Aston provided the coordinates and Gus, Barbara, Jeff and Judy did the honors. They disarmed the devices, restrained the terrorists, all five of them and teleported them to the jail in which the first had been held. The desk sergeant was surprised to see the five trussed terrorists delivered with devices disarmed by four semi visible figures in black. He said, "Thank you friends, who are you people anyway?"
Gus looked at the name plate and replied in a disguised voice, "Sergeant Lee Adams, we can't tell you that without endangering ourselves, our friends and our families. We cannot tolerate the actions of people like this. I admit to a strong temptation to just drop them on the moon but then that would make me a murderer as well. We found this lot in an apartment with a good deal more bomb making material. You will likely want your people to confiscate that material before some misguided soul finds it and causes some mischief. We think this is the entire cell but that is not absolutely certain. Here is the address where we found them. Cheerio Sergeant." and they disappeared.
The Sergeant blinked, "If that doesn't top it all. Smith get the bomb squad out there, now. I have to call the Captain."
When they returned, Barbara noted, "That is one very happy British lawman. He did keep his cool very nicely."
"I'm glad we made his day. Anybody for a swim."
"In this lake, the temperature must be about 50 degrees."
"You forgot, your body is changing and you can stand space without a space suit. Your body will adjust and contain body heat. Last one in is a rotten egg." Pretty soon everyone was in the water and moving around at impressive speeds.
After the three left, General Gomez went immediately to his office where he had shown the trio the maps and documents. He particularly wanted to look at the ordinance disposal map that he had returned to its folder reversed. It was his "pinch me to see if I am awake' moment. The map was reversed. He looked at it for a moment and muttered "es verdad," and smiled a huge grin. He then went to his desk and ordered the troop movements he would need and called in the commanders that would be running the operation. He met with them separately but did not tell them specifically what was coming. The commander for the Isla Maria Madre site was told that there would be deliveries of large numbers of persons to the prison yard and he wanted that yard brightly lit and not to be surprised at what they saw. The persons delivered were to remain seated where they were until told by name to rise. Some would have evidence strapped to their back. There would be a lot of them and they would be in restraints. The yard to which they would be delivered was the size of about two football fields end to end and had a 30 foot stone wall around the perimeter. All of the current prisoners had been moved to another building nearby to dedicate the main prison yard to the incoming group. Soldiers were posted on the wall every 10 feet and were issued tranquilizer guns in addition to their rifle. They were told to use them on anyone disobeying the order to stay seated where they had been placed. No one was to enter the yard. If any prisoner persisted in trying to escape they could be shot. Prisoners were to rise when their name was called over the loud speaker and proceed to the flashing green light at one end of the yard or to the flashing blue light at the other end for processing as directed.
The next commander to be briefed was the one to handle the Capos and Lugartenientes. Since this was particularly sensitive, he wanted a battalion of Mexican Marines to handle the assignment. They were to wear masks to conceal the bottom half of their faces and were to be seasoned troops. They were also to cover or remove their name patches. That commander was told that his prisoners would be high profile prisoners and they were expected to handle these prisoners professionally. They were not to be abused but the troops were not expected to accept abuse. Prisoners stepping over the line would be tranquilized and other prisoners could do the carrying of the indisposed. This group was to be immediately processed and housed in solitary confinement cells with no communication with other prisoners permitted. Prisoners disobeying this mandate were to be tranquilized.
The units were dispatched and told to be prepared for operations that night.
The commander for the ordinance group was told to provide a well lit area for receipt of various kinds of ordinance and that it was to be checked for condition and usability. They would also receive various kinds of equipment up to tank in size for similar review and evaluation. A group was alerted for the ordinance base.
Each commander was given specific instruction, told that this operation was top secret and no one was to talk about it. To do so was to place lives in danger and he would not tolerate that.
The final commander to be briefed was to lead the group that would be surrounding and isolating the compound. They were told that they were not to enter the compound until they received a direct order from him regardless of what they heard or saw in the compound. No one was to enter the compound including police or fire department. They were to remain concealed and detain anyone trying to enter or exit. He told the commander what time he wanted everyone in place.
Everyone was to advise him when they were in place and ready. By 11 p.m. all of the Mexican military units were in place and ready.
