specific organization is not mentioned. Neil turns the man over and finds several ceramic-knives held in a pouch at the base of the man’s back. Neil recognizes the knife-set but does not mention it to Pedro. Neil rolls the man back over and feels his wrist checking for a pulse. As he does he sees that the man is wearing a fraternity ring and an imitation Rolex. “That’s odd,” Neil says to himself.
“Pedro, you be careful. These boys are American Feds, they’re going to be a little annoyed when they wakeup. I can’t be here when the police arrive. I’ll call you when I can.”
“Via con Dios mi amigo.” Pedro begins to wake the two federal agents as Neil roars off in his car.
The first fallen federal agent begins to wake and grabs the back of his head, “Shit that was fast.” As the agent looks around to see his partner lying beside him he looks up at the barkeeper and asks, “Where did Neil Foot go?”
“No hablo ingles.”
Φ Π Ψ
In a surfboard shop named “Footboards” in Long Beach California, a man stands motionless while holding an electric sander, his 6’2” surfer’s body covered in Styrofoam dust, his facemask lifted up and resting on his forehead. In front of the man is the beginning of a new surfboard; hanging on the wall is a flat panel TV with the volume turned way up so that he could hear it over the sound of the sander. The man has been transfixed on the TV watching FOX News throughout the morning, sanding the new board only during commercial breaks. The man now lowers his facemask and returns to sanding as the Right Reverend Jeremiah Branch asks for a recess until tomorrow in order for Senator Nathaniel Foot’s counsel to properly prepare a response to the accusations he had just finished recounting for the record. Unaware of his name being called out by his wife, he jumps when she touches him.
As she holds the portable phone out to her husband she says, “Honey, Neil’s calling from Mexico.”
“Nancy, I just felt a cold chill go up my back.”
“What’s wrong honey?” Nancy asks as she takes the sander from Junior’s hand and replaces it with the phone.
Junior lifts the phone to his ear but only hears the “roar” of an engine accelerating followed by a “blip” and a shift followed by yet another “roar”.
Over the roar Junior finally hears, “Nathan, you there?”
“Holy Balls Neil, I think our baby bro has gotten himself into a mess we might not be able to get him out of.”
“Nathan, I just had the crap scared out of me.”
“What happened Neil?”
“Nuts, wait a sec, need my hand.” Neil skillfully “double-clutches” while “heel-toeing” his way down through the gears. Junior then hears the sliding of tires as Neil drifts through a sweeping right-hand turn. As the “roar-blip-roar” is replaced by a constant “roar”, Neil begins to speak again.
“Junior, two Feds walked into Pedro’s as I was watching Nathaniel on TV.”
“Neil, you sure they weren’t some señoritas husband?”
“That’s real funny Junior, ha, that’s what I told Pedro.”
“Seriously Neil, we need to get together.”
“I’m on the way, first need to swing by the house and pick up some things, but I should be there by mid-morning, lunch at the latest.”
“Great, I’ll have doughnuts and coffee ready.”
Before Nathan hangs up he tells Neil, “Hey Bro, Shelly sounds great! Can’t wait to see her, just keep her in one piece until you get here, okay?”
“Yep, don’t worry, I’ll take care of her, by the way, Nancy sounds fine too.”
Nathan smirks at his wife as he hands the phone to her; she smiles back at him and says, “Seriously Honey, we didn’t even kiss.”
Somewhere north of Guadalajara, Neil’s hair is being buffeted by the wind as he speeds toward Long Beach. Neil begins to laugh at himself as he catches the image his shadow makes against the rock faces cut along the road. “Man that looks cool,” he says to himself. As the sun sets, the rock face begins to glow golden contrasted by the shadow image that Neil and his car, Shelly, make as they “roar” north. Committing that image to memory, Neil says out loud, “Shelly, I think once I paint that sunset, you’ll be paid off.” As the cold of a desert night sets in, Neil raises the collar of his leather flight jacket while zipping it as far up as possible. Though he can’t feel his ears, the heat radiated by the engine warms Neil’s feet and his lower body. He snuggles down into the cockpit of his 427 Shelby Cobra and says, “Shelly, I wish I had that coffee now, or better yet, Pedro’s Quince Brandy.”
Neil glances into his mirror, “I know Shelly. I saw those lights too.” He downshifts and accelerates into the night.
Φ Π Ψ
With armed guards posted outside his bedroom door, a man sits in bed with a TiVo controller in his hand. The man rewinds the recording to watch Nathaniel Foot as he rolls his hand and makes a coin disappear. He proudly rewinds and watches the move again, as he elbows his wife he says, “Did you see that move he did with the coin? I taught him that.”
The man’s wife pulls the covers up over her shoulders and says, “Yes Magic, now put the remote down and go to sleep.” She reaches out for her husband and softly says, “Don’t worry, I’m sure they were watching too.”
“Yep, that should get the boys attention.” The man gently kisses his wife, turns off the TV, slides out of bed and onto his knees, “God’s speed boys, wherever y’all are.”
Chapter 2
Late into the evening, in Washington D.C. within the offices of the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, the Right Reverend Jeremiah Branch is arguing with two other fellow Senators; Senator James Bernard, a tall middle-aged black man from New Orleans, Louisiana and Senator Cindy Aaronson, an attractive blond from Duluth, Minnesota who, like Senator Foot, is a freshman senator. Senator Aaronson however had many years of experience in Washington, gained through clerking in the offices of Senator Branch while she completed college.
Senator Jeremiah Branch spins around and growls at the other two, “Foot is standing up to this a lot more than we were expecting!”
Senator Aaronson shifts her weight as she crosses her legs and leans back in her chair, “Gees Jerry, you told us that you had all these bases covered.”
Branch walks over to Aaronson, places his hand upon her shoulder and bares down on her, forcing her to grimace in pain, “Watch your familiarity ma’am, we aren’t what you’d call, related.”
Though the long-standing affair between Branch and Aaronson had become common knowledge with the liberal powerbrokers inside the Beltway; the Right Reverend Jeremiah Branch was able to maintain his credibility, in the public’s eye, through carefully controlling the appearance and actions of those he had corrupted.
Senator Aaronson forces a smile and says, “Yeah sure Ya’ becha, hun.”
Senator Bernard stands up and interrupts the impending conflict, “Now folks, let’s just focus on WHO our targets ARE and I can truly say, THEY are not in this room.”
Reverend Branch agrees and returns to his torment about Nathaniel Foot.
“Now just what was all that tapping about? And that chair!”
Senator Aaronson joins in, thankful that she was no longer the victim of Branch’s anger, “I agree,” she pauses as Branch lifts his hand off her shoulder. “He knows how to push your buttons.”
“As do you sugar.”
Senator Bernard raises his voice, “Folk’s, again I must remind y’all that WE are not the enemy.”
Jeremiah