Dark as Daylight Ch. 17

The ambassador said, "What Matter?"

********************

10 minutes later the bomb went hot, and a different beep went off on your father's watch. He had less than an hour to find you, and it. Then he had to disable the dam bomb, before the area was turned into silica sand.

There are several children here, so I will not repeat, word for word, what he said, because Teddy would have me put my head in the corner, and pray for the rest of eternity.

You were smart enough not to stay on the island, with 'Little Man', after you connected the failsafe switch, started the timer, and replaced the shields that covered everything, except the face of the timer.

You and Newton retreated one mile from Cashew Island, which you believed was more than enough distance, for the 17.7 pounds of College Dropout' held in your little briefcase.

For the first time in your life, your calculations were wrong. It was either in the way you made the mixture of chemicals, your math and dividing up those chemicals, or the good Lord warning you never to put those chemicals together again to make a destructive device. It was not to happen again."

"If the government had set off 'Big Boy' on Cashew Island, the damage report the president would have received would have read like this: 'The city of Temple Texas, and it's 73,000 souls, the Fort Hood Army base, its 50,000 soldiers, and 8000 civilian employees have been wiped off the face of the earth. The only remaining items are some sturdy buildings, and burnt out tanks. An area within a radius of 18 miles from ground zero (Cashew Island) has been wiped out. There is no sign of life, human or animal. It was not, repeat not a nuclear attack. There is no abnormal radiation signature in the area. Nothing remains. Nothing."

The president, when he regained the ability to talk, would have looked for somewhere or someone to retaliate against. Defense condition would have dropped to DefCon2 automatically. The American people would demand action, and a president sitting on his hands at a time like this was not acceptable.

People around the world would be looking at live pictures from helicopters dispatched out of Dallas and Houston showing the devastation of the areas. Satellites would be showing pictures of the devastation. This was no big joke. It was worse than an atomic blast, and this wasn't the results from an atomic bomb. Leaders who hated our system of government, and us, just for the hell of it, would be on the phone pleading their case. "It wasn't us, you have to believe me, it wasn't us. We would never do such a thing. "

The Iranian people would be dancing in the street, reveling in the Americans pain.

Their diplomats would be dancing to a different tune, and the pain they would be feeling would be in their chests as their blood pressures rose to unsustainable heights.

"It wasn't us. Honest, it wasn't us. We would never do such a thing. We say we would do such a thing, but we would never do such a thing. We are not idiots. We know you would retaliate with your nuclear rockets. It wasn't us. We will give you unfettered access to our nuclear and missile sites immediately, as long as you believe it wasn't us, and do not attack. We do not want our cities to glow in the dark."

Around the table at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arguments would have been: "They went after a military installation with more than 50,000 service members, 4000 of our newest tanks and their carriers. It must be the Russians. If they made a power move now against the Baltic states now, we would not have the military strength to stop them. We don't have the manpower, or armor any longer. It will take us 5 to 8 years to regain the men, the experience and materials needed to replace those we lost at Fort Hood. It must be the Russians. The Chinese aren't going anywhere, and the North Koreans are a joke."

After meeting with the members of the Congress, the chiefs of staff, and the members of the intelligence agencies in the White House briefing rooms; 2 ½ hours later it was the president who made the decision. His adjutant opened the football, he took the card from his pocket, put in the numbers from the appropriate line, and waited for the response. He put in his second code, passed the eye scan, and put the appropriate finger on the pad to be scanned. He passed all three tests.

The adjutant said, "You caught the football Mr. President, you know the procedure."

"I wish I didn't, but I do. I'm going to kill more people than they killed, but they deserve it, they surely do."

"You bet your ass they do, Mr. President."

Even as the Russians were pleading their case to the US ambassador, 50% of our Trident 5EDL submarine launched nuclear missiles, and 40% of our Minuteman LGM-30 land launched nuclear missiles were announcing to the world that World War III had begun. All this would have been your fault, smart ass.

You are so lucky that your father never stood idly by. As soon as the device went active, as it did during your test for his friends at the ABC Company, your father began thinking about ways to detect it. He knew it would be too late to get to you to stop the explosion if the device was already active, so he devised plan B.

