Free Trial By Fire by Harold Coyle Page A

and a sound technician. After taping ten minutes of empty streetcorners and closed shops, they drove to the main plaza where the Palacio Nacional was located. Again, except for an occasional jeep filled with soldiers, there was nothing. Leaving the van, Jan, followed by the camera crew, began to walk toward the Palacio Nacional in an effort to attract attention or provoke a response from the Army patrols. Again, however, she was quite disappointed as the mounted patrols and guards posted at the doorways of government buildings ignored Jan and the camera.
    When they passed the Palacio Nacional, Jan decided to take advantage of her invitation to interview one of the colonels who was supposed to be in charge. She stopped and looked at a knot of soldiers standing about the main entrance. “We had an interview scheduled with the president of Mexico this morning. Now, we have one with his replacement.” Then, with a smile on her face, she turned to her sound man, Joe Bob. “So, my loyal friends and crew, that must mean we are welcomed and sanctioned.
    Let’s take advantage of that welcome and do some serious reporting.”
    Joe Bob took his cue and pulled the van up to a good place to park.
    Without asking or waiting for the opinion of the others with her, Jan turned away and moved with purpose toward the Palacio Nacional. From what she had seen, if there had been a military coup, it had been efficient, quick, and controlled. If those assumptions were true, there was an organization in charge and operating. And if there was a system, it could be manipulated. Since the news wasn’t going to come to them, it was time to dig for it, and what better place to start than at the top?
    Juan, however, was shaken by the events of the morning, the presence of so many soldiers, and the brazen attitude of Jan Fields. Never missing a chance, he tried to persuade Jan to return to the hotel until things settled down. Jan would not be put off. Angered by Juan’s timidity, Jan turned to him, throwing her arms out and shouting as she did so. “Settled? If things get any more settled, they’ll roll up the sidewalk!”
    Neither Juan nor Jan took into account that while they were looking at the same situation, each was dealing with it based on an entirely different perspective. For Juan, the sight of vacant streets in Mexico City populated only by armed soldiers was a new and disturbing sight. The Federales and their fat officers, after all, could not be trusted. Jan, on the other hand, who had seen firsthand bloody street fighting and cities choked with tanks and troops, began to wonder if the military was, after all, in charge, let alone behind the coup and the unrest that Juan kept worrying about.
    After spinning about and looking at the deserted streets, she turned back to Juan. “Settled? If this place becomes any more settled we’ll die from boredom.” Dropping her arms, Jan stood there for a moment and thought. Slowly, a wicked smile lit her face. “What we need to do is stir something up.” Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked right into the middle of the soldiers.
    House Office Building, Washington, D.C.
    1000 hours, 29 June
    Like clockwork, everyone in Congressman Ed Lewis’s outer office dropped what they were doing and turned to the television monitor whenever WNN reviewed the top news stories of the hour. Even the congressman, like a figure on a German cuckoo clock, came out of his own office every half hour to watch the news. Ever since Lewis, a Democratic representative from Tennessee, had been appointed a member of the House Intelligence Committee, both he and his staff took a keen interest in any news that involved foreign crisis or conflicts. An avid reader of just about anything in print and a news junkie, Lewis was capable of absorbing and retaining tremendous amounts of information and storing it away, ready for use. Only partially in jest did his fellow representatives refer to him as the next best