11 May, Military Offices and JL International Mall, City F

Matthew sat his mobile down and looked at Joseph who was just finishing his calls.

"Boss, Head Honcho indicated he will mobilise troops.?Medics, some of our personal and general duties will be airlifted over multiple flights, starting within thirty minutes from the base.?From the Capital and other places, it will take a bit longer to get people moving.?He also said, he would call the Police Liaison Officer.."

Smiling, Matthew said "That will be an interesting call, as apparently John met his girlfriend's father last night.."

Joseph looked at Matthew, trying to figure out what he was meaning.?Shaking his head Matthew said, "You do not know the connection between Lieutenant Li and Head Honcho?"

"Connection?"

"She is his daughter..?"

"F*ck!?And you did not tell us??We have been extra hard on her during training because she just misses the mark.?You could have warned us."

"Not what the Head Honcho wanted, she is just another solider in his command, and has to be treated the same as everyone else.?You have read her personal record, which lists her mother as next-of-kin using her maiden name.?She was one of the top degree holding recruits when she joined which resulted in almost every division fighting over where she would be placed.?In the end, agreeing to the joint chiefs' demand that her identity as his daughter was hidden, he was successful in having her placed in his chain of command."

Matthew paused and looked directly at Joseph.?He still was not convinced that anything other the nepotism resulted in Bronwyn being assigned to special forces.?"You have observed her skills, both navigating local and international legal issues with deployments, and she has great skills to assist special forces members deal with personal issues when there is a potential impact on us or national security.?That is central for the few lawyers who are in special forces.?They must be highly skilled and quick to adapt to the situation because of the rapidly changing environment we operate in.?But you are right about her military skills, she just misses the mark, hence her deployment here.?Head Honcho wanted us to improve her skills without fear of him."

Joseph said "And she is involved with your friend, City K's police liaison officer to the military and head of their intelligence group.?She had to file the paperwork about her relationship and as Head Honcho came to the base yesterday, he decided he wanted to meet his daughter's boyfriend.?I pity him as normally he is intimidating and here is someone involved with his daughter.."

"You get the potential problem Joseph.?It either went well or bad, and that could have impacts for us."

"Got it.?A vehicle is waiting for us to get to the Mall, and I have activated the call for every serving member in and around City F, to report to a temporary headquarters that we will establish in the area around the mall.?I have those on duty here, arranging for tents to be sent from the maintenance facility that we can use."

Matthew nodded, picked up his phone and jacket, and just before they left the room they strapped on visibly their service weapons before heading out to a waiting convoy of four vehicles.

Within ten minutes they had arrived at the Mall and observed the total chaos there.?People screaming, in shock and injured people walking around.?There were only a handful of police officers present.?Matthew said to Joseph "Get moving and start organising this chaos.?I will try and locate the senior police officer here."

"Got it Boss," said Joseph.?He paused and added before climbing out "And I will keep an eye out for Lexi, and if I find her will let you know if I find her."?He then climbed out of the vehicle.?As Matthew exited it himself, he saw Joseph calling the few service personal with them together.?He knew he could trust Joseph to start the process until more assistance arrived.

Matthew, himself walked over to where four, overwhelmed police officers were standing, before showing his identification and firmly asking "Who is in charge?"

The four officers looked at each other, and Matthew realised that they would be useless.?"Who is the senior officer here?"

That broke through, and one said "I am.?General, this is a police matter.."

"No, we suspect that it is a terrorism incident, which means joint responsibility.?I will be taking control until your department head arrives.."

"No way," came the officer.?"This is my crime scene until otherwise proven.?It is private property and therefore unless invited you have no rights to step in."

Matthew knew that he had a little backbone, but the last thing he wanted at this time given the needs of the population was a territorial fight with the police.?Well there always was other ways, and given this was JL International property, Phillip could resolve this for him.

"We will just see.?But the soldiers accompanying me will be acting to secure the scene, and we will be establishing a temporary headquarters here.?Plus, I have recalled to duty every member of the military in and around City F to aid in the recovery effort.?They will remain under my control."

Before the officer could respond three other police officers walked towards them, which had the police jump to attention, calling out "Inspector."

"Gentleman, what is going on here?" came the question asked.

The officer Matthew had been speaking to said "This officer here has come in demanding control of the scene.?We were just waiting for someone to arrive to work out what to do."

Matthew, staring directly at the inspector said "Demanding control??Get your facts right.?As I said, this is a terrorism incident, which means we have joint jurisdiction and that I would take control of the scene until the departmental head arrives.?I guess this is him, and hopefully he is more reasonable than you."

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