Summoned Again?

“What happened?” Susan asked.

“Oh, just the government trying to steal from me again.” I said with a huff. “I'm so glad my plan's almost ready to take this whole fucking place down.”

“Sir! You need to come with us!” One of the cops said as he drew his taser and came closer.

“No, you need to fuck off and stop harassing me.” I responded. “You're supposed to protect and serve, not detain and rob.”

“That I heard.” Susan said. “Wait, mom wants to talk to you.”

“Damon?” Eileen asked, as if it wasn't me on the phone.

“Yes, it's me. What can I do for you today?” I asked with a fake happy voice.

“You need to go with the nice officers.”

“If they had some nice officers, I'd go with them, no problem.” I said. “Instead, I have two corrupted officers and two government agents filming the whole thing in the bushes there.” I pointed to the spot as I switched out the spent Lightning ring for Focus Push and cast the spell. The foliage was pushed out of the way briefly to reveal the two men and a video camera. “This whole thing was a setup to confiscate my gold with fake drug charges.”

“No, they use and twist the law to do what they want.” I said and looked at the broadcasting camera. “I've been kidnapped, held against my will, robbed of millions of dollars, and beaten. By. The. Government.”

Susan said in the background that they changed the story title to 'crazy man on freeway'.

“I'm not crazy, considering I have proof. Actual video proof of them confessing the whole thing.” I said with a smile at the camera and held out the secret service camera that caught it all. “I even turned a copy over to members of the government and they were handling it to try and get the mess sorted out; but, apparently the people behind it all didn't understand that they NEED TO STOP PISSING ME OFF!”

“Damon, calm down.” Eileen said.

“I am calm.” I said. “If I was reacting like I wanted to...” I shook my head. “No good will come of it.”

“You need to surrender to the authorities.” Eileen repeated.

“Surrender to the authorities? The same ones that are framing me for drug smuggling without evidence?” I asked and saw a gorgeous redheaded woman step out of the car where I thought the news footage was being broadcast from. I recognized her as a well known news reporter and she walked over to me. She held her cell phone steady as she approached me.

“She's got guts.” Susan said from the background.

“Sir, what's going on?” The woman asked. She wore a suit and skirt combo that was grey with pinstripes. Her hair was done up to leave her neck and ears bare. “Can you tell me what's wrong?”

“I was escorting a delivery of gold to sell, when I was cut off and my trucks were diverted by these... officers.” I said as if it was a dirty word. “When I tried to ask what they were doing, they accused me of drug smuggling and tried to arrest me.”

“So, you resisted?” She asked and came closer.

“Verbally, yes.” I admitted. “They still haven't provided proof of the accusation, claiming a tip told them that I had drugs in my shipment.”

“Most cartels have drugs shipped in from other countries.” She responded and stopped five feet away.

“What would I need to sell drugs for? I own eight mineral mines around the world.” I said and she looked surprised. “I've been having gold shipped into the country to store in the federal reserve, because I wanted to help the country recover from it's crushing debt.”

The woman gasped. “W-w-wait... I think... I think I recognize you.”

“Were you one of the participants in the auction to raise money for the cancer treatment center where I donated my hair?” I asked.

“Damon!” She gasped. “Damon Smith! Your corporation...”

I nodded and tapped my neck where my pendant was.

“I have one, too!” She exclaimed and pulled it out of her shirt to show me. “It's been a godsend!”

“A lot of doctors and pilots agree with you.” I said with a smile.

“Will you be making more of them?” She asked. “The demand for more is ridiculous right now!”

I waved at the officers standing about twenty feet away. “I'm currently in the middle of something else that's ridiculous.”

“I called 911!” Someone yelled from nearby. “I told them to send someone trustworthy!”

I chuckled. “We'll be here waiting for a while.”

“What makes you say that?” The reporter asked.

“I've got about five billion dollars in gold on these trucks. They are going to seize them while they investigate the alleged drug smuggling charges.”

“Oh, my god.” The reporter said. “If it's acquired during a drug arrest...”

“...they won't have to return it.” I finished for her.

“Can we see it?” She asked.

“I doubt the idiots there would let me move, let alone open up the suspected vehicles to let me show off the contents.” I said. “Deniability and all that when it goes missing during storage.”

The reporter's mouth opened as if she was going to say something, then she stayed that way and stared at me.

“It's happened before to me when secret service agents stole a hundred million in gold coins from my safety deposit box.”

The reporter caught her breath. “That's quite the accusation.”

“It's not an accusation. It's the truth, proven with footage and documents, and even the arrest of the bank manager for allowing it.”

The reporter took in a sharp breath. “You were the cause of the bank nearly folding?”

“You heard about that?” I asked, a bit surprised.

“It was a great story and had lots of exposure, especially on social media.” She said with a smile. “A lot of the partners bowed out and now it's only got a handful of investors.”

“I don't need to ask how you know that.” I said with an answering smile.

“I did a fluff piece on the banking economy and two things came up. The robbery from one bank and a deposit of a billion dollars into another.” She gave me a pointed look. “They were both you, weren't they?”

“Of course. The government is scrambling to take all the gold I've been trying to bring into the country and their schemes are just as ridiculous now as they were when they kidnapped me to try and get me to cooperate.” I said. “You can contact Mr. Graham of the Treasury Department and he can corroborate everything.”

The reporter's eyes lit up. “Are you going to sue the government?”

“I don't know if I can sue it as a whole or each individual agency that was involved. I've been too busy to even think about a lawsuit before now.”

“What are you going to do?” The reporter asked.

“I have to wait for the proper authorities to show up and sort this mess out, then I'll go down the off-ramp to the little girl I have custody of and tell her that the police are trying to take me away from her.”

