King of All I Survey
Chapter 44: Maribel Goes Off-Script and Changes the Plan

Chapter 44: Maribel Goes Off-Script and Changes the Plan

Maribel and Luis were on the ground about fifteen feet away from where Rafael had fallen in the point-blank exchange between his and the rifleman. She struggled to stand and run forward, but Luis held her down to make her an impossible target for another gunman. She looked toward the two fallen bodies. Rafael moved!

He raised his head and looked toward the spot where the other shots had come from. He quickly rose to his feet, another shot ringing out as he did so. Maribel saw the little flash as a bullet struck him in the chest. Rafael started running toward the remaining gunman.

It’s the bullet-proof vest, it saved him! Maribel thought as she watched sprinting directly toward the gunfire. All the gunman has to do is aim higher at his head or at his lower body! Rafael could still be killed. "He’s fearless!" Maria whispered aloud.

A voice beside her, Luis’ voice said "No, he is ruled by bloodlust, even his own safety is not as important to him right now as making another kill."

The thought sent a shiver through Maribel. Luis was right, she knew. She had seen the crazed look in Rafael’s eyes as he rose from the ground after the first assassin was killed. How had he missed? Rafael was right in front of him...

The remaining assassin fired once more as Rafael closed the distance. Maribel thought she saw a small flash at the base of Rafael’s throat, above where the vest would protect him!

He continued to the gunman who threw down his rifle and stretched his hands out, yelling "I’ll talk, don’t kill me!" Rafael reached him and kicked him square in the face. Maria heard the sickening sound from 40 feet away.

Then she heard Rafael’s voice, low and guttural, "I already know who sent you. Traitors all! You’ll all die like dogs." He calmly pointed the handgun at the man’s face as the sound of one final shot rang out into the night as the prone man’s face splashed blood.

Luis was rising to his feet, pulling Maribel up with him. "Come quickly, we have to get out of here." He pulled her to her feet and they rushed over to Rafael. He had his cell phone out and was holding it up to his head. As they arrived by his side, they heard him speak into the phone, "Your two dogs are dead, Gordo. You cannot kill me, send the rest of your traitorous scum. I’m going to gut you like a pig. Be a good boy, and wait for me at your office, so I don’t have to hunt you down." His thumb slid over the screen and closed the connection. He calmly placed the phone back into the breast pocket of his jacket.

Turning he saw Maribel standing next to him, staring wide-eyed in horror. Luis stood next to her, gun in hand. Ready. Rafael laughed wildly. Then, his face was suddenly calm, eerily calm, "Will you be coming hunting with me, Maribel?" He checked his weapon and tucked it back into the concealed holster at the small of his back, under his jacket. He noticed Luis, staring as if distracted. He saw for the first time he was wearing an earpiece in his left ear and seemed to be listening intently. Luis, looked up and found Rafael’s gaze, holding it.

"No hunting," Luis said strongly, staring pointedly. Rafael’s eyes flashed with rage, his gun hand started moving toward his back, but stopped after it had moved a inch. He took a deep breath, seeming to calm himself.

"What, then? Do I let that son of a bitch sit in his commissioner’s office and send more men after me? Fine, I’ll kill them all, one by one," Rafael snarled.

"No," Luis said. "I told you our people saw them coming and heard Commissioner Rodriguez give the orders. We have recordings and video. We are going to share them with the President’s office, and with the people of Guatemala. Maria Isabel Flores has told you of her desire to help the people of Guatemala. She started with Food First, now she is going to start removing the corruption that allows criminals to operate freely, using the people of this country as pack mules and cannon fodder."

Rafael’s face flashed surprise, anger, and what was that? Was it betrayal perhaps, before going still and expressionless, "Is that so?" He turning to face Maribel, who was still in a state of shock at the violence she had witnessed. "Mirabel, are you going to face down the cartels and the gangs? Do you have an army ready? You have no idea what forces they, we, can bring to bear to protect our interests." Rafael spoke to her, his voice, light and friendly as if discussing the weather forecast.

Luis answered before she could. "She has been in touch with her father, and he is committed to helping her with all the resources at his command." This was one of the trigger phrases that had been implanted in Maribel’s subconscious by Joe Torres as he was building the cover personality of Maria Isabel Flores over her true self. These words triggered the activation of additional implanted memories, making them seem as though they had been there all along, but bringing them to the forefront now. Luis had received instruction to use this particular phrase from the bosses via the radio link in his ear. His imprint training had also included details of this plan. It had been held back as one of many possible paths, one the bosses had decided not to pursue, but the events of the night, it seems, had changed their plans. They would go down in a brief blaze of glory, he thought. Was there any chance this crazy plan could work? No, he decided, but he would try. They would move his parents to a remote location with new identities to keep them safe. They would offer him the same option, he knew. Or he could stay and help them try to liberate his people, not just liberate them, but restore them. Restore their pride, their prosperity, the safety of their homelands...

Maribel recovered her senses as she suddenly recalled the conversation with her father, the greater plan she, herself, had conceived for Guatemala. Her father and his people had provided strategic planning and operational support. They had not intended to move forward with it so very quickly, but the evening’s events, she saw, presented a certain opportunity.

Once again emotionally steady, determined and defiant, she faced Rafael, "Do you doubt me, Rafi?" She asked, "I ran with you into the gunfire that would have killed you without my warning." Her voice was hard and strong.

A new variation of the plan occurred to her, one that had not been implanted, but one that was a new idea arising from the thoughts of Maria Isabel Flores alone, a person who did not truly exist, but who had an artificially created personality that was so complete, that it gave rise to genuine emotions, and original thoughts that could not be predicted.

Rafael was surprised by her words and sudden resolve. Who is this woman? He wondered, new emotions rising within him. At every turn, she amazed him with her strength and resolve, her resolute stance in the face of dangers that would make most women, most men for that matter, cower in fear. "I don’t doubt your resolve, Maribel, but I fear you underestimate the strength and resolve of your opposition," he replied quite honestly.

She shrugged, "Perhaps, but I am quite certain they underestimate me, as well. What about you Rafi? I give you a choice: Stand against me and suffer the consequences of that decision, or stand at my side, and I will make you the next President of Guatemala."

Luis did a double-take, wide-eyed shock on his face. This was not part of any plan he had been given.

Back at the Super-Secret Planetary Leadership Headquarters Treehouse Fortress, Dad and I turned simultaneously to face each other in the Status Room where we had been watching everything through the invisible sensor drones that had been present for the entire evening. We were both shocked and confused by this turn of events. Dad spoke first, "What is she doing? Joe, is this a plan you didn’t tell us about?"

Joe’s incorporeal voice replied, "No. This is not part of any of the contingency plans that we accepted or even considered. It appears that the imprinted personality of Maribel, mixed with Susan’s base emotions and behavioral patterns, has decided on an original course of action that we did not consider. Of course, I don’t know what she intends, but I can see some possibilities in what she has suggested so far that may offer some unique possibilities.

Dad was incredulous, "You think that the possibility of that crazed animal running the country has unique possibilities? You’re as crazy as he is, as crazy as Maribel. We have to get her back here as soon as possible and get her back on track." His voice rose in intensity as he spoke, it seemd to me that a note of desperation was creeping into his tone.

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