“If we don’t fire him, he’s going to get himself killed and our people too.” “Let me know your decision by tomorrow.”Ībarca looked at me, then at her, then at me again, stood up, and left. “Either you fire them, or you can pack your shit and go with them.” If you want them gone, you’re going to have to tell them yourself.” Mistakes like that get people killed.”Ībarca shook his head.

“I have five kids and a mother in this house, and I want to keep them all alive. Lopez is taking care of her sick mother and Walton has two kids.” “The two guards who let Montgomery through are fired.”Ībarca stared at her in stunned silence. “They can make mistakes on someone else’s dime.” Mom’s face held no mercy. “Our security personnel, who are supposed to maintain a log of departures and arrivals, didn’t realize that Catalina was already home or think it odd that she came back in a strange car driven by a chauffeur none of them had ever seen before?”Ībarca’s face took on a patient expression. Last night your people let an Illusion Prime roll right through the security checkpoint all the way to our front door.” And we have the right to demand a certain level of professionalism and discipline. “Their families don’t employ them, George. They have lives and families, just like you.” “Merriweather’s daughter had a recital,” Abarca said. His smile bounced off my mother like rubber bullets off a tank. You know an army runs on coffee.” He grinned. He was not a security risk and we were almost out of coffee. He delivers groceries to the DFAC, and he has done so for the last eight months. And then my daughter almost got hit by a truck that shouldn’t have been on that road.” “The security barriers weren’t up, George,” she said.

Pen was not my mother’s favorite nickname. He was approachable and friendly, but as time went on, the cracks in our security became more and more apparent. Abarca supervised the hiring and the training of our guards, and he seemed competent. They’d served together, and he’d needed a job. Once we gathered enough capital to hire our own security, Mom brought Lieutenant Abarca in to oversee it.

Sapphire flames