King of All I Survey
Chapter 67: The Plot Thickens

Chapter 67: The Plot Thickens

Rafael walked back into the waiting room where Maribel and Luis were sitting. Maribel looked up, surprised. "That was quick. What, ten minutes? Did you quit?"

Rafael pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side giving her a look that said, ha, ha, very funny. Closing the door behind him, Rafael looked at Luis. "You can have someone take care of the dead body, I hope."

Maribel gasped. "You didn’t!"

Rafael was already shaking his head, smiling. "Of course not. We engaged only in a battle of wits. I barely escaped with a severely wounded pride."

Maribel laughed, "I think your sense of humor was broken, too." Her face grew serious, "So you’ll come back again?"

He looked into her eyes, he did see fear there, but not because she was afraid of him. She was afraid for him, afraid he would remain lost. "I will. ...and thank you for this."

A tear welled up in Maribel’s eye. She tried to fight it, but the tear won and rolled down her cheek. Rafael reached up and brushed it away gently. His fingers lingering on her cheek for just a second as he gazed into her eyes. Her heart skipped a beat and her tears stopped. She blushed and turned away. "Good, Dr. Torres is quite expensive and I’ve paid in advance."

Luis coughed discretely, "We should go," he said.

Inside the Simulation Room, the three thought they left the building, climbed into a car and drove back to Maribel’s house. On the way, Rafael watched the people of the city through the window. Wondering how his actions had affected their lives. He saw a few members of the gang leaning against a wall, each with a bottle of Gallo in hand. They were engaged in furious conversation, no doubt arguing over recent developments. He didn’t recognize them personally, but he could tell by their look that they were part of his old organization. He wondered what would happen to them. Most likely they would return to petty crime and bullying the locals. It was all they knew. Maribel would say they could be redeemed, like him. Why should he get a second chance and leave those he had used to build his criminal empire to fend for themselves? A thought occurred to him.

"Maribel?"

"Yes," she replied turning to look askance at him as he sat beside her in the backseat.

"I think we need to do something about the people that used to work for me, the gangs and others, if we leave them roaming the country, they’ll cause trouble."

She tried to read his meaning in his face, but it was blank, as usual. Rafael, she had learned, was very good at using his face to show only those emotions he wanted to show. Well, most of the time. She remembered the way he looked when he told her that the speech she gave him made him feel like his mother would be proud... She bit her lip. "What do you mean? Do you want to give a list to the police and have them all arrested?"

He was surprised by the question. It hadn’t occurred to him. It should have. It was the obvious and easiest answer. He should have thought of it. A week ago it would have been his first thought in this situation, probably his only thought. Get them out of the way. "No," he found himself saying, "I was wondering if, perhaps, Food First could expand its footprint across the country. I could make the offer to my people to work helping to build up the country that has been held down by crime and corruption. I think they would find some... purpose... or peace in that work. Maybe we could offer them some group counseling session. A regular paycheck would help keep them out of trouble. Well, some of them anyway. You have all my money tucked away somewhere? We could use that to get things going."

Maribel smiled, "They’re going to think you have a heart, Rafael. Are you sure that’s the image you want to portray?" she asked playfully. "Yes, I think we can work something out. We can organize a nationwide brigade, building and repairing roads, helping people with farm work, maybe traveling medical clinics, repairing houses, and showing the people that we can make things better by working together. It’ll even be good for your presidential campaign if you’re the visible leader of that effort. I’m sure there are still a lot of people worried about the remaining gangs."

Rafael nodded absently. Odd thoughts and emotions ran through his head as a meddling AI worked at remaking his psyche into what it might have been without a lifetime of trauma.

Maribel sat back in the car seat, smiling contentedly. She felt vindicated in advocating for Rafael’s redemption rather than simply viewing him as an enemy to be removed. It had been a long couple of days. She fell asleep as they rode.

Rafael’s thoughts were interrupted when Maribel slumped against his shoulder fast asleep. The contact made him uncomfortable, but only for a second. He gently lifted his arm out of the way and placed it around her shoulder. Then let himself relax, at peace with himself and the world.

