Sotello: Detective, ex-FBI, ex-Secret Service (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 1)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  Craig poked his head out the door, and assessed the situation at a glance. When he saw Sykes hands come off her hips, Craig hurried behind her and gave her a hug, pinning her arms. “Well, well, well, look who we have here Jan, the smartass Governor of California. Very funny Dad.”

  “Let me go Craig. I’m going to save Al Queda and the Chinese the trouble of wasting him,” Sykes said, trying to struggle out of Craig’s grip. By now Sotello’s initial laughter had turned into a torrent, and he helplessly held up his hands in surrender, the tears streaming down his face.

  “Oh God, Jan,” Sotello gasped. “You should have seen your face. I’m sor…”

  “Don’t you dare say you’re sorry,” Sykes cut him off, pointing her finger as high as she could get it, as Craig had resorted to picking her bodily off of the floor. “I nearly had a heart attack in there. Let me go Craig.” Sotello retreated, still laughing, and Tinker nipping him all the way to the door. He was still chuckling, when he returned a half an hour later. Peaking into the house, after allowing Tinker to run in past him, Sotello quietly entered and went into the kitchen to make coffee. An hour later, Sotello sat typing on his laptop at the kitchen table, sipping his coffee. Sykes walked in with Craig beside her. Sotello looked up, and smiled happily, as Sykes glared at him. Craig poured two cups of coffee, and then placed them on the table opposite of where his Father sat.

  “Of course you know,” Sykes said, “this means war.”

  This assertion caused Sotello to start laughing again. “Take it easy there, Agent Sykes. I’m sure we can come to some kind of peace offering without you resorting to violence,” Sotello managed to get out.

  “An extremely childish act for a Governor,” Sykes observed, as she sat down next to Craig, who was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

  “I won’t be Governor until January,” Sotello reminded her. “I’ll make it up to you over the holidays.”

  “No,” Sykes replied haughtily, looking away from him. “You’ve gone too far this time, Bullseye.”

  “Okay then,” Sotello said with a sigh and a shrug. “I will have to ask for Hank to assign a new agent to…”

  “Heyyyy,” Craig interrupted. “No need to get nasty.”

  “He won’t do it,” Sykes said smugly. “No one else would put up with him.”

  “Well, I’ll leave you to figure out my punishment while I go shower,” Sotello said. “Adrian will be here soon to go over our plans for the administration change. He doesn’t know it, but I’ve worked out my cabinet, and most of my main appointments, along with an outline of the immigration and port movements I wish to do. I didn’t want to tell him about it until I won.”

  “Where did you get time to do all that,” Sykes asked in wonderment, temporarily forgetting her plan for payback. “Was that what you’ve been pecking away with everywhere we went?”

  “Yep,” Sotello conceded, “and many, many nights. I have no intention of going into office like some cherry, just plucked off the branch. Everywhere the Governor has the power to exact change, I will get it done the way I promised. When Adrian gets here, pour him a cup of coffee, and tell him I’ll be right down.”

  “By your command, Master Bullseye,” Sykes replied, bowing her head.

  “I like it,” Sotello said. “Hold that pose until I get back.”

  He laughed, as the head stayed down, but the middle finger of Sykes right hand shot up.

  Sotello took his laptop with him, and went into his den, which doubled as his computer room. He hooked up his laptop to the printer, and set it to print five copies of the file he had been working on. After making sure the process was proceeding smoothly, Sotello went upstairs to shower. Twenty minutes later, Sotello came back down, dressed in his favorite charcoal gray three-piece suit. He went back in the den and collated the five copies of the manuscript he had printed. He then carried them with him into the kitchen. Phillips looked up and smiled broadly. He stood up and shook hands enthusiastically with Sotello.

  “I hear tell you’ve been making cabinet appointments behind my back,” Phillips admonished, pretending seriousness.

  “Guilty as charged,” Sotello replied, sitting down across from Phillips, and handing Phillips, Sykes, and Craig a copy of the cabinet file he had printed out. “You are kind of the last to know about this, because I didn’t think you needed the distraction. I actually talked with most of the others. I want you to be my Chief of Staff.”

  Phillips mouth dropped open. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Serious as a heart attack,” Sotello replied calmly. “You know me, and you know I am going to get my plans into operation the moment I get sworn in. You also know I have no intention of compromising on what I want done, even if it means campaigning against every single person in the State House opposing me.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” Phillips told him honestly. “I’m honored Jim. I would love to do the job. We may be thrown out of office in the first quarter, but I’m with you all the way.”

  “That’s exactly why I wanted you. I hope you like my choices for the cabinet, and Board of Education. I know you will recognize some of those names. My choices to head up the Cal Air Resources Board will be a bit obscure to you, but they are people who fit the parameters of the job descriptions, and they have a reputation for taking a hard line against the junk science masquerading as environmental policy. I am leaving the choices of Staff Director and Cabinet Secretary up to you, because you will be working closely with them to coordinate what I want done.”

  “You picked Reuben Vasquez to be Secretary of Foreign Affairs,” Phillips commented, scanning the introduction list on the cover.

  “Yes, and Joe Randall in Transportation and Housing. Did you know Joe has a Masters Degree in Business Administration, and Rueben was a teacher in Mexico before coming here?”

  “We spent a lot of time together during the campaign,” Phillips said approvingly. “I love your choices. They’re all outsiders with know how, and all loyal to you and what you want done. I doubt Jane Kearney will give up producing to be your Communications Director though.”

  “I was hoping you would convince her,” Sotello replied.

