by Bob Blanton
“On it, boss. We’ll be there in five and make a sitrep in ten,” Jones said.
“Kal, we have armed intruders in the hospital and outside,” Barry reported to Kal, who was back in Delphi City. “I’m transmitting my Comm log now.”
Kal was just finishing lunch when he got the call. He quickly reviewed the Comm logs before replying to Barry. “You’re doing the right thing. Keep us apprised of developments, and we’ll come up with a plan.”
“You got it,” Barry said. “Damn hospitals!” he hissed.
“We’ve got a problem,” Kal messaged Marc. “I’ll be in your office in five.”
“Just what I need, an unspecified problem and five minutes to wonder what it is,” Marc thought. “ADI, do you know what Kal’s problem is?”
“I cannot be certain,” ADI said. “But I believe it is the fact that our new clinic in Guatemala has just been taken over by armed men.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it to me?”
“Kal was handling the situation,” ADI said.
“Blake, meet Kal and me in my office,” Marc messaged his brother.
“What’s up? I was just heading out for dinner,” Blake said.
“Well, you might want to let Jackie know that you’ll be late,” Marc said.
Blake started to make a wisecrack, but seeing the deadly serious expression on Marc’s face, he decided to just sit down instead.
“Hey guys,” Samantha said as she walked into Marc’s office. “ADI suggested you might need me.”
“Thanks, ADI,” Marc said. “We’ll probably need some help. I assume ADI filled you in on what we know.”
“Yes, she did.”
“We should move to the Cabinet Chamber,” Marc said, including Kal via Comm.
The three of them walked across the hall to the Cabinet Chamber. Samantha waved at Kal, who was just coming down the hall.
“Okay, now that we’re all here, Kal, review the situation for us,” Marc said.
“In Guatemala, a small army has taken over the hospital where we have our clinic. They’ve spread out and taken control of the neighborhood where the hospital is. Our recon shows that there are over one hundred armed combatants in the area. They seem to be very organized,” Kal reported.
“Any idea what their goal is?” Marc asked.
“Other than taking over the hospital, no.”
“We have to assume the clinic is their target,” Blake said.
“That’s likely, but it is the largest hospital in Guatemala City,” Samantha said. “Kal, have they entered the clinic?”
“No, they have people on the roof and the ground floor. They’re preventing anyone from leaving the hospital without being searched first,” Kal said. “Other than that, they haven’t interfered with the operation of the hospital. Sergeant Knox, my lead in Guatemala, says there have been two emergencies handled by the hospital staff without interference since the takeover. Our doctors and nurses haven’t tried to leave.”
“What about the off-duty staff?” Samantha asked.
“They’re inside the perimeter that the Tangos have established,” Kal replied.
“How are your people positioned?” Blake asked.
“We have two inside the hospital, including Knox. Both have stashed their weapons and are blending in with the rest of the staff. There is one scout inside the perimeter and five scouts outside the perimeter,” Kal said.
“What do you propose?” Marc asked.
“We need to wait to see who’s actually in charge of this and what they want. The local authorities should be aware of it by now, so we’ll want their take on the situation. Meanwhile, I want to put at least fifty of my people on the ground in Guatemala City in preparation for plans to retake the hospital,” Kal said.
“What about air support?” Blake asked.
“We should put some Foxes in the area, but we’re going to have to take the hospital by hand, preferably by stealth. If shooting starts, our doctors and nurses will be in the line of fire.”
“Okay, you two take care of that,” Marc said. “Sam, reach out to the Guatemalan authorities and see what they know. Let’s meet again at seventeen hundred hours to review. In the meantime, keep everyone updated on changes, and don’t hesitate to pull us together early if you feel the need.”
Tues Nov 10th – 1200 CST
Barry borrowed a pack of cigarettes from one of the nurses and headed for the roof. Exiting the stairwell, he made a point of looking for a match. “Tienes luz?” he asked one of the men guarding the roof.
