Loic asks the receptionist to direct the General to the locked door. He puts copies of two documents on the table, checks the security camera and walks over to un-bolt and open the door.
"Ah, mon général! Thank-you so much for coming. Please have a seat!"
Loic gestures to a chair at the table, and closes the door so it locks, but without bolting it as well.
"MIDA's authority is mostly domestic, except for some transportation related matters, and FLEA's authority is exclusively so. Thus, there are certain things this ministry cannot do, or even request. I therefore feel constrained to just provide you with some information, and let you follow-up on it or not, as you see best. You may consider this a wild goose chase, and if you do, I would not disagree, as it well may be one. I do not consider that military intelligence is an oxymoron, and you may have some relevant assets with a longer reach.
But, where are my manners? Is the sun below the yardarm yet? I know that is a naval expression, but has head of the joint chiefs, you could be granted naval privileges. Bourbon wasn't it? Or something non-alcoholic?"
Loic gets the beverage requested, if any, having a St. Brendans whisky if Marcus has bourbon, or sparkling water if he has something non-alcoholic.
"We don't have much of a witness protection program here in Eutopia, which is probably a good thing, meaning we don't have as much organized crime as in the US. I wonder though if someone hasn't tried to work one out, on their own? Not with help from this government, of course, but perhaps it could have been another? Is PJ Vasquez really dead? Didn't it seem awfully coincidental that we found out about his passing after the wanted posters went up here? Did you know the reason we offered to hold a service for him here was because we wanted it to be a funeral, so we could get a DNA sample and confirm that he was dead? Having promised a funeral to try to get the body back here, we couldn't very well deny him a memorial service when they said the body had already been buried next to his mother, could we?"
Loic points to the documents on the table.
"Do you want to look at the documents before you which include the location of his supposed grave and an inconclusive handwriting analysis of a Tilapian who was not in our records who is about the same height as my predecessor, but just a slanty 'T' incommon is way below the threshold for probably cause, so it is offically dropped? One would think that after the memorial service, thinking we thought him dead, he might have grown bolder, wouldn't one? But as that doesn't seem to have happened, perhaps he is more cunning than I thought? So if he is still alive, we would have to think that the previous front runner, one Vincent Alejandro, appears less likely than before, n'est-ce pas? If he is not Vasquez, then he is probably a Tilapian operative, one who learned his trade reading spy novels and watching James Bond films. I wonder how many they have here? There was a whole rash of FLEA recruits of Spanish heritage during the short time Vasquez ran this place, so FLEA could be riddled with them, although this office and this inquiry have been reasonabley secure, up to this point.
Anyway, I don't want to become a modern day Ahab, with Vasquez as my white whale, so I will leave this entirely in your hands, but if you do manage to somehow confirm or deny the former Vice President's death, we would appreciate learning his status as well? You can't imagine the work I have had to do to get FLEA to unlearn the bad habits they acquired in a few short months. The whole force were all running around like they were on Miami Vice. Of course, former President Al'Aeshir announcing his retirement a few hours early, so Vasquez could play at becoming president made it even worse. Amric never delivered the proper documents to Council of State, so of course he hadn't effectively resigned. Thanks for coming by an listening to this. While you are here, was there anything that military wanted to bring up with MIDA?"