As soon as you opened your briefcase, the alarm on his Smartwatch went off, and he started homing in on its' signal. He was in a helicopter taking bearings from that signal, and so were our agents, who were driving at top speed taking bearings from their cars, while they were driving in every direction possible.

Once they realized you were in the middle of the lake, your dad had the helicopter dash towards it, and the cars circle around to the nearest entrance to the recreation area.

The gates weren't open at 3 AM, but it didn't stop the sturdy SUVs from plowing through them. They separated and made their way towards the edges of the lake looking for you, while the helicopter hovered aloft, over the island, looking for you and the black suitcase.

The pilot spotted it and landed as close to it as possible.

Your dad jumped out and ran for it. The suitcase was burning hot already. The reaction of the chemical compounds was almost at the critical point as he looked at the timer. It was under three minutes. It would take him too long to remove the metal plates that covered the access ports to the timer. The only way to disable the device was to turn off the failsafe mechanism, which was controlled by the timer. If you just turned off the timer, the device would still go off. All was lost.

He signaled to the pilot to get out of there.

The pilot yelled back, "It's already too late to leave. Can I give you a hand?"

Even looked at the device, and shrugged his shoulders. There was only 57 seconds left now. There was nothing left for him or anyone else to do, so he shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and sat down by the case. He was defeated by the young genius who was his son. The next time he met him, he was going to give him hell.

No, God would have to do that for him.

The vision of beauty, who was his mother, popped into his head. He got hard which amazed him. At that instant, he made his wife a promise. 'I am not going to allow you to die, Jennifer. No, not today, not tomorrow, not while I still draw breath.'

"Dear Lord, I am not you, and this is not hubris, but I am not going to allow my love to die, because of her son's genius. I will die willingly, and take Gordon with me if you wish it. No, not Jennifer, she is going to live. She must take care of our two new babies. I will think of something in the next twenty-three seconds to make it happened."

He got so angry with his son, he screamed into the darkness, "Gordon, if you were here, I would grab you by the neck, take you out into the middle of this lake, drag you to the bottom, put rocks on top of you two weigh you drown, and leave you there for the fish to feast on."

Something in his head said, "Do it!"

He knew this was not a time to argue with himself, so he took the hint. He pulled the shirt over his head, and threw it over the briefcase to keep from burning his hands. He picked the case up, charged towards the waters edge, and dove in. He kept going deeper, and deeper into the cool dark water. He waited for the bottom to come up and greet him. He couldn't see a thing, so he kept kicking with his feet to get as deep into the lake as he could. He knew time was not his friend, but the cold lake water was a wildcard.

His ears popped twice on his way down, and then, without warning, the bottom greeted him harshly. He was unable to balance himself on the bottom very well, and he really didn't want to what was going on with the timer. He didn't want to know, but he had to know what was happening. He moved his shirt under the briefcase and slowly opened the lid

The red number flashed, but he couldn't make out the number.

"I've got it now. '''''''666666666. "Six seconds left, one less than James Bond, and 007. I'm going to have to work on that, I'm slowing down. Wait, the dots are in the wrong place. I've got the case backwards. I am an idiot."

999999999..... "Nine seconds, I'm two seconds faster than James Bond. I really don't give a fuck. The fucking bomb didn't go off, that is a very satisfactory ending.

He smiled, and blew out a large bubble of air to the surface.

He closed the lid, and locked it securely. He tied an arm of his shirt through the handle, leaving it floating in the water, as a marker to be retrieved at some later time. He was running out of air, and wanted to return to the surface. He started up slowly, using only his legs for power, watching his bubbles rise above him.

As soon as he broke surface, the helicopter's spotlight hit him. A small power boat moved towards him. Vance grabbed his arm as he came alongside, and Madge reversed the engine keeping the boat still. He pulled your father on board as if he was a feather.

Your dad's first words were, "Where is he?"

Madge said, "Gray showed up and took Newton back to your daughter. For some reason, your nephew didn't want to go home."