The reporter gasped, as did Eileen on my phone and Susan behind her.

“Yes, this has been a great day so far.” I said sarcastically, then I saw an FBI car approaching and held in my sigh. “I wonder how much better it's going to get?” I asked as the car came to a stop and two people stepped out. One was a man I didn't know and the other was Stacy. “Really great, apparently.”

“Damon, don't do anything.” Eileen cautioned me.

“I know.” I said and turned to face the two new people as they walked over. “I should hang up now. I want my hands free, just in case.”

“Damon.” Eileen said, her voice stern.

“Is that emotion I heard?” I asked with a chuckle. “I'll call later, assuming I'm allowed more than one.”

“I'll keep watching.” Eileen said. “Good luck.”

“What? No advice?” I asked.

“We're all in new territory here.” Eileen said. “Goodbye.”

“Bye.” I said and hung up before putting my phone in my pocket.

“Who were you talking to?” The reporter asked.

“My psychologist.” I said and she looked surprised. “Being kidnapped is quite traumatic, especially when I see one of the perpetrators.”

Stacy's face twitched and the reporter caught it on camera.

“I'm glad you're getting professional help.” The man said as they stopped five feet away.

“No, you aren't.” I said. “If you cared even one iota about what I went through, I would have at least gotten an official apology out of you and you might have even tried to fix everything you and the other agencies wrecked in my life.”

The man's face went blank and glanced at the reporter.

“I doubt she'll stop recording this monumental screw up you've created, just to let you meaninglessly apologize to me.” I said and the man winced at the dripping sarcasm in my voice.

“Damon, you don't have to be confrontational like this.” Stacy said.

“Oh, but I do.” I said. “Can you imagine what would happen if you robbed me again?”

“I didn't rob you.” Stacy said.

“It was a collaborative effort and you were involved, even if you didn't know what they were going to do with their ill-gotten gains.” I said and looked at the man. “So, mister director, what are you doing here? Are you going to try and arrest me publicly this time?”

“You are obstructing a police investigation.” One of the officers said.

“No, I'm stopping this fool from using you idiots to do his dirty work for him.” I motioned to the FBI man. “His agents have been tracking me as I travelled all over the world. If I am arrested on the false charges that your agents lied about when they called in the drug tip, what are you going to do with MY gold?”

The man didn't say anything.

“Stacy? Any idea that you want to admit on live television?” I asked her and she didn't say anything. “What would the FBI do with five billion in gold that's stamped with my corporation logo, I wonder?”

Neither of them said anything.

“Quite a few people have been urging me to sue you for all the crimes you and the other government agencies have committed against me and my family, just so that everything that happened would be out in the open and they would know how you can twist the laws into a pretzel and even ignore basic human rights when it suits you.”

The man let out a sigh. “Mr. Smith, you shouldn't be antagonizing the US government like you have.”

“Me? Antagonizing you?” I said with a laugh. “No, I haven't been. Not at all. I've been annoyed by all the veiled threats, unexpected visits and inspections, and several attempts to coerce me into becoming a spy for a corrupt government and to hand over billions of dollars in gold.”

The reporter looked shocked and I turned and looked into the reporter's camera on her cell phone.

“I want everyone watching this live and on reruns to know that the government caused what is going to happen to this country. You might not notice right away, while they try to deny anything is happening. That's going to be their downfall. They are the cause of what's to come and this is going to affect everyone here... and possibly the world.”

“Wh-what... what are you going to do?” Stacy asked.

“You can't really expect me to tell you, do you?” I asked and looked at her. “You'll fight against it and I'll have to come up with something else to get my revenge on you.”

“M-me?” Stacy asked. “I thought... I thought we settled...”

I chuckled. “I meant you as in the FBI, not you personally. In fact, this country is going to be in almost the same situation that I was in when you kidnapped me.”

Stacy stared at me with her mouth slightly open, shock on her face.

“I wonder if the president himself will come to me and beg for me to fix things?” I asked and looked at the director of the FBI. “So, can I go now?”

“We need to take you into custody and to check the trucks.” One of the officers said.

“I wasn't talking to you, idiot.” I said and didn't stop looking at the FBI director. “I was talking to the man in charge here.”

The director glanced at Stacy with a questioning look on his face.

Stacy sighed. “I told you it didn't work last time and not to expect it to work this time.”

The man looked back at me and was quiet for several moments. We all waited with bated breath as the time seemed to stretch on, then the man sighed again.

“You can go.”

“But, sir! The trucks!” One of the officers exclaimed.

“Get the K-9 unit out here and have them search the outside of the vehicles.” The FBI director said. “That's all we can do without a search warrant.”

“Or probable cause.” I said and he looked at me. “Having the FBI call in a fake tip doesn't count.”

The man didn't deny the accusation, which was damning for him all on its own. It didn't take long for a K-9 unit to show up. Just in case, I used Detect to look for any drugs. I didn't find any, not even alcohol, and smiled as the dog went all around and underneath both trucks. They didn't find anything and we were all free to go.

“Can I have your contact information?” I asked the reporter. “I'll call and let you know when my plan is complete, so you can tell everyone that the country's going to hell.”

She looked both happy and upset as she handed me her business card. She didn't write her personal number on it and I tucked it into a pocket.

“Have a good day.” I said to her, ignored the FBI director and Stacy, then gave the finger to the two officers. They looked angry and that made me happy. I was smiling like crazy when I reached Vika's rental car and climbed in.

“What took so long?” Vika asked.

“Just giving people a lesson in common decency.” I said and saw both trucks pull onto the off-ramp. “There's my convoy. Let's go.”

Vika put the car into gear and we drove away from the impromptu police encounter that nearly the entire country would be viewing that night on the six o'clock news.

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