Page 12 of Prisoner of War
Nick nodded. “More than even she realizes. The full extent of it is beginning to register now, as she starts to think again. Until now, she’s been moving in a daze, subconsciously giving herself time to deal with it. Minnie is the sort of person who needs to love and love deeply.Duardo was that love.”
Josh pushed his hand through his hair. He did that often when dealing with his daughter, Nick realized. She baffled him and frightened him, yet he was a true father—he adored her and wanted only to see her happy. Right now, he was confused. “She was always losing her heart over a man, sometimes twice a month. She’ll bounce back.”
“Not this time,” Nick said flatly. “Thistime, it will be much harder for her.”
“Yet she’s been badgering you to go over there and get him out.”
“It’s a passing phase. She’ll come to accept he’s dead and she’ll move on. But for now, she’s just as vulnerable as Carmen. More, I think. I find it a good sign, though, that Minnie found the energy to scream at Carmen as she did.”
Josh looked astonished. “You’re kidding.”
“She’s far lessthan the animated, happy woman I first met on Vistaria, but today I heard her more as she was when I met her. Her mind is starting to work again.” Nick stood up, glancing at his watch. “I’m meeting Blanco and a few others. Come with me. I could use your views at this meeting.”
“General Blanco?” Josh asked as he stood, too. “That’s Vistarian business, isn’t it? I shouldn’t be there.”
“You’vefished as many Vistarians out of the water as you have your fellow Americans these last few weeks. You’ve earned your place in the room. Call yourself a special advisor if it makes you more comfortable.” He shepherded Josh toward the grand dining room, which served as their boardroom. “It might help you to understand your daughter better if you get to know other honorable Vistarian soldiers.”
Josh looked doubtful and uncomfortable. Nick opened the door and beckoned him in before he could think. As Nick opened the door, everyone at the big, old walnut dining table immediately shot to their feet. They didn’t salute as he wasn’t an official army officer, although they may as well have saluted. All at the table were officers and they stood ramrod straight, eyes ahead.
Nick ignored thesinking sensation the phenomenon always produced in him. “Relax,” he told them all, switching to Spanish. “Take your seats. As usual, we have a lot of ground to cover tonight, so let’s get on with it. Those of you who have been helping us pick up refugees out of the waters around Vistaria will know Joshua Benning. Josh is Eastcore Mining’s representative and has proved useful to us the last few weeks.I’ve asked him here today for his outsider’s perspective on some of the items we need to consider.”
Nick went around the table, introducing Josh to the range of officers sitting there. There were both junior and senior advisors, most of them freshly promoted to a seat at this table because they had survived the first wave of slaughter the Insurrectos had dished out and made their way across thehundred miles of water to the Mexico mainland.
He came to General Blanco last, the position of honor. If there was an heir apparent in this room, Blanco was it. He had led the Vistarian army for thirteen years. Now the president was dead and if they did take back their country from the assholes who had grabbed it, then Blanco was the most logical person to become the next president—ifhe couldmake the transition from war to politics. Lately, that question had been nagging Nick.
With introductions over, Nick waited for Blanco to pick up the lead. Blanco sat like the other officers with his hands squarely on the table, looking to him.
With a sigh, Nick spoke. “To business, then. It’s been nearly three months since the first wave of attacks and the numbers of refugees making it to Mexicohave diminished considerably. Josh Benning has been keeping track of numbers for me and pointed out that while civilian refugees have dropped to a trickle, we’ve had a small jump in the number of army personnel who have made it out. Thoughts, please?” He looked around the room.
Blanco was first to speak. He was a smart man and probably already knew the answers, just as Nick had seen them straightaway.
“The interviews we’ve conducted with army personnel have been troubling,” Blanco began. “Although I have the utmost confidence in every soldier we recruit, I find it remarkable that these capable officers have taken nearly three months to find a way off the island.” He shut up and looked around the room. Good, he was leading his officers to the right conclusion but letting them think itthrough and figure it out for themselves.
“Can we trust them, these latest arrivals?” The question came from farther down the table. “I mean, if they have spent three months in Vistaria, what have they been doing all that time?”
That created a pensive little silence.
Blanco cleared his throat. “The interviews we give each returning officer must be more stringent, more thorough.”
Nick saidwith a mild tone, “I think you need to be more pro-active than that.”
“We have no records to cross check...no way to establish credentials,” came the complaint.
“Isn’t there a larger question here?” came a booming voice from the long end of the table. It was the iron-gray-haired Brigadier General Alonso. Alonso always saw only the negative in a situation—which made him perfect for brainstormingsessions, yet had cost him promotion to full general. “What makes you think Serrano even cares what we’re doing here? He has Vistaria. Why would he bother sending spies into this little house?”
Nick looked at Blanco and spread his hand, indicating that Blanco should answer the question.
“The former Vistarian consulate general to Mexico, Joseph Castenía y Adorno, was approached by the Mexicangovernment last week,” Blanco pronounced. “They seek a meeting with the head of the Vistarian government.”
Nick could see that not everyone in the room understood the implication, but Joshua Benning, after frowning his way through a silent translation, lifted his brows and whistled silently.
“It means, gentlemen,” Nick explained, “that Serrano has not been recognized as the legitimate leaderof Vistaria. You can be sure that Mexico has the United States standing at its shoulder, watching what our reaction will be to this overture. The only reason this meeting would have been requested would be because Serrano has already tried to establish diplomatic relations and been refused.”
A small smile made its way around the room.
“Therefore, Serrano cares very much about what we are doingin this house,” Nick concluded. “He will watched us closely. That means spies. It means we cannot trust any personnel who have arrived here in the last few weeks. Even civilians must be interviewed and double-checked, especially if they have reason for needing shelter inside the house itself and not in the camps out on the grounds.”
“There are barely any more civilian refugees,” someone pointedout.
