Chapter 47 - Breaking the Grip
"Commissioner Gomez," Ava said, walking straight up to the barricade without a shred of hesitation. "You just cited Section Nine of the Provincial Disaster Code. Did Mr. Vance bother to show you Subsection Fourteen of that exact same statute?"
Gomez blinked, sweat dripping down his nose. "Subsection... fourteen?"
"Subsection Fourteen explicitly states that during a Level-Four meteorological emergency declared by the national government, all local commercial freight monopolies are suspended ipso facto," Ava recited with chilling accuracy. "Furthermore, under the International Geneva Relief Protocol ratified by your sovereign senate three years ago, any civil officer who intentionally delays or obstructs the transit of lifesaving medical supplies to a critical medical facility is personally liable for international human rights violations."
Gomez’s face turned an awful, sickly shade of grey. He looked at the legal folder in Ava’s hand, then glanced nervously at the heavily armed mercenaries standing beside him.
"You think Harrison Vance will protect you when the federal prosecutors arrive?" Ava asked, her dark eyes piercing the commissioner’s crumbling resolve. "Look at those trucks behind me, Commissioner. Those are forty tons of medicine flown in by Carter Aviation under direct United Nations emergency mandate. If a single infant in that hospital dies because you kept these chains on this road, your name will be on the criminal indictment alongside Harrison Vance's. He has millions of dollars and private yachts to flee the country. What do you have?"
The lead security guard scowled, raising his voice in a threatening growl. "Don't listen to this brat, Gomez! Vance pays your salary! Tell the drivers to kill the engines right now, or we start clearing this road by force!"
Daniel Carter took two massive strides forward, placing his broad shoulder directly between the guard and his daughter. "Touch that weapon," Daniel warned in a voice that rumbled like approaching thunder, "and you will discover that my daughter is the gentlest person in this family."
Marcus Bennett stepped up beside Daniel, holding up a ruggedized satellite communicator. "Commissioner Gomez, I have the National Minister of Defense and the Admiral of the Philippine Coast Guard on speakerphone right now. They are listening to every word spoken at this checkpoint. The Admiral wants to know if you intend to remove these chains, or if he should dispatch a marine boarding company from the naval cutter anchored five miles offshore to cut them for you."
Commissioner Gomez dropped his clipboard into the mud. His knees gave out, and he turned to the terrified private security guards with frantic, waving hands.
"Unlock the chains!" Gomez screamed, his voice cracking with hysteria. "Unlock the gates right now! Move the trucks! Move them!"
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The security guards looked at Daniel’s towering, uncompromising figure, looked at the live military satellite terminal in Marcus's hands, and scrambled to unlock the padlocks. The heavy iron chains fell into the mud with a hollow clatter, and the steel barriers were shoved aside.
Hank Miller slammed the lead truck into gear, laying on the air horn with a deafening blast of triumph. The convoy surged through the broken checkpoint, roaring down the mountain toward the flooded hospital below.
