Page 82 of No Time Off

Rangi deflated, his mouth turning into a frown.

“I believe we have to look at it this way,” Henry interjected. “Right now, we are caught between Scylla and Charybdis. Petra, you pose an extreme threat to them when you are free. But the longer you remain in hiding, the more your power will diminish, and you’ll lose the influence needed to oust them. Jiang Shi knew that when he told Maivia to ignore you, but Maivia is a fearful and weak man, short on patience. We can take advantage of this if we take matters into our own hands. And if we are to do that, let us do it at the time ofourchoosing, not theirs.”

I wrinkled my brow, trying to follow. “You lost me at Scylla and Charybdis, Henry. Are they Maoris or Polynesian gods? What was their deal?”

Henry pressed his hand to his heart. “My apologies, Lexi. As Petra will attest, I occasionally go all professor on everyone. I’m referring to Greek mythology. Scylla was a sea monster who lived at one side of the Strait of Messina, opposite the inescapable whirlpool called Charybdis. Ancient mariners had to very carefully navigate between the two of them since the smallest mistake could lead to their death.”

Manny chuckled. “Well, I for one am glad Lexi asked. You don’t want to know how badly I fared in my literature classes.”

Everyone laughed, breaking the tension a little.

Rangi crossed his arms against his chest. “Okay, back to reality…even if we somehow get the prime minister into the news station, how are we going to prevent Maivia from cutting power to the station once she goes live?”

“I sincerely doubt Shi or Maivia have the team or equipment in place to do that on short notice,” Slash replied. “If anything, after the first video blast across the prime minister’s social media and the government websites, he’ll have his technical team busy trying to retake those accounts or taking down the internet. He doesn’t have the bandwidth or the talent to do both.”

“Then it’s settled,” Petra said, looking around the room.

Rangi reluctantly nodded. “Fine. I’m still on the fence with this, but if everyone else agrees, I do, too. It looks like the goal now is to pick a time when most people are already watching television. To me, that would be seven o’clock in the evening—the time when the local and national news comes on.”

“Agreed,” Petra said, and we all nodded.

“So, we figure out a plan to get you into the television station by seven o’clock this evening,” I said. I glanced at my watch and then angled it so Slash could see the time. It was five minutes after one.

“Prime Minister, we can be ready on our end by seven tonight, but how will we get there in time?” I asked. “Rangi said it’s on the other side of the island in Avarua. A car is out of the question. Motorbikes, perhaps?”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Rangi said. “Ever since your escape from the farmhouse, there have been a lot more patrols on bikes. They may be safer to use out here, but closer to the city, discovery would be far more likely.”

“How about the Cross-Island Track?” Manny suggested. When he saw Slash’s and my blank stare, he explained. “It’s a trail that runs up over the mountains through the middle of the island. From here to the capital, it would only take us about three hours to hike. We could easily move under the radar, especially in a small group.”

“Not a bad idea,” Rangi said, “but it would be tight to get there, check out the station, and get the prime minister inside before seven. We’d have to leave here shortly.”

“Then we leave here shortly.” Petra exchanged a glance with Henry. “What about my family?”

“We can leave them here with some of the security staff,” Slash said. “In a few hours, when we release the video of you on the social media accounts, the island will be in chaos trying to figure out what’s going on. I assure you, no stray police officers will be wandering here in the dark looking for your family when all the action will be at the television station.”

She nodded, a relieved expression on her face. “Okay, let’s do this. What’s next?”

I held up my phone. “You and I do the recording and then I send it off to my friends and let them take care of things from their end. Are you ready?”

“Just give me a couple of minutes to compose myself and comb my hair so I look presentable and figure out what to say.”

“No more than five,” Manny warned. “We need to get moving.”

“All you have to do is be yourself, Petra,” Rangi counseled. “Be honest, and authentic. Make your concern for them and the country come through. Keep it short, too. That’s always good advice for a politician.”

She smiled. “It’s good advice for anyone. What’s after that?”

“We start the hike to the television station,” Slash said. “Manny is right—we need to move fast. We’ll release your video an hour prior to your television debut. That will give us an hour for the word to spread and get people riled up. Perhaps some will even take to the streets to figure out what’s going on. That tight timeline is hard on us, but it’ll be harder on the coup leaders. That’s part of our strategy. It doesn’t give them time to plan for what’s coming. Petra, just make sure to say at the end of your video that you’ll have a special announcement to make at seven p.m. Don’t say where the announcement will be coming from, just that an announcement is coming.”

“Will that be enough?” she asked.

“Hopefully. But just in case, Lexi and I have a few other aces up our sleeves to keep Shi focused elsewhere. It will also keep Maivia busy.”

With that, Petra, Henry, and Rangi headed upstairs to get her ready while we headed back to the office to set up for the video.

“Are we really going to take a three-hour hike?” I asked Slash. Even though it made sense, I totally wasn’t feeling it. Not that Ieverfelt like a hike was a good option unless it involved an air-conditioned vehicle.

Slash lifted his hands. “Looks like it.”

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