"I think Newton is going to learn things about his body tonight he never knew before."

"If you mean about pain, sir, I tend to agree with you. Gray was mentioning something about the alarm system in the house, and how Delicious was unable to repair it. It did not make her happy, and Gray was very happy to be out of the house."

"When Delicious is unhappy, anyone and everyone would prefer to be somewhere else."

"What happened with the device sir?"

"I will know more later, when I am able to take it apart. However, the timer stopped with nine seconds left on it. More than enough time for James Bond to think of and do something, but not for me. I was scared shitless. If it wasn't for my wife, we would all be sand now."

Vance asked, "May I ask how she figured into this equation?"

"You were in front of my home, before we dispersed and the cars came to the recreation area, weren't you?"

"Yes sir, I was."

"The memory of the woman you saw standing in the doorway popped into my head for a very brief second, and I was determined that that woman was not going to go to bed alone tonight."

Vance smiled broadly. "If she were my wife sir, I would have dug a tunnel to Beijing, and left the case at the main entrance to the Imperial City, to keep her safe."

"Thank you, Vance, I will tell my wife what you said, as you pick up your final paycheck."

Madge was still laughing as she pulled the boat into the dock by the main entrance to the recreation area. Everyone, except you, was applauding, as they saw your father, shirtless, approaching. I guess you remember the rest of the story? If any of our honored guests wish to hear the rest of it, I will let you tell it."

"Yes Monty, I do remember the rest. An agreement was reached that night that his friends at the ABC company would never be allowed to lie to me about something as important, and potentially destructive as that weapon. It is now safely in the hands of the US Army, along with the formula, to be used only in the event of an invasion of NATO or friendly countries by Russia, China, or another aggressor nation, i.e. Iran, for example.

I told dad's friends that if anyone gets an idea that they want to start a war with a smaller nation, to invite them to a demonstration of the weapon. It does not violate any arms agreement, and it would give any nation pause to start something they weren't prepared to finish, without tremendous loss of life.

This guy Stan said that they would take it under advisement.

Teddy asked, "Big Captain, is it Captain Jennifer's turn now?"

"Don't you want to hear what your grandfather did to your uncle first?"

"No, I think we could skip that part for now."

"Jennifer, you're on."

She charged towards her son, who had been sitting too long to make a quick getaway.

"Mom, I thought you were joking."

"When I have you by the neck and beating you on your head and back ask me that question again."

She dove the last 4 feet, and tackled him as he attempted to get away.

"Mom, remember your delicate condition."

"I carried you and six others in my body. Delicate my ass."

She began landing blows on his back and head, but he didn't bother to try to ward them off.

"You just reminded me of something, mother. My dream is about to come true."

"You wouldn't dare."

Zoey yelled, "Mom, he's twenty-eight years old. You know better than to dare him 'Not' to do something."

Jennifer gained her feet, and tried to push herself away from him. It was useless. Her son was still the best.

"Mother, this is not Walgreens, and I'm not buying condoms, but I've waited a long time to reprise that night." He reached back his right hand and was about to let fly when someone hit him on his ass instead. He turned and saw Delicious fleeing the scene at top speed. He yelled, "Was that the best you had? If it is, you are in trouble. I'll get to you when I am finished with my mother."

He turned around but his mother had disappeared.

"This is unfair people. I'm going to hit someone's bottom, it's either going to be my mother's, my sisters, or my wife's."

Zoey asked, "Mine, what did I do?"

"You are young, lovely, pregnant, and available."

"I accept all of those. When am I going to get spanked?"

"I would suspect sometime after dinner."

"What are we going to do until then?"

"Why don't we find Payne, and Dick take them for a walk."

"What a good father you are. Of course, if we snuck in a quickie before we found the children, you would be a great husband too."

"There is only one problem with that scenario."

"Pray tell what is the problem?"

"You are pregnant, and when you are pregnant there is no such thing as a quickie."

"I promise; we will stop for lunch, get the kids, and go for walk."

"Do you realize what our babysitting bills would be if we were back on earth?"