“Vete!” the guard said. “Go away,” Barry’s Comm translated.
Barry held the pack of cigarettes out to the guard and asked for a light again, “Tienes luz?”
The guard eyed the cigarettes for exactly one second before he took one and produced a lighter. Lighting his cigarette first, he then handed the lighter to Barry.
“Gracias,” Barry said. “Hace frío.” Barry shivered to add emphasis.
“Sí,” the guard said.
The guard wasn’t very communicative, which suited Barry just fine. It took Barry two minutes to assess the situation, four guards on the roof, well-armed, not very diligent, and amateur placement. Time to head inside. He carefully snuffed out the cigarette and stuck it behind his ear. “Para luego,” he said, then he made his way back to the stairway to report to Kal.
Tues Nov 10th – 1300 CST
Cristina Castro walked down the street toward the hospital. She was wearing a loose dress and heels, her Berretta was strapped to her thigh hidden by the dress, and she had two knives hidden in discreet locations on her body. She flirted with any good-looking guy she saw. As she approached and crossed the street that led to the hospital, she immediately noted the location of the perimeter guards. She walked up to one of the guards. Unlike Barry, her Spanish was flawless; in fact, she had immigrated to Delphi City from Guatemala.
“Do you have a cigarette?” she asked the guard. She hadn’t smoked since she moved to Delphi City, so she felt like she was being naughty.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” the guard said.
“Why not, it’s boring at my house,” Cristina said. “My parents don’t let me smoke in the house.” Although she was twenty, Cristina could easily pass for sixteen. She looked innocent, and she was, except for the gun, knives, and her lethal skill with them.
She continued to chat with the guard and his two companions for a few minutes, carefully noting that they used a cellphone to check-in and that they were sloppy with their AK-47s, shifting them around as the weight became uncomfortable. She was able to identify the location of two other guard posts while she was leaning up against the wall, letting one or the other guard look down her dress.
She made two more forays along the perimeter before heading back to the base camp they had set up in an apartment just outside the perimeter controlled by the enemy force.
Tues Nov 10th – 1350 CST
Emilio scouted the area outside the hospital. Although the people who had invaded the hospital were organized, they were not particularly observant. He quickly determined that they had established four posts to cover the approaches to the hospital. They had a five-man team posted at the entrance to Emergency, and two-man teams at each of the other access points to the hospital. The guards were bored and quickly became sloppy, sitting, or leaning against the wall while on duty.
Tue Nov 11th – 1800 CST
“Okay, what’s the situation?” Marc asked as he reconvened the meeting.
“We’ve got troop strength numbers and a first assessment of their processes and readiness,” Kal said. “Still no response from the locals. We also don’t have any idea why they’re there. It looks like they’re waiting on someone.”
“The locals are aware of the situation, but are holding back on any response,” Samantha said. “They’d like to avoid bloodshed. Plus, I’m pretty sure they’re overwhelmed by the size of the force.”
“What’s your plan?” Marc as
ked.
“I think we still wait. We need to know what it’s about. Also, the longer those guys are on guard duty, the sloppier they’ll get. We need them to be complacent.”
“We’ve sent the eight Hover-Foxes we have to Guatemala,” Blake said. “We can transport Kal’s team there whenever he’s ready.”
“I want a Hover-Lynx if we have one,” Kal said. “We might need it for a sniper platform.”
“Is it stable enough?” Blake asked.
“It’s not great, but it may be the best we have,” Kal replied.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Catie demanded as she cut into everyone’s Comm.
“Catie, we’re having an important meeting!” Marc chided her.
“I know, but Liz and I might be able to help,” Catie said. “ADI gave us a brief on what’s going on.”
“I assume she had a good reason to bring you in,” Marc said somewhat testily.
“We’re dumping our last probe now,” Catie said. “It will take it a few extra weeks to get into place, but we’ll be home by Thursday.”
