###
“Kirk,”
Doctor Rhoads said.
“Uh
…” MacPherson picked his head up off the couch. “Yeah … I was just …”
“Meditating?”
“Yes,
I was meditating … while I was sleeping.”
“Oh,
so you were multitasking.”
“Absolutely.”
MacPherson grinned. “On the inside.”
Rhoads
drove his wheelchair into the room. “Where else would you expect to find inner peace?”
“I
don’t know. Where?”
“It
was a rhetorical question.”
“So
what’s the rhetorical answer?”
Rhoads
smiled. “I don’t know. But thanks for
coming down, Kirk.”
“No
problem, buddy. What’s up?”
“I
told you I was collecting intel on that soldier … the one who’s stuck in the
Mexican jail.”
“Yeah,
I remember. So what did you find out?”
“Answers
that lead to more questions, mostly.”
“Yeah,”
MacPherson said. “What’s new?”
“Freddie,
would you fire-up the presentation, please?”
“It
would be my pleasure, Doctor Rhoads.”
A
picture of a young man in formal military dress appeared on a large screen on
the wall.
Freddie
then began, “This is Corporal Shiloh Steele, U.S. Army Ranger. Corporal Steel was apprehended by Mexican
Federales on the wrong side of the border, with a sidearm on his hip and a
rifle on his shoulder.”
“That's
bad news,” MacPherson said. “Mexican law is not too friendly to gun-toting
tourists.”
“It's
definitely frowned upon, sir.”
“Must
be his travel agent forgot to tell him to leave his gun collection at home.”
“Something
happened,” Rhoads said. “We don't exactly
know what went down or
why—supposedly, they grabbed him alone, and he didn't have a good explanation
for what he was doing there.”
“Could
it have been … official business?
Government stuff? Some kind of
border operation?”
“Not
that anybody will say,” Freddie said. “Nobody knows nothing.”
“Yeah? What's new?”
“No
kidding,” Rhoads said.
“The
Corporal,” Freddie continued, “is being held at a prison facility located just
over the border.” An
aerial map appeared on the screen. “The
‘X’ marks the spot, sir.”
“Ooh
… that looks like a nice place to visit … but I wouldn’t want to be detained
there.”
“Exactly,”
Rhoads said. “And our guy has been there for six months.”
“SIX
MONTHS? Are you serious?”
“Deadly
serious. Which it is. There have been multiple reports of threats
against his life … as if the living conditions in a Mexican jail aren’t bad
enough.”
“Is
the Embassy involved? Or the Army? Heck—where’s the President?”
“AWOL. Nowhere to be found.”
“I
can’t believe everyone would just stand by, while one of our own rots in some
foreign hellhole.”
“Neither
can I,” Rhoads said. “But it wouldn’t be the first time.”
“And
that’s a country we own … you’d think all it would take is a phone call
from a government bigshot …”
“Agreed. I guess that speaks to the ineptitude of the
powers that be. Either that, or …”
“Their
willful negligence,” Freddie completed his sentence for him.
“Which
is why,” Rhoads said, “I’ve started looking so closely into this. I’m thinking about …”
“Nooo
…” MacPherson said. “You’re not …”
“Actually,
I am.”
“You’re
thinking of breaking him out?”
###
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