The End of the Beginning

William left dinner satisfied, until he reached down into his pocket and felt the piece of paper. It felt poisonous in his pocket. He wanted answers. He wanted security. He wanted to talk to Hernandez.

It was late, past eleven o’clock, but William was sure Hernandez was still up and working. A quick call over to his office confirmed that. He biked the short distance through the BLOC section from the dining hall over to the domed ISAF headquarters building. Once he arrived an assistant escorted him inside to Hernandez’s office. The assistant left William at the office door. William knocked twice.

“Enter,” he heard Hernandez say.

William slowly opened the door. Hernandez was talking to someone through his earpiece sitting at his desk. The only light in the room was coming from his desk lamp and his computer monitor.

“Yes,” he said hurriedly, seeing William. “Just make them understand, please. Our schedule is very tight. Yes. I need to go. Thank you.” William had made his way to the middle of the office. He noticed Hernandez’s little ant farm had new tunnels carved into it.

“Lo siento, amigo. Lo siento. Please sit.”

“Rough day?” asked William, taking a seat.

“Long day. But a long day is usually a fulfilling one. What brings you here Captain, at this hour?”

“Chief. I need to talk to you about something that happened today at training. I don’t know what to make of it.”

Hernandez leaned back in his chair. “Okay.”

“My mistrust of Base Commander Hammond grows, especially after what happened today.”

“Why?”

“One of my rescue officers, Samir Mamedov, was injured today on the ropes course in the Yard. The entire time before being injured he was rude, acting undisciplined, and didn’t seem to care about being here at UNIRO. Then, just before being taken into a medical tent for his injury he handed me this.” William took the piece of paper out of his pocket and gave it to Hernandez.

“Thou art amongst traitors,” Hernandez read.

“He told me to read it when I was alone. For a few seconds his attitude completely changed. He looked scared as hell. He looked… disturbed. Desperate.” “What do you think this note is in reference to?”

“Hammond.”

“Because of what you saw her doing in the warehouse.”

“Exactly. She knew about Toronto Chief. I think she damn well knew.”

Hernandez sighed and looked at his tiny ant farm. He gave its plastic container a quick flick with his fingers.

“I wish people were ants. I mean, look at them.”

William saw them scuttling about through their tunnels, never stepping over each other.

“There are so many yet, they do not fight. They do not argue or debate what should happen. They just do what is necessary to build towards perfection. They build to create the perfect living system. If someone steps on their home they do not wonder whether or not their home had actually been destroyed, they just react and begin rebuilding immediately. They understand something I sometimes fear humans never will. Synergy.” The chief continued staring at the ants.

“Do you trust her, sir?” asked William brazenly.

Hernandez hesitated long enough for William to know his answer. “We live in difficult times, Captain. Very difficult. Threats to UNIRO are growing; both from the outside and now, I fear, the inside. Evidence is mounting to suggest at least a handful of Terra Novan conspirators have successfully infiltrated UNIRO but so far this evidence is only superficial and based on eye witness accounts, like yours. We have nothing concrete. But, with something like this…” Hernandez read the piece of paper again to himself.

“Rescue Officer Samir Mamedov will have to be questioned about why he wrote this and why he gave it to you. I need to know if something sinister is behind this or if this is just a stupid immature joke.” “That’s fine. I’ll talk to him as well. I need to talk to him anyways about his attitude. What about Hammond?”

“This doesn’t leave the room, do you understand me,” said Hernandez seriously.

“Yes, sir.”

“She is under surveillance. Very few know that for obvious security reasons.”

“Then why tell me?”

“Because everyone needs someone to vent to, even the head of ISAF,” smiled Hernandez. He looked tired now, especially in the low light. “I hope it isn’t true. The last thing this world needs is for someone in Hammond’s position to be exposed as a terrorist. There would be more mistrust than ever.” “Yeah,” said William sadly.

“Thank you yet again for more insight, Captain. You’re becoming an invaluable ISAF asset. I know you are vigilant and concerned. That is always good, especially now. But do not lose focus here over this. Let me doing the worrying. Your job is to rescue, not to judge. That’s my job.” William laughed in his chair. “Yes, sir.”

“Speaking of rescuing, how is the rest of your team doing? Are they settling in behind you?”

“All except one.”

“Samir. It sounds like this man needs to be talked to soon. If this whole paper thing is all a joke it would line up with his behavior that you have seen so far. He seems extremely uncaring about what is at stake here and for the safety and betterment of his teammates, and his leader. That is dangerous, Captain. As the old saying goes, all it takes is one bad apple.” “Oh yes. I know, sir.”

“When I was a part of the Policía Federal, the Federal Police,” started Hernandez, putting his hands behind his head, “years ago, we had this one guy. His name was Rafael. He was about your age. He never listened. He didn’t have an ounce of sacrifice in his body. Most believed the only reason he had the job was because the leaders within our police unit were paid off to take him. Turns out, that rumor was true. His employment was being paid for by drug lords. He was their inside man. It made sense, finally, why after so many raids we always found nothing.” “How’d you find out he was a part of the cartel?”

“One day, I watched, from twenty meters away, as he and a few other officers were cornered in a junkyard we had been investigating. I was providing cover. I always had the best shot,” Hernandez grinned. “Armed cartel members were yelling at the officers to put their weapons down. The officers were brave though, they wouldn’t. It was a standoff. Then, I watched Rafael sneak behind the line of cornered officers and shoot the highest ranking one in the head. As the others looked on in confusion over who had just fired, the cartel members themselves opened fire, killing everyone, except Rafael of course. Most of them were my friends. And one of them was my fiancée.” Hernandez took in a long full breath and then let it out for just as long.

“The problem was, I was that groups commanding officer. It should have been me in that standoff. I wasn’t there for them when they needed me and they died. I should have acted on Rafael sooner. I should have seen who he really was but I didn’t. I failed them in leadership. I don’t intend to do that to any of my men here. If there is anyone I question, either in commitment or loyalty, I make sure they either get put in shape or put where they belong, far from here in a cell. Terrorist or not, Samir needs to be put in check, Captain. He needs to know his place, just as each and everyone of those ants do. And that place is behind you.”