  “She would be wonderful,” Sykes broke in. “I like her a lot. It would mean big time publicity for her.”

  “You have Jacob Stanton as your State Superintendent of Public Instruction,” Craig observed. “He owns restaurants. They’ll be all over you on that one.”

  “I hope so,” Sotello told him. “Jacob believes exactly as I do about education in this state. He knows how to get things done, and he worked directly with me on researching like minds for the Board of Education seats. Jacob went to school when Heather Has Two Mommies would have been birdcage liner, rather than a school text. I wanted a man, fronting my education reform plans, who feels the same way I do about the NEA and AFT teachers’ unions. He will act as the wake up call those organizations need.”

  “It may mean a statewide teachers’ strike, Jim,” Phillips put in.

  “Did I tell you it would be easy?” Sotello grinned. “I think enough teachers want to do what’s right, they will jump aboard. They will, one way or another, start teaching real subjects, or they will be out of work.

  California will have school choice on the next ballot, and I am going to get it passed.”

  “Oh my God,” Phillips exclaimed. “You want Damon Wilkens as Judicial Appointments Secretary? The California Bar will be coming to assassinate you when they read that one. I like D too, but he can be, how shall I say this, blunt.”

  “Damon knows what kind of toads we have in the courts today,” Sotello countered. “Hell, he knows most of the judges in the state, and God knows how many lawyers. Give me one name more knowledgeable than him.”

  “I can’t,” Phillips admitted. “I just can’t get over these appointments. They all seem so out there, until I read them over a couple of times, and then they seem to fit like a glove.”

  “All of the people listed f
or the main positions in the Cabinet, I have already interviewed,” Sotello continued. “Some, like Jane, I thought you might be a better messenger for. I made sure all the ones I spoke to know we will be in office with the express purpose of protecting the State of California during this time of war. All Cabinet posts will be coordinated to get some common sense security in everything we do in this state. Reuben was so shocked, he had to sit down when I asked him to join me. I spent the longest time with him, because he needed some convincing. The thought of enforcing the hard line policy I have in mind for our Southern Border overwhelmed him.”

  “How long have you been doing the interviews right under our noses?” Craig asked.

  “When I started climbing in the polls at the beginning, I started assembling my lists. Most of the Cabinet helped with my research, and have been sworn to secrecy from the start,” Sotello replied. “I didn’t want anyone else but me taking heat. I made sure Reuben and his family knew the risks of such an exposed position. He will become the target for all the race baiter organizations in the state, but once he decided to take the position, he started gathering information. You will not believe some of the ideas he has come up with to solve some of our border problems. In any case, they all know what they’re in for.”

  The motion detector at the door signaled the approach of a new arrival, and Sotello checked the video feed at his monitor setup in the kitchen. Ellen, her bodyguard Ned Pritchard, and Kathy were walking together up to the entrance. Puzzled, Sotello motioned to Sykes it was okay, and went to the door to let them in. He hugged Ellen, who was all smiles, and shook hands with Pritchard. Kathy came up to him last.

  “Hello Governor,” Kathy pulled Sotello’s head down, and kissed him lightly on the mouth.

  “I didn’t expect to see you here this morning,” Sotello remarked.

  “I called over to your office, and Ellen told me you had not come in yet. I forgot whether you were going to come in early or not.”

  Sotello turned to Ellen. “You sure made an early start of it El. What did you have to go in for this morning? How are you doing, by the way?”

  “I’m fine Dad. I just left my books there, like a dummy,” Ellen admitted. “Ned picked me up, and drove me over to the office to get them. When Kathy called, I told her you would be at the house for a meeting with Adrian.”

  “I talked her into dropping off my rental car with me,” Kathy added. “She said she was coming over to your house, so I came along. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Sure,” Sotello said, gesturing them into the kitchen. “We were just going over some of the cabinet post selections. I have your copy too El.”

  When they were all seated together again in the kitchen, and Sotello had provided Ellen her copy of the cabinet members, Sotello explained another reason for giving out the copies to the group at the table.

  “I want to know everything from rumors to solid facts on everyone on my list. When they are announced, I want no surprises. I know them to be all good people, and I have no intention of withdrawing any of their names from consideration. We just need to know what will be said in advance, so I do not get caught flat footed.”

  “If I get Jane on board,” Phillips said, “She can use her media sources to give us a heads up on anything controversial.”

  Sotello nodded. “Exactly why I wanted you to talk to her first, but I don’t want her to think we’ll just be using her. If she doesn’t want anything to do with that, then don’t push it. I want her no matter what she agrees to do as far as these appointments go.”

  “Will you really start putting illegals in work gangs right off the bat?” Ellen asked.

  “Not only will I put that into effect the day after I get in there,” Sotello explained, “I am going to use all police officers in the state for enforcement, no matter what the INS says. Florida pioneered the concept, and I think it’s a good one. The police down in San Diego know the situation. I’ve heard them quoted about the tunnels, and all of the other illegal immigrant importing schemes. I want them to know I will back their play with the National Guard if I have to.”

  “Do you think you can find a way to make your Governorship any more dangerous?” Craig asked.

  “Gee,” Sotello grinned, as he put his hand over Kathy’s. “I don’t think so, but I’m open to suggestions.”

  The End

  Thank you for purchasing and reading Sotello. If you enjoyed the novel, please take a moment and leave a review. Your consideration would be much appreciated. Please visit my Amazon Author’s Page if you would like to preview any of my other novels. Thanks again for your support.

  Bernard Lee DeLeo

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