After the commissioner’s recommendation was discussed with Helena, it seemed logical that the next step would be to examine the ports in Kansas City, in Los Angeles, and Long Beach. But Kansas City doesn’t even sit on a body of water, I didn’t comprehend. What kind of port existed there? What was the principle concern in having shipping containers entering through Kansas City instead of Southern California? What was the benefit? Of course it could be the obvious, it was more lucrative, but there was always something beyond the obvious that the average person couldn’t comprehend.
The thought of having to return to Los Angeles for investigative journalism, to unravel a clandestine government plan was overwhelming but comforting. If Chloe could only see me now, how important my work was…what I was uncovering. What would she think? I wasn’t quite sure if I would call my parents to inform them I’d be in town for a few days, on the contrary, I wanted to remain detached until I moved back home. I didn’t want my parents to think of me as a failure, who knows what they would think now. Back from humid Texas without Chloe, who was supposed to be my wife…coming back home to the nest, the sanctuary, empty-handed. Immigrant parents wanted their children to have financial success in the great land of opportunity, mine were no different, but I had lost the house, the woman…my job. Well not my job exactly, I was still a reporter, but leaving the Los Angeles Times was a primordial sin in my father’s eyes. What conclusions would they draw now?
Helena had to return to the office to take care of her business over the next few days, she had Corridor Watch meetings to organize and clients to represent in court, so I would have to make the logistical plans on my own. She would contact Jay Jacob’s network and continue communication with him, while I would visit key locations. I was taking the initiative to get involved. I was being conscientious and working with diligence, for that Helena was impressed and grateful. But the physical mobility of connecting the dots would have to be done by me.
I wasn’t sure if I was doing it as a civic duty, or in the primitive sense I thought about propagating the species with Helena Stratos. I was confused. She didn’t want to leave Texas though. She was a proud native, the supercorridors throughout the state of Texas were her concern, not the port entrances throughout the country. She was so adamant about staying in Texas, I didn’t know why. It was eerie the way she built a concrete slab, almost like a phobia of leaving. If I was going to continue to follow the story outside of Texas, it would be solo, establishing trustworthy contacts. Oh Helena, could you please help me forget about Chloe? Please…come with me, I plead you.
I convinced Franklin to allow me to pursue a lead in a Kansas City community which revolved around Section-eight recipients being displaced because of reduced benefits. Meanwhile, I would also visit the rail center and investigate the port’s mission statement. Displacement was happening all over the country, but Kansas City had a significant increase of displaced peoples. This was around the Kansas City rail center, where the heart of the largest railway in the United States was, where the NAFTA railway was located. It was my first stop. Since I didn’t have a particular beat for the Chronicle, it gave me the freedom to travel around and pursue random political stories.
The NAFTA Blueprint Page 8