Nerud had been calling for most of the night. But Doctor Garcia, true to his night time practices, had ordered his staff that he was not to be disturbed. Unfortunately, none of them understood that when Dr. Nerud called, that was an acceptable disturbance. By three am, a bewildered receptionist finally conceded and put the call through to Xavier‟s home number. He recalled being angry, until the young girl told him who it was on the other line. There was a moment where he was both surprised and concerned. Then he was angry again. All in all, that poor receptionist had taken quite a verbal beating that night. But at least the call went through.
“What did they say again? Tell me slowly, don‟t omit anything.”
“Well, basically Central has been especially guarded about it‟s preparations and the requests its been making lately. It told them, after they went through all the proper procedures, to contact me. That in itself was out of the ordinary, and when I went down there to ask it myself, it stated that its activities had been reclassified, and that I no longer had clearance.”
“What?!” Xavier yelped, waking his wife in the other room. “How is that possible?”
“That‟s what I asked it, and low and behold, it said it didn‟t have to answer my questions anymore.”
“Mother of God,” Xavier whispered into the air. Suddenly his fatigue melted away and gave way to icy cool feelings of fear.
“I think I said that too. In any case, I need you to get out here immediately. If we‟ve both been pulled out of the loop, then we need to get on the horn to the Ministry of Defence immediately and find out what the hell is going on.”
“You think they had something to do with this?” Xavier asked.
“Who else?” Felix replied obviously. “The question is, why reclassify information now?
What could be so damned scary that they‟d freeze out me, when I‟m the one who knows the system better than anyone?”
“Quite right, and I‟m guessing you want me there when you start demanding answers from the Ministry?”
“You bet, old friend. They‟ll find it a lot harder to ignore us both if we march in there together; the chief engineer and the chief programmer.”
“Alright,” Xavier nodded with a smile. “Just give me a few minutes to get dressed and I‟ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Don‟t bother,” Felix came back. “Just get some clothes on and I‟ll have a chopper come and collect you. Just be ready in ten.”
“You got it.” Xavier hit the disconnect button on the phone and ran for his dresser. At the door, a tired eyed woman had wandered in with a look of dire concern on her face.
“Querido! What was that all about?”
“Ah, Maria, querida!” he said, pulling shirts and pants out from his drawers and tossing them on the bed haphazardly. “I have to go down to the programming centre. I may be away for a while, hard to say. Go back to sleep.”
“Mama?” a small child called from behind Maria‟s back. “Que passa?”
“Go back to sleep, dear. Nothing‟s wrong.”
Maria was a few moments in pacifying the young child and putting them back in their room. Finally, she came back to her husband, who was now fully dressed.
“You‟re not answering my question,” she said.
“Something may be wrong with the AI that controls the smart bombs. But, more than likely, the Ministry of Defence is doing something stupid. Felix and I need to get to the bottom of it. We may be able to get things cleared up tonight, or we might have to fly to Bonn and demand answers in person, I won‟t know until I get there. How do I look?” he said, turning around quickly to present himself. His shirt was only half-tucked and his tie was hanging to one side. Sighing, Maria walked over to him and helped him straighten them out.
“Call me when you know what your doing. If you have to go, I want to be the first one who knows about it. Understand?”
Xavier nodded quickly.
“Good. Now, bésame!” she ordered. Xavier did as he was told and kissed her full on the lips. Pulling him close, Maria hugged him firmly. Many a night she had seen the man she loved having to run off to put out one fire or another. But it always ended the same way. The system that kept their people safe always came through in the end without incident. There was little reason to think this time would be any different. Still, she held him close all the same. It might be awhile before they could do it again.
It was thirteen minutes later that the chopper arrived in the nearby field just a few lots from Xavier‟s country house. The open fields made for a relatively good landing spot, but a few months ago, the Ministry had decided to pour some concrete and add lights just to make it a little easier for the nighttime pilots. Doing as he had been trained to do years before, Xavier kept his head low and waited for the blades and the engines to quiet down a little before making his way closer. A door at the side slid open and as he got closer, and out jumped a tall man in armed force attire.
“Doctor Garcia?” he yelled over the noise.
“Yes!” he yelled back.
“Lieutenant Dreyfuss!” he said, taking the doctor‟s hand. “Doctor Nerud sent me on ahead to brief you?”
“Brief me on what?”
The two were back in the chopper with the door closed when Dreyfuss handed him a small stack of papers.
“The situation overseas, sir. It‟s gotten worse.”
Xavier took the papers and began leafing through them as Dreyfuss turned back to their pilot and ordered him to start taking off. By the time they were in the air and moving northeast, Xavier had finished perusing them and looked over to the Lieutenant.
“The rebels have taken the capitol?”
“Yes sir, the Indonesian government is now officially in exile. The Allied fleet is now on high alert because the president thinks the Eastern Bloc might try to move in and help them consolidate their hold over the region.”
“Dear God. Wrong time for a problem with the AI.”
“The AI, sir?” the Lieutenant asked.
“Oh!” Xavier said with a start. Obviously the Lieutenant hadn‟t been told. “Nothing to be concerned about. Dr. Nerud and I just want to make sure everything‟s in order.”
Xavier tried to sound consoling. The Lieutenant accepted that with a nod and looked back to the front of the chopper. Noticing the side wind they had picked up, both men held on to avoid being thrown out of their seats. Xavier surmised there was a south-easterly wind running through the region, a portent of the coming of winter. In his ancestral homeland, Xavier knew that the locals always believed south-easterly winds foretold death. It was a silly superstition, he had decided long ago. But as he was his way to what could be a long and difficult night, with the prospect of an international incident taking place abroad, Xavier could think of a million other signs he would have preferred.