„Suppress the news. Yes, I know we aren’t that kind of government, but this is not the time for that.“, Warley Bolden was almost shouting. He was in an ordinary taxi, driven by an intelligence agency officer.
He continued: „We’ll break the news once we know if she’ll make it or not. The last I heard was that the driver is stable, but they’re still fighting for her. Give it two hours, ok? We’ll make a press conference once we know.“
He cut off the call and made a second one. „Bolden here. Found anything yet?“
„Negative, sir.“, the man on the other end said, „Your limousine is clear, as are those of Ministers Gordon and Mosely. We are still looking through the others.“
„Good. Until we are sure, nobody is taking their official cars or any private cars that are in their name, understood?“
„Yes, sir.“
Bolden, Minister of Interior of the Erulas government, ended this call as well. Outside the windows, the capital was rushing by. The taxi was flanked by two police cars, the three of them flying low and well above the speed limit. Traffic control had cleared the lowest altitude and directed all cars to higher ones.
The driver - the term had stuck for cars, even though they were now more like pilots - was mostly handling navigation. Manual steering was limited to emergency situations.
Bolden started the next call. „Bolden“, he said, despite his name being shown on the receiving end even before the police chief had picked up, „What have you got?“
The chief sighed. „What do you expect in one hour? I already told you about the prison break-in.“
„Anything new on that?“
„Still no leads. A dozen armed people broke into the prison and gunned down two of my men. They mad their way to the cell of Fyfe Sirling and then left with him. They also sprang two of the traitors we had arrested, but not the three others. Might be that their source had incomplete information. We’re going through the CCTV footage and traffic logs of the area, but even with AI assistance, it’ll take time.“
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„Got you. I’ll be at the police HQ in ten minutes. See you then.“
Another call ended, another call began. Bolden was good in a crisis, the main reason he had been picked as the first in line after the president in a crisis.
„Bolden“, he began, as always, „Do we have a lockdown?“
„Yes“, the head of planetary traffic control replied, „Though there is quite a bit of a ruckus, given that the previous one had just been lifted and there was still a queue to clear out. Do we know yet how long this one will last?“
„Unclear. But I’ve sent police to the main space ports to manually clear transports, especially bulk freighters. We also coordinate with the local air traffic control to identify where the escapees have run. Once we know that, we can open up the other space ports.“
„Please don’t make it long. My people are already doing overtime shifts.“
One more call concluded, Bolden leaned back. He took a couple deep breaths. A few minutes until the HQ. Enough time for one last call. That number went to a relay, he knew that much. But not further. Amara had given it to him semi-officially, as a last-ditch emergency number only to be used when she could not do it herself.
He dialed. A male voice picked up: „Hey Amara. What’s up?“
„Sorry“, Bolden said, „Amara gave me this number for emergencies. She is in critical condition after an assassination attempt. This is Warley Bolden, Minister of Interior.“
„Oh“, the man said. A short pause showed he had to sort his thoughts.
„This is General Montague Tebbs, Dangorod. Amara and I have kept an unofficial channel open for a while. A chance to speak unfiltered. I hope she’ll make it. How bad is it?“
„The doctors can’t say.“, Bolden explained, „I’m myself waiting for an update.“
„Let me know once you do, please?“, the general asked, „We’ve grown to become friends. Now, what can we do together to bring justice to those who did that?“
Bolden took a deep breath. „I didn’t know who I’m calling, so I don’t have an answer right now. We believe the traitors who worked with the Qyrl might be responsible for it. They freed their leader just as the chaos following this incident came into full swing. We’re trying to apprehend them.“
„I’ll get my people on it. We are still hunting down a cell ourselves. You suspect they are leaving the planet, right? The smart thing to do if you just tried to kill the president.“
Bolden nodded, even though the call was audio only. „I’m sure they’ll be trying that. I don’t know where they expect to go.“
„I can guarantee that Dangorod will not shelter them.“
„And I don’t expect Dephyr to do it, either. Nor Calidor or the pirates.“
The general took a second to answer. Then he said: „I’ll be sending out fast cruisers to the nearby wormhole gates. We’ll get them. Anything else?“
„I’ll let you know about Amara as soon as I know myself.“
They thanked each other and closed the call. Bolden leaned back. He was not too much surprised, he knew Amara well enough, and she always had one more trick, one more connection, one more play.