Late that evening
Aston added, <If the Primary implant group powers up with energy you can easily teleport heavy equipment, even a tank. You really should thoroughly clean out those cartel compounds. If there is too much equipment, we can always add extra days. >
"Understood. Is everyone ready for this?" All agreed. At 11 pm, the group received a mental signal from General Gomez indicating that all of his resources were in place and ready. Andy responded to the General stating, <We are on our way General and thanks.> "OK gang, here we go." They teleported in invisible form, grabbed a guard, teleported him to the ordinance disposal site, disarmed, stripped, and restrained the individual, secured ID materials where possible and then teleported to the Islas Marias Prison yard and deposited him. This was all done in less than 15 seconds. In three more minutes all of the Capos and Lugartenientes had been transported. They found 14 persons being held as prisoners, some had obviously been tortured. All were promptly transferred to the hospital at the base in Mexico City. In 30 minutes everyone in the compound had been transported. Next they started on records, arms, munitions and equipment in the cleaned out compound. In two hours, they depopulated the entire compound, removed all of the ordinance, equipment, records and cash. Aston duplicated all computer records. Finding the necessary evidence was easier than expected. All of this was delivered to the locations indicated by the General. They even found a list of hits the cartel had ordered and realized that some of them could be prevented and did. Andy, Pat, Nikolay and Anya all went into orbit to charge up with solar energy, then returned to the compound and proceeded to melt it to glass.
They then went looking for the off-site Sicarios and Halcones. The criminal organization required their people to provide destinations or locations at all times. This allowed for the prompt capture and transport of all but ten of the remaining Sicarios and Halcones. The other ten were located, captured and transported. The organization's records also indicated a number of public figures and policemen receiving bribes and in some cases taking on the role of hitmen. The records were there to prove it. These were included in the transportees to Isla Maria Madre.
They all met back at the cabin to discuss the night's work. Andy commented, "That was unbelievable, no one tumbled to the fact that they were under attack. That allowed us to take everyone. Essentially we have a clean sweep."
Andy sent a mental message to the General, <General, well done. We found everyone on the list. Essentially it is a clean sweep. Have a good nights sleep, what is left of it any way. We will see you again about lunch time so we can discuss who is next.>
# The next morning #
Father Junipero's mission church was in a very poor area about 130 miles South of Ciudad Juarez. He had just finished his morning prayers and had replaced some votive candles. He then did his usual morning check of the poor box exp
ecting to find a few centavo coins and perhaps even a few pesos. He opened the box and immediately closed it again. He shook his head not believing what he had seen. However, when he reopened the box it was still the same and still difficult to believe. After counting the contents, there were 50 North American $20 bills and six hundred 200 peso notes. It was more money than he had ever seen. He knew that the people in his parish would not go hungry this day and the little Carlos would finally receive the new braces that he sorely needed as he had out grown of the old ones. There was an additional envelope in the box that contained 80,000 pesos in large denomination banknotes. Written on the out side of the envelope was a note stating, "Reparaciones en la iglesia." (For repairs to the church.)
Chapter 5 - Solarans
# Day Seven at Turner Lake #
# Friday, June 17 #
Bill Foster said, "Has anyone noticed that we do not seem to need much sleep since the implants? I had four hours sleep and I feel completely rested where I used to need eight or nine to feel this good." From the looks he received it was clear that the others had noticed the same condition.
<Good morning everyone. Bill has noticed what you are all by now experiencing. This will eventually settle out at about 2 and a half hours for the secondary implant holders and about 2 hours for the primary implant holders. It is in part due to the fact that your bodies are absorbing sufficient energy to provide what it demands when resting. I would like to congratulate you all on a well executed exercise last night. I really expected it to take longer or develop issues during the takeover. The first that anyone knew something was amiss is when the buildings were burned or melted. You also left no evidence that you were there. It was done in a way that the other cartels are not aware that this one is gone except that it is not responding to any communications. If you repeat this exercise tonight, a different group should do the solar charging so they can have the experience. You have very definitely made the day for General Gomez. He is a very happy man. His situation reaches critical mass if three cartels can be removed and with four he will have the upper hand in dealing with the criminal elements.>
Judy said, "Well I feel pretty good about last night. We took a lot of bad guys and put them where they belong." That sentiment was shared by every one of them.
Nadia, who had been quiet almost since her arrival at the lake said, "Can we do this again please? This is a very good thing we do. To help people like this, it is a dream." Her husband, Dr. Petrovich went to her, his pride in her statement obvious and gave her and their daughter a hug. Anya did the same.
Andy responded with a grin, "Nadia, I think that will be our activity for a few more nights yet. On another note, I realized that we neglected to do one thing last night that while it did not hamper us this time, could in future operations. We did not take out their communications at the beginning. That kind of oversight could allow others to be warned and to escape. So the first thing we do tonight is to fry their cell tower, land-lines, radios, Wi-Fi, routers, satellite com, etc. We put them in a blackout right from the start. We can do that to a substantial degree with the power absorption talent. Another thing is that we will have to look for is observers from other cartels. We do not want them to witness any of these little incursions. We do not want any indication that something is amiss."
Jim added, "Very good observations Andy, you are thinking strategically and that will get to be critical when it comes to dealing with the invaders. How did the energy absorption exercise feel? Your use of that tool was awesome."
