Transmission

“I know, Mom,” he said, “but I don’t think it will make a lot of difference if there’s some kind of fight.”

“Kevin!” his mother said again, as Kevin hopped down from the Jeep and started forward. He heard his mother following after him, but he kept going. He wasn’t going to miss this.

By the time he reached the group of armed figures, they were already discussing things in a tone that sounded dangerously close to violence. Kevin had seen kids at school when they’d gone past insulting one another, and they didn’t want to back down because they thought it would make them look stupid. They always had that sense that they didn’t want to fight, that they were scared and the whole thing was stupid, but they were going to anyway. Kevin had never expected to hear adults sounding like that, but at least some of them did.

“…And I am telling you, Professor, that this is Colombia’s sovereign territory,” an older man was saying to Professor Brewster. “If this artifact had fallen on US territory, are you telling me that you would permit us to take it away as you are trying to?”

“No, of course not, General,” Professor Brewster snapped back. “Because we have the finest scientific facilities in the world.”

“Are you impugning the quality of Colombia’s scientific program?” the general asked.

“I’m saying that it doesn’t have a tenth of the resources that we do,” Professor Brewster replied.

That didn’t seem to impress the other man. If anything, it only seemed to annoy him.

“So that’s it, is it? The USA is the biggest and richest, and so we must all bow to what it wants?” Kevin saw him shake his head. “We’ve had enough of that in the past. You think I don’t recognize some of the men here from the past?”

“When we were invited,” Ted said, moving up to them. “General Marquez, I didn’t hear you complaining when we were here helping your country against the cartels.”

“And now you are helping yourselves,” the other man said.

“We made contact through diplomatic channels,” Professor Brewster said. “We told you that we would be coming.”

“But you did not wait for permission,” General Marquez said. Kevin had the feeling all of this was heading downhill fast, and he was caught in the middle of it with adults arguing around him. Adults who definitely wouldn’t listen to someone like him, and who seemed to be determined to argue and shout until it all turned into violence.

“If you’ll give me a minute, sir,” Ted said, “I’m sure I can get our president on the phone for you, and yours.”

“So that they can agree that we should do what you want in return for some minor concession, some empty promise?” the general demanded. “Our president is a good man, but this is a military matter.”

“It’s looking like it might become one,” Ted said. The strange thing to Kevin was that he didn’t raise his voice, even in the middle of a dangerous situation like that. Professor Brewster was sweating, and Kevin could feel his own nerves rising, but it seemed that the former soldier was just… calm.

It was a dangerous kind of calm, though, and it worried Kevin almost as much as the rest of it.

“I will make this simple,” General Marquez said. “The artifact you are transporting belongs to the Colombian people. We will be taking possession of it. If you attempt to stop us from doing so, you will be arrested and imprisoned. Now, step back.”

He made a move toward the first of the trucks in the convoy, obviously intending to check it for signs of anything alien.

“I can’t allow you to touch that truck, sir,” Ted said, and now, somehow, there was a weapon in his hand, pointed directly at the Colombian general.

Instantly, there were more guns pointing than Kevin had seen in his life.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kevin tried his best not to look scared as dozens of weapons pointed his way. It wasn’t easy. Most of the Colombian ones seemed to be pointed at Ted, but since Kevin wasn’t standing that far away, the distinction didn’t make much difference to him. Soldiers on their side, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity to level their own weapons at the Colombians. What had been a one-sided thing had turned into a dangerous standoff in a matter of seconds.

“You’re still outgunned,” General Marquez said. “If you fire, you would all die.”

Ted shrugged. “With respect, sir, you would die first.”

He moved so that the general was between him and the other Colombians.

“You think I care about that?” General Marquez demanded. “Something like this is more important than you, more important than me, and I still have superior firepower.”

“Then it’s a good thing I called in air support,” Ted said.

“You’re bluffing,”

But Kevin could hear the sound of rotor blades in the distance, and it seemed that so could everyone else. It should have made him feel safe, but as far as he could see, it made the whole situation more dangerous. It just increased the number of people who might decide to open fire at the wrong moment.