“I don’t think we need extra pilots right now,” Marc said.
“I’m sure you don’t, but I think Kal’s going to want to use this Oryx. It has oversized gravity drives in it. It will make a rock-solid platform for him,” Catie said.
“I didn’t know we had a Hover-Oryx,” Blake said.
“We didn’t. I had this one converted for this mission; I didn’t want to go two weeks with gravity out of whack,” Catie said. “But the point is, we do have one, and it will be perfect for what Kal wants.”
Marc looked at Kal.
“I don’t think we’ll be making any moves before Thursday, and an Oryx would be a great sniper platform as well as a good command post.”
“Also, send someone to my condo. There’s a box in my desk marked Pong Surveillance Probes; you should check it out. I made them for our next paintball match; your guys are getting too good, so I wanted an edge. I think you’ll be able to use them.”
“What are they?” Kal asked.
“They’re a minimal surveillance probe fitted into a shell that’s the size of a ping-pong ball. They have an ion engine that pumps air through them so that they’ll float. You can get good sound from them, and they have two video cameras you can use,” Catie said. “Spoils my surprise, but this is too big a deal to leave anything on the table.”
“We’ll check them out,” Kal said.
“Okay, we adjourn for the day. I want to meet at seventeen hundred each day until this is resolved, more often as necessary. Constant updates from everyone to everyone, although it seems ADI is taking care of that. Sam, tell the Guatemalans that we don’t want them doing something rash and getting our people killed,” Marc said.
“I will,” Samantha said. “I might need to tell the president that we’re planning to do something.”
“Hold off on that as long as you can,” Marc said. “Okay, everyone, get some rest. And ADI, thank you for anticipating our needs.”
“My pleasure, Captain,” ADI replied.
Chapter 20
The Situation
Wed Nov 11th – 1000 CST
Barry had only gotten four hours of sleep last night. Now he was up and heading to the hospital cafeteria for some chow. Just before he got to the serving line, there was a commotion outside. “No fair!” he hissed as he surrendered his tray and headed out to see what was happening.
“Emilio, you up?” Barry asked via their Comms.
“Yep, we’ve got lots of activity out here. An extra ten Tangos have assembled on the main road. It looks like they’re expecting someone important,” Emilio reported.
Barry pinged Kal, “Looks like the boss might be arriving,” he said.
“Roger that,” Kal said as he rolled out of bed. “Oh-five-hundred, couldn’t the SOB wait another thirty minutes to make his appearance.” He decided not to wake Marc. Everything would be recorded by the cameras they’d installed in the hospital when they opened the clinic. Marc and company could review it later. No reason to start the day out by putting Marc into a bad mood. “ADI, can you do facial recognition on whoever is showing up in Guatemala?”
“Yes, Cer Kal. I’ll provide up-to-date analysis on any new faces, prioritizing the ones that look like important people,” ADI said. “I haven’t gotten any interesting results from the analysis of the other faces. Several are known criminals, but no pattern has emerged.”
“Thanks,” Kal said.
“Here he comes,” Barry said as two black Ford Excursions came up the street. They pulled into the hospital area, and a very big Guatemalan got out of the first vehicle, followed by several others, all of them carrying AK-47s. After they had checked out the area, the big guy went to the second vehicle and opened the back door. A well-dressed man got out of the vehicle, acting like he owned the place.
“That is Victor Sorcaño, he is the head of the Sorcaño Organization. They control all the area south of Guatemala City to the coast,” ADI said. “Guatemala City is fifty kilometers north of their known territory.”
“Whose territory is Guatemala City in?”
“It is loosely considered part of the Lorezana’s territory, but there is not a lot of activity reported in that area,” ADI said.
