Waste Not, Want Not Chapter XVII

Up early the next morning, Paul made some coffee and fixed his breakfast, bacon and eggs. It was a beautiful day. A late spring cold front had blown in overnight and the skies were clear and blue with a thirty mile an hour north wind making the air crisp indeed!
Paul loved this weather. He found it extremely stimulating.
He was feeling good.
As he finished his breakfast he pondered his schedule for the day. He had a strong desire to see Maria. She had been there, flickering in the back of his mind, ever since the bizarre dream he had of her as the seductress. “That’s just a silly dream,” he told himself. “She’s not like she was in the dream, she’s much older and certainly not lusting for me!”
He had other things to do and he wanted to find the cavern. He took his map of the place, which had been created with high tech satellite pictures, and drove out into the ranch. The map showed him the location of the cavern, he had to find an entrance.
The map led him to a small, rocky hill, covered with brush and mesquite trees. He saw nothing that appeared as if it might hide a cave entrance. He spent the next few hours walking over the ground and poking around with no luck.
“Well, the MRI co-ordinates place it somewhere near here. I will just have to keep looking I guess,” Paul said to himself.
After a few hours more he gave up and returned to the ranch house.
“I’ll come back early in the morning and try again. I know it is here.’ he thought.
In spite of his harrowing experiences here he liked it here, it was quiet and he liked the large expanse of wild, natural land and all it’s inhabitants, and no tourists! And it was all his! There was something about this place that was odd though. There was a strange vibe about this place. He felt a strong sense of intensity here. His senses and feelings were somehow on alert here and he had a sense of anticipation and even some apprehension, as if he was waiting for something more to happen. He shrugged that off to some kind of creeping senility or something! No need to worry, he knew he would not become senile!
After a good supper and a glass of bourbon he relaxed and watched the TV news. The big story was about the collision of a U.S. Navy EP-3E with a Chinese fighter jet just off of Hainan Island. The Chinese fighter had crashed and the pilot was killed.
The American plane had made an emergency landing and the plane was seized and the crew placed in captivity.
Paul was familiar with that area and he also knew the new President was playing with fire by sending reconnaissance flights over what has long been disputed waters. He knew that up until now the Navy had avoided those waters not thinking it was worth risking just such an incident.
“I don’t know about this guy,” Paul thought. He knew the President and his father, Bush 41, well. He thought the younger Bush was an insecure man, desperately wanting to better his father’s record as President and to make his own reputation on the world stage. That was not a comforting thought.
Paul poured another drink and settled into his recliner and once again studied his maps and charts. Tomorrow he would be back out again bright and early.