 Pongettes. On the flight, he tells them that someone he was talking to told him he would tell me anything if I promised not to turn “those two lunatics loose on him.” They high fived and laughed. They were proud that they are developing a name with some creds.
Michael laughs. Oh, I didn’t tell you this. When I was at the sheriff’s office to pick you up and asked where you were. The deputy told me the Sargent was feeding you two nails.
They laugh some more.
They get to Kentucky, and Michael takes, Alex 6 Pongettes, and 50 drones they packed in a bag. They get a mile from the destination, and they send up 6 drones. Michael tells Alex to travel through the trees 100 yards from the road to protect him from any surprises. Alex, if you see a gun aimed at me, take him out. They watch the video and fly them all around the coordinates the shooter gave him.
There are 3 guys holding positions a hundred yards out or so from the coordinates. Damn, he knows that by going to the FB page, his buddies or enemies were alerted, and they hustled to the coordinates. Michael realizes the drive is probably not there but tells the Pongettes to take them out with the drones and then Betty and Wilma and get some exercise. Michael tells David the situation and asks if he should take the men he finds there. David says well, get the drive, and send it to us. If we get what we need to strip them and tie them to trees where the bears can get to them. Be sure to gag them. Do you have any food there with you?
Michael says, “you are pissed.”
David, “yeah. I have had enough of these jokers.”
Michael turns the Pongettes loose on ‘em.
They Pongettes send two drones per guy with another 10 to set up a 100-meter perimeter.
The drones are approaching each of the 3 men from behind and are doing a weave through the trees. All 6 arrive at exactly the same time, and they double taser each guy.
Michael hits the gas and drives to where the guys are.
Michael instructs 6 to strip the guys, tie them to trees about 100 yards away from the road and to smear his ham sandwich over them. You can WB them if you want. Oh, thanks, boss. They hustle them away.
The others start digging and find a box. They pull the box out of the dirt, and sure enough, there is a thumb drive. Just then, they hear a bolt action cocking. Take it, easy buddy. There are two more sites here before you pull that trigger. Maybe we can work something out. I don’t think so, “buddy.”
This is the end of the line for you. Where are my comrades? Oh, they are bearing. It’s just like fishing, but with bears. Just then, a bear cries out with a loud roar. Michael says ah, looks like one of your guys just caught one.
Michael asks, do you want the other drives?
A shot rings out, and the guy drops to the ground, then there are two more shots. 10 seconds later or so, Alex comes running from the trees where he was. He runs to where Michael is standing. Michael is all over him, you were supposed to shoot when you saw a gun on me. Alex said maybe if you had the Pongettes wait until this was over, the bears wouldn’t be so hungry. Every time I laid down to try to take aim, they figure
d it was dinner time. That loud roar you heard wasn’t them eating the three ham sandwich guys. It was a bear that I stabbed when he sat down on me to eat me.
Alex shows him some pics. Michael starts laughing. Let’s get out of here. Pongettes say goodbye to your friends.
You could hear deep groans and vomiting sounds from all three.
Alex and Michael cringe from the sounds. Michael says, OMG, you smell like a bear pissed on you. That is exactly what it did when I stabbed it. I like to have never gotten in off me. Meanwhile, mama bear is sizing me up, licking its lips.
Only in Kentucky, Michael says. Well, it could be gators.
Alex, or spiders, I would take gators over spiders and snakes.
They head home. Michael listens to the audio of the shooter negotiating the deal with the general. The General goes on and on about honor and duty and patriotism and sacrifice. There is no doubt that his move is getting himself and nice payoff and secretary of defense.
Joe, Michael, and Alex get in around midnight. Michael turns the light on in the cave as his reward.
The Pongettes have dug up a bunch on the general. He has shorted a bunch of stocks that would suffer in a coup. He received $5 Million in a swiss account in his girlfriend’s name and not his wife’s. They track the general’s browser activities, and he is all over coos and what stocks to short in a time of disruption. Mrs. General is not going to be happy about this.
David announces, “Pongettes whoever finds the sender of the $5 million to the general gets first shot at ‘em.”