After walking around for a few minutes and speaking to a few of the better-kitted guards, Victor motioned to the big guy, Gordo, as Barry had nicknamed him. Gordo went back to the second vehicle and opened the door again. A young boy got out of the truck; Barry figured he was about nine or ten years old. The boy had braces on each of his legs. One of the other men went to the back of the vehicle and got a wheelchair. Once the boy was situated in the chair, Victor and Gordo escorted the boy into the hospital. One of the other guards pushed the chair.
“You cannot be serious,” Barry muttered. “This cannot just be about getting his son treated.”
Victor and company marched straight to the elevator, which was being held by one of the inside guards. They’d prevented anyone else from boarding. Once Victor and company were on the elevator, the guard released the door, and the elevator started up. Barry was pretty sure it was going to be stopping on the third floor, so he went to the staircase and ran up the four flights of stairs to get to the third floor. As he came out of the stairwell, he could hear Victor demanding to see the head doctor.
“Señor Sorcaño, Dra. Martog is not here,” the nurse told him. “But, Dra. Balag will be happy to see your son.”
“I want Dra. Martog,” Victor said. “Now, somebody go and get him.”
“I will call her,” the nurse said. “She usually starts her shift at ten o’clock. If you wish, this nurse can take you and your son to an examination room and start the examination.”
The second nurse, a Paraxean, led Victor and his son into the examination room. “Yo solo hablo un poco de español,” the nurse said.
“I speak English,” Victor said.
“Oh, good. That will be easier. Now can you tell me what is wrong with your son?”
“He has that brittle bone disease,” Victor said. “Osteogenesis something.”
“Osteogenesis Imperfecta,” the nurse replied. “Let us get a few tests going. I need to take a blood sample from him.”
“It’s okay,” the boy said.
“Oh, you speak English too,” the nurse said. “I’m Nurse Catara.”
“I’m Enrique,” the boy introduced himself.
“Okay, I just need to make a small prick to get the sample I need,” Nurse Catara said. “It shouldn’t hurt too much.”
“You don’t need to take a whole vial?” Enrique asked.
“Oh, we’re beyond that now. We just need this small sample, then our machine will analyze everything we need to know,” Nurse Catara said. “I see you have braces on your legs, are there any broken bones?”
“Not recent ones,” Enrique said. “The braces are so I can walk and not break them.”
“I see,” Nurse Catara said. “Now ju
st lie back on the table, and I’ll get a scan. That way, the doctor will have everything she needs when she arrives.”
The nurse pulled the scanner out from the wall and set it up. It did a slow traversal of Enrique from top to bottom and then returned to the docked position on the wall.
“That’s it. Now we just need to wait for the doctor.”
Victor smiled at her, but his body language showed that he was not used to waiting for anyone. Barry was observing what was going on via the hidden cameras. They were there to protect the doctors and nurses in case some nutjob decided to attack the aliens. They were hooked to one of the advanced Comm units, which would alert Barry or one of his people if anything strange happened in the room. There were scanners in the door which alerted them if the patient was carrying weapons. Of course, that alarm went off as soon as Victor and Gordo stepped off the elevator. And every time Gordo walked by one of the treatment rooms, he triggered its alarm. Barry finally decided to silence those alarms, since they were kind of irrelevant right now.
Dra. Martog got off the elevator, and after a quick chat with the receptionist, she headed to the treatment room.
She knocked on the door, then entered the room. “Hello, I’m Dra. Martog,” she said.
“About time,” Victor said.
“I got here as fast as I could. If you would have made an appointment, I could have been waiting for you,” Dra. Martog said.
“I’m sure you would,” Victor said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Enrique, how are you feeling?” Dra. Martog asked.
“Crappy, like normal,” Enrique said.
“Let’s see what we can do about that,” Dra. Martog said. She tapped her HUD into the diagnostic system and read the results of the test and scan. “I see, uh huh.”
“What?” Victor demanded.
“He has several small fractures, a cracked rib, and a couple of broken bones in his left foot. That would explain the crappy feeling,” she said. “We can take care of that right now.” She nodded at the nurse, who immediately exited the exam room.