"Your dad set up the rules, not mine. I think the nursery, and preschool agendas workout beautifully."

"What are you going to do when Payne turns 6?"

"I'm going to do what I always wanted to do."

"I'm waiting."

"I'm going to have a child every third year, until I'm 50."

"Oh no you're not. You are going to have to decide. You going to stop having children when you are 47, or you are going to continue having children until you are 53. You cannot stop when you are 50."

"Why?"

"13 is an unlucky number."

"You are not superstitious."

"I know, but it sounded good."

"You are dead meat."

"I seem to remember something about a spanking."

"Are you moving up the timeframe?"

"Our children are still in daycare."

"Shall we scare the animals?"

"Let's tell security were taking a walk down by the river."

"You're going to make me walk a mile just to get laid?"

"No, this is your exercise for our newest baby. Getting laid is just for fun now that you're pregnant."

"You are such a smooth talker."

"I think you were my thirty-fourth girlfriend."

"Same here."

"I was your thirty-fourth girlfriend?"

"I didn't know the difference, until I met you."

"That's funny, I didn't have to hand you a roadmap."

"You handed me a long, fat pointer."

"Yes, I did, didn't I, and it still works."

"If you want me to have fourteen children, that thing better work for a long time."

"I will eat healthy, exercise, and keep my loving only to you."

"Eating healthy and exercising are good things. Keeping your loving only to me, will keep you alive a lot longer than the first two will."

"My God, you're beautiful."

"That's another way you will stay alive."

**************

Daylight struggled to her feet, shook her head, and began licking her newborn children. She didn't have to move very far, because they kept bumping into one another, begging for her attention. After a time, she looked up and saw Teddy smiling at her. She walked over to her friend and they put their heads together to say hello.

Putting her hands to Daylight's head, Teddy asked her friend if she was feeling better now that her ordeal was over.

The answer she received was: "What hit me?"

Teddy only wanted to know if she was better now, and was no longer in such terrible pain.

Daylight bumped Teddy's head joyfully, and communicated to her that the pain was gone.

Teddy kissed her head, and told her to care for her babies. She told her that Commander would be a big help with them from now on. Her little colt was going to be the new leader of the herd when he grew up, and Commander grew older. He was also going to change colors as was his sister. Blackie was going to change into a gold color during his second year, and his sister, who she named Crimson, was going to turn into a golden red. There would be no doubt among the herd that they were brother and sister, and they were going to be their leaders for many years to come. From them new leaders of the herd would be born, and they would keep the herd healthy, strong, and safe, after she departed.

Daylight shook her head, and seemed pleased by many of these pronouncements. She didn't like the part where Teddy said she would no longer be here. She moved off slowly, constantly looking back to make sure Teddy was still there, while her children followed behind her on their unsteady legs.

Commander seemed to show up out of nowhere to help the little ponies move up behind their mother. This was highly unusual behavior for any stallion, especially the leader of their herd.

Commander snorted, and everyone went about their business as usual.

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64. Third Planet from the Sun

William was in the den, playing simultaneous games of chess against their 11-year-old twins, Jemma and Jennifer, while his wife, Jemma, was reading the magazine she 'owned' and published', a few feet from him. She looked at him for some reason, and then looked at him again. The more she looked, the unhappier she became with the way he looked. The more she concentrated on his look, the less happy she became with it. He was perspiring in a very cool room, and his face was gray. She got up and left the room without saying a word.

Since it was Sunday, she decided to give William's cardiologist a heart attack, before her husband had one. She went into the library and closed the door, opened her cell phone and hit the speed dial number for Doctor Manolo Pelham. It was answered on the 3rd ring.

"Pelham."

"What the fuck took you so long Manolo?"

"Whoever this is, I'm going to kill you. I was on the 8th level of 'Spies and Saboteurs', and had to put the game on freeze. I'll never get it started in the same place."

"I'll make you a $10 million bet that you die before the next saboteur does. This is Jemma Zabo. I don't like the way my husband looks. We will be in the emergency room at NYU in 30 minutes, not one minute later. Guess who will be there in 29 minutes?"