"It felt like we had not absorbed anything but the release was beyond what I expected. Aston told us that the feeling would be far different once we started approaching our capacity. As it was, we absorbed only a small fraction of a percent last night and look at the result of using that little bit. If we practice with larger percentages, we are not going to be able to do large releases on Earth. It will have to be in space. But that is for a bit later. We are not due to visit the General for a few hours yet so I am ready to play a bit."
Janie interrupted and said, "Playtime sounds good but I had a thought that might sound a bit silly. Here goes anyway. I suspect that the press everywhere is going a bit crazy with our more public exploits. Some idiot is going to tag us with a name with which we will not be happy. I would like to suggest something to see what you think. I would like to see the public refer to us as the Solarans. It is easy on the tongue, easy to remember and it kind of fits what we are. We are from the Sol System and it jibes with the uniform we wear. It just has a ring to it. What do you think?"
Heads were nodding agreement around the room. Andy said, "all those in favor!" All hands immediately went up. "Solarans it is. Lets go play."
# A little later #
Andy sent a message to all, <You know, there is a way to get this name thing out there in a hurry. If Gus, Barbara and Janie were to suit up, and then teleport to London to visit their favorite London Desk Sergeant, Janie can make the announcement.>
Gus laughed and said, <Andy, that is a cool idea. You are going to make that Sergeant's day, plus it tends to suggest we might be from England. I like it. >
When they were ready, the trio teleported to the London police station where Sergeant Adams was again on duty. He said, "Lord in Heaven, don't tell me we have more troubles."
They laughed and Janie responded in a disguised voice, "No, not today Sergeant Adams. Yesterday we told you that we could not tell you who we are and gave you a reason. That applies to each of our individual names and hopefully that makes sense to you. However, collectively we are the Solarans. We can tell you that but not our individual names. We hope this is not placing too much of a burden on you, but we have decided that you will be the person we speak to when we have something to say for general distribution. Henceforth we will probably speak to you mentally." She continued mentally, <Can you hear me now Sergeant? Respond by thinking what you want to say and we will hear you.>
<That is amazing, yes I can hear you quite clearly.>
The Sergeant muttered, "These people, these Solarans are really hard to believe, But you have to love them." He picked up his phone and used speed dial for his friend at The Times. "Hello Charlie, our friends in the black suits were just back to pay me a visit. They want it to be known that they do have a name after all. As a group they are called Solarans. S – O – L – A – R – A – N – S. Yes, that is all they said and left. OK, later." And he hung up.
# Shortly afternoon in Mexico City #
Andy spoke to the General, <General are you ready for us?> and they appeared again in his kitchen. <Hola, General, I hope you are having a good day.>
<More than you can know. I still find it difficult to believe that you were able to capture all of them in such a short time. I can hardly express my gratitude for what you have done. Some of the Sicarios and Halcones are stumbling over themselves to tell us what they know. You have frightened them more than do their Capos. Also, the corruption records are particularly effective. >
Andy said, <We hope to do more this evening. We find this effort to be most gratifying. Do you have a suggestion who should next receive our attention?>
<I hoped that would be your view so I have prepared a list and a set of files for each of the cartels that are problems for us. These items are all in the same room as the file cabinets where you placed evidence. I have set up a well lit table so you can view these materials. All of this is as up to date as we can make it. I have stand-by troops nearby for each of the compounds. Number 2 is fairly remote and open so the troops are not as close as I would like but we can control all access for even that with about a 30 minute warning. I have also instructed our commander at Isla Maria Madre to erect a large number of tents to handle whatever influx of criminals you can give us. We borrowed this idea from a
sheriff in Arizona who has had considerable publicity for his handling of prisoners in recent days. Even so I do not think it will be long before we overload the facility there. I am looking for funds that we might use to establish an additional facility on Isla Maria Magdelena. I suspect we will need the additional room. In the meantime we can establish a tent prison on that island until a new facility can be built. There will certainly be enough labor there to do the building.>
<General, set up for action relating to your number 2 and number 3 selections tonight. >
The General was surprised, <You would try two in one night?>
<We hope to do that. If things go well with removal of the people there, we will. We would like to accomplish this before they are all on alert because then some will die. We would prefer to avoid that, but what will be, will be. Incidentally, our group has adopted the collective name of 'Solarans.' Tonight we will strike the #2 target starting at 10:30 pm. Your troops are going to be very busy.>
<Today I had a call from a friend that I went to school with many years ago. He is now a priest serving a small rural community that is not very well to do. He told me that he found a large sum of money in the poor box of his church. He was afraid that it was evil money. I told him that was nonsense and that he should put it to use for the poor of his parish. I told him that he should not advertise the fact that this has happened and that it came from good people. He asked me if I knew this and I told him that I did. I believe that it will be put to good use.>
<We are looking for other forms of distribution that will not expose people such as this priest to people who would do them harm. We will discuss the events of this evening with you tomorrow at this same time and same place.>