--

A dozen feet away, Dad watched intently on the viewscreen. When Rafael put his arm around Mom, my eyes went wide as I suddenly realized why Dad always seemed angry at Rafael. Uh, oh, I thought, Dad is going to go in there and punch him. As I looked at him, however, I saw the anger wash out of his face, replaced by a deep sadness. A second later, a tear rolled down his cheek. I looked away, embarrassed, not knowing how to react.

"Hey, kiddo," he said after a minute. "What do you say we go up to the lookout tower and have Joe show us which stars have other civilized worlds?"

Ooh, I thought, that would be exciting! Why hadn’t I done that before? "Wow, Dad, great idea!" I jumped up and grabbed his hand, leading him to the elevator disk.

"Joe," Dad said into the air, "Can you send up some popcorn, and a couple of big berry flavored frozen slushes?"

"Even better!" I said enthusiastically. "This is going to be epic!"

A few minutes later we were up in the lookout tower, lying flat on our backs staring up at the night sky. One by one Joe highlighted some of the visible stars, giving us the Earth name for each one along with the local names. Using the viewscreen properties of the glass, he zoomed the image in as if we were travelling many times faster than the speed of light until we saw the planets orbiting each star. Joe showed us the people who lived there, maps of their biggest cities, and told us stories from their ancestral legends. It was probably one of the best nights of my life, just lying there with Dad, both of us sharing in the excitement of discovery.

--

Downstairs, in the simulation room, Rafael reluctantly squeezed Maribel’s shoulder and called her name to wake her as Luis parked the car in front of her house. She woke slowly, nuzzling into his warm embrace. Then jumped abruptly with a start as she realized where she was. She sat up straight. Rafael lifted his arm over her head and reached for the door handle on his side, afraid she’d be offended at his actions.

Maribel wasn’t offended, she was... she didn’t know what she was at the moment. She knew she was blushing and was thankful that Rafael had turned away to open his door. She sat gathering her thoughts for a moment, then her door opened and she saw Rafael extending his hand to help her out of the car. Her blush grew even stronger, hopefully hidden by the shadows of the night. She took his hand and smiled up at him. His grip was gentle, but his arm was strong and supported her easily as she pulled on it to help her rise from her seat. He closed the car door behind her, but did not withdraw his hand. Instead, his fingers closed around hers, and they held hands as they walked to the house. At the door, they paused and looked at each other.

"I feel like a schoolboy, bringing a girl home after a date. I feel like I should kiss you, but I don’t want to overstep..."

She reached out suddenly with her other hand slipping it around his waist and pulling him close. She kissed him, not like a frightened schoolgirl on her first date, but with a ferocious passion. She was lost in the moment until she heard Luis call out from behind them. "I don’t think your father would approve, Miss Flores." The words seem to break her mood completely and utterly as if by magic, powered by the imprinted code phrase Joe Torres had put inside her assumed persona. She stepped back, suddenly ashamed, but not entirely regretting what she had done.

Rafael cleared his throat as if to speak.

"Shhhhh..." She said quietly, placing a finger on his lips to silence him. She turned to open the door. "We’ll talk tomorrow," she said then walked through the disguised LITV door and arrived back in her real house in Guatemala, completely unaware that she had just moments ago been standing in a treehouse in Massachusetts within a dozen feet of a husband she couldn’t remember. Rafael stood on the doorstep, suddenly feeling very much like that schoolboy on a first date, feeling both thrilled and confused, wondering if he had made a mistake while basking in the afterglow of the kiss. Luis brushed past him and went inside, breaking his reverie.

Maribel went to her room without another word, closing the door firmly behind her.

Miguel was sitting at the kitchen table eating. "So, how was the visit to the head-shrinker?" He asked.

Without looking at him, Rafael walked to the door of his own room, "It was very nice..." He replied absently as he went in and closed the door. Leaving a bewildered Miguel who looked at Luis with raised eyebrows.

"Is he ok?" He asked.

"He’ll live..." Luis answered, then mumbled under his breath too low for Miguel to hear, "if somebody doesn’t kill him in his sleep tonight..."

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