Installment 4.4: An invasion is authorized

Bona-Brown’s cabinet convened shortly after midnight as the scope of the attacks became apparent.

Early on, word of the assassinations of Bona-Brown’s parents arrived.  Bona-Brown looked annoyed.  His parent’s attitude toward him had been as personal as the affection they might show a Rolex watch, something to display to impress friends, an accessory to be worn when it might get favorable attention.  Bona-Brown’s contempt for his parents was poorly concealed.

Spirochete was clearly shaken by the death of his father and siblings.  Whereas Bona-Brown had the subtlety and nuance of a hungry reptile pursuing its dinner, Spirochet more closely simulated a psychotically well-ordered human.  Bona-Brown and Spirochet had been unstoppable. Bona-Brown was the unswerving tool while Spirochet orchestrated the background to ensure that the point of the spear found appropriate targets.

With Spirochet mentally “checked out”, Bona-Brown raged.

“I want the fucking heads of the fucking Cartel people who are behind this fucking attack!” Bona-Brown screamed at the head of the Cali Bureau of Investigation.  Bona-Brown was jabbing her in her sternum as he screamed, driving her back eight inches with each jab.  “And I want them fucking YESTERDAY!” as flecks of spittle impacted her face.

Tess DeChaunac, the head of the CBI was shaken.  “I don’t mean to dispute you, sir, but penetrating SD-LA in force is now a military matter.  We don’t have the equipment, manning or training to do that.  By all rights that should be executed by the military with us assisting once SD-LA is subdued.”

Bona-Brown was shaking with anger.  “I am not done with you!” he said with one more stab of the finger and then he wheeled around and directed his wrath at DeTroy Williams, the head of Cali Military.

Tess breathed a sigh of relief.  Without Spirochet keeping Bona-Brown on track he had the attention span of a six week old puppy.  She was undoubtedly off the hook for tonight.

DeTroy Williams looked exactly like what he was, a former defensive tight-end for Southern Cal who kept in shape.  DeTroy never got very many minutes of play time because he was two inches too short at 6’-4” and a half step too slow.  The coach kept him on the team because he was smart, witty and good at taking tests for other members of the football team.  The coach was smart enough to funnel his best players into classes where the instructors were not sticklers for which player took the test as long as it was a football player who took the test.

DeTroy took full advantage of the social benefits of being on the football team.  He never slept alone.  After graduating he took a job in law enforcement where his Hollywood good looks and the name recognition took him a long way.  He spent a year on-the-street and then was bumped up to Public Relations.

Bona-Brown and Spirochet knew DeTroy from their college days.  They had partied together.  The fact that DeTroy knew nothing about the military did not discourage them from appointing him as the head of defense.

That did not help DeTroy Williams today.  Bona-Brown screamed at Williams, although he restrained himself from thumping him in the chest, “I want their fucking heads YESTERDAY!”

Williams had learned much during his time in Public Relations.  The first play in the playbook is to stall and to buy as much time as possible.

“I am on it boss.  But you gotta realize that it is going to take me a couple of weeks to pull together the resources and make a plan and then another week to lock the towns down.”  Williams had no military experience and assumed the task would be little more complicated than packing his bags for a weekend vacation.

Had he been asked he would have speculated that the Cali military could subdue the nation of Thailand with two weeks of prep and a week of “boots on the ground.”  After all, the people in Cali were the smartest people in the world and everybody had a computer.

“You’ve got two fucking weeks to bring me their heads. Or I will have your ass.  Now what are you waiting for.  Get the fuck out of here.” Bona-Brown spewed at Williams.

The interest rate for the benchmark ten year Cali bonds jumped from 4% to 6%.

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